Free Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) by Melissa Zaroski Page A

exhausted from your trip.”
    As much as she would have loved to
stay with him, it sounded insanely boring as she hadn’t fallen
asleep since the year 1815. She couldn’t even remember what it felt
like to close her eyes and fall unconscious. The thought of just
lying there for eight hours was a definite ‘no’.
    “ I totally would, but I
have a few more things I need to do before I turn in and I kind of
missed my own bed! Maybe next time, okay?”
    He came out of the bathroom in just
his pajama bottoms, exposing his lean torso. He was tall and could
be lanky if he didn’t work out, but he had muscle definition
throughout his shoulders, chest, and abdomen. “Okay,” he replied, a
bit disappointed.
    “I’ll find you tomorrow after I get
back and we’ll go riding.” She walked over to him and gave him a
kiss, lingering and savoring it. “See you tomorrow, sleep
tight.”
    She looked back at him as
she walked out, closing the door behind her. She smelled the air in
the hallway, Zachariah wasn’t in their bedroom. After her make out
session with Todd, she was thirsty. Very thirsty and she wanted
company—preferably of the undead and female sort. She went
downstairs and looked for Vivienne in the parlor, where she was
curled up on the sofa with Declan.
    “Hey guys,” she said as she walked
over to them. They were on one of the couches watching television
together. “Viv, you fancy a drink with me in the kitchen? I need
some girl talk,” she said with a sly twinkle in her eye.
    “Yeah!” Vivienne replied
enthusiastically as she got up and patted Declan’s knee. “Be back
later!”
    The girls scuttled down the winding
lower hallway to the large, restaurant-style kitchen. Emma looked
around to make sure no one else was present and walked over to a
shelving unit built in to the wall. She reached under the lower
shelf for a secret latch that unlocked the hidden door in the wall.
She opened it and unveiled a refrigerator in the wall that was used
to store gallon jugs of human blood. There was just one left and
she planned to go into Barrington the following day to restock the
fridge.
    She pulled out a jug, poured some into
a couple of large wine glasses, and heated them up in the
microwave. Vivienne took her glass and drank like the civilized
vampire she was. Emma, however, didn’t realize how thirsty she was
and immediately gulped down half the glass. She wasn’t used to not
being able to bite during moments of passion.
    “So, what were you up to in Todd’s
room?” Vivienne asked with a smirk. “Must have been hot and heavy,
which would explain you chugging that blood like a sorority
girl.”
    “We did some kissing,” she replied
with sheepish smile. “It started off with just talking and getting
everything out in the open. He’s really into me and I’m into him. I
can’t help it, there’s something about him that I just can’t stay
away from.”
    “And then?”
    “And then, he held my hands and
commented on how cold I was. I lied and told him I had a heart
condition that caused poor circulation…” she raised an eyebrow and
shrugged. “He bought it.”
    Vivienne laughed, “That’s the best
answer for when someone realizes you’re cold all the
time.”
    “So, I let him kiss
me… wow , could he
kiss,” she said as she looked up at the ceiling wistfully, reliving
the moment. “I haven’t done much with a human since Zachariah was
one.”
    “They’re so boring.
Very vanilla .”
Vivienne made a face.
    “I know, right? You have to be so darn
careful when you get into it.”
    Emma gave Vivienne the
run-down of everything that had happened; it felt great to be able
to spill it to another girl, another vampire girl, who completely
understood. Vivienne would take up with the occasional human, but
usually preferred to be with fellow vampires. Emma told her how her
fangs began to descend and she had to get them under control.
Vivienne applauded her for having the willpower to