Christmas With a Vampire by Merline Lovelace

Author:Merline Lovelace
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2010-11-30T23:00:00+00:00

ABBY HADN’T BEEN inside her apartment long when someone knocked gently on the door. Not Remy, she knew from the hesitant knock. Certainly not Leo, who should be sound asleep by now, dreaming of other, more suitable women. She answered the door to find Margaret in the doorway. The pretty girl looked over Abby’s shoulder as if she expected to see someone there.

“I’m alone,” Abby said.

“Oh. I was sure I smelled a man.” She looked at Abby and her eyes went wide. “But that’s none of my business. That’s not why I’m here.”

“Why are you here?” Abby stepped back and gestured for Margaret to enter.

“I’m worried about what you asked us about tonight.” Margaret wrung her hands. “The poor dead girl who was in the bar last night, Marisa. I hate to think that maybe one of us killed her.”

“So do I.”

“I mean, she was human, but she was pretty nice most of the time. She left good tips. Most of the young girls don’t leave good tips at all.”

Abby sighed.

Margaret sat on Abby’s long, sunset-colored sofa. The reddish-orange was bright, a flash of color in a world where to watch the sun set was impossible. The young vamp didn’t need to rest, not anymore, and yet there were times Margaret seemed to forget that she was no longer human. In time, all that was left of her humanity would fade, and she’d be happier for it. Not yet fifty years old, Margaret was still learning.

“It could’ve been another human, I suppose, and if a vampire did the deed he could’ve been, you know, passing through. But I was wondering, if there’s a rogue vampire, won’t he come to us eventually? Won’t he be drawn to us the way Charles and Dalton were?”

“Possibly.”

“He could just as easily kill one of us, couldn’t he?”

“I suppose he could, but no vamp, no matter how hungry he might be, would feed on another vampire if there was any other choice.” Immortality and invulnerability did not go hand in hand.

“But some vamps do…”

“Our blood is cold,” Abby said sharply. No vampire should have such fear as this one did. “It would nourish but would not be particularly tasty. Vampires only kill other vampires when there’s a feud of some kind, a slight or an insult.”

“But vampires do some times feed on one another during, you know, sex.”

“That’s different.”

“I know.” Again, Margaret fidgeted.

“Don’t worry,” Abby said. “If a rogue comes to us, he comes. He or she, I should say. However, if the vampire who killed Marisa Black well is truly rogue he’s already moved on to another town and another victim.” The creature who’d sucked Marisa dry wouldn’t come to Abby’s place hungry for pigs’ blood.

“I hope you’re right. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt, especially not Remy.”

Abby had to fight to contain her smile. “Remy can take care of himself.”

“Yeah, he can.” Margaret dipped her head. “Okay, I know I shouldn’t say anything, but I admire you. You’re my hero, really you are, and to see you take up with a human, it breaks my heart, it truly does.

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