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 in a bright voice. 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 pleasantly talked 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 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 while Alanna blurred to Teren's side and started preparing his plate. Her speed made me a little nauseous as she, in record time, set a heaping plate in front of Teren. Alanna gave him a warm kiss on the cheek while rumpling his hair.
"Thank you, Mom," he said, rolling his eyes as he looked over at me.
I smiled at his embarrassment while Alanna prepared a plate for me just as 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 meal in front of me and gave me a quick, cool kiss on the cheek as well.
"Thank you, Alann...Mom." It felt weird to say that, but she smiled so wide when I did, that I was happy I had. Plus, Teren gave my hand an affectionate squeeze, so I knew it made him happy as well.
Alanna 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 strange to start eating when only half the table had food, so I picked up my fork and waited for Alanna to come back. She returned in a few 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 glass, which I thought was odd, until I realized that the coffee was red...and that it wasn't coffee. Her goblet quickly filled with a thick, steaming, deep-red liquid that could only be blood. 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 beam. 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 twisted into a knot. 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 it was from a cow-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 churning stomach, watching him tilt the goblet back to his lips. He took a long draw, swallowing a couple times before pulling the glass away.
His fangs had extended 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 gaze 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 warm liquid from the carafe.
What happened to me next wasn't voluntary. It was pure instinct. Fear surged through my body and I could not stay calmly seated 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 there. I would run the sixty 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; 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 curiously watching me. 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 let out a short laugh. The tension eased from me as the knot in my stomach started to loosen and the fear slowly started 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 a musical clink. "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, displaying her red-tinted fangs.
Chapter 4 - Inappropriate Dinner Conversations
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 sinfully good. Imogen could cook as well as Teren, maybe better. I supposed she'd probably taught him or taught his mom, who taught him. After dinner, I yawned in exaggeration a couple of times, and was 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."
"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 nineteen, so she'll always look nineteen. Mom and Gran...just don't show their age anymore, but none of them are exactly young. Mom's in her fifties, Gran is over seventy and Great-Gran is up in the nineties 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 quietly said, "At twenty-five 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 twenty-five. Have you stopped aging?"
He grinned in an odd way as he looked back at me. "No...not today." His eyes examined 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. Glancing 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..." His expression was very odd as he chewed on his lip. "Are you okay, Teren?" I asked.
Releasing his lip, he looked back up at me and smiled. "I'm fine."
He was silent after that, so I began rummaging in my bag for my pajamas. I found my favorite silky pajama shorts with a matching pink camisole-the boy was such a good packer. I quickly threw them on and found my toothbrush and cleanser. As I was walking towards the adjoining bathroom he softly asked me, "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, then 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 stared at his hands in his lap. I moved his chin up so he'd look at me. "I will get used to it though...okay. Just give me a little absorption time...and maybe a heads up too."