David was thankful that vampires' cheeks couldn't flush, or otherwise the boys would've glared at him when he walked back downstairs, especially Michael.

God, Taylor was hot. She was so hot that, if he stared at her for a moment longer, he would've grown hard right there in his dark jeans, without even touching her. So he had to turn around.

He didn't give a shit that Taylor was Michael's sister, or Max's new stepdaughter, or anything like that - what he cared about was that Max was living, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd been with a living thing without killing it. And God, he really did not want to kill her. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do with her, but it most definitely wasn't that.

But, flushed or not, his boys could tell something was different when he walked back into the room. Dwayne, inarguably the most intuitive, stared at him with questioning eyes.

"Did something happen, David?" Laddie asked quietly, always just the slightest bit nervous to speak to the cruelest member of the gang. "You look...different."

The other boys stopped talking, even Paul and Marko, to look at him. Slowly, stupid grins began to take over their faces as Lucy and Max emerged from the kitchen, broad smiles on both of their faces.

"What the hell's going on?" Sam said, quickly alarmed by the change in behavior from everyone in the room.

"When a vampire develops a strong feeling," Max explained. "The others he's linked to can feel it as well. It happens when one dies, or gets hurt badly - "

"Or when one falls in love." Michael said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" Sam exclaimed. "Really, our sister?"

Taylor quickly applied some mascara and lipgloss, moussing her hair and blowing it dry as quickly as she could. She lived to annoy her mother, and, in normal circumstances, she'd probably live to annoy Max as well - but this was far from normal. While she wasn't quite afraid of them, she didn't want to provoke them either, especially over something as silly as a family dinner.

And, like the other night, Taylor wanted to see David again. The sight of him glancing at her, though only for half a second, had caused a warm ache to grow between her thighs. Her nipples were hardened not because of the water, but because of him.

Then he turned around? What was that about? Did he not find her attractive, or was there some kind of rule against human-vampire relationships somewhere that she didn't know about? Either way, it's not like it was something she could ask about. Half of her wanted to cut her losses and forget about it, but she just couldn't shake him from her mind.

The way his eyes felt on her was so electric, she wondered how his hands would feel.

Taylor shook her head, pulling on her underwear and purposely ignoring how slick she already was. She'd noticed that David, under his duster, had been dressed rather nicely - family dinner must be a formal affair now.

After her hair dried enough, Taylor rummaged through a box to find one of her favorite outfits, which turned a lot of heads back in Phoenix, and no doubt would do the same here. But there was one pair of eyes in particular that Taylor was really looking for.

It was a red liquid-leather miniskirt, combined with a cropped black tank top that just barely met in the middle. She pulled on a pair of thigh-high boots to complete the look, ones that she'd gotten as a last minute splurge before she left Phoenix, and smiled at herself in the mirror.

None of them would be able to ignore her now, no matter how hard they tried.

She descended the stairs in slow, purposeful steps, knowing that, through the open back slats of the floating stairwell, David and the boys were watching her. She could sense their eyes on her, a feeling she knew well now - the feeling of being stalked, of being prey. But Taylor prided herself on being the type of prey that was exceedingly difficult to chew.

To her surprise, as she rounded the corner, the boys were not the only ones watching her. Lucy was fuming, her new, sharp face skewed up in a scowl.

"Go. Change." She huffed.

"Mom, I'm an adult," Taylor avoided her mother's eyes, knowing there was fire behind them. Something inside of Taylor squirmed uncomfortably - Lucy had never cared what she'd worn back in Phoenix.

"Lucy, it's fine." Max appealed to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Silently, Lucy removed it, and stalked off to the kitchen, Laddie, Paul, and Marko trailing behind her.

Max turned to Taylor, pouring her a glass from a bottle of Merlot sitting on the sideboard. He handed it to her, a small smile on his face, as if this was a peace offering. Taylor shuddered, but was never one to turn down a good red, and so she accepted it, taking a few tentative sips while Max called to his new wife.

"How are the steaks looking, honey?"

"Wait," Taylor said, suddenly distressed. "Mom, did he say steaks?"

"Yes, he did!" Lucy called back, poking her head in from the kitchen doorway. "I made yours and Sam's a little bit more well done, so that you don't have to worry about getting sick from the raw meat."

"Raw meat? Mom, have you lost your mind?" Taylor looked at her mother incredulously. "How could you have forgotten I was a vegetarian? I've been one for ten years!"

Sam and Michael exchanged looks with each other as well - it seemed like no one, apart from Max, was aware of Lucy's decision.

"Taylor," Lucy chuckled lightly. "I thought that was just some silly phase. Besides, if you're going to be a part of this family, you're going to have to learn to eat - "

"Meat?" Taylor questioned accusingly. "Were you about to refer to the people you all kill as meat?"

Lucy looked at her feet, quickly realizing her mistakes - that this was not the way to win with her daughter. Max looked between the two of them.

"Taylor, it's simple biology, you have to understand that. Predator and prey, that kind of thing." Max's voice was calm, the same steady lull it always was, and it Taylor didn't know better, she would've easily fallen for it. "Humans are no longer the top of the food chain, and most of them don't even know it yet."

Taylor shuddered, felt her stomach churn in a way that it hadn't in years, as Paul, wholly oblivious, carried out a large platter of bloody, raw meat. Marko and Laddie trailed behind him, silverware and plates in their hands respectively. They were setting the table, Taylor realized; that was their dinner.

She gulped down the remainder of her wine glass in a single go, then raced out the front door.