The Reluctant Vampire

Drina hardly no ced the rhythmic tap of her heels as she descended the stairs from the plane. Her a en on was shi ing from the winter-dead trees surrounding the private airstrip to the man leaning against the back of a small golf cart on the edge of the tarmac.

With dark hair and skin and a black leather coat, he could have been mistaken for a shadow if it weren't for his glowing gold-black eyes. They peered at her, steady and cold from between his black wool hat and scarf, and he remained u erly mo onless un l she stepped down onto the paved runway. Only then did he move, straightening and walking forward to meet her.

Despite the cold, Drina forced a smile. A gree ng was trembling on her lips, but died there when he took the small bag she carried and turned wordlessly away. The abrupt ac on brought her up short, and she watched blankly as the man walked away with her luggage. When he slid behind the wheel of the small, open cart and dropped her bag on the front passenger seat, she managed to shake herself out of her surprise and move forward, but couldn't resist mu ering, "Hello, you must be Drina Argenis. Such a pleasure to meet you. Please, allow me to take your luggage for you. And here, please take a seat so I can get you to the enforcer house and out of this cold."

With their hearing, she knew the man must have heard her sarcas c mimicry of what she would have liked him to say, but he didn't react by deed or word. He merely started the engine on the cart and waited.

Drina grimaced. It seemed obvious from where he'd set her suitcase that she was expected to sit on the back bench seat. Not welcome in the front, apparently, she thought with disgust as she se led on the cold, s ff seat. She then grabbed the suppor ng bar to keep from sliding off as the cart immediately jerked into mo on. The icy metal under her fingers made her think, not for the first me, that she should have researched North American winters more fully before making this journey. It was a bit late for that, however. But she would definitely need to take a shopping trip or two as soon as she could if she didn't wish to end up a Popsicle while here.

With nothing else to look at, Drina watched the small plane that had brought her here turn on the landing strip and start away. The moment its wheels li ed off, the lights on the field suddenly blinked out and darkness crowded in. For one moment, she couldn't see a thing, but then her eyes adjusted and she took in the knee-deep snow and skeletal trees lining the path and wondered how long she would be on this contraption and out in the cold.

The woods weren't as deep as they'd seemed from the plane. It only took a ma er of moments before they le the woods behind to follow a small path along the side of an open snow-covered yard holding what looked like a long garage and a house. It was the garage her driver steered them toward. The res crunched on the hard-packed snow as they came to a halt beside a small door. The man who hadn't greeted her, then grabbed her bag and slid out from behind the steering wheel. He moved toward the door to the garage without a word.

Eyebrows rising, along with her temper, Drina followed him inside and up a short hall. She spo ed an office and a hallway leading to cells on her le , but he led her to a door on the right and straight into a garage, where several vehicles sat waiting.

Drina cast a quick glance over the few vehicles inside. They were all the same, SUVs, she thought they were called. She followed Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Mute to the back passenger door of the first vehicle. When he opened it, and then simply waited, she eyed him narrowly. It seemed obvious he was going to be her escort to Port Henry, but she'd be damned if he was going to s ck her in the backseat like some unwanted guest for the duration of what her uncle had said would be a two-hour journey. Smiling sweetly, she ducked under his arm and moved past him to the front door instead. Drina pulled it open and quickly slid inside, then turned to eye him challengingly.

His response was to heave a long-suffering sigh, toss her bag on the floor at her feet, and slam the door closed.

"Great," Drina mu ered, as he walked around the vehicle to the driver's side. But she supposed she shouldn't be surprised at the man's a tude. He worked for her uncle, a er all, the most taciturn man she'd ever met. On this side of the ocean at least. She added that last thought as Mr. Tall-Dark-andMiserable slid behind the steering wheel and started the engine. Drina watched him press a bu on that set the garage door in front of them rolling up, but waited un l he'd shifted into gear before asking, "Are we heading straight to - "

She paused as he suddenly slid a letter from an inside pocket of his fur-lined coat and handed it to her.

