It wasn't until 4pm the next day that Bell finally dragged herself out of bed. Her body clock had almost completely become in sync with Ragon's, after a mere week and a half of living with him. She had tiptoed out of her bedroom, peering idly around the bend in the hallway, so as to see if anyone else was awake. After a few minutes of searching the house, and neither hearing, nor seeing anything, Bell was finally satisfied that she was the only one awake. It was at least 2 hours later that Ragon joined her in the kitchen. She was frying some eggs and bacon in a large fry pan on the stove.
"Good evening," Ragon greeted her, with a large smile on his face.
Bell couldn't help but return the smile. She blushed for a moment, as her thoughts drifted back to last night, and what she had heard between Sandra and Thomas. Immediately she returned her focus back to her cooking. She wasn't positive, but she thought perhaps Ragon had some notion of her thoughts. He must have heard them too; they weren't exactly being shy about their relations.
"Are you hungry..." Bell begun, but she stopped quickly. Do vampires even eat? She thought to herself.
"Food, err, doesn't go down well," he said simply.
"Right," Bell said, beginning to serve up her dinner. It was the first meal that she had cooked for herself since her rescue. Up until then, Ragon had ordered takeaway, three times a day for her. Often these meals were left uneaten; after a while, even takeout got old, and Bell asked Ragon if she could cook her own meals. Bell had thought that Ragon would take her to the shops, but he had not. One day she had simply woken, to find the fridge full of a very random assortment of food.
"Did I buy the right things?" he asked.
Bell looked back momentarily at the kitchen pantry. It was fairly obvious Ragon had gone to the shops, grabbed the first things he saw, and threw them into the fridge. There was no oil, or salt, and Bell had had to take most of the meats he'd bought, and freeze them as there were so many. Everything had been piled into the fridge haphazardly, and she had had to throw the lettuce out, after he had put it in the pantry next to some potatoes. These arbitrary mistakes were relatively innocent, for someone who had not eaten in over a hundred years.
"Yeah, this is great," she replied, half lying.
She had made herself bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast for breakfast. It wasn't exactly the typical dinner meal, but the assortment of supplies that she had to work with, made constructing full meals difficult. She had begun scooping mouthfuls of scrambled eggs into her mouth, when from the living room someone spoke. She knew instantly by the deep South accent, that it was Sandra.
"What is that god awful smell?" Sandra asked, making her way into the kitchen, while pinching her nose.
Bell looked down at her plate confused. Ragon was staring at Sandra, his eyes narrowed.
"Oh sorry sugar; I thought that, perhaps, something had died in here?" Sandra said, before adding, "I'm not use to living with mortals."
Bell continued eating her dinner, albeit a little faster than before, hoping to remove the offending aroma. She had not thought about how food would smell, or taste, to vampires. She thought for a moment of how it would be to drink blood, and wrinkled her nose in disgust. When she thought about it that way, it made sense for the situation to be similar when reversed. If she couldn't stand the thought of drinking blood, then why would they enjoy the smell of food?
"Sandra would you like to go out hunting?" Larissa's voice came, from the stairway.
"I think that sounds fair, as the boys went out without us last night," Sandra replied, "besides, I'm famished."
"Would you like to join-" Sandra asked politely to Bell before stopping blank, at the look on Ragon's face.
"Oh no, I, err, just ate" Bell said, indicating the empty plate, as she jumped up from the table, and began washing up after herself.
Ragon was still staring in disbelief at Sandra, when a loud knocking distracted everyone. Cambridge and Thomas, who had been talking animatedly in the hallway, blurred to the kitchen, and stood protectively in front of their mates. The sound of the knocking was still ringing in the living room, when Ragon reached the front door, and opened it.
"Sameth," Ragon said, clapping him on the back in welcome.
"Not just me-" Sameth said, pointing behind himself at a large black convertible, from which a man and two women sat, "Clyde is here too."
Unable to fight her curiosity, Bell cranked her head from around the edge of the kitchen. She saw a young man to whom Ragon was talking, and then, looking a little farther onto the driveway, saw another man, driving a very fast looking car. The top was down on the convertible, and two beautiful women were his passengers. The man at the door looked to be no more than 21 years old. He had that youthful glow; his eyes were still wide, although they didn't have the same hopeful radiance you might expect. His features were sharp, with a pointed chin, narrow forehead, and high cheekbones. His hair was blonde, and Bell thought he looked like a Greek god. Returning her attentions to the flamboyant man in the black convertible, Bell focused on his looks, and gasped. He was absolutely gorgeous. Clyde, as Sameth had called him, had well-built arm and thigh muscles, which bulged obviously through his shirt, and three quarter shorts. He had short brown hair, with blondish tips, and sparkling eyes that matched his cheeky smile. When he saw Bell staring at him, he winked, and Bell, caught in surprise, quickly backed away from the door, embarrassed.
"Clyde," Ragon's voice spoke, a little louder than normal, "thank you for coming," he said before adding, "although, I did not realise that you would be bringing friends with you, will they be alright sharing one of the guest rooms?"
Bell knew that Ragon was referring to the two supermodels who adorned Clyde's entourage. When Bell had seen the 6 foot tall blonde and red head beauties, she had anticipated for Ragon's jaw to drop. What she had not expected, was for him to appear put out by their being here. She knew boys who would have sold every tooth in their head, just for one first date.
"Well," Clyde said, as he opened the front door, and stepped onto the driveway, "I thought the more the merrier, besides, they taste just as good as they look," he said, a wicked gleam, lighting his face, "Oh, and we will all share the one room, I err, wouldn't want you to be put out".
Ragon did not comment, but widened the front door a little, allowing entry to his newest guests.
Bell had sat back down at the dining room table next to Sandra and Larissa.
"Come, and I will show you around," Ragon said, and Sameth, Clyde, and his two models, followed him up the stairs.
