The Accidental Vampire (22 page)

"The men all went to a play at the school with your neighbors… Mark and Sharon is it?"

"Mike and Karen," Elvi corrected, not at all surprised the couple had extended an invitation. The Knights were a lovely couple. They were always offering help with things around the house, or inviting her and Mabel places. Elvi wasn't surprised they were generous enough to extend those invitations to include the men. Their generosity and thoughtfulness were part of why they were so popular in town and why their son Owen's birthday celebration had been so well attended.

"And Mabel and DJ are at the restaurant," Victor continued. "She said to tell you you're not expected there tonight. She wanted you to pick one of the men and spend the evening getting to know him."

Elvi blinked. "But you said the guys went to a play."

"Yes. As you weren't up, I made an arbitrary decision for you and told the others tonight you were getting to know me," he announced unapologetically. "I thought that way I could finally tell you our laws and rules."

"Oh." Elvi bit her lip. So much for being able to avoid him.

"Feed," Victor ordered, gesturing to the bag she still held in her hand.

Relieved at the distraction, Elvi allowed her teeth to slip out and popped the bag into her mouth, then avoided Victor's eyes as she tried to sort out what to do. It was her gaze sliding over the fireplace in the living room that did it. It was a very ornate fireplace with ceramic tiles up each side and a carved wooden mantel. There was also a mirror in a beautifully carved framed that belonged above it, but it had been removed and stored in the garage five years ago. Now the empty space gave Elvi an idea.

She waited until she'd finished a second bag of blood, then grabbed her purse and announced, "Well, that's fine, but we'll have to talk while shopping."

"What?" Victor asked with surprise.

"I need to go shopping," Elvi said patiently as she moved toward the garage door.

"Mabel and DJ took the car," Victor announced, bringing her to a halt, and then added, "we'll have to take my car. I had the men move theirs so I could park at the back in case we need it."

Relieved he wasn't arguing, Elvi smiled and continued out of the house.

"So, what are we shopping for this time?" Victor asked as he parked in the local Wal-Mart parking lot several minutes later.

"A mirror," Elvi said. "I haven't been able to use one in five years. It would be nice to be able to see that my hair isn't standing on end, and to do my makeup."

They fell silent as they entered the store and sought out the section they needed. Elvi wanted a full-length mirror. Actually, eventually she wanted a proper bathroom mirror too, as well as to have the mirror in the garage put back over the mantel and so on. But for the moment, a full-length mirror seemed the more sensible buy. Reaching the aisle where the mirrors were displayed, Elvi approached slowly, almost afraid at what she would find, but then she steeled herself and forced herself to walk in front of the first one, only to pause with amazement.

She was staring at a woman with long, vibrant red hair that fell around a lovely face in soft waves. Her complexion was perfect, and so was her figure.

Damn, she was a fox, Elvi realized with amazement. She looked like Casey. How had she never noticed that her daughter had taken so much after her?

Movement in the mirror caught her eye and Elvi managed to tear her gaze from herself to focus on Victor as he stepped up behind her so they stood framed in the mirror, a handsome couple. They seemed to compliment each other.

"So," she murmured, forcing her eyes away from him and continuing along the selection of mirrors. "What about these laws?"

Victor frowned at her question. "I don't know if Wal-Mart is quite the right place to be discussing—"

"Why not?" Elvi interrupted with amusement as she peered over the various mirrors offered. "Everyone in town knows about me, and these are laws you're going to tell me, not the facts of life."

"Yes, but what if someone from out of town is shopping here?" he said grimly.

Elvi shrugged. "Then talk quietly. We're alone in this aisle right now. If someone joins us, stop."

Victor hesitated, then she heard him let out a breath before he said, "Very well." Still, he paused for a moment to glance around before saying uncomfortably, "Well, you know the most important one."

"No biting mortals," Elvi recited, amused by his discomfort. She supposed he was used to keeping everything secret and clandestine and thought she was probably lucky she hadn't had to. When Victor remained silent, she murmured, "So far I like the laws. At least that one, it gives me an excuse to put an end to the Birthday Bite celebrations. They've always been more trouble than anything else, but they were expected and I didn't want to disappoint."

