The Reluctant Vampire(38)

Sliding into one side, Drina smiled as she shrugged out of her coat. “We can always go in there to dance as we like, but it will be easier to talk in here when we want a break.”

“Smart thinking,” Harper said, hanging his own coat from a hook at the end of the booth. He then took her coat to hang it beside his.

He slid in across from her, murmuring an apology as his feet nudged hers, then glanced around as a waitress appeared. He smiled at her, but then glanced to Drina, and asked, “Do you know what you want? Or would you like to check the menu?”

For answer, she picked up a narrow menu in a holder at the end of the table and opened it, saying, “It’s probably better to see what they have in case the selection isn’t the same as in Spain or the names are different.”

Harper nodded and turned to the waitress, but she was already slipping away, saying, “I’ll give you a minute.”

Drina laid the menu on the table and turned it sideways so they could both see it. They each leaned forward, head to head to look it over, but then a beeping came from Harper’s coat. Frowning, he straightened and reached in the pocket to retrieve his phone.

Drina politely pretended she couldn’t hear what he was saying, not that there was much to hear. He said, “Hello,” listened briefly, and then sighed, and said, “I did wonder about that. All right. Well, there’s nothing we can do about it.” Another silence followed, and then he said, “I’m not sure. I’ll have to call you back on that.”

Drina glanced at him in question as he hung up, and Harper grimaced.

“It seems it’s officially a blizzard out there,” he announced apologetically. “That was my pilot saying they’ve shut down the airport and are advising people to stay off the highways. He thinks they’ll be closing those soon too, but whatever the case, it isn’t safe to take the helicopter back to Port Henry tonight.”

Drina stared at him blankly for a minute, and then reached for her own phone.

“We can try driving back tonight, but we’d have to leave right away if you want to give it a go,” Harper said, as she began to punch in the number for Casey Cottage. “Otherwise, we aren’t leaving until tomorrow sometime, and then only if the storm lets up.”

Drina bit her lip and nodded to acknowledge his words, then stilled as the phone picked up on the other end.

“Drina?” Mirabeau said by way of greeting.

“Yes, I—”

“Listen, a big storm hit here an hour or so after you guys left. They just shut down the 401 from London to Woodstock, and I suspect the rest of the highway will soon follow. I’m thinking it probably isn’t safe for you guys to fly. You two better not try to come back tonight.”

“What about Stephanie?” Drina asked with a frown. “I’m supposed to sleep—”

“She’s sound asleep on the sofa with the TV on. We’ll leave her there for now. If she wakes up and wants to go to bed, I’ll go up with her. It’s not a problem. Although, that probably isn’t even necessary tonight. Leonius isn’t in the area, and she isn’t likely to try running away in a blizzard, especially with them shutting down the highways. Even if she managed to slip away, there aren’t any buses running to take her anywhere.”

“Right,” Drina murmured. “I guess it’s best we not try coming back then.”

“Definitely,” Mirabeau assured her. “Don’t worry. Everything is good. You and Harper just get a hotel room or something and stay in the city until this clears.”

“I have an apartment here in the city. We can stay there,” Harper announced, apparently having caught the gist of the conversation. He punched a stream of numbers into his phone and turned it toward her so she could read from the small screen. “This is the number, give it to her and tell her to call if there are any problems.”

Drina read off the numbers to Mirabeau, passed along the message, and then echoed her good night and hung up.

“Well,” she murmured.

“Yes,” Harper said.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Drina caught movement behind his head, and glanced past Harper to see the waitress slowly making her way along the row of booths, taking orders as she moved in their general direction.

“Well,” she said again, turning her gaze to the menu, “let’s see what we have here.”

She ran her eyes slowly down the list of available blood blends, murmuring each aloud as she went, and then paused as she reached—“Sweet Ecstasy.”

“It’s a dose of blood from someone who’s taken the drug ecstasy,” Harper murmured. “The impact on immortals is supposed to be pretty powerful. They say it’s like immortal Spanish fly.”