The Accidental Vampire (6 page)

"Sit down, Mabel," Brunswick suggested. "We can ask the questions you made up."

Victor was just getting irritated at the idea of more grilling when the woman shook her head. "Owen's cake is done. Elvi wants to present it now. She's been awake for a while and is hungry."

"Oh. I guess we'd best get it going, then." Brunswick frowned and glanced to a table where a couple and two teenage boys sat. His gaze then moved to the back of the restaurant where another family was just leaving the booth nearest the beaded arch. "Maybe we should move the Knights to the booth nearer the kitchen. Those cakes Elvi makes are huge and we don't want her stumbling and dropping it trying to get through this crowd."

"Good idea," Mabel said and the pair moved off.

"The cake is done and she's hungry?" DJ murmured, his eyes trailing the older woman. "This Elvi can't be that old if she still eats cake. If she's young enough it would explain her mistakes."

"Her sire should have taught her such things," Victor responded, watching Brunswick and Mabel speak to one of the teenagers. They then turned to say something to the parents. The quartet rose and started toward the back of the restaurant.

Mabel and Brunswick were at the back of the small group, following the teenager they'd first greeted. The young man wasn't displaying the same eagerness as the others, walking at a much slower pace that soon left them behind the main party. And, Victor noted, while he was smiling, there was a worried edge to his expression. It seemed obvious the boy was nervous and growing more so with every step.

"Will it hurt?" he asked just as they drew level with the table where Victor and the others sat.

The question caught his attention and he narrowed his eyes as Mabel clucked and chided, "Don't be silly, Owen. Of course it won't hurt. Do you think men would be lining up for this if it hurt?"

That response merely made Victor frown with confusion as he tried to sort out what they were talking about. The boy's next question, however, raised alarm bells in his mind.

"I won't turn into one, will I?"

This time there was no clucking and chiding. Mabel and Brunswick exchanged a glance, but the woman merely said, "Now, what would make you ask a question like that? No one else has, have they?"

"That's not a no," the boy pointed out anxiously.

Brunswick and Mabel exchanged another glance, then the woman said firmly, "Don't be silly, Owen. Do you want to do this or not? Because we can just present the cake and skip the rest of it."

There was a brief pause as he glanced toward the booth where the other teenager and his parents were seating themselves, then said quickly, "No, no. I'll do it. Dan would never let me live it down if I backed out."

DJ leaned close and hissed, "They aren't talking about what I think they're talking about, are they?"

Victor's answer was to catch Brunswick's arm as he passed and pull him to a stop. "What's the boy worried about? What is he afraid will hurt?"

"His Birthday Bite," Brunswick answered and would have continued walking, but Victor held him back.

"Birthday Bite?" he queried sharply.

Impatient to get going, Brunswick quickly explained, "On their eighteenth birthday, the boys come here for a special celebratory dinner on the house. They get cake that Elvi makes for them, and then she bites them." He paused, but when there was a deafening silence from the men at the table, he added, "It's sort of a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood."

"A rite of passage?" DJ asked with disbelief.

"The Indians have their rituals, we have ours," Brunswick said with a shrug, then tugged his arm free. "I have to go."

This time, Victor let him escape. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

A sudden hush in the room made them all glance toward the back of the room. Victor's eyes widened as a curvy redhead stepped through the beads separating the restaurant from the kitchen. If this was Elvi, her picture was misleading. For one thing, in the picture, her hair had looked dark rather than the vibrant red it truly was. The photo also hadn't revealed that she was short, no more than five foot three. And she certainly hadn't been wearing the getup she was in now.

His eyes skated over the long, form-fitting gown, lingering over the naked flesh of her lower legs revealed as she walked, then returned to her face. It was the same face and yet now he was noticing the piquant, elfin quality to it, and that her eyes weren't just large, they were huge, and she had the most adorable little nose he'd ever seen. As for her lips—

Victor gave his head a shake. While her picture hadn't impressed him, the real deal somehow robbed him of breath. He found himself staring with fascination, his eyes following as she moved to the table where the boy, Owen, and his family sat.

