The Reluctant Vampire taf-15

by Lynsay Sands

  Moving the cart up beside Drina, he asked, “What are FM shoes?”

  “What?” She glanced around with a start.

  “FM shoes,” he repeated. “Stephanie says that’s what her sister calls high heels, but she didn’t know why and suggested I should ask you. What does the FM stand for?”

  “Ah.” For some reason the question caused a struggle on Drina’s face. It looked as if she was trying not to smile or laugh. Managing to fight off the urge, she turned and picked up a pair of impossibly high-heeled shoes from the row they were walking down and held them up. “These are FM shoes.”

  Harper peered at the shoes, black, strappy, and with heels that had to be six inches high. They were sexy as hell and would probably go well with the black dress she’d picked up earlier. “And the FM stands for?”

  Drina cleared her throat and tossed the shoe, along with its partner in the cart, then announced, “Fuck Me,” and turned to walk over to Stephanie.

  Harper stared after her, stunned. For one moment he thought she’d actually been making a request of him, and he found he wasn’t averse to the idea. But then his reason kicked in. Pushing the cart quickly forward, he gasped, “Are you serious?”

  Drina nodded.

  “Why?” he asked with amazement.

  Her eyebrows rose, and then she leaned in and picked up one shoe. “Well, look at it. It’s sexy as hell, could turn a guy on at twenty paces.” She shrugged.

  “But women actually call them that?” he asked with disbelief.

  “It’s what they are,” she said with amusement. Seeing his lack of comprehension, her expression turned pitying, and she said, “You don’t think we wear them because they’re comfortable, do you? Because I can guarantee you they aren’t. We pick them purely to attract the male of the species. The same reason we pick bustiers and anything else terribly uncomfortable but appealing to the male eye.”

  “Huh.” Harper gave himself a shake. It had been centuries since he’d bothered reading a mortal woman’s mind. Well, really, it had been centuries since he’d bothered with mortal women at all. He simply hadn’t been interested until Jenny, and he hadn’t been able to read her mind. Still, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised at these revelations. Even back then, women had done all sorts of things to attract mates: lead makeup, corsets, etc. They hadn’t openly admitted that was what it was about, though. It seemed women nowadays were much more frank on the subject if they actually called high heels Fuck Me shoes. It occurred to him that the world might be a much more interesting place now than it had been.

  “I’m sorry,” Drina said suddenly, and patted his shoulder as if he might need soothing. “I guess we need to try to remember that this is all alien to you. I’m afraid we just keep forgetting you’re a guy and have been thinking of you as one of the girls.”

  “One of the girls,” Harper muttered, as she moved off to join Stephanie again. The thought was rather dismaying. It wasn’t that he was interested in Drina and wanted her to think of him in that way, but-

  “Christ.” He breathed with disgust. Being considered one of the girls was damned lowering.

  “That guy over there likes you, Drina.”

  Harper raised his gaze from the menu he’d been reviewing and followed Stephanie’s gesture to a table where three men in jeans and T-shirts sat. One of them, a rugged-looking fellow of twentysomething was looking their way, his eyes sliding over Drina with definite interest.

  “He doesn’t even know me,” Drina said with amusement, not bothering to glance up from her menu.

  “Okay, he thinks you’re hot,” Stephanie amended with exasperation, and then taunted, “You should hear what he’s thinking.”

  “Oh?” she asked mildly, turning the page of her menu.

  “Yeah. He really likes the boots. I told you they were hot.”

  Harper just managed not to bend to peer under the table and get another look at the thigh-high boots. Stephanie had talked Drina into getting them, assuring her they would keep her warm over her jeans and be “hot” too. Drina had replaced her running shoes with them in the car on the way here. She’d lain across the backseat and kicked her legs in the air as she’d pulled them on over her tight-legged jeans in the back while he drove. She’d also switched her light coat for the much warmer long coat she’d bought and tugged on her new red hat and gloves. She was now properly attired for a Canadian winter.

  “Oh, man, that’s just gross,” Stephanie said suddenly, and Harper glanced to the girl to see her wrinkling her nose with distaste.

  Frowning, he followed her gaze to the “interested” mortal and slipped into the fellow’s mind. His eyes widened incredulously at the guy’s imaginings. He certainly did like the thigh-high boots. In fact, the fellow was imagining Drina in the boots and nothing else and doing things to her that. . well, he wouldn’t say they were gross, but they were disturbingly hot images and made him withdraw quickly from the guy’s mind and scowl at him irritably.

  “What are you going to order?” Drina asked Stephanie, no doubt to change the subject.

  “A club sandwich and fries with gravy on the side,” Stephanie answered promptly.

  “Hmm. I guess I’ll get the same,” Drina decided, closing her menu.

  “You eat?” Harper asked with surprise.

  “On occasion,” Drina said with a shrug. “Besides, we can’t make Stephanie eat alone.”

  “No,” he agreed on a murmur, lowering his gaze to his menu again and looking to see what a club sandwich was before announcing, “I’ll have the same.”

  “So,” Stephanie said once their waitress had left with their orders, “if you guys are both so old and both from Europe, how come you’ve never met before?”

