The Reluctant Vampire(65)
Leonora, Alessandro, and Teddy were supposed to take the third shift. For that one, Leonora, who it turned out had been a nurse before retiring some twenty years ago, would take over administering the drugs.
Mirabeau was supposed to rest during the second and third shifts, but Drina suspected the woman would insist on staying by Tiny. It was what she would have done if it were her life mate lying there.
“She seems to be fond of you and Tiny,” Drina murmured finally in response to Mirabeau’s comment. Stephanie had brought up the other couple a lot during the last few days. It was always Beau this, and Tiny that.
“The same is true of you two,” Mirabeau said quietly. “But then I think she’s desperate to connect to someone. She’s pretty alone right now.”
Drina nodded and glanced back to the girl again.
“She has a lot of questions,” Mirabeau murmured, drawing her attention again. Meeting her gaze, Mirabeau grimaced, and explained, “She doesn’t really know a lot about what she is now. She only had her sister to ask, and Dani would go to Decker to get the answers and, with them being new life mates, they would invariably get distracted and never get around to answering her, so she kind of gave up asking. The only other immortal female she’s had much contact with until now was Sam, and Sam and Mortimer are new life mates too, so—”
“Sam isn’t turned.”
Both women paused and glanced toward Stephanie as she made that announcement, alerting them to the fact that she was now awake.
Mirabeau peered at the girl blankly for a moment, then said, “Sure she is. Sam and Mortimer have been together since last summer. Mortimer would have turned her right away.”
Stephanie shook her head and stretched. “Sam refused because she didn’t want to leave her sisters behind in ten years.”
When Mirabeau frowned at this news, Drina asked with amusement, “Mortimer’s the head of the North American Enforcers, right?”
“Yeah, under Lucian,” Mirabeau murmured.
“And you’re an enforcer?” Drina asked.
Mirabeau nodded.
“So, haven’t you met this Sam? I mean, if she lives at the enforcer house, and you’re an enforcer, you’d have to go there quite a bit. Surely you would have met her and realized she was mortal?”
Mirabeau frowned, and it was Stephanie who answered, saying with amusement, “Beau’s been avoiding the house ever since I got there. She goes straight to the garage when she has to meet with Mortimer. And Sam pretty much arrived on the scene just days in front of Dani and me, so I doubt she even met her more than once thanks to trying to avoid me.”
Mirabeau looked alarmed, and quickly said, “It wasn’t you, Stephanie.”
“I know,” Stephanie said, some of her humor slipping away. “It was just my situation. Losing my family and all. It reminded you of losing your own, and so you tried to avoid me to avoid thinking of it.”
Drina glanced to Mirabeau curiously. “You’ve lost your family too?”
“It was a long time ago,” Mirabeau said quietly, her gaze moving back to Tiny when he stirred restlessly. She reached out and brushed her fingers along his cheek. Her touch seemed to soothe him.
“Dree’s parents were killed when Rome invaded Egypt, but she has all her brothers and sisters still,” Stephanie announced.
“How do you know that?” Drina asked with surprise.
“You just thought it,” Stephanie said with a shrug.
Drina just stared at her. She was pretty sure she hadn’t just thought that though she supposed it could have been stirred in her subconscious. Still—recalling the accident, she asked, “You were reading Harper’s mind during the accident? It’s how you knew there was something wrong with the brakes?”
“I told you, I don’t really read you guys. You shout your thoughts at me,” she said, looking uncomfortable, and then admitted, “Except Lucian. Him I actually have to concentrate a bit to read.”
“Concentrate a bit?” she queried, eyes narrowing.
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “With most people, mortals and immortals alike, it’s like a freaking radio playing on full volume, and I can’t turn it down or shut it out. But with Lucian, I actually have to concentrate to hear what he’s thinking. Anders is kind of like that too.”
“Anders?” Drina asked sharply, aware that her voice had been sharper than she’d intended. Lucian was still relatively new in the life-mate game, and new life mates were known to be easily read, which could explain away what Stephanie was saying. However, Anders was old and mateless. Even Mirabeau probably couldn’t read him. Yet, Stephanie, who had only been an immortal for six months, could.