It was not everyday someone would hear the words, “Vampires are real.”
Tawne stepped into the house through a set of double wooden doors. As she took her first few steps from the entrance, a grand foyer stretched before her. To the left appeared to be a library, or maybe a study. She could see the wall lined with books. She made a mental note to visit this area soon. To her right, a gathering room completely open with white walls, and against the wall, a baby grand piano. She smiled when she saw it. The black piano stood out in stark difference to the all white room.
“Do you play?” Evan asked her.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t, but I’ve always wanted to learn.”
“I’m sure we can arrange a lesson or two.”
She turned to him and excitement raced through her. “You play?”
He shook his head. “I do not, but one of us has played for many years.”
The house, like the gathering room, was white walled with art hung in a few places. She recalled the fountain in Olivia’s home and wondered if they had one here as well.
“If you follow the hall, down on the right you’ll find the kitchen,” Cristofano told her. “We have someone on standby to cook as needed. We planned to have him here during your stay.”
“That’s great to hear. Thank you for considering me.”
“Of course,” he told her. “Allow us to show you to where you’ll sleep, then you’re welcome to walk about the house and get yourself acclimated.”
“Thank you. I’d like to do that.”
Next to the gathering room stood a magnificent staircase. The arm rails gleamed golden. She wanted to touch them, but also didn’t want to leave smudges.
“Is this real gold?”
A chuckle sounded behind her, and Tawne realized she asked this question out loud.
“I didn’t mean, oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my thoughts were spoken. I kinda have a bad habit of doing that.”
Chayton took a step toward her. “Even if it were gold, would it matter?”
She shook her head. “No, I suppose not.”
He grinned. “Well, that’s good. Because it’s not.”
“Oh, okay. Good to know.”
Chayton then added, “It’s wood with a gold plating over it.”
She lifted a brow. “Then that does make it gold.”
“Not necessarily. If you took a piece of trash and dipped it in gold, would you have gold, or gold covered trash?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, it’s still trash, but covered in gold. The value would go up, I would think.”
Chayton took her hand and ascended the stairs. “If you say so, but to me, it’s still trash. If something is carved from gold, it is gold throughout. However, if a monster is covered in gold, it is still a monster, just wearing gold to cover the rough outer exterior and hardness of the original design. Now, let’s go find your room.”
She thought about what he said, and a few past relationships came to mind.
Brian who thought what he wanted and demanded from her was far more important than what she could ever hope for. Nothing she ever said or did mattered. That relationship was over before it started.
Then there was David. He came in suave and seductive, then turned out to be an abusive asshole; even more so when he drank.
If you dipped a monster in gold, it is still a monster.
She grinned and gave a side-glance to Chayton. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “For what?”
She squeezed his hand and stood at the top of the stairs to the second floor. “For being honest. And for calling something shit when it’s still shit, even if it’s covered in gold.”
He raised his brows. “Because it’s still shit?”
She laughed with a nod. “Exactly.”
Chayton smiled. “There is also an elevator in our home. If you’d rather take it, consider it yours.”
“Really? Wow. I’ll definitely think about it.” Tawne turned her attention to the room in front of her. She thought taking the stairs up would have led her to a hallway of bedrooms, or something with doors. She didn’t expect to walk into a split room.
One side held a few crimson couches with matching curtains. A chandelier of crystal hung in the middle of the room. In the far corner sat a cello by wing chairs, a wooden coffee, and a few end tables.
Someone here plays cello? A piano and a cello. What’s next? Violin or drums? I will have my own orchestra!
The other room had a large red carpet in the middle with two white couches on either end of it. Against the far wall a bar with all types of liquors lined up for consumption. She imagined a Christmas tree in the middle of the room on the red carpet with many presents tucked underneath it.
“These rooms are beautiful.” Tawne turned around to face the men.
Chayton leaned against the wall. “Thank you.”
Evan and Cristofano took a few steps closer to her. The three of them surrounded her where she stood, but not in a menacing way. More of a protective stance. If she were to fall, they would catch her. Well, all except for Will. He’d probably let her fall on her ass.
I have to get to know him better, find out what makes him tick. And why he’s such an asshole.
She pointed across the room to the cello. “Do any of you play?”
“Yes, same one who plays the piano,” Cristofano answered.
She turned to him with a raised brow. “May I ask who it is?”
“That would be Will,” Evan answered.
Her mouth opened in shock. She didn’t know him, but he didn’t seem the type to play music. He was so cold. “He plays the cello?”
Cristofano nodded. “And the piano and many other musical instruments.”
“I find that surprising.”
