Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Piper

Halfway through cleaning up the mess from last night, I remembered it was supposed to be my day off. However, I shrugged and finished it anyway.

I needed the distraction.

Who could blame me, really? I was working in a household of six gorgeous men, and they were all vampires. To say my brain wasn’t nearly fried from the very concept of it all would be putting it lightly.

“You’re staying?” Darren asked.

I paused where I was cleaning up the living room to look at him. He stood with his back straight by the front door, too suave to lean like us normal people. The surprise on his face didn’t bother me. If I had been in his position, I probably wouldn’t think I would stay. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if I had come to terms with it yet myself.

Lifting a shoulder like it was no big deal, I sighed. “What can I say? I need the job.”

“But you know what they are...” He trailed off, moving into the living room. He picked up a lamp that had been knocked over. “Why would you want to stay?”

“Why do you?” I shot back.

Taking the trash bag from me so we could work together, his next words surprised me. “I owe them a life debt. I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.”

“Really?” I arched a brow, throwing a few more plastic cups into the bag. Was it a kegger or an elegant party? It seemed like a bit of both from what I was picking up. “How did they warrant such a debt? Did you break an expensive vase too?”

We shared a chuckle.

“No, they saved me from the streets.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t look at me like that. No pity here.” Darren picked up the cleaning spray and began to clean the mirrors. “My mother was a drug addict and didn’t ever give two craps about me.”

“And your dad?”

He rubbed the mirror a bit more vigorously. “I never met him. I was begging on the street from the time I was three. Eventually, my mother died from an overdose and left me alone to fend for myself, not that it changed much. Just that instead of begging, I started to get involved with the wrong kind of business.”

I cocked my head to the side wondering what he meant. Prostitution? Drug dealing? I didn’t ask, not wanting to stop this sudden flood of information he was giving me. He’d tell me when he was ready.

“That’s when Antoine found me.” He paused and twisted part way to look at me. “I was only ten. I shouldn’t have been in the alleyway that late at night anyway. It was only asking for trouble.” He huffed a laugh. “But I thought I was tough. Had a pocket knife and a chip on my shoulder. But all that gets you in this world is dead.”

The darkness in his eyes made me sad. This man, who was more polished and sophisticated than anyone I’d ever met, had lived through such a traumatizing childhood only to end up here? He was so much stronger than anyone I’d ever met.

“They’re not as bad as they come off,” Darren started again, turning back to the mirror. “They may be different than us, but they’re no more different than the humans around us. Believe me when I say even humans can be monsters.”

I nodded. I understood that. There were worse things than people who happened to need a bit of blood to survive.

“How long have you been working here?” I picked up the broom and swept it across the floor, focusing on picking up the shards of glass that had broken off from the knocked-over lamp.

“A hundred and twelve.”

My head jerked up so fast, the broom knocked into a side table. “Wait, what?”

Darren’s eyes crinkled at the sides. “You heard me right. This year will be one hundred and twelve years of employment.”

I stared at him for a moment, my eyes searching his face for those years he claimed to have served. Unless he colored his hair, there wasn’t a hint of gray in his dark locks. His skin was smooth and unblemished. He couldn’t be older than thirty if that.

“How?” I stuttered, moving closer to him.

His lips curled up his eyes squinting with his smile. “I owe them a life debt. I can’t very well complete it the way I was, sickly and underfed. Master Durand made sure I would be able to serve them until I was no longer needed.”

“But you’re not like them. Not a vampire.” I breathed the word like it was a secret.

“No. I’m not.”

He was being evasive. That I could understand. If the vampires could make a human live longer without the handicap of drinking blood or weakness of the sun, humans would kill for it. They would hunt them down and demand them to change them. Sure, some would pay for it or even try to seduce their way into their good graces, but even so, the masters wouldn’t want that to happen.

“Will they do that to me?” I blinked, staring down at the ground. My heartbeat quickened. I wasn’t sure I wanted to live forever.

Darren’s laughter startled me. My eyes jumped from the ground. Darren’s head fell back as he laughed a great big belly laugh. He laughed so long that it started to irritate me.

“It’s not that funny,” I muttered, turning back to my sweeping.

Coughing and then clearing his throat, Darren walked over to my side, placing a hand on my shoulder. “My apologies. It will take more than a broken vase to gain eternal life.” He winked at me and then patted me on the shoulder. “Then again with your track record, you may need it to pay back what you’ve broken.”

