The Accidental Vampire (36 page)

"I know," he assured her, rubbing her back.

"I don't run heedlessly into danger."

"No… well…" Victor paused when Elvi lifted narrowed eyes. Grimacing, he said, "You have a frightening tendency to rush about doing things without thinking first."

"Like what?" she challenged sharply.

"Like the cheesecake emergency," he pointed out. "The minute you knew you could eat food you were off like a shot, desperate to get to the A&P, and woe and betide anyone who got in your way."

"I wanted food," Elvi said in her own defense. "It had been five years, Victor."

"Yes, I know," he said soothingly and pressed her head back to his chest, but added, "And then there was the bed business. The minute you realized you could sleep in one, you were up and running for the door."

Elvi jerked back again to exclaim, "I was sleeping in a coffin!"

"Yes," Victor nodded, rubbing her back, and pressing her head against his shoulder once more before continuing, "but you don't stop to plan things, you just rush ahead… And it scared the hell out of me when I realized you were in that burning shed. That's why I yelled at you… And you're far too trusting."

"Too trusting? I don't think—"

"Just recall how you were trying all those drinks Edward and Alessandro were pushing on you at the Night Club. Things like that make me worried sick that you're going to trust the wrong person and get hurt Elvi… er… Ellie… Ellen. What do you want to be called?" he asked with frustration.

Elvi remained where he'd pressed her, her upset slipping away to be replaced by soft chuckles.

"Are you laughing or crying?" Victor asked warily.

"Laughing," she assured him softly.

"Right," he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Then he asked, "Is laughing a good thing or bad?"

Smiling, Elvi pulled back and leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him and then whispered, "It's good."

"Oh." Victor smiled.

"Why did you cut your hair?"

His expression turned wary when she blurted the question. "Don't you like it?"

"Well…"

"You don't like it," he said with disappointment. "DJ was upset about the men hanging all over Mabel over here now that she's turned and decided he was getting a shave and haircut to please her and I thought you might like—"

Elvi covered his mouth with her hand to silence him, and said, "I don't dislike it. It's just different and I fell in love with you with long hair. I'll adjust."

"You love me?" Victor echoed with a grin.

"Victor! Down!"

Elvi started to glance around to see what DJ was shouting about, but all she saw was him flying toward them from the back of the booth. He crashed into them even as Victor instinctively started dragging her to the ground. The three of them landed in a tangle of arms and legs.

"Jesus, DJ," Victor muttered, struggling to sit up. "What the hell—"

Curious about his sudden silence, Elvi followed his gaze to see an arrow sticking out of the counter right where she'd been standing before DJ's shout.

"It was Mike Knight," DJ gasped breathlessly, sitting up beside him.

Victor turned on the younger immortal sharply. "Mike Knight? Are you sure?"

DJ nodded.

"It couldn't have been," Elvi said positively. "He and Karen have been my neighbors for sixteen years. I watched their kids grow up. He would never hurt me."

She started to rise even as she said the words, but barely got her chin above counter level before Victor grabbed her arm and dragged her back down. She'd seen enough, however. Eyes wide with shock, she breathed, "It
is
Mike."

Elvi could hardly believe what she'd seen. Mike Knight, her friend and neighbor, had been standing a good twenty feet from the booth, legs spread in a shooter's stance and a crossbow in hand that he'd been reloading.

"Mike?" Victor shook his head with confusion. "That makes no sense. I read him after the fire in the shed. He didn't set it."

Elvi didn't comment, her mind was still grappling with the fact that her neighbor, Mike, whom she'd known and been friends with for years, was trying to kill her. Thinking of friends reminded her of Mabel, and Elvi glanced toward the back of the booth to see that the blonde and three donors had flattened themselves on the ground, though Mabel was now crawling over to join them.

"Hi," she said as she reached them. "What are we doing?"

"Hiding," Elvi answered.

"Devising a plan," DJ corrected with a scowl, then raised an eyebrow at Victor. "Any ideas?"

Victor shrugged. "We could jump over the counter from opposite ends and rush him from different sides. He can only hit one of us."

"What?" Elvi asked with dismay. "That's not a plan, that's madness! You—"

"Er… Elvi?" Mike's voice called tentatively from the other side of the counter. "Do you think you could stand up? This will only take a minute."