"Oh here, I was to give you this," Drina mimicked dryly as she accepted the envelope. Tall-Dark-and-Rude raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't react.

Drina shook her head and opened the le er. It was from Uncle Lucian, explaining that her escort was Anders and he would be delivering her directly to Port Henry. She guessed that meant Lucian hadn't trusted Anders to pass on this informa on himself. Perhaps he really was mute, she thought, and glanced curiously to the man as she slipped the le er into her pocket. The nanos should have prevented it . . . unless, of course, it wasn't a physical problem but a gene c one. S ll, she'd never heard of a mute immortal.

"Do you speak at all?" she asked finally.

He turned an arched eyebrow in her direction as he steered the vehicle up the driveway beside the house, and shrugged. "Why bother? You were doing well enough on your own."

So . . . rude, not mute, Drina thought, and scowled. "Obviously, all those tales Aunt Marguerite told me about charming Canadian men were something of an exaggeration."

That had him hi ng the brakes and jerking around to peer at her with wide eyes. They were really quite beautiful eyes, she noted absently as he barked, "Marguerite?"

"Dear God, it speaks again," she mu ered dryly. "Be s ll my bea ng heart. I don't know if I'll survive the excitement."

Scowling at her sarcasm, he eased his foot off the brakes to cruise forward along the driveway un l they reached a manned gate. Two men came out of a small building beside the gates and waved in gree ng. They then immediately set about manually opening the inner gate. Once Anders had steered the SUV

through and paused at a second gate, the men closed the first one. They then disappeared inside the small building again. A bare moment later, the second gate swung open on its own, and he urged their vehicle out onto a dark, country road.

"Did Marguerite specify any par cular male in Canada?" Anders asked abruptly, as Drina turned from watching the gate close behind them.

She raised an eyebrow, no ng the tension now apparent in the man. "Now you want to speak, do you?"

she asked with amusement, and taunted, "Afraid it was you?"

He glanced at her sharply, his own eyes narrowed. "Was it?"

Drina snorted and tugged on her seat belt. Doing it up, she muttered, "Like I'd tell you if it was."

"Wouldn't you?"

She glanced over to see that he was now frowning.

"Hell no," she assured him. "What self-respec ng girl would want to be stuck with a doorstop for a mate for the rest of her life?"

"A doorstop?" he squawked.

"Yes, doorstop. As in big, silent, and good only for holding wood." She smiled sweetly, and added, "At least I'm pretty sure about the wood part. Nanos do make sure immortal males function in all areas."

Drina watched with sa sfac on as Anders's mouth dropped open. She then shi ed in her seat to a more comfortable posi on and closed her eyes. "I think I'll take a nap. I never sleep well on planes. Enjoy the drive."

Despite her closed eyes, she was aware that he kept glancing her way. Drina ignored it and managed not to grin. The man needed some shaking up, and she had no doubt this would do it. Over the centuries, she'd become good at judging the age of other immortals, and was pre y sure she was centuries older than Anders. He wouldn't be able to read her, which would leave him wondering . . . and drive him nuts, she was sure. But it served him right. It didn't take much effort to be courteous, and courtesy was necessary in a civilized society. It was a lesson the man should learn before he got too old to learn anything anymore.

Harper considered his cards briefly, then pulled out a six of spades and laid it on the discard pile. He glanced toward Tiny, not terribly surprised to find the man not looking at his own cards but peering distractedly toward the stairs.

"Tiny," he prompted. "Your turn."

"Oh." The mortal turned back to his cards, started to pull one out of his hand as if to discard it, and Harper shot his own hand out to stop him.

When Tiny glanced at him with surprise, he pointed out dryly, "You have to pick up first."

"Oh, right." He shook his head and set back the card he'd been about to discard, and reached for one from the deck.

