"I think I'd better leave." She got to her feet, immediately staggering into him, her legs buckling beneath her.
"You're too weak yet," Alec said, catching her before she toppled over. He could feel her head swim with lack of blood. "You lost too much blood. Why didn't you stop me before I took too much?"
She let him push her back down onto the ground, gently guiding her head down between her knees. "I didn't know you didn't have an auto stop when you were full up."
"I do, but replenishing all the blood I lost would have killed you. What is your name?"
"Cora. Corazon Ferreira. Do you know my sister?"
"Corazon," he said, rolling the word around his mouth. It meant "heart," a fitting name for a woman who was so determined to stab him in his. "Spanish?"
"Hispanic. Mom and Dad came from Chihuahua. The place, not the dogs, of course. What . . . er . . . what is your name? Patsy never told me."
"Patsy? Ah, my former neighbor. I'm Alec. How did you know I was a Dark One?"
"Dammit!" she snapped, looking irritated.
"Pardon? "
"'Alec' is one of my favorite men's names! Now you've gone and ruined it for me."
What a very strange woman she was, not at all like a tormentor. Those big eyes, and that delicate face, and a mouth that was starting to hold an unholy fascination for him . . . and then there was the rest of her. He grew hard thinking about the rest of her. With an effort, he focused his attention on the maddening, desirable woman before him. "You're deranged, aren't you?"
"Not quite yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if you pushed me over the edge," she answered darkly, adding, "Alec what?" Dear god, you're sexy. You're a vampire, but you're so incredibly sexy. I just want to ... what on earth am I thinking? You're evil!
Not particularly, no.
You're undead!
Not since you fed me.
You're a murderer! A vampire murderer! A seductive, sensual vampire murderer with gorgeous eyes and perfect hair and oh, holy mother, you can hear me, can't you?
Yes.
Grah! Stop reading my mind!
"Darwin," he said.
She looked like she was the one who was being driven insane. "What?"
"My name. It's Alec Darwin. I do hope I haven't ruined Darwin for you, as well."
She just looked at him as if he were speaking in tongues.
"How do you know me, Corazon?"
She blinked a couple of times, and he had the oddest feeling she was withdrawing mentally. "Darwin doesn't sound like a German name. You sound German. Do you happen to know a Scottish vampire named Avery?"
"Sins of the saints, woman!" His temper snapped, in no little part due to her scent, which was driving him wild with need. "Answer my question!"
"Don't you touch me, you murdering bloodsucker!" she screamed, clawing her way up the rock until she stood clutching it to keep from keeling over.
Alec felt no real fear in her, just a sense of wariness, and something that he knew instinctively she was hiding from him. No doubt it was her connection with whoever had sent her to torment him. "What have I ever done to you? I don't even know you, and you act like I'm some sort of leper. I said I was sorry about taking too much of your blood, but I believe the extenuating circumstances have been explained."
"What did you do?" she asked him, plainly agog. "What did you do?"
"That's what I asked, several times now, as a matter of fact." His irritation at her faded with the knowledge that he was enjoying himself. Talking with her might be frustrating, but it was also stimulating, serving to eliminate the boredom that hung so heavily over him while he was being completely and utterly miserable.