Elvi turned wide eyes to Mabel. "Is he serious?"

"He's lost his mind," Mabel announced with a sad shake of the head.

Victor ignored them and suddenly stood up.

Elvi grabbed at his hand with alarm, trying to pull him down as she hissed, "Victor! Get back down here."

He just shook her hand away, and turned, apparently, to face Mike. "What's this all about Knight? Why are you trying to kill Elvi?"

"Er… well, it's kind of between Elvi and us if you don't mind, Victor," Mike said politely.

"I'm afraid anything involving Elvi involves me now, Mike," Victor answered equally politely.

Scowling, Elvi stood up beside him. If he was brave enough to do it, she could too… or so she thought. The moment he noticed she was getting to her feet, Victor stepped in front of her, a protective wall. When Elvi tried to step to the side, it was only to find DJ on his feet beside her, blocking the way.

"Don't even think about it," Mabel muttered, standing on her other side so that she was protected from every angle but the back of the booth.

Making a face, Elvi gave up trying to step out in the open and simply craned her neck to see around Victor's arm. Mike and Karen stood on the other side. Mike held the crossbow cocked at waist level and Karen stood at his side, expression grim.

"Was it Karen who set the shed on fire?" Victor asked when the silence drew out.

Mike grimaced and tossed his wife a heavy look, but admitted, "Yes. She did it behind my back. She knew I wouldn't approve. The fire could have easily spread to the neighbor's house, or ours. I didn't realize she'd done it until she told me after you guys went off in search of the Kissing Booth tonight."

"And the arrow at the furniture store?" Victor asked. "You or her?"

"Me," he admitted. "That was an accident, though. I was heading out to get some practice when Bob, the owner of the archery club, yelled at me that Karen was on the phone. I swung back and somehow released the arrow as I turned." He shrugged. "Sorry about that. I didn't even realize there was anyone over there until I saw you and Elvi appear at the edge of the trees, and by then I was inside on the phone. I saw you through the window. You were gone by the time I got off and went over to make sure no one was hurt. But that's where Karen got the idea of how to kill you. She figured an arrow was as good as a stake."

"So you shot Elvi in the sunroom."

Mike nodded. "Or tried to. I was sure I got her too, but obviously I missed the heart. I won't miss at this distance, though, Elvi," he assured her, meeting her gaze with a solemn expression. "It will be quick, I promise."

"Michael Knight have you lost your mind?" Mabel shouted suddenly. "What does it being fast or slow have to do with anything? She doesn't want to die."

He looked startled by this news. "But you told Karen she was miserable as a vampire and wished she'd just died in that car accident rather than become a vampire."

"That was four years ago. She's happy now," Mabel snapped, then turned to Elvi and said, "Tell him."

"Actually, she's right Mike. I really have no desire to die."

Mike glanced to his wife who moved to his side and whispered furiously. When he sighed and turned back to face them, Karen took a step toward the booth and said, "I'm sorry, Elvi. You know we love you, but he's our son."

"Owen?" Elvi stood on her tiptoes to get a better look at them as she asked, "What on earth does Owen have to do with this?"

Her obvious confusion just seemed to infuriate the woman. Propping her hands on her hips, Karen yelled, "You know what he has to do with this, you… you
vamp
!"

The way Karen had said
vamp
seemed to suggest it was synonymous with hussy, but Elvi merely said, "No, actually, I don't know."

"You
bit
him!" Karen exclaimed as if it were obvious.

Elvi's eyes widened incredulously at the venom in those words, but rather than admit she hadn't bit him, she said, "You brought him there to be bit."

Karen's shoulders sagged unhappily. "It was his birthday, it's what he wanted. Besides, I didn't want him to go through with it in the first place." She glared at her husband. "I told you we shouldn't allow him to do it, but oh no, you wouldn't listen to me. I was being a silly woman. Now we have a vampire for a son when if you'd just listened to me, just this once—"

"What!" Elvi interrupted with disbelief. "A vampire?"

"Now, now," Brunswick interrupted, stepping out of the gathered crowd to make his presence known. Someone had obviously gone running to fetch him when the disturbance broke out. Now he moved between the Knights and the booth, while Edward, Harper, and Alessandro began to slip along the edge of the crowd to surround the couple.

