Bite Me if You Can (14 page)

Lucian shrugged. “Madness, boredom, who knows?”

Leigh arched an eyebrow. “You have no idea? All these years and no one has noted even one similarity between those who go rogue?”

Lucian considered the matter, then said reluctantly, “They’re usually older immortals.”

“Older like you?” she asked. When he stared at her blankly, Leigh pointed out, “Well surely you’re one of the oldest, aren’t you?”

Lucian scowled. “I said usually older. Sometimes they aren’t. They... ” He stopped to glare at her, then said, “What made Jack the Ripper suddenly start killing prostitutes? Or what made Charles Manson do what he did? Or Jeffrey Dahmer? Who knows why they suddenly turn? It could be a loss of hope, or anything. Many of them are alone, without families or loved ones or anything to keep them grounded.”

“You have family,” Leigh said with quiet relief. It wasn’t that she’d feared he would suddenly go rogue and take her down with him, finishing what Morgan had tried to start, but still, she found the fact that he had Marguerite and the others reassuring.

“Yes, I have family,” Lucian said quietly, then asked, “And what of you?”

Leigh stiffened. “What about me?”

“Do you have family?” he asked. “It can be something of a problem if you do, Leigh. You can’t reveal what you are to them and—”

“That won’t be a problem,” she assured him solemnly, then explained, “My parents died when I was ten. My grandfather raised me, but he died while I was away at Harvard. I’m alone now.”

“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly, and Leigh shrugged.

“I’ve been alone a long time. I’m used to it,” she murmured, but even as she said the words, she knew they weren’t true. She doubted if she would ever get used to being wholly alone in the world.

Lucian cleared his throat, but his voice was still gruff when he said, “If you’re finished with your questions, I suggest you leave. My bath is growing cold and I’m going to get out now.”

“Oh, yes of course.” Leigh stood abruptly and moved toward the door. She still had questions, but the more urgent ones had been answered and the rest could wait. At the door she paused and murmured, “Thank you, Lucian. I know you’re very tired and I’ve been a bit of a pest disturbing your bath and everything, but I—”

“Leigh,” he interrupted.

“Yes?” She glanced back wide-eyed.

“I should have answered your questions as soon as you woke up. I should have realized you would—” He shook his head and sighed. Apparently giving up on trying to give her what she was sure was an apology of his own, he simply said, “Just go on. I want out of this bath. Besides, I hear a car coming up the drive and need to see who it is.”

Leigh’s eyes widened. She couldn’t hear anything, but had no doubt that he could, and she was suddenly reminded of Marguerite’s promise to send her daughter over to explain things.

“Oh, that will be Rachel,” she said, hurrying to open the door. “Marguerite said she’d send her over to help answer questions.”

“Rachel?” Lucian sounded more alarmed than relieved to hear someone was coming to help him out like this. Leigh didn’t stop to ask why, however. She hurried out of the room, barely noting Lucian’s curse as she rushed to answer the doorbell that was now sounding through the house.

As it happened, Marguerite’s daughter didn’t wait for the door to be answered, Leigh arrived at the top of the stairs and glanced into the hall below to see a man and woman kicking off their shoes and removing light fall jackets by the front door.

The man bore a pronounced resemblance to Lucian, though his hair wasn’t quite the same quality of blond. It was more a dirty blond to Lucian’s icy, almost white blond. And while he seemed about the same height, his build was a little less muscular and more wiry in the t-shirt and tight jeans he wore. The woman was a redhead; slender, pretty, and confident looking in black dress slacks and a white blouse.

“Leigh?” the man asked, spotting her as she descended the stairs to meet them.

Forcing a smile, she nodded and paused on the last step, but her gaze moved to the woman. “Marguerite’s daughter, Rachel?”

“Marguerite’s daughter-in-law Rachel,” the girl corrected with a smile, and then explained, “I was just fortunate enough to gain her as a mother through marriage. My husband, Etienne here, is her son.”

“Hi,” Etienne said as Leigh’s gaze shifted to him, then he added, “I must say you look better in my clothes than I do. But you could have picked a more appropriate t-shirt. I must have left something more suitable than that in my old room.”

“These are yours?” Leigh asked with embarrassment, then glanced down at the t-shirt saying and blanched. It read, I’M THE TEENAGE GIRL YOU HAD CYBER SEX WITH IN THE CHAT ROOM.

“It’s funnier when a guy’s wearing it,” Etienne said wryly.

“Etienne is a computer geek. He makes PC games,” Rachel said dryly, as if that explained everything.