The faint chime of bells marked her passage and it took a moment for Victor to realize it came from a chain of charms around her ankle. He then found himself staring at that ankle, noting the delicate curve from lower calf to heel.

It wasn't until DJ sucked in a hearty breath that Victor's gaze rose back to the woman herself and he realized she'd reached the table and squeezed herself onto the end of the bench seat with the two teenagers. She was now leaning toward Owen, whispering something in his ear. When the lad swallowed thickly and gave a nervous nod, she chuckled softly. The whole room was silent, everyone seeming to hold their breath.

"Dear God! She's going to bite him right here in front of everyone," DJ gasped with horror.

"She wouldn't dare," Victor breathed with disbelief, but even as he said the words, she leaned in toward the boy again.

"We have to do something!" DJ hissed. "We can't let everyone in here see this."

Victor didn't answer, he was already on his feet, rushing toward the corner booth.

Chapter Four

Victor had nearly reached the back booth when Teddy Brunswick suddenly stepped in his way.

"What are you doing, son?" The officer asked grimly.

Victor started to slip into his mind to make him step aside, and then hesitated as he realized another man had moved up behind Brunswick, backing him up… And another.

Stiffening, Victor peered slowly around to see that the male patrons seated nearest them were stiff and narrow-eyed, ready to step in should the need arise. It wasn't until DJ spoke that he realized the younger immortal had followed and now had his own back.

"What do we do?" DJ breathed, his voice so low that only Victor could have heard him.

"Son," Brunswick growled before he could answer DJ. "I asked you a question. What are you doing? You weren't thinking to hurt our Elvi, were you?"

Aware of the sudden shifting around them, Victor glanced about to see that the mortal men were starting to look mean, very much resembling a lynch mob as they closed in. He also noted that Alessandro, Harper, and Edward had moved up to stand behind DJ, offering their support if necessary, but Victor didn't want this to turn into a brawl.

Between their increased strength and their ability to control minds, it would be no problem for the five of them to deal with this crowd, but he didn't want to clean up the mess afterward. The idea of wiping every mind of every patron in the restaurant was wearying, besides it was a risky business. If even one person proved difficult to wipe and managed to retain their memories, they could draw out the memories of the others and it would have been a complete waste of time. He may yet have to wipe the memories of all these people, but would rather avoid it if possible. Victor had no idea what was going on, what these people did or did not know, and didn't want to force such an action until he did.

Taking a deep breath, he lied, "No, of course not. You misunderstood. I had no intention of hurting Elvi. I was just eager to meet her."

"Uh-huh." Brunswick didn't look as if he believed him and Victor understood why when the man asked, "Then why are you clutching Lerner's stake in your hand?"

Victor peered down with surprise at the small wooden stake that he'd apparently pulled from his back pocket as he'd rushed forward. He hadn't been aware he'd done so. Now, he held it out to Brunswick.

"I was bringing it to you… as an excuse to come to the table and meet Elvi."

The officer eyed him narrowly for a moment and then allowed his gaze to move over the other three immortals behind them. Apparently none of the "suitors" gave away the game by expression. Brunswick relaxed the tiniest fraction.

"Trying to get the jump on the other men," he suggested.

"Something like that," Victor muttered.

Brunswick nodded slowly, but apparently wasn't totally convinced. He took the stake, but then peered more closely at him. "Show me your teeth again, son. I didn't get a real good look when you were showing them to Vlad."

Victor stiffened. Obviously, the man wished to assure himself he didn't have another vampire hunter on his hands. Victor resented having to prove his status, but suspected he wouldn't get near Elvi if he didn't so opened his mouth and then allowed his incisors to slip down and protrude.

Teddy Brunswick examined them thoroughly, even reaching out to poke at them to ensure they weren't some sort of insert. Seemingly satisfied, he then nodded and relaxed completely.

