“Can you read my mind?” I squinted my eyes at him. He threw his head back and laughed, patting me on the shoulder. I was given a crash course on vampires on the drive up here, and I know Justin couldn’t tell me everything. Maybe some could read minds?
“Oh no, but I can read people really well.”Right, so he doesn’t really know about my problem then. “I got these amazing eyes, you see. I can notice when people are in distress. Every time I mentioned the word ‘blood’, he gave the word a creepy ghostly feel like Dracula said it himself. You wince.”
“Oh.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” Suron scoffed, leading me into the cafeteria. “Plus, it is kinda my job to help you out. Elder Rowan usually puts me in charge of the kids, but now he has me watching you.”
Great, a babysitter.
“I’m an awesome babysitter,” he mentioned. I swear if he can read minds and he is lying—“And I’m not lying.” He chuckled.
The frick?
As we walked through the sterile cafeteria, vampires and humans intermingled. The group of adults my age sat on one end of the room, sulking. They gave judgmental eyes around the room. In just the past week, I heard them throw off on everything the vampires do or so. Making jokes, rolling their eyes when one walks by. I hadn’t gone that far. Justin had been perfectly nice until today. When he said I couldn’t be near Mom.
But he had good reason…
”Stay away from them.” Suron nodded toward the group. One of them, Ashton, was particularly cruel, mainly because he felt his mother was ripped away by the ‘bond’ these creatures ranted about. Ashton’s family was ‘perfectly fine’ before his mother’s beloved came along. He had yet to go violent with any of them. He just flat-out ignored them. The entire house did, and so far, I was the only one talking to one.
“Kind of hard to when I live with them,” I whispered.
“Oh, that’s unfortunate. That means you need to hang out with me more then.”
Goodie.
“I could feel that eye roll from here.” Suron grabbed a tray, handing it to me as we went through the line. The food looked good. Salad bar, chicken, wraps, sandwiches, it was all so normal. Then we got to the end of the line where blood was set up like Capri Sun packets, and they were see-through.
Crap.
I grabbed the railing to the buffet line, and Suron put his hand on my back. My head went light-headed, I tried not to look, but it was there. Flashes of being stuck in the hospital, blood bags forcing the blood into my arm.
“Well, I didn’t see that coming.” He grabbed my tray and his and passed the blood bags pushing me to the far end of the room, away from the red sticky substance that still stuck in my mind. “You’re afraid of blood?” He raised a brow. “You’re sheet white!”
Pushing my sandwich off my tray, I waved the plate to my face. The cool breeze pushed the evil thoughts away until Suron pushed a juice box in front of me. “Drink this, sugar.” I reached for the juice and sucked it down in one go. It was a tiny thing, maybe two gulps meant for a child.
“Thanks.” I sighed, putting it on the table.
Leaning back in my seat, his copper-red eyes stared at me. “Spill the tea.” His voice went eerily calm rather than his peppy personality. I sucked in my cheek, trying not to smile. If he was a dog, he would be a golden retriever. I could see how much he wanted to please people. It was making the hard feelings about vampires crack.
Just a little.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just hungry.” I waved it off as no big deal. Suron tutted, taking his black plastic fork and pointing at me.
“Sugar, just so you know, vampires believe in spanking.” I choked on the bit of my sandwich, causing him to get up and save me yet again. The whack to my back had me cough it up on my plate.
Damn it.
“Yeah, that’s right. When you find your mate, he will spank the ever-living shit out of you for lying. Mates don’t lie.” He shook his head.
“I will not have a—”
“Enough.” He silenced me with his hand over my mouth. “Why did you almost pass out? I was under the impression you didn’t like it when blood was brought up because we ate it. Not that you are scared to death of it.” Letting out a breath, I rubbed my eyes.
“I’m a hemophiliac and a hemophobic.” Suron snorted, he covered his mouth, trying not to laugh, but his pale face turned bright red. Rolling my eyes so far back in my head, I swear I saw the world upside down.
“That… is so unfortunate.” Suron finally let out his pelt of laughter. I sulked, watching all the red eyes staring at me. “Your mate”—he heaved in a breath—“is going to have a time with you.”
“Humans don’t usually have mates. Mom is just an exception,” I argued.