  Drina appeared surprised by the question and chuckled. “Sweetie, Europe is a big place. I’m from Spain. Harper is from Germany.” She shrugged. “It’s like suggesting someone from Oklahoma should know someone from Illinois just because they’re from the United States, or that someone from BC should know someone from Ontario because they’re both in Canada.”

  “Yeah, but you guys are immortals and as old as the hills. Don’t immortals hang out together, or have a secret club, or something? You’d think you’d at least have met each other before this,” she said, and then added, “Besides, I thought you guys move around every ten years or something. You haven’t always lived in Spain, have you?”

  “No,” Drina admitted wryly, and shrugged. “Egypt, Spain, England, and then Spain again. Mostly Spain, though.”

  “Why?” Stephanie asked curiously.

  “My family is there,” she said simply. “And until recently, women didn’t exactly wander the world on their own. They were expected to stay with family for protection.”

  “Even immortals?” Stephanie asked with a frown.

  “Especially immortals,” Drina assured her dryly. “You have to realize that we have it drilled into our head from birth not to draw attention to ourselves or our people, and an unattached female on her own would definitely have drawn attention through most of history.”

  “Oh, right,” Stephanie murmured, and then her gaze shifted to Harper. “What about you? You aren’t a girl.”

  The words brought a wry smile to his lips. After a day of being considered “one of the girls,” it seemed that, at least Stephanie, was finally acknowledging he wasn’t. . if only for this conversation.

  “I traveled more than Drina appears to have. I was born in what is now Germany, but have lived in many European countries, not England and Spain though. I’ve also lived in America and now Canada.”

  “So, if it weren’t for Drina’s having to help look out for me, you two might never have met.”

  “Perhaps not,” Harper acknowledged, and found himself thinking that would have been a great pity. Drina was an interesting woman.

  The food came then, and Harper turned his attention to the sandwich and fries placed before him. The brown sandwich, pale sticks, and brown gelatinous liquid in the sm
all bowl on the side didn’t look particularly appetizing. Harper had been a chef when he was much younger and felt presentation was important, but the food smelled surprisingly delicious.

  Curious, he picked up his fork, stabbed one of the fries, and raised it to his lips, but paused when he saw Stephanie dipping hers in the small bowl of thick liquid on the side of her plate. Emulating her, he dipped his own fry in what he supposed was the “gravy on the side,” and popped it in his mouth. His eyes widened as his taste buds burst to life. It was surprisingly good, he decided, and stabbed, dipped, and ate another before picking up half his sandwich and taking a bite of that as well.

  “Aren’t you going to finish your fries?” Stephanie asked.

  Seeing the way the teenager was greedily eyeing her plate, Drina grinned and pushed it toward her, saying, “Go ahead. I’m done.”

  Stephanie immediately fell on the remaining fries.

  Drina watched enviously as the girl gobbled them, almost sorry she’d given them up. But it had been a long time since she’d eaten, and she simply couldn’t fit another bite in her belly. She’d been pushing it to manage half the sandwich and fries.

  Her gaze slid to Harper and she noted that while he’d managed perhaps three quarters of his meal, he was slowing. His stomach wasn’t big enough either.

  “You should go out tonight.”

  Drina glanced to Stephanie with surprise to see her pointing a fry at her as she spoke.

  “Seriously. It’s been decades since you’ve gone out socially. You work and visit your family and that’s it. You really need to get out and have some fun.”

  “I have fun,” she assured her defensively.

  “No you don’t. I can read your mind, remember? You used to love to dance, but you haven’t been dancing since those Gone-With-the-Wind-gowns were all the rage.”

  Drina bit her lip, wondering what the girl was up to now. She actually had been out since then. She had a couple of good female hunter friends back in Spain, and they often went to an immortal club called Noche and danced the night away to relieve some of the stress of the job. She didn’t doubt for a minute that Stephanie had read that from her mind, so she was up to something. Again.

  “You should drive into London tonight and hit a bar and just let your hair down. Dance your feet off. It would be good for you.”

  “I can’t drive,” Drina reminded her dryly.

  “Then Harper should take you,” she shot back with satisfaction. “He needs to get out as much as you do. He hasn’t gone anywhere in more than a year and a half except a couple of times when Elvi and Victor pretty much dragged him out.”

  Harper stilled, midchew, his expression becoming alarmed. “Oh, I don’t know-”

  “Yeah, I know, you’d rather hide in the house and go back to nursing your wounds,” Stephanie interrupted. “But look how much better getting out today has made you feel.”

  Harper blinked.

  “I really think it would do you both a lot of good. It’s certainly better than acting like a couple of turtles.”

  “Turtles?” Harper asked with a frown.

  “Yeah, you immortals all pull into yourselves and hide out at home rather than even consider a social life.” She shook her head. “Seriously, I know you all have this thing about life mates and all, and I know you two aren’t life mates, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, does it?” She glared from one to the other, and then said, “If anything, it should free you up to have more fun. Drina, you’re too old for Harper to read, and you’re also too polite to read him, so you could both relax around each other. On top of that, because you aren’t life mates, you won’t be all worried about impressing each other and can just relax and enjoy each other’s company and have some fun.”