Harper sat back with a li le shake of the head, thinking, Lord save me from new life mates. The thought made him grimace since that's all he seemed to be surrounded with lately: Victor and Elvi, DJ and Mabel, Allesandro and Leonora, Edward and Dawn and now Tiny and Mirabeau. The first four couples had been together for a year and a half now, and were just star ng to re-gather some of their wits about them. They were s ll new enough to be trying at mes, but at least they could actually hold on to a thought or two longer than a second.

Tiny and Mirabeau were brand-spanking-new, however, and couldn't think of much else but each other

. . . and how to find a moment alone to get naked. And they couldn't control their thoughts either, so that it was like constantly having a radio playing in his ear, life-mate porn, twenty-four/seven. Harper supposed the fact that he hadn't packed up his bags and moved on a year and a half ago when his own life mate had died, was probably a sign that he was a masochist. Because really, there was no worse torture for someone who had just lost their long-awaited and prayed-for life mate than to have to stand by and witness the joy and just plain horniness of other new life mates. But he had nowhere to go. Oh, he had an apartment in the city and businesses he could pretend to be interested in, but why bother when he'd set them up years ago to ensure he needn't be there to oversee them, and could travel, merely checking in once in a while. He also had family in Germany he could visit, but they weren't close, each of them having created their own lives centuries ago and barely keeping up with each other. Actually, Harper thought, Elvi, Victor, Mabel, and DJ were the closest thing to family he now had. When Jenny had died, the two couples had surrounded and embraced him and pulled him into their li le family. They had cushioned and coddled him during the first shock of her loss, and slowly nursed him back to the land of the living, and he was grateful for it. So much so, in fact, that he was glad for this opportunity to repay some of their kindness by looking a er things while they went on their honeymoons. He just wished that looking after things didn't include a pair of new life mates to torture him with. Tiny finally discarded, and Harper picked up another card, but then paused and glanced toward the window as the crunch of tires on new snow caught his ear.

"What is it?" Tiny asked, his voice tense.

"A vehicle just pulled into the driveway," Harper murmured, then glanced to Tiny and raised an eyebrow.

"Your replacements, I'm guessing."

Tiny was immediately out of his seat and moving into the kitchen to peer out the back window. When he then moved to the pantry to collect his coat from the closet there, Harper stood and followed. The arrival of the replacement hunters was something he'd looked forward to. He suspected Tiny and Mirabeau would now retreat to their bedroom and not be seen much. It meant he could avoid the worst of their obsessive thoughts about each other . . . which would be a blessing.

Tiny apparently saw him coming and grabbed Harper's coat as well. The man handed it to him as he came back into the kitchen, and both pulled them on as they headed for the door to the deck. Tiny had pulled his boots on while in the pantry and headed straight out the door, but Harper had to pause to kick off his slippers and tug on the boots by the back door. It only took a moment, but by the me he did and stepped outside, Tiny was already out of sight.

Harper grimaced as the bi er wind slapped his face. He followed the big mortal's footprints in the snow, trailing them across the deck and down the steps to the short sidewalk that ran along the side of the garage to the driveway. With his eyes on the ground, he didn't see the person approaching un l he was nearly on top of them. Pausing abruptly when a pair of running shoes came into view in front of his boots, he jerked his head up with surprise and found himself blinking at a pe te woman in a coat far too light for Canadian winters.

His gaze slid from her hatless head, to the suitcase she carried, and then beyond her to the two men by the SUV.

"Hi."

Harper glanced back to the woman. She was smiling tenta vely at him and holding out one ungloved hand in greeting.

"Alexandrina Argenis," she announced when he merely stared at her hand. "But everyone calls me Drina."

Removing one hand from his pocket, he shook hers, no ng that it was warm and so despite the cold, then he cleared his throat and said, "Harpernus Stoyan." He retrieved his hand and shoved it back into the safety of his pocket as he stepped to the side for her to get by. "Go on inside. It's warm in there. There's blood in the fridge."

Nodding, she moved past him, and Harper watched her go, wai ng un l she disappeared around the corner before con nuing on to the SUV now parked in the driveway. Tiny and another man, this one dressed more befi ng a Canadian winter, with hat and gloves and even a scarf, were s ll at the back of the truck. As he approached, the new man pulled a cooler from inside and handed it to Tiny. Rather than turn away and head back to the house though, Tiny said, "Throw your suitcase on top and I'll take it in as well."

