Cian pulled down a box of Lucky Charms, found a bowl, and filled it half full.
“He drowns it in milk, but I like to think you have better taste than that,” the vampire peered at me as he put the cereal back.
“What are you talking about? That’s prime cereal eating,” Already he was shaking his head, but he moved to the fridge to grab the milk and slid it to me.
“This is so…” I looked around, unscrewing the lid of the milk and pouring it liberally into the bowl. “Not what I was expecting.”
“Were you expecting a fridge full of blood? For sand to spill out around a zombie arm? Or for there to be raw bones for Indra?” Cian’s eyes sparkled.
I rolled my eyes. “No, not that. But come on. A lich eating Lucky Charms for breakfast?” I paused. “So there is no fridge full of blood for you?”
“Nope.” He slid me a mug of tea. “You want sugar?”
“If you have it,” I replied.
“No. I have five types of sugar filled cereal, three kinds of coffee, almond milk and regular, but I do not keep sugar in my house.”
“Seems reasonable,” I shrugged.
A moment later he set a container of sugar in front of me.
“Are you drinking that black?” I asked, putting the lid on the sugar and looking with some mock-horror at his own mug.
“No. It’s bulletproof.” He took a drink as I met his gaze.
“Sorry?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “It’s coffee with butter in it.”
I couldn’t help the look of disgust that scrunched my nose. “Ew.”
“Don’t knock it unless you’ve tried it.” He held out the mug but I quickly shook my head.
“No, that just sounds dreadful. Even worse than regular coffee.” I scooped my cereal bowl into my hand and followed him into the living room where Indra and Akiva sat, the latter still eating his big bowl of cereal.
I sat down next to him gingerly and set my tea on the table, he turned a curious look on me, then down to the bowl.
I very pointedly popped a spoonful in my mouth, staring him down. He snorted and leaned back against the sofa, shoulder touching mine. The contact made my stomach tighten and my body seemed to jump in anticipation. Not now, girl, I sneered silently. We’re leaving soon. As if my body would respond to my reasonable requests.
“What are we watching?” I asked politely after a few minutes of watching the tv, having absolutely no clue what the news anchor was saying as he waved his hand empathetically and spoke close to his microphone. The subtitles across the bottom were no help either.
“The news,” Akiva replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh. Of course. My bad-“
“It’s in Arabic,” Indra said. “They’re discussing weather anomalies in Cairo.”
“Egypt?” I inquired, surprised.
Akiva turned on me. “No. Canada,” he said in a mockingly-sweet voice.
“You’re a dick,” I chided. I’d meant to keep the insult to myself, but now that it had slipped out I wasn’t the least bit sorry.
“You didn’t mind that part of me all last night,” Akiva reminded me, making me choke on the large mouthful of tea I’d just swallowed. My face flushed but I didn’t reply. What was I supposed to say? ‘Why yes Akiva, I absolutely love the way you fuck me and I want your dick in me again?’ While true, it didn’t seem like an appropriate turn for this conversation so I busied myself with checking the many messages on my phone.
All of them were from Aveline.
Some were asking how I was, if I was staying out all night, and then they devolved into chains of inappropriate emojis that made me roll my eyes.
“Is that where you’re from?” It was easier to ask Akiva questions when I was staring at my phone instead of looking at him.
“A long, long time ago,” the lich mused. “I only go back on rare occasions.”
“Really?” Now I knew where his accent was from. The thickness of his Arabic tone hadn’t waned at all, prompting me to have thought he’d been in Egypt until recently.
Akiva turned on the sofa and I looked up to see that I had his full attention. “What does that mean?”
I felt color rise to my cheeks but before I could busy myself on my phone again, the lich had snagged it from my fingers and tossed it to Indra.
“Nothing,” I dismissed.
“It’s his accent,” Indra assumed. “It’s always your accent,” he added when Akiva glanced his way.
“I don’t believe in assimilation,” Akiva shrugged one shoulder haughtily. “My culture is important to me. And I prefer my way of speaking.”
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it,” I grumbled defensively.
“Well I should hope not.” He lifted the remote and changed the channel. Now an English-speaking news anchor discussed unusual weather patterns of Ireland. I didn’t get the fixation on the weather this morning.
“I think he’s coming to see you,” Indra mused as Cian sighed into his coffee. A second later he closed his eyes tiredly.
“I think he’s just doing his yearly tour of Europe,” Akiva disagreed.
“Who are you talking about?” I leaned across Akiva for my phone and the lich groped my ass teasingly. A squeal escaped my lips, stomach tightening as I jumped back into my seat.
I slapped his thigh lightly when I sat back down, phone in hand.
“Just an old friend,” Cian explained. “He hates America, so he won’t be visiting.”
My phone vibrated in my hand and I glanced down at it. Aveline. Again.
This time I did text back with a few choice emojis of my own.
She responded promptly, the message making me snort.
Okay but was I right? It’s Akiva, isn’t it?
The lich, having no sense of privacy, craned over to read the text before I could snatch my phone away.
“What is she asking?” he inquired curiously. “And why did she think it’s me?”
“She asked which of you was the snottiest,” I