  She let that sink in, and then sat back in her seat, and announced militantly, “Maybe it’s because I’m new to this, but I plan to date like crazy before I settle down with any life mate. And you two should as well. You’re both lonely and miserable. What can it hurt to go out and let your hair down?”

  Drina stared at the girl, amazement sliding through her. Stephanie was frighteningly brilliant. By saying they weren’t life mates, she’d just cleared the way for Harper to agree to an outing. And by saying that age was the reason Harper wouldn’t be able to read her, she’d eliminated the possibility that he might try to read her, find out he couldn’t, and panic. She’d basically just cleared away any protest Harper might come up with for spending time with her and freed him to do so if he wished without feeling guilty that he was enjoying himself when Jenny was dead.

  “I do feel better,” Harper said quietly, and sounded surprised by the realization. “I guess this change in routine did do me some good.”

  Stephanie nodded solemnly. “And really, you’d be doing me a favor. I’ll feel awful if the only thing Drina sees of Canada is the inside of Casey Cottage and the local Wal-Mart.”

  “Hmm. That would be a shame,” Harper murmured, and then pushed his plate away and nodded. “All right. We’ll go dancing tonight at the Night Club in Toronto.”

  Drina blinked in surprise. Toronto was two hours away. Shaking her head, she said, “No. I can’t be gone that long. I have to be back by bedtime for Stephanie.”

  “Anders is on nights,” Stephanie reminded her. “I’m his problem then.”

  “Yes, but we’re roommates so that no one can slip in and take you from your bed.”

  “And so I don’t slip out and run away,” Stephanie said dryly.

  Drina scowled. So much for Stephanie’s not knowing they knew about the possibility.

  “It’s okay though,” Stephanie said quickly. “I’ll just snooze on the couch in front of the television until you guys get back. That way Anders can keep an eye on me, and you can still get out for a bit.”

  “It’s set then,” Harper decided, glancing around for their waitress. “I’ll pay this and we can head back to the house. I need to call to have my helicopter come for us and-”

  “Helicopter?” Drina interrupted with surprise.

  “Harper’s mad rich,” Stephanie told her with amusement. “But then so are you.” She shrugged. “I guess when you guys live as long as you do, you eventually build up a fortune.”

  “Not everyone,” Drina assured her.

  “Whatever,” Stephanie said, standing up. “I have to pee before we go.”

  Nodding, Drina pushed her chair back at once. Smiling at Harper, she murmured, “Thank you for buying lunch. We’ll meet you at the car.”

  She waited long enough to see Harper nod before hurrying after Stephanie.

  Chapter Four

  There was a woman in the bathroom cleaning it. Drina offered her a polite smile and leaned against the wall while Stephanie tended to her business in one of the stalls, and then washed her hands at the sink. She followed silently as Stephanie then led the way outside, but as they approached Harper’s car and she saw that he hadn’t yet returned, she finally said, “Stephanie-”

  “Please don’t,” Stephanie said quickly, turning to face her. “I know you’re feeling guilty about what you think is our manipulating Harper, but it’s for his own good. And we aren’t tricking him into anything. We’re just making him feel safe enough for his true feelings to grow without his guilt over Jenny’s death getting in the way.”

  “But-”

  “Please,” Stephanie pleaded. “Please don’t ruin everything. I like you. I like you both. The two of you deserve to be happy. Besides, I’ve had more fun today than I’ve had since-” She paused, a cloud crossing over her face before she ducked her head.

  Drina sighed, knowing she’d nearly said before Leonius had attacked her, and wasn’t at all surprised. From what she’d been told, the girl had been pretty miserable since the turn, struggling with her losses and the adjustments she’d had to make. But this day had been one full of fun and laughter. For all of them.

  Drina closed her eyes briefly, then reached out to rub one hand lightly over the gir
l’s upper arm. “I had a good time today too, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that.”

  “I know,” Stephanie whispered, and then lifted her face to smile crookedly. “Your surface memories of the recent past are pretty grim. You put on a good face and seem cheerful and happy, but your days are spent hunting bad guys and mourning unwilling turns you have to capture or kill. And I know you struggle every day with feeling guilty that you have to do it. You think that if you’d just tracked their rogue sires down a bit faster, they might have been saved before they were turned, or at least before they were made to do something that marked them for death.” She grimaced. “It seems a pretty grim life.”

  “It is,” Drina said quietly.

  “Then why do you do it?”

  She smiled wryly and shrugged. “Someone has to.”

  “But it kills you a little bit inside every day,” Stephanie said quietly.

  Drina didn’t deny that, but simply said, “It kills all rogue hunters a little bit inside every day. But for me. .” She sighed and said, “Maybe, just maybe, my actions have prevented one or two other young girls, like you, from going through what you are.” She smiled crookedly. “Surely that makes it worthwhile?”

  Before she could respond, they both heard the restaurant door opening and glanced around to see Harper approaching.

  “Sorry, I forgot I’d locked the car,” Harper murmured, hitting the button on his key fob.

  “That’s all right. We just got here ourselves,” Drina assured him, moving to the back passenger door as Stephanie opened the front door.