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Anna looks from the readout on the machine to the printout in her hand that has my baseline stats that were taken by the pathologist today. I had to sign a bunch of consent forms saying it was okay for them to send the information to Tristan’s household to use in situations like this. Pretty sure none of us expected it to be needed this soon.
“Okay, you’re good,” Anna says at last, taking her pointy knee off my leg and letting me up. I move to the edge of my seat and rip open the Velcro cuff. “I hope you don’t plan on doing this again.”
“I didn’t plan on doing it this time,” I whine, passing her the cuff so she can put the machine away. “It was a busy day and I didn’t think, that’s all. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
A sniff that’s loud and obnoxious enough to be heard from the moon has me turning toward the kitchen. Clive’s glare is fucking impressive—or it would be if it wasn’t aimed at me.
“I promise,” I add. He’s been fuming from the second Anna dragged me in here, and I really don’t need the man responsible for my meals pissed off at me.
“Forgive me if I don’t set much store in your promises.” He slams a drawer shut and stomps through a door that I’ve been told leads to a butler’s pantry and is off-limits to me. I planned to sneak down and have a look later tonight, after Clive went to bed, but now I think I might wait until he’s in a better mood. The last thing I need is for him to catch me.
“I don’t think he likes me much,” I tell Anna.
“Right now, I don’t like you much, and I’m not as protective of Tristan as Clive is. How can you not know how much you fucked up?”
Okay, this is starting to annoy me. How many times does a guy need to apologise? “I do know how much I fucked up, and I’m sorry. It was a genuine accident. It won’t happen again. What more do I need to say?” Though that reminds me—if I need to feed Tristan again at six in the morning, I’d better make sure I have a snack first. That’s earlier than I usually like to eat, but hey, we all need to make sacrifices sometimes.
Anna’s lips are pressed into a tight line. “It’s not about what you say. We don’t know you, you’ve been hired for an incredibly important job that requires a high level of trust, and you fucked up the first time you had to do anything. You can see why we might be hesitant, right?”
When she puts it like that… I blow out a breath. “Yeah. Okay, so I gotta earn your trust. I can do that. I’m not usually a fuckup at work, I swear.” I ignore the little voice reminding me of all the times I did, in fact, fuck up at work. Most of those times were deliberate, and I don’t plan on doing that here.
She doesn’t look like she’s ready to be my bestie, but her expression does soften a little, from granite to… limestone? I don’t fucking know. What’s a softer stone than granite?
Shooting a cautious glance toward the butler’s pantry, she leans closer to me. “Clive’s going to be a tough sell. He’s worked for Tristan since he was old enough to even have a job, and he grew up in his house before this one.”
“Really?”
Anna nods. “That’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know all the details, but apparently his mum was Tristan’s feeder when Clive was a little kid, and he just never left.”
“What?”
She shushes me, and I lower my voice. “Sorry. I just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”
Her brows rise. “Right? Since when does anyone work as a full-time feeder once they’ve started their family? You know what it’s like—a parent might temp, but it’s practically a rule that once you’ve got a kid, feeding is no longer an option. That’s the way I always heard it, anyway.”
That wasn’t what I was thinking at all, since I hadn’t even thought about the implications of being on call for a vampire while trying to raise a child. I was stuck on the idea of a parent willingly bringing their little kid to live in a house occupied by vampires. Not that I think Tristan would hurt a kid… but then, I hardly know him. Or any vampire. Maybe small children are delicacies for them.
My gorge rises, and I swallow hard. Definitely need to ask Cat about that. I’m not staying if it turns out vampires eat kids.
For now, though, there’s something about Anna’s phrasing… “So you’re a legacy too? I mean, you grew up in a feeder family?”
She shrugs. “Yeah, of course. Tristan’s hardly going to hire a random human off the street and give them access to vampire secrets.”
I force a chuckle. “Yeah, nah, of course. I just meant, what made you choose security instead of being a feeder yourself?” The words are barely out of my mouth before I’m wondering if I just stuck my foot in it. What if she applied to be a feeder but her registration was rejected? Or no vampire hired her?
“It’s an interesting story, actually,” she says, and I relax. Good thing she wasn’t taking my blood pressure right then since I’m pretty sure it was through the roof. “When I was a kid, I’d always planned to be a feeder—family tradition, y’know? And it’s not like it’s a lifelong career. Ten years and then you’re out, right? I figured I’d register at twenty-one, as soon as I was eligible, and until then I could go to uni and see if anything interested me for my second career.”
Ten years and then you’re out. I didn’t know that. Why would there be a ten-year limit? Is feeding bad for a human’s health? “Checks out,” I murmur, wondering how soon I can sneak away to call Cat. Fuck, is it safe to call her while Tristan’s in the house? Vampires have super hearing, but how super is super?
“Yeah, so I was at uni, taking a billion electives that weren’t going to add up to an actual degree, and my older sister was kidnapped by the Helsing Sect and held for ransom until her vampire turned himself over.”
I blink at her, my mouth hanging open. “What?”
She pulls a face and nods. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it, although I guess you are younger than me, and it was kept pretty hush hush.”
The sound that comes out of my mouth is definitely not a word. I pull myself together. “My parents sheltered me a lot,” I manage. “Uh, when was this?”
“About fifteen years ago? Yeah, it was halfway through my second year, so almost fifteen years exactly.”
