Chaos and Moonlight (Order of the Nines Book 1) by A.D. Marrow Page B

you, okay?”
    “Oh, so now you want me to sit down and eat? What the hell is going on?”
    “So many questions,” the raven-haired woman said as she rose from the bed. “Be logical, Dr. Bridgeman. If we wanted you dead, you would be.” She motioned again toward the platter of pancakes.
    She had to admit, the woman had a point. Sarah didn’t argue anymore, with the raven-haired woman or with herself. She padded over to the bed and hopped up on it so ungracefully that she almost fell off the other side. Once she was steady, she crossed her legs and pulled the entire platter onto her lap.
    “That’s much better. I’ll go get you some milk. Be right back.” She turned and exited through the door.
    Sarah inhaled the food that was in front of her. She had a million questions to ask and a million ways she needed to try and escape.
Best to do it on a full stomach
.
    “Okay, here we go.” The woman walked back into the room and put a tall glass of milk on the table beside the bed before taking her seat next to Sarah. “Now we can begin properly.”
    Sarah drank down almost half of it before taking a breath. She stared down at the plate, halfway regretful that she was such a ravenous pig and had eaten almost all of the pancakes.
    “It’s okay, I made tons more. I always do. My brother eats like there’s no tomorrow, so I always make plenty.”
    “I offered that guy money.” Sarah’s words were mumbled. She was still chewing on a fluffy buttermilk pancake. “Did he tell you? I’ll make you the same offer. Listen, lady, no questions asked, if you just let me go…” Sarah finished the glass of milk and set it back on the table, never breaking eye contact.
    “I think he told you that it’s not that simple, my dear. And please, call me Kalin.”
    “Okay, Kalin, same offer.”
    Kalin shook her head. “We can’t just let you go. And that guy’s name is Taris. He’s my brother.”
    Sarah’s eyebrows knitted together as she studied Kalin’s face. They had the same eyes, she and Taris. She remembered the way his had looked as he glanced down at her.
    “So wait a minute,” Sarah said. “If he’s your brother, then that transvestite hit man guy is your brother, too, right?”
    Any light that was in Kalin’s eyes melted away at the reference.
    “Yes,” she said with a sigh. “Yes, he is.”
    “And Taris, your brother, took me out of my apartment in the middle of the night to rescue me from your other brother—”
    “Bane.”
    “Right, Bane. He took me out of my apartment in the middle of the night to save me from that Bane guy, and now I am in his room—”
    “My room, actually.” Kalin smiled.
    Sarah looked around, surveying the room again. “It’s nice. Very Colonial.”
    “Thank you. I do like the simplicity of it. And the red with the crown molding just pops, don’t you think?”
    “Yes, it does. I—” Sarah shook her head, waving a hand in the air. “No, damn it. Off topic.” She sucked in a deep breath and sighed. “I’m in your room, at your house, and I still don’t know why the hell I’m here.”
    “I think my brother did try to explain it to you, but with his complete lack of tact, you may not have understood him.”
    “Oh, yeah, I heard him. You expect me to buy that whole vampire thing? I mean those,” she pointed to Kalin’s mouth, “those could be caps or stage props or something. Or it could be genetic. I mean, the three of you do have them, right? So maybe your mom or dad had some weird dental shit going on, I don’t know. I just need to know what you want so I can get back to my normal life, okay?”
    But there was no life to get back to, was there? She was suspended from work for spouting off at the kisser to some broad who deserved it, and her best friend was going to die because he played one too many anonymous games of tickle-the-snake. She really had very little to go back to. The realization played across her face like a billboard.
    “Dr. Bridgeman,” Kalin