CHAPTER THREE
I tried to make Friday night come as slowly as possible. I stayed up late Thursday night, once I got home from Teren’s. I woke up early and took my time getting ready for work. I drove five miles under the speed limit. I took an inordinately long time lining up the corners whenever I had to staple something. I looked over every page I was researching three times before filing it away. I walked to the Starbucks at lunch for my pick-me-up. I actually held a conversation with Clarice - and that was out of pure desperation.
But nothing worked, time betrayed me and surged forward at a quicker than possible pace, and before I knew it, I was hugging Tracey goodbye, almost willing her to beg me to stay home this weekend for some friend-emergency. But her Friday had been the opposite of mine. Hers had dragged on and on and she briefly returned my hug, before pushing me back and nearly skipping out the door to get ready for her date with Hot Ben. I sighed as I left to go get ready for my date…with the whole Adams clan.
I was stubborn though, and when Teren arrived on my doorstep I dramatically sputtered not readiness. Looking casual in faded blue jeans and a layered t-shirt, he smiled at my attempt to delay us and phased from my sight with inhuman speed. I blinked at the spot in my small living room, where only 3 seconds ago he had been. I’d never actually seen him move blurringly fast and I was a little stunned that it was physically possible. I wondered why he moved at regular speed at all. If I could zip around like a human hummingbird, I’d get so much more done during my day.
When I slowly trudged up my steep steps, he was in my room, zipping up a bag he had lightning-quick packed for me. I sighed at my half hearted attempt to delay the inevitable and then grinned. “I need to double-check what you packed.”
In 10 seconds, he rattled off everything he’d put in there as he flopped the bag over his shoulder. He had forgotten nothing…even my cosmetics and an extra swimsuit were in there. He did a better job than I would have. He smiled as he headed for my door. I sidestepped in front of it. I had other ways to slow him down. At least I could make it so we’d miss this elusive “dinner”, that I still wasn’t entirely sure about.
He twisted his lips and cocked his head as he looked at me. “We really should get going, Emma.”
I put my hands on his chest and bit my lip suggestively. I slowly started running my hands down to his jeans. “What’s your hurry?”
He frowned and shifted his stance slightly. “I told my parents we’d be there in time for dinner. I don’t want them waiting for us.”
I slid my fingers under his waist band and brought them around to the button. I slowly unfastened it and gazed at him with some serious bedroom eyes. “But I want you…now…”
He dropped my bag and for the briefest moment, I thought I’d actually won. Then he grabbed my fingers (that were quickly unzipping his jeans), and held them in one hand while he fixed his jeans with the other. “Would you stop trying to delay us. Everything will be fine.”
I sulked. “I’m not trying to delay us. I’m…” I looked up at him from under my brows and half-smiled seductively, giving it one last shot. “I’m incredibly turned on by your…speed packing…and I want you.”
He smiled at me, equally as seductive. “You can have me…” he turned me around so I was facing the door and lightly pushed me through it, “…after dinner.”
I made an affronted noise and looked over my shoulder at him while I trudged back down the stairs. “I’m not being intimate with you at your parents’ place. Consider yourself cut off this weekend, buddy.”
I turned back to the front and only his laughter answered me. Irritated, I looked over my shoulder again and saw him still chuckling. “What?” I asked, a little haughtily.
“Nothing…I’m just trying to picture you telling me no.” He laughed again and his attractive face looked a little smug.
I stopped at the bottom stair and he stopped a step behind me and frowned. “Come on, Emma, let’s go.”
I half-grinned up at him. “I need to change.”
He eyed me up and down. “You look fine. You look great. Let’s go.”
I smiled widely. “Nope, I want to change out of my work clothes. I’ll be just a minute.” I smiled sweetly as I snuck past him on the narrow stairs. This was one thing he really couldn’t deny me and he couldn’t rush me either. I took 20 minutes, changing my pant-suit into more comfortable jeans and a fitted top, and what I deemed were appropriate ranch-wear boots. He was sitting on my bottom step, twiddling his thumbs and looking irritated, when I was finished.
I blew past him on the stairs. “Come on, Teren, we don’t want to be late.” He sighed heavily as he followed me out of the house.
Almost instantly, I realised my error in taking my time getting ready. For one thing, I had not succeeded in causing us to arrive any later. No, the only thing I had succeeded in doing, was causing Teren to drive faster. He pushed his little Prius to an alarming speed and, since it apparently was not my day, there was little traffic to deter him and zero cops to slow him down. He made the supposedly 60 mile drive in 40 minutes.
Teren looked over at me with a wide smile as we made the final right turn into their seemingly endless gravel driveway. “I think that’s my new personal best. Thank you for pushing me.”
I frowned and shook my head. I looked out the window at the acre upon acre of long, waving blonde grass and the occasional brown and white cow head, peeking up before poking back down. I had the sudden image of a fanged, black-haired woman draining one of those cows, and shuddered. I looked straight ahead as we passed under a huge, white, wooden arch, boldly bearing the family name in large black letters - ADAMS. My previous cow thought jogged a memory, and in my nervousness I started laughing almost hysterically.
Teren looked over at me oddly. “You okay?”
I wiped some tears from my eyes. “Yeah, I just got the name…Adams.”
He looked at me blankly. “Yeah?”
“Your family name is Adams.” I started laughing again.
He was looking at me like maybe he should have packed a straight jacket, and I laughed even harder. I pointed back at the sign. “The Addams Family.”
He sighed and shook his head at me as I kept right on laughing. “Oh yeah…this should be interesting,” he muttered.
My laughter died down as the bumpy road opened out into a parking area as large as the lot of our local Blockbuster. He pulled right up to the front of the house, next to a sports car of European design, a black, luxury sedan, a simple two door coupe, and an oversized 4x4 truck. I could only stare in awe, mixed with a trace of horror, at his parents’ home. It was massive. It was impressive. It was as close to a castle as modern vampires in California could get.
The ranch was a couple miles from the base of Mount Diablo, nestled among the rolling foothills. Green trees dotted the valleys between the hills, and varying lengths of tan grass hugged each hill like a second skin. White wooden fences separated different areas of the pastures, and cows of various colors were standing or lying in the fields, enjoying the last minutes of daylight. The drive inclined to the top of one of the larger foothills and the main house sat atop it.
The house was an interesting mix of ancient and new. The upper half of the walls were white plaster and stucco, and the lower half looked like someone had painstakingly pressed individual river rocks of varying sizes right into the home, creating a perfect wall of stone. The roof was red Spanish tile and gleamed in the fading light of the setting sun. The ranch consisted of three buildings, forming a U-shape around what I would bet money on was the pool in the back. The center dwelling was a huge two-story building that was maybe twice the size of Teren’s place. At the top of the home, in the center, the roof was raised, maybe twenty feet above the roof around it. There didn’t appear to be anything up there, just an empty space, like a covered patio on top of the roof, but I swear, if these were medieval times, that is where the belfry would be.
