I did as she did, observed her from head to toes. She was dressed in a short open-shoulders black leather mini-dress that was barely covering her butt and boobs, and high-heeled leather boots. I wonder did she took that dress to impress Markus or just none of her family members cared what she chose as clothes, however, I could barely tell that she was dressed in clothes. It was some pieces of clothes.
"Markus…" said the tall woman with dark silk black hair and bloody shining eyes, dressed in the antique black dress with bat wings. I noticed the same chainlet, and pendant I had on my neck, was hanging between her clavicles, emphasizing their sharpness. They were like two opposite canyons, and the pendant was a piece of land between the canyons. Her shoes weren't visible because of the dress length.
Anyway, she was looking like a figurine who came straight out of an old picture to visit her old friend. I looked at Markus. His eyes were without any emotions.
"You know how do I treat unexpected quests and still came without a warning…" he said, then turned his head in the other direction, where Raphael was standing. He just nodded and showed up on the staircase.
"Let me show you your rooms…" he said, waiting for them to climb up, but they weren't moving even for an inch.
"You won't even hug us? We haven't seen you for ages?!" a guttural voice of young men attracted my attention. I looked at him slowly from head to toes, seeing him being Markus's younger twin: platinum white hair, onyx eyes, and the same facial and body features. He was even dressed in a way Markus would dress, however, he chose different clothes for this occasion. I looked over Markus again. I never saw him before in a white slim suit with a black shirt and white oxfords, and the sexiest part was his black tie. Oh, I already had a plan in my head how to steal that tie after we'll be alone again.
"Dinner is in two hours. Raphael will show you the right way," Markus said as if he didn't hear the question of his younger brother, then squeezed my hand, turned away, and started climbing upstairs when another question made him stop.
"What our family crest is doing on her?" it was the voice of the same woman, who made an impression of a figuring coming out of the picture. Markus turned his head in her direction, and I managed to catch his killer look.
"Poking your nose in my private life again?" his voice was as killing as his look, "Dinner in two hours."
He repeated those words in the way they would kill even a dead man, then turned his head away from his family and went upstairs slowly, as if making them watch us leave. I'm pretty sure he was punishing them for coming unexpectedly to his mansion, and I truly knew I would do the same. How were they sure he was in his mansion and not on the business trip in another city or country? Do they have their ears here, or they were going to wait for him to be back?
We entered the elevator leading to his private floor, and when it got closed, Markus released his tie and pressed his back to the cold elevator to cool his body down. I felt he was burning from the inside and his heat was filling the room, making me sweat.
"What I do hate more than unscheduled meetings and unexpected guests, is someone poking their nose into my business and my private life." He said, then looked at me, "My Vampire Clan is one of the oldest ones, and we're the only one remaining clan whose reproduction function is still working as in humans."
"You mean you are born vampires?"
"Mostly. This function is going down because of the blood mixture with vampires who can't reproduce themselves as we do, but I was born as a vampire and I can reproduce myself as most human males can do. You wonder why I started from such a family fact?" Markus went through the opened door and held me in his hand. I took it, went out, and he led me to the opposite side of the corridor, away from our bedrooms, to some unfamiliar room. He opened the door and led me to some kind of library or art room. Well, it was kind of a mixture, because I could easily see books on the bookshelves here and there, as well as family portraits on the walls. Markus pointed to the big family tree right on the wall in front of us. It was a big oak tree and when we got closer I could see the dates, and it made me drop my mouth. His family was even older than I imagined! It leads somewhere from those ages where people believed they inherited their bits of knowledge from the Gods, coming from stars.
"Amazing! Those birthdates!"
"Yeah, we're as old as Egyptian Pyramids." He laughed, "At first, it was a lot of families like mine, so it was easy for us to reproduce and stay alive. But then, in the Middle Ages the Inquisition was burning all the creatures they found out on the bonfires, so a lot of legendary families died. Then we had World War One and World War Second where a lot of vampires died protecting their families and countries they used to live in, so till this time, we're the only ones left. That's the reason the Malone family is feared. Our original powers are way higher than other vampires can get with ages, centuries of living." Markus turned away, got closer to the bookshelf, took out some books, and suddenly I heard an annoying noise, then a hidden shelf appeared instead of the books. Markus took a bottle from it and two glasses, put them on the table, put all the books in their places, so the hidden shelf was no more seen. He poured wine into the glasses and gave one to me, the second took for himself. He made a sip and pointed to another picture, hanging near the family tree. It was a picture of a man. He was looking just like Markus, but older, and he had some antique clothes like that woman downstairs.
"Is that your father? He looks like you, just older." Markus took another sip and nodded.
"He was. The Inquisition killed him ages ago. They burned him on the bonfire, as they did with witches and all other creatures." Markus said with sadness in his voice, then took another sip of wine, "My father wanted to be powerful enough to help vampires live among people, and to be able to help them when they need it."
"Just like you are…" I looked at him and took a sip of red wine. His lips twitched into a smile, and his onyx eyes moved from the portrait of his father to me.
"It was his desire and my path. The only one who never liked that was my mother. The woman in antique dress, who asked about the pendant on your neck." Markus put the empty glass on the table and his eyes filled with fire.
"She is the one who always pokes her nose in your business and private life?" I guessed and was one hundred percent right. Markus nodded and remained silent for a few minutes as if gathering with thoughts. I wasn't forcing him to talk, calmly waiting for what he'll say next. It was so interesting to hear about the story of his family. It helped me to know better about him, his likes and dislikes.
"From the time my father died, she changed a lot. That's why we have hard family relationships. She is always spoiling everything around me. I bet, it gives her much more pleasure than all the young-newly-turned vampires in her bed…" Markus turned away, and went straight to the picture handing on the other side of the room, in full darkness. Markus pulled the curtains away, and I could see the portrait of… him?
"Why is it hanging in the darkness?" I came closer, observing the beautiful picture of young Markus dressed in Medieval clothes. He was looking like a Prince in his dark suit. I couldn't take my eyes off it for a few minutes. Markus coughed to attract my attention.
"It was father's gift before he died. If you want, I can ask to hang it out in your bedroom." He said, looking at me with his eyes full of interest. He's interested, but in what?
"Yes, please," I smiled at him, then drank wine from the glass and looked around, "I have a question. You said that most all vampire clans were killed by the Inquisition, but as I could see, we have a lot of vampires now… Where are they from? I mean…"
"They were bitten. Poor humans who were lost in time and space, away from their human family forever. It wasn't a good plot twist for a lot of them. They should leave their loved ones because of the danger of being exposed and killed by the Inquisition. They were hiding deep in the forests, slowly making new clans and families, wandering all over the world to find a new home. It was hard times, Aurora. Dark times for all of us." He put hands in his pockets, still looking at his portrait.