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 gave me a charming smile, but I couldn't help but wonder about this dinner again. 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 rubbed 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 a chalky, white hand reaching up out of the grass. No, nothing dark or sinister at all in the decor. 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 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.
I forcibly shut my mouth again as Teren walked over. Extraditing me from his mother's grasp, he introduced me to his grandmother. "Gran, 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 honor my grandfather, so they named me Teren."
I smiled at the warmth in that. "Oh, that's really beautiful." I turned back to Imogen and she gave me a soft hug; her body was as cool to the touch as Alanna's. "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.
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 three minutes, forty-five 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 one hundred percent, 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 gently squeezed me.
"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 twenty, if even that. Her deceptive youth did not match the intelligence in her eyes, or the worldliness of her soft smile. As she walked around Teren and me, she lightly trailed a finger along our bodies. Against my will, I shivered at her icy touch.
"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 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 at her, as she finished her circle around us.
She smiled. "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 exaggerated a deep sigh 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 with all the strength I possessed. "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 meant all the vampires had, 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." The joy on her face was strange to me, but I ignored it as she 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 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 in the next room if you need anything, sweetheart." Her voice carried a clear warning to the eldest vampire to behave. Then, with a reassuring pat on my shoulder, Alanna left me alone with the one vampire 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."
"Important?" I asked, taken aback by her strange word choice.
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 as 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 away. We're in a guest room at the end of the hall upstairs." He gestured with his head somewhere above us.
I discreetly looked around, but Halina was having a quiet conversation 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 instantly flushed 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..."