I groaned.Zola glanced back and laughed.“I feel like I’m eighty.”“You just need food, boy.”I nodded and finished the climb in groaning semi-silence. At the top of the stairs I let the banister take my weight, slouched, tilted my head back, and sighed. When I straightened up I found a vampire with short and immaculately slicked-back raven hair. He was thin, verging on emaciated, with prominent bones etching a stoic pattern on his face. He smiled as I met his eyes.“Hey, Vik.”“Damian.”“Thanks for the heads up.”“You are quite welcome. Now, as the old woman said, let’s get you some food.”I shuffled around the flowing staircases and took a left into the hallway leading to the kitchen. It was somewhat strange to see Vik without his floor-length coat. Instead he wore only black slacks and a deep red shirt. Sam put him well over three hundred years old, and he had to be almost six feet tall. He was tall for the age. He’d always been good to Sam, so he was okay by me.The vampire gestured to a sizable kitchen table, beaten and battered by untold centuries of use.
