Hate to Love You(44)

“Well?” Marcia said impatiently.

“Uh-huh.”

She snatched the remote and paused the DVD. “You do realise you’ve got the hots for a bunch of guys who menstruate.”

I put my hands over my ears.

Marcia smirked. “Vampires don’t produce any body fluids of their own. They get their fluids from the blood of their victims. Because they’re dead, right? Which by the way is pretty disgusting—lusting after dead guys, I mean. If you went to the morgue you’d change your tune.”#p#分页标题#e#

“Okay, thanks for that. Can I watch now?”

She pointed the remote at the TV but didn’t unfreeze the picture. “When vampires cry, the blood streams out of their eyes.”

“White noise,” I chanted.

“And when a vampire ejaculates it isn’t semen he spurts. It’s b-l-o-o-d. Like he’s menstruating out of his penis. A dead man menstruating with the blood of his even deader victims and spurting that into you. What if he had filthy tramp for dinner? Or he couldn’t get fresh O-positive so he sucked on the murder victim they pulled out of the Thames?”

She released the pause button and went to her bedroom, leaving me deflated. I heard her ask Fleur Anise what she’d had for dinner and I was glad I hadn’t given in to my goddaughter’s demands for chocolate biscuits. Marcia always checks first thing and Fleur Anise hasn’t learned how to lie yet.

I continued watching but it was no use. As Bill pumped into Sookie, all I could think of was blood and death and how she’d have to do a massive clean-up afterwards. I turned the TV off just as Marcia came back from her bedroom.

“Where the hell am I supposed to get my kicks now?” I huffed.

She sank down next to me, shut her eyes and stretched out her legs. “There’s no point falling for werewolves or warlocks either, because men are all bastards. I’m going to be a lesbian.”

I stuck my lips together and pressed tightly. Marcia had loved being married and she’d loved Trevor. Unfortunately, he’d loved a whole bunch of other people as well as her. When she surprised him having a threesome with the neighbour and another woman, Trevor said he’d married too young and days later he walked out. He blamed Marcia for getting pregnant and said having a child had held him back from landing a Premier League contract. In one of those unfair twists of fate he was now playing for a famous team and dating a gorgeous celebrity model. As for Marcia? Well, she’s in praying mantis mode so I kept my mouth shut.

Besides, I’m hardly an authority on happy relationships. Lots of guys wanted to have sex with me but weren’t interested in anything else. They might have been, eventually, but when you’re cursed with the ability see peoples’ truths, why stick around and find out?

I’m not bitter about it, just resigned. I don’t lump all men together in the bastard pile like Marcia does. I can’t imagine not wanting to have sex again, although nothing has compared to—

I cut the thought off hastily. It was bad enough I couldn’t control my dreams. My memories didn’t need to intrude on my daylight reality. “Did they mention ‘TB’ at the interview?” Marcia said.

She equates “Trash at the Bash” to a fatal, contagious disease. I gave her the condensed version until we got to the bit about working with James.

“Are you nuts?”

Crap, I deliberately hadn’t told her that James worked at Flintfire to avoid her reaction. She jumped off the sofa and put her hands on her hips, glaring at me. Oh God, when she does that I know I’m in for a lecture. And if she starts pacing I’ll never hear the end of it.

“They are going to haul you down the clink again and this time they won’t take the cuffs off! You’ve been lucky so far but this exceeds everything else you’ve done.”

True, but with Francesca taking out a restraining order against me on Ryan’s behalf, I wasn’t allowed within two hundred metres of his primary school or James’s house, Matham Manor.

I stuck my chin out. “I know what I’m doing.”

Marcia started pacing. “Yeah, ruining any chances you might have of getting what you want.”#p#分页标题#e#

Like I ever had a chance anyway.

“James’s revenge has lasted long enough. I’m going to wear him down, make him so sick of hearing my voice he finally gives in.”

“Antagonising him is your new plan to convince him to let you see Ryan?” she said incredulously. “He holds all the cards where your son is concerned, remember?”

“He can hold ’em, shuffle and deal, but that doesn’t mean I can’t trump him,” I said, my anger rising. “Just because he’s a posh blue blood doesn’t mean he can get away with it forever. He thinks he’s better than I am just because he has money.”