Vampires and Vixens (Psy-Vamp) (4 page)

It was difficult for Hannah to claw her
way through the haze of sleep. When she finally managed to open her eyes, her
surroundings were unfamiliar. The sunlight coming through the crack in the
drapes confirmed that it was morning, but she was not in her own bed. She was
on a strange sofa, in a strange room, wearing a stranger’s shirt. It took her a
few minutes to remember the events of the previous night.

She spotted her purse sitting on the
coffee table with a note beside it.

‘
Dear Hannah,

I hope you are feeling better this
morning. I checked on your cousin, and she decided to spend the night. I made
sure your friends got home safely.

I put a few essential items in the
washroom. Please help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Just walk to your left,
and go down the second set of stairs. Dominic will bring your cousin down there
to meet you after she wakes up.

Yours,

Nathaniel
’

In the bathroom she found clean towels,
soap, shampoo, conditioner, a new toothbrush and toothpaste.

After a shower she felt better. She
hoped that Nathaniel wouldn’t mind her keeping his shirt. Hers was missing so
she assumed Nathaniel had thrown it out. Confusion made her brow furrow. She
had a hazy memory of spilling red wine on her shirt, but she knew Aiden had
torn it.

Purse in hand she headed to the kitchen.
It was a nice kitchen. The walls were a cheerful shade of yellow. It had oak
cabinets, a large island in the center, and several windows that gave it a
bright, open feel. There was also a breakfast nook with a table and four chairs
close to the veranda doors. A large bowl of fresh fruit sat on the island. She
hadn't planned to eat anything, but she was famished. She grabbed an apple and
bit into it.

“The party is over.” The angry words
caused her to spin around, and drop the apple.

The voice belonged to a young man
wearing shorts, a tank top, and running shoes. He crossed his arms in front of
his chest, leaned his hip against a counter, and scowled at her. “I suggest you
take yourself off of the property. I would also suggest that you avoid taking
any of our belongings with you.”

Her voice quivered slightly as she
replied. “I was told I could help myself to anything in the kitchen.” Her hand
motioned nervously to the bowl of fruit on the counter.

He raised one eyebrow in the most
annoying, and arrogant way. “And who told you to help yourself to anything you
wanted from my brother’s closet? I recognize the shirt, because I bought it for
him. I know this may be hard for you to understand, but sharing a bed with some
guy you hardly know doesn't give you the right to shop through our closets. If
you expected payment for your services, you should have said something in
advance.”

Hannah stared in stunned silence for a
moment. After the shock wore off she was outraged. “Nathaniel told me that I
could wear this shirt, after one of your crazy ass cousins tore mine. As for
your other accusation, I did
not
share anyone’s bed last night. Although
I fail to see how that’s any of your business. I am sick and tired of people in
this damn house attacking me!” She picked up the apple, and threw it at his
head.

Unfortunately, he ducked and then had
the nerve to laugh at her. His hands went up in surrender, and he flashed a
boyish grin that revealed twin dimples. “I'm sorry about what I said, and how I
said it.” It was hard to tell how contrite he was, because he was obviously
amused by her.

Hands on hips, she scowled at him. Her
eyes darted to the fruit bowl as she considered throwing something else at his
head.

“Perhaps I should move this fruit bowl
before you realize that the grapefruit would hurt more.” He cautiously moved
the fruit bowl to the other side of the room.

“Next time I won’t aim for your head,”
she grumbled.

In response, he laughed so hard that he
had to lean against the counter for support.

“I may have overreacted with the apple.”
Her anger faded. “It was kind of a rough night.”

“Yeah, well I was still being an ass.”

She nodded. “Yes, you were.”

“This is the part where you assure me
that I wasn’t being an ass,” he explained.

“Oh, so you want me to lie?” There was
now a teasing glint in her eyes.

“That would be nice,” he admitted.

“So you’re Nathaniel’s brother?” She
wished that she hadn’t tossed the apple, because her stomach picked that moment
to growl.

He must have heard it, because he
quickly moved the fruit bowl within her reach, but not before he took the
grapefruit out. “So does this mean we can start over?”

It was impossible to stay angry with
him, but she had a devilish urge to tease him. “I fail to see how we can start
over after you called me a thieving slut.”

He gave her another dimpled grin. His
hazel eyes were alight with laughter. It occurred to her that there was really
no similarity between this man and Nathaniel. His skin was paler, his facial
features were softer, and his hair was blond and in need of a trim.

“I didn't mean to insinuate that you
were a thieving slut. It was more like a pilfering tramp, or perhaps a
villainous vixen, but most definitely not a thieving slut,” he said deadpan.

Hannah was enjoying their exchange. “Oh,
now that's different. Villainous vixen has a nice ring to it.”

He leaned against the counter again. “You
have a good sense of humor, and lucky for me you throw like a girl.”

The first thing Nathaniel noticed when
he walked into the kitchen was Hannah’s smile. He moved to stand close to her.
“Good morning, Hannah. I see you’ve met Noah.”

“Well, we were moving in that
direction.” Noah winked at her. “I'm Noah, Nathaniel's younger brother.”

“I'm Hannah, his most recent damsel in
distress.” She turned to smile at Nathaniel.

Nathaniel looked shocked, but quickly recovered.

“What’s this about a crazy cousin
attacking Hannah?” Noah prodded.

Noah noticed that Nathaniel suddenly
looked utterly fascinated with Hannah.

“Please don’t mention any of this to my
cousin,” Hannah said, and then looked toward the entrance to the kitchen. “I
hope she’s okay. I know you said Dominic was safe, and I shouldn’t worry. I
guess my nerves are little frayed after last night.”

