Violette Dubrinsky by Under a Crescent Moon

brought genuine smiles to his.
    Nicholas, dressed similarly to him in a black dinner jacket, dipped his blond head. “ Cats are supposed to have nine lives, Victor. Not vampire royalty.”
    “Night Walkers, Nicholas. Vampire is the human term. Night Walker is more sophisticated. At least, that’s what the elders seem to think, and who are we to tell them that Stephenie Meyer and HBO have made the term ‘vampire’ cool again?” Patrick shrugged his broad shoulders and smirked. His dark eyes twinkled. “So, where’ve you been hiding? Did you run off to Europe with some acrobatic beauty?”
    “Absolutely,” Victor said drolly, surveying the familiar faces who smiled at him. Many were females he’d had intimately. The thought was both arousing and repugnant. Half of him was pleased, seeing each contorted face as evidence of his prowess. The other half barely resisted the urge to vomit.
    He’d told Azaleigh she’d been his first. It wasn’t true. He’d had countless females, both human and vampire, before her.
    “Great. Next time I think of taking a forty-year hiatus, that’s exactly what I’ll do.” Patrick’s voice jarred him from the memory of Azaleigh taking him into her body, and he was glad for the distraction.
    The two sat next to him at dinner, a result of Patrick tampering with the seating cards, and both pestered him for the truth. Apparently, his parents hadn’t told any of their guests where they’d found him, just that they had.
    “So, really, where’d you go? Last we heard, you were hell-bent on making treaties with witches.”
    Victor froze with his wine glass just inches from his lips. Of course Nicholas and Patrick would know that. They’d been closest to him, his confidants. Tilting the wine-and-blood mix until he’d drained most of the contents, he responded, “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
    “Try us,” Patrick murmured. “If we tell you some of the things that happened in your absence, you wouldn’t believe it either.”
    With a lopsided grin, he spoke softly. “I was kidnapped by a witch, turned into her personal zombie, and a few days ago, rescued.”
    Nicholas frowned but Patrick only laughed, drawing attention to them. “That’s even more interesting than the acrobat. Since you won’t tell us what really happened, I’ll enlighten you on the events you missed. Luanne married into the Texas Clan and almost started a war when she walked out days later. Apparently, even if we paid her ‘diamonds-and-gold on a daily basis’, she wouldn’t live with the idiot-prince.”
    Luanne was Patrick’s sister. Victor chuckled, still remembering the vicious bite he’d received for teasing her about her unruly red curls and chubby cheeks. “I’m to marry the daughter of the Virginia king, a hot little thing, and Nicholas’s life is drab. Nothing has changed with him since you left. I think he was pining for you, lamenting being the next in line to inherit the boring old title of king, when he could have simply been a rich vamp with no obligations and no clan fanatics trying to murder him in his sleep.”
    As Patrick winked and laughed, Nicholas grinned ruefully, lashes lowering over his eyes as he admitted, “I won’t lie, cousin. I shed a few tears when they declared you dead. I even saw Patrick dabbing his eyes.”
    “I’ve told you about my allergies,” Patrick returned with an indignant smirk.
    “Vampires don’t have allergies.”
    “I’m a Night Walker, Nicholas. That’s what separates me from you and the Cullens .”
    Their light banter relaxed Victor. The two dozen pairs of eyes around the long table were all on him, but with his cousins giving a semblance of normal, he could ignore them. He must have gotten lost in his thoughts because Nicholas cleared his throat and emitted a low growl, bringing the dinner party back into focus.
    “Dessert has never looked more appealing.” His cousin’s voice had deepened.
    With his heightened sense of smell,