Pulling through the gates, he slid his eyes sideways and caught her fidgeting again. “Will you please relax? They’re going to love you. Besides, what can they say? I’m the head of the house, remember?”
“I remember,” Trina said dryly. “Let’s just hope they’re not planning a coup.”
Carlos laughed. “There’s my girl. I was wondering when she was going to show up. I told you, nothing to worry about.”
Trina pushed at his shoulder and laughed uneasily. She was going to a visit house full of vampires and vampire wannabes with her vampire lover. Nope, calm just wasn’t in the cards tonight.
“This is your driveway?” she commented as they wound their way around toward the front of the house. It was more like a private road, and she could only assume the little cottages they passed along the way were for the staff.
As the house came into view, she was dumbstruck by its sheer size. Flanked by large oaks and sitting at the pinnacle of a circular drive was a stunning Georgian brick colonial. The word mansion didn’t go far enough. She counted eleven chimneys, the largest of which were on either end. One side of the house was a glass conservatory, and the other a large veranda that sparked the imagination back to a bygone era. As they pulled in toward the front, she caught a glance of the river and the breadth of the property leading toward the dock. The place needed its own ZIP code.
They got out of the car and walked hand in hand to the front door. White columns supported an ivy-covered portico, and a graceful arch of stained glass welcomed them as they walked past toward the entryway. “Nice digs. And to think you were impressed by my little townhouse in the city,” Trina said with a smirk.
“If you remember correctly, I think it was you I was impressed with,” he said, lifting her hand to his lips.
Trina felt one kind of tension leave her body, only to be replaced by another. She closed her eyes as the touch of his lips sent shivers through her. Would she ever get used to the way her body responded to his? God, she hoped not.
“Hello? Anybody home?” Carlos called as they walked into the foyer.
Trina plastered her best smile on her face as she waited for the “family” to make their appearance. Her anxiety had renewed itself and she swallowed hard against the butterflies winging around in her stomach. This was it. Fidgeting with the buttons on her jean jacket, she smoothed her hair twice.
“Càlmase! El olor de su miedo me está quemando la nariz.” he whispered.
Normally Trina found it very romantic whenever Carlos spoke to her in Spanish, but telling her that the smell of her anxiety was starting to burn the inside of his nose left a lot to be desired. “Terrific. Why don’t you just add to my nervousness?” she whispered back sullenly. “Maybe we should just leave this for another night.”
“What, and deprive the rest of us from finally meeting the one person who’s managed to enthrall our fearless leader? Aw, love, you can’t possibly be that cruel, now can you?” a deep voice said from off to the left.
Trina turned. The subtle British accent belonged to a young man, and without a second look she knew he was also a vampire. With his arms crossed casually in front of his chest, he leaned against an open set of French doors, his foot propped indifferently against the molding. His relaxed pose made it obvious he was part of the family, but Trina guessed that behind his casual demeanor he was shrewdly evaluating her.
The young vampire was slightly taller than Carlos, with light sandy hair and green eyes, and though he seemed to be somewhere in his mid-twenties, looks didn’t mean a thing. For all Trina knew he could have been older than dirt.
“Why don’t you introduce me to your lovely lady, Carlos? Although I must say I feel as though I already know her, since you’ve done nothing but chatter on about her for the past three weeks.”
At his words, Trina knew her face was a wash of color, and with her auburn hair, it never failed to make her feel like a walking tomato.
Pushing himself away from his perch, he smiled and walked over. Trina could feel subtle changes in the air, and even without the benefit of vampiric senses, it was obvious he was up to something.
“Trina, this is my brother, Julian,” Carlos said, shooting him a look.
Trina looked from one to the other. They held no resemblance whatsoever. After the brutal way Carlos was changed, she couldn’t believe he would turn on one of his own. Or would he? As much as she knew, she was still pretty much in the dark when it came to vampires and their nature. “Your brother?”
