“That was the least funny,” Isabelle interrupted Ian. “Vicky and Abby cried for a week.”
They all looked pointedly at Aiden who threw his hands up defensively. “Hey, it’s not my fault! They thought that they were old enough to get involved with the wars! Besides, they started it by putting itching powder in my bed.”
“He retaliated by turning their ten parakeets lose in December. We found five of them frozen in the front yard, the others disappeared,” Mike said, shaking his head disapprovingly.
“Vicky and Abby never got involved in anything after that,” Aiden said with a bright grin.
“Yeah, and we’ve gotten too old to continuously torture each other,” Ian said. “But Willow, Julian, Kyle, and Cassidy have taken up where we left off with a vengeance.”
“Except they’re more likely to get themselves killed,” Isabelle muttered. “I think they’re crazier than we were.”
“You’re forgetting about the time that you climbed to the top of that same sycamore tree, and threw yourself out of it in the hope that I would catch you,” Ethan reminded her.
“Which you did,” she said with a grin.
“You broke my damn ankle!”
“Stop complaining, mom babied you for a week, and I got stuck on diaper duty with Kyle and Cassidy. I definitely got the raw end of that deal.”
“Yeah,” Ethan said, smiling fondly. “That was a good week.”
Isabelle grinned at him. Stefan watched the exchange with a small amount of wonder, and awe. It was becoming increasingly clear that Ethan and Isabelle were exceptionally close as they smiled at each other, their eyes twinkling merrily. A small bolt of jealousy ripped through him and he stiffened in surprise. His eyebrows drew together as he forced himself to relax. He was acting like an idiot. He didn’t even know the girl, yet he was fully aroused by her, and suddenly jealous of the fact that she had a close relationship with her brother.
He shoved the thought forcefully aside as he forced his gaze away from her. David stood up and leaned his hands on the table. “I think we’d better get going.”
Aiden, Ian, and Jack climbed swiftly to their feet. “You got that list?” David asked.
“Oh, yeah.” Isabelle chewed on her lip as she shifted the laundry basket, pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, and handed it to him.
David glanced at it and nodded. “No problem.”
“Thanks.” Isabelle smiled at him and left the room, the other four filed out behind her.
Stefan sat silently for awhile, contemplating his strange thoughts, and behavior. The room was oddly quiet without the laughter that had filled it. Without Isabelle. That realization did nothing to ease his darkening mood. He folded his hands behind his head and pretended to listen as Ethan, Mike, Doug, and Jess exchanged pleasant conversation, and more stories. He didn’t hear a word they said, and he found his gaze drawn to the door every few moments. It wasn’t until about the fiftieth time he looked that he realized he was hoping for Isabelle to reappear.
When she didn’t, and Jess placed her hand on his thigh again, he decided that it was time to go to bed.
CHAPTER 7
It was some time later that Stefan left his room. Jess was wide awake, still yelling at him when he slammed the door in her face. He was edgy, restless, and aggravated as hell. He sure as shit wasn’t going to waste his time, or energy, fighting with her. She wasn’t worth the bother. The thing that bothered him was what had started the fight. For the first time, in his exceptionally long life, he had been unable to keep himself aroused.
It was only when he’d had a flash of violet eyes that he had responded in any way to Jess’s attempts at seduction. It hadn’t lasted long. When Jess had crawled on top of him, a feeling of disgust had instantly flooded him. He had shoved her off, suddenly unable to stomach the feel of her any longer.
Now he felt like a caged animal, desperate to escape, as he made his way quickly down the hall. He didn’t know what the hell was the matter with him, but he didn’t like the feeling at all. He sighed with disgust as he made his way swiftly down the stairs.
The light in the dining room was still on. He was drawn there by soft laughter, and voices. He walked into the room, pausing as his eyes landed on Isabelle. She looked up at him, her eyes widening in surprise as they met his. For a moment he simply held her gaze, his loins instantly pulsed and throbbed to life as his body tensed with the fierce sexual urge that ripped through him. Fear darted quickly through her bright eyes as she looked quickly away. Stefan remained where he was, stunned by the sheer force of the physical reaction that rocked through him.
