The scraping of drapes along the metal rod above one of the windows in my room wakes me. Serena's form takes shape against the brightness of high noon.
"You do remember we have guests, don't you? You have been in bed all morning, brother. Your manners have been truly lacking since the Vondarrie's arrival. You rushed off to bed last night without so much as a good night."
Groaning, I roll over and pull a pillow over my head. I wish to go nowhere until the last of these black veins vanish from sight. I don't even have to look in a mirror to know they still mar my face. I can feel the residual heat in them simmering underneath my cool flesh.
Besides, it is best if I do not go anywhere for these veins make me want to slaughter every human within sight except for one. And the one these veins wish to spare want me to do unspeakable things.
No, I will go nowhere until I am thoroughly detoxed from whatever witchery dwells in those talisman Kinley purchased to arm herself against my kind.
"Up." Serena rips the covers off me only to instantly regret it.
"Do you mind?" I yank the covers back over me to cover my nakedness.
Since I got back, I am having a hard time regulating my body temperature. I alternate between freezing from the oversaturation of venom in my bloodstream to running a mild fever.
No matter what I try, I can't get comfortable in my own skin.
"Tristan?" Sabrina's voice chimes from my doorway. Before she can step foot into my room, Kalista comes bounding in here in cut-off jean shorts and a mid-drift tank top.
"Do you like it?" The princess twirls around proudly, showcasing her very human-esque outfit. "Sabrina and Serena took me shopping. They said my outdated fashion would draw too much attention." She stops her swirling and plops on the bed right next to me, her legs folded underneath her as she eagerly awaits approval.
"It's...revealing." I clench the one sheet I have tighter to me, sending a warning glare to Serena before the snide comment about me being in my own kind of revealing state can come out of her mouth.
"Sorry for the intrusion, brother, but the princess wished to show you part of her new wardrobe," Sabrina says, her fiery red hair more suited for the spirited personality of Serena than the docile temper she houses.
Serena and I take after our father with hair so black it rivals the dark on that of a moonless and starless night.
"It's so intricate and pretty." Kalista grabs the cross necklace around my neck. "Can I have it?" She flicks her purple-eyed gaze to me. The way she is looking at me makes me feel like the question she wants to be asking is, can she have me?
The devil in heaven, how can she want to be my mate when we have never met before? It makes me wonder what kind of things my mother and father filled her head with?
With one yank, the chain yields to my strength. "Take it. I have no use for it anymore." I let the necklace drop in the princess's hand.
"You broke it." She pouts as she regards the snapped chain.
"I'm sure it can be fixed." I get up from bed, keeping the sheet wrapped around me and saunter over to my closet.
Don't these females have something better to do than pester me with their nonsense?
As I pull on my usual black V-neck cotton tee and dark wash jeans, the image of the six scars that deface the left side of the human's neck comes to mind. The bite mark makes no sense. If a vampire killed Kinley's parents, why didn't he finish her off too?
YOU ARE READING
Blood & Honey #1
Vampire~A Wattys and Fiction Award winner* A lion does not need an invitation from a lamb. That is not the way of the predator. Predators take what they want, when they want it, however they please. And this belief that I am, that evil is, enslaved by the...