Carlos kept his eyes on Julian, his stare flinty. “Not in the human sense. Technically, we are maker and progeny, as I turned Julian over a century and a half ago. But in our world he’s my blood brother, the same as the others in our little family.”
The other man kept his eyes on her, his amusement evident. Extending her hand, Trina murmured, “Nice to meet you,” but instead of shaking her hand, Julian swept it up in his, turning it over and exposing her wrist. Trina gasped as Julian’s fangs descended, his lips brushing the delicate skin directly above her pulse, lingering just long enough to cause Carlos to step forward.
“Julian…enough,” he said, putting a staying hand on his brother’s wrist.
His brother simply shrugged. “Can you blame me? You of all people can appreciate just how delicious she smells.”
Carlos’s eyes narrowed, and even though he spoke to Trina he kept his scowl focused Julian. “Not to worry, mi vida. Julian’s just doing this to aggravate me. He means you no harm and he’s going to stop right now. Aren’t you, hermano?” he said to his brother through clenched teeth.
Chuckling, Julian’s grin said it all. “I’m sorry, Trina. I just couldn’t resist getting a rise out of el Jefe here. He’s been driving everyone to drink ever since he told us we were to meet you tonight. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how obsessive he can be.”
Carlos frowned.
Trina knew he was as worried as she about how tonight would go, regardless of his perceived nonchalance. If they traumatized her, he’d never forgive himself. The tension coming from Carlos was palpable, and he looked like he was ready to bite Julian’s head off—literally.
She burst out laughing. The mental image Julian had conjured in her mind was just too ridiculous, and his brother smiled brilliantly at the success of his plan to break the ice, even if it was at Carlos’s expense.
“Relax, Carlos, it’s all in good fun, eh?”
“Mmmmmm.”
“Come on, Trina. Let’s leave Grumpy here to hang up the jackets. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the family,” Julian said, swinging his arm affably around her shoulders.
Carlos trailed after them. Glancing back, Trina shot him a sympathetic smile. His family was going to have fun with this, and it was clear he was to be the guest of honor at their version of a vampire roast.
“Everyone, this is Trina,” Julian announced as the three of them entered the room. All at once, everyone started to clap. Trina flushed, clearly embarrassed. Of all the things she had imagined could happen when she finally met Carlos’s family, this was definitely not on the list. She looked at Carlos for help, but all he could do was shrug.
“Take a bow, love, ’cause you deserve it,” Julian quipped. “Somehow you’ve managed to get Sir Serious to actually smile on more than just Christmas and Boxing Day.”
Trina smiled and curtsied with flourish and the clapping grew even louder with the addition of some whistles and hoots. Even more embarrassed, she started to laugh as Carlos came up next to her and took her hand. He brought it to his mouth and kissed it yet again, smiling himself. “See? I told you you’d be a hit.”
Before long, Trina’s nerves dissipated. Introductions were made all around and soon they were all talking and laughing as they each shared funny and somewhat embarrassing stories about Carlos. But it was obvious to her just how much they all loved and respected him.
Miguel was one of the younger members of the family. He had been eyeing Trina thoughtfully for most of t
he night, watching her interact with everyone. He seemed fascinated by her and when the conversation finally came to a natural lull, he spoke.
“I’m sorry, mija, but I need to ask. You really had no clue that Carlos was…different from you when you first got together? He told me you instinctively fought against his glamour. How is this true?”
Trina considered Miguel for a moment. “I had no inkling about Carlos at the beginning. The only way I can explain it is that I didn’t want to see it. I’m not usually an obtuse sort of a person. My curiosity typically gets the better of me, but for some reason I didn’t recognize the warning signs. I guess I wasn’t meant to, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. But now that I think about it, the no-heartbeat thing should have been a dead giveaway.” She tapped on Carlos’s chest. “No pun intended.” Leaning up, she gave his cheek a kiss. “But my subconscious figured it out long before I did. I kept having these incredible dreams after our very first meeting…the one by the back stairwell.”
