William seems okay though. He flirts a lot, which I do appreciate, and tonight he's both dressed as Sid Vicious and he's pretty drunk, which is a fun combination.
"Strong huh?" I tell him with a sly smile. "Seems like you've already had some of the strong stuff."
"We don't need pickled blood," the vampire next to William hisses at him.
"Then don't feed on me," William says right back, and I instinctively suck in my breath, because talking back to a vampire is a dangerous game.
The vampire's nostril's flare. He's dressed in a fuzzy pink bunny suit, so it's an odd sight. He glances at me. "You better watch him," the vampire says, before finishing the rest of his martini and walking off.
William stealthily takes his seat.
"Bold move," I say quietly to him, sliding a coaster his way.
"Maybe I'm not interested in the vampires tonight," he says to me with a cheeky grin. "Maybe I'm more interested in the bartender."
"Well, whatever you're interested in, I have no problems with cutting you off if you get out of hand," I warned him. "I don't need your head being torn off because you were drunk."
William doesn't look the slightest bit scared. He should be.
"That's sweet that you'd prevent me from getting murdered."
"Making you a scotch and soda," I tell him, grabbing the bottle and free-pouring it into a rocks glass. "And it's not in the house."
William makes a pouting face but eagerly takes the drink when it's ready. Meanwhile my mom appears at the door with more appetizers, looking bewildered at the crowd. I immediately look for Ezra and wave at him to take over the bar before I head over to my mom.
"Why didn't you text me? I would have come up and got these," I tell her, taking the trays while trying to nudge her to the door with my shoulder. "You shouldn't be here."
"I can't enjoy the party?" my mom asks softly, her eyes big as she looks around, soaking it all in. And just as I thought, a lot of the vampires are looking right at us, right at her. They're used to the smell of my blood, but they aren't used to the smell of hers.
"Mom, please," I tell her, trying to open the door with my foot. "I know you want to stay, but it's dangerous down here. And honestly, vampires are incredibly boring."
Okay, so that last part was a lie.
She nods, pressing her lips together and looking so forlorn that it breaks my heart. She rarely gets to see any of the parties in full swing.
I sigh. "Alright, I'll tell you what. Since you're all dressed up and looking so pretty, I'll get Luke to escort you around. No one will dare try anything when he's there. I'd get Eric but…" I look around in time to see him grabbing Tina's hand and leading her into the cigar lounge. "Well, he's occupied."
Her face lights up. I'm reluctant to leave her. I know it's crazy to think that any vampire would suddenly decide my mom looks delicious and break all the rules, but like I said, I'm protective. So I wave over Onni, a vampire I recognize as being a pretty good guy, and then tell him to go get Luke.
I wait with my mom by the door and, a minute later, Luke appears, a sight for sore eyes if there ever was.
"Luke, can you do me a favor?" I ask, handing him the trays of appetizers. "Or rather, do my mom a favor?"
He grins down at my mom. "Of course I can, mama bear," he says, his nickname for her. "Anything for you."
My heart grows incredibly warm. The relationship Luke has with my mom is pretty special. Adorable, really. All the boys in the house treat her like she's their mother, meaning with respect and love most of the time, and occasionally a bit of mischief. Luke especially adores my mom and I love to see them together. I think it's because Luke lost a lot of his family at an early age, though he never really talks about it, and my mother makes a fabulous substitute.
"She's insisting I go back upstairs but I want to enjoy the party," my mother complains to him, chin raised in defiance.
"I'm not insisting," I quickly say, looking to Luke. "But I feel like it's dangerous if she's down here."
"You're down here all day long," she says to me, hand on her hip, going into full mama bear pose. "I don't worry about you."
Both Luke and I snort in unison. My mom worries about me every chance she gets. It's one of the drawbacks of being so close. I've never not lived with her, which sounds embarrassing when you're my age, but so far that's just the way things have gone for us. It's always been the two of us against the world.
"Well, if it makes you feel better," Luke says to me, his eyes dancing in amusement, "then I'll gladly accept the role of your mother's bodyguard for the next while."
"What about the feeding room?" I ask him, jerking my head toward the metal door at the back.
"It's all set. Eric can take over if need be."
Somehow I doubt that. Eric tells people what to do, he doesn't actually do it himself.
"Or Ezra," Luke quickly adds. "If you go back to tending bar."
I give Luke a playful salute and then head over to the bar while he links arms with my mother. I'm just passing the dance floor (it used to be a ballroom, after all), with a few people already dancing to the playlist Tina picked out, when suddenly William is coming toward me.
"Can't say no to Thriller," William says and he reaches out, grabbing my hands and pulling me toward him.
I laugh, caught off-guard by his attention. "Well, I can since I have to go work at the bar."
"Seems like it's being taken care of," William says, sliding his hands around my waist now. I get a large whiff of cologne. It's not bad, it just doesn't smell like Luke naturally does, that's all.
"Except Ezra needs to watch the feeding room," I protest as William spins me around. I manage to catch Ezra's eyes at the bar and give him a look that says help. Ezra nods and heads to the feeding room, which leaves me to get out of this dancing.
"You know, this isn't how you dance to the song," I say as William pulls me closer. "I mean, there's literally instructions on how to do it in the music video, and this ain't it."
"Nothing wrong with improvising," he says, leaning in so close that I swear he's going to kiss me.