Vampire Most Wanted(47)
“Fine. One night,” she said quietly, reaching for her door. “But tomorrow, I have to visit a bank and someplace that sells RVs.”
“I’ll take you to both myself,” he assured her, getting out on his side as she opened her own door and slid out.
“To both what?”
Divine turned at that cheerful question and found herself peering at a well-dressed blond woman who was short and curvy, with intelligent eyes presently brimming with curiosity.
“Jackie,” Marcus said with a nod of greeting as he came around the truck. Turning to Divine he said, “This is Jackie Morrisey Argeneau. Vincent’s wife.” Turning back to the woman, he added, “Jackie, this is Divine.”
Jackie smiled and offered a hand in greeting, but asked, “Just Divine?”
“It’s Madame Divine, but Divine will do,” she said mildly.
“Right,” Jackie said slowly, her eyes narrowing briefly. But then she smiled and turned to Marcus. “So what is this both you will take Divine to yourself?”
“Oh.” He smiled crookedly. “Divine’s RV burned up two nights ago and she needs to buy a new one. We’ll have to hit a bank and RV place tomorrow,”
Divine noted the shock and dismay on Jackie’s face as she took in what the fire had done to Marcus’s face and found herself peering at him closely. She’d somehow forgotten that his face still bore the ravages of the fire. In the form of scars, but it was still ravaged.
“Dear God, Marcus.” That comment, just as horrified as Jackie’s expression, drew Divine’s gaze to a male immortal just coming out of the house. He was as dark as the woman was fair, his face holding chiseled features and the striking silver-blue eyes of an Argeneau. He was also obviously aghast at the state of Marcus at the moment.
“You were in the RV at the time,” Jackie said, and it wasn’t a question. Her gaze then turned to Divine and narrowed. “But you weren’t.”
“No. I wasn’t,” Divine said, her voice cool at the suspicion in the woman’s eyes. “I was in town and returned to find the RV in flames and Marcus hiding in the cotton candy trailer.”
“She helped me to the SUV and got me out of there,” Marcus said quickly, drawing the couple’s attention his way again. “She’s been taking care of me for the last twenty-four hours, and managed to find me a couple of donors to help get the healing started. But I obviously need more blood to finish, and she needs blood too, but neither of us were comfortable feeding off the hoof once the worst of the healing was done.”
Divine’s gaze flickered at his words. She hadn’t been uncomfortable with his feeding off the hoof, although she had found herself reluctant to feed that way now that she knew she wasn’t supposed to. His neglecting to feed off the gas station attendant despite the agony she knew he must be in had made her reluctant to feed off the attendant herself despite the gnawing in her stomach. Still, she hadn’t mentioned her reluctance to Marcus and wondered if he had been able to somehow recognize it, or was just saying that for the couple’s benefit.
“Well, we had a fresh delivery yesterday so have lots of blood on hand at the moment,” Vincent said cheerfully, drawing Divine’s attention back to the couple in time to see Jackie peering at her intently. She wondered about that as Vincent continued, “So come on inside. It’s bed and blood for the two of you. It looks like you both need it.”
“Thank you,” Marcus said solemnly, taking Divine’s arm.
She was about to shake off his hold, but then realized he wasn’t trying to control her, just taking her arm to walk her inside in what would be considered a gentlemanly fashion. She really wasn’t used to this kind of treatment.