"Partly, perhaps. They were pretty impressive. But I think we mostly joined up to make sure that what happened to the girls didn't happen to anyone else."
"We?" he asked, and then his eyes widened. "Beth?"
Drina nodded. "She's my partner. We joined together. Trained together. Were partnered when we finished training and work together still."
"In England?"
"No. Neither of us wanted to be there anymore. For Beth, England was a bad memory. As for me, well, the whole incident had rattled me. I'd always thought of myself as immortal, and while that's what we call ourselves, we aren't really. But that night in that house was the first time I was made to face it." She swallowed, and then explained, "When the enforcers crashed in, Beth and I were both pinned to the ground by the women, and Jimmy was about to hack off our heads. In fact, he was in the process of doing so to me when Scotty rushed him. It knocked him to the side and he only half scalped me, but it was enough. I stopped calling myself immortal that night. We are vampires."
He didn't argue, merely squeezed her hand again, and Drina continued, "That was the first time in all my adventures that I actually feared losing my life. And it had the strangest effect. I suddenly wanted to see my family again, live close to them, spend time with them. But I didn't want to leave Beth behind by herself. She was a baby vamp and needed training, and she had no one." Drina shrugged. "We stayed to watch the house burn after the hunters were done inside, then went straight to the docks, and I booked us both passage on a ship back home to Spain. We talked on the journey, and more while visiting my family, and she decided to join as well. We joined the Spanish branch of the rogue hunters once she'd adjusted to being an immortal. We joined together, trained together, and as I say, we were paired up after training and are still partners."
"She's more than that," Harper said quietly.
Drina nodded. "My brother welcomed her into our family. She's like a sister and carries the name Argenis now."
"A sister or an adopted daughter?" Harper asked solemnly, and Drina smiled.
"A bit of both I suppose," she admitted on a chuckle. "But don't tell her that, or she'll squawk."
He chuckled and she smiled and slid her wineglass away, but then said, "Well I've monopolized the conversation nicely. Your turn. I know you were a cook once and own a frozen-food concern now, but what else have you done?"
Harper grimaced. "Believe me, my life hasn't been nearly as exciting as yours. It would bore you to tears."
"I doubt it. And my life wasn't all that exciting. It just sounds like it in the recounting."
Harper snorted with disbelief, and then glanced around in question when their waiter appeared. The man smiled gently and slid a small leather folder onto the table before quickly retreating. Harper glanced at the folder and opened it to reveal a bill, then glanced around, his eyes widening.
"What?" Drina asked, and peered around as well. They were the only guests left in the restaurant. The remaining tables were empty and cleared and workers were quietly setting chairs upside down on the tables, she supposed so that the floor could be vacuumed.
"I think we're holding them up," Harper said, pulling out his wallet.
"It would seem so," she murmured, glancing at her watch. "What time do they close?"
"Half an hour ago according to the waiter's thoughts," Harper answered wryly, setting a credit card in the folder and closing it.
"Oh dear," Drina murmured, finding the man and casting an apologetic smile his way as she asked, "Is he very upset?"
"Surprisingly not. But I'll leave him a big tip anyway to make up for it." He pulled his phone out and was talking quietly to his driver when the waiter took the folder away. By the time he'd hung up, the waiter was back with receipts and slips for him to sign.
The waiter might not be upset by their staying so late, but apparently he was still eager to go home, she thought with amusement, as Harper quickly filled in the tip amount and signed the bottom. Not that she blamed him.
A cold blast of wind slapped at them as they stepped out of the restaurant, and Drina huddled into her coat, grateful she'd bought the long, heavier one today and wasn't still wearing the lighter coat she'd worn to fly to Canada.
"The car should be along soon, but maybe we should stay close to the building for cover," Harper said, urging her back toward the wall beside the door.
"It's snowing," Drina murmured, eyeing the flakes whirling wildly around them with a frown.
"Yeah, here I'll block the wind." Harper turned to face her and stepped up close, offering his body as a shield.
"Thank you," Drina murmured, fighting the urge to sway toward him.
"Where's your new scarf?" he asked with a frown. "Did you leave it in the restaurant?"
"No," she said, slipping her hands out of her pockets to catch the lapels of his leather coat and hold him in place when he started to pull away as if to rush back into the restaurant to fetch it for her. "I'm afraid I forgot it."
"And your hat and gloves too," he muttered, covering her hands with his gloved ones.
Drina smiled wryly. "I'm not used to needing them. Spain never gets this cold."