Vampire in Geek's Clothing (Psy-Vamp Book 6) (14 page)

Isaiah was starving. Thankfully, Drew had been out picking
up lunch while they’d all met about going to the club. The reason for sending
him out was that they didn’t want him to argue about going to the club to meet
the hunters. Normally, Drew wouldn’t care enough to get involved, but he had a
soft spot when it came to Phoenix.

Roman, Ivy, and Aiden had all left right after the meeting,
so Isaiah was now sitting in the kitchen, eating pizza with Phoenix, Justin,
Caitlin, and Drew. It was a strangely quiet meal. For his part, his mind was on
getting upstairs to finish what he’d started with Phoenix earlier. Just
thinking about that had him hiding his erection under the breakfast bar. Based
on the occasional smirk Drew sent his way, his cousin knew what he was
thinking. None of them were sure what Drew’s ability was, but it involved sex
in some way.

“Are you done?” Isaiah asked Phoenix.

“Yes, I’m done,” she replied.

“Did you want to watch a movie?” Drew asked.

“Not now,” Phoenix replied. “I think we’ll just go up to
Isaiah’s room and rest.”

Justin obviously decided to join in on the teasing. “How
about a game of cards?”

“Don’t be a prick,” Caitlin warned.

“Fine,” Justin told them, “Go upstairs, and we’ll see you
later. Enjoy your
nap
.”

What Isaiah wanted to do was toss Phoenix over his shoulder
and carry her upstairs to his room, but he exercised great restraint by holding
her hand and walking her out of the kitchen. They were passing through the
foyer, almost at the stairs, when the front door opened.

“Isaiah!” came the excited voice of Helena Draksel, his
mother.

Stifling a groan of frustration, Isaiah faced his mother,
figuring things could always be worse. It could be his father.

“Helena! Do not walk away from me!”

“This is what I get for thinking things couldn’t get any
worse,” Isaiah grumbled. Not only did his father storm into the house, he was
followed by Sofia. While Sofia was technically his grandmother, no one in the
family, other than Drew, referred to her as such. They all called her Sofia—at
least, that’s what they called her to her face. The woman was as warm and
cuddly as a black mamba.

Rather than cowering, like she’d done most of his life, his
mother spun around and glared at his father with her hands on her hips. While
Isaiah looked a lot like Justin, his father looked like Justin’s twin—a fact
Justin hated. The only way to tell them apart was their apparel. His father had
an unfortunate habit of dressing in clothing that looked like it had been
rejected by the local thrift store. Today, he wore navy blue sweat pants that
had white lint stuck to them. He’d paired the sweats with a grey hoodie that
was missing the pocket on one side. His father looked even more slovenly when
standing near his mother. Helena’s short red dress was form-fitting on top but
flowed out around her hips. She’d recently cut her long sable hair, and it now barely
touched her shoulders.

“Something tells me we aren’t going to make it up to your
room,” Phoenix said with a sigh.

“It would seem unlikely,” he agreed. “I’ll introduce you to
Sofia and my parents once things settle down.”

“What are you all doing here?” he asked, walking over to
give his mother a hug. He gave his father a slight nod. That was as much
affection as they shared on a good day. His father had never been a loving
man—not with his sons and certainly not with his wife.

“We heard about Andrei,” Sofia replied, sounding more
emotional than he’d have expected. It was strange looking at Sofia and
realizing she was over five-hundred years old. She looked to be about twelve,
which was how old she’d been when Isaiah’s grandfather had married her. From what
Isaiah had heard, it was a good thing his grandfather was dead. The cruelty
Sofia had endured at his grandfather’s hands was likely the reason she was so
cold. With her long red hair touching her ankles, and her violet eyes, she
looked innocent enough, but there was nothing innocent about Sofia.

Isaiah’s arm slid protectively around Phoenix because at
least two people in the room were not the nicest of people on a good day. While
his mother and Sofia had formed a strange bond over the last few months, neither
of them were on speaking terms with his father.

“I’m just following my stubborn wife,” his father muttered.

“Who is the young lady?” his mom asked, her eyes locked on
his arm wrapped around Phoenix’s waist.

“This is Phoenix,” he introduced. “Phoenix, this is my mom,
Helena, my father, Josef, and Sofia. Sofia is. . .” His voice trailed off as he
tried to come up with the right word to describe what Sofia was to him.

“Grandmamma?” Drew called out as he entered the foyer. “What
are you doing here?”

Sofia glided toward Drew and wrapped him in her arms. “You
poor boy!” she crooned. “This must be so hard for you.”

