The Accidental Vampire(51)

pierced the air in front of her face. Blinking, she stared at the feathered shaft

trembling between them, and then followed it to the tip that was buried in the sign on

the side of the building beside them.

"What—argh!" Elvi ended with surprise as Victor suddenly pushed her to the ground,

coming down on top of her.

Covering her with his own body, he raised his head and peered around, eyes narrowed

as he tried to spot the source of the arrow that had just missed them.

"Er… Victor?" Elvi pushed at his shoulder ineffectually. Finally, she gasped, "I can't

breathe!"

Victor lifted himself slightly and peered down at her with concern. "Are you all right?"

"Of course. A little bruised from being thrown to the ground and jumped on maybe,

but otherwise fine," Elvi said dryly. "Can we get up now?"

"No." He glanced around again.

"Why not?" she asked with real bewilderment and he turned his face to stare at her

with disbelief.

"Why not? Has it escaped your attention that someone just shot an arrow at you?"

"Me?" Elvi snorted with disbelief and rolled to the side, knocking his arm out from

under him and leaving him collapsing to the ground as she stood and brushed herself

down. "If they were shooting at anyone, it would be you. You're the one not from

around here. I've lived in this area my whole life without a problem," she pointed out,

and then added, "but no one's shooting at us. Why should they? We're immortal and

can't die."

Giving up on her clothes, she straightened and eyed him where he was just sitting up

on the ground. Hands propped on her hips, Elvi asked, "Didn't you see the business

sign next door as we drove past? It's the archery club. Obviously, someone isn't a very

good aim."

Shaking her head, she turned and started back around the building.

Victor watched her go, then stood and moved to the trees lining this side of the

furniture store. Peering cautiously through the branches, he eyed the lot next door.

Sure enough it was an archery club, there were huge targets lined up along the back of

the property. His gaze slid over the area, but there was no one there now. He

presumed whoever had shot the arrow had gone back in the building.

His gaze returned to the targets, and then he turned to peer at the arrow still sticking

out of the bottom corner of the large sign on the side of the furniture store. Victor

shook his head. Elvi was wrong. This hadn't been an accident. The bull's‐eyes were at

the back of the archery property, not along the side behind the trees. Someone had

shot an arrow at them.

As for Elvi's argument that they were immortal and couldn't die, it reminded him that

he still had some things to explain to her, including their laws and the fact that they

weren't completely immortal.

His gaze slid over the lot next door once more, just to be sure no one was there and he

wouldn't get an arrow in the back as he left, then he turned to follow the path Elvi had

taken, his mind taken up with two questions. Who had shot at them? And which of

them was being shot at?



Elvi turned her gaze away from the fire the men had built on returning home from

buying her bed and scowled at Victor. Not that he seemed to notice. He'd been

distracted since leaving the furniture store, and hadn't seemed to take note of even

one of the dirty looks she'd sent his way. That just irritated her more. He should notice

she was annoyed with him and care about it, dammit!

The sound of a car engine drew her attention to the driveway in time to see Mabel

park behind Alessandro's sports car. As she watched, her friend threw the car door

open, leapt out, and slammed the door closed with more force than was absolutely

necessary.

Elvi pursed her lips. Judging by the way Mabel stomped up the sidewalk to the deck

and then into the house without even a glance in their direction, she may not be the

only one annoyed with a member of the male sex tonight.

The slamming of a second car door drew her attention back to the car as DJ rushed up

the sidewalk. However, when he went to follow Mabel inside, it appeared the door

was locked.

He jerked at it twice, cursed, then stomped down to throw himself into one of the two

empty seats by the fire with a muttered, "Women!"

"What did you do to her?" Harper asked with amusement.

"I was nice," DJ said with disgust.

Elvi bit her lip at this explanation, for some reason believing it. After a moment, she

cleared her throat, and asked, "She locked the door?"

DJ didn't even glance her way as he nodded.

"I'll go unlock it," she murmured. Getting to her feet, Elvi headed for the deck. It

seemed to her that the men could use a few moments alone to jolly DJ out of his