"Damn, Elvi," Teddy said with disgust as he shook off Karen's hold and moved back
between Mike and the booth. "That's not going to work. We all know you bit him. It
was his birthday."
"Did you see me bite him?" she asked grimly.
"No, you took him in the back room, but we saw the bite mark when he came back
out," Karen said.
Shaking her head urgently, Elvi corrected, "You saw a Band‐Aid on his neck. There was
no bite. We put the bandage on to make it look like he'd been bitten so his friends
wouldn't make fun of him, but the truth is he backed out."
"Oh now, that's just bad form," Mike complained.
"It's just wrong to try to make my son look like a coward to save your own life."
Elvi rolled her eyes. "He isn't a coward. Most of the boys back out. I didn't bite him."
When Mike looked uncertain, Karen scowled and asked, "Then why is he turning into a
vampire?"
"He's not turning into a vampire," Elvi assured her.
"He sleeps all day, is up all night, and won't eat anything or—"
"Oh, you mean he's being a typical teenager," Elvi interrupted her list of attributes. "I
was a mother once too, Karen. Trust me, sleeping late, staying up late, and not eating
his veggies, but instead going out and eating junk food with friends is standard
procedure."
"He has the fangs," Karen said grimly.
Elvi snorted with disbelief. There was no way Owen could be a vampire. She hadn't bit
him. Besides, according to Victor, it wasn't biting them that would do it anyway, it was
sharing your blood. And she hadn't shared her blood with anyone.
"He does," Karen insisted, obviously infuriated at her disbelief. Straightening, she
craned her neck to try to peer over the crowd surrounding them. A look of satisfaction
crossed her face when she spotted her son. "Owen! Get over here and show Elvi your
fangs."
Elvi followed her gaze and spotted the teenager shaking his head wildly as he tried to
duck behind Mr. Albrecht, the high school principal.
Eyes narrowing, Elvi said, "Owen Knight, get over here now, please."
Owen peered out from behind Mr. Albrecht, eyes wide with panic. He shook his head
again.
"Don't make me send Victor over there," she threatened. That had the effect she'd
hoped and after a brief hesitation, the boy slunk out from behind the principal and
started reluctantly forward, weaving through the crowd toward the booth.
"Gee, thanks. Make me the heavy," Victor said by her ear, his hands settling heavily on
her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," Elvi murmured. "But you're scarier than I am."
"And I always will be," Victor agreed. "Besides, there's no need to apologize. This is all
very informative. It tells me that ' Wait 'til your father gets home' will be something our
children hear a lot of."
Elvi glanced at him with a start. "Children? Is that your idea of a proposal?"
Rather than answer, Victor gestured in front of her. "Owen has arrived."
Setting aside the subject of their future, Elvi turned to peer at the teenage boy. A small
frown plucked at her eyebrows when she saw how pale he looked. Part of it was his
fear, but another part wasn't, she decided, as she noted a streak in the white by his
eyebrow. Mouth tightening, she leaned over the counter and ran a finger over his
cheek. When she took it away, the tip of the finger was covered with white face
makeup.
"Teenagers," Victor muttered with amusement.
Elvi let a little sigh slip through her lips and turned her disappointed gaze to meet
Owen's. "Let's see these fangs."
Owen closed his mouth more tightly and shook his head again.
"Owen," she growled, "open."
His anxious gaze slid to Victor. Whatever he saw there, made him promptly open his
mouth.
Elvi gaped at the canine teeth revealed, and then cast her glare out to encompass the
three men who had been creeping up on Mike and Karen. "Edward. Harper.
Alessandro… get over here!"
The three immortals glanced at each other, then shook their heads and gave up their
positions to approach the booth. Rather than walk around to the side entrance,
Edward simply swung the hinged countertop up to lean against the frame, then
entered followed by Harper and Alessandro.
"What is it?" Edward asked as soon as he was standing in front of Elvi.
Elvi propped her hands on her hips and demanded, "Which one of you turned him?"
"Er…" Mike moved forward to stand beside his son to remind her, "You did, Elvi, when
you bit him on his birthday."
Elvi turned her gaze to him with exasperation. "You can't turn someone by biting them,