Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(107)

This was what my family saw when they filed into the room looking uppity and in dire need of a martini.

I decided to glare.

I mean, in my hour of need, they’d ignored me and here they were when my hour of need was beyond me (not exactly, but in a way) and the good parts (one particular one I had in mind) were happening that very night.

“I need a drink,” Aunt Kate announced grandly.

“Leah, honey, are you okay?” Mom asked worriedly.

“Is that roast chicken I smell?” Aunt Millicent enquired, sniffing.

“Ohmigod, I love your blouse!” Aunt Nadia screeched excitedly.

“Well, hello to you too,” I replied to them all. “So, you remember I exist?”

Aunt Kate’s eyes narrowed.

Mom looked guilty.

Aunt Millicent glanced away.

Aunt Nadia bit her lip.

Lucien gave me a shoulder squeeze and murmured, “Leah.”

“Sorry but I was expelled from Vampire Studies and I did happen to find myself living with a vampire and my family does happen to be the premier family of vampire concubines so forgive me for expecting a little guidance and support!” I fired off.

The collective of Buchanan women’s eyes moved to Lucien. Once they did, so did my own. Lucien let me go and shrugged off his suit jacket.

He dropped it on the arm of the couch and suggested, “Perhaps we should all have a drink.”

I didn’t think this was good.

Aunt Kate disagreed. “Capital idea!” she announced.

“Lucien?” I called.

Drink, he said in my head. I’ll explain in a minute.

He’ll explain? What did this have to do with Lucien?

Then it hit me. The aunties visit a month ago when I didn’t get the chance to talk to them.

I was right, this wasn’t good.

I crossed my arms, jutted my hip, threw out a leg and tapped my toe. If any of my past boyfriends saw me in this stance, they would ask no questions. They wouldn’t utter a noise. They would cut and run straight for the hills.

Lucien glanced at me as he headed for the drinks cabinet. When his eyes hit me, they traveled from chest-to-toe then straight to my face. Then I saw him bite back a smile.

Big, fat, vampire jerk!

I immediately changed my mind regarding our later activities. If he thought we were “joining” tonight, he had another think coming.

“I’ll make more stuffing and potatoes and warm up more rolls.” Edwina was fussing in the kitchen. “Maybe whip up a pie.”

I was about to offer my help when I was interrupted.

“You were expelled from Vampire Studies?” Avery asked, his amused stare locked on me.

“I was caught texting, passing notes, throwing spitballs and writing my Last Will and Testament,” I declared.

Avery burst out laughing.

“Spitballs?” Lucien voice came at me from behind.

I turned and saw he had a bottle of vodka in his hand, his brows were up and he didn’t look amused.

“Spitballs,” I snapped rebelliously.

“Oh, can we please not talk about that? It took some palm greasing to get that instructor to keep his mouth shut,” Aunt Kate lamented and sent me her look that since I was four and even now that I was forty never failed to pin me to the spot. “Anyone else learns of this and it’s sure to taint the Buchanan name.”

“I still think it’s kind of funny, Katie,” Aunt Nadia whispered, giving me a wink.

“Um, excuse me, but does anyone want to talk about my daughter nearly dying from a bad dream last night? Anyone? Anyone? Or is it just me?” Mom demanded tetchily.

I stared at Lucien’s back and stated, “I’d prefer to know why my family has been avoiding me for a month.”

Don’t try me, Lucien warned in my head.

Kiss my concubine ass, I returned to his.

He didn’t turn but I saw him shake his head in that way men do when they think women are entirely too ridiculous for words. But, seeing as this was Lucien, he did it far better than any man of my acquaintance and there were lots of men of my acquaintance who would shake their heads like I was too ridiculous for words.

It was then that I saw the drawbacks of having a kind of like boyfriend who was centuries old.

He had a lot of bad stuff down pat, too.

“Leah, I asked you a question when I came into this room.” Mom commanded my attention. “Are you all right?”

I turned to my mother and told her, “I’m fine.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“Oh, not much, except I woke up but my dream wasn’t quite done with me yet. I had the highly disturbing experience of being hanged, literally, but without actually being hanged.”

Every single one of my aunties gasped and even Avery winced.

Lucien’s sharp voice cut cleanly through the horror filling the room.

“Leah, a word.”

Then he handed the martini shaker to Avery and walked out.

After the last incident that happened when I defied him in front of my aunties, I felt it prudent to follow him. He turned into the study and I followed him there too. He shut the door behind me, grabbed my upper arm and pushed me against it.

I looked up to see he was angry.

He didn’t delay. “You’re mother’s concerned. So concerned she flew across four states to check on you. You just told her something grisly, terrifying and life threatening happened to the daughter she loves like you’d relay the time of day.”