I was watching Levi. He moved gracefully. There was a confidence in his movements, as if he knew exactly what his movements did and where my eyes would land. I couldn't describe him as anything other than comfortable in his own skin, no matter what he was doing.

At the moment, he was making me breakfast. There was romance to be found in providing your prospective love with nourishment. Or so, that was what Levi believed. I wasn't the type of person to refuse food. The longer I existed, the more I found I quite enjoyed food. Besides, I did take pleasure in watching Levi work.

"I'm guessing you'd like to know more about me," Levi suggested over the sound of sizzling bacon. I raised my brows.

"You'd tell me?" I wondered curiously. None of the others had offered any information on themselves so far other than warnings towards their violent nature.

"Well, it's necessary. After attraction, you need a deeper connection. You can't connect with complete mystery beyond physical intimacy," Levi declared offhandedly. I tilted my head with uncertainty.

"Attraction," I decided to answer shortly. It was both a statement and a question.

"Yes. I find you absolutely gorgeous," Levi said, his words missing any emotion that probably should have come with the compliment. Still, I couldn't help the hum of pleasure throughout my body at his confession. He glanced away from his work to me, taking in my reaction for a moment before a smirk slid onto his own features. "And you're attracted to me. I can... sense it." He winked, causing a blush to burn over my skin.

I wanted to say something smart, perhaps to bring down his ego a bit as I would have with Oliver, but around Levi I found myself feeling shy. Any words that danced on my tongue was absent of any foundation to settle on. I was attracted to him. I was intoxicated by him and I would have enjoyed doing anything that involved being close to him.

"Of course, as I said, attraction isn't enough. After all, you're attracted to the others as well," Levi smiled slyly, turning as he lifted the first batch of prepared food. My plate was being covered with fluffy pancakes, which were covered in strawberries, butter, and syrup. The bacon and sausage on the side were enough to make my eyes widen and mouth water. But his words made me hesitate.

"All of them?" I asked, as if he knew me better than I could. I thought about what I felt towards the others. I remembered Theo's hands on my body. I recalled Oliver's lips along my jaw. My skin tingled remembering Miles' breathing in my scent most alluringly. Even Jax who had been the first to run his lips over my flesh and Sebastian whose strong arms had held my trembling form against him brought a low heat through me. My heart began racing at the thought of my own attraction towards each of them, unable to distinguish one above the other.

"Go ahead and taste," Levi suggested, his words much more seductive than necessary for what he was suggesting. I felt on fire, but I squared a bite of the pancakes and brought it to my mouth carefully. It tasted delicious and I didn't hesitate to reveal so. Levi was pleased.

"My family was new to the Genesis coven," Levi told me, leaning on the counter in front of me. I paused my feast to peer into his onyx eyes with undivided attention. "It happens often. A first generation of witches forming from diluted bloodlines. You breed with non-magical humans enough and the magic becomes dormant and breaks from the coven overtime.

"My mother's family broke off from a second-rate coven, one of the zodiacs; Aries or Aquarius. I'm not too certain. She had heard of the legends passed down, but she was the first in several generations of non-magical humans to be born a witch." Levi paused, glancing behind me.

"So we're telling stories now, huh?" Miles' voice intervened. A smiled lit on my face as I turned to greet him. I hadn't truly seen him since the night on the rooftop. He stood with his arms crossed, his face just as cross. The smile left my lips temporarily, unsure of what bothered him, but I decided not to blame myself.

"Miles," I said pleasantly, patting the chair next to me invitingly. He withdrew his accusing glare from his brother to me, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. I widened my own. I wasn't used to being looked at so... closely. And not in a good way. It was as if he expected me to do something shady.

"Do you think it's wise to give that thing information?" Miles sneered sarcastically, his eyes still watching me. I narrowed my own eyes, a heat of anger beginning to spread in my veins.

"I'm not a thing, Miles," I stated, my words surprisingly sharp.

"You're not human," He continued without remorse.

"Yes, well, at least I'm not a vampire," I snapped, the heat pounding in my chest nervously. Miles uncrossed his arms, a growl rumbling in his throat none-too-pleasantly. For some reason, the sound thrilled me. My instinct was completely backwards. I found his anger even more exciting than it should have been.

"Yes; a vampire, not some kitten. How about I show you what vampires can really do?" Miles snarled, taking a couple of sharp steps towards me. I tensed, my body alert and almost singing with anticipation.

"Back off, brother. You started it," Levi mused from his spot behind the counter. His eyes rolled from his twin to me as if inspecting some experiment with great interest.

"Sure," Miles' voice was low, suddenly quite devious. He was abruptly seated next to me, leaning towards me menacingly. "But guess which kitten has you next, Katia? Spoiler alert: I don't cuddle." I watched him for a moment, his proximity confusing me and his words casting a frown over my lips. His eyes moved over my face, a sudden expression of hesitation crossing over his previous determination as if he actually did regret his words. But it was only for a moment. He sharply moved away, focusing on Levi once again.

