Sterling Silver (Sterling Hunter Series Book 1)

Chapter 16

Emmeline scowled and grabbed the remote, pausing her drama show and gestured at the popcorn all over her bed. "Look what you made me do," she pouted.

Sebastian scowled back at her and leaned against the door frame, folding his arms. He tried to keep his composure but that was hard in front of her. Emmy knew him better than anyone else ever would. They'd grown up together. She'd seen him when he was just a little rascal of a boy with mud on his face and messy hair. He'd seen her at her wildest. Running around barefoot in just her petticoats and diving into the dirty lake. He used to smuggle her out of the house with their brother and sneak her down the lake with them.

And now there she was, sitting in front of him as a beautiful immortal vampire. She would forever be the sixteen-year-old girl she'd died as and she would never again be the innocent human Sebastian had loved so dearly. Her pretty heart-shaped face scrunched up in annoyance as she hopped off the bed and brushed the popcorn and kernels onto the floor. "What are you doing here Sebastian? I thought I would have to track you down. Not the other way around."

Sebastian took her in, surprised by how different and yet so much the same she looked. Last time he'd seen her she had been wearing a blue and pink Edwardian evening gown. Her curly gold hair had been all bunched up in a pink hat as they were outside at one of Alistair's many parties. Now she wore a high waisted navy skirt dotted with orange flowers and an orange collared top. Fashionable and vintage. Her once long hair went to her shoulders in wispy gold curls.

She walked around the bed and stopped in front of him, folding her arms and giving him one of her defiant looks. Sebastian flashed her a fanged smile. "Well an almost dead hunter showed up on my doorstep yesterday evening and I figured Alistair had something to do with it. I had no idea you were doing his dirty work now. How very low of you Emmy."

Emmeline's lips twisted into disagreeable scowl and she glared at him. "You have no right to judge me Seb. You're on the wrong side. A traitor to your own kind. You left me when I needed you most."

It took all Sebastian had to keep his composure. He wanted to find Alistair and rip his head off for deluding and destroying his little sister. "No, I do not get to judge you. I've done plenty of horrible things in my lifetime... But that doesn't mean I want to see my little sister corrupted. And don't start on the whole leaving you. Alistair practically ran me out of your life. You were a danger to me Em. Or do you not remember?"

Emmeline said nothing and Sebastian continued. "You attacked me and even still I said I would stand by you. Help you. But when push came to shove you chose him. So, as I have no right to judge you, you have no right to judge me leaving. I couldn't stand by and watch as a monster ruined my sister."

She folded her arms. "I was ruined the minute I died Sebastian. You just won't admit it."

He sighed, giving her a pinched expression. "I know Em. I know... But I didn't come here to argue with you. Did you try and kill that hunter yesterday or not?"

Emmeline shrugged her dainty shoulders and gave him a pointed, secretive look, her lips curling into a grin. A grin that looked exactly like Sebastian's. Charming and wicked, a double-edged sword. "If you must know I wasn't the one who fed off him. I did help though... to keep him occupied. And Alistair wouldn't send me to kill someone. He thinks more highly of me than that."

Sebastian sneered. "I doubt that very much."

Emmeline's lips puckered into a pout and she folded her arms like she used to when she was a spoiled little girl and didn't get her way. "I haven't even killed anyone in... well it's been far too long Sebastian so don't you go pointing that judgmental finger at me."