The hunter carried over a bottle and several glasses.
Jason gasped.“Whoa, is that real?”
“The Armagnac?”Maxim asked.
“Yes.It looks fancy.Mr.Vallois, this is nice and all, and you’re super kind for offering me blood cakes and all that.I mean, don’t think that it’s enough to make me forget that you left nothing but a note when you took my roomie with you.But I’ll tell you right off the bat that I don’t know my cheap vodka from your over-expensive whiskey or whatever that drink is, so…”
“No harm in that.This is a type of brandy.Our palates change only if exposed to new things.Raven, do you drink?”
Their eyes met again, and Raven’s thoughts drifted.They’re such a bright green.Jason’s eyes look green in the right light, but Maxim’s are like emeralds.Why does it feel like I’m under a spell when I look at him?
Raven swallowed the last bit of the blood cookie.He’d finished all of them, barely realizing how hungry he’d been.A trace of red remained at the bottom of the container.
“I drink.”
“He’s a total lightweight though,” Jason said.“I’ll watch you, Raven.”
“Nothing bad has ever happened to anyone who got drunk in this house,” Bryan said as he squeezed in between Heath and Jason.
“Which is an unholy surprise.”Clement sat down on Jason’s other side.“Human, I brought you breads and spicy dips, pickled and sweetened things, and honey-drizzled cookies.Eat.”
Jason took in the platter Clement uncovered with a hungry gaze.“I told you I have a name, yeah?This looks really nice.Thank you.”
Raven took a glass from Maxim.It was filled with amber liquid.Their fingers brushed, the contact so brief Raven shouldn’t even have noticed, but he did.It was as if Maxim spoke only to him.
“To all the bright things we’re yet to see.”
Bright things…
Raven took the drink, eyed the spirit that was the color of polished copper.
Heath cleared his throat.“Bright things sounds about right.Bryan, release the next movie.That one’s a rom-com, right?No murder this time?”
Bryan’s response was mumbled, and Raven couldn’t quite make it out.They’d barely watched the first reel when Jason asked where the blood cakes were at.
Chapter 11
Maximhadnevermadeanother vampire, but he had seen many experience their first days changed.He still remembered his own change, the unpredictable nature of it and the deep wish to find out what it had given him.He’d figured that out, always with Brea guiding him and right there to help him learn his strength.
Maxim had never heard of a fledge being thrown into a movie marathon such as Raven had been.He decided to keep a close eye.
“I mean, they’re ghost hunters, right?”Jason said.
Heath ran a hand through his hair.“They’re also brothers.That’s a little…much.It’s a lot.”
Jason pointed at the screen.“But you see the bromance, right?You can see that they have chemistry, yeah?”
Clement cocked his head.“You’re a human of interesting tastes.Those kinds of feelings used to be reserved for aristocracy.”
Bryan frowned.“For the depraved.”
Clement gave Bryan a sideways glance.“They’re much the same.Other than the castles, there’s nothing too wonderful about aristocracy.”
Heath shrugged.“Maybe that’s the actors.Maybe they had an affair while they shot this.”
“The haunted house is beautiful,” Bryan said quietly, angling the plate he’d been holding on his lap just a little bit closer to Heath.
Raven ran his left index finger around the rim of his glass.He’d barely even had a sip while both Heath and Jason were on their second refills.
