Vampires and Vixens (Psy-Vamp) (5 page)

“What have you done with my brother?
Where is the pod?” Noah asked.

“Your humor is not appreciated,”
Nathaniel said dryly. “Last night, I messed with her memory.”

“You did what?”

Nathaniel blew out an exasperated breath.
“Aiden attacked her. I didn’t want her to remember it. I liked her and I felt
guilty.”

Modern humans didn’t really understand
their family structure. Nathaniel was the eldest son of the eldest son. That
gave him almost complete authority over all of his cousins. It also made him
responsible for the actions of those living under his roof. So it wasn’t a
stretch to say that Nathaniel was to blame for the attack, but Noah knew that
he rarely felt guilty about these sorts of things. Normally he was just angry
about the risk to their safety, and annoyed that he had to deal with someone
else’s stupidity.

“Aiden attacked her?” Noah was shocked.
“I admit I don’t really know him that well, but he hardly seems like the type
to assault a woman.”

The attack had surprised Nathaniel too.
“He was looking at her like she was a drug that he needed. I don’t know what
came over him, but I’m guessing he tried to give her a mental push and it
didn’t work. You know how hard it was for him to lose his parents, and he’s not
close to any of us. I’m guessing that loneliness made him go a little crazy
when he met a potential mate.”

“Believe it or not, there are people
immune to mind control,” Noah said. “I know that you’re better at it than most,
but you don’t try to control everyone so I’m sure there are a lot of people who
can resist you, and you don’t try to impregnate them all.”

“There’s more,” Nathaniel added. “Aiden
fed on her energy. Not completely, but she was too weak to walk right after it
happened. Today she’s fully recovered. It takes someone with that kind of
strength to carry our children. Last night I wanted her, but I figured that it
would be a mistake after what had happened. I also knew we had no future. Now,
I feel like Aiden did me a favor.”

“I doubt Hannah would consider it a
favor,” Noah muttered. “I know that you believe she's the woman for you, but
what if she doesn't want the life you offer her? I don't want to see you hurt.
Manipulating this girl into your world won’t make her fall in love with you.”

Nathaniel looked at Noah like he was
crazy. “Why wouldn't she want the life that I can offer her? I will give her
everything.”

“Everything except a normal human life,”
Noah added bluntly.

“She’ll have eternal life, eternal
youth. That’s better than her human life.” Nathaniel spat out. “What human
wouldn’t want what we have? You’re the only person alive that doesn’t want this
life.”

Noah shrugged. This was an old argument,
and he wasn’t interested hashing it out again.

“I’m not saying that she won’t want it,”
Noah said gently. “I just want you to be prepared for the fact that she might
not want it. You need to be honest with her.”

“What would you have me do, Noah? Tell
her on our first date?”

“I didn’t say that you need to tell her
right away, but you need to tell her before things go too far.” Noah hated
lying. He knew it was a way of life for them, but he hated it anyway.

Nathaniel smiled. “Do you like her?” He
had obviously moved on from their argument about being honest with Hannah.

The wistful look on Nathaniel’s face
made Noah smile. “Yes I like her, but if you do marry her we should keep the
fruit bowl out of her reach.”

Hannah sat cross-legged in a
grassy area of the college courtyard. There was a large tree shading her from
the sweltering autumn heat. She had just finished her shift at the campus
daycare, and she didn’t have a class for two hours. It seemed foolish to make
the thirty minute drive home so she’d decided to hang out on campus. Her only
companion was a squirrel that kept climbing down the tree to stare at her.

The week was dragging. Nathaniel had
invited her to go horseback riding that weekend and she could hardly wait. He’d
sent her flowers, but he hadn’t called her even once. She wanted to talk to him
again, but she hadn’t worked up the nerve to call him.

Lydia had seen Dominic every night since
the party. Whenever Dominic picked Lydia up, Hannah considered asking about
Nathaniel, but Dominic didn’t seem interested in interacting with her at all.
He was polite, but distant at best.

The growl of her stomach reminded her
that it had been more than six hours since breakfast, and she was famished. She
supposed that she would have to drive around to find a place to eat lunch. There
were a lot of restaurants close by, but she wasn’t really that familiar with
the area.

Her thoughts of food were interrupted
when she spotted Noah walking across the courtyard with a briefcase and an
overstuffed file folder. At first she wasn’t sure that it was him. He was
wearing tan slacks, and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his
elbows. His blond hair was slicked back neatly. As Noah hurried across the
courtyard, the papers slid out of the folder and onto the ground. Hannah
hurried over to help him.

“You look like you could use a little
help.” She squatted across from him to help gather papers.

He looked up, and grinned. “Thank you. I
knew I’d never make it out of here with this mountain of papers, but I didn’t
want to make two trips.”