"If you're going to talk about us, you should at least wait until I'm around," Miles stated moodily, throwing me a short glance as I turned my attention to his twin.

"Well as you can see, the center of attention and drama queen has already arrived," Levi declared, waving his hands in Miles' direction, "How about you fuck off? You're ruining my date."

Miles leaned back in his seat, tapping the counter obnoxiously. "I'll have bacon with a side of bacon, Chef Levi." Levi narrowed his eyes, not impressed. "Chop, chop. Speed it along. I don't have all night." Levi grabbed a small handful of the extra bacon and spit on it before planting it on the counter in front of his brother.

"Ugh. Disgusting," Miles responded with mock horror. I laughed openly, my mood instantly lifted while watching their exchange.

"Tell me more, Levi?" I asked curiously. Levi stared down Miles a moment longer, but when Miles didn't appear to be leaving, the story continued regardless.

"My mother sought out the nearest coven for refuge. It can be dangerous for a coven-less witch. She connected with my father, a Genesis witch. They accepted her into the coven and I was born," Levi indicated to Miles, "Along with that moron over there." Miles didn't say anything. Instead, he poked at the defiled bacon, intent on not sharing his own story. Not to a "thing" like me.

"How did you end up a vampire?" I asked Levi expectantly.

"None of your business," Miles bristled next to me, his hands tightening into fists.

"It was Miles fault," Levi started, his tone low, but Miles wasn't having any of it. He shot up in his seat, furious.

"It's none of her business," Miles snapped at Levi angrily. Levi only straightened himself, preparing to continue despite his brother's protests. I tightened my own grip on my fork, my eyes wide and uncertain.

"It's okay," I said quickly, "I don't mind, really. I was just curious." I also felt a pang of discomfort at Levi's words; that it was Miles' fault. Obviously, it bothered Miles and whatever bothered him for some reason also bothered me.

"What do you do? For fun or... for work? I heard Sebastian ask you to network...," I stumbled over another topic, but it was enough to draw their attention from each other. I recalled Theo's words; that he presented artifacts to potential buyers. "Something about artifacts?"

"Yes. We collect artifacts. Well, Sebastian collects them specifically," Levi explained and Miles relaxed next to me. "The artifacts are usually magical objects or historical items of great value. Sebastian searches for them, collects them, and brings them to Jax."

"Should we really be telling her this?" Miles asked, his voice condescending.

Levi sighed, rolling his eyes. "Miles, please. Go drown yourself."

"No, thanks," He responded with a smirk.

"Jax appraises the artifacts. He was a talented witch. He has a knack for figuring out what an artifact does, how old it is, and how much it's worth," Levi continued without giving Miles any further attention, "Once he's done, he brings the information to Miles and I."

"We go to gatherings," Miles addressed me quite suddenly, leaning towards me again. I turned my head towards him curiously. "They're sort of like parties. It's a system vampires built, to prevent the craze for those who aren't grouped up like we are."

"The craze?"

"It's not officially called that," Levi said before Miles interrupted.

"It's not officially called anything," He told me, his voice deepening to sound more intimidating, "It's like a switch in a vampire's mind. One second you're normal. The next, you're blood-crazy. Everything that made you who you used to be is just gone and all that's left is a chaotic evil; something that wouldn't think twice of killing say... your twin brother, vampire or not." Levi was not amused by Miles' antics.

"Despite what Miles' would have you think, it's not so drastic and it's not always permanent. Either way, the gatherings are shared among those of the vampire society and invitations are sent out. Vampires can gather and prevent or cure themselves from the craze," Levi continued easily, ignoring Miles' noise of content at using his term and instead watching me carefully. I felt as though I was only barely holding on to the explanation, but he didn't care to elaborate further. "At these gatherings, we link up with those who would be interested in purchasing artifacts and deliver their names to-"

"Theo," I finished for him, intrigued. I looked at Levi, understanding the next steps clearly. "Theo talks to the potential buyers, presents the artifact, and Oliver does the actual deliveries. You all work so well together." Levi paused, thinking visibly.

"That's probably the first time I've heard anyone say something like that about us," Levi finally admitted, slowly smiling at me. I was surprised. In between the teasing, the dynamic of their 'family' seemed to me to be one of respect, professional, with a set of rules even I didn't quite know about completely. I couldn't see how anyone would say they didn't work well together. I could tell they had some unspoken problems; I could see it in the way Miles would look at Levi, or really how any of the others tend to have moments where they stiffened around each other. But I just took it as something that naturally happened within a family of vampires.

