The Accidental Vampire (12 page)

"Elvi?" Victor sounded concerned as he moved to her side. "Are you all right?"

"I need something," she muttered.

"What do you need?" he asked, and she couldn't help but notice Victor sounded rather cautious, as if he were approaching a possibly rabid animal… or a madwoman.

She was too distracted to care. Besides, he obviously didn't understand. She was a woman who hadn't eaten in five years.
Five
. That was one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five days. That was five thousand, four hundred and seventy-five meals. Actually, more than that since it would be six years this winter. In just a couple months really. How many meals had it been exactly? Elvi wondered and started to do the math and then pushed it aside as unimportant. She hadn't eaten. She wanted food. She was a woman with a mission.

"Can I help you with something Elvi?"

She glanced to the side and smiled as she recognized the fresh-faced young blonde in the grocery store uniform. Dawn Geoffreys, the granddaughter of a friend.

"Yes, dear," Elvi said brightening. "I need something small to try."

"To try?" Dawn asked with confusion, then her eyes widened with amazement. "You mean like to eat?"

"Yes. These men say I can eat, but I want to try something small first to…" Her voice trailed away as her gaze slid past the girl to the older woman approaching.

"Mrs. Ricci," she said with surprise, and then glanced at her wristwatch. It was the middle of the night. Far past the elderly lady's bedtime, she was sure. Leonora Ricci was in her eighties. "What are you doing here so late?"

"I don't sleep very well anymore, dear," Mrs. Ricci answered serenely. "I'm in bed by nine and up by two and looking for something to do. I've found this is the best time to shop. No one shops at this hour… Usually," she added with a smile and then glanced at the men surrounding Elvi and asked, "I'm guessing these are your beaus?"

"Oh, yes." Elvi blushed, and quickly introduced them.

Mrs. Ricci greeted each pleasantly and then commented, "Little Teddy was telling me about you boys. I hope you treat our Elvi right. None of that love-them-and-leave-them nonsense kids get into nowadays."

When the men quickly murmured assurances of their good intentions, Mrs. Ricci nodded and turned to Elvi. "I heard you say you wanted something small as I came up. Why not a cookie, dear?"

She gestured to the table behind her stacked with clear boxes of freshly baked cookies and Elvi smiled. A cookie. So simple and perfect! Stepping up to the table, she slid her gaze over the selection: Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate Fudge, Hermit Cookies, Shortbread, S'Mores, Butterscotch Chocolate Chip—

"White Chocolate Strawberry cookies?" Elvi read the last selection with interest. "These are new. I don't remember those from when I used to eat."

"Oh, yes." Dawn hurried to her side. "They're new. They're really yummy too."

"Perfect." Elvi slit the seal, opened the container and snatched out a cookie, then hesitated almost afraid to try it. Finally, she raised it cautiously to her nose and sniffed delicately. God, it smelled good! She inhaled more deeply.

"Try it," Mrs. Ricci said. "We are all curious now."

Elvi peered back at the cookie and bit her lip, then said, "But what if food doesn't taste the same anymore? What if it's like dust in my mouth? How disappointing would that be?"

"Oh." Dawn's smile faded, and then she turned to the men. "Will it?"

"No, of course not," Victor snapped impatiently. "It will taste just as good as before. Better even. Your taste buds are more sensitive just like everything else. Didn't your sire teach you anything?"

Elvi had lost interest in his words after the bit about taste buds being more sensitive just like everything else. Her hearing was ten times better, as was her physical strength and speed, but her taste buds too?

"Try it, Elvi," Mrs. Ricci urged again.

Elvi took a breath, then lifted the cookie to her lips, closed her eyes, and took a bite. Her eyes immediately shot open with amazed delight. She was just holding the cookie in her mouth, almost afraid to chew, but it was enough for her taste buds. They went wild. The only way to describe it would be an oral orgasm. After five years of a blood-only diet, this sweet, savory explosion in her mouth made every taste bud stand up, then do somersaults across her tongue.

"Good?" Dawn asked hopefully.

"Mmmmmmmm," Elvi answered on a long moan. "Mmm, mmm, mmmmmmmm."

A chuckle drew her eyes to Alessandro. He was grinning at her with delight. Actually, she saw, all the men were smiling at her indulgently… except for Edward.