"I'm sure Elvi didn't mean to do it," Teddy said soothingly. "It was all just an accident. She's been biting the boys in this town for five years and nothing's gone wrong. How was she to know this time the bite would take?"

"I don't care if it was an accident. I want my baby back," Karen cried. "Mike, do something!"

When Mike looked uncertain, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Don't tell me you would rather our son was a vampire?"

"Well, hell," he muttered. "It's not like its hurt Elvi any, and she needs a husband. Better someone from here than—"

"'Jesus Christ, the woman is the same age as my mother!" Karen interrupted with disgust. "She's sixty-two years old."

Mike's eyes slid to Elvi where she was peering around Victor's arm. He pursed his lips. "She looks damn fine for sixty-two. And Owen could look just as good forever. Just think, Karen, you won't have to worry about him getting hurt in football anymore."

Karen wasn't impressed. "Michael Knight if you don't kill this woman and let our son go back to being just a boy you're going to find yourself in divorce court and I
will
take the house, the boat, the cottage, the—"

"All right, all right," he said with defeat, and then turned to Elvi and the others and said apologetically, "I'm sorry. I tried, but you can see what I have to deal with here. The woman just isn't reasonable when it comes to her boy."

"Now, Mike…" Brunswick took another step, blocking Elvi's view. "What is killing Elvi going to solve?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Teddy! Don't you know anything?" Karen said with exasperation. Rushing forward, she caught his arm and managed to tug him a couple of steps to the side so that Elvi could see again as she explained, "The only way to turn Owen back is to kill the vampire who turned him. So, we have to kill Elvi. We don't want to do it. We'll probably end up with horrible neighbors with her gone and Mabel off in Toronto with DJ, but I want my son back, dammit!"

"You'd rather have your husband in jail for killing Elvi than have your son be a vampire?" Mabel asked with disbelief.

"Jail?" Mike said with alarm.

"You won't go to jail," Karen assured him quickly. "You can't be charged with killing her, because she's already dead. You're just putting her to rest. Go on honey, get it over with. Sorry, Elvi," she added in an apologetic mutter.

Mike gave a long-suffering sigh, offered an apologetic glance, raised the crossbow, and said, "I'd prefer it if you moved Victor, but I'll shoot you to get to her if I have to."

Taking the men by surprise, Elvi managed to squeeze between them and throw herself in front of Victor as she blurted, "I didn't bite Owen."

"Damn, Elvi," Teddy said with disgust as he shook off Karen's hold and moved back between Mike and the booth. "That's not going to work. We all know you bit him. It was his birthday."

"Did you see me bite him?" she asked grimly.

"No, you took him in the back room, but we saw the bite mark when he came back out," Karen said.

Shaking her head urgently, Elvi corrected, "You saw a Band-Aid on his neck. There was no bite. We put the bandage on to make it look like he'd been bitten so his friends wouldn't make fun of him, but the truth is he backed out."

"Oh now, that's just bad form," Mike complained.

"It's just wrong to try to make my son look like a coward to save your own life."

Elvi rolled her eyes. "He isn't a coward. Most of the boys back out. I
didn't
bite him."

When Mike looked uncertain, Karen scowled and asked, "Then why is he turning into a vampire?"

"He's not turning into a vampire," Elvi assured her.

"He sleeps all day, is up all night, and won't eat anything or—"

"Oh, you mean he's being a typical teenager," Elvi interrupted her list of attributes. "I was a mother once too, Karen. Trust me, sleeping late, staying up late, and not eating his veggies, but instead going out and eating junk food with friends is standard procedure."

"He has the fangs," Karen said grimly.

Elvi snorted with disbelief. There was no way Owen could be a vampire. She hadn't bit him. Besides, according to Victor, it wasn't biting them that would do it anyway, it was sharing your blood. And she hadn't shared her blood with anyone.

"He does," Karen insisted, obviously infuriated at her disbelief. Straightening, she craned her neck to try to peer over the crowd surrounding them. A look of satisfaction crossed her face when she spotted her son. "Owen! Get over here and show Elvi your fangs."