Harper smiled faintly to himself. Tiny was a big guy, a small mountain really, and very strong . . . for a mortal. He was also used to being the muscle among his own people and forgot that he was now dealing with immortals who outclassed him horribly in that area.

But the new arrival merely set a suitcase on top of the cooler and turned back to the SUV without comment. Tiny immediately slid past Harper to head for the house, leaving him to step up beside the newcomer and peer curiously into the back of the SUV. There were two more coolers le inside. The fellow was unplugging them and winding up the cords.

"Harper."

He glanced to the man with surprise at the terse gree ng, eyebrows rising as he recognized the eyes that turned to him. "Nice to see you, Anders," Harper greeted in return as he reached in to retrieve one of the coolers. "It's been a while."

Anders's answer was a grunt as he claimed the second cooler and straightened from the vehicle. He paused to close the back of the SUV, hit the bu on to lock the doors, and then nodded for Harper to lead the way.

Harper turned away but found himself grinning and couldn't resist saying, "Chatty as ever, I see."

When the man basically told him to bugger off in Russian, Harper burst out laughing. The sound of his own laughter was somewhat startling, but it felt good, he decided, as he led the way across the deck. Maybe it was a sign that he was finally coming out of the depression that had struck him when Jenny had died.

The thought made him sigh to himself as he shi ed the cooler to open the door to the house. He'd been sunk pre y deep in self-pity and gloom for the last year and a half, and while he supposed it was only to be expected when one lost a life mate, it would be a relief to feel more himself again. He was not a naturally gloomy guy but had found little to laugh or even smile about since Jenny's death.

"Here." Tiny was in front of him, reaching for Harper's cooler the minute he stepped into the house. He gave it up and watched the man carry it into the dining room, where he unraveled the cord and plugged it in. The one Tiny himself had carried in was already plugged into a socket in the corner of the kitchen, Harper noted, and supposed the man was spreading them throughout the house to be sure they didn't overload a breaker. The coolers were basically portable refrigerators and probably used a lot of juice. Feeling the cold at his back, Harper realized he was blocking Anders from entering and quickly stepped aside for him to pass. He then pulled the screen door closed and shut and locked the inner door. By the me he turned back, Tiny had returned and was taking the last cooler from Anders. Harper's gaze slid over the dining room in search of Alexandrina-Argenis-everyone-calls-me-Drina and found her standing beside the dining-room table, shrugging out of her coat.

"If this is all blood, you brought a lot of it," Tiny commented with a frown as he turned to carry the last cooler away, this time heading for the living room.

"Lucian sent it for your turn," Anders responded, bending to undo and remove his boots.

"My God, he speaks again," Drina muttered with feigned shock. "And a whole sentence too."

"Some mes you'll even get a paragraph out of him," Harper responded, but his gaze was now on Tiny. The man had paused in the doorway of the living room and turned back, a startled expression on his face. Apparently it hadn't occurred to him that now that he and Mirabeau had acknowledged they were life mates, the next step was the turn.

"A whole paragraph?" Drina asked with dry amusement, drawing Harper's attention again.

"A short one, but a paragraph just the same," he murmured, glancing her way. He then paused to take her in. She was pe te, as he'd no ced outside, which was a polite way of saying short. But she was curvy too, rounded in all the right places. She was also most definitely Spanish, with olive skin, deep-set eyes, the large brow bone, and straight, almost prominent nose. But it all worked to make an a rac ve face, he decided.

"Right, of course, the turn," Tiny mu ered, drawing his a en on once more, and Harper shi ed his a en on back to find the other man looking resolute. As he watched, Tiny straightened his shoulders and continued into the living room.

