Page 36 of This Blood That Binds Us

“I do trust you.” He sat next to me. “All right. I know that we’re running away from something called The Family. I think it’s a vampire cult. Presley calls it the mafia. That’s how my older brothers were changed. I don’t know anything about it, their purpose, or what they do. I just know there’s a lot of them, and they could be anywhere and that they’re dangerous. So dangerous that we had to leave behind our life and go into hiding.”

“What do they want with you?”

Aaron raised his brows without a response.

“Got it. You don’t know...Do you think it’s possible my attack could have to do with them?

“Anything is possible at this point.”

A large thump on the door broke our concentration.

In the blink of an eye, Aaron was pounding his fist on the door. “Presley, get away from the door!”

I sucked in a breath, still completely enthralled with his abilities. It was going to take a while before I was used to anything that was going on.

“Sorry, they are normal, I promise. Let’s head down before they hitch a tent outside. Remember the story. We are just friends who met at school.”

“Well, don’t forget you’re only a percentage,” I teased. A permanent crease settled between Aaron’s brows since I had mentioned his brothers, and for reasons I couldn’t yet explain, I wanted to see it disappear.

“Oh, ouch. Okay, mathematician, do you even remember what percent that is?” Aaron laughed as he watched me frantically brush my hair to look halfway presentable.

“I think it was something like twenty percent or some low number like that...” I said.

“All right. All right. Stop mocking me. Let’s go.”

Aaron opened the door, and we walked to the edge of the stairs. Three sets of eyes stared back up at us before running into the living room. It was at that moment every lofty idea I had about vampires being elegant disappeared right along with them. Aaron should have been my first clue.

“Yep, those are my brothers.” Aaron chuckled as we descended the stairs. The smell of wood polish filled my nose. I placed my hand on the smooth guard rail. “Look, Aaron. This is your favorite part of the house.”

He flashed his teeth right before we reached the hardwood floor, and he ushered me into the living room. I expected to see a war-torn room filled with beer bottles and trash.Instead, everything was clean and pristine. Suddenly, I was contemplating how long I’d been asleep.

“Well, well, the infamous Kimberly Burns.”

One of the twins met us in the entryway. He was the more muscular one, wearing what looked to be a Hawaiian button-up and gray sweat shorts. His curly mullet and a beard looked recently trimmed and tamed. When he smiled, I was taken aback. He smiled just like Aaron. A big, out-of-this-world smile brought a sense of warm safety to my chest.

“I’m Luke. It’s a pleasure toofficiallymeet you.”

I held out my hand promptly. “Nice to meet you. Thanks for saving me from that guy yesterday.”

“Happy to do it. He causes a lot of trouble here. He tried to fight Zach last week. But, you know, I’ve never seen someone try to break his hand before. That was pretty sweet—Hey come over here!” He turned around and pulled his other half out from behind the wall.

“I’m Zach. And you are Kimberly,” Zach said with an unamused tone.

His hair was much darker than Luke’s and longer. He too was muscular but much more slim than his twin. What stood out the most was the dark circles under his eyes, making his ivory skin look hollow.

“You look nice in my brother’s shirt.” Zach took a seat and leaned back on the sofa. Everything about him was darker than his twin, including his entirely black outfit that consisted of black joggers and a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt.

“Uh, thanks?” Like clockwork, heat rose up in my cheeks.

“Really, you’re going there? Even though we just talked about this two seconds ago.” Aaron’s eyes were like daggers.

Zach chuckled, holding his hands up. “Hey, I thought it was a compliment! I was being nice!”

With sweaty palms, I rubbed my hands together, looking for the exit.

“He’s kidding,” Luke said with a boisterous kind of confidence and toothless grin.

“And I’m the cool one. Obviously.” Presley walked in and propped himself against the wall. His clothes were even louder than the day before.