Damian's Immortal

"So Charlie just roams free in the house?" he asked.

"Charles," the vamp corrected him.

"He really doesn't like being called Charlie," Sofi echoed. "He's a person of sorts, too, Damian."

"I'm keeping him safe from the women, ikir," Pierre, Sofi's bodyguard, added. The large, blond Guardian was rarely more than five feet from his charge and sat in the corner.

"Am I the only sane one here? Who domesticates a vamp?" Damian demanded.

Pierre was unfazed by his raised voice and continued playing a game on his phone. The women paused in their activities to look at him. Gauging by the huge basket of yarn at her side, Sofi was crocheting an entire wardrobe for their unborn son. Bianca was cooking something that made him wonder if the vamp killed their lunch, too. The two women resumed their activities, unaffected by his outburst.

"Charles, this needs chopped," Bianca said cheerfully, holding out an onion.

The vamp moved forward with a frown and hacked the onion apart with a vengeance that displayed his distaste.

"I can do other things, ikir," the vamp said. "I can fight and hunt."

"Damian, why not give him a shot at something?" Sofi asked. Her voice was quiet, and he couldn't help wondering if she'd Seen something important enough to tolerate a vamp in her household.

"He's really good with details," Bianca volunteered. "Look." She started to hand him what looked like an intricate carving in the side of an orange. The vamp snatched it and crushed it with his hand, glaring at her.

She rolled her eyes at him and returned to the cauldron of soup on the stove. The vamp stared at Damian.

"Fine. I'll assign him something to do," Damian said. "So you hunt and fight. Do you do anything else?"

"I'm an urban warfare tactics trainer specializing in tracking. I can track any animal, any kind of creature."

"Interesting," Damian said. "Can you track immortals?"

"I can." There was no hesitation in the vamp's response. Damian reconsidered the vamp before looking at Sofi, who ignored him.

"Can you track Watchers?" he asked.

"I've successfully tracked Others and trained vamps with the tracking gift to do so as well," the vamp replied. "I've never tried Watchers."

"You can track Others," Damian repeated. "I can't even track them."

"You know vamps have gifts like Guardians," Sofi said. "He's a Hunter. If he hadn't chosen to become a vamp, he'd be a very useful Guardian."