Harper frowned and had to bite back the urge to tell Tiny that perhaps he should wait on turning, but he knew it was just a knee-jerk reaction to his own experience. It was rare for a mortal to die during the turn, and in all likelihood, Tiny would probably be fine. However, Jenny had died, and so that was the first thing he thought of and the worry that now plagued him.

Sighing, he bent to remove his boots. He set them beside the radiator, and straightened to remove his coat. Laying it over his arm, he then took Anders's as he finished removing it and crossed the room to collect Drina's as well before ducking into the small pantry in the back corner of the kitchen. It held the entry to the garage but was also where the closet was.

"Handy."

Harper glanced around to see that Drina stood in the doorway to the kitchen, eyes sliding around the small room. Her gaze slid back to him as he reached for hangers, and she moved to join him as he hung up her coat.

"Let me help. You don't have to wait on us." She took the second hanger he'd just retrieved and Anders's coat, leaving him to deal with only his own.

Harper murmured a "thanks," but had to fight the urge to assure her it was fine and send her from the room. The ny space suddenly seemed smaller with her in it, a good por on of the air seeming to have slipped out with her entrance, leaving an unbearably hot vacuum behind that had him feeling flushed and oxygen starved. Which was just odd, he decided. He had never been claustrophobic before this. S ll, Harper was relieved when they were done with the task, and he could usher her back into the much larger kitchen.

"So where is this Stephanie we're supposed to guard?" Drina asked, sliding onto one of the stools that ran along the L-shaped counter separating the kitchen from the dining area.

"Sleeping," Harper answered, moving past her to the dining-room table to gather the cards from his game with Tiny.

"Stephanie's s ll used to mortal hours," Tiny explained, returning to the kitchen then. "So we thought it'd be be er if one of us was up with her during the day and the other up at night to keep an eye on things while she slept. I got night duty."

"They're concerned about the lack of security here," Harper explained, sliding the cards into their box and moving to set them on the counter.

Drina frowned and glanced to Tiny. "But isn't that backward? You're mortal, aren't you? Shouldn't you be up during the day and this Mirabeau up at night?"

Tiny smiled wryly. "That would have been easier all around, but it's only been this one day. Besides, while I can hang out with her during the day or night and keep an eye on her, someone has to sleep in her room, which had to be Mirabeau." When Drina raised an eyebrow, he explained, "We didn't think it was a good idea to leave her alone in her room all night. There's no fence here, no alarm . . . It could be hours before we realized she was gone if she was taken or - "

"Or what?" Drina asked when Tiny hesitated. It was pure politeness on her part, Harper knew. The woman could have read him easily enough to find out what he was reluctant to say but was asking instead out of respect.

Tiny was silent as he removed his own coat, but finally admi ed, "There's some concern that Stephanie might try to run away and get to her family."

"Really?" Drina asked, her eyes narrowing.

Tiny nodded. "Apparently, Lucian caught the thought in her head a me or two. He thinks she only wants to see them, not necessarily approach them, but - " He shrugged. "Anyway, as far as she's concerned, none of us know that, and someone has to be with her twenty-four/seven because of Leonius."

"So we are not only watching for a ack from outside, but a prison break as well," Drina murmured. "And because of this, Mirabeau has been sleeping in Stephanie's room with her?"

Tiny shrugged. "This was the first night. We only got here the day before yesterday, and Elvi, Victor, DJ, and Mabel were here then to help keep an eye on things. But they le at four this morning, so . . ." He grimaced. "When Stephanie went to bed, Mirabeau did as well."

Drina heaved a sigh, smiled wryly, and said, "Well, I guess that will be my gig from now on. I'll have a bag of blood, and then go up and relieve Mirabeau."

