A Vampire's Pride

Dick Measuring

Viola's POV

            "I lost dad." I say very loud and abrupt while sipping on a cup of black coffee. Claire spits out her tea and my mother just chokes for longer than a minute. Kilian raises an amused eyebrow at me, which makes my heart flutter. Anything he does sparks my attraction radar— I'd probably think he was attractive while wiping his ass for all I know.

         "Just rip the band aid off, huh?" He mutters with a small smile as I take another sip of the coffee. I take a glance at the purple mug in my hands decorated with a hummingbird and flowers.

            "This is some good joe." I say, smiling as Claire and my mom give each other startled looks.

"He's dead?" My mom chokes out as a look crossed her face, I can tell she still harbors some feelings towards my dad. I smile and shake my head gently.

"Nah. But he's gone— like I woke up this morning and he was gone. Me and Kilian... we think it has something to do with the prophecy. He was always so fascinated in trying to stop it from happening." I say, avoiding the topic of the deal me and Kilian made. They didn't have to know about that just yet. Me and Kilian look at each other for a fleeing second before I cast my eyes back on Claire.

"Any idea where that could be?" I ask, putting down the purple mug and licking my lips. I feel Kilian's eyes trailing on my every movement— as usual, but ignore it. If I pay too much attention to it I start to get nervous.

"I don't even know what he looks like." Claire says, looking down at the marble countertop. For a second the room gets quiet, and I start to feel a pit in my stomach of sadness. That exact sadness I felt whenever I thought of never getting to meet my family. The exact reason I made that deal with Kilian in the first place.

I lean forward and push my phone to her reach.

"I have pictures of him— that is, if you want to see?" I say quietly. To this, she brightens up and gently grabs my phone. It has no password so I get up with no worries and take my mug to the sink. Quickly washing it as Claire looks at pictures in my phone, I turn around.

Kilian quickly averts his eyes from me and stares out the kitchen window, looking deep in thought. I see that Claire isn't the only one looking through pictures of my father— next to her is my mom, looking teary eyed. I swallow any words that I was going to say and walk around the kitchen, looking at everything except for them.

           Elegant white walls and everything stainless Steel, polished everyday no doubt. I wonder if they actually do have maids? They look loaded. I wonder what the inside of their fridge looks like. No bugs in sight anywhere, and the floors are a clean beige porcelain tile. It seems to welcome you in, a sign saying "Food is where my heart is". I let out a smile at that. Amen.

              I hear footsteps as I near the kitchen doorway and come face to face with a stone faced man. His eyes narrow at me as his mouth opens— fangs protruding. Vampire.

          I feel arms wrap around my waist and pull me back quickly from the wrath of what seems to be the king. Kilian goes face to face with him, holding me behind him. Their eyes glow red, Kilains a bit darker— like a wine, bloody color.

         "Back up." Kilian bites out territorially as Claire jumps up quickly.

          "Atty it's okay! She's my sister." She quickly rushes to his side before he can reply to Kilian. Kilian and "Atty", which I'm sure is short for Atticus, don't break eye contact. Everything seems tense, and I feel like I should be trying to calm things down with Kilain— but I can't move. Not while Atticus's fangs are out— not while I can have my neck snapped in any second by either one of these males. Kilian is on your side. I remind myself, glancing at my rose tattoo.

                "Guys." I warn. "Play nice. Cool everything down— or else I will." I warn, ice forming into my palms. Claire touches Atticus's chest, snapping him out of the trance he was in. Kilian turns his head and  stares at my palm, looking a bit taken aback that I would even threaten him. He snaps himself out of whatever he was feeling and looks at Atticus.

Nobody seems to have noticed my ice except for Kilian and Atticus— and that causes relief to flood within me. I don't exactly know why, but I was hoping to feel normal for a bit. With my family at least.

          Kilain moves his arms off of my waist, and my heart aches for a second— missing the warmth. I blink away those strange feelings that I shouldn't be feeling for a man I hardly know. A demon. This is what they do— they manipulate. They toy with you until you're weak. At least that's what dad always said, why he never wanted me to touch that book.

          Atticus finds me peaking behind Kilian, and I awkwardly wave.

          "Hi." I say with a smile.

            He blinks and suddenly any malice from his face is gone, and instead, a teddy bear of a vampire.

            "You're Claire's little sister." He smiles and opens his arm, seemingly going in for a hug. Before that can happen, Kilian steps into the way yet again.

        "Yup!" Kilain says as he opens his arms and gives a fake smile. Atticus seems taken aback as I stifle a laugh at this. I can tell that Kilian is a little bit possessive, but I shrug it off, maybe it's because of the deal. Maybe it's because I'm his for a couple of months— no one else's.

         Kilian and Atticus drop their arms to their sides as Claire sighs.

          "Men and their dick measuring." She mutters as I hold in a laugh.

           "Claire!" Our mother gasps, looking at Claire in horror. I bite my lip, laugh threatening to come out.

            "Yes, yes I know mother. Not 'ladylike.'" She says with a roll of her eyes, already used to our mothers dramatic antics.

              "Ladylike? The Truth never is, huh." I say softly as everyone looks at me. My mother looks even more horrified that I've taken Claire's side, which makes me laugh. Atticus smiles for a second.

                "Yeah, she's definitely your sister."

             "Right?!" Claire says, gesturing towards me.  

                "Just a little more badass." I hear a voice ring out as two men walk behind Atticus.

                  "What's with the kitchen block?" The old man says gesturing towards the kitchen entrance that's being blocked. His stomach growls.

             "I'm starving." The other one exclaims as I smile.

            "Same." I sigh. "Anything in there besides blood?" I ask, gesturing to the fridge a couple feet behind us.

             To that, everyone laughs. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion as Kilian tries to hold in his smirk. He looks at me with hooded eyes as I look at everyone with confusion.

             "What?" I ask.

           They just laugh even harder.

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