Though it was true that Sean and Claire had been quite distant since Kristofer came calling again, she still shared Sean’s opinion that doing anything to get on the wrong side of this new Kindred would probably be a very bad idea. Due to this, Claire took it upon herself to try and offer a gesture of goodwill to the man who would now be taking her place for the one hour a month that she and Sean even spent in the same room while conscious anymore. Of course, she also had a curiosity to meet him as well, hoping that being a part of their own line would make him less of a threat than he could have easily been; though on that thought she couldn’t help her mind wandering back to another member of their line who had done quite a fine job of making their lives hell for 119 years. Not to mention the fact that she was still at the top of the list of suspects in Haven’s assassination.

Claire simply sighed heavily to push those thoughts away as she led Sean’s pretty young blonde servant Amanda with her to House Toreador. She knocked tentatively at the door as she attempted to brace herself to meet this new possible threat and hopefully do her part to help diffuse it. When Thomas finally appeared at the door, Claire was even more floored by his presence and majesty than Sean had been, considering she was another vampiric generation younger than even her husband. And Amanda was even more awestruck than Claire, as she was a mere blood bound mortal. It took Claire a long moment to even find her voice to offer some form of greeting to the man who towered nine inches taller than her own petite frame.

“Thomas, I assume?” she finally managed to choke out.

“And you are?” he asked as he made no disguise of the way his blue gray eyes openly traveled over both the females who had come to his door at just barely one a.m. that night.

Claire swallowed again before managing more words; “I’m Claire, Sean’s wife” she managed.

“And the Prince’s wife and her lovely companion have come to my door, why?” he replied as he continued to watch them.

Claire was a bit thrown by the less than warm greeting, not to mention the way he was already staking claim to the home he had only been shown to an hour earlier. Reminding herself of Haven’s warnings about Kindred becoming further and further removed from their own humanity as the centuries progressed and eternity wore on them, she attempted to not take any personal offense at his manner.

Managing a smile, she spoke again, “may we come in?”

“You are already here” he stated flatly as he moved to the side and gestured for the two women to enter as he continued to move his eyes over them, as if sizing them up for usefulness of some kind.

Claire forced another polite smile as she stepped inside with Amanda trailing silently behind her, despite the fact that Amanda was normally one of the more forward servants in Sean’s service. Claire then held that smile as best she could as she looked back up at Thomas and spoke in the same polite tone, “since you’re going to be taking my place on the council, I figured we could at least offer you a welcome gesture.”

“And that would be?” he asked in the same curt manner that still managed to somehow sound pleasant due to that rich British accent of his.

Claire offered another polite smile as she gestured to Amanda, “Sean and I figured you might have need of one of his servants to watch over you during the day. This is Amanda” she stated as the fair haired girl offered a slight curtsy.

“A housewarming gift? How quaint” Thomas returned as he moved close to Amanda and looked her over once more. Claire swallowed hard as he reached to place a hand on the girl’s shoulder, causing her to startle slightly. Then, more disconcerting than that, he physically turned the girl about as he let his eyes travel over her from another angle, “I suppose she’ll do” he stated with a sigh, as though purchasing livestock at an auction. Both women seemed to be at a bit of a loss for words in regards to his manner. Then they startled further as he moved to tear a gash in his wrist with his fangs and held his wrist out to Amanda, “drink” he told her in the same curt manner.

Amanda looked further startled by that as she looked to Claire for some kind of guidance regarding whether she should obey his order; “she is fully bound to Sean” Claire managed as some sort of response.

“Yes, but I’m the one she’s going to be watching over during the day, aren’t I now?” Thomas responded pointedly, “can’t be too careful” he added with his own slightly impatient smile.

Not able to find any valid reason to argue with the fact he had just stated, Claire looked back at the girl’s questioning eyes, “he’s got a point. Go ahead, Amanda” she returned quietly as she had a little more trouble forcing her smile to remain as she started to get a clearer picture of why Sean had seemed more than a bit worried about this man’s arrival.

