"You forget about the time you climbed to the top of the same sycamore tree and threw yourself out of it hoping I would catch you," Ethan reminded her.
"Which you did," she said with a grin.
"You broke my ankle!"
"Stop complaining, mom babied you for a week, and I got stuck on diaper duty with Kyle and Cassidy. I got the raw end of that deal."
"Yeah," Ethan smiled fondly. "That was a good week."
Stefan watched the exchange with a small amount of awe. It was becoming increasingly clear Ethan and Isabelle were exceptionally close as they smiled at each other. A small bolt of jealousy ripped through him. He was acting like an idiot, he realized as he tried to force himself to relax. He didn't know the girl, yet she fully aroused him, and suddenly he was jealous of the relationship with her brother.
He shoved the thought forcefully aside as he forced his gaze away from her.
David stood and leaned his hands on the table as he spoke. "I think we'd better get going."
Aiden, Ian, and Jack swiftly stood. "You got that list?" David asked.
"Oh, yeah." Isabelle shifted the laundry basket, pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, and handed it to him.
David glanced at it and nodded. "No problem."
"Thanks." Isabelle left the room, and the others filed out behind her.
Stefan sat for a while contemplating his strange thoughts and behavior. The room was oddly quiet without the laughter filling it —without Isabelle. That realization did nothing to ease his darkening mood. He folded his hands behind his head and pretended to listen as Ethan, Mike, Doug, and Jess exchanged pleasant conversation and stories. He didn't hear a word they said, and he found his gaze drawn to the door every few seconds. It wasn't until the fiftieth time he looked, he realized he was hoping for Isabelle to reappear.
When she didn't, and Jess placed her hand on his thigh again, he decided it was time to go to bed.
Chapter Seven
Jess was wide awake, still yelling at him, when Stefan left the room and slammed the door in her face. He was edgy, restless, and aggravated. He wasn't going to waste his time, or energy, fighting with her. She wasn't worth the headache. The thing bothering him was what started the fight. For the first time, in his exceptionally long life, he was unable to keep an erection.
Only when he'd pictured a set of violet eyes could he respond in any way to Jess's seduction attempts. It didn’t last long. When Jess crawled on top of him, a feeling of revulsion had instantly flooded him. He had shoved her off, unable to stomach the feel of her any longer.
Now he felt like a caged animal, desperate to escape, as he made his way quickly downstairs. He didn't know what was the matter with him, but he didn't like the feeling at all.
The light in the dining room was still on. He was drawn there by laughter and voices. He walked into the room, pausing as his eyes landed on Isabelle. For a moment, he simply held her gaze as his cock instantly pulsed and throbbed to life. Trepidation filled her eyes before she glanced away. Stefan remained where he was, staggered by the sheer force of the physical reaction rocking him.
"Hey, I thought you'd gone to sleep," Ethan greeted.
Stefan shrugged as he walked carefully over to the chair he abandoned earlier. His physical condition made it difficult for him to walk. "Couldn't sleep."
"Hmm. Got a two?"
"What?" Isabelle asked distractedly.
"A two?" Ethan inquired again.
She glanced at the cards in her hand, barely seeing the numbers on them. Stefan's hungry gaze made her feel extremely edgy and uncomfortable. Her blood seemed to burn her veins, and the odd tingling sensation between her thighs was back with a vengeance. She shifted uncomfortably as a deep yearning she didn't understand coursed through her. She cursed herself for stupidly thinking Stefan wouldn't come back down tonight. She should have stayed in her room, buried under a pile of books as she’d planned.
"Go fish," she mumbled.
Of course, it didn't help he looked unbelievably sexy in his loose jeans, and body-hugging, deep blue shirt. His tousled hair gave him an irresistible, boyish appeal. She planned to resist it, and she planned to stay far away from him from now on.
"Isabelle," Ethan said sharply.
"What?" she demanded, aggravated by the strange feelings coursing through her.
"Are you going to go?" he retorted.
She blinked at her cards as she tried to force her attention back to their game. "Do you have a four?" He tossed a card across the table at her. She scooped it up and dropped her cards onto the table. "Ten?"
"Go fish."
Isabelle grabbed a card from the deck. "Jess sleeping?" Ethan inquired.
"No," Stefan replied.
Isabelle stiffened as she recognized the scent clinging to him. She had smelled it often enough on her brothers, parents, and The Stooges, and she knew what it was. Disgust coiled within her stomach at the smell of sex, along with another emotion, one she was becoming uncomfortably familiar with, jealousy. She wanted to bolt from the room, but she was unable to humiliate herself by doing so.
She lifted her head to find Ethan grinning as he stared at his cards. "Pig," she muttered.
He glanced up at her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "What?" he inquired innocently.
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 added. She was a little hungry earlier, but her distress over seeing him again made it burn back to life.
"They bring people back for you?" Stefan asked.
