Sunday 20 January
Rebecca
They had an awesome place, those new vamps. It looked like it needed its own brochure, it was so big. It was one of those country mansions with dozens of bedrooms, and manicured gardens and parks, and a great big gravel parking space out front, and a fountain, for goodness sake. Talk about ostentatious. Angus' place was big, but it didn't look like they were trying to prove something.
We were greeted at the door by the whole family. I was immediately drawn to Mrs Colborne, or Julia, as she introduced herself - just as well she did - she looked about as old as her sons. She had a lovely face, with large grey eyes framed by pale lashes. When she saw me, she extended a hand and smiled welcomingly. Mr Colborne just stood there, a nice-looking man in his fifties or thereabouts, obviously not a vampire himself, looking slightly bored but willing to make an effort. The three siblings had varying reactions to our arrival. The two boys seemed pleased to see us - they introduced themselves as Simon (brown hair, golden eyes, big goofy grin) and Oliver (blonde, blue eyes, intense). We had seen Oliver at the airport, and he was still devastatingly gorgeous. I smiled at him, happy to see a familiar face, and his pupils dilated so his eyes were almost black, and he frowned.
"Stop teasing him," Angus' voice grated in my ear.
"I wasn't!" I objected in a whisper.
"Yes, you were. Don't smile at him, it just makes him angry."
"What?"
"He knows he can't have you. I can feel his thoughts, and your smiling at him frustrates him."
I said nothing, but pasted a grumpy look on my face and glanced at Oliver. He grinned back, obviously amused by something which I seemed to have missed. I turned my attention to the daughter (dark hair, dark eyes), who was introduced as Lucy. She gave me a hostile glare, not even bothering to hide it from her family. Her father noticed, and scolded her in a half-hearted way, and sent her to order tea to be brought to the sun room. We all traipsed through the massive reception area, and down a few passages to a light sunny room (hence the name sun room - just call me Sherlock) with high ceilings, massive windows, comfy looking leather couches strewn around, and a bookshelf lining an entire wall. A large section of the garden could be seen beyond the windows, with a park and a lake off to one side.
Mrs C smiled at me and patted the couch seat next to her, so I obediently sat down. Angus and Marcus were standing chatting to Mr C, and Fergus was sitting talking to Oliver and Simon. Lucy seemed to have disappeared, thank goodness. Hostile teenagers were tedious. True, I was a teenager, but I never got the point of being angry about everything. I suppose it's situational, and has a lot to do with hormones and brain development, and maybe she couldn't help feeling the way she did, but I was so over it. Mrs C must have sensed my antipathy.