Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Drake

“You wanted to see me, brother?” I asked as I stepped into Antoine’s office, having a feeling I knew what this meeting was about. Marcus was nothing more than Antoine’s lapdog most days. Of course, he’d run to him the moment that delicious maid escaped my room.

Antoine sat behind his desk, his eyes down on the papers in front of him. He always had endless paperwork as the head of the house. I never knew what he actually had to do it all for. Antoine never offered up any information, so I never asked. Paperwork wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time.

“Marcus has informed me of an incident with Miss Billings.” The sharp tone to his voice told me it was a statement, not a question.

I dropped into the chair in front of his desk and threw my feet up on the edge of it. “I was just playing with her.”

Antoine glanced up from the desk, his eyes going to my feet. Immediately, I dropped them to the floor with a thud.

“Regardless, didn’t we make the agreement to leave this one alone? How is playing with her following that agreement?”

I scowled. “I didn’t agree to anything. You told us to leave her alone. Besides, it’s not like I used my powers on her or anything. I used my natural-born looks.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.” Antoine sat his pen down and steepled his fingers together. “I don’t believe I made myself clear when I said no interference whatsoever. I meant to say that there will be no magical or physical shenanigans. We don’t need another lovesick maid sneaking into the basement while looking for a bit of attention.”

I grimaced. The last maid we had fell head over heels for Allister. She’d broken down the basement door and climbed into Allister’s bed while we were sleeping. We didn’t know she was there until dark had come.

My brother had a voice that could compel even the straightest man into dropping to his knees for him if Allister so much as whispered in his direction. Sometimes, I envy his abilities. They were much more effective than mine.

Vampires naturally had a charm to them, a compulsion if you will, that drew humans to us like moths to flames. My charm happened to be stronger than others, and I couldn’t exactly turn it off. So, in close quarters like I’d been with Piper, it was easy to manipulate her into giving into me. However, since using our abilities on her was a big no-no, I’d had to rely on my other ‘gifts.’

“Fine,” I huffed. “I’ll keep my gifts and every other extremity to myself.”

“That’s all I ask of you.”

“Can I go now?” I stood even as I asked it.

Antoine waved me away, turning back to his papers. If there was a hell, then I knew I’d be filling out papers for eternity when my time came. Bless the poor bastard.

Before I made my escape, Antoine called out, “How did she take it?”

I hummed, turning back around. “Take what?”

“Your charm?”

I scrubbed a hand over my jaw and smirked. “Well, before your dog came barreling in, I almost had her.”

Antoine quirked a brow. “And after?”

“She called me an asshole and stormed out.” I chuckled and shook my head. That maid sure had a mouth on her. I didn’t think much was going to spook her.

“Hmm.”

“That’s it?” I asked, my brow furrowed. “That’s all you can say?”

Brushing his long braid over his shoulder, Antoine picked up his pen once more. “The donors will be here a bit later tonight than usual, so try not to make a spectacle of yourselves while waiting.”

I puffed out a breath of air. “Fine, whatever.”

Without permission, I threw open his office door and headed back to my room. Half way there, I detoured into my twin’s room instead. I opened the door without knocking and found Allister reading a book. He was so engrossed by it, he hardly noticed me enter.

Coming up behind him, I snatched the book out of his hands and turned it over to read the cover. “The Art of Body Language? Really, Al?”

Scowling at me, Allister grabbed the book from my hand and scrambled for his page. “It’s not easy seducing someone when your best feature is also the only way you know how to communicate.”

I laughed and tossed myself onto his bed, lacing my hands behind my head. “You could pass notes? I’m sure she could decipher your chicken scratch if you were determined enough.”

Allister snorted. “Easy for you to say, you don’t have to speak to women to get them to fall for you.” He nodded his head toward me.

“We’re twins, dumbass. Any advantage I have in looks, you have as well.” I leaned up on my elbows and stared at him. It was like looking at a mirror sometimes with our features were so exactly the same. However, years of comparing ourselves has made it easy to find our differences.

Where Allister had dimples in his cheeks, I had only the single one on the left side. My chin pointed a bit sharper compared to my brothers, and if I do say so myself, I had the bigger cock.

The subtle differences between us didn’t stop there either. Even as children, before we became vampires, we had different tastes in everything from music to women. The fact that we both were interested in the maid was pure luck.

Or maybe it was our competitive nature? It was that competitive nature that had made us choose to be vampires in the first place. We were constantly trying to outdo the other. So, when we were busy showing off our strength and charm to the ladies of the seventeen-fifties, our sire found us.

He told us, “I am in need of a new companion, but I cannot bear to break up such a perfect set.” And the rest was history. I doubted our parents ever expected us to live for as long as we did. They always thought we’d end up dying from some stupid dare or another.

“Do you ever think about our parents?” Allister asked out of the blue. It was freaky when he did that, like our minds were in tune with one another.

“I just was actually.”

Allister clucked his tongue. “I wonder sometimes. If we hadn’t been made into vampires, would we have lived much longer?”

I chortled. “I doubt it. You’d have dared me to jump of a bridge and—”

“Knowing you, you’d be stupid enough to do it.” Allister smirked at me, then turned back to his book flipping through the pages.

Jumping off the bed, I smacked him on the back of the head. “Then you’re even more of an idiot because you’d follow after me just to show you weren’t a coward.”

Laughing with me, Allister thunked his book down and collapsed back into his chair. “So, what did dear old Antoine want now? Did he give you a right talking to for playing with the maid?”

I leaned against his desk, not bothering to ask how he knew. “Pfft. Antoine has a stick so far up his ass, he’ll need surgical assistance removing it.”

“I think he just needs to get laid.”

Pursing my lips, I thought about it. When was the last time I’d seen Antoine happy? It’s been at least a decade or two. “He hasn’t gotten any since that orgy in Prague.”

Allister frowned. “It’s been that long? No wonder he’s wound so tight. Maybe Marcus should help him out a bit more than just being his lap dog.”

Shaking my head, I shifted on the desk. “I don’t think things have been that way between them for a while. Not since...” I trailed off, trying to think of when I’d last seen them touchy feely around each other.

“Dallas, I’m pretty sure,” Allister answered for me.

“Really? That was fifty years ago. Surely they’ve bumped uglies between now and then?”

Allister shrugged. “I don’t know. I make it a point to not be in either of their bedrooms. I prefer the company of women only.”

“Thank fuck for that.” Allister and I shared a laugh, before I paused with a thought. “Do you think this new maid would be against having brothers? Twins, specifically?”

Arching a brow, Allister asked, “Is this your way of saying you want to double team her?”

“Hey,” I smirked, giving him a wink. “It can’t hurt our odds.”