don’t think so.”
He held out his hand. “It’s a fair request. After all, I’m willing to let you keep the knife in your boot as well as the one strapped to the middle of your back.”
Damn vampire. “Whatever,” I mumbled as I handed him my gun. “Let’s hurry and get this over with.”
The bastard had the audacity to laugh. Pocketing my gun, he started for the door. I heard him murmur, “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”
Truthfully, I hadn’t either. Smiling, I peeled myself from the wall and stumbled after him.
Having grown up in the ‘bigger is better’ lifestyle, I was no stranger to extravagance, but what I walked into was something other than extravagant. It was breathtaking—a throwback to a time that only existed in history books. Everything from the paintings on the walls to the rugs on the floors told a story.
“Exactly how ancient are you?” I asked as I followed him through the house and into a large, opulent dining room.
“It’s rude to ask a person’s age,” he chastised.
Before I could give him a smart-ass response, two women entered the room. I had to admit, I was surprised. The word nourisher conjured images of emaciated, anorexic, half-dead humans. These two looked the exact opposite. In fact, they appeared downright robust. Huh. Interesting.
“Ladies, come in. I’ve asked you to the main house tonight for a special reason.” I caught the looks of adoration on their faces as he pulled each of them in for a quick kiss on the cheek. Although his actions seemed more fatherly than creepy, appearances could be deceptive, especially when it came to vampires. He claimed they were just nourishers, but I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s all they were. The thought caused a flare of jealousy to ignite in the pit of my stomach. I quickly dismissed it as a case of hormonal deprivation—which made sense as I hadn’t had sex in almost two years. I was contemplating taking Ayden up on his offer when I noticed the three of them staring at me.
“As I was saying, this is Naya and Anya,” Zack angrily clipped.
What’s his problem? I thought about asking but then decided I didn’t care. Instead, I focused my attention on the two girls.
“Hi, I’m Di—"
“Ortha!” he said, cutting me off. Giving me a stern look, he continued, “This is Diortha. She will be filling in for Tamara until she returns. I thought it would be nice if you got to know each other over dinner.”
I shot him a scathing glare. Are you fucking kidding me? Diortha? Who in their right mind would name their kid Diortha? No one, that’s who! His dark eyes twinkled with humor, and I wanted to cause him bodily harm. No, I wanted him to get me off, and then to cause him bodily harm.
Zack claimed he had business to attend and took off for who knows where, while the three of us found a seat at the table. Thankfully, my plan worked. The minute they saw my neck, I was in. Over dinner, we talked about the origins of my name. With a mental eye-roll, I told them my mother named me after the goddess Diana—which was actually true—and my great-grandmother, who was named Ortha. My great-grandmother was actually named Ethel. At least he hadn’t introduced me as Diethel. After that, we talked about where we were from and how we ended up in this specific line of business. Apparently, it was an honor to be a nourisher. In fact, both girls had come from a long line of nourishers. By this point, I was kicking myself for not having read those damn books. When my turn came, I said I kind of fell into the position. This, of course, got me odd looks, so I quickly changed the subject.
“I’m so sorry about your friend Tamara. I overheard Zack and Victoria talking about her.” Leaning forward, I drew them in with a whispered, “They said she might not make it.” The idea was to tell a secret and hopefully get one in return.
Naya let out an indignant-sounding huff. “Yeah, well, she should have listened to us.”
“Naya,” Anya warned.
“No, I’m tired of everyone going on about it. If she hadn’t left with Jessie, she wouldn’t be in this position.”
“Bad dude?” I asked while shoveling a forkful of delicious tasting Mac-N-Cheese into my mouth.
“He’s not that bad of a guy,” Anya cut in. “He’s part-owner of Venom. That’s a popular bar in