"What are we doing here?" Oliver was suddenly on the other side of me, extremely close. A pleasant chill crawled through me at his presence and for a moment I was left speechless.

"Throwing caution to the wind, apparently," Miles announced dramatically.

"Oh, my favorite activity," Oliver turned his dark eyes to me. He brushed a knuckle over my cheek affectionately, causing a small laugh to bubble from my throat pleasantly. Then he glanced at my food before addressing Levi. "Pancakes, please. And be sure to add the heart shaped topping for me, too. You're such a romantic."

Levi fumed.

"I would've fallen in love with him by now if he wasn't my brother," Miles added with a sigh. I was in a fit of laughter. I suspected this was the only reason Levi didn't completely attack either of them.

"I'll be sure to add a special topping just for you, Oliver," Levi stated, turning to make more food for his new audience. "We were telling Katia a bit about ourselves." Oliver tensed slightly next to me.

"What kind of things?" He asked, suddenly careful to appear emotionless.

"Where we're from. What we do." Levi answered easily. "Relax. I wouldn't go around telling everybody's story."

"Yeah, except for mine," Miles retorted, his voice low and bitter.

"You don't count," Levi stated.

"Did you want to know, Katia?" Oliver was suddenly addressing me directly. I looked at him carefully, lifting my eyes to catch his. "Did you want to know about me?" I watched him a moment, the world quiet around me. Then I nodded slowly.

"I'd like that," I answered quietly, heat rising once again under my skin.

"Hey, no. You're stealing my idea," Levi pointed his spatula at Oliver accusingly. "If I'm not allowed to tell her, you're not."

"I'll tell her what I want to tell her. It's not my fault your story is hand in hand with Miles," Oliver quipped jokingly before turning to me with a more serious tone. "I was a part of the hunters pack within the Genesis coven. We hunted down vampires, specifically the ones that were of Genesis, and well... 'delivered them to the ancestors'."

"He killed them," Miles leaned towards me to correct him. "Not that she needs to know how to kill us, so let's skip that part." I turned to Miles slowly. As they spoke, information was whispering through my mind quietly. The hunter's pack consisted of vampire hunters; they typically were the physically stronger witches. They hunted down the vampires from their coven, having considered their conversion as a mark on their own coven. But it didn't stop them from taking out other vampires should they come across them.

They were taught the vampires' weaknesses. Silver, my mind whispered, sunlight. Stake to the heart. Decapitation. The removal of the heart. Miles didn't have to tell me any of it; I already knew and I would never dream of using the information on any of them.

"I was a bit careless," Oliver continued to explain to me, playing with a nearby knife I hadn't bothered using as of yet.

"I can imagine that," I answered teasingly, smiling at the look he flashed me before he returned the smile. It slipped away rather easily.

"During a hunt, I acted recklessly. I ended up mistaking a human for a vampire," Oliver told me, his voice quieting considerably. "You know how a vampire is created, right?" I recalled the same question that Theo had asked me.

"You take an innocent life," I answered in a hushed voice.

"And then you spend the remainder of your existence repeating that same mistake over and over again," Theo joined us, his tone dark. "A foolish curse, don't you think? But I guess the witches of old didn't mind the loss of life, as long as the cursed were punished properly."

Theo sat on the other side of Oliver, avoiding my direct gaze purposely.

"What about you, Theo?" I asked him cautiously, "How did you end up here?" Theo turned his gaze to me slowly before looking to Levi, who only just dropped a plate of messy pancakes in front of an amused Oliver.

"I'll take some, too, Levi," Theo stated and Levi huffed momentarily.

"Why not?" Levi retorted sarcastically, having submitted to his sudden status of Master Chef. I giggled once again, catching an amused look from Levi.

"I killed a child of Genesis," Theo abruptly confessed, his voice void of emotion. My own amusement was doused in startled ice. "I knew what I was doing when I did it. I knew what it would do to me. And I still did it. He was probably fourteen years old, innocent... some trembling mess on his knees in front of me. I took a knife and then I took his life."

My mouth was suddenly dry and my appetite was gone. I widened my eyes, watching Theo as if his body language would tell me something different, but he didn't correct himself or add anymore information. Levi scoffed, flipping a pancake with ease.

"Talk about out of context," Levi stated, unimpressed, "How about you tell her why you killed that kid and why you're here?"

"What is this, a therapy session?" Theo responded sharply, but Levi's words had eased a tension that had gripped my body. There was more to the story. There was a possibility that whatever it was wouldn't help the situation sound better; it could make it worse. But there was more and I had faith in the Theo I knew.

"Why did you kill him?" I asked Theo, my voice high and quiet despite my attempt to sound strong and unaffected. Theo's jaw tensed unhappily and he kept his eyes pointedly averted. It was typical of him to prefer telling me something that would make him seem untrustworthy; a complete monster. He wanted to keep it that way. "Theo, please."

