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I stiffened. Her Wynn? I suddenly had the urge to burn the woman’s coat in my hands. My fingers curled around the fabric, twisting it beneath my hands as I watched them walking into the drawing room.
“Breathe, Piper.” Darren reminded me, taking the coats from my hands and laying them across the stair’s railing. “If you can’t handle a few snide comments, then you won’t last the night.”
I forced myself to relax, wiggling some of the tension out before looking to Darren. “Better?”
“Much, now for the drinks.” Darren inclined his head toward the drawing room. “You find out what they want, and I’ll prepare them. Then you can bring them back out. Think you can handle that?”
I swallowed thickly, my heart racing in my chest. “Yes. I think so.”
“Good. Now, come, before they start getting antsy. A hungry vampire is never a pretty sight.”
Following closely after Darren and into the drawing room, I kept my eyes down but peeked around me as I passed by. Wynn sat on one of the tall back chairs, one leg crossed over the other and a pleasant expression on his face. I wanted to think he was trying not to throw Theresa, who had taken up residence on the arm of his chair out the window. She was pawing him like she owned him, her hands dipping into the open neck of his shirt and her mouth skimming his ear.
I was watching them so closely that I almost tripped and fell into Rayne’s lap. I caught myself at the last moment, my hand on the back of his chair. I muttered an apology before hurrying after Darren.
The twins sat side by side on one of the couches with Antoine on the opposite one. Marcus stood behind and off to the side of Antoine’s chair, his arms crossed over his chest. His dark eyes scanned the room as if he expected trouble at any moment.
Valentine had taken a seat next to Antoine though it seemed neither of them wanted to be there. It made me wonder what the point of tonight was if none of them like each other.
“Gentlemen and lady,” Darren addressed the room, nodding toward Theresa. “Please let Piper know what you would like to drink. We have all manner of alcohol as well as several blood types on hand.”
All eyes locked onto me as Darren finished, and I stood there frozen for a second. It took Darren giving me a discrete shove forward before I started moving. Deciding it best to start with the guests, I stopped beside Valentine.
“What can I get you, Master Moretti?” I surprised myself by how demure my voice came out as I kept my eyes down to not show how freaked out I felt.
“Aw, look at this one. So precious. She’s shaking. Please, pet, call me Valentine.” He chuckled as I nodded. “I’ll take red wine mixed with AB positive. You still have some, don’t you, Antoine?”
“Of course.” Antoine’s voice came out clipped but courteous. At least one of us was good at hiding our feelings.
I went around the room and took the drink orders, feeling more and more discouraged when none of the brothers gave me a passing glance. In fact, it seemed like they were trying their best to ignore me altogether.
“How are you holding up?” Darren asked when I came into the kitchen with their orders. He began to fill them as I tapped my fingers on the counter.
“Okay, I guess. Nervous.”
“As I would expect. Just keep your mouth shut and your head down unless spoken to otherwise and you’ll be fine.” He began to fill a silver tray for me and then added, “I wouldn’t listen too closely to what they talk about. Better not to listen to them at all. Think of yourself as one of those Queen’s guards in England.”
I licked my lips and tried to think like them. Really, it couldn’t be that hard. Think tall, reserved, a big fuzzy head. Okay, not that far. I could do this.
Keeping to my mantra, I made it through the first round of drinks before I had a reason to break my character. I mean, it was a good reason. I couldn’t really be blamed for what I did. Valentine more than deserved it.
A bit drunk on wine and blood, the vampire turned their discussion from work to more personal matters.
“So, tell me, Antoine. Does this one taste as good as she looks?” Valentine flashed me his fangs, clear hunger in his eyes. He didn’t wait for Antoine to answer before continuing to cut me down like a piece of steak he was perusing over at the supermarket. “Is she a virgin? You know virgin blood is the sweetest of them all.” Valentine kissed his fingers in my direction.
I regretted my decision to stand there within arm’s reach of this disgusting creature. Pluto wouldn’t be far enough away from him. My hand tightened around the silver tray, and my horrified expression landed on Antoine who didn’t so much as blink an eye.
“Come now, Valentine. We all know Italian nuns are the best,” Wynn announced with a jovial laugh, causing the other vampire to glance his way and thankfully taking his putrid gaze off me.
“You aren’t wrong.” The visiting vampire chuckled, but then he moved back to me. “However, Italians are so protective of their convents as of late. I remember the days where you could walk into any church and with a bit of charm here and a cut throat there, you could be drinking nun for the month.” He leered at me, his hand reaching out to tug on my skirt. “This one, however, is much too pretty to be a nun or a virgin really. Come on, darling, tell me. Do you like it rough?”
Unable to hold back any longer and since my employers, all fucking six of them, seemed to have forgotten how to speak at that moment, I had to take matters into my own hands. Giving him a nasty grin, I snarled, “If you wanted a stake to your heart, you only had to ask, Master Valentine.”
The room quieted. Visible tension could be cut like a knife, and for a moment, I worried for my life. Then the woman, the dark-haired beauty hanging all over Wynn jerked a finger in my direction.
“Are you going to let her talk to him that way?”
I glared at her, wanting nothing more than to throw my tray at her head. Hopefully, it would cut her pretty little head off, silence her and still those roaming hands of hers for good.
The twins stayed where they were, looking imposing and ready to jump up in case a fight did break out. Though I doubted they could reach me in time if Valentine decided to take his anger out on me.
Rayne was the only one who surprised me. Unlike his older brother, Antoine, who had done nothing but sit with a bored expression on his face, not being more useful than a statue, to be honest, Rayne’s eyes bore into Valentine. I couldn’t figure out if the fiery hatred in his eyes were for my sake or just the vampire himself. Either could have been valid.
Valentine, however, didn’t react the way his companion did. He stared at me for a moment as if unsure he had heard me right, and then threw his head back and laughed. It was a sound that ran through me and made me ill.
“It’s quite alright, Theresa. I like my women with a bit of sass. It makes them taste all the better. I do so like a good fight.” His eyes zeroed in on me with a cruel grin, and I’d had it.
With a liquefying look around the room, I spun on my heels and stomped from the room. Antoine called after me, but I ignored him and the laughter trailing after me. Fuck them. Fuck them all.
