to find that she'd rushed out of the house so quickly, she hadn't brought it with her.
Guessing at the problem from her dismayed grasping at the thin air where her purse
should have been, four men's hands had suddenly appeared before her, each holding a
credit card.
Victor had ended up doing the honors, glaring at the others until they put away their
own cards and wallets.
"It's bigger than it looks," Harper said as they fit the last bag into the trunk. "Perhaps I
should look into getting one of these."
Elvi didn't comment, but did wonder what these men did. Two owned cars that
probably cost more than her house and another was casually considering getting one.
Come to think of it, the roadster Alessandro had stepped out of hadn't been cheap
either. It seemed Mabel had only picked the wealthier vampires for her.
Elvi's glance caught on a car pulling into the parking lot, and stared, sure she
recognized it as it parked under the lights. When the driver opened the door and got
out, she caught her breath, and hissed, "Duck!"
Much to her relief, the men paid heed and ducked next to her behind Edward's BMW.
All but Victor, Elvi realized when she glanced to her side.
Looking down at where they crouched on the ground, Victor asked, "Is there a
problem?"
"No." She grabbed his arm and dragged him down with them. "Just someone I'd rather
avoid."
"That wouldn't be Father O'Flaherty, would it?" Victor asked dryly.
Elvi was surprised that he knew who the man was, but said, "He's really a dear old
thing, but he hasn't taken my turning as well as the others. It's understandable, I
guess."
"Is it?" Victor asked grimly.
"Well, he's a minister and I'm a vampire," she said simply.
Victor muttered something under his breath and straightened.
"Hey," Elvi hissed and stood upright to catch at his arm, then paused when she saw
that Father O'Flaherty was entering the grocery store. "Oh… I guess we can go."
Elvi spent the ride home trying to figure out what she would eat first. It was a difficult
decision, but didn't feel as urgent as her need to get to the grocery store had been.
She and the men had eaten six boxes of the cookies as they'd gone through the
grocery store. Now Elvi was feeling almost uncomfortably full, both her head and
stomach aching. It was just her brain that still wanted more.
"Dear God! What did you do? Buy out the grocery store?" Mabel exclaimed, entering
the kitchen from the deck with DJ on her heels as Elvi entered from the garage with
the men in tow. All of them were loaded down with grocery bags.
"I couldn't make up my mind," Elvi said with embarrassment as the men began to set
down their burdens.
"We'll get the rest," Victor announced and led the men back out through the garage.
"There's more?" Mabel asked with dismay. "Elvi, where are we going to put all this?
We only have two refrigerators."
"It's not all perishable," Elvi assured her, grabbing up a bag with ice cream and moving
to the freezer. "The rest is mostly boxes and cans. We just brought the cold stuff in
first so it wouldn't go bad."
Mabel was shaking her head, but bent to pick up a bag and help.
"I hope you don't intend to eat all of this at once," she said with concern as she began
to empty the bag she'd picked up. "You'll make yourself sick."
"No, of course not," Elvi assured her, and was pretty sure it was true. She wanted to
eat something, but she really was quite full. She supposed after five years with nothing
in it, her stomach had shrunk to the size of a pea and she'd stretched it out with the
cookies. Did she really want to stretch it further?
Yes, came the resounding answer in her head. Just a little further. Something small.
But what? she wondered as the men returned with the rest of the groceries.
Elvi tried not to feel guilty at the excess of food as they continued unpacking. Instead
she concentrated on what she should eat. Where should she start? Cheesecake?
Chocolate? Ice cream? Soft tacos? Spaghetti? Steak? Pepperoni? Knackwurst?
Everything was sounding good to her.
"Perhaps a selection of the cheese and crackers," Alessandro murmured, his
expression sympathetic as he watched her peer at the groceries with confusion. "That
and the nice glass of wine by the fire."
"Cheese," Elvi murmured with relief. That was close to cheesecake, but better for her,
wasn't it? But not too healthy… And crackers were supposed to be good for settling
the stomach.
"Good idea, Alessandro," she said with a smile.
With Mabel and the men helping, it was no time before the bags were empty and the