Khloe's POV:

When I woke up, there were only two things that first registered in my mind: that it was too early for me to be awake, and that Nico was moving to get out of the bed.

And apparently part of my brain decided that the later wasn't ok and decided to quickly wrap my arms around his arm before the reasonable part of my brain could fully wake up.

He stopped moving once I did, which surprised me enough to make me open my eyes a little bit.

The first thing that I noticed was the small amount of light visible through curtains on the window, showing the sun was just barely beginning to rise.

My groggy eyes then shifted up to Nico. He was just sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning on the arm that I was holding on to.

He was just looking at me, his eyes widened ever so slightly.

I couldn't really tell what he was thinking and part of me didn't really care.

So, the part of my brain that was yelling at me to go back to sleep decided that the most logical thing to do would be to tighten my grip on him and practically curl myself up against him.

It was only then that I realized what a completely horrific idea that was.

Luckily, I heard Nico breathe out a quiet laugh before I could begin to panic.

"Sorry Khloe, that's not going to work this time." He said, his voice showing that he took was tired.

I lifted my head up, brows furrowing as I questioned his words.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." He replied, lightly pulling his arm away.

I reluctantly let go of him, watching as he stepped away.

"Why are you up so early?" I partially whined, forcing my arms to push me up.

I ran my hand from the front of my head to the back, getting the hair out of my face.

"The blood collection starts early and I have to get there before it starts to make sure everything is in order." He explained as he pulled off his shirt.

OK, now I was awake.

I sat up, stretching my arms over my head as he stepped I to the closet.

"Oh, yea." I sighed out.

I was the day I was going to see everyone. Every single person that lived in the city.

And they were going to see me.

Maybe I could just wear something that I can hide my face in. After all its going to be cold.

"Xander is going to be here in about 15 minutes   so you need to be out of my bed by then." He spoke from the closet.

I sighed once again, throwing the blanket off of my body.

"OK," I said simply, not wanting to question his reasons.

If I had fifteen minutes then I'll just stay here for a little longer. After all, it doesn't take me that long to get ready.

And although my mind was awake, my body was still trying to catch up.

"I still can't believe that you two are brothers," I said quietly.

For some reason, my mind just wouldn't accept that fact.

It made so much sense but at the same time, it made zero.

"You're still thinking about that?" Nico asked as he walked out of the closet with his formal attire now on save for the long black dress jacket he was holding.

"Well yea," I began, "I just never would have guessed that if he hadn't had pointed it out."

Nico hummed as he fixed the collar of his shirt, seemingly amused by what I had said.

"Believe me, if we weren't related, I probably would have killed him by now."

I failed in hiding my smile.

"Then again he's kind of the only person in my immediate family that I want to be dealing with right now." He said casually

My eyes widened a bit, watching as he put on his dress jacket.

It was at times like these that I realized how little I actually knew about him and how little he talked about himself unless I asked him too.

"You don't like your parents?" I questioned.

Maybe he even had more siblings that I didn't know about.

Nico thought it over for a moment before lazily shrugging.

"My mom is fine. She raised me like any other mother would when she had time."

When she had time?

He continued.

"My dad was like any caring father should be until I reached my teenage years. Then it was all nonstop work and nonstop pressure to be just like him so I could take his place when the time came."

My brows furrowed as he spoke, trying to piece together what he was saying with stuff I already knew. Some of it wasn't making a lot of sense.

He was saying it all so normally so I couldn't even tell how he thought about what he was saying.

But still I wanted to know more, so I asked.

"What happened then?"

He looked back at me for a second.

"Then just like that, my parents were pretty much replaced with slaves and teachers that would coach me in the ways of etiquette and thousands of other things that I didn't give a shit about meanwhile Xander was out living his life like every other Vampire my age was."

OK now he was beginning to show some emotion, and it wasn't a very pleasant one.

Now even though I understood why he disliked them, there were still a couple things that didn't make sense.

Luckily he carried on.

"A couple hundred years passed and I still hadn't done what had to be done in order to take my father's place for no other reason than I just didn't want to, and he would just keep getting more and more aggravated. So the moment Xander told them that he wanted to move to this city for a while, they decided to make me tag along in hopes that I would find a wife."

My eyes were completely round as I listened.

"They sent me here to get a wife and I became a doctor instead. So guess they don't like me as much as I don't like them." He said with a shrug.

He actually shrugged.

He was talking about his troubles with his family and just shrugs it off...

"I see," I said, looking down at the deep maroon sheets.

I couldn't even imagine shrugging off my family.

Though it was very obvious that we both lived very different lives.

Still, there were a couple details in his story that didn't quite make sense.

What on earth kind of job would his father have that Nico would have to take his place for-

wait...

My head shot up towards Nico.

"Wait, you said something about Layla only wanting to marry you for the title and power right?" I questioned excitedly, finally believing that I had solved this mystery.

"Yea?" He responded.

Oh, my gosh.

I could actually feel the excitement building inside me.

"So that means that you're the son of a-"

"Khloe." He cut me off, his voice not necessarily annoyed, but pretty close.

It actually surprised me.

"I've already talked about my family more than enough today and really don't feel like dwelling on what my duty in that family is right now."

I just stared at him for a moment, unsure of what else I should do.

"Sorry..." Is what I managed to say.

Nico breathe out, forcing himself to relax and  running a hand through his hair.

"It's fine. Just hurry and get dressed. Xander will be here soon."