The Accidental Vampire(64)

meantime, she'd take a cold shower, change into her nightgown, and probably relive

every moment in the kitchen in great detail. Damn, the man could kiss.



Chapter Thirteen





Elvi woke Monday evening with a smile on her face as she stretched luxuriously in her

lovely new bed. Sunday had been a great day. She'd woken late and gone below to find

that her bed had been delivered. Not willing to disturb her, they'd made the delivery

men put it in the foyer to await her rising.

The moment she made an appearance, they'd moved her coffin out and carried her

bed up. When asked what she wanted done with the casket, Elvi had grimaced and

muttered, "Burn it." The men had taken her at her word. While Victor and Edward had

set up the plain metal frame that came with the bed, Alessandro and Harper had taken

axes to her coffin, turning it into tinder.

They'd then built a fire, roasting hotdogs over the flaming remains of her casket. When

it began to rain later in the evening, Elvi and the men had moved indoors and turned

to a deck of cards for their entertainment. On learning that Elvi had never played

poker, they'd decided to teach her and they'd spent an enjoyable evening laughing,

talking, and taking all her chips.

Elvi stretched again on her lovely new bed and opened her eyes with a little sigh. While

Sunday had been nice for the most part, she'd found it a bit stressful as well—as she

worked to avoid being alone with Victor. It had been an act of pure cowardice on her

part. She didn't know how she should act around him after the episode in the kitchen

and so avoided any situation where she couldn't treat him as anything but one of the

" guys."

Now she had another day of doing that ahead of her.

Making a face at the ceiling, Elvi reluctantly pushed the sheets off and climbed out of

her lovely new bed. She'd slept like a dream. Too well actually. Elvi had hoped to get

up early enough today to spend some time out in daylight for the first time in five

years. She'd hoped to look over her garden and enjoy the sun on her face, but could

tell from one glance at the window that the sun had already set.

It was her own fault, Elvi supposed; she'd retired to her room early, but stayed up

waiting for Mabel and DJ to get home from the restaurant so she could finally talk to

the woman. She'd never got the chance on Saturday night. DJ simply hadn't left

Mabel's room, from what she could tell. At least he hadn't by the time she'd given up

and fallen asleep. Then Sunday the couple had already been up and gone when she got

up. Hopefully, she'd get the chance to talk to her today. Elvi could use some advice on

how to deal with Victor. She couldn't avoid him indefinitely.

Elvi didn't bother drying her hair when she got out of the shower, instead she simply

brushed it back and left it to dry on its own, then quickly dressed in a peasant blouse

and festive cotton Mexican skirt and headed below. Normally, she'd be heading to the

restaurant tonight, but she wasn't sure at this point what would be expected of her.

They had houseguests after all. Once she knew what she was doing, she could change

accordingly.

When Elvi first made her way downstairs and glanced around, she thought she was the

only one there, then the door to the deck opened and Victor stepped inside.

He paused on first spotting her, then murmured a greeting and moved to the

refrigerator. Retrieving a bag of blood, he held it out and asked, "How was the new

bed?"

Despite her uncertainty, Elvi felt a smile stretch her mouth. "Marvelous."

"Glad to hear it." His smile pulled into a grin as she took the blood.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"The men all went to a play at the school with your neighbors… Mark and Sharon is it?"

"Mike and Karen," Elvi corrected, not at all surprised the couple had extended an

invitation. The Knights were a lovely couple. They were always offering help with

things around the house, or inviting her and Mabel places. Elvi wasn't surprised they

were generous enough to extend those invitations to include the men. Their

generosity and thoughtfulness were part of why they were so popular in town and why

their son Owen's birthday celebration had been so well attended.

"And Mabel and DJ are at the restaurant," Victor continued. "She said to tell you you're

not expected there tonight. She wanted you to pick one of the men and spend the

evening getting to know him."

Elvi blinked. "But you said the guys went to a play."

"Yes. As you weren't up, I made an arbitrary decision for you and told the others

tonight you were getting to know me," he announced unapologetically. "I thought that

way I could finally tell you our laws and rules."