Khloe's POV:

"What!? You can't do that!" Marcus exclaimed as Doe put down her last card, deeming her the winner out of the two of them.

Lily had found some old board games and card games, and thought we might enjoy them while we hung out in the dining area.

And since neither Doe nor Marcus had ever played any, I took the liberty of showing them how to play starting with one of my favorite games as a child.

Uno.

So, we sat around one of the round tables and began to play.

A smug smirk rose on Doe's face, "Sorry Marcus, but I can and I did. You put down a draw-four and that was the last card I had in my hand so I stacked it, therefore, I win,"

Well technically I won about three minutes ago, but we always played for second place.

"Since when was that the rules?" Marcus questioned, his acceptance of defeat coming slowly yet surely.

"Since we started playing? You literally stacked a draw-two card on top of Khloe's at the beginning of the game." Doe retorted, still beaming from her victory.

I quietly snacked on the finger foods Lily had made for us while I watched them.

The sight of them reminded me of how I used to be way back when.

The fact that we were all having fun just made me extremely happy.

I could even hear Lily's quiet titter at how we were behaving whole she made Doe and Marcus' lunches.

I was supposed to eat with Nico for lunch today, but he hasn't come to take me back to his room yet, and I was hungry.

So I had to control myself with how many of Lily's snacks I ate.

"I thought that only worked with draw-two's," Marcus said, looking at me for some clarification.

I shook my head, swallowing the food in my mouth, "Nope. Both draw-fours and draw-twos can be stacked."

Marcus groaned, slamming his two remaining cards onto the table, "Fine, I accept my defeat."

"Ready for another round?" I asked confidently, more than positive that I was going to win again.

"Heck yeah!" Doe declared.

I could tell that she was very much enjoying this game.

"Actually, can we hold off on the game for a couple minutes?" Marcus asked, his eyes gazing at the dining rooms entrance behind me.

"You still waiting for your friend?" I asked.

I had heard a lot about this slave friend that Marcus had, but I've strangely never met him.

"Yeah. I'm just really hoping that he'll show up, and I don't want him to show up in the middle of a game and-"

"Watch you lose?" Doe finished for him.

I stifled a laugh while Marcus glared at her.

"I was gonna say 'feel left out', but I guess that works too."

I piled all of the cards into the deck while I spoke,  "I guess we can hold off on the game for a bit. Your food should be ready soon anyway."

"Oh yeah, maybe with food in our stomachs one of us will actually be able to beat you," Doe stated and she leaned back against her chair.

I shrugged, "Maybe, but don't count on it."

Marcus was about to retort but instead perked right up at the sound of the door being kicked open.

He soon slouched afterward, apparently expecting someone else.

"Waddup my loyal subjects!" Xander announced proudly, causing me to turn my head to face him.

My smile rose as Nico walked in behind him, his own showing up as his eyes met with mine.

Doe snickered quietly at Xanders words.

"Good afternoon, Prince Nicolas and Prince Alexander," Lily spoke with a formal bow, "Did you come hungry?"

"You know I did," Xander replied, making a B- line for the bar to order what he wanted.

Nico watched silently as he did before making his way towards me.

I stood from my chair and met him halfway, trying to keep my speed normal.

Usually, from here we would order what we wanted and then head back to his room and waited for the food to be delivered.

Nico stuck his hands into his pockets before we met, a habit I think he's gained to keep himself from touching me in public.

"Are we going?" I asked, keeping my voice moderately low.

He glanced at Xander, probably making sure that he was too busy with Lily to be listening in to our conversation.

"We can if you'd like," He began a bit quieter than how I had spoken, "I told Xander that we would eat with all of us, but if you'd rather it just be you and me, I can get us out of it."

Lunch with all five of us.

Or six if marcus' friend ever shows up...

That actually sounded really fun.

"How much free time do you have?" I asked, wanting to know the answer before I made any final decision.

Just in case I didn't have a lot of time with him.

"I have around four hours until I have to make an appearance at some human event, and at least two of those hours are gonna be spent alone in my room with you."

He practically purred those last words, causing me to bite the inside of my lip.

I swallowed hard.

"Yeah ok we can eat with them," I spoke quickly.

He gave me a tranquil smile before speaking.

"Sweet. Go ahead and go back with your friends. Ill order something I think you'll like and then come join you."

I nodded before following his directions.

"You're not leaving this time?" Marcus asked as I returned to my chair.

I shook my head, crossing my arms on the table.

"Nope. Apparently they're joining us today."

"Oh, really?" Doe asked, looking over at Xander.

I too looked as Xander approached us, snagging a chair with one hand while the other held a glass of blood.

He set the chair down beside Doe, setting the back of the chair against the table before straddling it.

"Alright," he sighed out as he sat, "What are we playin?"

His eyes scanned the table before they widened in what looked like excitement.

"Yo! I haven't played this in years!" he explained excitedly, placing his glass on the table.

Both Doe and I smiled a bit at his excitement.

"Please tell me you've been winning." He said looking at Doe.

"Um... well," she began, "I've been getting second place a lot! Khloe's way more experienced and has a much more thought out strategy."

Both of them looked at me dead on, causing me to shrink back out of habit.

"So you're good huh? Think you could beat me?" A fanged challenging smirk grew as he spoke.

"I... uh-"

"Oh she definitely could," Nico spoke from behind me, pulling his own chair up right next to me, "You suck at this game, remember?"

I relaxed as he sat beside me, his hand setting itself on my thigh under the table.

I casually set my hand on top of his, intertwining my fingers with his.

"Wha- No don't! I beat you all the time!" Xander retorted.

"Yeah when I let you," Nico responded flatly, taking a sip of blood from his own glass.

Doe failed in suppressing her laugh, earning an even more distraught look to come upon Xander.

"You know what!" Xander began, standing up to snatch the deck, "Rematch right here, right now. We can get one in before our food's ready, Right?"

Nico shrugged.

"I guess. Since you're so desperate to lose."

I watched in silence as their sibling rivalry continued, mixed with the occasional giggle from Doe.

In some weird twisted way, it reminded me of a family.

A very strange, very twisted family.

The bickering finally ended as Xander began shuffling the cards, mumbling something incoherent under his breath.

"Marcus, You in?" I asked, only then noticing the longing way he had been looking at the door.

His head snapped to me like I had pulled him out of a daze.

"What? Oh," he looked over at Xanders state, peering at the door again.

He let out an almost silent, disappointed breath.

"Yeah, I'm in."