I chuckled and shook my head, shoving him on the shoulder. “Jerk.”

“Alright, back to work.” He waved a hand around the still disarrayed room. “Then get some sleep. I’m sure you were tossing and turning all night.” I tried to deny it, but he gave me a knowing look. “I didn’t sleep for a week after I found out what Master Durand was.” He barked a laugh. “That also might have been the fever I was recovering from though. Hard to tell.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

We continued to clean until the room was spotless and then we moved onto the dining room. It was just as bad in there if not worse. I grimaced as I picked up a pair of lady’s panties by the end of my broomstick.

“What was the theme of this party?” I stuck my tongue out and shuddered. “Who could lose the most clothes?”

Darren sniffed. “The masters have some over-enthusiastic guests.”

“You’re telling me,” I grumbled and then I remembered Drake and then moaning woman in the hallway. “Why isn’t there any blood?”

“Blood?”

“Yes.” I leaned over the table and scooped several plates and cups into the trash bags. “You know, vampires drink blood.” When he only stared at me, I reached up to my face and put my fingers in my mouth like I had two long fangs. “With fangs?”

“I know what you mean, you daft girl.”

I went back to filling the bag with trash. “Then where’s the blood? I’ve found trash, panties, and all manner of other things, worse than a fucking frat house if you ask me, but no blood. Why is that?”

“We’re neat eaters,” Wynn answered, causing Darren and I to freeze. He moved around the table, his eyes locked onto me. Those piercing blue eyes were more dangerous and tempting than they had been over eight hours ago. When he stopped on the other side of the chair from me, my fingers curled tightly around the trash bag. “Are you afraid of me now, Piper?”

I licked my lips, my eyes darting down and then back up to his face. “I... I don’t know. Are you going to bite me?”

Wynn’s lips curled back, far enough that his canines protruded over his mouth. “Not unless you’re offering, love. Are you?”

I shook my head profusely. “No.”

“Then no.” He closed his mouth and cocked his head to the side. “I won’t bite you, and neither will any of my brothers.”

I opened my mouth to argue that Drake had seemed more than happy to take me whether or not he had my permission, but as if he were reading my mind, Wynn added, “No matter how much they tease and torment you about it.”

Chancing a look at Darren, who was just barely holding back his laughter, I muttered, “Good to know I amuse you all so much. Fucking bastards.”

“Now, is that any way to talk about your master?” Wynn slipped around the chair and leaned against the table’s edge, caging me in.

“Pfft. Master. You’re no more my master than you are as charming as you think you are.” I jerked my head in his direction, then continued to clean off the table. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have work to do and a nap to take.”

Wynn lifted his hands up, his lips pressing into a thin line. “Far be it from me to keep a lady from her sleep.” He glanced over to Darren. “I’ll be heading down now. Make sure we don’t lose our maid again.”

Darren smirked at me, placing a hand over his chest and inclining his head. “Of course, Master.”

My eyes followed Wynn out of the corner of my eye until he was had disappeared down the hallway and not back upstairs. “Where’s he going?”

“To the basement, where all the masters’ sleep during the day.”

I gathered up the final bag of trash and followed Darren into the kitchen. “In coffins?”

“Why would they do that?” Darren arched a brow as he dumped the dishes into the sink. Rolling up his sleeves, he turned on the water and begun to wash them.

I took up the place beside him and rinsed them before putting them into the drainer. “They always do in the movies and books.”

Darren stopped washing for a moment to stare at me. “Do you think that everything you see or read is right? That perhaps those things were leaked, purposely placed there by those who do not wish their secrets revealed?”

I hummed. He continued washing. We stood there in silence for a few moments, and then I asked, “Does Gretchen know?”

Giving me a sideways look, Darren handed me a plate. “Who do you think fills the silver containers in the refrigerator?” He took the cup I had been rinsing and gestured with his head. “Why don’t you go lay down, and we can talk more about it later? A lot has happened in a short period of time.”

I didn’t argue. My eyes burned, and my head ached from all the new information. I simply turned away from and walked up the stairs. I didn’t stop walking until I was inside my room. I stripped down to my underwear, not bothering to put on a tank top or sleep shirt and collapsed on top of the covers of my bed. I was out before my head ever hit the pillow.