Harper had to smile at Tiny's expression. The man looked torn between shou ng hallelujah, and protes ng it wasn't necessary tonight and she could take over that duty tomorrow. Duty versus desire, he supposed. Tiny and Mirabeau had brought Stephanie here from New York, sneaking her from the church where several couples were being wed in one large ceremony, including Victor and Elvi. They had le via a secret exit in the church, and traveled some distance through a series of sewer tunnels before reaching the surface. They'd then driven to Port Henry, where Victor and Elvi had been waiting to welcome the girl. While Tiny and Mirabeau were officially off duty now that Drina and Anders had arrived, Lucian had insisted they stay to get over the worst of their new-life-mate symptoms. Harper suspected they would feel a responsibility to help out while they were here. They would probably even feel they should, to pay back for staying here at the bed-and-breakfast for the next couple of weeks.

"Drina's right," Anders announced, saving Tiny the struggle. "It's be er someone less distracted than Mirabeau be in Stephanie's room with her. Besides, it's our worry now. You two are off duty."

Tiny blew out a small breath and nodded, but then added, "We'll help out while we're here, though."

"Hopefully, it won't be necessary, but we appreciate that," Drina said, when Anders just shrugged. She then slid off her stool and glanced from Anders to Harper in ques on. "Which blood do I use? From the coolers or the fridge?"

"Either one," Anders said with a shrug. "More is coming in a couple of days."

Harper moved to the refrigerator to retrieve a bag for her, pulled out three more, and turned to hand them out.

"Thank you," Drina murmured, accep ng the bag Harper offered. She popped it to her fangs, then suddenly s ffened and turned to glance over her shoulder. Following her gaze, Harper saw that Teddy was entering the dining room from the foyer.

"I thought I heard voices," the man said on a yawn, running one hand through his thick, gray hair.

"Sorry if we woke you, Teddy," Harper said, and gestured to the newcomers. "The backup Lucian promised has arrived." He turned and explained to Drina and Anders, "Teddy Brunswick is the police chief here in Port Henry. He's also a friend, and he offered to stay and help keep an eye out un l you guys arrived." He glanced back to the man, and said, "Teddy, this is Alexandrina Argenis. She prefers Drina."

Teddy nodded in gree ng to Drina, and then glanced to Anders as Harper finished, "And her partner is Anders."

"Hmm." Teddy raised his eyebrows. "Anders a first name or last?"

"Neither," Anders said, and ended any further possibility to ques on him by popping his bag of blood to his mouth.

Teddy scowled but merely moved into the small back room with its coat closet. He returned a moment later with a coat in one hand and a pair of boots in the other.

"Now that the cavalry have arrived, I guess I'll go home and crawl into my own bed," he announced, settling on a dining-room chair to don his boots.

"Thank you for staying, Teddy," Tiny murmured. "I made a fresh pot of coffee shortly before Drina and Anders arrived. Do you want a cup for the road?"

"That'd be nice," Teddy said apprecia vely, finishing with one boot and pulling on the other. Tiny immediately moved to the cupboard and retrieved a travel mug. By the me Teddy had finished with his second boot, Tiny had poured the coffee and added the fixings. He waited as Teddy donned his coat and did it up, and then handed him the mug.

"Thank you," Teddy murmured, accep ng it. "I'll clean the mug and return it tomorrow when I come to check on things."

"Sounds good," Tiny said with a nod, as he walked the man to the door and saw him out.

"Well," Drina said, pulling the now-empty bag from her fangs and moving around the counter to throw it out. "I guess it's time for me to go to bed."

Harper smiled faintly at her grimace as she said it. It was only a li le a er one. Going to bed now was like a mortal going to bed at four in the a ernoon. It was doub ul she'd be able to sleep for quite a while. In fact, he suspected she probably wouldn't be able to dri off un l just before dawn, and then she'd have to get up with Stephanie in the morning. She was in for a rough me un l she adjusted to her new hours, he thought with sympathy.

"It's the room in the front right corner as you come off the stairs," Tiny said helpfully. "I'm not sure which of the twin beds Mirabeau chose, though."

"I'll figure it out," Drina assured him as she picked up her suitcase. "Good night, boys."

"Good night," Harper murmured, along with the others. He watched un l she'd le the room, and they could hear her moun ng the stairs. He then frowned slightly and glanced up toward the lights, wondering why the room seemed a little darker all of a sudden.