“I’m sure she’ll be down soon,”
Nathaniel assured her. “You seem well rested. I’m surprised that you have so
much energy after your ordeal last night.”

Nathaniel looked at Noah. “I‘ll explain
everything later.” Then his full attention returned to Hannah. “I don’t want
Hannah to relive the details.”

Hannah smiled at him and blushed. He was
staring at her with the same intensity he had just before he’d kissed her. That
thought made her blush more.

Noah cleared his throat to get his
brother’s attention. “I need to go over some receipts with you this morning. I
want to get them logged into the books before I go to the bank tomorrow
morning.”

Nathaniel smiled proudly at his brother.
“I neglected to mention that Noah is not only my brother, he’s also my
accountant and financial advisor.” His tone was warm. “He’s responsible for
ensuring that I don't squander away my money on frivolous whims. He also gets
me the best return on my investments. No easy task these days.”

“You'd think that he would pay me with
an impressive job title like that, wouldn't you?” Noah added. He lifted himself
onto the island in the middle of the room.

“I need to make sure that Hannah and her
cousin get home safely. Can this business wait until this afternoon?” The tone
of Nathaniel's voice, made it clear that it wasn’t a request.

Before Noah could voice his opinion,
Lydia staggered into the room with Dominic.

“Good morning everybody,” Lydia mumbled
weakly. Her body rested heavily against Dominic’s side. Her skin was even paler
than usual, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

In contrast to Lydia, Dominic appeared
fully rested, bordering on manic. The sight of Lydia made Hannah's lips narrow
into a grim line. “Are you feeling okay, Lyd? You look, well, you look
terrible. You didn’t drink more after we got here did you?”

“I may have had one little drink, but
I’m fine. I just partied too much last night.” Lydia tried to stifle a yawn. “It
was well worth it though. I had a superb time.”

Hannah looked suspicious. Something
wasn’t right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Maybe she was just on edge
after the events of the previous night.

“Too bad you got sick last night. You
missed a great party,” Lydia said around another yawn.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “If this is what
someone looks like after a great party, then I think I'll pass.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lydia
asked defensively.

With her hands on her hips, Hannah
examined Lydia, and then replied in a matter of fact voice. “It means that you
can barely stand on your own. In fact, I’m not sure you can stand on your own.
All in all, you look like hell.”

“I just need a little more sleep, that’s
all. I would have slept in this morning, but I figured you’d want to go home. I
was trying to put your needs first.” Lydia was whining, a sure sign that she
needed more sleep. Lydia was generally a sweet person, but never a morning
person.

Hannah’s arms dropped to her sides. “I’m
sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you.”

“I know you weren’t. I’m just tired and
bitchy. You look like you're feeling better. I can’t believe you spilled wine
on that pretty top. Maybe we can still get the stain out.”

Hannah frowned. She had a strange memory
of someone telling her that she’d spilled wine on her shirt. Maybe what she
remembered was Nathaniel telling her the story they would give Lydia.

“We should go home now so you can get
some more sleep.” Hannah suggested.

As Lydia turned to leave she lost her
balance. Dominic caught her, but not before she tried to grab the door frame
and somehow cut her index finger on it. “Ouch! Damn that hurt!”

Dominic held her in his arms, placed her
bloody finger up to his lips, and then ran his tongue across the wound. “You’re
supposed to kiss it to make it better, right?”

“No!” Noah snapped.

“Lydia, you can’t drive in your
condition,” Hannah couldn’t imagine how someone could drive when they were too
weak to walk.

“Then you drive,” Lydia suggested.

“I can’t drive a stick,” Hannah reminded
her.

“I can drive them home,” Dominic said a
little too cheerfully.

“No!” Noah snapped again.

“I’ll drive you home and have someone
follow to drive me back,” Nathaniel said, ending all arguments. “I just need to
shower. Please have something to eat while you’re waiting.” Then he seemed to
remember that there wasn’t much in the kitchen. “Sorry, I’m not much of a cook,
and the staff is off for the weekend. Perhaps we could stop and pick something
up?”

“No, we’ll be fine,” Hannah assured him.

He nodded, and left the room.

“It was very nice meeting you,” Noah
said. He scowled at Dominic and put the grapefruit back in the fruit bowl
beside Hannah. “I’ll put this back just in case you feel the urge to throw
something.” Then he followed Nathaniel out of the room.

Nathaniel waited until they were
upstairs, and far enough from the kitchen to avoid being overheard. “So what
was so urgent that you needed to speak to me now?”

“Let’s start with why you let your host,
or intended host, sleep over, and then wander unescorted around the house.
Obviously you didn’t feed off of her last night, or she’d look more like her
cousin this morning.” He made no attempt to mask his disgust. “Then we can move
on to the one-way plane ticket you charged last night. Your email
advising me of the transaction was a little vague. Who pissed you off, and why
do I get the impression it has something to do with your new host? My money
would’ve been on Dominic, but he’s still here. Did Drew finally get the boot?
You should just have Drew put down.”

“You can relax, Noah.” To Noah's
surprise, Nathaniel seemed offended. “I would never harm Hannah.” He took a
deep breath and smiled wistfully. “Noah, she’s everything that I’ve ever
wanted, and she is going to be the mother of my son.”

Noah’s jaw dropped, and he remained
silent as he tried to process what his brother had just said. Finally, it all
registered. “Hold on. Are you telling me she’s pregnant with your child? I
thought that the two of you met last night.”

“She isn’t pregnant,” Nathaniel sounded
irritated by the question. “We were destined for each other. I’ve spent my
entire life waiting for someone like her. My father is going to be pleased with
my choice.” He nodded his head as if agreeing with himself.

Nathaniel was not the romantic type, and
that made this whole conversation seem even stranger.