“There are many things about all of us that may surprise you.” Chayton motioned toward the stairs. “Shall we continue?”
“Yes.” The coldest one in the house played music. She found this surprising, and intriguing. Did Will have this hard exterior that took a chisel to get through? Was he the soft teddy bear on the inside? A smile tugged the corner of her mouth. She wasn’t sure, but it was something to find out. The one who pushed those away usually had the thickest of walls to climb over and get through. However, once the walls were conquered, there was a whole other person on the inside, waiting to be discovered.
Challenge accepted.
Continuing up the stairs to the third level, the hall she’d expected to see on the second floor extended before her. To her right, a few doors and even other hallways. Who stayed down there and where did the other hallways lead to?
To her left, more doors and at the end, a sitting room with four tan wing chairs surrounding a round coffee table.
Along each hall hung portraits, either depicting people or wildlife. It reminded her of her time spent at the museum in downtown New Orleans. There was a nudge of excitement in wanting to know more about all the art; the portraits and other photographs, the vases, and the sculptures downstairs.
She stepped into the cavernous sitting room, glanced up to the ceiling and smiled at the openness of it. Skylights were installed into the roofing and she made a mental note to come out here during the night to behold the stars, or even the rain and storms.
“Down here is your room,” Cristofano announced in the silence.
She turned and followed Cristofano down the right side of the corridor. He stopped in front of the first door on the left, turned the knob, and pushed the door open.
Tawne stepped inside and the light instantly turned on.
“Motion sensors,” he told her. “They don’t work if you turn off the power to the room.”
She barely heard what he said due to the beauty of the room captivating her.
The walls were a champagne color with curtains and valance in the windows of similar but darker hue. The windows were huge, floor to ceiling in height. The ceiling held another chandelier. Across the room sat a fireplace underneath a bone white mantle. Crystal candleholders stood on either side, and a gold framed mirror above it.
A chaise lounge was in the corner by the windows with a few other matching sitting chairs. Then there was the bed. King size, dark mahogany, with window valance and curtains behind it, framing the bed, and what looked like at least twenty pillows strewn across the headboard. A smoky-gray, tempered glass table with two sitting chairs graced the area at the end of the bed.
She felt like a princess waking up from a long sleep to a world she had no memory of living in.
“There’s a closet with some of your clothes. We took the liberty of ordering a few pieces for your stay here. You’re welcome to utilize anything in this room or throughout the house. Please, consider it yours.”
She turned to Cristofano and fingers covered her mouth with her fingers, hoping to keep in a squeal. She lowered them quickly. “All of this is mine?” she whispered.
He chuckled. “So long you wish to stay, yes, it’s all yours.”
She shook her head and slowly spun in a circle. “I don’t even know where to begin with all of this. You’re asking me to stay here with you, knowing I could never give you what you need. Why?” She turned to face the three men in the room.
Cristofano and Evan turned to Chayton.
“What happened?” Tawne asked. “I feel like there’s a big elephant in the room here and I’m the only one not seeing it.”
“There’s no elephant,” Cristofano offered. “There is something Chayton is working on, though.”
“Yes,” Chayton said and took a step forward. “I am working on something I think will be life changing for not only vampires, but for humans as well.” He pressed the tips of his fingers together. “Recall the conversation about the serum I said I was working on?” She nodded and Chayton continued. “Well, if I’m successful in what I’m wanting to achieve with it, there’s a potential it will give you the same blood type as a Blood Demon, without becoming said demon. This would be along the lines of a miracle cure-all for all vampires today, and our future lines. During the trial phase of it, I want to test it on you and see how your blood reacts.”
The excitement of staying in this amazing room inside this remarkable home began to fade. She felt like a prize that had been trapped in a pretty box. She was an experiment? Was this the only reason they wanted her to be here?
Tawne took a step forward and placed her hands on her hips. “All right. I thought I knew why I was here, but now, I’m not sure. Please, do tell. Am I here as an experiment? Am I some type of test subject? Because I will tell you right here and now, that is not what I signed up for. If you think for a second you can inject me with some sort of crazy fuck-all and think I’ll be okay with it, you can think again!”
Chayton held his hands up in surrender. “Tawne, I promise you, you are not here as a test subject. When Olivia told us about you, we were all intrigued and wanted to meet you.”
“That’s correct,” Cristofano added. “She showed us pictures of you two together, the life you shared as friends.”
“And when Olivia told us she let you in on our part of the world,” Evan offered and took a few steps toward her. “You didn’t flinch, not once. It takes a strong individual to accept a new world like ours, but an even braver one to take it head on with no fear.”