Theo looked at me once again, his face guarded. But as he watched me, I could see that his guard began to crumble, leaving behind a hopeless man; a remorseful being full of self-loathing and pain. It clutched at my heart like ice.

"I was a member of the Leviticus coven, the third most powerful coven in existence," Theo told me in defeat, but he refused to look away, "Our vampires were particular... they liked to convert the witches. One group had taken my family and me. They were threatening to kill my family and they gave me a choice. Either I could take the Genesis child's life or I could watch my family become corpses in front of me. I chose the child."

He was quiet, watching my reaction. I listened to him intently, tears budding within my eyes at the thought of his pain. But I couldn't find it in myself to blame him much less hate him.

"I went to this group of vampires because they were from Genesis. I figured I had taken something from them and so they could do what they will with me," Theo stated sharply, glancing at the others momentarily, "Vampires are different, obviously. They couldn't care less about a lost life. I barely cared myself; it was just a memory of my last human wish. Fate kept me here. I didn't see the quality of life becoming greater elsewhere."

Levi planted a plate of pancakes in front of Theo sullenly.

"You guys are killing the mood entirely. I wanted her to cry over me," Levi stated with a sigh, "My story is so much less impressive."

"All the more reason to keep it a mystery," Miles growled threateningly. His arm absently brushed against mine, sending a spark of light over my skin. He avoided looking at me, indicating to me that he had touched me on purpose.

I felt another intoxicating aura enter the room and my soul was alight with pleasure. It was as if that instinctual side of me associated the sheer appearance of so many of them within one room with the idea that I might end up dinner on another table. I fought against that thought. It made no sense to want to be harmed, no matter how addicting their touch was.

"What a waste of resources," Jax stated with disapproval.

"Pancakes for you, Sir Jax?" Levi responded teasingly.

"Did we all forget that we can't taste the food in front of us?" Jax inquired sternly.

"Oh, yeah," I laughed, looking around at the men surrounding me with surprise, "I forgot about that." Apparently none of them had, for they didn't appear surprised. They had been mimicking and doing so quite well.

"Got ya," Oliver told me, tugging at my earlobe teasingly.

"It's just as well, I wasn't going to make you any," Levi told Jax, taking his own seat with another sigh.

"That's not very polite," I scolded Levi before dipping my finger into the strawberry topping leftover on my pancake. I turned to Jax sweetly, lifting my caked fingertip to him. "You can have some of mine, Jax."

Jax looked suddenly out of his element. I was delighted by the reaction, already coming to understand the type of person he was. His intense personality was so guarded and perfected, down to the fitted outfit he wore without a single wrinkle. I smiled sheepishly, moving to withdraw my offer.

Suddenly, there was a burst of sunlight glowing on my flesh, causing a pleasant gasp to escape me. Jax's grip was tight around my wrist, preventing me from moving away further. When I looked into his face, it wasn't one of anger or annoyance. He watched my skin with a quiet wonder as those illuminant words scrawled under his touch. And then he caught my eyes with his own.

"Don't tease me, Katia," He told me, his voice solid and cold like steel. Then he brought my finger to his mouth, taking what I offered without hesitation. Warmth flooded my senses, heating my flesh and leaving me breathless.

"Genius," Levi muttered in awe.

Jax hesitated, releasing me with confusion written on his features. I let my hand fall slowly, watching his form hovering over me as if in a complete daze. He leaned towards me, coming impossibly close and causing me to gasp once again, but he only reached for the topping on my abandoned pancakes curiously before bringing it to his mouth.

"What is it?" Theo finally asked with impatience.

"I can... taste it," Jax stated, his steely resolve having collapsed completely.

"You liar," Miles accused, turning to his defiled bacon. He looked from that to my food and opted to snatch a piece of mine instead. When he placed a bite of my remaining bacon in his mouth, his face shaped into that of complete disbelief.

And suddenly things had changed drastically.

Levi stole a bite, with Oliver close behind. Theo was the only one who merely watched with shaded eyes, not willing to participate in the new discovery. The others were ecstatic. I was momentarily forgotten and I couldn't feel any bitterness towards that fact. I was just as ecstatic at their finding, reveling in their sudden joy. They could taste human food.

"How?" Oliver suddenly asked, "How can we taste these?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Theo answered sullenly.

Their eyes were drawn to me. My hands were in my lap, a smile on my face from watching them devour what was supposed to be my own breakfast with much more enjoyment than I would have been able to muster. As I noticed their stares, my smile fell into a rising nervousness. It was obvious who they blamed for their sudden ability. I could see the question in their expression.

If I could return their taste, just what else exactly could I do?

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Music: 'Till It's Gone by Yelawolf