Huge 100 year old timber, stained in warm honey, supported a thirty foot overhang in front of the main doors, which were also in warm honeyed wood. The two buildings on either side were long and narrow with low, red roofs. The buildings were all connected by covered breezeways with graceful, open arches formed into the sides of the stucco walls. Spacious windows were everywhere along the home, the warm light from inside glowing welcomingly to us, as if trying to calm my nerves along with Teren, who placed his hand upon mine on my lap.
“Ready,” he asked softly, with a smile on his lips.
“No.” I shook my head at him and looked back at the intimidating house. “You said your family had a ranch, you didn’t say they were the Rockefeller’s of ranching.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t exactly go that far, but we do alright.”
I sighed. “Should we honk or something? It probably takes 10 minutes to get to the door.”
He looked down and smiled. “No. They know I’m here.” He leaned over to me and pointed to the front door. “My mom is pacing the entryway, waiting for us to stop talking out here and come in the house.” He pointed over to a corner of the main house. “My grandmother is in there, finishing up dinner.” He pointed down to what must be a basement level. “My great-grandmother is down there. She’ll be up in a few minutes.”
I stared at him with what had to be the blankest expression on my face…how could he possibly know all that?
He laughed. “We can all sense each other. Usually, it’s just a vague feeling of ‘he’s in that direction’, but the closer we get to each other, the more pronounced it gets. While we’re staying here, I’ll know exactly where they are, at all times.”
My mouth dropped open a little. “Just when I think you can’t get any odder.”
He laughed again. “Yeah…inconvenient at times too. It was impossible to sneak out as a kid, and don’t think I didn’t try.”
I laughed with him, my nerves slightly calmed at hearing a childhood anecdote. “What about your dad? Can you sense him?”
He shrugged. “No. He’s pure human, like you, so I have no idea where he is. Knowing him though, he’s probably near my mom. They’re kind of inseparable.”
I smiled and squeezed his hand. “Oh, that’s so sweet. Still in love after so long together.”
He shrugged again. “Yeah, we vamps tend to…stick to what we like.” He squeezed my hand and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “We should go inside and say hi. My mom’s about to come out here and get us.”
I looked back at the door, slightly alarmed. “Oh, can you sense her…intentions?”
He laughed and moved to open his door. “No, I just know my mom.”
He opened his door as I stared ahead of me. I felt like I was entranced by the massive, iron banded double doors looming before me. I couldn’t stop staring. I couldn’t get out of the car. I couldn’t move. Teren’s hand caressed my cheek and I startled, looking up at him standing in front of my now open car door. His eyes were glowing slightly as the sky around us darkened; without the city lights to mask it, the glow was quite perceptible to me, and I felt myself relaxing into the white depths. I stood without realising it and he took my hand and pulled me away from the car. Still staring into his eyes, and in a near trancelike state, I followed him calmly up the granite steps that led to the timbered overhang.
We passed some lights attached to the heavy wooden supports and his eyes returned to normalcy, their enchanting hold on me momentarily broken. I blinked and looked around at the massive covered entrance to the front doors. Heavy, wooden support beams showed through the underside and tiny lights were wrapped around them, twinkling in the approaching darkness.
I stopped walking and looked over at Teren, who was eyeing me with a curious expression. I harshly smacked his arm. “Don’t do that to me.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I told you I couldn’t turn it off, and it was calming you down, so I just let you feel mellow. Wouldn’t you rather have it that way?”
I smacked his arm again. “No. It’s designed to make your prey feel mellow.” I pointed at myself. “I’m not prey. I don’t want to mellowly walk into certain death.”
I clamped my hand over my mouth as I realized that we were only 20ft or so from the front door - from his mother. His mother with the vampire-acute hearing. He laughed again and grabbed my hand, pulling me the rest of the way to the door.
He raised his hand to knock, but the doors swung inward before he even had a chance. A blurring flurry of arms and hair encircled him and I stepped away, a surge of fear slicing through me at the suddenness of the movement.
“Mom,” he muttered, sounding very much like an average human guy embarrassed over his mother’s over the top affections.
“Sorry. You’ve just been gone so long and…we worry.”
His mother pulled away from him and I felt my mouth dropping. I took another step away from him and tried to process what I was seeing. She was beautiful, but I had been expecting that – Teren was unbelievably attractive. She had long, black hair that, except for the two pieces in the front braided down the back, flowed around her with a life of its own. Her eyes were the same pale shade of blue as her son’s and her skin had the olive tone of someone who didn’t quite tan, but spent a lot of time outdoors. She wore deep blue jeans with a green and blue checked button-up shirt tucked into them. She looked very much the picture of a rancher’s wife. That wasn’t what had me gaping though. It was her face - her flawless, lineless, perfect face. She looked no older than Teren; she could have been his sister and not his mother.
I suppose it shouldn’t have shocked me, given the fact that she was even less human than Teren, but it did. I was sure, as that perfect face turned to regard me, that I looked very much like a deer caught in headlights. That thought did not thrill me, as I considered how appetising that look probably was to her. I closed my mouth forcibly and jerked the corners of my lips up into a tight smile.
As she pulled away from Teren, an older man approached her from behind. Placing a hand upon her lower back he reached his other out to Teren. “Hi, Dad,” Teren said warmly as he clasped his hand and then gave him a swift hug.
Teren’s dad surprised me too. He was a tall, middle-aged man with dark brown hair, speckled with gray, and intelligent brown eyes. He was attractive in a distinguished way, but he really looked nothing like Teren. It would seem that more than just vampirism was passed along by Teren’s mother; he looked just like her. As he pulled away from his son, he joined his wife in studying me. He was still a big, strong looking man, with a sturdy frame and a mostly still fit body, although his stomach had a slight paunchiness to it. He wore faded jeans with a basic blue shirt tucked inside, and a belt buckle the size of my fist. He looked very much the role of a successful rancher.
The older man and his impossibly young looking wife, waited patiently for Teren, who slipped his arm around my waist and introduced me. “Mom, Dad…this is Emma Taylor. Emma, these are my parents, Jack and Alanna.”
“Hello,” I said quietly as they both looked at each other for a second. Then Alanna’s arms were around me and she was hugging me tightly. She was cool to the touch and a shiver went down my spine. I worried, for just the slightest second, that she was inhaling me and imagining sinking her teeth into the exposed area of my neck (why did I pull my hair up into a ponytail before we left?), but I quickly dismissed the concern. If she was thinking that, I couldn’t stop her, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t take it any further than a thought with her son standing beside her, so, no point in worrying about it.
She pulled back to gaze at me with that flawless, young face and her pale eyes danced with un-concealable merriment. “We’re so happy to meet you, Emma,” she gushed, as she clutched my upper arms. She swooshed an arm behind her at the open front doors. “Please come in and make yourself at home.” I murmured a thank you and glanced at Teren, who was beaming at me. He nodded his head inside and clapping his dad on the shoulder, entered the house. His mother wrapped her arms around mine and ushered me into the house after them.
It was not the vampiric ranch house I’d been imagining. It was idyllically beautiful – classic, but modern. The large entryway was as big as Teren’s living room and the focal point of the room was a marble statue of a naked woman in the center. Looking at it more closely, it wasn’t just a statue, it was a fountain, only the water was coming from the woman’s eyes and flowing down her body to the basin she was standing in. It was breathtaking.
