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“Right.” I didn’t appreciate the way he was staring at me.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention, every cell of my body screaming that something about this man was wrong.
“Well, anyway I should get going.” The last thing I wanted to do was turn my back on the unsettling man, but there was a little voice in the back of my head telling me to get the hell out of there.
That voice had saved me countless times before, and I wasn’t about to ignore it now.
I shuffled away a few steps, backing down the garden path. “Jordan is waiting for me. It was nice to meet you…?”
The man moved at impossible speed considering his frail body. In the blink of an eye he was right in front of me, grasping my hand between his own gnarled fingers. “Elijah. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Vincent. I do hope to meet you again, very soon.”
I all but snatched my hand away from him, manners be damned, and scooted away at a brisk pace. “Nice to meet you, Elijah. See you around.”
Back at the estate, I questioned Jordan on the subject. The vampiress was covered from head to toe in scrambled eggs, courtesy of the twins’ earlier temper tantrum.
“Oh, him?” Jordan shrugged, picking egg yolk from her hair. “Elijah has worked here for years, don’t worry about it. He’s always been a little odd.”
Seeing Jordan so blasé about it, I began to feel a little guilty for judging the old man so quickly. Living out in the middle of nowhere with only an aloof vampiress for company would leave anyone a little touched.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something off about Elijah.
The memory of the man’s beady eyes made my hair rise all over again and I clamped a hand over the back of my neck. Whatever it was about him, it clearly didn’t concern Jordan, which meant it probably shouldn’t concern me.
I shoved the thoughts to the back of my mind, shoveling the last of Hazel and Hilda’s scrambled egg into my mouth and swallowing with a dry, painful gulp.
Chapter 13
JORDAN
“Ouch!”Ishovedmysinged finger into my mouth, glaring at the stovetop that flickered with blue flame like it held a personal vendetta against me.
The appliances in the estate kitchen were fairly new, installed after my mother and I had deduced that the twins did indeed have a taste for human food. Unfortunately, neither Sigrid nor I had any idea how to use any of it, having never needed such frivolous human technology before.
The recipe book I had dug from Sky’s suitcase lay open on the counter top, the frayed pages illuminating the human woman’s preferences. While I had absolutely zero penchant for culinary adventures, I had found myself attempting the impossible: broccoli stir fry.
Armed with super speed and vampiric strength, I was determined to impress Sky with my non-existent culinary skills, despite the challenges that came with being an otherworldly creature in the kitchen with no map or compass to guide me.
Still sucking on my burnt finger, I surveyed the countertop, which looked more like a battlefield than a cooking station. Chopped vegetables were scattered haphazardly, tofu bits stuck to the wall, and garlic cloves rolled away as if trying to escape the chaos. Despite the mess and the vengeful stove top, things were going rather well.
Undeterred by the kitchen’s state of disarray, I pressed on, determined to create a masterpiece worthy of my human lover. Since arriving at the mansion, the crackling tension between Sky and me had increased tenfold.
While I was still unsure of her deeper feelings toward me, I couldn’t deny the chemistry between us and I decided to do what I could to pry a clear answer from her. Broccoli stir fry would be my weapon of choice.
With a dramatic flourish, I seized the frying pan and plopped it on the stovetop like I had seen human chefs do on the internet. I cranked up the heat, warily eyeing the flames that roared to life in an effect reminiscent of a volcano eruption.
Unfortunately, my vampire senses didn’t quite align with my cooking skills. While my nose was able to pick up the delicate aroma of ginger, the pungent smell of garlic had me heaving over the kitchen sink. Just touching the stuff was bad enough, but slicing those evil little cloves nearly got the best of me.
I resorted to pinching my nose closed with one hand and stirring the concoction with the other. This, too, proved difficult and many a stray vegetable was knocked to the ground in the process. In an invigorating display of culinary aerobics, I managed to catch a retreating hunk of broccoli before it hit the floor, knocking my head on the counter as I did so.
“Oh for the love of–”
Startled by an unexpected chuckle from behind me, I whirled around to find Sky sitting on the kitchen table, watching me.
“Well, there’s a sight you don’t see every day.”
“What are you doing in here?” I squawked, before rushing back to the stove at the sound of suspicious sizzling. “This was supposed to be a surprise.”
Sky hopped off the table and came to peek over my shoulder, sniffing the air. “Is that stir fry?”
