I don’t know how much to say to Abigail. She might be Eli’s sister, but what if this is some sort of test of loyalty? Are they trying to figure out if I’ll stay true?
“Nothing?” She asks. “How did you get here? Was there a seduction?”
“Um...”
Okay, well now I just feel bad.
There was supposed to be a seduction?
And they were supposed to turn me?
I haven’t gotten any of that.
All I got was kidnapped and stolen away and my entire village just got eaten by vampires. Now I’m thinking that I must have done something wrong to these men. Otherwise, wouldn’t I have gotten all of those important things?
Abigail seems to sense my anxiety, because she comes over and takes my hand.
“Hey,” she says. “Whatever happened, you’re here now. You don’t need to worry.”
“I didn’t get a seducti
on,” I whisper.
“How did you get here?”
“They took my town, and they captured me.”
“Ah,” she nods knowingly. “So they couldn’t find it in themselves to kill you.”
“They said they scented me years ago, and that they knew then I was their mate.”
“It could be true,” she shrugs. “They don’t often talk to me about that sort of thing. Vampires are pretty private when it comes to their mates.”
“Why?”
They share women, don’t they?
So why would they be private about this other issue?
It seems like this is something they’d be more open about – not less. Abigail doesn’t seem concerned, though. If anything, she seems completely put-together and totally at ease.
“It’s just our way,” she finally says, and the way she says this makes me feel like she’s not giving anymore information about vampires and their “ways.”
I decide to take a different approach.
“How many people live in the castle?” I ask.
“Too many,” she rolls her eyes. “It’s Eli’s place, really, but Matthew and Benjamin...well, the three of them have been together forever.”
“Are they lovers?”
She chokes out a laugh and shakes her head.
“No way. They share women, but as far as I know, they aren’t together. They’re just...very close.”
“I saw a lot of vampires when it was time to...take away the Eagleton people.”
“Yeah, we have quite a few who live here. Eli is in charge. He decides who stays, who goes, and who does what. Everyone is expected to pull their weight around here.”