Alanna pulled me past it and I gazed at the numerous paintings of Californian vistas on the walls. Most were rolling hills, or mountain ranges with cattle in the foreground, but the most impressive piece was on the far side of the magnificent statue. It was a huge painting, taking up almost the entire wall, depicting a glorious sunrise or perhaps it was a sunset? Either way, there was a longing in the painting that pulled at my heartstrings a little.
We walked past the painting, following Teren and his father, Jack, as they talked animatedly over something. I thought I heard fishing and baseball, and figured his dad was probably pleased as punch to have a little testosterone back in his house overflowing with women….vampire women.
Alanna’s chilly hand patted my arm. “We have a beautiful room made up for the two of you upstairs. Mom…well, Teren’s grandmother, is finishing up a wonderful dinner, so I hope you’re hungry.” She smiled charmingly and I wondered again about this dinner. Did she eat regular food, like her twin-like son? What exactly would they be serving us?
“Yes, I’m starving. Thank you,” I said politely.
She patted my arm again as we walked through a hallway with worn, wooden floors and even more paintings. I was a little disappointed to not see any dark, mythical art. No Bram Stoker reenactments of virgins being devoured by hungry beasts. No bats dangling from high steeples, blood dripping from their tiny fangs. No graveyards drenched in moonlight with maybe a chalky, white hand reaching up out of the grass. No…nothing dark or sinister at all in the décor, it was very warm and friendly and inviting. On second thought…I wasn’t disappointed at all.
I was feeling more at ease in this warm home, both because of Teren’s musical laughter drifting back to me and Alanna’s constant reassuring pats on my arm, like I was a frightened animal that needed constant encouragement…and maybe I did. Then we stepped into the formal dining room. I’d nearly forgotten that I’d only met one of the female vampires in the house. I remembered immediately, when I saw the next one. She was setting the table with fine china, crystal wine goblets and gold silverware, so her back was to me. She knew we were there though, thanks to the odd blood connection that all the Adams vamps seemed to share, and she immediately turned to face us. I felt my jaw drop again.
She could have been Teren and Alanna’s twin sister…or would that be triplet? Whatever the technical term, she looked strikingly like Teren and an almost carbon copy of Alanna. She was wearing a long skirt with a neat, white blouse tucked into it, and her long, black hair was done up into a loose bun at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were the exact same shade of blue as the others, her skin, a pale ivory, and her face…was young and beautiful and no older than Teren’s. I had to remind myself that this woman was his grandmother.
Teren walked over to me and extradited me from his mother’s grasp, as I forcibly shut my mouth again. “Grandma, this is Emma. Emma, this is my grandmother, Imogen Teren.”
I blinked at her name and looked back at him. “Teren?”
He smiled. “When Mom married Dad, the family name changed to Adams. They wanted to keep the old family name alive somehow, to honour my grandfather, so they named me Teren.”
I smiled at the warmth in that. “Oh, that’s really beautiful.” I turned back to her and she gave me a soft hug; her body was cool to the touch as well. “Hello,” I said as I gently patted her cold back. She seemed no older than me, but for some reason, she had that grandmotherly vibe and I felt almost instantly relaxed in her presence.
She pulled back and looked at me with her deceptively bright eyes. “Hello, child. We’re so happy to meet you.” She looked over at Teren and raised an eyebrow at him while she said that.
Teren coughed once. “Yes, well…she’s here now…so…maybe we could eat.” He looked at the floor and stomped once. “If someone would stop hiding.”
Instantly, a figure blew into the room. “I was not hiding. It wasn’t perfectly dark yet.”
“It’s been dark for 3 minutes, 45 seconds and you know that. You were hiding.”
“I was making an entrance. There’s a difference, boy.”
I think my mouth was scraping the floor. Before me was a 100%, pure vampire and I could feel her very presence across my skin. There was an instinctual warning ringing through every cell in my body to run. I felt like that stupid chicken that Teren had drained in his kitchen. Too dumb to know how dangerous a position it was in, until it was too late. If Teren hadn’t come over to put an arm around me…I probably would have bolted, screaming foolishly all the way back to the car. As it was, it took a conscious decision to stay in the room with her. I clutched Teren’s arm hard and he looked down and squeezed me gently.
“Emma, this is my great-grandmother, Halina. Great-Gran this is Emma.” He nudged me a little, like he wanted me to hug her too, but I clung close to his side.
Halina was also a spitting image of Teren and the others, or I suppose, they were recreations of her, since she was the first. Her jet-black hair was long, well past the middle of her back, and was wild and free around her body. Her eyes were an ice cold blue and her skin was snow white, like it had never seen the light of day. She cocked her head as she regarded me and a slight smile touched her lips, like she was enjoying my obvious unease at her presence. Her body was lithe and graceful as she strolled towards me. She wore a tight, deep blue fitted dress that left none of her curves to the imagination. It was not the sort of thing you’d expect to see on a woman who, if she were human, would probably be approaching the centenarian age. Of course, her face also looked nothing like a woman of her age. She was the youngest looking woman in the room, maybe 20, if even that. Her deceptive youth did not match the intelligence in her eyes, or the worldliness of her soft smile, and as she walked around Teren and I, lightly trailing a finger along our bodies, I shivered at her icy touch against my will.
“She’s a pretty one, Teren. She’ll do quite well.”
I had no idea what she meant by that and I started shivering even more. It was nearly embarrassing how much I was shaking, but I couldn’t stop doing it. Teren slipped both his arms around me. “Just ignore her. She’s all bark…no bite.” He glared a bit at her, as she finished her circle around us and stood in front again.
She smiled widely. “No bite?” Her fangs slid instantly into place and I gasped and backed up a step. “I know a few who would disagree.”
“Mother! That’s quite enough. You’re scaring her…be nice.”
Halina turned to face her daughter, Imogen. “Fine.” She sighed dramatically and then turned back to me. “Welcome to our home. We’re very happy you’re here.” Her tone was polite, even warm, but her fangs were still extended and it kind of spoiled the sincerity of it.
Swallowing, I forced composure into myself. I was safe, I was perfectly safe. Teren wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
“I’m going to go get our bags. Why don’t you have a seat at the table? Mom could get you some wine?” Teren smiled as he let go of me.
I clutched at him tightly. “What? No…stay here.” I lowered my voice to where even I couldn’t really hear it. “Don’t leave me alone in here with them.”
“Oh, honey, you’re fine here. Don’t mind Halina, no one will harm you.” Alanna, obviously having heard my near imperceptible speech (which means all the vampires did), came up to me and swept her arms around my shoulders.
“I’ll get you some wine, dear,” Imogen added, walking over to a wall-sized wine rack and picking out a deep red one.
Halina crossed her pale arms over her chest and leaned against the table, laughing heartily…at me. Teren scowled at her and then kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back in a minute. You’ll be fine,” he whispered in my ear, before he kissed it.