"No!" Isabelle cried, her eyes flying to his in horror. Stefan was startled by the amount of alarm in her gaze and the revulsion in her voice.
Ethan leaned back in his chair as he dropped his cards to the 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 from humans."
"Ethan!"
Her intent to leave flew out the window in the face of her brother's casual statement. If she could reach him, she would kick him under the table. Some things she didn't want everyone to know, especially not the frustrating stranger sitting across from her.
"What?" Stefan asked in surprise.
Isabelle scowled at her brother as he folded his arms over his chest, a brow cocked questioningly as he grinned at her. "It's true!" he protested.
She took a deep breath as she tried to calm her growing resentment. "So how do you feed?" Stefan asked.
Isabelle dropped her cards and defiantly met his gaze. "There is such a thing as blood banks. It's what our parents did for us when we were little. I choose to keep doing it."
"Don't want to injure 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 worried she would accidentally stumble across one who would turn out to be her mate. Other than high school, she’d kept herself away from as many humans as she could. Now, she was afraid that what she’d been avoiding her whole life had stumbled into her sanctuary.
"Isabelle and I are the outsiders, the outcasts," Ethan said with an amused grin. "We're not social, especially not with humans. Although, I will at least feed from them and go out once in a while. Isabelle stays close to home."
"And why is that?" Stefan couldn’t believe what they were telling him.
Ethan shrugged as Isabelle shifted uncomfortably. She knew Ethan feared the same thing, but she wasn't sure he would tell Stefan. She sure wasn't going to.
"We're content here," Ethan replied nonchalantly. "What about you, how old are you exactly?"
Stefan lifted a brow as he looked questioningly at the two of them. Isabelle was sitting silently; her head bent as she
refused to meet his gaze. There was something more to the story than Ethan's simple explanation, but it was obvious neither of them would elaborate further.
"Two hundred and sixty-seven," he answered as he leaned back and folded his hands behind his head.
When Isabelle's head lifted, and her eyes met his, a bolt of lust shot straight through him.
"What exactly can you do?" Ethan asked.
“Lots of things,” he replied absently.
Stefan’s gaze remained locked on Isabelle's. Biting nervously on her bottom lip, she turned away from him. Her long lashes fluttered down to cast shadows over her delicate cheeks. He fought against the overwhelming urge to touch her cheek, to see if it was as supple as it looked. He scowled as he tore his attention away from her and back to Ethan's curious gaze. He realized he was beginning to act like a boy in the throes of his first love, and he didn't like it one bit.
"Such as?" Ethan prompted.
"Such as, I can move faster than you ever dreamed, my strength is ten times stronger than yours, my hearing, eyesight, and other senses are ten times what yours are. My powers of persuasion, memory erasing, and cloaking my presence could make you look like a newborn 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 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 the first day?" Ethan asked.
"I didn't expect to step out of the car 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 annoyed by Stefan's arrogance. Stefan tried to lighten his tone, and stance, even more. He liked Ethan, and he didn't want Ethan angry because he sounded like a condescending ass.
"Because I wasn't searching for it, and I was busy arguing with Jess over the fucking radio. I knew you were a few miles down the road; I didn't expect it was the place we were heading to. Even if we hadn't come here, I would have come on my own."
They both looked at him in disbelief. "Why?"
Stefan folded his hands before him. "Because I was curious about the amount of vampire presences I sensed here. I would have come here simply to investigate."
Isabelle frowned at him; her eyes darkened as she hesitantly met his gaze. He smiled back at her as he unfolded his hands and leaned forward. "We're happy here," she whispered. "It's why we all stay."
"I can see that. I'm surprised everyone has stayed for so long."
"Where else would they go?" Isabelle asked, her face reflecting her innocence and confusion. "David, Jack, Mike, Doug, and my dad have been friends since childhood. They were all changed around the same time, and by the same vampire. They've always been together, helping each other out. They helped to raise us; they're like our uncles. They're our family."
"What about your other siblings, are they all going to stay?"
"Aiden and Ian are going to college, and Abby and Vicky practically have their bags packed, even though they still have three years to go."
Stefan's brow furrowed. "Do they go to school now?"
"We all went to high school," Ethan answered. "Willow will start school in the fall. By the time we're thirteen, we're able to control our ability to change. Before that age, it can be a little iffy and difficult to restrain, especially when we get mad, or upset. Most of our wars were conducted as full-on vampire if we were angry enough."
Stefan studied the amused smiles on both their faces as they exchanged glances. "And none of you ever had a problem at school?" he inquired.
"I did once," Isabelle admitted. "I got furious at this guy named Ralph. He was always making rude, nasty comments to me, and we ended up getting in a fight. I changed right in front of him. Thankfully, Ethan was there to help me change his memories afterward; otherwise, I don't know what would have happened. No one else has had any problems though."
