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The house was like a museum—or maybe a castle in Europe somewhere. I never dreamed something like this even existed in Colorado.
But what did I expect from a 200-year-old vampire? Antique art pieces, floors made from marble imported from Italy, thick white molding along the tops of the walls that connected to ceilings with intricate Thirteenth Century murals that would make the Sistine Chapel envious.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself as I looked around Kellan’s amazing home.
He led me through the gorgeous dining room. “Only about thirty years.”
I shot him a sideways glance, resisting the urge to remind him that was “only” longer than I had been alive. I laughed a little. “Wow.”
“I’ve had a lot of work done over the years on the place, trying to keep the balance between modern and classic. I have a thing for thirteenth century art, so I like to keep that type of theme.”
I peered up at the ceiling and wrinkled my nose at an image depicting a head being lobbed off by a guillotine. “Well, if sick, twisted, and bloody is your thing.”
He followed my gaze and then looked at me with an amused expression. “This from the girl who tore a vampire’s head off and laughed while doing it.”
“That wasn’t me,” I defended.
He made a scoffing noise as we walked into a kitchen that made my jaw drop. Jeffrey was standing at the sink, washing his hands, and I could see rivulets of red mixed in with the water as it washed down the white porcelain sink.
“Hello,” he said, smiling as he reached for a dish towel that hung on the handle of one of the three ovens stacked vertically into the wall. They were black with stainless accents. A stainless hood stretched over the gas stove, and I walked over to the intricate brick and shiny stone backsplash, the red and orange stones gleaming in contrast to the dull brick.
“Can I make you something, Miss Ayla?” Jeffrey asked, distracting me from my gawking.
I glanced around the kitchen for a refrigerator, but didn’t see one. “Uh, sure. I’d like something to drink. I’m really thirsty.”
“Absolutely,” he returned with a smile. I watched as he made his way to what I thought was floor-to-ceiling cabinet and open it. To my surprise, a light came on and I could see that it was, in fact, a fridge built into the wall.
“Cool,” I breathed, making my way over to it.
I heard Kellan chuckle from behind me.
“We have juice, milk, coconut water, or if you prefer...” He held up a large clear pitcher of what I assume was blood.
“The juice will be great,” I said, pointing to a carton of pineapple-cranberry juice.
It wasn’t hard to see that the rest of the refrigerator was mostly empty, except for a few bottles of white wine, a carton of eggs, a loaf of bread, and a few other small staples.
Jeffrey poured the juice into a glass and I thanked him before lifting it to my lips. I stared at him, wondering if he was a vampire or not. If he wasn’t, he was sure good at not being freaked out by them. I resisted the urge to sniff him.
“Better?” Kellan asked as he took the glass from me.
I nodded. “Got anything to eat? Or”—I looked at the fridge—“maybe we can order pizza?”
Jeffrey opened a drawer set into the kitchen island, a large monstrosity with barstools opposite the side where the drawers were. The countertop was white marble with sparkly black swirls in it. Jeffrey produced a pile of takeout menus and said, “What are you in the mood for?”
I eyed his pale skin and platinum hair and couldn’t figure him out. His eyes were an unusual shade of blue in this light, but his skin had no flaws, and his fingernails and hands were manicured nicely. He was also pretty small for a guy.
“What are you hungry for, Jeff?” I asked, biting back a smile.
He grinned. “Oh, no. I’ve already eaten. You choose, and I will place the order for you, miss.”
Darn it... was hoping to see if he could eat food or not.
I looked down at the menus and thought Chinese sounded good.
“Wait. It’s like three a.m. Are they even open?”
“Vampires,” Kellan said with a smile.
I looked confused and then shrugged. “Cool.” I then prattled off what I wanted, and without writing it down, Jeffrey smiled and neatly placed the menus back into the drawer, pulled his cell phone from his pants pocket, hit a few buttons, and then started reciting my order.
Did he have the Chinese restaurant on speed-dial?
“C’mon, curious little wolf, let me show you the rest of the house,” Kellan whispered in my ear.
He took my hand in his, and it sent a shiver up my arm. Any time he touched me, my body reacted in some sort of spine-tingling way.
My eyes widened as we reached the library. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves took up three walls, as the fourth was a gigantic window that took up the entire space. Four red velvet Victorian sofas with mahogany legs were set randomly throughout the room. My bare feet made a whispering sound over the high polished wood floors until I reached the colorful Persian rug set under the sofas. It felt soft under my feet, but I barely noticed it as I made my way to the bookshelves. Every classic imaginable from the last four centuries graced the shelves. Along with those were medical books ranging from early 1800s right down to the most current version of the Gray’s Anatomy medical guide. Legal books and mythical books about vampires and other creatures were lined up in their own places on the shelves.
I ran my fingers gently along their spines and pulled in a big breath so I could smell them all. “This is amazing, Kellan.”
He stood near the doorway with his arms behind his back, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I love how easy it is to make you look like that.”
I turned my head to look at him. “Like what?”
Before I could blink, he was standing mere inches from me. “Like you think a library full of books is amazing. Like you are in awe over a mural painted on a ceiling.” He brushed a stray hair from my forehead with the tips of his fingers and stared into my eyes. “Like your next breath is dependent upon my touch.”