Drew stiffened, and Isaiah saw the emotions pass across his
face. Isaiah could somewhat understand his cousin’s mixed feelings about the
death of his father. Andrei hadn’t been a good father by any stretch of the
imagination, but Isaiah was sure there had been moments when Andrei had at
least tried. Those were the memories that would haunt Drew during the times
when he found himself feeling almost indifferent about his father’s death.
Isaiah suspected he’d feel the same indifference if his own father were to die.
He was sure that, every once in a while, he’d remember a good time and feel
guilty for not missing the man.

Phoenix seemed to sense Drew’s distress because she was
obviously trying to draw attention away from Drew. “I’m a hunter,” she
announced.

Drew pulled back from Sofia and laughed, all the tension
seeming to drain from his body. “Thanks, babe,” he said, giving her a wink.

Sofia appeared delighted. His father looked nervous. As for
his mom, she was too busy pretending to ignore his father to even react to
Phoenix’s statement.

Isaiah saw the moment his father recovered from his shock,
his face fully expressing his anger and disapproval.

“Why is there a hunter in the house?” his father demanded,
before grabbing his mom’s arm and dragging her behind him.

“What are you doing?” his mom demanded.

“Protecting you from the hunter,” his father insisted.

“If you don’t get your hands off of me, I will kick you!”
his mother threatened, and that’s when Isaiah suddenly wished he’d taken
Phoenix the long way back to his room.

Phoenix still couldn’t believe she’d blurted out that she
was a hunter to a group of vampires, just to draw their attention away from
Drew. Then again, the rest of Isaiah’s family already knew, so she figured it
wasn’t a big secret.

“You really should kick him,” Sofia prompted Helena.

“I demand to know why there is a dangerous killer in this
house!” Josef shouted, still trying to stand in front of Helena.

“I live here,” Drew drawled, intentionally misinterpreting
what Josef had said.

“I’m not going to kill anyone,” Phoenix assured them.

“Isaiah’s been fucking her so often, she probably doesn’t
have the energy to kill anyone,” Drew added.

“Andrew!” Sofia scolded. “You are far too young to be
talking about this sort of thing.”

Phoenix snorted.

“You too, young lady,” Sofia added.

“She’s right,” Isaiah said softly, his warm breath caressing
her ear. “I’ll have to punish you later.”

“That was hot,” Drew rasped out, his eyes locked on hers.

“I’m a hunter,” Phoenix told Sofia. “I won’t ever look any
older than I do now. For all you know, I could be two-hundred years old.”

“You’re younger than Andrew,” Sofia stated with narrowed
eyes.

“How do you know my age?” Phoenix asked in surprise.

“I remember your uncle,” Sofia explained. “His passing was
very sad. He was quite a man.” Her voice was slightly breathy when she said the
last part.

“You slept with her uncle?” Josef gasped, looking like he’d
just smelled something foul.

“Why don’t you pull that self-righteous stick out of your
ass, Josef?” Helena suggested, moving to stand closer to Isaiah.

Josef’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

“I slept with your uncle a few times,” Sofia admitted.

“My uncle hated vampires!” Phoenix exclaimed.

Sofia chuckled. “I never said we were friends.”

“I was hoping my ears were playing tricks on me,” Justin
muttered as he made his way into the foyer.

“Liar,” Caitlin accused. “You were just hoping they’d all
leave before you had to come in here. In fact, you suggested going up the back
set of stairs to avoid this mess.”

“Who could blame him?” Isaiah asked.

“Enough of this nonsense,” Josef interrupted. “I’m taking my
wife home. This situation with a hunter makes me even more determined to get
her out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Helena told him, arms
crossed in front of her chest.

“You are my wife,” Josef insisted.

“Not for long,” Sofia added gleefully.

Josef’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? I married her, and
she is mine until the day she dies.”

“Keep pushing your luck and you’ll be the one dying soon,”
Helena warned.

Her reaction seemed to surprise everyone in the room, so
Phoenix assumed Isaiah’s mom wasn’t normally one to stand up for herself.

Sofia crossed the room and grabbed Phoenix’s arm, tugging
her away from Isaiah. “Why don’t you boys have a word with your father, while
we have some girl talk?”

“I’m not going to talk to their father,” Drew grumbled.

“You come with us!” Sofia commanded, and just like that,
Phoenix found herself being dragged from the room and further from her
afternoon of great sex.

Isaiah could not believe his bad luck. He had a beautiful
woman, who for some insane reason found his nerdy ways attractive, yet his
family was determined to keep him from enjoying her. Instead of being upstairs,
locked in his room with Phoenix, he was in a room with his brother and his
father. They’d been in the room for five minutes and no one had spoken. That
might come as a surprise in many families, but his childhood had been filled
with uncomfortable silences. That really said a lot since he and his brother
didn’t usually feel the need to fill the void in conversation.