Stefan knew what would have happened if Ethan hadn't been there, but it wasn't a pleasant thought, and obviously, not one Isabelle wanted to contemplate. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head again. He found himself fascinated by their existence, and how they had survived, and he wanted to learn more. If he was honest with himself, he wanted to find out more about her.
"Didn't you have friends who wanted to come over, or school plays, or sports competitions your parents wanted to go to?" he asked.
"Ethan and I didn't join anything. Aiden was on the football and basketball team, and Ian was on the swim team. Abby and Vicky are cheerleaders. Our parents go to some of the events, but they look like any other spectator when they're there, and unfortunately can't present themselves as our parents. Mike, Doug, David, and Jack go too."
"Why didn't you guys join anything?"
"Like I said, we're the unsociable ones," Ethan replied with a grin.
Stefan truly wanted to know why they were the unsocial ones, but he didn't ask. "What about friends coming over?"
"Aiden, Ian, Vicky, and Abby have brought their friends over, not in large groups, but a couple here or there. We alter their memories a little when they leave and make them think our parents are older."
Stefan frowned as he unfolded his hands and leaned forward. "What are you going to do in another ten years, when people begin to question why you're not aging?"
"We don't go into town very often. Most people think we’ve already moved off, and now live separate lives. The few times we do go into town, it's always at night, and we alter the memories of the few people we meet. We usually go to Portland or California where no one notices anything."
"So, you have no concern people might become curious about you?"
"It's very rural here," Isabelle answered. "My graduating class only had forty-two kids in it. All of whom went to college and no longer live in the area. Our closest neighbor is five miles away, and not once, in the past twenty-five years, have they come over here. The football team travels forty-five minutes to get to their closest game. Most people stick to themselves around here, and no one has bothered us yet. I don't see why it would change."
He was stunned by the fact neither of them planned to leave. "And you just stay here all the time?" he asked.
"We leave sometimes," Isabelle replied. "We go to the city too, not as often as the others, but we do. Ethan and I go to California mostly. I love Napa Valley."
He frowned at her as she hesitantly met his gaze. They led very sheltered lives. Where their younger siblings wanted to get out and explore the world, these two were content to stay hidden. Isabelle was young, vibrant, and the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He couldn't help but feel she was wasting her extremely long life away. He felt the sudden urge to show her all she was missing.
He was turning into an idiot around this girl. She was content in her life; he had no business questioning her motives, or wanting to change her.
"What about your parents?" he asked to distract himself from his thoughts. "Do you find it odd to consider them your parents, when they look as young as you?"
Ethan and Isabelle exchanged a look; confusion was evident on both their faces.
"No," Ethan answered. "Maybe it seems odd to you because you were human at one time, but we were raised like this. It's all we've ever known. Trust me, our parents can still scare the crap out of us, no matter how young they look."
Stefan supposed it wouldn't be odd to him if he were them, but he remembered his parents and their aging. He couldn't imagine having them with him now; then again, he lost them when he was too young to even think about what it would be like to have them with him now. They were dead before he was changed, dead long before he made it to adulthood. Stefan turned his attention away from the past, determined not to relive it.
"What age did you stop maturing at?" he inquired.
"I just stopped this year," Ethan answered.
"I st
opped last year," Isabelle said as she grinned smugly at her brother. Apparently, it was a bit of a sore subject with Ethan that his younger sister reached maturity before him.
"You stopped at different ages?" he was startled by this revelation.
"Yeah, we don't know exactly how it works, or what makes our bodies decide to stop aging, but Isabelle did before me."
"How did you know you were done?" Stefan asked.
She met his gaze hesitantly. "I just knew. There's no other way to explain it, except I just knew."
"Yeah," Ethan answered. "I woke up six months ago and knew. At first, I'd thought Isabelle was lying to me about it to torment me." They exchanged quick smiles. "But that is the way it works. There is no way to know when we'll stop, only when we do. Our powers develop more quickly afterward."
"You don't have any powers until you mature?" he asked in disbelief.
"We have some; we can alter memories a little, but it's incredibly draining. If I hadn't been there to help Isabelle with Ralph, she never would have been able to do it herself. We were faster and stronger than humans, but not by much. It isn't until we fully mature that our speed increases, our power of memory erasure becomes greater, and we can see and hear a lot better."
"Amazing," he muttered.
"How old were you when you became a vampire?" Isabelle asked. She hadn't meant to ask the question, she didn't want to know any more about him, but she found herself oddly curious about him.
He looked over at her, pleased she was showing an interest in him and his life. A little too pleased, he realized with an inward grimace. The girl asked one question about his life, and he instantly began to wonder if he could get her into his bed tonight. Then, with an inward groan, he remembered Jess, and his hope evaporated. Maybe he could get into her bed.
The direction of his thoughts startled him, as well as aroused him to a very uncomfortable state. For crying out loud, she only asked one stupid question, and he immediately leapt to the thought he could take her to bed. He was acting like an idiot.
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 36