On the bright side, she supposed she wouldn't have to worry about being widowed
again with any of these men. They, like her, were already dead.
Grimacing, Elvi moved to sit on the wicker couch. Drawing her feet up under her, she
closed her eyes and savored the best day she'd had in five years.
She could eat.
She would no longer feel like an outsider at social functions. If nothing else happened
this week, Elvi would be grateful for that.
A tap at the sunroom door made her start and Elvi glanced over sharply to see Victor
standing outside the glass door. Her heart immediately started hammering in her chest
and she could actually feel her hands growing sweaty. Squeezing those hands closed,
she forced herself to take a deep breath. This reaction to the man was beyond
disturbing. She'd like to blame it on some chemical reaction to special pheromones put
out by a male vampire, but she didn't seem to have this reaction to the other male
vampires now in her home. Elvi almost wished she did. She was too damned old to be
acting like a love‐struck teenager. Unfortunately, while she was sixty‐two years old,
she looked twenty‐five and he made her feel about sixteen.
Shaking her head at herself, Elvi stood and moved to open the door. She managed
what she hoped was a politely enquiring expression and waited for him to speak,
afraid that if she opened her mouth it would just be to blurt out something stupid.
"You forgot your ankle bracelet." He held out one hand, opening it to reveal the belled
anklet cradled in his fingers. Elvi had taken it off by the fire when the constant jangle
had finally got to her. She'd set it on the ground beside her chair and apparently left it
there.
"Thank you," she murmured, blushing when she saw the way her fingers were
trembling as she took it from him.
As she slid the anklet into her pocket, Victor raised his other hand, revealing two
wineglasses and a half‐bottle of wine. He had the bottle by the neck and the two
delicate goblets by the stems, all caught in the fingers of one hand. "This is all that's
left. It seems a shame to waste it. It should be just enough for two glasses, I think."
Elvi almost said no and closed the door to avoid the discomfort she felt in his presence,
but there were so many questions she wanted to ask… besides, as uncomfortable as
she was with her attraction to him, it also made her want to be near him. Relieving him
of the two goblets, she moved aside for him to enter.
"This is nice," he murmured, peering around the sun‐room.
Elvi followed his gaze over the wicker furniture in the dark. The only light came from
the open door to her room, but she expected his eyesight was as sharp as her own.
This soft glow was more than enough to see by. She supposed it was how he'd known
she was up here.
"How are you feeling?" Victor asked, settling on the couch and holding out a hand for
the glasses.
"A little woozy," Elvi admitted quietly as she handed them over. "I haven't had a drop
to drink in five years, and it went straight to my head. In fact, I suppose I really
shouldn't have any more."
"One more should be all right," he said quietly, pouring the wine. He handed her a
glass, picked up the other, and sat back to peer at her.
The silence that filled the room as they sipped their wine seemed to dance along Elvi's
nerves. She was terribly aware of his nearness and the delicious male scent of him. She
didn't know what aftershave he wore, but she'd like to buy some and sprinkle it in her
coffin so she could bury her face in the satin pillow and breathe it in all night long
while she slept.
"It seems obvious that you haven't been trained properly in what you can and can't do.
Why is that?"
Victor's sudden question sent Elvi's ponderings of his aftershave flying and she
stiffened as she took in his words. It was obvious she hadn't been trained? There was
training for vampires? Like a vampire boot camp or something?
"What do you mean?" she asked finally, and then sat up a little straighter as she
realized he was saying she appeared as ignorant as she felt. "What gave me away?"
Victor arched an eyebrow. "For one, you thought you couldn't eat food."
"Oh, yes." Elvi flushed. She supposed that was an obvious giveaway, but really, how
was she supposed to know what she could and couldn't do? None of the vampires ever
ate or drank anything but blood in the movies and television shows. At least not the
ones she and Mabel had seen when Elvi had first turned and they'd done all their
research.
"And," Victor added solemnly, drawing her attention back to him, "you obviously don't
realize it is against our laws to bite mortals."
Elvi stiffened with alarm. "What? We have laws?"