“Hey, I thought you’d gone to sleep,” Ethan greeted.
Stefan shrugged negligently as he walked carefully over to the chair he had abandoned earlier. His physical condition made it difficult for him to walk. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Hmm. Got a two?”
“What?” Isabelle asked distractedly.
“A two?” Ethan inquired again.
She glanced at the cards in her hand, barely seeing the numbers on them. Stefan’s hungry, dark gaze had made her feel extremely uncomfortable, and edgy. Her blood seemed to be burning in her veins, and that odd tingling sensation was back between her thighs, and in her breasts. She shifted uncomfortably as a fierce yearning, that she didn’t understand, began to make its way through her. Silently she cursed herself for stupidly thinking that Stefan wouldn’t be coming back down tonight. She should have stayed in her room, buried under a pile of books like she had planned.
“Go fish,” she mumbled.
Of course, it didn’t help that he looked unbelievably sexy in his lose jeans, and tight, dark blue shirt. His hair was tussled, giving him a boyish appeal that was almost irresistible. Almost, but not entirely. She planned to resist it, and she planned to stay far away from him for now on.
“Isabelle,” Ethan said sharply.
“What?” she demanded, aggravated by the strange feelings coursing rapidly through her.
His eyes narrowed as he studied her, his brow puckered. “Are you going to go?”
She blinked at her cards as she tried to force her attention back to them. “Do you have a four?” He tossed a card across the table at her. She scooped it up and dropped her cards onto the table. “Ten?”
“Go fish.”
Isabelle reached across and grabbed a card from the deck. “Jess sleeping?” Ethan inquired.
“No,” Stefan muttered.
Isabelle stiffened as she recognized the strange scent that was clinging to him. She had smelled it often enough on her brothers, parents, and the stooges, and she knew exactly what it was. Disgust coiled within her stomach at the smell of the sex, along with another emotion, one that she was beginning to become uncomfortably familiar with, jealousy. She bit her lip, wanting to bolt from the room, but unable to humiliate herself by doing so.
She lifted her head to find Ethan grinning knowingly as he stared at his cards. “Pig,” she muttered.
He glanced up at her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “What?” he inquired innocently.
Isabelle glared at him as she lowered her gaze to her cards again. “When will they be getting back?” Stefan asked.
Isabelle glanced at the clock in the corner, it was after twelve already. “Whenever they feel like it,” Ethan answered.
“Hopefully soon,” Isabelle replied softly. She had been a little hungry earlier, but her distress over seeing him again made it burn into fierce, brutal life.
“They bring people back for you?” Stefan asked.
“No!” Isabelle cried, her eyes flying to his in horror. Stefan’s eyes widened in surprise, he was startled by the amount of alarm in her gaze, and the revulsion in her voice.
Ethan sighed and leaned back in his chair, dropping his cards to the table. The game was officially over, and Isabelle was more than a little grateful. She couldn’t concentrate, and she just wanted out of the suddenly small, stuffy room. “Isabelle doesn’t feed off of h
umans.”
“Ethan!” she hissed her intent to leave flying out the window in the face of her brother’s casual statement. If she could have reached him she would have firmly kicked him under the table. There were some things that were private and personal, certain things that she didn’t want everyone to know. Especially not the frustrating stranger sitting across from her.
“What?” Stefan asked, his eyebrows rising in surprise.
Isabelle scowled fiercely at her brother as he folded his arms over his chest, a brow cocked questioningly as he grinned at her. “It’s true!” he protested.
She took a deep breath as she tried to calm her growing anger and resentment. “So how do you feed then?” Stefan asked.
Isabelle sighed and dropped her cards. She leaned back in her chair to meet his gaze with pure defiance. “There is such a thing as blood banks. It’s what our parents did for us when we were little. I choose to keep doing it.”
