“And this is Sam.”
He stood and once again shook their hands excitably.
“Sam…” Vincent raised a brow. “So wonderful to finally meet you.”
That bastard.
“Finally?” Sam chuckled, glanced at me, then returned his attention to Vincent.
“Oh, yes, Lukas has told me so much about you. I’m thrilled he invited you to join our festivities.”
“He…he has?” Sam appeared confused and rightly so.
“Of course. I hear you make a mean ice cream creation.”
Sam’s jaw dropped. “He told you about that?”
Vincent nodded. “Let’s take a seat, and we can talk all about Lukas.”
Fuck my whole existence.
Fortunately,Amanda took mercy on me after thirty minutes of Vincent gossiping about me and asked if Sam would like to go up to the buffet table with her.
Once they were out of earshot, I glared at Vincent. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You brought Sam.” He smiled.
“So?”
“You like him.”
I clenched my jaw. “He annoys me the least out of every human.”
“Mmhmm. Lukas, it won’t break you to admit you like the guy.”
“I like him well enough.”
Vincent rolled his eyes. “I’ve known you for a long time, Lukas. It’s been many decades since I’ve seen any spark in your eye. But when you look at Sam, it’s there. You have interest in him.”
“You’re annoying…and what about Amanda?”
“What about her? She’s a dancer at my club; I figured she’d do.”
I chuckled. “She’d do?”
He shrugged. “You know what I mean. Look, I’m not like you. I love being a vampire, and I have no need to find a reason to exist. Amanda is beautiful, lovely, and for this fleeting moment, she’s who I’m enjoying my existence with.”
“Do you think she’ll be your companion?”
He waved me away. “No way. I don’t feel connected to her like that.”
“Connected? How do you even know?”
Vincent smirked. “You know Frederick and Hannah?” He tilted his chin to his left, and I peered over my shoulder to where the two were dancing so close it was almost as if they were one.
“What about them?”
“Frederick was three hundred and five when he met Hannah in a village in France. He was the biggest player I’d seen, you must remember.”