Reluctantly, I watched him leave. I frowned when his father left with him, and not just because the only other pure human had left, but also because, if he was walking with Teren, then Teren couldn’t do his super-speedy thing, and at the moment, I’d rather have him back at my side in mere seconds. I could hear their continued joyous conversation down the hall and I gulped as I turned back to where Teren’s grandmother was handing me a glass of blood red wine.
“Thank you, Imogen,” I said politely as I immediately took a long draw.
The young faced woman patted my arm. “Call me Gran. You’re practically family.” She beamed at me strangely and led me to an intricately carved, solid oak chair at the most impressive oak table I’d ever seen. She plopped me in the chair and went back to the kitchen, which I could see through the archway in the wall separating the two rooms.
“Would you like anything else, dear?” Alanna asked gently as she hovered at my side, looking like an anxious hostess eager to calm her spooked guest.
I smiled at the remembered warmth of her greeting and the sincerity in her excited eyes. “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“All right. I’d better help Mom in the kitchen.” She glanced at Halina, who was casually sliding into the chair directly across from me. “I’ll be just in the next room if you need anything, sweetheart.” Her voice carried a clear warning to the eldest vampire to behave. With a reassuring pat on my shoulder, she left me in the room, alone, with the one vamp that kind of freaked me out.
Halina leaned forward and put her head in her youthful hands. “They worry too much, don’t you think?” She smiled, and it pleased me a tad that her fangs were gone. “It’s not like I’m going to nibble on you, since Teren’s claimed you.” She rolled her eyes. “Like I would do that to my great-grandson.” She gave me a very pointed look. “You’re too important anyway.”
I blinked and scrunched my brow. “Important?”
She ignored my question and stretched her hand out to stroke my arm. I made an effort to not jerk my body away from her cold touch. After all, she had just said that she wasn’t going to…nibble on me. What did she mean by important though? And what exactly did “Teren claimed you” mean? I didn’t like the idea of being referred to like property. I had a million questions for this pure vampire in front of me, but not nearly enough wine in my system to ask them. I gulped from my goblet in silence as she regarded me with her timeless blue eyes.
Our silent stare down lasted until Teren and Jack reentered the room. Halina smiled warmly at Teren and he cocked an eyebrow at her. She smiled even wider, but said nothing. I scrunched my brow again, feeling like I was missing an entire conversation. Teren turned to me and smiled as he sat beside me.
“I put our things in our room. We’re in a guest room at the end of the hall upstairs.” He gestured with his head somewhere above us.
I looked around discreetly, but Halina was talking pleasantly with Jack, and I figured all the vampires were otherwise occupied. “Are we really allowed to…share a bed?” I asked him as softly as I could. Not even my mom would allow that to happen under her roof. Not that she was old fashioned or anything, but still, a certain…decorum was expected.
Before Teren could respond, Halina turned her head and answered me. “We practically insist on it, my dear.”
Teren shot her a look and she smiled. “You are lovers…are you not?”
I flushed instantly and stared at the table. Teren ignored her and answered my question. “They are okay with us staying together, but if you’re uncomfortable, I can sleep in another guest room.”
“Don’t be silly. Of course you two will room together.” His mother beamed at us as she entered the room with his grandmother. “We’re not strict on that sort of thing here. You may do…whatever you like while you’re under our roof.”
I suddenly wished I’d never brought it up in this house of super-acute hearing. I made a mental note to not bring up any more delicate topics, until we were miles away from here.
Teren cleared his throat and grabbed my hand, looking a little flushed himself. “Okay, now that we’ve all discussed that…”
His father laughed and clapped Teren’s back as he sat at the head of the table, to my left. Imogen sat next to her mother, Halina, across from me. Alanna squeezed my shoulder. “Dinner’s ready,” she said merrily and my stomach clenched.
Forcing a calm breath, I pushed back my chair. “Here, let me help you, Alanna.”
She patted my arm. “You can call me Mom, dear, and you’re a guest, you just sit back, relax and let me take care of everything.”
With one hand, she shoved my chair back under the table and my eyes widened at her strength. “Okay…I’ll just sit here then.”
Imogen asked Teren about work, and they talked pleasantly back and forth for a few minutes, with Jack and Halina interjecting now and then. Alanna blurred back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room, bringing out warm platters piled high with mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli crowns with almond slivers, and lastly, a tray of perfectly just-cooked enough steaks. I wondered briefly if the steaks were from one of their cows, but then decided that they must be; they seemed the self sufficient lot. After she blindingly fast brought out salt, pepper and full water glasses, she started preparing plates for everyone.
I felt a little guilty watching her, knowing that I was perfectly capable of making a plate for myself, but everyone else was letting her serve them without comment or complaint, so I figured it was something she just liked to do. Not wanting to be rude, I kept my mouth shut and waited patiently. It smelled incredible and I prayed my stomach didn’t rumble while I waited; even if my gurgling tummy was virtually silent, I knew almost every ear in the room would hear it. Alanna handed her husband a heaping plate of food and gave him a warm kiss.
“Thank you, dear.”
Jack started eating his meal as Alanna blurred to Teren’s plate and prepared his. Her speed making me a little nauseous, she in record time set a heaping plate in front of Teren and gave him a warm kiss on the cheek while rumpling his hair.
“Thank you, Mom,” he said, rolling his eyes a little as he looked over at me.
I smiled at his embarrassment as Alanna prepared a plate for me blazingly fast. I barely had time to hope she didn’t pile my plate as high as the boys’, before she was done. She placed a more respectable sized plate in front of me and gave me a quick, cool kiss on the cheek as well.
“Thank you, Alann…Mom.” It felt so weird to say that, but she smiled widely when I did and Teren squeezed my hand affectionately.
She blurred into the kitchen and I wondered if she’d forgotten something. Teren dug into his food, elbowing me and nodding at my plate. It felt weird to start eating, when only half the table had food, so I picked up my fork and waited for Alanna to come back. She was back in seconds with a stainless steel coffee carafe. I looked over at Teren, but he was focused on his plate and ignoring his mother; almost studiously ignoring his mother.
I watched Alanna stop at Halina’s side and pour coffee into her goblet, which I thought was odd, until I realised that the coffee was red…and that it wasn’t coffee. Her goblet quickly filled with thick, deep-red blood that steamed a little, and my mouth dropped and my stomach tightened. Halina sniffed at it, frowned and then took a large gulp. Alanna filled Imogen’s glass next. Imogen smiled warmly at her daughter and took a more reserved sip of her steaming beverage. Alanna then turned to Teren and filled one for him. He finally looked up at her and nodded a brief thanks, making her smile widely. She poured a glass for herself, and set the carafe down by Halina, before sitting at the foot of the table, on Teren’s right.
My stomach clenched even tighter. No food then for the vampire women…just deep-red plasma that even I could smell. It turned my stomach a bit. I watched Teren eye his still steaming glass. He seemed to be debating whether or not he should drink it with me sitting right beside him. I had no idea if I wanted him to or not. Watching him drain a chicken was one thing (and that had been pretty bloodless). This, watching him down a clear glass of viscous cow blood (and I was really hoping that that was what it was) was quite another thing. He finally cast a quick glance in my direction and reached across his plate for his drink. It did unpleasant things to my already tight stomach, watching him tilt the goblet back to his lips. He took a long draw, and I watched his throat swallow a couple times before he pulled the glass away.
