Destined (Vampire Awakenings) by Brenda K. Davies Page A

sharply.
       “What?” she demanded , aggravated by the strange feelings coursing rapidly through her .
       His eyes narrowed as he studied her, his brow puckered. “Are you going to go?”
       She blinked at her cards as she tried to force her attention back to them. “Do you have a four?” He tossed a card across the table at her. She scooped it up and dropped her cards onto the table. “Ten?”
       “Go fish.”
       Isabelle reached across and grabbed a card from the de ck. “Jess sleeping?” Ethan inquired .
       “No,” Stefan muttered.
       Isabelle stiffened as she recognized the strange scent that was clinging to him. She had smelled it often enough on her brothers, parents, and the stooges, and she knew exactly what it was. Disgust coiled within her stomach at the smell of the sex , along with another emotion, one that she was beginning to become uncomfortably familiar with, jealousy. She bit her lip, wanting to bolt from the room, but unable to humiliate herself by doing so.
       She lifted her head to find Ethan grinning knowingly as he stared at his cards. “Pig,” she muttered.
       He glanced up at her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “What?” he inquired innocently.
       Isabelle glared at him as she lowered her gaze to her cards again. “When will they be getting back?” Stefan asked.
       Isabelle glanced at the clock in the corner, it was after twelve already. “Whenever they feel like it,” Ethan answered.
       “Hopefully soon,” Isabelle replied softly . She had been a little hungry earlier, but her distress over seeing him again made it burn into fierce, brutal life.
       “They bring people back for you?” Stefan asked .
       “No!” Isabelle cried, her eyes flying to his in horror. Stefan’s eyes widened in surprise , he was startled by the amount of alarm in her gaze, and the revulsion in her voice.
       Ethan sighed and leaned back in his chair , dropp ing his cards to the table. The game was officially over, and Isabelle was more than a little grateful. She couldn’t concentrate, and she just wanted out of the suddenly small, stuffy room. “Isabelle doesn’t feed off of humans.”
       “Ethan!” she hissed her intent to leave flying out the window in the face of her brother’s casual statement. If she could have reached him she would have firmly kicked him under the table. There were some things that were private and personal, certain things that she didn ’ t want everyone to know. Especially not the frustrating stranger sitting across from her.
       “What?” Stefan asked, his eyebrows rising in surprise.
       Isabelle scowled fiercely at her brother as he folded his arms over his chest, a brow cocked questioningly as he grinned at her . “It’s true!” he protested.
       She took a deep breath as she tried to calm her growing anger and resentment. “So how do you feed then?” Stefan asked.
       Isabelle sighed and dropped her cards. She leaned back in her chair to meet his gaze with pure defiance. “There is such a thing as blood banks. It’s what our parents did for us when we were little. I choose to keep doing it.”
       “Don’t want to hurt the humans?”
      Isabelle ground her teeth. “That’s right ,” she said coldly, although it was a lie. She didn’t like being around them, but she was more afraid that she would accidentally stumble across one that would turn out to be what her mother was to her father. Other than high school, she had tried to keep herself away from as many humans as she could, in order to prevent herself from finding a soul mate. Now she was afraid that he might have stumbled into her sanctuary.
       “Isabelle and I are the outsiders, the outcasts,” Ethan said with an amused grin. “We’re not social, especially not with humans. Although, I will at least feed off of them and go out once in awhile. Isabelle stays close to home.”
       “And why is that?” Stefan asked, a little