Page 174 of Vampire so Virtuous
“Thank you, Gabe.”
“It was my genuine pleasure.” He sat back on his heels. “Now for the fun bit.”
“Dare I ask?”
“I need to clean that cut on your thigh. Strip, please. I can help if you need.”
She gave him a flat look. “Hell no.”
“Damn it,” he said, as he pushed himself to his feet. “I really hoped you’d fall for that.”
She shook her head again but couldn’t help the smile. “You’re a verydangerous vampire, for all the wrong reasons.”
“Another compliment,” he said with a grin. “Come visit whenever you like.”
He cleaned up the bloody waste materials, and carried the basin away. When he returned, he picked up her latte, and handed it to her, along with two white pills. She sat up to accept it, taking the medicine without question.
He flopped down heavily on another of the sofas, unrolling his shirt sleeves.
“Tired?” she asked, taking a sip.
He gave her a weak smile as he refastened his cuffs, slipping cufflinks from his pocket. They looked stylish and heavy. “It’s difficult for a vampire to be active when the sun is high and bright.”
“Even with the blinds drawn?”
“I always know where it is, even when I can’t see it.”
“You could go and sleep. I’ll rifle through your record collection.”
He pulled a face. “Now I have trust issues.”
She laughed. “Youhave trust issues?”
“No one touches my records.”
“Antoine has a first-edition copy of theCount of Monte Cristo,” she told him. “A friend of mine once threatened to tear out the first page before his eyes.”
“Did she? So sad. I’m sorry for your loss.”
She laughed again, covering her mouth. “I think you’re incorrigible.”
He shrugged. “I’d have killed her.”
It was a remarkable shift of mindset that she could take the words as the joke he intended them to be.
He cocked his head to one side. “You never did finish telling me how you and Antoine met.”
So she told him.
“Wait,” Gabe said. “You thought it wasMinhwho had bitten you, when it had been Antoine all along?”
“Minh was the first vampire I saw. I never got a look at Antoine that first night.”
“Minh would’ve killed you,” he said flatly.
“I know thatnow.”
“So then Antoine turned up and rescued you?”