His fangs had distended when the blood hit his mouth and they were clearly visible as he closed his eyes and made a deep, soft noise – almost a purr. I tore my eyes away from him and finally noticed the other vampires at the table. Every mouth had fangs. Every face looked elated. Every tongue was red. Halina was licking her lips and pouring another glass of steaming liquid from the carafe.
I’m not sure what happened to me next, it wasn’t voluntary – it was pure instinct. Fear surged through my body and I could not stay seated calmly at that table, surrounded by creatures higher up on the food chain than me. A tiny part of my brain knew I wasn’t in danger, but every other single impulse in my head was screaming at me to get the hell out of that house! I felt like the dumb, busty chick in the horror flick that runs up the stairs, instead of running outside, but I wasn’t going to be the dumb girl any longer. I was getting out of here. I would run the 60 miles home if need be, but I was finally leaving this family of monsters.
I was just about to bolt for the door, and wondering if I could make it against four super-speedies, when a light touch on my arm startled me and I jumped nearly a foot.
“I just about peed my pants, the first time I sat down and ate with them. You’re doing very well.” I looked over at my saving grace, the only other human in the room and currently, the only other person without fangs – Teren’s dad. “What?” I squeaked.
He nodded over to the vampires watching me curiously. I flinched when Teren grabbed my hand. “It’s instinct…the desire to run. It’s perfectly normal, so don’t feel embarrassed. Your body’s just telling you that they’re dangerous.” He laughed while I tried to swallow with my dry throat. “Which is pretty humorous, since they’re all basically giant kitty cats.”
I gaped at him and then laughed, feeling the knot in my stomach start to loosen and the fear, slowly start to leech from my system. Teren put his arm around me and kissed my cheek, his fangs were still out.
Halina scoffed at Jack. “Kitty cats?” She hissed at him, baring her sharp teeth.
Jack laughed at her and I stared at him with a surely bewildered look on my face. That was one woman I would never laugh at. “Don’t even bother you old bat. You don’t scare me anymore.”
She twisted her lips and pointed a finger at him, while looking at me. “Don’t let his bravado fool you. He nearly fainted when he watched how we really feed.” She flicked her crystal glass with her fingernail, making it clink musically. “Not this dainty, eating at the table crap.”
“Grandma,” Alanna scolded her. “Manners. Emma is our guest this weekend and we would like her to visit again sometime.”
Halina raised her glass in answer and downed it in one long gulp. She immediately smiled and her fangs were tainted red.
To Be Continued in Next Chapter….
CHAPTER FOUR
Somehow, and I’m still not sure how, I managed to make it through the rest of dinner. I even managed to eat my meal, which was deliriously good. Gran could cook as well as Teren, maybe better. I suppose she probably taught him or taught his mom, who taught him. After dinner, I had yawned exaggeratedly a couple of times, and had been all but ushered upstairs to the bedroom by Alanna, who insisted that I rest, since we had plenty of time to chat this weekend. Real exhaustion swept over me as I stared at the King-sized behemoth of a bed before me in the “guest” room. The room was so large and elegantly decorated, that it made my room back home seem about as nice as a pantry under the stairs.
I plopped down on the satin sheets, closed my eyes and threw my arms over my head. I considered falling asleep like that, nearly buried in decorative pillows, when I heard a deep voice chuckle at me. I opened my eyes at Teren, who had closed the door and was pulling off his shirt. I sat up on my elbows and watched him undress. Normally, the sight would have had me biting my lip in anticipation of a rousing love fest…but I’d had a long night, and that really was the last thing on my mind. That and there was no way we were doing anything remotely intimate around super-hearing vampire ears.
“So…what do you think?” he asked with a soft smile, as he slipped his jeans off.
I sighed, not knowing where to start. “They aren’t what I expected. They’re very…welcoming.”
He laughed again. “Of course they are. They want you to be here, Emma.” Once in his boxer briefs, he sat down on the side of the bed and put a hand on my knee. “I told you there was nothing to worry about. They like you.”
I sighed and sat up. “Why are they all so young?”
He cocked his head, looking like he wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Great-Gran was turned at 19, so she’ll always look 19. Mom and Gran…just don’t show their age anymore, but none of them are exactly young. Mom’s in her 50’s, Gran is over 70 and Great-Gran is up in the 90’s by now.”
“Oh…why don’t your mom and grandmother age? Isn’t that kind of odd, since they’re only partially vampire?”
He looked away and said quietly, “At 25 we just…stop aging. We don’t know why.”
“Weird.” I put my arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight. “What about you…you’re 25. Have you stopped aging?”
He grinned oddly as he looked back at me. “No…not today.” He looked down my body. “It’s been a long day. We should go to bed.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I stood and started undressing as he slipped under the covers. Looking around the room, I asked him, “What’s up with the honeymoon suite?”
He laughed at me as I took my shirt and jeans off. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the satin sheets, candles everywhere, fresh flowers on the nightstands, crackling fireplace…it just needs a little mood music, and I’d think you were trying to get fresh with me.” I gave him a suggestive look and he laughed again.
Looking down he paused for a moment, then said, “All the rooms are like this…it’s just my mom’s style.”
“Oh…” I watched his odd expression as he chewed on his lip. “Are you okay, Teren?”
He looked back up at me as I rummaged in my bag for my pajamas. “I’m fine.” He was silent for a long time as I found my favourite silky pajama shorts with the matching pink camisole - the boy was a good packer. I quickly threw them on and found my toothbrush and cleanser. As I was walking towards the adjoining bathroom (some guest room indeed) he softly said, “Did I freak you out with the cow’s blood?”
I turned back around to face him and inwardly sighed with relief that it was cow’s blood. I regarded his worried expression for a minute, before I went back to the bed and sat next to him. “To be honest…yes, a little. I’m still getting used to this and that was…a lot to take in.” I stroked his cheek while he frowned and looked down. I moved his chin up so he’d look at me and he did. “I will get used to it though…okay. Just give me a little absorption time…and maybe a heads up too.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I can do that. Sorry…I should have been clearer about dinner.”
I stood back up, then leaned over and kissed him lightly. “Yes…yes you should have.”
I awoke early the next morning to a pale shaft of sunlight streaking across my eyes, and the undeniable aroma of bacon wafting through the door, even all the way up here. My stomach rumbled loudly and I pressed a hand against it. I felt Teren laugh beside me and then he raised his jet-black head to gaze at me, blocking the light from my eyes in the process.
“Hungry?” he asked softly, as he shifted in bed to turn more towards me.
I laughed softly. “I shouldn’t be after that meal last night, but apparently, I am.” I sighed. “I’m gonna gain 10 pounds hanging around your family this weekend.”
He stroked my hair. “It’s all part of our plan to fatten you up.” My eyes widened at that and he laughed again. “I’m just kidding, Emma.”
“Funny.”
