Victor nodded solemnly.
Elvi sat still, her mind whirling. Laws suggested some form of organization. It also
seemed to suggest there were more of their kind than she'd thought. Questions began
to whirl through her mind, but were pushed aside in favor of this business of breaking
a vampire law. Elvi hadn't ever in her life broken a law. She'd never even so much as
jaywalked. It didn't sit well that she'd unknowingly broken one.
"I didn't realize it was against our laws," she said quickly. "In fact, I didn't know there
were laws. I wasn't even sure there were others like me."
"I was afraid of that," Victor said, then cursed under his breath.
"You said 'laws'. Plural," she murmured. "What other laws are there?"
Victor opened his mouth, and then shook his head. "There's no sense telling you now.
You've been drinking for the first time in years and I'd probably just have to repeat
them in the evening when you wake up."
Elvi opened her mouth to protest, but he assured her, "I'll tell you all about them after
you've slept."
When she settled back in her seat with resignation, he smiled faintly and added,
"Speaking of which, I should probably let you get to bed."
Victor stood and moved to the door. Elvi followed, her gaze dropping of its own accord
to his behind. She managed to force it back up as he stepped through the door onto
the top step and turned back to say, "Before I go, though, I do need the answer to one
question."
"Yes?" she asked curiously.
"Who was your sire?"
Elvi frowned. "What exactly is a sire?" she asked with bewilderment. "Both you and
Alessandro have mentioned that word and I haven't a clue what it means."
"It means the one who made you," he explained. "The one who turned you into an
immortal."
"Oh," Elvi smiled faintly. She had a feeling she'd heard the phrase before this, probably
when she and Mabel had been researching vampires right after their return from
Mexico, but as it didn't apply to her, she'd let it slip her mind.
Realizing he was waiting for an answer, Elvi shook her head. "I didn't have a sire."
Victor stared at her nonplussed. "You had to have a sire… unless…" He paused, then
asked doubtfully, "You weren't born an immortal?"
Elvi laughed at the idea. "No, of course not. Five years ago I had gray hair and
wrinkles," she assured him. "But no one sired me."
"Someone had to," he insisted.
Elvi peered past him at the lightening sky, her mind automatically going back to the
period around her own death. It was a time she didn't like to think about, and in truth
was a terrible blur. All she remembered clearly was that she'd bitten Mabel and nearly
killed her while out of her head.
"Mabel and I went to Mexico," she said finally. "We were in a car accident and I woke
up several days later like this." Elvi forced a smiled, shifting uncomfortably when he
stared at her with incomprehension. "I guess you could say I'm an accidental vampire."
Forcing a smile, she murmured good night and pulled the door closed before he could
say anything more. Elvi didn't like to think about that time in her life and liked even
less to talk about it.
Slipping the lock closed, she turned and entered her bedroom, grimacing at the sight of
the coffin waiting there. She had a bit of a headache, and her tummy was
uncomfortably full, but she was relaxed for the first time in years, thanks to the wine,
and she was feeling a little less like a freak with so many of her kind around, yet had to
sleep in that blasted thing.
Muttering under her breath, Elvi ignored the dark wooden casket and moved into the
bathroom. She wanted a bath before bed, but it was late enough that she'd have to
make do with a quick wash. Afraid of collapsing into the semi death that daylight was
supposed to bring vampires, Elvi had never risked being out of her coffin after dawn.
She wasn't taking the chance tonight either. But tomorrow she would ask Victor what
else she could and couldn't do.
Frowning as she rinsed the soap from her face, Elvi realized it hadn't even occurred to
her that she could ask her questions of any of the men in her home, that all of them
would know the answers. She simply automatically thought to ask Victor. She wasn't
sure if that was representative of a comfort level with him she hadn't reached with the
others yet, or a simple preference in dealing with him, but suspected it was both. That
knowledge was enough to make her suddenly reluctant to ask her questions of him,
but it was becoming woefully obvious that despite being a vampire for five years, she
was terribly ignorant of what she could and couldn't do. Who knew there were laws