Once Amanda finished drinking from his wrist and stepped back with a shy look downward, Thomas’ eyes moved back to Claire and her apparent discomfort. “Why so down, Claire? Would you like a drink too?” he asked with a wry smirk as he lifted his wrist once more.

Claire and Amanda looked more than a bit startled by that as Claire’s worried green eyes came up to meet his, “pardon?” she choked on the response.

Then Thomas just allowed an amused chuckle, “the look on your face; adorable” he smirked down at her again as he lowered his wrist before continuing, “I’m sure you’re way too intelligent not to know how dreadfully idiotic it would be to let yourself ever get bound to any Kindred” he stated in a way that made one fear that he was quite aware, and amused by the fact that she and Sean had indeed spent a great deal of their marriage bound to one another. He then added in an even darker tone, “as I’m sure our handsome young Prince would also never be that daft” he added with another knowing grin.

Claire had to literally force herself not to shudder at the fact that she got the distinct feeling that he was reading her every thought and fear. And that was an even more terrifying prospect to her as she was afraid to even let her own husband see those deepest thoughts.

With a shaky sigh, Claire finally managed a response, “I should really be going. Be sure to let us know if there’s anything else you require” and with that she nearly bolted from the house.

“Claire…” Amanda attempted to call after her as the door shut behind Claire and her words quickly fell short as she turned back to see Thomas’ gaze on her, as though daring her to make another attempt to keep Claire at her side.

Thomas then just chuckled again as he stepped close to the young blonde girl, “it appears our Prince’s own wife has many things she’s awfully terrified of me finding out” he told her with another amused chuckle as he leaned down to smell her hair.

“You can read minds?”

“Can’t Sean?” he asked with another smirk.

“I believe so” she stammered as she averted her eyes, shaking a bit as he remained close to her.

“Not that it matters to me if he can. He’s completely powerless to use that ability on me” he told her with another amused smirk.

“He is?” Amanda asked, her voice shaking nearly as much as her own petite frame as she stood at a good six inches shorter than the man that was apparently to be her new regnant.

“Of course he is. I’m as old as his sire; who had to have been the one who taught Sean that little trick at all, I’m sure” he added in the same smug tone as he moved to slowly pull her dress off her shoulder.

She swallowed again as she kept her eyes averted, “you’re a Toreador too, right?” she managed.

Thomas allowed another little chuckle, “you are aware that this is House Toreador, are you not?” he scoffed. Amanda simply nodded as her voice was becoming more elusive each moment he stood so intimidatingly close, “and I am the new Toreador Primogen, since I am most likely the eldest and most powerful Kindred here. Although I’m sure some would argue that that should make me Prince, wouldn’t they?”

“Probably” she managed in the same shaky tone.

“That would make you the new toy for the most powerful vampire here. You should be honored” he told her as he moved to just slightly graze her pale shoulder with his fangs.

Amanda’s breath caught another moment as she tried to find words and force a smile up at him, “I’m just happy that you’re a Toreador. I’ve heard other Kindred are not as… gentle with their servants” she attempted, vainly hoping that it was true that Toreadors actually were the most humane of all the Kindred. After all, Sean and Claire had never mistreated her. Though this man was doing his best to frighten her; which she hoped upon hope was only an act, but those hopes were getting harder to hold onto with each moment.

“Gentle with their servants?” Thomas scoffed as he moved to look back down at her, “is that a euphemism for something?”

“Euphemism?” she asked, obviously not that familiar with the word as she was fairly uneducated as most females still were in this still relatively uncivilized portion of the new world.

Thomas scoffed once more, “I assume that Sean didn’t bind you for your intelligence, did he?”

“Sorry?” she asked, a little caught by that statement as well.

“Oh dear girl, just take off your clothes. I’m so very bored talking to you” he sighed as he sat and prepared to watch her carry out his order.

Amanda trembled a bit at the order, but possessing the submissiveness as well as the sexual desire of those bound, she was no stranger to indulging those desires with the other servants on a regular basis. Of course, she always wished to indulge those desires with Sean, but she settled for other servants more often than not. Once she finally dropped her clothing to the floor and stood before him fully exposed, Thomas’ eyes moved over her once again with another sigh.