“Your weight doesn’t change the flavour of your blood anyway.”
I smacked him on the shoulder repeatedly and he blocked a few hits, which only made me try and hit him harder. He brought the bulk of his body over mine. “Would you stop,” his fangs slid out as he hovered inches from my face, “hitting me.”
I instantly stopped provoking the vampire above me and held completely still. He cocked his head and stared at me in a most inhuman way. Then quicker than perceptible, he lunged for my neck. Before I could scream, he clamped onto my skin. As the sound of my terror bubbled up from my chest, I waited for the impending pain of my throat being sliced open.
It didn’t come.
I stopped the approaching wail and struggled through my laboured breathing to understand what was happening. It was then that I realised he was only kissing my neck, not sucking me dry. I had felt the tiniest prick of a fang, but he must have retracted them perfectly upon impact with my skin, and only his normal, much less threatening teeth were playfully nipping at my neck.
My heart stuttered painfully, and I smacked his shoulder again and pushed him away from me. He grinned at me impishly as I took deep breaths. “Don’t you ever do that again! You scared the life out of me!”
He grunted and shook his head. “Do you honestly think I’d do that?”
Feeling calmer, I shrugged my shoulders. “You looked pretty convincing…”
He leaned back in to kiss my neck again. “Silly human,” he breathed across my skin. “I keep telling you…I won’t bite until you ask.”
His lips across my throat were starting to do wonderful things to my body, and my breath quickened again for another reason. “Don’t get your hopes up on that one,” I muttered, as I closed my eyes and savoured the feel of rough stubble, soft lips, and a warm tongue against my very sensitive neck.
He shifted his position on top of me and pressed his suddenly very manly body against me. I made a soft, satisfied noise at the sensation of our bodies touching each other so intimately, and ran my fingers up his bare back. His breath increased as well as he shifted his mouth to mine. He made a deep noise in his throat that absolutely thrilled me, and I kissed him eagerly, wrapping my legs around his and already imagining him ripping my silky pajamas off of me and taking me most thoroughly on this oversized, satin bed. The oversized, satin bed that belonged to his family. His vampire family…with the uncanny hearing. That right now, was listening in on every moan, every lip smack, every heavy breath, and every squeak of the bed, as if they were standing at the end of said bed.
I immediately broke contact and pushed his shoulders back. “Get off, get off, get off!” I whispered intensely.
He rolled over and looked confused…and disappointed. “What? I was just teasing about the whole neck biting thing.”
I sat up and gathered the sheets around me, like his family was actually in the room. “I know. That’s not why… We can’t… I am not…” I didn’t know how to explain it to him, without explaining it to everyone. Eventually I just whispered, “Super ears.”
He looked at me confused for a minute more, and then he understood and started laughing. “Emma.” He couldn’t say more than that since he was laughing too hard, so I got up and went to the bathroom to take a cold shower.
After I had finished with my chilly shower, I went back to the bedroom, where Teren was still just lying on the bed. He started laughing again as I approached my bag on the dresser and I scowled at him. He made a concentrated effort to stop laughing and quieted to soft chuckles. Eventually, he sighed and held his arms open to me. I ignored him and rummaged through my bag for fresh clothes - faded jeans and a fitted, button-up shirt that looked very ranch-like. Teren may pack my bag from now on, he was so good at it.
Not letting me ignore him, he sat up on his knees and blindingly quick, removed my towel. I gasped at the sudden surprise of being naked, and at the cooler air swirling around my skin. I modestly tried to cover myself with my hands. “Teren!”
He lay back on the bed and grinned at me. I couldn’t even see where the towel went; he could have put it back in the bathroom and I wouldn’t have seen it, he was so fast. He opened his arms for me again.
I didn’t ignore him this time. “No,” I said firmly.
He pouted. “Why not?”
I threw on my bra and underwear before he could blur them away as well. After I was successful with that, I slid on my jeans. “I’m hungry,” I said, sliding on my shirt.
“So am I.” He grinned and I rolled my eyes.
I pointed to the bathroom. “Go take a shower…now!”
This time he rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
I dried my hair and threw on some mascara and lipstick (the makeup essentials) while Teren took his cooling shower. While he dried off, I lightly curled my hair with the provided curling iron. Not only did our fancy guest bathroom have a dual headed shower, a jetted tub, and a private room for the toilet, it came with a fully stocked vanity, complete with a plush, cream-coloured, cushioned bench and a 3-by-6 foot mirror. I might move into this bathroom.
After toweling off from his shower, Teren dressed in his most lived-in pair of jeans (which did wonderful things to his backside) and a blue button-up shirt (which did wonderful things to his pale blue eyes) that he left loose over the top of them. He slipped on a pair of work boots and I hoped that somewhere in his bag, he’d tucked in a cowboy hat; it just would have completed the outfit. He looked…very handsome. This life suited him.
Hatless, he grabbed my hand and we made our way down the elaborate staircase that dropped down into the foyer with the naked woman statue. We took the hallway to the right that led to the kitchen, and the smells of breakfast made my stomach rumble again. You’d think I hadn’t eaten in years by my body’s reaction to the amazing hickory and maple scented bacon that was filling my nose. We walked into the cheery, sunlit room and spotted Teren’s dad reading the paper and sipping on a mug of coffee. He looked up at hearing our approach.
“Good morning, kids. Sleep well?”
I smiled as Teren answered, “Yeah, thanks, Dad.”
We sat across the table from him, and just as I was wondering if I should help out in the kitchen, Alanna came out with a tray full of food. She set it in the middle of the table and smiled warmly at me. “Good morning, dear. Hungry?”
I blushed faintly, knowing that every vamp in the house probably heard my gurgling stomach…among other things. “Yes…thank you.”
She looked over at Teren with an odd glint in her eye. Teren looked away for a second, looking almost embarrassed, and then he returned her gaze calmly. “Good morning, Mother.”
She looked at him for a silent second, flicked a quick glance to me and then back to him. “Good morning, Son.” She smiled brightly and so did Teren.
She blurred back to the kitchen and returned almost instantly with plates, silverware, mugs and glasses. Disappearing again, she returned with milk, orange juice and a carafe. I ignored the carafe and eyed the overflowing platter of bacon, scrambled eggs and toast, with my mouth practically watering. Jack started helping himself and Alanna gave him a swift kiss before blurring out of the room. I figured it was alright to load up our own plates, so I grabbed a spoon resting in the eggs and started piling.
Teren grabbed the carafe and I tried very hard not to notice. He held it out to me and I looked at him curiously. “Coffee?” he asked, as he grabbed a mug.
“Coffee?” I asked quietly.
He smiled. “Yes…just coffee this morning.”
I relaxed and nodded as he filled my cup. I wondered where the rest of the vampires were in this huge house as Teren set down my steaming mug. I suppose they didn’t need to eat breakfast, so there wasn’t much point in them idly sitting at the table and watching the humans, and the mostly-human, eat regular food. As I watched Teren fill his plate with bacon, I wondered why he ate regular food and they didn’t appear to. Maybe their more vampiric nature just made regular food not taste as good to them, as it seemed to with Teren. He certainly appeared to be thoroughly enjoying the slice he’d popped in his mouth. I stopped worrying about it and focused on the incredible food before me. It tasted just fine to this one hundred percent human.