She saw Victor's mouth tighten as he moved past her and wondered what she'd said to upset him. Before she could ask, he was stopping at a mirror. He ran one hand down the dark wood frame, his fingers gliding over intricate carving. "This one would suit the house."

"Yes." Elvi paused to examine the mirror. The carving was very similar to the woodwork in her house. It would suit very well indeed.

Victor watched her walk around the standing mirror, and then continued with the lesson. "One of the other more important laws to you as a woman is that you're allowed to have only one child every hundred years."

Elvi froze, her gaze searching out his face in the mirror. "What?"

Victor's reflection grimaced. "I know it seems harsh, but we need to keep the population down. If we didn't, with our life expectancy we'd quickly outnumber our blood source."

Elvi waved that away impatiently. She couldn't care less about the reasons behind the law. "Are you saying we can have children?"

"Yes." Victor tilted his head, examining her expression.

Elvi bit her lip, then asked more specifically, "What about if we couldn't, or had trouble having them as mortals?"

Victor examined her face, and then murmured, "Brunswick said your daughter died in a car accident. Did you have trouble conceiving her?"

Elvi moved away, pretending to look at another mirror, but in truth she wasn't seeing anything in the store just then. She was seeing the past.

"I always wanted a lot of children," she admitted quietly. "Five or six at least. But I had six miscarriages before Casey was born, and then nearly died giving birth to her. They said no more children."

Elvi didn't hear Victor approach, but he was suddenly there, his hand moving soothingly up and down her back as she continued, "Casey was doubly precious because of that. She was the perfect baby; always good tempered, rarely cried, and she started sleeping through the night almost at once. And she stayed perfect, every parent's dream. She grew into a beautiful young woman, never going wild or breaking curfew. She got good grades, had lots of friends, was a hard worker, and got a scholarship to university."

"Casey," Victor murmured. "You named Casey Cottage after her."

Elvi nodded.

"She's dead," he said quietly.

It wasn't a question, but Elvi treated it as if it were. Nodding, she said, "She used to come home from university on weekends. Usually I picked her up from the train station, but the last time it was Harry, my husband, who went to get her while I stayed home making a special dinner for her." Her hand tightened on the mirror frame. "Halfway home, he suffered a stroke and they crashed. The stroke killed Harry at once they think, but Casey—" Elvi paused and bit her lip when her voice broke, then took a deep breath and, ignoring the tears suddenly veiling her eyes, said, "Casey was trapped in the car. They had to use the Jaws of Life. She was awake and in terrible pain, but lost consciousness by the time they got her out. She died in the hospital that night."

"I'm sorry," Victor murmured. Sliding his arms around her waist from behind, he rested his chin on her head and held her as she wept silently. Then she pulled free and turned to face him.

"Are you saying I might be able to have another child?" A new baby wouldn't replace Casey, but it might help to fill the hole her loss left behind.

Victor nodded solemnly. "If you wish it. You won't have problems conceiving. The nanos will already have seen to it that your reproductive system is in perfect order. And they'll be immortal children."

Elvi closed her eyes as silent sobs shuddered through her. She'd never imagined she'd ever again hold a baby in her arms. Not her own. Now he was not only telling her she could, but that it would be an immortal baby she wouldn't need fear losing to childhood illness, or drowning, or car accidents.

If only she'd been turned before the accident, Elvi thought suddenly. If only she'd been able to turn her daughter. If only…

"Elvi?"

Giving a start of surprise. Elvi blinked her tears away and turned to peer at the woman moving up the aisle toward her. Louise Ascot. She was the same age as Elvi, but an inch or two shorter and thin as a bird with short salt-and-pepper hair and a look of concern on her face.

"Are you all right?" she asked, stopping beside Elvi. "Why are you crying?"

Elvi groaned inwardly. Louise had gone to school with Mabel and Elvi and had been a huge gossip even then. She'd only got worse with age. She was the worst possible person to run into in Wal-Mart while sobbing like a baby. The story would be all over town within fifteen minutes.

