Indebted to the Vampires

Drake

Fuck, what a drag.I’d rather have my fangs pulled out with pliers than sit there and listen to Valentine and Theresa brag about how lovely it was at the main house.

Screw them.

They seemed to forget that we lived at the main house for years, and we left as soon as we had the chance. Being in a large house full of vampires like them who didn’t care for human life like we did made you forget your humanity over the years.

It was easy to think you aren’t losing it when everyone around you was acting worse... or even egging you on.

Valentine was the worst of the instigators. Valentine loved to find virgins, sometimes not even old enough to have bled yet, and spend his time breaking them in before tossing them to someone else if he didn’t kill them first.

Theresa wasn’t any better.

When she wasn’t trying to jump on Wynn’s dick, she liked to cause pain in the most unusual manners. I remembered a time she had used a feather duster to bring a man to the point of orgasm and then killed him with it midway through.

The very thought of it made me wince.

“Stop with the walk down memory lane,” Rayne growled lowly, crossing one leg over the other as him grimaced.

“Sorry,” I muttered, darting my eyes away from him and back to the vampire guests. They did didn’t care about the rest of us, only Wynn and Antoine. In most cases, I wouldn’t care. Better them than me.

However, Valentine had already crossed a line with Piper.

Rage had been simmering inside me ever since his beady gaze trailed over her skin. I wanted to pluck his eyes from his head and shove them down his throat for even thinking of touching her. Then he had to the audacity to put his hands on her and even went so far as to treat her like she wasn’t a person. These were the kinds of people we had to deal with at the main house.

“The visual isn’t helping either,” Rayne reminded me, running a hand through his hair, his teeth tightly clenched.

I was about to apologize again, but a nasally voice stopped me.

“Wynn,” Theresa whined, her hands pulling at his shirt as she was still trying to undress him right there, “why don’t we go find somewhere a bit quieter? I’ve missed you.”

Allister snorted.

“What?” Theresa snapped, her eyes jerking up from Wynn.

“I don’t see why you need a room. It’s not like you’ve needed one before,” Allister reminded her with a disgusted growl.

“Allister.”

Antoine’s warning tone made my brother clamp his mouth shut, but he didn’t tear his glare away from the piece of trash who called herself a lady.

“It’s good to see you haven’t lost your handle on your boys.” Theresa let a sly grin slide over her face as she snuggled into Wynn even further. The poor bastard just took in stride, but I knew him well enough to see the tick by his eye brow. If holy water worked on us, he’d be bathing in it right after this.

“They are hardly boys,” Antoine reminded her, leaning on the arm of the couch. One would think it was a natural position, but it was most likely to keep as far away as possible from Valentine as he could.

Theresa’s eyes dipped down to Wynn, her tongue sneaking out to wet her lips. “That they are not.”

Ugh. Fuck me with a blunt stake. I envied Piper a bit. I wished I could stomp out of here because I was offended.

“Ditto,” Rayne muttered, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

“Where did that lovely maid of yours run off to?” Valentine asked, his eyes moved around the room far too eager to find a victim to sink his teeth into.

“Working elsewhere,” Antoine bit out.

As if waiting for the mention of her, Darren came into the drawing room. “Dinner is ready if you would follow me.”

Valentine stood with the rest of us, but as we moved into the dining room and took our seats, I noticed he didn’t enter with us.

“Rayne,” I grabbed his arm, “Valentine is missing. Can you hear him?”

The redhead stopped and frowned, his eyes moving to the ceiling for a moment. Then his eyes widened, and he was gone before I could ask him what he had heard.

“Where’d Rayne go?” Allister asked as I took my seat beside him.

Picking up my knife and tapping the bottom of it on the table with my anxiety growing, I shook my head. “I don’t know. Trouble.”

“Fuck.” Allister mimicked my head shake. “And here I thought we might get out of this without bloodshed.”

I chuckled at that. “We’re vampires. If there’s not a bit of blood spilled, it isn’t a party.”

Sighing with a sad smile, Allister leaned back in his seat. “Too true.”

I watched the others, waiting to see when Antoine would notice. When he did, he didn’t get up. He didn’t freak out or even stand up. Antoine, ever the calm and poised one, gestured to Darren.

Darren leaned down next to him, his mouth close to Antoine’s ear. The human servant had learned to speak low enough that no one but Antoine’s could hear him, and what he said made Antoine’s lip tick.

With a jerk of his head, Antoine sent Darren on his way. Dinner started as if two of the party weren’t missing and the maid wasn’t in peril.

Who could eat at a time like this?