Once breakfast was out of the way, and Alanna lickety-split cleared the table while I had gone from a sitting to a standing position (that was one vampire trait that I really wouldn’t mind having), Teren showed me the rest of the expansive home.
We walked through the 5 star kitchen, where Alanna was already putting away the clean breakfast dishes, and I marveled at the double oven, a walk-in freezer, the ceramic, smooth-top burnerless range on an island in the center of the room, that also had its own sink, and a refrigerator that was built right into the wall and resembled cabinets, until you looked closer and spotted the handles. All the countertops were thick, green-speckled granite and all the wood in the various cabinets and cupboards were a deep mahogany. For a home where only one person appeared to eat, they sure spared no expense on the kitchen.
Walking through that room, we swung around to the living room that seemed to take up the entire back of the house. A wall of glass on one side of me had French doors that opened up to the foyer and the set of elegant staircases that led to the rooms upstairs. A wall of glass on the other side of me showed me that my earlier assumption was correct; a large swimming pool was nestled in-between the three buildings.
The living room itself was a homage to a comfortable ski lodge. Plush chairs, throw rugs and ottomans were scattered in clusters around the massive room. A couch, that looked as if you could live in it, was opposite an antique, claw-footed coffee table, scattered with oversized books with glossy looking pages featuring ranches around the Country. I wondered if this ranch was in one of those books and decided that if it wasn’t, that was purely by the owner’s choice - this spread was amazing.
The couch and coffee table were in front of the single most impressive fireplace I had ever seen in my life. I stopped in front of it and just stared and shook my head at the innate beauty of it. It was large, taking up a good chunk of the wall it was positioned on, and protruded into the room with a semi-circle ring of stones that commanded attention. But that was pretty standard for a fireplace of its size. What made it intrinsically breathtaking was the flue. It was shaped into a semi-circle, much like the hearth, and, like the outside of the home, river rocks in various sizes and colours were pressed into the wall. While that would have been impressive enough, it was the fact that the rocks were formed into what was clearly a flame design that had me still marveling.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Teren asked, as he watched me examining every flawlessly placed stone.
I nodded as I looked over at him. “It’s amazing. Your parents’ home is pretty…impressive.”
He smiled wryly and shrugged. “It’s alright.”
I laughed as he pulled me through the rest of the living room to the other side of the house. He showed me the mandatory “piano” room and explained that both his mother and grandmother enjoyed playing. He pulled me through a library packed with leather-bound editions of just about every classic novel the world has seen created. He showed me the main bathroom downstairs, that would rival the pent house suite bathroom at any four star hotel in California, and, because I’m a curious girl, I couldn’t help but wonder if vampires even needed a bathroom?
Next, he showed me the rest of the rooms upstairs, including the oasis his parents called a bedroom. I think it was about the size of my mother’s entire house, and probably included all the same amenities. Everything was cream and gold and burnished reds and oranges and reminded me of the sunrise painting downstairs. Fresh flowers were in every room and spaced evenly along the hallway, so that the entire upper floor smelled of freesia. There was nothing in this home that wasn’t meticulous and magnificent.
At the opposite end of the hallway from our room, Teren stopped in front of a closed, heavy, white door and knocked softly twice. A soft voice replied with something I couldn’t make out through the thick door and he gently opened it.
We walked into a spacious room with heavy beaded curtains covering every window. The air was perfumed, and light vibrated and danced by the near dozen lit candles. I felt like tiptoeing into the near sanctuary of this quiet place. Teren’s grandmother was sitting on a padded, antique rocking chair, knitting at lightning speed. She gently rocked herself as she knitted, and the odd mixture of her slow moving feet with her quicker than humanly possible hands, was causing some small part of my brain to melt, I was sure.
“Good morning, children.” It was a little disconcerting, to be referred to as a child from someone that looked younger than me, but I ignored it and smiled politely at her.
“Good morning, Gran. I was just showing Emma the house.”
Not stopping from her work, her young face beamed at her grandson. “That’s good, dear. You could show her the ranch hand’s home down the road as well, if you like? No one’s staying there right now.” She smiled crookedly when she said that and raised an eyebrow.
Teren coughed and looked around the room. “Yeah. Maybe we’ll do that…later.”
She stopped knitting for a moment and motioned to a lush chair beside her. “Have a seat.”
As I was halfway to a seated position, Teren grabbed my hand and I straightened. “Maybe another time, Gran. I still have a lot to show Emma.” He smiled warmly as he started leading me away.
Imogen raised her lips slightly at the corners as she replied softly, “Yes, I suppose you do. We’ll catch up this evening, I’m sure.”
I waved goodbye as we exited her room, Teren shutting the heavy door behind him.
Knowing there was only one vampire we hadn’t seen this morning, I hesitantly asked him, “So…where’s Halina?”
Teren nodded at the floor. “Her rooms are in the basement levels.”
“Oh. Will we be going down there?” I hoped my voice didn’t betray my reluctance at that prospect. Entering her “lair” wasn’t exactly an appealing thought to me.
He twisted his lips as he looked at me thoughtfully. “She tends to sleep through most of the day. Waking her up really isn’t…a good idea.”
“Oh…okay.” I breathed the word in case she could hear it.
He laughed once. “She’s asleep right now. She’s actually the only vamp who can’t hear you. She’s a pretty solid sleeper once she’s down, so you don’t need to worry about waking her up.”
I relaxed. “Oh,” I said again but at normal volume. “So, she’s…nocturnal?”
He laughed again. “Yeah…it kind of goes with the whole vampire thing.”
Now I twisted my lips and looked at him thoughtfully. He laughed, understanding. “Mostly human, remember.”
“Right. I don’t know how I keep forgetting that. What about your mom and Imogen?”
He grabbed my hand and started leading me back down one side of the dual staircase. “They are more human in that respect. They sleep at night and are awake during the day, although sometimes Gran will stay up all night with Great-Gran, and sleep during the day as well.”
“Oh.”
The thought of a vampire roaming the halls while I obliviously slept, didn’t sit well with me, but I kept my irrational fear of that from Teren. He would just say that I had nothing to worry about and that she wouldn’t eat me. I had the sudden thought that everyone was going to keep reassuring me that I wouldn’t get eaten, right up until the day I did. Hopefully, I would at least get an “oops” or “sorry” before I was completely consumed.
He showed me around the side buildings that housed more guest rooms (I wasn’t quite sure what they needed so many rooms for, maybe it just came with the spread), 2 libraries, 3 offices, more bathrooms than I could count, a laundry room with the single largest washer and dryer I’d ever seen, an indoor greenhouse that smelled wonderfully of ripening tomatoes and made me damp with sweat before we left the room, a formal dining area that put the area by the kitchen to shame, and an informal lounging area with televisions, board games, a plethora of movies (including a slew of vampire movies – Interview with a Vampire, Dracula, Van Helsing, Twilight, Blade – which I found pretty amusing)and even a 3-hole putting green, because what self-respecting vampire doesn’t like to practice their putt?
