Ambrosia (Nectar 2)

She recalled that her mother and father couldn’t keep their hands off one another. Cuddling, kissing, all the time. Now though, knowing that they were hypnotized into being together? No wonder they didn’t stay together after being turned. She wondered if being turned would instantly turn off mesmerisation.

She really needed time with Tristan, to talk about some suspicions she had.

She didn’t know what to say to Lyle Kelly. The man felt like a stranger. The man?

Hah. The vampire, to be accurate.

She felt a chill run up her spine. Adrian was closely regarding her. The whole semi-lucid thing, was that what her father thought, too? Or did he know everything?

“Excuse me,” Tristan said, motioning to the door, “I’ll let you know about dinner.”

Lyle smiled at Kyla with what looked like a hopeful expression, “Again, really wonderful to see you,” he opened his arms,” I would like to hug you. Could you come here, please? Would it be okay if I hugged you?”

“Not right now,” Tristan answered before Kyla had a chance to react.

Lyle’s expression dropped.

“A word, Tristan?” Adrian said.

“Not now,” Tristan answered, “I’ll come see you.”

Adrian had the decency to look a little bit (but only a little bit) contrite as they left the room.

Tristan followed them out of the bedroom and she heard muffled voices and then heard the door slam. An instant later Tristan was back in the bedroom with her and his expression was nearly murderous. It softened when his eyes landed on her.

“Are you okay?”

Kyla shrugged.

“How was that? Seeing your father? Adrian asked about bringing him up and I told him it should wait until I asked you and I’m not real impressed that he did what he did.”

“I… I don’t know, it was weird. He hasn’t aged. He seems kind of…robotic, I think. Colder than I remember. I dunno.”

Kyla felt numb.

“Thanks for getting rid of them. That was… it was a lot.”

He sat on the bed and put an arm around her. She sank into him and they laid down together.

“No way that man is getting close to you until I know what he’s about.”

“You don’t think he’d bite me, do you?”

Tristan shrugged, “Sorry to say but I’ve seen stranger things happen.”

“Ew.”

“Yeah. He apparently doesn’t know much about you but he does know you were bred specifically for feeding and breeding. He knows your blood is fit for a king. Being a vamp, curiosity might get the better of him. Not taking that chance.”

“This place,” she whispered into his shoulder. His grip tightened on her and her chin slipped into the crook of his neck. “It’s freaky. It’s wrong.”

He sighed and softly said, “Yeah. Welcome to my world. You haven’t even seen freaky yet.”

“I need to walk with you,” she whispered against his throat and then kissed it.

He squeezed, “Can’t right now. It’s a full house downstairs so too much exposure for you. I’ve requested he move us so to one of the cottages on the property. I’m stepping out but text me if you need me,” and his chin jerked toward her purse.

She nodded.

“Be back in five,” he said against her mouth, giving her a soft kiss. She rested her forehead against his chin for a second and then looked up into his beautiful eyes.

“Love you,” she whispered.

“Love you, princess,” he told her and then gave her a squeeze and got up.

He gave her a wink as he left the room and she reached for her purse and took out the disposable cell phone and typed a message to him,“If Adrian’s cover story for my reaction in front of Ruben is that I’m on an experimental drug that keeps me semi-lucid, what if he actually DID give me that kind of drug before we met? Maybe Sam gave me something before we met and that’s why I can’t be hypnotized.”

She hit send and then paced, waiting for his reply. She erased her message to him so that if anyone got ahold of her phone they wouldn’t see it.

Fifteen minutes passed and then he was back.

“We need to be at a dinner with them,” he grumbled as he entered the room with two garment bags that he dumped on the bed, “Unfortunately. Here’s something to wear.”

“Huh?”

Did he read my text?

“Fuck,” he grumbled and rubbed his eyes with his palms, “Claudio turned up right in the midst of me ripping Adrian a new asshole for approaching you without me. Your father tried to crawl up my ass. Ruben tried to crawl up there with him. Sam’s fuckin’ groveling and he and I had an interesting chat. Too interesting. And now Claude’s here and insists on a bloody dinner with all of them. And he wants you there. Bullshit. Fuck. I’m gonna talk to him. Try to get out of this.”

“Did you get my text?” Kyla asked.

Tristan shook his head and reached into his pocket, “No. I got bombarded as soon as I left this room.” He touched the screen on his phone. His expression hardened.