Carlos’s head whipped around. “You remember that?”
Trina nodded. “My memory of it had almost completely faded. A few blurry, incoherent images were all I could conjure, if that. But everything came flooding back the first time I gave you my blood. My memory of those loathsome teenagers, and what they did to that poor girl is clear as day, as is my memory of how you saved her. If you hadn’t messed with my memory, I don’t think I’d ever have fallen in love with you. I would have been too afraid.”
“Afraid? Of me?” Carlos asked, pulling back slightly.
“No, not you. But of your kind.” Her eyes swept the room and all the faces watching her. “I would have thought you the exception to the rule, Carlos. That most of your kind was like those two monsters. But after listening to my great-grandmother, and hearing you talk about your family and now meeting them, I realize your race is not so very different from the human race. Each has both good and bad.
“But to answer your question, Miguel, I’m not really sure what you mean by glamour. My head got a little fuzzy and my heart started to race when he first introduced himself to me, but then again he annoyed me as well, so maybe that’s why I was immune to his tricks.”
Miguel just chuckled. “Yeah, I know all about how irritating el Jefe can be at times. But perhaps there’s something to your theory—anger as opposed to fear. Makes me wonder,” he said contemplatively.
Miguel, like Julian, had joined Carlos about one hundred and fifty years or so prior. The two seemed contented with their nocturnal bachelorhood and spent a good portion of the evening razzing Carlos about his new ball and chain and other various forms of imprisonment.
Trina just laughed at their good-natured ribbing. It was clear to her that they were truly brothers, and Carlos was the elder of the group.
Margot and Trevor, however, were older than the younger two by more than one hundred years. Carlos had found them in France. They had been traveling as servants to Thomas Jefferson and his party, as they looked to garner France’s support for the American Revolution against England. Both had fallen ill with smallpox and were left without much hope. Carlos found them in the care of nuns at a local hospital, a mere hair’s breadth away from death.
The last member of Carlos’s family was Eric. He joined the get-together well after everyone had settled into talking and getting to know one another. For some reason the introduction didn’t go as smoothly as the rest, making her feel slightly awkward. Eric looked uncomfortable when he greeted her, seemingly ill at ease whenever he glanced her way.
Trina didn’t need her degree in psychology to see there was much more to Eric and his story. Although he was slightly more relaxed with the others in the group, he still held himself apart. With questions in her eyes, Trina looked at Carlos.
He took Trina’s hand and led her out onto the veranda. It stretched across the side and back of the house and the two walked its length in the moonlight.
“Eric is the newest member of the family. He’s had the hardest time of all of us adjusting to his new life. You see, he was turned against his will, not unlike what happened to me. It’s because of our similar stories that he and I have managed to bond,” Carlos said in answer to Trina’s unspoken questions.
“Every one of us is tied to each other by blood. Julian, Miguel, Margot, and Trevor all belong to me because I changed them—it was their choice, of their own free will. But Eric, he is tied to us through the sharing his blood, which for a vampire created without compassion and trust is nearly an impossible thing to do.
“You see, we each carry the mark of the one who made us—our sire, so to speak. So to be sired out of lust or cruelty or both leaves us with only those feelings from which to draw upon. The other emotions we experienced in life die along with our human bodies. Eric and I are very similar creatures. It’s taken me centuries to recover from all I lost that night in Cadiz. Eric is still struggling to find what he lost. We all help in any way we can.”
“He resents me,” Trina said. “It’s obvious, and from what you just told me I can certainly understand why. You’re his touchstone, and he’s afraid I’ll take you from him, that he’ll sink back into the kind of cruel depravity that created him. I don’t want him to feel that way. I want him to know that in loving you, I want to help him find himself as much as you do.”
He looked at her with eyes both astonished, as they were tender. That she could feel sympathy for someone like Eric and not be afraid? It was unheard of. Eric was frightening, volatile, especially when he felt threatened. Trina never ceased to amaze him, not just her intelligence, but also her inexhaustible capacity for compassion. Her trust in his ability to keep her safe ran deep into her core, and he knew that trust was something he would never betray. Words failed him, so he placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her softly.