“Oh,” Leigh said lamely.

“Is that coffee I smell?” Rachel asked, glancing toward the kitchen door.

Leigh stared at her wide-eyed, amazed that she could smell it from the front door, but then relaxed as she recalled all she’d learned about their state. Shaking her head, she muttered, “Oh yes, vampires senses.”

“Exactly,” Etienne said lightly. “Kind of like spidey senses, but with more bite.”

Rachel groaned, then smiled at Leigh. “I did mention he was a computer geek, didn’t I?”

Leigh merely smiled. Despite the woman’s teasing, there was a look of open love and affection on her face as she glanced at her husband.

“Come on. We may as well enjoy a cup while we talk,” Rachel said, moving up the hall toward the kitchen.

Etienne picked up a bag off the hall table and followed, then glanced back with a smile. “Come on, Leigh.”

“You two sit,” Rachel instructed as they followed her into the kitchen. She moved to a cupboard and began to retrieve cups. “You made the coffee and Etienne bought the doughnuts, so I’ll pour.”

“Doughnuts?” Leigh glanced toward the bag the man held, noting the Tim Horton’s name and logo on it as they both settled at the table. “We can eat real food?”

“I wouldn’t call doughnuts real food,” Rachel said with a laugh. “At least not real healthy, but yes you can still eat food.”

“Oh.” Leigh’s gaze slid to the doughnut bag again, her mouth suddenly watering. She supposed she should have guessed she could still eat by the fact that Lucian had brought her food earlier, but... well, it had been dog food. And perhaps she could only eat during the change, but wouldn’t be able to after. However, if Etienne and Rachel still ate...

Rachel grinned as she carried three coffees to the table. “Guess what the best news you’ll hear today is?”

Leigh raised an eyebrow in question as the redhead turned away to retrieve the canisters of sugar and powdered milk. “What’s the best news I’ll hear today?”

Rachel settled in a seat, then reached into the bag Etienne had set on the table. She pulled out a jelly-filled doughnut, held it up and announced, “You can eat all the doughnuts you want and won’t gain an ounce of weight.”

Leigh watched blank-faced as Rachel smiled and took a bite, then chewed with relish.

“Really?” she finally asked with disbelief.

Rachel nodded and swallowed. “No matter what you eat, or how much, your body will work to keep you at peak physical fitness.” She let that sink in for a moment, then added, “Of course, it means you have to increase your blood intake.”

“Oh.” Leigh frowned over this news and Rachel shrugged.

“There’s always a price, isn’t there?” she said dryly. “Unfortunately, anything you do that causes damage to your body means an increase in the blood you have to consume; overeating, exposure to sunlight, consumption of alcohol... ” She made a face. “All mean you have to suck back more blood.”

Leigh nodded slowly as she accepted this.

“So,” Rachel said a tad sharply, after chewing and swallowing another bite of doughnut. “According to Marguerite, Lucian is being his usual pain and refuses to explain things to you.”

“My wife isn’t too fond of Uncle Lucian,” Etienne explained, a hand moving to cover his wife’s where it had fisted on the table. “I’m afraid they didn’t get off to a very good start.”

“I—Oh,” Leigh said lamely. She was curious about this claim, but since Lucian had just spent his entire bath explaining things to her, she felt moved to defend him. “Actually, he did answer my questions in the end. In fact, we just finished talking when you arrived.”

Rachel seemed more irritated than happy about this news, but Leigh hardly noticed. Her attention was taken up with what Etienne had said before she’d spoken. “I’m sorry,” she said with a frown. “Did you say Uncle Lucian?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Yes.”

“But—” She shook her head. “He doesn’t look any older than you.”

“Ah.” Etienne sat back with a smile. “And how old do you think I am?”

Leigh stared, taking in his youthful skin and demeanor. He wore hip-hugging jeans and a t-shirt that said GEEKS DO IT BETTER. He could have been anywhere between twenty-five or thirty... but he was a vampire, she recalled, and Lucian had told her she wouldn’t age and her life would be prolonged so long as she didn’t get trapped in a fire or decapitated. He could be any age, she realized, and she shouldn’t be surprised that Lucian was his uncle, though they looked about the same age.

“Exactly,” Etienne said, and Leigh blinked in confusion.

“Exactly?”

“We don’t age and we all look about twenty-five to thirty years old... well, once we reach twenty-five or thirty,” he added.

“Are you—Did you just read my mind?” she asked with amazement.

