Chapter 63
We Feed Or We Die
“You’re an asshole, Ethan.” My voice didn’t quite come out the vinaigrette I’d intended. To my dismay, I sounded hurt.
“Yes, aren’t we all.”
I wanted to slap the smug look straight off his face. “What the fuck was that?”
“That was what we are, Amy. Vampires who feed on humans to survive, with some wild sex thrown in for good measure.”
“Ethan,” Karson warned. “Enough.”
“Oh sorry, My King.” Ethan gave an exaggerated bow. “I forgot you like to keep secrets from her.”
The vampire standing in front of me was not the Ethan I knew and loved. No, this vampire held a degree in bastardry.
“I suggest you go upstairs and shower. You reek of sex and blood and alcohol,” Karson said. “And sober up before your mouth gets the better of you, and my temper gets the better of me.”
I didn’t wait to hear Ethan’s response. I yanked open the front door and found a spot around the corner on the lawn. I lay on my back, uncaring that the grass was cold and damp. I ran my hands over the tips, watching an orchestra of gray tumble silently through the sky.
“Don’t be upset by Ethan,” Michael said, sitting beside me, resting back on his palms. “He hides it well, but he is going through a tough time.”
I sat up and pulled my knees to my chest. “I don’t think he’s hiding it that well.”
“He blames himself for Sarah hurting you and Georgie. And struggles with your …” He didn’t finish whatever he was going to say. Then after a long moment, he said, “He is hurting, and I’m sure when he sobers up, he will regret his actions.”
“Are you all like that with the people you feed from and hide it when I’m around?”
“Some of us are less flamboyant in our feeding. Years ago, those girls would have never walked out.”
The weight of the brutality spread a cold blanket over my shoulders. I threw out a hand. “Oh, so now they get to live, it’s so much better?”
“We feed or we die.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and retreated a little. “And if I wasn’t here, girls would come around?”
“We feed at night in the streets. But I have not seen Karson make sexual advances while you have been dating, if that is your concern.”
“Why did Ethan date Sarah? Surely, he knew what she was like?”
Michael shook his head. “He did, but she seemed to have changed. She is an extraordinary actress. It started as a fling we all thought would be a flash in the pan, but somewhere along the way they fell in love. Ethan loved Bob and Marg like they were family. A loving family is something Ethan never had, and I think they were a big part of why he stayed as long as he did with Sarah.”
Ethan’s father had abused him; he still carried the brutality of scars across his back. I hugged my knees tighter.
“Sarah appeared to be the perfect girlfriend, at first. But it didn’t take long for the real Sarah to emerge. She was jealous and possessive. As you are well aware, Ethan is flirtatious by nature, and Sarah couldn’t handle it. She would fly into rages and wanted to control his every move.”
“Sounds a little bit like Karson,” I said dryly.
“They share a few similar traits,” Michael agreed rather than jumping to his defense. And I wondered if he was inside listening. “But unlike Karson, Sarah grew up with a loving family. She was spoiled rotten, used to getting her own way. Perhaps that was her downfall.”
“How old was Karson when his parents were killed?” I asked.
“Seven.”
“Seven? Who raised him?”
“A family friend. Her name was Eleanor. She was only seventeen, but she took him in. They ran from the witches together until they found Eleanor and she was slaughtered when he was twelve. He had to raise himself from then, running and dodging the hunters. He fought back when he turned fourteen.”
Horror at the cold, callous cruelty of it all settled in a deeply uncomfortable place within me.
“His reactions might seem a little extreme at times, but he has never failed us. We trust him with our lives.”
“If firstborns are so hard to kill, how did Sarah manage to kill Nathan?”
“Nathan wasn’t a firstborn. Bob and Marg had him before they became immortal.
It is how they managed to get away with their lives when many others didn’t.
No one suspected parents with a normal child.
Sarah was kept hidden at home, and if anyone saw her they would say she was a niece visiting.
With her flame-red hair, she looked nothing like either parent, so it was plausible.
Of course, when she went out and slaughtered the locals, they had to pack up and move on.
She turned Nathan when he was twenty-five. ”
“What are we going to do when she shows up?”
“We hope to reason with her. If not, there are prisons we can lock her in.”
“Where are the vampire prisons?” I murmured.
“They are kept deep underground beneath layers of rock. Vampires don’t die, but you could hardly say they are alive.”
If they can’t reason with her, and they had to lock her up—or worse—Bob and Marg would be devastated.