Page 19 of Taste of Fate

“Get a room,” groaned Desmond.

“Get a blood pet,” cracked Laith, elbowing the other vampire.

Des huffed and shook his head. “No, thanks.”

It seemed Cyan wasn’t the only one who didn’t want that kind of responsibility, apparently. He and Desmond looked alike, possibly related. From what little I was getting to know about Des, his default mood was serious, if even broody. It took Laith and Cyan to loosen him up and start cracking jokes.

Laith had a similar sense of playfulness as Cyan, but his pale blonde hair made him stand apart from the others. Come to think of it, almost all of Blood ‘til Dawn were dark-haired except for him.

“So how are you settling in, Tavi?” Laith’s tone and expression were friendly. His eyes were unique for a vampire, almost more purple than red.

Before I could answer, an odd noise, almost like a growl came from Cyan, but his expression had already smoothed over when I gave him a puzzled glance.

“You can call her Tavia,” he said to Laith in an eerily calm voice. “She’s Tavi only to me.” His gaze slid in the opposite direction. “And to Bea, I guess.”

Laith chuckled, the sound laced with nervousness. “I get the picture, didn’t mean anything by it, Cy. Anyway, Tavia, you must have questions. Have you seen many vampires before coming to live with us?”

My brain felt like it was being whiplashed. What was Cyan’s deal? He was possessive over my nickname now? And Laith just accepted it and moved on? I felt like I was a few steps behind and hurrying to catch up with the conversation.

“Um, well. I had seen vampires before, but only from a distance. Not up close. Like I knew you all had red eyes, but not that there were different shades.”

“We’re actually born with eye colors very similar to humans,” Desmond said. “Once we start feeding on blood, that’s when the change to red starts happening.”

“For real?” Bea piped up. “I didn’t know that either.”

“If you look closely,” Cyan leaned in until his face was mere inches from mine. “You might be able to see specks of my original eye color.”

His eyes were captivating, I had to admit. A pure, deep red, just like a ruby. He shifted the angle of his head and I stifled a gasp. It looked like he was angling his head to kiss me, and I could also see the flecks he was talking about. Warm, golden brown hues circled his pupil.

“I see them,” I murmured, only then realizing how close my lips were to his.

“I like your eyes,” he said, breath fanning gently over my mouth. “They remind me of storms.”

“Stop rolling your eyes, Des. They’re having a moment.”

Laith’s chiding voice had me pulling back, flustered and hot again. Cyan smirked as he straightened, thoroughly pleased with himself. He really was a shameless flirt, this was so effortless for him.

“Can you guys uh, tell me about the clan?” I asked, swallowing my embarrassment. “How Blood ‘til Dawn came to rule Sanguine, what makes up a clan exactly. Are you all family?”

“Ooh, she wants a history lesson.” Laith slapped the back of Des’ shoulder. “Go on, Des-nerd. This is your wheelhouse.”

“Huh, well.” Des cleared his throat and settled into a barstool at the counter. “How much time you got?” He shot me a crooked smile and I noticed one of his fangs was chipped and blunt at the end. “Remember, we live for a very long time compared to you. There’s a lot of history.”

“Make it quick.” Cyan snapped his fingers. “Brief overview of the last age. Humans were still living in caves before then, so she doesn’t need to know about all the earlier stuff.”

“To be fair, so were a lot of vampires,” Laith said.

“She’s asking about the clan, not our evolutionary history,” Des corrected.

“Well, don’t make it boring at least.”

“Leave him alone.” Bea shoved at Laith’s arm. “Go ahead, Des. I’d be interested to hear too.”

“Alright, well.” Des cleared his throat again. “Generally speaking, our clan is a family unit. But we’re all more extended family to each other. Cousins, nephews, and such.” He reached up and ruffled Laith’s blonde hair. “And along the way, we’ve picked up a few strays like this guy.”

Laith wrapped his arm around Des’s shoulders and nuzzled the side his face. “You’re basically my daddy.”

“Get off me.” Des shoved him off and continued explaining to me. “A couple of the other clans are like us, the Marrowers and Carpe Noctem, primarily. But the rest are more, hm, what’s the word.” He rubbed his chin. “Political factions, I guess? Followers of a certain idea with a leader at the helm.”

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