Picky Eater

Ch 2: Deal

Bianca seemed committed to the trend of ignoring Nino to focus on Ben. She met him the rest of the way to the staircase, resting her arm on the wooden banister. "Nino doesn't just have a sister. He has brothers too. There's five of us all together. Seven in the family, if you count Mom and Dad."

"But you can't," Nino mumbled as if his words leaked out and Ben wasn't supposed to hear.

"Lucky number seven," Ben said, wondering if he was hallucinating.

Loving that, Bianca grinned. "Ventura does mean good fortune, so consider yourself lucky that you met me."

That one sentence sucked Ben out of the room and back to five years ago, seeing Nino for the first time and falling for that smile. Hearing him say with that velvet accented voice.

Instantly, Ben snapped a fierce glare at Nino and the way Nino hid his face only confirmed his guilt. Ben reached into the coat rack and grabbed a hat to chuck at his stupid head. Nino jumped, whirling around as Ben snapped at him, "You have five siblings?!"

"I do," he admitted, sheepishly.

"Why am I just hearing about this now?"

"I didn't think you needed to know."

"Do I..." Ben stood, taking one more step. It was impossible not to look completely gutted when that's what it felt like. He thought when Nino came over, he was diving deep into this man and getting swept away in his tide... but Ben had only reached the shallow end of Nino's life. "Do I know you at all?"

Nino's eyes widened. "Ben—"

"Nino," Bianca cut in, reminding them all she had the center stage of this show. "You have been a very bad boy."

All the air got sucked out of Nino's balloon and he turned his grimace to his older sister. "Why are you here, Bianca? What's Evie doing here?" He pointed to the little girl, still standing quietly in the corner, not moving at all. Less child, more statue. Ben was more nervous about her.

"You don't come home often, Nino. That makes a sister worry..." Bianca said in a way that reminded Ben of Lincoln right before he popped off on a lecture. Shaking her head, Bianca's hands landed on her hips. "And I know you make your own money modeling and ignoring your family's legacy, but..."

She walked up to Nino, pressing a French manicured finger to his chest. "You still use the joint family accountant. Your allowance has been depositing in the same account for five years every month, very consistently." She grinned, her lips curling as mischievously as the Cheshire cat. "So, like anyone would, I got curious. I started watching you Nino, started noticing all your little changing habits."

She eyed Ben from over her shoulder, her smile so devilish he wondered if she was part demon. "Vampires are callous creatures by nature. We rarely notice the passage of time or the changes in others, but..." She looked at Nino again, hands on her hips. "As vampires, we pay attention to where we get our blood. After all, it is the only way we stay gorgeous and alive. I realized you stopped eating at home."

"This is an invasion of privacy and I'm going to fire the accountant."

"Already did it for you. But that was mostly for me. I'll get to that later. I followed the money and the deposits to this little brownstone, so I sent a private investigator—"

"You did what?"

Ben echoed, "You did what?"

As if she just did a magic trick, Bianca held her hands out in a mock presentation. "And lo-and-behold, little Nino Ventura comes to visit this same brownstone every three months and the human that lives there emerges from these visits longer needing glasses with glossy hair and perfect skin. My little brother must have found something good.... I figured it could be one of two things. Either you fell in love, but me knowing you, knows that can't be true..."