William was a vampire. She was a human. A witch, but still human. And William had a strict no-dating-humans policy.

A young man entered the kitchen, at the same time running his gel covered hands through his spiky hair.

"Good morning, Michael," said the vampire to the young man, who was Melinda's twenty-three-year-old brother.

Michael was about to reply when a voice startled them from the hallway, behind them.

"Charlie!" Melinda raced past Michael and jumped into her eldest brother's flannel covered arms.

Charlie twirled his sister in a circle, hugging her fiercely. He was not just older than her and Michael, but much larger, too. A broad shouldered, rugged man of twenty-six.

"Hiya, Kiddo."

"Ugh, you reek!" she choked out sarcastically. "More so than the potion, and that's not an easy feat!"

"That's what happens when you take a three-day fishing trip," Charlie said, letting her slide back down to the floor. "I had to come home before the full moon." His words meaning: if it wasn't rising soon, I'd still be gone.

"It's just nice to have you back in the house again."

"Which just proves my point that you're still not getting out enough, Sis."

"Don't start with me again about that! I'm getting out plenty. Remember that date I went on, like, a month ago," her voice trailed as she recalled the date had actually been over two months previous.

"My point exactly." Charlie poked her side, affectionately.

Melinda had tried to forget that last date. It ended badly. Not that it had started all that great. But she'd given in and gone home with him. He'd proceeded to call her something along the lines of adorable. She was pretty sure when he said adorable, he meant chubby.

But it was the way he'd spoken his goodbye. Like he'd done her some charitable favor by going out with her. She'd left that part out when telling her brothers how the date went. The guy was a total Jerkface. Of course, if her brothers or William had found out how Jerkface had treated her, they'd probably have killed the guy. Or at the very least, injured him severely.

Charlie grabbed a mug of coffee and nodded toward his brother Michael, who refused to return the gesture. Charlie had hoped to avoid another argument so soon after arriving home.

As it turned out, Michael didn't feel like arguing either. "Meeting Emily for coffee," he explained, promptly leaving.

Charlie shook his head, disappointed.

"Give him time," the vampire advised kindly.

"Why does he have to be so darn stubborn?"

Melinda snorted. "Um, gee. Maybe because he's a Howard."

"Exactly. He is a Howard, and like it or not we have a responsibility to uphold."

"Michael gets that, Charlie," Melinda cut him off before his rant continued. "He's just not as accepting of his fate as we are," she added dramatically. "He sort of has a point though. I mean, why should he be forced to spend his life protecting the Isle, just because he's a Howard?"

"We don't get to make that choice, Melinda." Charlie stated it with finality. He glanced at the vampire, searching for approval, but William's face showed no sign of his true feelings on the matter. Charlie had not thought it possible, but the vampire appeared distracted.