The Accidental Vampire(58)

to himself, he reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

Mabel wasn't asleep. She was sitting up in bed, glasses perched on her nose, and one

of those torrid female romance books in her hands. She glanced up with surprise at the

intrusion, and then scowled when she saw Victor standing there with DJ hovering

behind.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" she asked sharply. "What do you want?"

Victor didn't bother to answer; instead he concentrated on her forehead and sent his

thoughts out to find hers. Much to his relief, he slipped into her mind like a warm knife

through soft butter. His jaw immediately dropped at the thoughts and feelings whirling

there.

Mabel wasn't as hard core as she'd have them believe. In fact, she was as soft as a

roasted marshmallow. The hard outer casing was just a protective shell she put on to

deal with the world. Her husband had been a weak man and she'd been forced to deal

with everything the least bit difficult in life, from disciplining their children to handling

recalcitrant servicemen and so on. Mabel hadn't been comfortable dealing with

everything unsupported and had longed for her husband to be the strong male he'd

seemed to be while courting her.

She'd been so unhappy, she might have divorced him, but had been pregnant with

their first child by the time she'd learned the weak nature his macho approach had

hidden. That hadn't seemed like a good enough reason to break up a family. After all,

he wasn't a wife beater or alcoholic, she'd told herself and struggled on, taking on all

the hard tasks in life in his stead.

That wasn't what had Victor's jaw dropping, however. That didn't surprise him at all.

Her love and concern for Elvi had already told him she wasn't the hard case she liked to

project. What made his jaw drop was the small tornado of turmoil she was suffering at

their appearance.

There was no confusion in the woman's mind over Victor, his presence just annoyed

her, but DJ was another matter. Mabel liked the younger immortal, which didn't

bother her as much as the fact that she found him unbearably attractive. His

appearance raised all sorts of longings in her and a lust like nothing she'd experienced

since she was a teenager. This in turn caused guilt and horror because she thought he

was so much younger than her and she thought it was disgusting to have erotic

fantasies and dreams about a boy no older than her own son. The woman was finding

the whole situation unbearable and heart wrenching.

"Well?" Mabel snapped the word, but he knew that her self‐disgust made her tone

sharper than she'd intended.

"Victor?" DJ hissed and he didn't need to read the immortals mind to know what he

was asking. Could he read Mabel?

"Yes," Victor said to answer DJ's question and the realization that washed over the

man's face as he accepted that she was, indeed, his lifemate was enough to make up

his mind on how to answer Mabel. His own situation may be a mess, but DJ's didn't

have to be.

" Hellooo!" Mabel said with irritation. "Is there a reason you've barged into my room in

the middle of the night? Did you want something?"

"I don't, but DJ does. He wants you," Victor answered, collaring the younger immortal

and shoving him into the room. Ignoring DJ's embarrassed protestations and Mabel's

horrified squawking, Victor started to close the door, then paused. "Despite his looks,

he's one hundred and eleven years old, Mabel. An older man, not a young stud.

There's no reason you shouldn't enjoy each other. You can stop feeling guilty for

lusting after him."

Victor pulled the door closed, but didn't leave; instead he waited and listened, then

even stooped to peer through the keyhole when the silence in the room drew out. He

would just stay long enough to be sure DJ didn't screw it up and they didn't need

further refereeing. By his guess, DJ was either about to land his lifemate, or mess up

everything.

"Did he say one hundred and eleven?" Mabel asked in a whisper after several

moments of silence.

DJ cleared his throat, then finally looked at Mabel and nodded solemnly. "One

hundred and twelve actually. I just had a birthday last week."

Mabel sank back against the headboard, her hands dropping weakly to her lap and

taking the book with them. "One hundred and twelve," she murmured faintly,

obviously having difficulty wrapping her mind around that and unsure what it meant

for her.

DJ was still for so long that Victor nearly opened the door and shouted at him to get to

it, but then the man suddenly straightened his shoulders and moved toward the bed.

"He was also telling the truth when he said that I want you, Mabel."

"You mean to feed on?" she asked uncertainly.