"Okay, but this is Owen's moment. You can talk to Elvi afterward." Teddy Brunswick gestured to the table where he'd seated the five men earlier. "Go sit down. Mabel and I will join you in a moment."

Victor glanced past Brunswick and saw Elvi glancing curiously their way as she listened distractedly to a smiling, chattering and
unbitten
Owen. Nodding reluctantly, he turned and led the other immortals back to their assigned table.

"So you
are
here on council business," Edward commented as the men reclaimed their seats.

"I was afraid of that," Harper murmured. "I suppose the council wasn't pleased by her advertising in the single's columns."

"Not very, no," Victor admitted.

"I was sure she was going to bite him right there in front of everyone," DJ said apologetically, his gaze shifting back to the birthday booth. His eyes then moved around the crowded restaurant, taking in each patron. "Do you think they all know?"

"How could they not?" Victor asked, following his gaze with a frown. He and DJ might have more on their hands than they'd expected with this case.

"So, what does the council intend to do about Elvi?" Edward asked.

The man's expression was calculating. Victor had no doubt he was considering what this might mean should she turn out to be his lifemate. He glanced at the faces of the other two prospective suitors. All of them were concerned, and with good reason.

"It isn't just the ads," he said finally. "There are rumors running rampant all over the Toronto club scene that there's a female vampire living in one of the small, lakeside towns in southern Ontario."

The three men were silent, only their expressions revealing that they understood the gravity of the matter. There were few laws among their people, but they were important laws and not drawing attention to themselves or the existence of their people was right up there in importance. Another was they weren't allowed to bite a mortal… except in cases of an emergency.

His gaze slid to the corner booth again. The woman was laughing at something the teen had said. The boy seemed totally at ease now and he was as lit up as a Christmas tree, apparently his fears had abated. It didn't matter. They weren't allowed to bite because it increased the risk of detection for their people and she apparently intended to bite the boy and, from what Brunswick had said, he wouldn't be the first.

"And she appears to be biting mortals," Alessandro murmured, apparently thinking along the same lines.

Victor didn't comment. He glanced around the restaurant, slipping quickly and easily into various minds. As he'd feared, every single person here knew that Elvi was a vampire… and that he and the other men there were too.

Elvi Black was in a great deal of trouble with the council. The kind that could see her staked and left out in the sun all day, then beheaded. He sincerely hoped she wasn't a lifemate to any of the men here.

"Okay."

Victor glanced up with a start to find Brunswick had returned, managing to do so without his hearing or noticing it.

"Okay," Brunswick repeated now that he had everyone's attention. "Mabel and I think it would be best to quickly introduce the bunch of you, and then Elvi will take Owen back to her office for his Birthday Bite. When Mabel goes back to collect the boy, she'll explain what you're doing here, then she can join your table and—"

"What do you mean she'll explain what we're doing here?" Harper interrupted. "She knows. She invited us."

Brunswick grimaced. "Actually, she didn't. Mabel put the ad in the single's column and responded to all your e-mails, then invited you down here for the week. Elvi has no idea about any of this."

"I told you our kind wouldn't be stupid enough to put an ad in a single's column," DJ said with satisfaction.

"No, but your kind are stupid enough to answer it," Brunswick snapped, his face flushed with either embarrassment at being involved in this match-making attempt, or just plain irritation. Possibly, it was both.

"So, she wasn't advertising?" Harper cast a hopeful look Victor's way that seemed to say,
Here's one less sin on her list at least
.

But it was only one, Victor thought, his mouth tightening. He turned his attention back to Brunswick and said, "There are rumors all over the club scene about a beautiful young female vampire residing in a small southern town. Like this one."

"Yes," DJ said, picking up his intent. "Does Elvi go to Toronto and visit the clubs?"

"Well…" Brunswick looked slightly embarrassed and glanced away. "She… er… we…"

"Does she?" Victor asked, impatient with his dithering.

"No," Brunswick admitted reluctantly. He ran one hand agitatedly through his hair before explaining, "You see, this is a small town."

No one commented on this obvious statement.