She returned his grin. “So you figured
that it would be much faster to scatter the papers across the courtyard and
then gather them all up?”

He leaned closer, and lowered his voice.
“Actually, I was just lonely so I dropped the papers hoping that someone would
come help me. Pitiful what a guy has to do for a little attention.”

She laughed, and handed him a stack of
papers. “Are you a student here?”

“No, I'm an instructor. Nathaniel
mentioned that you were a student, but I didn’t realize that you were a student
here
.”

She handed the last of the papers to him.
“I'm only taking a couple of classes. I spend most of my time working at the
daycare. Don’t be jealous of my glamorous life.”

He pointed a finger at her. “So you’re
that Hannah!”

“Which Hannah would that be?” she asked
cautiously.

“Little Henry’s Hannah,” he said.

“So you know my boss?”

“His mom’s a professor in the same
department as I am. She said that he screamed bloody murder his first day at
daycare, and didn’t calm down until your shift started. She thinks you’re a
miracle worker. It was really hard for her coming back to work after Henry was
born, and you’ve made it much easier for her.”

Hannah wasn’t used to receiving
compliments. She looked away feeling a little uncomfortable.

Noah stood up, and stacked the papers on
top of his briefcase. He led her to a stone table with benches around it, and
began to reorganize his papers.

She sat opposite him, and studied his
features. “Do you mind if I make a personal observation?”

A playful grin tugged at his lips, and
he cocked his head slightly to the side. “That depends. You aren’t going to
insult me are you?”

“Probably, but I’m sure you deserve it,”
she replied with a smile.

“Good point. Observe all you want.”

“You and Nathaniel seem very different.
You don't look at all like brothers. It wouldn’t stand out if he didn’t look so
much like your cousins.”

Noah seemed completely nonplussed by her
observation, and continued to arrange the last of his papers. “We both look
like our fathers, and they aren’t my cousins.”

Her mother wouldn’t have approved of
this impolite probing, but she was curious and Noah didn’t seem to mind. “Did
you grow up with your father?”

He shook his head. “My father died when
I was very young. Roman, Nathaniel’s father, took me in. I know it sounds
strange, but we grew up in the same home, but different worlds.”

“You probably think that I'm the nosiest
person that you've ever met. Trust me; I’m not normally this intrusive.”

Noah met her gaze. “It's only natural to
wonder about people you've just met. Listen, I’m starving, I skipped breakfast
this morning, and I was just on my way to get some lunch.”

Hannah leaned her head into her hand,
embarrassed by her own manners. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. I didn't intend to
keep you here all day with my questions.” She slipped her book bag over her
shoulder and began to rise.

Noah stood quickly. “That's not what I
was trying to say at all. I was actually going to ask if you wanted to join me
for lunch. If I don't get some food soon, I'm going to drop.”

Hannah felt a wave of relief wash over
her. “Now that you mention it, I was just thinking about getting something to
eat when I saw you.”

“Where were you planning on eating?”

Hannah shrugged. “I'm not really
familiar with this area. The only thing I’m sure of is that I don't ever want
to eat in the cafeteria again. Just thinking about it makes my arteries
harden.”

Noah’s lips curled into an inviting
smile. “Well, you're in luck. I know a superb restaurant close by.”

“Not just good, superb?”

He raised his hand as though he were
taking an oath. “I kid you not. You are in for an exceptional dining
experience. They serve the finest veggie burger this side of the Mississippi.”

“With advertising like that, how could a
girl possibly resist? You’re a vegetarian?”

He nodded. “So, do you want to join me,
or do you want to stay here and starve?”

“Promise me food, and I’ll follow you
anywhere.”

“We can take my truck. I have a reserved
spot so I don’t have to worry about finding parking again. Even this late in
the day the student lot is pretty full.” He gestured toward the faculty parking
lot.

“How about if I carry some of those
papers so we don’t have to stop every few feet to pick them up again?” she
offered.

“Fine with me. I know some would say the
gentlemanly thing to do is carry them myself, but I’ve never been accused of
being a gentleman.”

She took half of the papers.

Noah’s truck was a silver Toyota Tacoma
with a double cab. He tossed the briefcase and papers in the back of the cab.

“Can I ask you something of a sensitive
nature?” Hannah asked cautiously as Noah drove them to the restaurant.

They were at a stoplight, so he turned
to smile at her. “You seem to do that quite often, but I think I prefer it to
being attacked with fruit, so go ahead.”

“What happened to your parents?”

“My mother and father were killed in a
fire.”

“That must have been really terrible for
you to lose both of your parents at the same time.” Hannah spoke quietly; her
heart ached for him, and for Nathaniel.