I quite literally had no response to that. I knew he was talking about what we had just spent hours doing in his—or whoever’s—bedroom that was.
He rubbed his thumb along my jaw and then dragged it along my bottom lip. I couldn’t break my gaze away from this man. He was disarming me minute by minute with his words, his touch, and... his very impressive digs.
I cleared my throat and managed to tear my gaze away from his. “Tell me where you got all these books.”
He laughed as he dropped his hand from my face. He didn’t break contact with me, though, as that hand wound its way around my waist and pulled me close. “That, love, would take hours. Let’s just say I’ve traveled to lots of places, and I always pick up a book or two when I go.”
My eyes widened. I never pegged him as a reader, but I supposed when someone lived as long as he had, they would run out of things to pass the downtime.
“Do you like to read, sweet Ayla?”
I nodded. “Yes, I always have.”
“Don’t tell me,” he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Romance?”
I snorted and broke out of his embrace, as much as I didn’t want to. But... I had a point to make. “Sometimes. I get on kicks. Right now I’m into the forensic mysteries. Have any of those?”
He chuckled and walked to the bookshelf and pulled down Sherlock Holmes and handed it to me.
I chuckled and turned over Sir Conan Arthur Doyle’s classic in my hands. “Okay, very early forensic mysteries. Nice.” I ran my fingers over the gold-embossed title and looked up at Kellan. “Think they’ll ever solve the Jack the Ripper murders?”
He laughed and took the book from me, brushed his own fingers over it, and put it back on the shelf. “No, they will not.”
I took a seat on one of the ornate red Victorian chaise lounges. “Why not?”
“You cannot possibly think those murders were committed by a human, do you?”
I looked at him curiously and chewed my lip. Racking my brain to remember what I had read about the infamous murderer, the facts began to click together in my brain. The blood, the prostitutes, the lack of evidence, the murders committed only at night...
“Oh, my God! A vampire!”
He tapped his temple. “Smart girl.”
My brain began to bubble with questions, and just as I was about to fire one off to him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone and looked at the screen. “Your supper is here.”
My stomach grumbled in time with his announcement, and he winked while extending a hand to me. “Let’s get you fed.”
I sat at the heavy wooden dining room table and tried to remind myself that I didn’t need to feel uncomfortable eating in front of Kellan. He didn’t need food, nor could he even digest what I was eating.
With a sauce-coated pile of shrimp and noodles on my plate, I looked at Kellan. “When was the last time you ate food?”
He glanced at my food, then my mouth, and then into my eyes. “It’s been... a while.”
I resisted an eye roll as I shoveled the flavorful food into my mouth and mumbled, “That’s not an answer.”
He made a face and handed me a napkin. “Don’t speak with your mouth full, love.”
Oops.
“Sorry, just so hungry,” I replied after I’d swallowed.
“Does this even look good to you?” I asked, indicating with my chopsticks the food spread out on the table.
“What do you think?” he asked, eyes glittering.
I nodded and twirled more noodles in my chopsticks. “It’s like I know in my brain that you guys can’t eat food, but my heart can’t comprehend such a travesty. How do you not miss food?”
He glanced at my plate, then to me, as his hand found my free one, and his thumb drew circles over my knuckles. “It’s taken years to not miss food. What’s worse is that the food I had before I was turned was nothing like this.” He gestured to the spread on the table. “I have tasted this food, but I cannot swallow it down without... consequences.”
“What? Like, you barf?” I asked.
He shook his head as I shoveled some more shrimp lo-mein into my face. “I haven’t vomited in years, but yes, when I was first turned, my body rejected human food. I can have liquids as thick as milkshakes, but that is the absolute limit. My vampire DNA does not tolerate anything solid.”
I stared at him, and remembered that Karina had once told me something similar. “Well, that blows.”
“Indeed, it does. But, no worries. I have no desire for it now.”
I snorted as I squeezed some hot mustard on an egg roll. “I wish I had no desire. If I keep eating like this, I’m gonna turn into a blimp.”
Kellan looked at me quizzically for a split second, and then smiled. His thumb was still rubbing circles on the top of my hand. “Ayla, I have never seen an overweight werewolf, and I can assure you, vampires do not and cannot carry around excessive weight like humans do, either. Your body will burn it off. It is, perhaps, why you are always so ravenous.”
I looked at him curiously, the egg roll still between my fingers where I was sloshing it through the hot mustard. I thought about every supernatural I knew and realized none of them looked overweight or even far from perfect. “Huh.” Was all I managed to get out.
Deciding that topic was stupid, I looked at the handsome vampire. “Tell me about when you were human.”
He blew out a breath I knew was unnecessary, and pierced me with a cool blue stare. “Are you sure?”
I waved a dismissive hand before digging back into my food. “Why wouldn’t I be sure?”
“Because it’s not... pleasant,” Kellan replied with a slight grimace.
Uh oh.
I lifted my chin, because really, I couldn’t back down now, and said, “I’d like to think I’ve handled unpleasant pretty well so far.”
He met the challenge in my eyes and reluctantly nodded.