"I'm fine, Louise," she said, dashing away the tears and managing a smile.

She obviously didn't believe her and glared at Victor as she said, "Well, okay, but I hope you know that if
someone"
—her glare deepened on Victor—"were bothering you, there isn't a person in Port Henry who would hesitate to take care of him."

"Fortunately, there isn't, though," Elvi assured her, then turned to Victor and said, "I think I'll take the wooden one that suits the house. Shall we go get a cart?"

Victor shook his head. "I can carry it."

He ignored Louise's continued glares and bent to pull one of the boxed mirrors off the shelf, then started back up the aisle with it.

Murmuring "
good-bye
," Elvi quickly followed.

They waited in line, bought the mirror, and drove home in silence, but by the time they pulled into the driveway, Elvi couldn't stand it anymore and blurted, "I'm sorry."

Victor shut off the engine and turned to her with surprise. "What for?"

"For Louise, and for crying in Wal-Mart."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "You're not responsible for what other people do, and it didn't upset me that you were crying." He frowned. "Well, I mean I was upset that you were upset, but… you can cry anywhere you want… if you want to," he finished, obviously unused to dealing with such matters.

"Harry didn't like it when I got emotional in public," Elvi said suddenly. "Especially crying. It embarrassed him."

"He was young," Victor said quietly. "After a century or two you learn there is very little worth getting embarrassed about in life. Everyone does foolish things, everyone makes mistakes, no one is perfect."

Elvi smiled faintly over the bit about Harry being young. He'd been the same age as she. Fifty-seven at the time of his death. Hardly young by mortal standards, but a babe to an immortal over two thousand years old.

The brush of Victor's finger along her cheek drew her attention back as he asked, "Are you all right? I didn't mean to bring up sad memories for you."

"I'm okay," Elvi said and gave a shrug. "Life can't always be cheesecake."

Victor grinned and reminded her, "You still haven't eaten that cheesecake you wanted so desperately."

"No." She smiled, and then added with surprise, "In fact, I didn't even think to have breakfast tonight before we left. I guess I've gotten out of the habit."

"Is that what it is?" Victor asked mildly. "I thought maybe you were just trying to avoid being alone with me in the house for fear I'd start kissing you again."

Elvi sucked in a breath, her eyes widening at the challenge in his voice. The air in the car was suddenly supercharged as they stared at each other. She didn't know what to say or do, but couldn't seem to look away from him. Her eyes suddenly had an agenda of their own and were focused on his mouth as she recalled the way they'd felt as they claimed her.

"Would you have?" she asked finally, surprised at how husky her voice sounded.

"Most definitely," Victor growled.

Elvi nodded. "Would you now?"

The words came out of her mouth completely unbidden, startling her so much that she almost bit her own tongue. If someone had told her that Victor had slipped into her mind and influenced her to say the words, she wouldn't have had any trouble at all believing it. In fact, she already half believed it now, but didn't care because it was what she wanted. It's what she'd wanted ever since the episode in the kitchen, which was the real reason she'd been avoiding being alone with him. Elvi had feared jumping him herself and that just wasn't in her nature. However, the man was addictive, he was a drug she was jonesing for, badly.

Much to her relief, Victor took up the invitation. Leaning forward, he unsnapped her seat belt, letting it slip back into its holder as he kissed her. It was not tentative. There was nothing uncertain in his approach. One moment they were seated on opposite sides of the car, the next his mouth was on hers, her seat was dropping back, and he was on top of her as his tongue slid between her lips.

It was as if he were just picking up from where he'd left off the other night. There was no slow buildup, no coaxing. His mouth was hot and desperate, his tongue demanding, and it spurred a similar response in her. Elvi was suddenly on fire. Slipping her arms around his back, she clutched at his shirt, her body pushing upward, eager to press itself against his as she let her own tongue join the fray.

"God, I want you," Victor muttered, tearing his mouth from hers and trailing kisses across her cheek to the pulse point below her ear.

"Yes," Elvi breathed, one hand slipping around to run over his chest through the white T-shirt he wore. "Yes."