Page 25 of Ouch! My Vampire Doms Don't Sparkle
Benjamin leads us through the entry hall.The walls are papered with an old, green and brown flowery design.It appears Gaius has commandeered a Victorian mansion with a 1970s aesthetic.
We enter a formal dining room, where a huge table is laid out as if for a large party.There must be thirty place settings.Only Gaius and Freya—his and Benjamin’s amant, are sitting at the table, though.
As a vampire, Gaius hasn’t changed much since we saw him decades ago.He still has his full, brown beard and close-cropped brown hair.His pale gray eyes remind me of cloudy days in Greenland.
Freya, as an amant, hasn’t visibly aged, either.Her blond hair is lighter than Benjamin’s, almost white.
“Please, have a seat,” Gaius says, gesturing toward Xander and me.When Benjamin moves to a chair, Gaius says, “Not you, Benji.Serve Freya her dinner.”
Looking like a kicked dog, Benjamin glides out of the dining room and into what must be the adjoining kitchen.
Xander and I face Gaius and Freya.Neither of us have sat down, but Gaius doesn’t seem bothered.
“Tell me,” he says, “what have California’s two most powerful vampires been up to?”
“Other than recovering from the attack your men made on me?”Xander asks.He affects boredom.I can detect the tension in his tone, though.
“Other than that,” Gaius says.“It is unfortunate we had to do that.”
That’s not an apology.Gaius doesn’t do apologies.
Benjamin returns to the dining room.He carries a plate laden with aromatic food—a well-seasoned steak, oil-fried vegetables, mashed potatoes.Hearty.Something I would feed Autumn to help keep her strength up.Freya gives Benjamin a faint smile as he places the food in front of her.He moves to step back, as a servant would, but she reaches for his hand, tugs him to the chair at her side so she now sits between Gaius and Benjamin.
A powerful triad.
Intimidating.
I don’t doubt she planned for this visual reminder of their power.Although Gaius is the true puppeteer of their triad, Freya isn’t beneath her own manipulations and mind games.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter whether Neve has been filling your heads with terrors from the San Francisco Bay Area,” Gaius says idly, watching his amant push food around on her plate.
“No?”I say, taking the bait.The sooner he gets to his point, the sooner we can leave.The sooner I can return to Autumn.
The less chance he’ll have of figuring out we’ve been caring for someone.
“No.Because at the end of it all,” Gaius says, “I think you’re hiding something from me.I think you’re hiding a new amant.”
Autumn
As soon as they leave, I set down my phone and tug a blanket tighter around my shoulders.The basement apartment seems so much quieter, colder, with the men gone.I don’t like that they’re walking straight into the arms of the guy who arranged Xander’s attack.
This isn’t my world, though.I’m not their amant, Will said, and I can’t be.
Because they fucking killed their last one…what in the actual hell?There was no way for me to ask about it.I’m curious, but despite his expressionless face, Will was upset.I couldn’t see it; I couldfeelit.I’m not going to pry into his and Xander’s trauma.
Settling the blanket firmly around my arms, I pick up my phone again and tap over to the email app.It takes me a couple of tries to remember my password, but finally, I’m able to sign in.
My inbox is flooded.I vaguely recognize several names—acquaintances from college, and even some from high school.A friend of my mother’s.
And of course Dale.Lots of messages from Dale.I open one and see a bunch of bullshit about “misunderstandings” and my “mental health” and how he just wants me to come home and be safe.
The very thought of returning to the house I shared with him has my stomach tightening with nausea.
There’s an email from Clarissa in the mix.The subject line reads,I miss you.
Hell, I miss her, too.
Maybe she has info for me, maybe she can tell me what’s been happening in Altera.I’m sure Dale got in touch with her, but she won’t tell him anything—we’re ride or die besties, always have been.