"If it wouldn't be too much excitement for your senses," Edward said dryly, "perhaps you should try chewing and swallow—"

Elvi shoved the rest of the cookie in his open mouth. She watched him closely as she began to chew her own and reached for another to replace the one Edward was now trying to spit out. Then he paused, his mouth working as his taste buds tasted.

"These are quite good," he said with surprise.

Elvi smiled around the cookie in her own mouth, and then offered the cookie box to Mrs. Ricci.

"Can I try one?" Alessandro asked curiously, and then explained, "I haven't eaten for fifty years, but you seem to enjoy it so much…"

"Fifty years!" Mrs. Ricci repeated with dismay. "Someone needs to feed you, son. You come see me if you get hungry. I live across the street from Elvi and I always have something cooking."

Elvi smiled and held the box out to Alessandro, her eyebrows rising when he, Harper, and even Victor immediately reached in to take a cookie each. Seeing the envious expression on Dawn's face, Elvi held the box out to her as well, bringing a smile to the girl's face.

Having finished the half a cookie he'd got, Edward reached for another and frowned at how few were left. "I think we should get more of these."

"Definitely," Harper said with a smile as he finished his own cookie. "These really are quite good."

"Yes, they are," Mrs. Ricci said and moved to the table to collect a box of her own and put it in her basket. She then wished them good evening before continuing on with her own shopping.

The moment she was gone, the men moved to the table, each grabbing a couple of boxes. Elvi grabbed another cookie from the open pack before setting it in the cart, then moved happily back to the cake counter to survey the selection with greedy eyes. Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, a Chocolate Bomb, Black Forest Cake, Lemon Supreme, Cherry Surprise… They all looked good to her.

"So?" Alessandro followed and peered at the cakes with interest. "What is good here?"

"I can't decide!" Elvi admitted with dismay. She wanted them all, but couldn't possibly eat it all and so thought choosing two or three would be better, but which two or three?

"You said you wanted cheesecake," Victor reminded her. "Cheesecake, ice cream, and chocolate."

"Yes, but that Caramel Crunch looks yummy too, and which chocolate one? The Chocolate Bomb, the Black Forest cake, or the Fudge Surprise? And look at that carrot cake. It's a masterpiece," she crooned.

Victor surveyed the cakes she'd pointed out with a frown, and then shrugged. "Take them all."

"
All
of them?" she squeaked, torn between hope and horror at the glutinous thought.

"Why not? You have five years to make up for."

"Victor's right, and we will help you eat them," Harper announced. Stepping forward, he picked up the cheesecake and handed it to Alessandro, then picked up the Chocolate Bomb and Black Forest cake. Victor then picked up the Fudge Surprise and Caramel Crunch.

Elvi surveyed the cakes that were left, then bit her lip and quickly picked up the Cherry Supreme too.

"I like cherries," she said apologetically.

"Ice cream?" Victor asked.

"Oh, yes." Turning, she carefully set her cakes in the cart, and then led the way to the frozen section, pausing abruptly as she passed an end aisle of Mexican food; tacos, seasoning and so on. Elvi absolutely loved Mexican food. She had been cooking it and around it for five years without being able to take even a lick. She stared at the end aisle, her mind in a veritable swoon. She could make tacos, or chimichangas, or, ohhhhhh, fajitas. She'd need steak… or maybe chicken. And tomatoes and onions and cheese and—

"I believe we'll be needing another cart," Edward murmured and turned away to go find one. Elvi hardly noticed his leaving, she was adjusting the grocery list in her head.

"I don't think there is enough room for everything," Alessandro announced with a frown as Edward opened the trunk of the BMW.

"We can put some in the backseat with us, and maybe the front seat too," Elvi suggested, lifting bags out of the first of their three carts. She knew she'd gone a little overboard with the groceries, but really the men hadn't been any help at all, encouraging her as if they were on the Devil's payroll, sent to tempt her into committing the third of the seven deadly sins: gluttony.

Anytime Elvi had debated over two items, they'd simply taken both from her and put them in the cart. And then they'd picked up an item or two themselves, things that caught their eye or interest. Dawn had rung them through her till, her eyes wide the whole time, and Elvi knew this story would be broadcast all over town by breakfast.

