Isabelle stiffened as she recognized thestrangescent that was clinging to him. She had smelled it often enough on her brothers, parents, and the stooges, and she knew exactly what it was. Disgust coiled within her stomachat the smell of the sex, along with another emotion, one that she was beginning to become uncomfortably familiar with, jealousy. She bit her lip, wanting to bolt from the room, but unable to humiliate herself by doing so.
She lifted her head to find Ethan grinning knowingly as he stared at his cards. “Pig,” she muttered.
He glanced up at her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “What?” heinquiredinnocently.
Isabelle glared at him as she lowered her gaze to her cards again. “When will they be getting back?” Stefan asked.
Isabelle glanced at the clock in the corner, it was after twelve already. “Whenever they feel like it,” Ethan answered.
“Hopefully soon,” Isabelle repliedsoftly. She had been a little hungry earlier, but her distress over seeing him again made it burn into fierce, brutal life.
“They bring people back for you?”Stefan asked.
“No!” Isabelle cried, her eyes flying to his in horror. Stefan’s eyes widened in surprise, he was startled bythe amount of alarm in her gaze, andtherevulsion in her voice.
Ethan sighed and leaned back in his chair,droppinghis cardstothe table. The game was officially over, and Isabelle was more than a little grateful. She couldn’t concentrate, and she just wanted out of the suddenly small, stuffy room. “Isabelle doesn’t feed off of humans.”
“Ethan!” shehissedher intent to leave flying out the window in the face of her brother’s casual statement. If she could have reached him she would have firmly kicked him under the table.There were some things that were private and personal, certain things that she didn’t want everyone to know. Especially not the frustrating stranger sitting across from her.
“What?” Stefan asked, his eyebrowsrisingin surprise.
Isabelle scowled fiercely at her brother as he folded his arms over his chest, a brow cocked questioninglyas he grinned at her. “It’s true!” he protested.
She took a deep breath as she tried to calm her growing anger and resentment. “So how do you feed then?” Stefan asked.
Isabelle sighed and dropped her cards. She leaned back in her chair to meet his gaze with pure defiance. “There is such a thing as bloodbanks. It’s what our parents did for us when we were little. I choose to keep doing it.”
“Don’t want to hurt the humans?”
Isabelle ground her teeth. “That’s right,” she said coldly, although it was a lie. She didn’t like being around them, but she was more afraid that she would accidentally stumble across one that would turn out to be what her mother was to her father. Other than highschool, she had tried to keep herself away from as many humans as she could, in order to prevent herself from finding a soul mate. Now she was afraid that he might have stumbled into her sanctuary.
“Isabelle and I are the outsiders, the outcasts,” Ethan said with an amused grin. “We’re not social, especially notwithhumans.Although, I willat leastfeed off of them and go out once in awhile. Isabelle stays close to home.”
“And why is that?”Stefan asked, a little surprised by what they were telling him.
Ethan shrugged as Isabelle shifted uncomfortably. She knew that Ethan feared the same thing that she did, but she didn’t know if he was going to tell Stefanthat, or not. She sure as hell wasn’t going too. “We’re content here,” he replied nonchalantly. “What about you, how old are you exactly?”
Stefanlifteda brow as he looked questioningly at the two of them. Isabelle was sitting silently, her dark head bent as she refused to meet his gaze. He knew that there was something more to Ethan’s simple explanation, but it was obvious that neither of them was going to elaborate further.
“Two hundred and sixty seven,” he answered, leaning back, and folding his hands behind his head.
Isabelle’s head shot up, her eyeswerewide as they landed on him. He stiffened as that gaze shot a bolt of luststraightthrough him. “What exactly can you do?” Ethan asked.
He shrugged, his gaze still locked on Isabelle’s. Biting nervously on her bottom lip she turned away from him, her long lashes fluttereddown to cast shadows over her delicate cheeks. He had to fight against the overwhelming urgeto touch her cheek, to see if it was as soft as it looked. He scowled as he tore his attention away from her, and back to Ethan’s curious gaze. He was beginning to act like a boy in the throes of his first love, he realized. And he didn’t like it one bit.
“Lots of things,” he replied absently.
“Such as?”
“Such as I can move faster than you ever dreamed, my strength is ten times yours, my hearing, eye sight, and other senses are ten times yours. My powers of persuasion, memory erasing, and cloaking my presence could make you look like a new born baby.” He knew he sounded arrogant and hostile, but the growing tension in his jeans was becoming almost unbearable, and making him edgy. “I can make humans, and you, see something that isn’t really there,” he continued in a lighter tone. “That’s what I’ve done to Kathleen, Delia, and Jess.”
“Why didn’t you cloak your presence from us that first daythen?” Ethan asked.
“I didn’t expect to step out of the car, and into a nest of vampires.”
“If your powers are so strong, then how come you didn’t sense us before you got here?” Ethan demanded, obviously a little annoyedby Stefan’sarrogance. Stefan tried to lighten his tone, and stance, even more. He liked Ethan, and he didn’t wantEthanangry because he sounded like a condescending ass.
“Because I wasn’t searching for it, and I was busy arguing with Jess over the damn radio. I knew you were here a few miles down the road, I just didn’t expect that this was the place that we were heading too. Even if we hadn’t come here, I would haveon my own.”
