Chapter 4

Laura had expected a commotion to break out at the sudden appearance of the man, especially with the threatening way he had screamed his lungs out like a beast with a buckshot to the stomach.

But to her utmost surprise, no one seemed to be bothered at all by his presence. The only evidence, in fact, to show that they even acknowledged his presence at all was that they all stopped long enough to stare at him at the door before looking away to continue whatever it was they were doing before he showed up.

The man shouted again, "Somebody tell me where he is right now or I swear that heads will start rolling!"

"Hey, Damian, I'm over here," Frederick called to him. "Please, drop the theatrics before you do something that we'll both regret later."

Damian walked fully into the room that they were and Laura quickly got down to observing him.

Damian was a man of great build; muscular unlike Frederick's slight frame. Unlike Frederick also, he had his own hair styled in a low cut that stopped just above the nape; Frederick's hair was all curls like a man who always forgot to comb every morning; and somehow, Laura figured that was the truth.

Damian was dressed in a black leather jacket, black t-shirt, and black trousers to match. He didn't keep a beard, but he grew a stubble which was barely noticeable; unless of course the onlooker was concentrating on him as much as Laura was in that moment. From his mere presence, it was obvious he wasn't someone to trifled with; Laura made a mental note to stay out of his way as long as her stay in the mansion might be.

Damian came to a stop just an inch from Frederick's face. "Earlier tonight, I received a text saying that you'd been in an accident," he said, "and being the good person that I am, I took the guys out to find you. But what do I get? Here you are, enjoying yourself without so much as the courtesy of remembering to tell me that you're okay."

Funny enough, Damian wasn't the older of the two; Laura could tell that by the deference he showed Frederick even as much as he was trying to make it look like he wasn't. Now, raving at a superior should be considered disrespect and it seemed that the whole house thought that too as they had all stopped whatever it was they were doing to watch Frederick's reaction.

But Frederick was only smiling like there was nothing else in the world he could do but that. "I'm sorry for worrying you like that, Damian," he said when it seemed like the other man was done raving. "Now, can we get to more important matters?"

"What's wrong?" Damian asked, immediately picking up on the vibe Frederick was putting down.

"We- I mean, I- have a problem." He pointed to Laura beside him.

Damian seemed to notice her for the first time then and his eyes went wide. "Brother!" he exclaimed. "You brought a mortal here."

"She's not mortal anymore, Damian, that's the problem."

Laura had never thought that Damian's eyes could go any wider but it did; the ramifications of what Frederick had said seemly dawning on him. "A newblood," he said. "An illegal newblood."

Now, Laura couldn't understand much of what they were saying but she did understand enough to realize that her presence in the mansion- and perhaps in the undead world for that matter- wasn't a cause for celebration like Frederick had made her feel earlier. Something was wrong; terribly.

"Well, in that case, brother, you have to fix it," Damian, deliberately emphasizing the word fix.

"I can't just kill her, Damian," Frederick returned, mortified. "It wasn't her fault. It was an accident at Grayson Medical's mortuary."

"It never is, Frederick!" Damian retorted, his temper suddenly going through the roof for some unknown reason. "You know what, brother?" he said. "If you're too soft-hearted to do it, let me help you."

"I said no!"

Frederick's countenance took on a ferocious stand as he placed himself between Laura and Damian; the fire in his eyes enough to light a coal.

But Damian didn't seem to want to stand down and it began to look like the much anticipated fight between the two might actually occur.

Just then, another voice suddenly joined theirs. "Enough!" Laura shouted at them. "Both of you stop it this instant!"

More than the fight, everyone was very surprised to see her speak out that way; even Damian and Frederick were taken aback.

But Laura hadn't done it for admiration. There was no way she was going to let them lock horns, especially because of her. It wouldn't end well and they would probably do more damage to the house, which had quickly become dear to her, than to themselves.

Seeming to have taken the moment of silence to calm down, Damian asked, "What do you want me to do, Frederick?"

Frederick sighed. "I want you to help me teach her," he replied, "help me protect her, and please, don't let anyone outside of this family know about it. I would have loved to do it myself but you know that I can't stay."

Grimly, Damian nodded affirmative. He wasn't happy about Frederick's way of dealing with the problem but he was willing to help nevertheless.

Laura, on the other hand, wasn't that understanding. She had just stepped into a life that she couldn't comprehend and the man whom she considered a friend- the only she knew then, for that matter- was leaving her with his evil half; someone who had just recently shown that he wasn't in any way in support of her existence and would be more than happy to end it.

And that was exactly what she told Frederick. "You can't be serious about this, Frederick," she said. "Do you really think that your brother will keep his word after you leave?"

"Damian may be an hard ass, Laura, but he's honourable," he returned. "He'll keep his word."

Laura suspected that Frederick had more than just faith to bank Damian's cooperation on; he had obviously shown earlier a glimpse of how much of a beast he could be should he be crossed.

So, not up to ten minutes later, Frederick went up to his room, changed out of his borrowed clothes into another get-up that was more his style- form-fitting t-shirt, denim jeans, and a leather jacket- and went out of the house without any word to Laura, leaving her in Damian's company.

"Follow me," Damian said as soon as the doors had closed behind Frederick. He led the way into the study, which was more like a mini-library actually.

The study contained more books than any other residential house Laura had ever been to. Leather-bound, hardcover, softcover, ancient, modern, even texts and manuscripts from different parts of the world; they all laid neatly arranged on the shelves in the study.

Laura was so taken by the sight that she could declared then and there that the study was her favourite part of the house.

But the door banged shut and she was forced back to the present with Damian.

"Now that we're alone, morgue girl-"

"The name's Laura," she cut in. "Laura Wall."

"Morgue girl," he continued like she hadn't even spoken a word, "there are many rules in our world; so many in fact that I doubt that someone of your status who wasn't vetted and inducted in the proper undead way could even begin to learn them all.

"Anyway, with the way you're going to live, only three rules will matter to you: stay away from wooden stakes, stay away from the sunlight, and, I tell you with all strictness that this is the most important, do not get on my nerves. Your life depends on these three rules so I suggest you follow them to the letter, especially the third one."

Damian tapped the table and as almost if they had been waiting just behind the door all night long, two female undeads- both elegantly dressed in purple evening indoor gowns- entered into the study. "Take care of her," he said and they immediately accompanied Laura out.

"And get yourself a bag of blood, Morgue girl," Laura heard Damian add just as the door was about to close behind her. "You look goddamn awful."

Following her two companions to where she presumed her lodge would be, Laura couldn't help but think about the two brothers.

It didn't take powers to see that Frederick and Damian were as different as night and day. Where Damian was elegant in his appearance, Frederick was all too nonchalant about his. But where Frederick held a cool head and charming personality, Damian's was as graceless as a chainsaw.

Laura didn't even realize that a smile had come onto her face, not until she saw herself in the mansion's window. Frederick had said that her future was going to be fun.

Well, the undead brothers certainly are fun, she thought to herself as she went. What kind of fun though was yet to be determined.