As would the fact that when the total had come up, Elvi had reached for her purse only to find that she'd rushed out of the house so quickly, she hadn't brought it with her. Guessing at the problem from her dismayed grasping at the thin air where her purse should have been, four men's hands had suddenly appeared before her, each holding a credit card.

Victor had ended up doing the honors, glaring at the others until they put away their own cards and wallets.

"It's bigger than it looks," Harper said as they fit the last bag into the trunk. "Perhaps I should look into getting one of these."

Elvi didn't comment, but did wonder what these men did. Two owned cars that probably cost more than her house and another was casually considering getting one. Come to think of it, the roadster Alessandro had stepped out of hadn't been cheap either. It seemed Mabel had only picked the wealthier vampires for her.

Elvi's glance caught on a car pulling into the parking lot, and stared, sure she recognized it as it parked under the lights. When the driver opened the door and got out, she caught her breath, and hissed, "Duck!"

Much to her relief, the men paid heed and ducked next to her behind Edward's BMW. All but Victor, Elvi realized when she glanced to her side.

Looking down at where they crouched on the ground, Victor asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No." She grabbed his arm and dragged him down with them. "Just someone I'd rather avoid."

"That wouldn't be Father O'Flaherty, would it?" Victor asked dryly.

Elvi was surprised that he knew who the man was, but said, "He's really a dear old thing, but he hasn't taken my turning as well as the others. It's understandable, I guess."

"Is it?" Victor asked grimly.

"Well, he's a minister and I'm a vampire," she said simply.

Victor muttered something under his breath and straightened.

"Hey," Elvi hissed and stood upright to catch at his arm, then paused when she saw that Father O'Flaherty was entering the grocery store. "Oh… I guess we can go."

Elvi spent the ride home trying to figure out what she would eat first. It was a difficult decision, but didn't feel as urgent as her need to get to the grocery store had been. She and the men had eaten six boxes of the cookies as they'd gone through the grocery store. Now Elvi was feeling almost uncomfortably full, both her head and stomach aching. It was just her brain that still wanted more.

"Dear God! What did you do? Buy out the grocery store?" Mabel exclaimed, entering the kitchen from the deck with DJ on her heels as Elvi entered from the garage with the men in tow. All of them were loaded down with grocery bags.

"I couldn't make up my mind," Elvi said with embarrassment as the men began to set down their burdens.

"We'll get the rest," Victor announced and led the men back out through the garage.

"There's more?" Mabel asked with dismay. "Elvi, where are we going to put all this? We only have two refrigerators."

"It's not all perishable," Elvi assured her, grabbing up a bag with ice cream and moving to the freezer. "The rest is mostly boxes and cans. We just brought the cold stuff in first so it wouldn't go bad."

Mabel was shaking her head, but bent to pick up a bag and help.

"I hope you don't intend to eat all of this at once," she said with concern as she began to empty the bag she'd picked up. "You'll make yourself sick."

"No, of course not," Elvi assured her, and was pretty sure it was true. She wanted to eat something, but she really was quite full. She supposed after five years with nothing in it, her stomach had shrunk to the size of a pea and she'd stretched it out with the cookies. Did she really want to stretch it further?

Yes
, came the resounding answer in her head. Just a little further. Something small. But what? she wondered as the men returned with the rest of the groceries.

Elvi tried not to feel guilty at the excess of food as they continued unpacking. Instead she concentrated on what she should eat. Where should she start? Cheesecake? Chocolate? Ice cream? Soft tacos? Spaghetti? Steak? Pepperoni? Knackwurst? Everything was sounding good to her.

"Perhaps a selection of the cheese and crackers," Alessandro murmured, his expression sympathetic as he watched her peer at the groceries with confusion. "That and the nice glass of wine by the fire."

"Cheese," Elvi murmured with relief. That was close to cheesecake, but better for her, wasn't it? But not too healthy… And crackers were supposed to be good for settling the stomach.

"Good idea, Alessandro," she said with a smile.

With Mabel and the men helping, it was no time before the bags were empty and the cupboards and refrigerators bursting with food.

"Elvi, you and the men pour yourselves some wine and take it out to sit by the fire," Mabel suggested once they were done. "I'll fix up some cheese and crackers and bring them out."