Page 59 of The Vampire's Receptionist
“I was worried about you,” his mother said defensively in response to his annoyance.
“I missed one phone call,” Kian snapped. “I’m a little busy right now.”
His mother huffed, clearly unhappy with his sharp response. She should’ve taken his ignoring her call as the warning it was. He wasn’t good company right now. If he was, he wouldn’t have sent Dorian away.
The reminder made his stomach churn, and he had to grit his teeth to stop himself from showing the discomfort on his face.
Footsteps approached him cautiously, and when his mother moved to stand beside him, he turned his face away to avoid her.That only worked so well, since his father stood on his other side. Dad smirked, shaking his head.
“You did the same thing when you were younger. You’re old enough by now to know we know you better than that. What’s wrong, son?”
“Nothing,” he growled, staring down at the cutting board instead to avoid them both.
Dad hummed, but like Dorian, he wouldn’t be easily dissuaded when he wanted information. He pulled the knife out of Kian’s grasp and settled his hand on the back of his neck, steering him out of the kitchen and into the living room, where most of his plants lived. It was where he felt most at ease, which both his parents knew and used to their advantage to get him to talk.
Throwing his hands up, he scowled at the carpet. “I don’t know! I’ve been out of sorts the past few weeks. Ever since the incident, I–” He cut himself off, cursing his wayward tongue. He hadn’t intended to tell either of them about that. He planned to take that incident to the grave.
“What incident?” Mom demanded.
Kian refused to answer until Dad whispered a spell, and three of his plants disappeared. His head jerked up, and he whipped around to glare at him. “Put those back!”
“I will when you explain yourself. Otherwise I’ll take more, and they’ll be lost to the void forever,” he said casually, like he wasn’t threatening his only son.
Horror made Kian start talking. Those plants were his comfort after a long day. They never judged him or cared that he was a half-breed with no alliances. They listened and made him feel just a little less alone. And he fully believed his dad when he said he’d keep going just to get him to talk.
With a growl, Kian pushed to his feet and started pacing. “Okay, but you can’t freak out. It was an accident, and it was taken care of. He didn’t mean it.”
“Who didn’t mean what?” Dad asked patiently.
Drawing in a deep breath, he stared at the ceiling as he admitted, “Not long ago, I noticed a vampire coworker was starving. I tried getting his feeder, but he kept pushing him away. I’d been trained, I knew how to do an emergency blood donation, but in my rush, I forgot that I needed a team with me. He took more than necessary, and I passed out.”
He did not say outright that he nearly died. He didn’t want to give them a bad impression of Dorian over a mistake.
“There’s something going on with him, and for some reason, he can only feed from me right now. I was happy to help, but things are getting complicated, and I don’t know what to do about it,” he finished. He was omitting a lot, but most of the problem had to do with sex and he didn’t want to talk to his parents about that.
For a moment, they both just stared at him. It was Dad who spoke first, his tone carefully even. “Okay… I believe I need to ask some clarifying questions. First, you said he can only feed from you. I assume you’ve had him seen by a druid. Do they know why?”
“That’s what you want to know?” Mom shrieked, staring at him incredulously. “Nothing about the fact that he ‘took more than necessary’?” She made quotes with her fingers before spinning around and pointing at Kian. “I know you’re being purposely vague about that. I want to know what you meant. How much is more than necessary? Because it sounds to me like he tried to drain you and you’re covering for him!”
“Tara–” Dad began, only to get cut off in Mom’s tirade.
“No! When did this all happen? Why are you still helping him after he attempted to kill you? What aren’t you telling us?”
Stubborn defiance lit in Kian’s veins, and he crossed his arms, pressing his lips together. He refused to speak to her when she was determined to put the blame on Dorian. It wasn’t his fault he was sick and needed help.
With a heavy sigh, Dad moved closer to Mom’s side, putting his arm around her shoulders and swaying her gently. “Be at ease, my mate. You’re not going to get him to speak with you if you shout at him.”
While Dad’s calm nature usually was enough to settle her, there was one area that Mom wouldn’t be pulled away from easily, and that was anything that regarded her son. She seethed and shot a demanding look at Kian, and when he didn’t immediately speak, she swung that gaze over to her husband.
“Well?”
“Perhaps you should take a break, my love. I can portal you home and–”
“Why should I leave? My son is obviously under some kind of enthrallment to allow himself to be used so abhorrently! Someone needs to protect him!”
“I’m more than capable of protecting myself,” Kian snapped. “And I don’t need protection from Dorian. He’s felt guilty since the first incident and has done everything in his power to make it up to me–”
“Thefirstincident?” she shouted, launching to her feet. The plants in the room trembled in the face of her wrath, and a few grew thick spiky vines in response to her magic.
