When Darkness Falls Pt. 2 Ch. 06

"You can eat regular food?" Jordan turned his head, bringing their lips close together.

"In very small quantities, and nothing too thick," Dorian murmured as he slid his tongue across Jordan's lips. "Oh, love..."

Jordan swallowed. He had been hungry for food, but that sigh from Dorian had him hungry for something much different. "Room service?" he asked with a slow smile.

Dorian smiled in response, kissed his lips softly, then turned to the aging woman before them. She stood with her hands on her hips, shaking her head. Despite the age that shone on her face in the form of wrinkles, her eyes were young and vibrant.

"Dorian!" she admonished. "You bring such a handsome young thing home and don't bother to introduce us?" Dorian opened his mouth, but the woman waved him away. "Come," she said, taking Jordan by the hand. "Let me have a look at you. Ah, yes. Dorian, the romantic. You know, perhaps with you here, he won't be such a recluse. Has he been feeding well? He tends to put it off at times, longer than he should."

Jordan couldn't help but smile and laugh. Dorian really was well-loved, despite what he was. "Yes, he's been feeding well," he said, glancing over at Dorian. The vampire shook his head as a playfully pleading look crossed his features. "Although I sometimes have to coerce him into it."

"Well, we'll just have to stock up on plenty of orange juice for you then," the woman said.

"Orange juice?"

"Yes! It replaces the nutrients he takes when he feeds. Oh, and where are my manners?" She held out a hand to Jordan and her smile seemed to brighten the entire room. "I'm Angelia, Head Cook for the most stubborn vampire in history."

Dorian groaned and rolled his eyes. "I do listen," he countered, cracking a smile. Jordan chuckled as Angelia turned to Dorian.

"Ah, but you do not!" she said, wagging a plump, wrinkled finger at him. "Here you have a beautiful young man, and yet you're standing in the kitchen, chatting when you could be upstairs, feeding and loving."

Jordan turned beet red and looked over at Dorian. The vampire grinned. "Then maybe we should take her advice, Dorian."

Dorian met his gaze fully and Jordan's breath caught in his throat as the familiar spark of hunger flitted across the vampire's eyes. "Perhaps you are right." Dorian turned to Angelia. "Have us a tray sent up?"

Angelia grinned. "Gladly. Now get your rear end up there. Josef, come in, son. I'm going to need your help."

Just as Dorian started to pull Jordan out of the kitchen, Jordan stopped. He looked at Dorian in confusion. "Son?"

"Oh, yes," Dorian said with a nod. "Angelia Moretti is the mother of Josef and Carl Gallo. She remarried not long after the brothers moved to the United States, and her husband passed away some time ago."

"Wow. How did you find her?"

Dorian took Jordan's hand and started up the stairs. "She found me. I met Josef first, and when I told him about the house here, he wanted to see it. So, I brought him here for a small time. He introduced me to his mother then, and she immediately began doting on me, insisting that, if her son was going to be a donor to vampire, he would need proper nutrition. Thus, she became my cook whenever I am here."

"She didn't freak out about the vampire bit?"

"No, which surprised me greatly, until Josef explained things to me."

Jordan looked over at him. "Like what?"

Dorian grinned as he stopped before a door. "That Angelia's second husband was a vampire. However, he was found dead in a park. Apparently, the hunters found him first."

"Whoa," Jordan said, turning around to face Dorian as they walked into the bedroom. "Hunters?"

Dorian sighed and closed the door. "Yes. I told you; we do have our enemies, Jordan. There are still those who make it their life's goal to hunt down and destroy the vampires of the world."

"What are the chances of Carl being one of them?"

Dorian met Jordan's gaze steadily. "It's very likely."