“There’s a human upstairs” Simon muttered. Natalie slid out of bed and closed her eyes, smelling the air. “I can barely smell him, do you think he’s with Kevin?” she asked. Simon nodded. “Can’t be Arias, he’d be bleeding.” He said and Natalie smiled, then frowned remembering the accident, which by silent consensus was being referred to as such. “Its nice that he finally made contact with a human, no thanks to us” Simon whispered and Natalie turned to face him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked her interest suddenly peaked. “Going to that meeting made me realize that we isolated him, he only sees other vampires his age on the weekends. And the humans clearly hate him. We ruined his chances of finding friends and maybe even a Daywalker. We should have sent him to a more mixed school” he said. “This school was you idea, not mine, I wanted to send him off to a nice all vampire school. You’re the one who insisted on sending him to this school. See how that turned out?” she said and Simon looked down. “I’ve been thinking about that. His birthday is coming up, I think we should have a coming out party, introduce him to the vampire community here, and have him meet new people. So that they know who is going to inherit half of the Lancaster Fortune.” Simon said. “You want him to meet Summer” Natalie said, she hid half a grin with half a grimace. Simon smiled and nodded. “If you’re inviting the Demings, then I’m inviting the Copes.” She said and Simon frowned at her. “I know you have your hopes on Kevin marrying Summer, but I think he should have a chance to at least meet Jessica. Then he can have a chance at not falling in love with her. He can pick another girl later if he wants.” Se continued. “You know how much of an impact it would be if the Lancaster Family and the Deming Family would combine, it would be a new dynasty that might even take a territory next time we divide.” He said. “And they might provoke Satine, you know how territorial she is, and we both know that Arias is only allowed to stay here because he is under our service and not on his own.” She said and Simon nodded sadly. “Fine, but the only reason you want the Copes here is because they have close ties with the London Territory. And with your parents” he said. Natalie smiled sweetly and slid into a bathrobe. “Do you think it would be inappropriate if I met the human in just this?” she asked and Simon glared at her. “Fine, I suppose I could get dressed early” She walked to the closet and started roaming about. “How big a party do you think we should go for?” she asked as she pulled underwear on and pulled a bra from a hook. “Big enough to put on a show for the Demings, and the Copes, let them know that they might be joining a very good family. Simon, now almost fully dressed, said. “Do you think that either family is as thrilled about our children meeting as we are?” she asked, now in a black dress that contrasted with her skin and accented the blackness of her hair. The figure of the dress was both modest and left little to the imagination. Simon’ eyebrows rose. “Who are you trying to impress?” he asked and Natalie looked at herself in the wall length mirror. “I want to look nice for Kevin’s first human friend, that’s all” she said and Simon frowned. “Lets see a teenaged human boy, and you an older vampire woman in that dress? I think you’re taking it too far” He said. “Fine I’ll change” She moved back into the closet and picked out another dress. She used an elegant green dress that hung slightly tighter on the top and flowed loosely from the waist own. “Honey, again, are you sure you want to go out in that?” he asked and Natalie smiled. Arias had just brought in six streaks from the grill outside and had set them up with salad, baked potatoes, rice and steamed broccoli and carrots. Nathan and Kevin sat at the bar, waiting for his parents to come up. A moment later, Simon walked in through the door, dressed in tan kakis and a green polo, behind him, was Natalie in her green dress, three inch high heels and gold earrings hanging loosely from her earlobes. Nathan stopped talking and stared. Kevin looked up and smiled at his parents, then stopped when he noticed Nathan’s open mouth. He nudged him on the ribs with his elbow and stood to hug his parents and introduce them to Nathan. After introduction Natalie and Simon joined Nathan and Kevin for dinner, Kevin ate four for the steaks while Nathan had one and the last one was cut into three pieces, and Arias, Natalie and Simon shared it. Vampires could eat solid food, as long as it was in small amounts and not very often. Kevin also ate most of the potatoes, the salad, the rice and the broccoli with a half gallon of V8. Natalie and Simon watched as he ate, they glanced at each other every few minutes and then at Arias, who motioned for them into the living room. “He’s eaten all of the food you put out, that is enough to feed six people, and he ate most of it” Natalie whispered. Simon looked at Arias again. “He inherited some of my Thirst when he bit me. Today he had three Double Quarter Pounders , three large sodas, four large fries and half of Nathan’s Big Mac. His hunger is peaking, so is his Thirst, he need blood, I tried giving him a screwdriver, and he downed it without any effects” he said “You gave him what?” Natalie asked alarmed. “I spiked his half gallon of orange juice with vodka, I figured it would slow him down” He said, Simon frowned. “He’s going to have to start feeding now.” He said and Arias nodded. Natalie stared at them both. “We’ll it’s a good thing he found a human friend, they can be friends with benefits of a different sort, maybe even a Daywalker” she said, and arias nodded. Simon frown deepened “He just met him” he said. Arias shrugged. “Warm some of the reserve up, and serve it to him, when Nathan is distracted. See how much he takes in” Natalie said and walked back into the kitchen. “I am off, I’m going to drop by the club to see how its going, then I’ll be at the office, call if you need anything Kevin. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet your parents tonight Nathan” she said and grabbed her purse on the way out the door and onto the garage. Arias and Simon stared at the boys on the bar and they remained silent, lost in their own thoughts about Kevin’s apparent new dependency on blood. Nathan’s parents picked him up at ten. Kevin sat alone on the couch and watched television before settling down for sleep, since he had missed his afternoon nap. Arias walked in with a glass of warm blood and approached carefully while Simon watched nervously from the entryway. “Kevin, I know why you’ve been eating so much. It’s the Thirst, its using up your energy, and the only way to tone it down is to feed. Since, we don’t have someone for to feed from, we were thinking of giving you some of the reserve blood we had in the fridge.” He said and Kevin shook his head. “I am not drinking that. I don’t need to feed. I will be just fine” he said and stood pushing the glass away. Simon walked into the room. “Kevin, we need you drink it, it will cool you down, it will give you control over your senses, so you won’t have to stop breathing when you’re surrounded by humans. Trust me, it’s the best way to help” he said and Kevin smiled and then pushed the glass away again. “Um, No, I am not. Reheated blood is insanely gross, that’s why it’s the reserve, and I do not need to feed” He said again and walked out of the room.