"Do you ever hear any news of Gabron?" I asked. I was too stuffed to eat another bite, and my plate was still half-full.
"No, but the vampires there continue to retain their secrecy. We can search him out soon if that is what you want."
"I'll think about it, but he may have forgotten about me, too," I said. Yeah, I was depressed. While we sat there, two men folded into the kitchen. They startled me and my heart began to pound in my chest at the sight of them. Karzac had his hands on me quickly, regulating my heartbeat, somehow.
"Anything left for us?" One of the two said when things calmed down after a few moments. I knew the scent—these two were Dragon's twin sons and Devin was their mother. They had the signature Asian look about them, along with very long, very black braids hanging down their backs. They were dressed in what looked like ski outfits and the long skis and ski poles in their hands weren't a giveaway, either. Tinted goggles were pushed back on both foreheads; they were identical in looks but I could tell the scents were different. Just their appearance made me smile, once my heart was back to normal.
"You're Dragon's," I said.
"Nah, Crane's," one of them grinned crookedly at me.
"Do not attempt to tease Lissa, Drew, she knows better," Karzac informed the one who'd spoken. "Lissa, this is Drew," Karzac indicated one of the twins, "and this is Drake," he nodded toward the other.
"Nice to meet you," I said. "I wasn’t aware that Dragon had children."
"You need to meet our older brother, Dragon Taylor, then," Drake grinned. "Grace is his mother."
"Grace had quadruplets," Karzac sighed. "One child for each of her humanoid mates at the time."
That caused my eyes to pop. "You're kidding? That can happen?"
"Not normally," Drew flopped onto a chair at the island. "Are you going to finish that?" He nodded toward my half-empty plate.
"It's yours if you want it," I said, pushing the plate toward him. He dug right in. I slid my glass of wine over, too, and he accepted it with a muffled thanks; he was already eating.
"Hey, is there any left for me?" Drake sat down next to his brother.
"I'll check," I said and went to the huge bank of refrigerators in the kitchen. I found leftover pot roast and vegetables, heating it in what Karzac called a zap oven. Drake started eating as soon as he got his plate, and I filled a wineglass for him and topped off Drew's glass. "Karzac, do you want tea?"
"Karzac only likes his tea a certain way," Drew said, winking at me. Karzac surprised him greatly.
"Lissa made tea for me long before you were even a thought," Karzac snipped. I made tea for Karzac, just the way he liked it. I remembered; vampires have good memories. He sipped from his cup while I sat next to him again.
"So, who are you?" Drake asked. He was about to scrape up the last of his mashed potatoes and gravy.
"This is Lissa, the Vampire Queen," Karzac informed him. Drew almost choked on his wine. "The one who popped all the heads off the Ra'Ak and the High Demons?" He sounded very surprised.
"If you and your brother would show up for more than food now and then, you might learn a great many things," Karzac scolded.
"Feather, Christi and Kerry wanted to go," Drake defended himself. "So we couldn't turn them down. We're so seldom all home at the same time."
"Which one of you did the time bending?" Karzac asked gruffly.
"Feather," Drake grinned.
"Hmmph," was Karzac's response. I was enjoying myself. These people were family and they were acting like it. That made me happy.
"How was the skiing?" I asked.
"Great. We went to Chleroa. Those mountains are amazing."
"I never tried to ski," I said. "Maybe I'll try it, sometime. If I'm about to hit a tree, I can mist right through it."
"That would be handy," Drew laughed. "Bro here had to fold away from that rock pile he was about to run over."
"That'll get you a thrashing in the dojo tomorrow morning," Drake threatened.
"You're on, dude. Let's see you do it," Drew countered.
"So, did your dad teach you bladework, or did your Uncle Crane?" I was curious.
"They both did, and whacked us around pretty good," Drew admitted.
"They still whack you around pretty good," Karzac huffed.
"Well, we're off to get out of these clothes," Drake stood and stretched. "Dad will haul us out of bed if we're not there on time in the morning." He and Drew folded away.
"They seem like a lot of fun," I said.
"Did you like them?" Karzac smiled at me.
"They're young," I said, although their scents said a hundred years. "Sometimes it's nice to be around youthful exuberance."
"You should go to bed soon, it is getting late," Karzac said. "And I will place you in a healing sleep if you ignore me."
"Is there a picture of you next to the word autocrat in the dictionary?" I asked.
"My picture is also next to the word curmudgeon. With me, the terms are interchangeable."
"Stop it," I smacked his arm lightly. Karzac grinned.
The suite I'd been given had a bedroom, an attached sitting room, a huge bathroom and an empty walk-in closet. Pajamas lay on the bed when I walked inside after telling Karzac I could find my own way. There was also a note lying on the pajamas.
"These are Fox's," the note read. "Fox is mated to Wlodek, Weldon and three others. Her clothes were the closest we could come to something that would fit you—Devin and Grace."
The pajamas consisted of silky pants, coupled with a stretchy top that had thin straps. My kind of pajamas. I gathered them up and took them into the bathroom to take a shower. When I crawled into bed later, feeling much better after bathing and washing my hair, I fell asleep quickly.
* * *
"I'm Mike." He held his hand out to me so I took it and shook. "I'm the cook. My mate, Jamie, is the housekeeper for this bunch," Mike informed me as he prepared breakfast the next morning.
"How do you keep up with all of them plus the house?" I asked, mystified. The place was huge with a capital H.
"It isn't easy," Mike laughed. "But Conner sends some of hers over now and then, and they help out if we need it." Mike was in his early thirties, according to his scent, looked younger than that and knew his way around the kitchen. He had a plate of ham and eggs in front of me in no time.