With an almost bored tone, Thomas spoke again, “so is this truly the only purpose you serve here? Fucking your Prince since he’s been having his little spat with the Mrs.?”

“Um…” she stammered again, not sure quite how to answer that, “I do other things too” she attempted.

“So you fuck Sean, and all of his servants? Not Claire? I hear she and Sean both quite enjoyed my own childe, as well as the one he married and made” he added with a roll of his eyes.

“I’m not really sure what you want me to…”

“Every time you try to speak you honestly make me wonder if our kind can still get headaches” he mumbled the complaint as he shook his head over at where she tried to bite back a tear “and now you’re going to cry too. You do realize that you’re nothing but a blood bound whore for the Prince to stick his prick in and then pass off to me like leftovers. And you’re going to cry?” he scoffed again as she bit back another sob. As he heard that stifled sob, he got to his feet angrily, “I swear I will rip your head right off that pretty little body if you don’t stop your simpering right this second” he warned her with a cold glare.

Amanda took a deep breath, almost biting her tongue to stifle another sob as she simply shuddered, forcing her eyes down to the floor to avoid having to see that anger in his cold gaze. He then just shook his head over at her once again. A moment later, he seemed to finally find some other distraction from humiliating and terrifying Amanda as he looked out the window inside which she was still standing naked and trembling.

“Whose horse is that?” Thomas asked her conversationally, as if the last ten minutes of verbal abuse had not even occurred.

“Hor…?” she began, and then quickly checked her questioning of another of his statements as she turned toward the window to see what animal he was referring to, “that’s one of Sean’s horses. They’re all Sean’s” she managed, her voice still shaking, but somewhat less so now, as he seemed to find some momentary distraction from her.

“Is it a stallion?” he asked her in the same conversational manner.

“I believe so” she managed, her confusion creeping into her voice to cover at least some of her fear.

“Good. Go bring it around the back of the house, would you love?” he asked her with that same façade of politeness in his voice once more.

“Are you going somewhere?” she asked, trying not to sound hopeful.

“Did you just question me rather than following my order?” he asked with another cool look.

Amanda swallowed hard again as she looked down once more, “I’ll go get it right away” she whispered as she moved to reach for the dress that she had dropped to the floor moments earlier.

“What are you doing?” he interrupted her as she bent to retrieve the garment, which did do well to cause her to freeze.

“I was going to go get the horse” she managed as her voice began shaking again.

“That’s a dress, not a horse. You are aware of the difference, aren’t you?” he asked her in the same cold, condescending tone.

“You want me to go outside and get the horse, without getting dressed first?” she managed in the same whisper.

“I must ask; is English even your first language?” he told her with another glare.

She swallowed hard again as she stood upright again and took a shaky breath before moving toward the door, her naked body trembling once again. Thomas then followed her through the door with an amused smirk as she shivered a bit in the mild nighttime air. As he watched her attempt to approach the stallion, Thomas couldn’t help another smirk as the stallion reacted to her approach in a way that most human males would react to the sight of all her pretty pale skin.

“I do believe he likes you, Amanda” Thomas called after her with another smirk.

“I think he’s in heat” she returned worriedly.

“Well then I guess it’s a good thing you are out here. After all, servicing rutting males is something you are quite capable of, isn’t it?” he told her with a malevolent grin.

That’s when her eyes widened as she looked back at the obviously aroused stallion and then back at Thomas, “you can’t be serious…” Amanda returned with another shake of her voice.

“Do I appear to have much of a sense of humor, Amanda?” he told her coolly.

“He…” she looked fearfully at the horse again, “that could kill…”

“Oh I doubt it’ll kill you. Might do quite a bit of damage though. Only one way to find out though isn’t there?” he smirked over at her again.

That was when her tears welled up again, “but you’re a Toreador” she choked.

“I suppose antitribu is another big word you don’t know, isn’t it?” he told her mockingly, “and you will forget that you heard that word tonight too” he added in that eerie hypnotic tone, then finished “better get to it. He looks a bit antsy.”