“Like I said, I was lucky that
Nathaniel's father took me in. It was weird living with him. For the most part
a nanny raised me. Nathaniel’s father has never been cruel or neglectful. He’s
just,” he paused to find a word to describe the man who had taken him in. “reserved.
I’m not sure that’s the best word, but it’s hard to describe him.”

Hannah looked down at her hands, and
thought about his words. “I think I understand. My father isn’t a bad person,
and he’s never really been cruel to me. He’s just very detached.”

At the restaurant, Noah waved to the
waitress in a familiar way. He escorted Hannah to a table in the back, and held
out her chair for her before taking his own seat. After closing the blinds,
Noah removed his dark glasses and set them on the table.

The waitress was a chubby woman with
gray hair, rosy cheeks, and a friendly smile. She immediately came to their
table, set down two waters, and patted Noah affectionately on the cheek. “It's
good to see you again, Noah. I see you've brought us a new customer today.”

“You know I always recommend your place
to everyone, Maggie. How is your family doing? Has Joanna had the baby yet?”

Maggie beamed with pride. “I have a new
granddaughter.” She pulled out a photo from her apron pocket and handed it to
him.

He looked at the photo, and then back at
Maggie. “She’s beautiful, just like her grandmother. Congratulations. Please
give Joanna and Robert my best wishes.” He reached out to return the photo.

Maggie put her hand up and shook her
head. “That picture is for you, Joanna insisted.”

He carefully placed the photo into his
wallet. “Thank you.”

Maggie’s attention shifted to Hannah
“Who is your lady friend?”

“This is Hannah. She’s a very good
friend of my family’s.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Hannah.”

“It's nice meeting you too.” Hannah replied.

Noah leaned toward Maggie with an impish
grin. “She’s just using me to get your food.”

“Would you like the usual today?” Maggie
asked.

“Please,” he replied. “Hannah will need
to see a menu.”

“No,” Hannah insisted, “whatever you're
having is fine with me. I'm not a picky eater, and I’m too hungry to look at a
menu. If I start looking at the menu I might order everything.”

“No offense,” he said, “but you don’t
seem like the veggie burger type. I’m guessing you want something with meat.”

“I really don’t like veggie burgers,”
she admitted, “but I’m hungry enough to eat a horse.”

“Not a vegetarian item and I’m pretty
sure Maggie doesn’t serve horse here. How about beef instead?”

She nodded.

“Make hers with a regular patty,” Noah
told Maggie.

“How would you like that cooked?” Maggie
asked.

“Just barely medium,” was Hannah’s
reply.

“Drinks?” Maggie asked.

“Water’s fine,” Hannah said.

Noah nodded. “Same here.”

Maggie went toward the kitchen to put in
their orders.

“How long have you been coming here?”
Hannah asked.

“About a year. I moved here to take a
teaching position last autumn. Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “You just seem very
familiar with Maggie, like you’ve known her for years.”

“I like people,” he replied. He had
grown up living on the outskirts of humanity, but he preferred being immersed
in humanity. That wasn’t something he could explain to Hannah yet. He hated the
feeling that he was holding things back, but it wasn’t like he could just
reveal all of their secrets to a woman he barely knew. Lies were a part of his
everyday life, but he never really got used to them. He took a small pill
container out of his front pocket, removed three large pills, and swallowed
them dry.

“That’s a lot of pills!” Hannah said in
surprise.

Noah looked a little embarrassed. “I
have to take some supplements every day.”

“Is it because you’re a vegetarian?” she
asked, not meaning it to sound as intrusive as it did.

There was a long pause before he
responded. “No, I have a condition, and my body doesn’t absorb minerals from
foods very well. So, what’s your major?” Noah asked to change the subject.

“Education, with an emphasis in
elementary school education.” She felt compelled to explain this choice,
probably because her mother had never approved of the idea. “I really like
children, and I want to do something that makes a difference for them.”

“You don’t have to sell teaching to me,”
he assured her.

“I guess I don’t, Professor.”

“My brother thinks you’re pretty darn
incredible,” he said out of the blue. “I’m glad he found someone like you.”

Her eyed widened. “Wow! I thought I was
blunt.”

It surprised Hannah to see Maggie return
so quickly with their food.

“Thank you! It looks fantastic.” It was
true.

Noah thanked her as well.

Hannah had a mouthful of food, and had
her eyes closed. Noah was right, the food was great. She was making happy
humming noises that would have caused her mother to have heart palpitations.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone
enjoy a burger that much,” Noah seemed amused. “You almost make me want to start
eating meat again.”

She blushed. “I can’t believe my manners
are so bad around you.”

Noah waved a dismissive hand. “I’m not
very refined so it doesn’t bother me.” With that he bit into his own food.