“Don’t want to hurt the humans?”
Isabelle ground her teeth. “That’s right,” she said coldly, although it was a lie. She didn’t like being around them, but she was more afraid that she would accidentally stumble across one that would turn out to be what her mother was to her father. Other than high school, she had tried to keep herself away from as many humans as she could, in order to prevent herself from finding a soul mate. Now she was afraid that he might have stumbled into her sanctuary.
“Isabelle and I are the outsiders, the outcasts,” Ethan said with an amused grin. “We’re not social, especially not with humans. Although, I will at least feed off of them and go out once in awhile. Isabelle stays close to home.”
“And why is that?” Stefan asked, a little surprised by what they were telling him.
Ethan shrugged as Isabelle shifted uncomfortably. She knew that Ethan feared the same thing that she did, but she didn’t know if he was going to tell Stefan that, or not. She sure as hell wasn’t going too. “We’re content here,” he replied nonchalantly. “What about you, how old are you exactly?”
Stefan lifted a brow as he looked questioningly at the two of them. Isabelle was sitting silently, her dark head bent as she refused to meet his gaze. He knew that there was something more to Ethan’s simple explanation, but it was obvious that neither of them was going to elaborate further.
“Two hundred and sixty seven,” he answered, leaning back, and folding his hands behind his head.
Isabelle’s head shot up, her eyes were wide as they landed on him. He stiffened as that gaze shot a bolt of lust straight through him. “What exactly can you do?” Ethan asked.
He shrugged, his gaze still locked on Isabelle’s. Biting nervously on her bottom lip she turned away from him, her long lashes fluttered down to cast shadows over her delicate cheeks. He had to fight against the overwhelming urge to touch her cheek, to see if it was as soft as it looked. He scowled as he tore his attention away from her, and back to Ethan’s curious gaze. He was beginning to act like a boy in the throes of his first love, he realized. And he didn’t like it one bit.
“Lots of things,” he replied absently.
“Such as?”
“Such as I can move faster than you ever dreamed, my strength is ten times yours, my hearing, eye sight, and other senses are ten times yours. My powers of persuasion, memory erasing, and cloaking my presence could make you look like a new born baby.” He knew he sounded arrogant and hostile, but the growing tension in his jeans was becoming almost unbearable, and making him edgy. “I can make humans, and you, see something that isn’t really there,” he continued in a lighter tone. “That’s what I’ve done to Kathleen, Delia, and Jess.”
“Why didn’t you cloak your presence from us that first day then?” Ethan asked.
“I didn’t expect to step out of the car, and into a nest of vampires.”
“If your powers are so strong, then how come you didn’t sense us before you got here?” Ethan demanded, obviously a little annoyed by Stefan’s arrogance. Stefan tried to lighten his tone, and stance, even more. He liked Ethan, and he didn’t want Ethan angry because he sounded like a condescending ass.
“Because I wasn’t searching for it, and I was busy arguing with Jess over the damn radio. I knew you were here a few miles down the road, I just didn’t expect that this was the place that we were heading too. Even if we hadn’t come here, I would have on my own.”
They both looked at him in surprise. “Why?”
Stefan shrugged casually as he folded his hands before him. “Because our kind usually doesn’t group together like you have. In fact, the most I’ve ever come across is five together. Usually, we’re too territorial to be grouped so tightly together. We prefer to be alone. I was curious about the amount of presence’s I sensed here. I would have come here simply to investigate, and discover why there were so many in one place.”
Isabelle frowned at him; her eyes darkened as she hesitantly met his gaze. He smiled back at her as he unfolded his hands and leaned forward. “We’re happy here,” she whispered. “It’s why we all stay.”
“I can see that, all I said was that it was unusual. I’m surprised that everyone has stayed for as long as they have.”