Really, all it needed was an indoor bowling alley, and I’d have been convinced that his family was some sort of vampire royalty.
He ended the home tour by leading me to the courtyard out back. It took my breath. The sun was approaching its zenith and its rays sparkled along the ripples of water in the Olympic-sized swimming pool basking below it. The entire family could swim laps and not bump into each other. A diving board on the far end indicated where the deep end was, and a few feet on the other side of that was the one thing I was actually really looking forward to…a hot tub - what looked like a 20 person hot tub, with jets everywhere and areas that conformed to a lying person’s shape, so you could nearly nap in the slightly below boiling water.
Flat river rocks formed a patio, stretching from the glass wall of the living room, all the way around the pool and hot tub, to a large area behind that, where covered tables and lounge chairs rested in the sunshine before a barbeque grilling station. That huge grill swept up out of the river rock floor so naturally, that you’d expect to come across its twin while hiking in the Grand Tetons.
We walked across the flat stones while Teren pointed out various aspects of the land that we could see. The summit of Mount Diablo was positioned perfectly in the open area of the courtyard, creating a stunning backdrop for the already stunning view. These vampires sure knew how to pick a place.
On the far side of the patio were granite steps that led to a granite pathway. We followed the pathway to some outbuildings at the base of the hill the main home was sitting atop. I looked back and marveled again at the gleaming red tiles, white stucco, and gray rocked beauty, that was the Adams’ family home. When we approached the buildings at the base of the hill, that looked to store farm equipment, some motorcycles, four wheelers, and a couple of jeeps with oversized tires, I noticed Jack screwing a cap back on one of the bikes.
He looked up at the crunching sound of our approach. He walked into the sun and squinted up at us. “Hey, Teren, Emma. I was just about to check out the cattle in the east pasture. You guys want to come?”
Teren looked back at me and I nodded eagerly. I’d lived in the city my whole life and had never seen a cow up close. He smiled and led me to one of the jeeps. His dad hopped on a bike and started it while we slipped into the open topped vehicle. We started out after Jack, who was zipping along at a pretty decent pace. I suppose if you live your whole life with someone who can cross a room faster than you can say vamp, you learn to be speedy where you can. We bounced along behind him on faint trails that I could just barely make out in the rolling hillside. Teren had a grin on his lips and his blue eyes sparkled merrily in the sunshine. Boys did love their toys.
We approached a long, white fence and slowed to park beside it. I could see a few cow heads poking up out of the amber grass and wondered briefly if Teren could walk in there with them. Spike didn’t seem to mind him, but surely a cow would have some innate sense of predacious danger and would run from him. But Teren followed his dad’s lead and climbed the fence. He paused at the top and held his hand out to me. I gave him a wry look and scrambled up and over the fence by myself. He laughed once, then stood at the top of the suddenly narrow looking fence and stepped off, landing the five feet to the ground as effortlessly as one steps off the front porch. Show off.
We walked among the cows, who didn’t move much from munching on their meals, and certainly had no fear of Teren, who walked close by a few and even ran a hand along the back of one. I patted the head of one that looked up at me with huge, vacant brown eyes and giggled. I’d never imagined a month ago, when I ran into Teren with my coffee, that the future would have me at a ranch petting cattle…with a vampire.
Jack walked in front of us, inspecting hooves or mouths or bellies of the beasts, as we walked among them. I snuggled up to Teren’s side as we strolled through the knee-high grass, watching for any fresh piles beneath us and listening for rattlers (I hate snakes). I looked around the pasture at the various brown and white cows, and then looked over to what I could see of the other pastures. I saw various bulks that must be more bovines, but nothing larger than that. I saw the building that must have been the ranch hand’s house that Gran mentioned, and beside it was an unmistakable building that could only be a massive barn.
“Are the horses in there?” I pointed over to the long building as Teren and I walked along.
Looking back at him, he shook his head. “No. We don’t keep horses anymore.”
I frowned. “That seems a little odd. Horses and ranches are kind of like peanut butter and jelly…they just go together.”
He laughed and looked down at me. “Are you hungry again?” I smacked his arm and he laughed again. “We had a hard time with them…falling ill, so we stopped bringing them in.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “Falling ill?”
He kicked at a rock in the grass as we walked by it. His dad up ahead was busy digging something out of one of the cow’s hooves. Teren sighed. “That’s what the hired hands believe.”
“And the truth would be…?”
He looked over at me. “Well, horses are more naturally spooked by us than the cows, so training them to overcome their fear was really more effort than it was worth, especially since we move faster than them anyway.”
I nodded, thinking that was perfectly understandable but then he continued, “And Great-Gran has a taste for them. We couldn’t keep her away from the few we did manage to train. We just couldn’t keep any alive for long…”
I stopped walking and stared at him, absorbing that. He stopped walking and shrugged. “After a few of those instances, we switched to bikes for the humans.”
‘Oh’ was all I could think to say to that…so that’s all I said.
His dad pointed out a couple cows that were expecting as we reached the edge of the herd. I ran my hand along the extended belly and smiled at the tiny creature inside that moved slightly at my touch. I giggled again and stood up as Teren shook his head at my enjoyment. I pointed back to the pregnant cows as we started heading back towards the jeep.
“Do you ever name them?”
Jack laughed, a hearty booming sound, and Teren patted a cow’s back as we walked by it. “Sure. This one’s Tuesday,” Teren said merrily.
Jack laughed again as I twisted my lips. “Nice.”
Teren laughed with his dad. “We try not to personalise the food. It’s not as enjoyable to eat, if it had a name.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I muttered under my breath, and Teren grinned, so I knew he’d heard me.
Jack didn’t and added, “Teren used to name them when he was a boy.”
Teren sighed. “Dad.”
Jack laughed and ignored him. “He named half Geraldine and half Bessie.”
I laughed with Jack this time as Teren scowled at the both of us. I nudged him in the ribs. “Well, weren’t you cute.”
“Feeling more comfortable with Jack than say, Halina, I asked him, “What do you do with the cows the girls…eat?”
Very matter-of-fact he answered, “We butcher them and sell the meat, well, the meat that we don’t use for ourselves, for the guys that help us out a few times a year and Teren and me. Adams ranch is well known for high quality beef, and our cows are highly sought after.” He smiled widely with pride. “We have the best steaks in three counties.”
I smiled too. “Yes. Yes you do.”
He patted me gently on the back as we reached the fence again. “I think you’ll fit in just fine here, Emma.”
After the tour, Jack cooked us some burgers and we ate on the back patio, enjoying the sunny day and the slight breeze. Alanna popped out with refreshing lemonades and stayed to sit in her husband’s lap for a minute, making Teren roll his eyes adorably. Then she started shifting uncomfortably and excused herself, going back inside the house. I started wondering about this house of vampires, and what mythic rules applied to them, since they seemed to be ignoring all the rules I’d ever heard of. I thought about asking Teren, but he was enjoying a quiet conversation with his dad, so I figured I could ask him later.