“I can’t believe you brought a hunter around this family,”
his father finally admonished him. “That is beyond irresponsible. To make
matters worse, you’ve put your mother in danger. You know how fragile she is,
yet you still exposed her to a dangerous killer.”

Justin looked like he was going to say something, but Isaiah
spoke first. “Don’t talk about Phoenix. In fact, don’t talk to her. I’d tell
you just don’t talk to her unless you can say something nice, but we all know
that’s impossible. You seem incapable of treating anyone with an ounce of
respect.”

Justin raised an eyebrow, clearly shocked. Since Isaiah
wasn’t known for outbursts of any kind, he understood his brother’s reaction.
He was surprised by his own words, but he wasn’t going to let anyone insult
Phoenix. If he had his way, she’d be in his life for a very long time.

“Why are you here?” Justin asked.

“To bring your mother home,” his father answered, looking
baffled by the question.

“Why do you want to bring her home?” Isaiah asked. “Did you
run out of people to bully?”

His father blinked several times, staring at Isaiah as if
he’d grown a second head. “I love your mother.”

Justin snorted. “Yeah, right. You love her so much that you
constantly criticize her. What you feel for her has nothing to do with love.”

“Criticize?” his father asked, and Isaiah had to wonder how
his father could be this clueless.

“How can you not get this?” Isaiah demanded. “You complain
about the way she dresses, the way she does her hair, and you even told her
that nail polish makes her look whorish.”

His father looked like he was about to speak, but Justin cut
him off. “You tell her she’s not smart enough to be a doctor just because she’s
a woman. She’s brilliant, and she could easily make it through medical school,
but you’ve made her believe she can’t.”

“Your mother doesn’t understand the world,” his father
argued. “I’m just trying to guide her so she doesn’t make a fool of herself.
You must see that wearing clothing like she has on today is unbecoming for a
married woman, especially one her age.”

“I don’t see that,” Isaiah told him. “What I see is a woman
who’s more confident than I’ve ever seen her. She feels good about who she is.”

“Her confidence is growing with every passing day,” Justin
added. “Being away from you has helped her feel like she’s worth something.”

His father regarded them both like they were insane. “Why
wouldn’t she have felt like she was worth something before?”

“I can’t deal with you,” Justin snapped, standing and
storming out of the room.

Isaiah was tempted to follow him until his father spoke. The
words were quiet, and it was obvious his father was talking to himself. “I love
her.”

Silence hung between them as Isaiah processed what his
father had just said. It’s not that he didn’t think his father had feelings for
his mother. Growing up, he’d suspected his father mostly viewed his mom as a
possession, but there were times when he saw the longing in his father’s eyes.
Settling back into his seat, Isaiah waited for his father to speak again
because he wasn’t sure what to say. It’s not like they had heart to heart talks
on a regular basis, or ever.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” his father finally asked,
several emotions swirling around in his eyes, which was strange from his father
who tended to show only indifference and disappointment.

Isaiah had to wonder if he’d been misreading his father.
“I’m sure you think you love her. The thing is, you treat her like a child. No,
that’s not even it because you don’t treat her like she has any potential. When
Mom came here because she thought Caitlin was pregnant, she was shy and
questioned everything she did. Justin talked her into staying, and several of
the women in the family have helped build her confidence since then.”

His father snorted. “I’ve heard the women don’t know their
place.”

Isaiah shook his head, unsure how his father had remained so
stuck in the past. “I wouldn’t say that around any of Roman’s granddaughters.
Come to think of it, I’d avoid saying that around Caitlin. You can’t treat a
woman like she’s a possession and expect her to stay with you.”

“Your mother can’t be serious about leaving me. She needs
me.”

“No,” Isaiah began with a laugh, “she doesn’t need you, but
unless I miss my guess, you need her. What you should be wondering is if it’s
too late to fix this.”

“She’s my wife.” This time, there was less conviction in
those words.

“She won’t be for long,” Isaiah told him. “Sofia and Ursula
are supporting her decision to divorce you.”

“Ursula?” His father sounded genuinely hurt.

Ursula was technically Roman’s mother, even though she’d
lived as a servant in the house Roman had grown up in. She’d also been nanny to
most of them, his father included. Ursula’s support of the divorce would hurt
most, and it might help his father finally see that he’d screwed up.

“Roman hasn’t agreed on the divorce yet, but Lydia will have
him agreeing soon enough,” Isaiah warned as he got to his feet and gave his
father a pointed look. “You need to make some decisions. If you love her, you
need to accept who she is and stop trying to change her. If you can’t do that,
then I hope you love her enough to let her go. My mother deserves to be happy.”

On those words, he walked out of the room, pretty sure his
father wasn’t going to take his advice, but there wasn’t much more he could do.