His eyes flick back to her with a hint of amusement, and I can already see the wheels turning in his head.
Motherfucking dammit.
My brother tsks at me. "Is this any way to greet your little brother who you haven't seen in over a century?"
I stop crowding him and take a step back as I eye him frankly. "What do you want, Dorian?"
I'm not naive enough to think that my brother is just here for a friendly hello. If he's here, it's because he wants something.
"I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd say hello." He smiles at me, but it's not a warm smile. It's a sinister smile filled with all the envy and loathing my brother has always had for me.
I take in his blond hair and designer suit. My brother has done well for himself over the years, but he's one of those who's never satisfied. It's never enough.
He doesn't work or seek power to fill the void of time. No, he does it out of pure enjoyment. Dorian wanted to become a vampire so badly that he begged me to turn him, and when I wouldn't, he held it against me. He couldn't see that I was trying my best not to condemn him to the same fate as me.
But of course, my brother was as persistent as always. He eventually found a vampire to turn him, and then he promptly killed his sire because there was no way he was going to have anyone over him.
My sire is long since dead, but not because I killed him. And it's not like there's any love lost between us, but killing a sire is equivalent to the human of committing patricide.
And although Dorian and I were born blood brothers from the same mother, we couldn't be any more different.
He has an angelic look with his lighter coloring, but that couldn't be further from the truth. With my darker coloring, I definitely look more dangerous than my brother—and in all truth, I probably am. I'm at least older and physically stronger than him. And while I don't claim to be anything but a villain, I'm nowhere near as evil as my brother Dorian.
He delights in the harm he causes. He gets off on the pain. Like God's most beautiful angel, Dorian looks like the morning sun, but his soul is blacker than the darkest night, and I know that him being in my city spells nothing but trouble for me—and Elena, I fear, now that he knows about her.
I curse myself again for allowing him to see that she's important to me. She's on his radar now.
"Dorian, if you're here to make trouble," I begin stonily, but he interrupts me by holding up two hands and acting mock offended.
"When have I ever been known to make trouble, brother?"
I level a look at him. Everywhere he goes, actually. He makes waves everywhere he fucking goes.
"Again I ask you," I growl at him, my patience wearing thin, "what are you doing here?"
"I came to check out your city." He says it amicably enough, but I can read the hidden intention in his tone. I know my brother, and I know he has plans to try to take my city from me.
That's the way Dorian is. Anything I've ever had, he wanted. I was turned into a vampire, and he wanted to be one, too. When I take over a city, he wants it.
My body chills at his next question. "So, who is the pretty little blond angel?" He nods his head Elena's way.
I grit my teeth to keep myself under control. It suddenly hits me with absolute certainty.Elena.He's going to want Elena just because she's mine. I try to deter him before this even begins. I already know my brother. He'll try to turn this into a contest to see who gets the shiny new toy, so my best defense is to act like Elena means nothing to me.
"She's just my personal assistant. She works for me."
Dorian raises an eyebrow up at me. "Nothing more?"
I merely grit my teeth harder and try to keep my face impassive. "You don't mind if I go over and talk to her then, do you?"
He's issuing a challenge, and while everything within me is screaming at me to beat him down right this second, I think better of showing even more emotion toward her than I already have.
I shrug nonchalantly, though it takes great effort to do so.
Dorian studies me for a moment, as if he's trying to see how sincere I am. I'm thinking he's going to call my bluff, but he must finally accept it—for now at least—because he backs down.
He sends another thoughtful glance over at Elena before he finally steps back and starts walking away.
"Well, it was nice catching up with you, brother. Maybe I'll see you around."