“I appreciate all of this, and what you’re saying, but what is in this for me? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. It’s not that at all. You need a blood demon to survive. I’m not a blood demon. I’m a human. I’m not sure what the catch is.”
“There is no catch,” Cristofano said.
“Oh no, there is. Tell her what it is,” came a new voice.
Tawne turned and watched as Will stepped into the room. He wore a dark gray t-shirt with a popular brand name on the front, and had his hands shoved into his denim pockets. He met Tawne’s alarmed gaze and smirked.
“Tell her what you plan to do with her and how you want to change the face of all things vampires. Tell her how you want to be the person who makes it possible for vampires to be out in the open. Better yet, tell her she’ll be nothing more than a pet to be shared between you all for a few good fucks.”
Her eyes widened at his words and she took a few steps toward him. “How dare you! I am no one’s pet and certainly no fuck toy. Now, you can just turn around and leave this room, and never speak to me again! Who do you think you are, coming in here, talking to me like I’m a piece of trash? You know nothing about me!”
Will met her halfway and his chest almost bumped into her body. She fumed and was ready to fight. She didn’t care he was much taller, stronger, more deadly, sinfully-sexy-as-hell, but, dammit, she hated him right now.
“You are a human. I am a vampire. In a pyramid of dominance, you, my pet, are on the bottom.” Will traced a finger across her cheek, down her neck. He slipped his hand around her throat and leaned in.
Fear clamped down on her and she took a step back. Will grabbed her by the back of her hair and yanked her head back, exposing her neck.
“Will, dammit, leave her be. She did nothing to deserve this,” Cristofano yelled out.
Tawne’s breath came in spurts and her heart beat hard in her chest. She pressed her hands against his chest, but he wasn’t moving. “Let me the fuck go!”
“No,” he growled. “Do you fantasize about being bitten? Being fucked by four cocks at once? Is that what you want? You want us to ravage your body?”
“No!” She struggled against his grip and felt like a rag doll in his grasp. “Let me go!”
“Let her go,” Chayton said in a low, commanding tone. “Now, or you’ll fight me.”
Will shifted his glare to the man next to him and snarled. He let Tawne go and she fell on her backside. “Fine, have it your way, but I’m not taking part in your little experiment of human blood tasting.” He peered down at Tawne once more, and for a single moment, she thought she saw sadness in his eyes.
A tear slipped down her cheek and Will closed his eyes. “Why do you hate me? You don’t even know me,” she whispered.
Will’s body slumped when he sighed and opened his eyes. He stared down at Tawne and furrowed his brows. “I don’t hate you. I just don’t like you.” He turned to leave the room when Tawne spoke up.
“But, why? What did I ever do to you? You don’t know me.”
He paused in the doorway and turned to regard her over his shoulder. The other three vampires helped her to her feet. Chayton swiped the tear from her cheek.
Tawne waited for an answer and when one didn’t come, she pulled loose from the men. She inhaled a deep breath, then released it as she crossed the room. She stood next to Will and raised a hand to touch his arm, then stopped and lowered it back to her side. “I don’t know what happened to you, but I’m sorry. I wish I could take away your pain but taking it out on me is not fair. I didn’t do anything to you and don’t deserve the backlash I just received. But, Will?” She looked up and stared into his hard, cold eyes. “I forgive you.”
Tawne lowered her head and looked at the floor. She’d turned to leave him when Will grabbed her by the arm. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him.
Will opened his mouth to say something, then closed it once more. He shook his head and let her go. He left the room, his footsteps fading as he trekked down the hall. In the distance, she heard a door slam.
She turned to the others in the room and met their stares, one by one. “If we’re going to do this, we all need to be honest with each other. Chayton, what is it you’re developing? How will it affect me and your community? I want to help, but I need to know everything.”
Cristofano nodded and took a step forward. “You’re right, and we’ll give all of what you need to know once you’ve spent time with us. We know only what Olivia has told us. I can speak for my brothers here, that we are intrigued and want to know more, and need you, Tawne. We are looking for someone to handle all four of us, and if it’s any indicator with how you just handled yourself with Will, I believe you are the one for us.”
His words, as sincere as they were, did not completely convince her this was where she needed to be. Tawne wanted someone to call her own, someone to look at her like she was the last breath they would need to survive. She wanted someone to captivate her in a way that would forever rock her to her core. Three of four men were offering this world to her, if she was brave enough to accept it.
She wanted this, and even if that meant getting close to Will, she would do it. She wanted in on this secret world. She longed for a new adventure. The universe had spoken, loud and clear. Now it was up to her on what her next step would be.
Tawne crossed her arms over her chest and held her head high. “All right. I’m in.”