“Where else would they go?” Isabelle asked, her face reflecting her innocence and confusion. “David, Jack, Mike, Doug, and my dad have been friends since childhood. They were all changed around the same time, and by the same person. They’ve always been together, helping each other out. They all helped to raise us; they’re like our older brothers. They’re our family.”
“What about your other siblings, are they all going to stay?”
“Aiden and Ian are going to college, and Abby and Vicky practically have their bags packed, even though they still have three years to go.”
Stefan’s brow furrowed. “Do they go to school now?”
“We all went to high school,” Ethan answered. “Willow will start school in the fall. By the time we’re thirteen we’re able to control our ability to change. Before that age it can be a little iffy, and hard to control. Especially when we get mad, or upset. Most of our wars were conducted as vampires, if we were mad enough.”
Stefan studied the amused smiles on both their faces as they exchanged glances. “And none of you ever had a problem at school?” he asked softly.
“I did once,” Isabelle admitted reluctantly. “I got really mad at this guy Ralph. He was always making rude, nasty comments to me, and we ended up getting into a fight. I changed right in front of him. Thankfully Ethan was there to help me change his memories afterward; otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened. No one else has had any problems though.”
Stefan knew exactly what would have happened if Ethan hadn’t shown up, but it wasn’t a pleasant thought, and obviously not one that Isabelle wanted to contemplate. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head again. He found himself fascinated by their existence, and how they had survived, and he wanted to learn more. Actually, if he was honest with himself, he wanted to learn more about her. “Didn’t you have friends that wanted to come over, or school plays, or sports competitions that your parents wanted to go to?”
“Ethan and I didn’t join anything. Aiden was on the football and basketball teams, and Ian was on the swim team. Abby and Vicky are cheerleaders. Our parents go to some of the events, but they look like any other spectator when they’re there, and unfortunately can’t present themselves as their parents. Mike, Doug, David, and Jack go too.”
“Why didn’t you guys join anything?”
“Like I said, we’re the unsociable ones,” Ethan replied with a grin.
Stefan truly wanted to know why they were the unsociable ones, but he didn’t ask. “What about friends coming over?”
“Aiden, Ian, Vicky, and Abby have brought their friends over, not in large groups, but a couple here or there. We just alter their memories a little when they leave and make them think that our parents are older.”
Stefan frowned as he unfo
lded his hands and leaned forward. “What are you going to do in another ten years, when people begin to question why you’re not aging?”
“We don’t go into town very often. Most people think that we have already moved off, and now live separate lives. The few times that we do go into town, it’s always at night, and we alter the memories of the few people we meet. We usually go to Portland where no one notices anything, or California.”
Stefan sat silently, slowly digesting everything that they were saying. “So, you have no fear of people becoming curious about you?”
“It’s very rural here,” Isabelle answered. “My graduating class was forty two kids. All of whom went to college, and all of whom no longer live in the area. Our closest neighbor is five miles away, and not once, in the past twenty five years, have they stopped by. Hell, the football team has to travel forty five minutes to get to their closest game. Most people stick to themselves around here, and no one has bothered us yet. I don’t see why that would change.”
He slowly digested this information, slightly stunned by the fact that neither of them had any intention of leaving. “And you just stay here all the time?” he asked.
“We leave sometimes,” Isabelle replied softly. “We go to the city too, not as often as the others, but we do. Ethan and I go to California mostly. I love Napa Valley.”
He frowned at her as she hesitantly met his gaze. They had led very sheltered lives, where their younger siblings wanted to get out and explore the world, these two were content to stay here, and he was extremely curious to know why. Especially Isabelle, she was young, vibrant, and the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes on. He couldn’t help but feel that she was wasting her extremely long life away. He felt the sudden urge to tell her about all that she was missing, to show her all that she was missing.
He ground his teeth in self disgust and anger. He really was turning into an idiot around this girl. She was content in her life, he had no business questioning her motives, or wanting to change her. “What about your parents?” he asked to distract himself from his thoughts. “Do you find it odd to consider them your parents, when they look as young as you?”
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