“Well, what do you think, now that you’ve met everyone?” Julian asked as the two walked back inside.
“Well, I haven’t met everyone yet. I haven’t met the kids,” Trina said, a little confused. “Where are they? I assumed when you spoke of them that they were older, more like teenagers. How come they’re not around?”
The five vampires all turned at once to look at their leader with baffled expressions.
“Trina, if you’re talking about our pets, they don’t socialize with us. They have their own quarters and only join us when they’re summoned,” Julian said matter-of-factly.
Closing his eyes, Carlos groaned inwardly. It had been going so well.
“Pets? You call this group of kids your…pets? I hope that’s just a term of endearment.” She looked from face to face, but seeing their collective bewilderment made her turn to Carlos for an explanation. “Carlos, I don’t understand. You said they were like foster kids. I assumed they were part of your family. Taken care of, cared for.”
“They are cared for, love. But if I’m reading you correctly, just not the way you thought,” Julian said.
“Shut up, Julian,” Miguel interrupted sharply. “Let Carlos handle this.”
Julian just shrugged and leaned casually against the wall.
“Carlos?” Trina pressed.
“Trina, I explained this to you. How we share blood…and other things with them. However, they aren’t part of the family unit per se. It just isn’t done.”
“What do you mean, ‘just isn’t done’? Is this some common vampiric practice, keeping humans on call for…whatever?”
“It’s very much a commonplace thing in our world. But it’s not what you think. Pets are selected based on need, and are always given a choice. I don’t permit anyone to be admitted to the ranks without first receiving a straightforward explanation of what is to be expected. The entire family also has to be in agreement.”
“You make it sound so diplomatic,” she said derisively. “Call them up here. I want to see for myself what your idea of ‘cared for’ looks like. Better yet, I want to see how and where they live, especially since they’re not considered part of the family.”
Julian stood up. “All right? Since when do we let humans sit in judgment over something they can’t possibly understand?” His gaze shifted to Trina and their eyes locked. “Sorry, luv, but that’s the ice-cold truth of it. Just because you’re bumping uglies with Carlos, it doesn’t entitle you to pass sentence on our way of life.”
“Julian!” Margot hissed.
Eric’s eyes were daggers. “No, Margot, he’s right. Don’t we have enough trouble with our own kind and their ideas of how vampires should behave? My day-to-day life is hard enough. I’m not going to sit here and let Carlos’s blood type of the month tell me how to live my life.”
“Enough,” Carlos said tightly. “I never ask anything of you, but now I am. I want solidarity here. And Trina is not my ‘blood type of the month’, Eric, and I don’t appreciate you referring to her that way. It’s disrespectful, not only to her and to me, but to you as well. We’re not the monsters others of our kind have painted us to be, and that’s the whole point of this.”
No one dared argue with that. One by one, they got up, some with perplexed and worried looks, others with amused indulgent expressions, but Carlos looked stoic and unapologetic as he led the way.
Trina expected to go up the main staircase into the living quarters where she assumed all the bedrooms were, but instead they headed down the hall toward the kitchen. At the end of the hallway, there was a nondescript door. Carlos opened it and a light came on, illuminating another stairway leading down to a lower level.
They descended two by two and turned at the bottom of the stairs into a large great room. The ambiance was that of posh private club with just a hint of college dormitory. The couches and chairs were soft buttery leather, the color of tobacco. There was an entertainment unit that housed a large flat-screen TV and countless DVDs. There were books by the score, a pool table, air hockey and foosball tables, and a gaming station with a Wii and an Xbox and every other conceivable type of video game spread throughout. The room had everything except windows. Trina counted six bedrooms off the great room, as well as a kitchen that seemed stocked with enough food to feed a small army.
The Cursed by Blood Saga Page 65