“I’m afraid so,” he said apologetically. “Rude, I know. I’ll try not to in future, but it’s difficult because you’re broadcasting your thoughts at the moment. It happens to everyone when they first turn. You’ll learn to tone them down and keep them to yourself eventually.”

Leigh shrugged his apology away and asked, “Can I read minds, too?”

“Probably not yet, though you’ll gain that skill in time. However, you’ll probably never be able to read the minds of the older of our kind unless they’re distracted or upset.”

“But you can read me?” she asked with interest.

“Yes.”

Leigh glanced to Rachel. “And you?”

Rachel nodded.

“Can you control me, too?” Leigh asked, recalling the way she’d found herself unable to move, or struggle, or even yell, while Morgan had bitten her.

“Probably,” Etienne acknowledged. “But I wouldn’t.”

Leigh considered that, her mind slipping back to something Lucian had said on the phone to Marguerite: No, I can’t control her mind and make her wait, I can’t get into her thoughts. She hadn’t understood it then, but did now.

“Lucian can’t read you?” Rachel asked, her voice sharp with interest.

Leigh blinked, taking in the fact that her mind had been read again, or she was broadcasting her thoughts. Letting it go, she said, “No,” then added, “But then he’s tired. He thinks that’s why.”

Rachel turned to her husband with dismay. “He can’t read her.”

“No,” Etienne agreed, a slow smile spreading his lips. “Damn... Uncle Lucian’s finally met another mate.”

Leigh stiffened, but before she could ask what they were talking about, Rachel asked, “Do you have any family down in... Kansas, was it?”

“No, I’m all alone and... ” Leigh paused as the meaning behind the question sank in. “What do you mean down in Kansas? Aren’t we in Kansas?”

“Sorry, but no, you’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” Etienne said lightly, then seeing the dismay on her face, said more solemnly, “You’re in Canada, Leigh.”

“Canada?” she squeaked with disbelief.

“Toronto, to be exact,” Rachel informed her, then asked with irritation, “Didn’t Lucian tell you that?”

“Why am I in Canada?” Leigh asked instead of answering her question.

“Because that’s where we live,” Etienne said simply. “I gather he brought you up here for my mother to look after, but Mom was on her way to Europe, so he had to look after you himself.”

“But how did I get here?” Leigh asked. “I wasn’t even conscious. Surely they don’t just let people drive through the border stops with unconscious women? Or did we fly? They certainly wouldn’t have let him carry me on the plane unconscious and covered in dried blood as I was.”

“I think he used the company jet,” Etienne said soothingly. “There would have only been Lucian and the pilot and co-pilot to see the state you were in.”

“Even so, the airport officials—”

“Would have been handled,” Etienne said quietly.

“Oh yes, the mind control thing,” she said faintly, then asked, “So he just carried me on a plane? Without my purse? I don’t have ID, or credit cards, or anything.”

“It’s all right,” Rachel said quietly. “You’re safe here. And we’ll see what we can do about getting your purse with all your credit cards. Where did you leave it?”

Leigh blinked. “I’m not sure. I had it when I was walking home. I think I dropped it, though.” She grimaced. “Yes, I did drop it. I remember it hitting the ground.”

“I doubt they would have left it lying there in the street,” Rachel assured her. “I’m sure they would have taken it when they took you to the house. If so, we can get it back.”

Rather than feel relief at these words, Leigh’s shoulders slumped with defeat.

“What’s wrong?” Rachel asked. “If it’s at the house, we can just have someone go out and pick it up.” She glanced at Etienne. “Can’t we?”

“I’m pretty sure they burnt the house to the ground,” Leigh admitted, then added, “Unless that part was just a dream.”

“It wasn’t.” The announcement made all three of them swivel sharply to the open doorway, where Lucian now stood. His hair was still damp from his bath and he was wearing soft, pale blue jeans, and a tight, plain white t-shirt that lovingly hugged his muscular chest. He looked delicious, Leigh acknowledged, as he said, “We set the house on fire before we left.”

“Why?” Rachel asked with amazement, then understanding donned on her face. “To remove any evidence of the pack and what they were.”

Lucian nodded, then glanced at Leigh and said, “That’s another rule; you avoid hospitals, the police, and all other mortal authorities at all costs. Don’t go to a hospital, or the doctor’s, if you’re somehow injured. Do not call the police if you have a break-in. Call Bastien. We handle all our problems ourselves. We can’t risk anyone in an official position seeing, hearing, or finding something that might give away our existence.”