Page 78 of Bad Luck Vampire

“Go to bed, lass,” Connor said soothingly. “Ye’ve a stressful day tomorrow. And we all sleep like the dead. We’ll no’ hear anything.”

Sophie met the man’s gaze, surprised to feel a soothing sensation slipping through her, and then suddenly decided everything would be fine. She should go to bed. She barely heard Alasdair growl a warning, “Uncle,” at the man as she headed across the living room to the hall.

Twenty-Six

“Your uncle controlled me to send me to bed, didn’t he?” Sophie asked when Alasdair finally entered the bedroom several minutes later. She supposed he’d stopped to close all of her blinds to keep his uncles safe from the sun. He had probably also spoken further with his uncles, because he’d been gone long enough that the calm, agreeable sensation that had cloaked her as she’d come to her room had dissipated, leaving her to suspect she’d been controlled.

“I’m sorry,” Alasdair growled, pausing by the door. “Do you want me to sleep in the living room?”

Sophie considered the offer, but then shook her head and dropped to sit on the side of her bed. “We need to talk anyway.”

Alasdair nodded, and closed the bedroom door, then walked over to sit next to her, but a foot away. “I guess you’re wondering about the turning that my uncle mentioned.”

“That too,” Sophie murmured. “But really I wanted to ask about being life mates.” Glancing at him, she asked, “Have you really not had sex since 1820?”

Alasdair smiled faintly. “Really.”

“But that’s like two hundred years.”

“More,” he pointed out.

“Hmmm.” She turned to peer down at her feet. “So, you didn’t meet a single woman in all that time who you were interested in sleeping with?”

Sophie glanced over to see Alasdair shrug. “I just wasn’t interested.”

“In sex?” she clarified.

“Yes, in sex, Sophie,” he said with amusement.

She shook her head. “Crazy. I can’t imagine not wanting sex for two hundred years.”

“Well, I didn’t. Until I met you,” Alasdair added solemnly.

“Or food, for that matter. I couldn’t live without cheese and ice cream,” Sophie told him seriously.

“Everything gets boring if you live long enough,” Alasdair said. “It’s part of the reason life mates are so important to an immortal. They reawaken appetites and help keep them alive.”

Sophie nodded silently.

“For most, they also offer a companionship they can’t otherwise experience,” he added.

She peered at him with curiosity. “How’s that?”

“Well.” Alasdair considered it briefly and then said, “You have to understand, immortals can’t only read mortals, they can read other immortals that are younger than them too. So, most immortals spend a great deal of time when around others having to guard their thoughts, both incoming and outgoing, depending on whom they are around.”

“Incoming?” she asked.

Alasdair shrugged. “It can be tiresome to constantly hear the thoughts of those younger than yourself. Especially if there are several in the vicinity, so you’ll want to block them. Unless you want to know what they’re thinking.”

“Wait, so you don’t actually have to try to read their thoughts?” Sophie asked with surprise.

“Sometimes you do,” he admitted. “But sometimes, with very young immortals—” Alasdair paused briefly, as if struggling to explain. “You know how sometimes young mortal children go through a stage where they don’t know how to control their volume?”

“They forget to use their inside voices when excited,” Sophie suggested.

Alasdair nodded. “Well, it can be like that for younger immortals.”

“You mean immortal children? Are there immortal children?”

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