join them.
Elvi blinked, but noticed that DJ also appeared surprised by the request as he glanced
at his friend.
Victor shrugged at his amazement. "It smells good."
Elvi wasn't surprised he could smell it from across the room. Her own senses had
become extremely strong after the turn. She was confused, however, by the request.
"Elvi?" Mabel opened the screen door. Her gaze slid suspiciously from DJ to Victor as
she stepped inside, and she said, "You were taking so long I started to worry."
"I'm fine," Elvi assured her, then turned to glance from one man to the other and
repeated carefully, "You want wine?"
When both men nodded, she exchanged a glance with Mabel. The other woman
moved closer to her side and both of them crossed their arms over their chests as they
eyed the pair.
"So, what's the joke?" Mabel asked grimly.
When the men raised their eyebrows in question, Elvi shifted impatiently and said,
"Vampires don't consume anything but blood. You aren't real vampires. So what's this
about? You thought it would be fun to—"
Her words died abruptly when DJ suddenly opened his mouth. His teeth looked
perfectly normal… until his canines slid out and down, becoming long, pointy fangs.
"Oh," she breathed.
"We prefer the term immortals to vampires," Victor announced as DJ retracted his
teeth. "And we can eat and drink things other than blood, though many of us stop out
of boredom after several hundred years."
"We can eat?" Elvi echoed faintly. It was really the only thing he'd said that stuck in her
head. "I can eat?"
"You didn't know?" DJ asked, his teeth now back in place.
"Dracula never ate," Mabel pointed out, confusion and concern on her face as she
peered at Elvi.
"Dracula is a fictional character," Victor said dryly.
"Elvi, are you all right?" Mabel asked worriedly, touching her arm.
Elvi was silent, her head bowed. When she lifted it, she had to blink to see through the
tears blurring her eyes. "I can eat."
"Yes, honey, it would seem so." Mabel patted her shoulder.
Elvi closed her eyes, her head spinning. She hadn't eaten a thing in five years and that
more than anything else had set her apart from others. It was only after her turning
that she'd realized how much people relied on food for social occasions. Birthdays,
weddings, showers… they were celebrated with feasts, or cakes, or some form of food.
Friends even met over coffee or drinks. Every meeting between people somehow
revolved around food or drink and that had left her always on the outside. Unable to
do either, or so she'd thought, her presence at such functions had often left the others
feeling uncomfortable and guilty as they ate or drank in front of her.
That was the emotional side of it. The other side was that Elvi loved food. She always
had. She loved the smell, the look, the texture, the taste. She loved to cook and she
loved to eat. Going without the last five years had been like some sort of torture.
Needless torture if what these two men said was true. She could eat.
That thought screamed through her head like a banshee, drowning out every other
thought in her head with its howling. Elvi suddenly turned to the refrigerator and
dragged the door open, only to stare at the contents with dismay.
"Oh, Mabel," she moaned unhappily.
"What?" the woman moved to her side, but seemed to understand the moment her
eyes moved over the refrigerator contents. Voice apologetic, she said, "I'm on that diet
Dr. Wilburs put me on."
Elvi just stood shaking her head mournfully. Her mind was shrieking cheesecake and
the refrigerator held nothing but green things; lettuce, celery, spinach, broccoli. She so
wasn't having something green and healthy as her first food in five years.
"I need to go to the grocery store," she decided, slamming the fridge door closed.
"What?" Mabel asked with surprise. "The grocery store is closed at this hour."
"Not A&P," she said, pushing through the trio to hurry around the counter. "It's open
twenty‐four hours." Stopping at the door to the garage, she whirled around and asked,
"Where are the car keys?"
"Just a minute, I'll go with you," Mabel said abruptly. "I just have to find my shoes and
purse and—"
"What about the fire?" Elvi asked. She really didn't want to have to wait while Mabel
got ready. The woman would insist on changing, and freshening her lipstick, then she
wouldn't remember where she'd left her purse and so on, and by the time she was
ready to go, Elvi could have been and returned and eaten half a cheesecake.