"Because I don't think your mother would have allowed anything to go wrong," Greg said simply, and it was true. He was sure Marguerite would have done all she could to ensure it went smoothly for Lissianna. Whatever else he thought about the woman, she obviously loved her daughter.
"No." Lissianna let her breath out on a slow sigh. "Mother wouldn't have let anything go wrong if she could help it."
Greg nodded. "So, your father did take you?"
"Yes," she said bitterly. "Mother didn't want him to, but he was drunk and stubborn. Unfortunately, I didn't help. I was cocky and sure I didn't need anyone with me." Lissianna grimaced with self-disgust.
"Tell me," Greg said softly.
Lissianna shrugged. "It went fine at first. Sort of. I was nervous, but excited, too. We went to Hyde Park, and I chose a young man a year or so older than me and...
everything went fine at first," she reiterated, then her eyebrows drew together.
"What went wrong?" Greg prodded.
"Well, as you said, it was a bit overwhelming. I was concentrating on controlling his mind and trying to pay attention to the surroundings to be sure no one snuck up while I was unawares... and I lost track of time. Normally, the parent would simply let you know that it's time to stop, but--"
"But your father was drunk."
Lissianna nodded. "He didn't say anything, no warning at all, he just grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me away." She raised a pale face, and added, "My teeth were still in the boy's neck."
Greg winced. Before he could begin to imagine the horrible scene, Lissianna rushed on. "Fortunately, Mother had followed. She hadn't trusted Father. She managed to save the boy, but... it was so close. He almost died, and he lost so much blood." She scrubbed her face wearily. "I've never been able to stand the sight of blood since then."
She peered at her limp hands, then raised a stricken face to him, and said, "I almost killed that boy."
"But you didn't, Lissianna. You didn't kill him." Shifting closer, he gave in to the temptation he'd had earlier and drew her into his arms. Holding her close, he ran his hands up and down her back, attempting to comfort her. He wished Jean Claude were still alive so he could pummel the creep. In one thoughtless, drunken moment the idiot had caused almost two centuries of torment for his daughter.
Greg caressed her back, then pulled away slightly. "Lissianna?"
Her face was pale when she raised it. Greg was tempted to kiss her, but had to know the answer to the question that had just occurred to him, "I'm guessing that this means you've never killed anyone you've fed from? You don't go around bleeding them dry?"
"No, of course not." Lissianna sounded startled, as if the very question surprised her, and Greg smiled, releasing the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He was so happy at the news that he could have kissed her. That thought drew his gaze to her lips, and he suddenly found his mouth lowering to do just that.
Lissianna didn't pull away, or try to stop him. Her eyes fluttered briefly, then dropped closed just before his lips brushed hers. They both released a small sigh, and it was like opening a floodgate, Greg felt desire rush up inside him, like a boiling pot bubbling over. He urged her lips apart and thrust his tongue between them, then froze as Thomas's voice infiltrated his thoughts.
"I can't believe you would think we'd suck a mortal dry. It's just stupid, like killing the dairy cow. You can't get milk from a dead dairy cow."
Greg and Lissianna broke apart and turned to stare at the man as he stepped out from behind the curtains that covered the French doors all along the outer wall.
"Thomas! What are you doing?" Lissianna's voice died as her other cousins stepped out from behind the curtains, too.
"We wanted to see how the first therapy session went," Mirabeau explained their presence with a shrug. "We didn't expect it to turn into a necking session."
Lissianna looked at a loss and obviously didn't know what to say. Greg did. Hugely affronted, he glared at Thomas, and asked, "Did you just equate humans to cows?"
"Not humans. Mortals. We're human, too," Thomas said with amusement, then glanced at his cousin and teased, "Shame on you Lissianna. You know better than to play with your food."
"Behave, Thomas," Jeanne Louise said sharply, then explained to Greg, "He's just teasing. Mostly." She shrugged, then added, "We're sorry we were spying, and we would have just slipped away and not interrupted when things got... er..." She waved vaguely toward them, and Greg glanced at Lissianna to find she was blushing. Two hundred and two years old and she could still blush over getting caught kissing. He didn't get to marvel over that long before Jeanne Louise continued, "But it's getting late, and we knew Lissianna had to work tonight."
"Oh!"
Greg glanced toward Lissianna to find she'd leapt to her feet.
"Oh geez, I didn't realize it was so late. I'd better get going."
Greg frowned as she hurried for the door. He didn't like to leave it like this, but--
What are you waiting for? Go after her. Give your girlfriend a kiss to remember you by at work.