her expressions change and smiled. Over his long existence he'd grown very good at reading people, at picking up the delicate nuances that mirrored their inner thoughts. Most of the time, Vicki went right past nuance; her thoughts as easy to read as a billboard.
"So, Friday night after sunset. You can pick me up."
He bowed, the accompanying smile taking the mocking edge off the gesture. "As my lady commands."
Vicki returned the smile, then yawned and stretched, back arched and arms spread out against the red velvet.
Henry watched the pulse beating at the base of her throat. He hadn't fed for three nights and the need was rising in him. Vicki wanted him. He could scent her desire most times they were together, but he'd held back because of the blood loss that she'd taken in the spring. And, he had to admit, held back because he wanted the timing to be right. The one time he'd fed from her had been such a frenzied necessity that she'd missed all the extra pleasures it could bring to both parties involved.
The scent of her life filled the apartment and he walked forward, his pace measured to the beat of her heart. When he reached the couch, he held out his hand.
Vicki took it and hauled herself to her feet. "Thanks." She yawned again, releasing him to shove a fist in front of her mouth. "Boy, am I bagged. You wouldn't believe the time I had to get up this morning and then I spent the whole day working essentially two jobs in a factory that had to be eighty degrees C." Dragging her bag up over her shoulder, she headed for the door. "No need to see me out. I'll be waiting for you after sunset Friday." She waved cheerfully and was gone.
Henry opened his mouth to protest, closed it, opened it again, then sighed.
By the time the elevator reached the lobby, Vicki had managed to stop laughing. The poleaxed look on Henry's face had been priceless and she'd have given a year of her life to have had a camera. If his royal undead highness thinks he's got this situation under control, he can think again. It had taken almost more willpower than she had to walk out of that apartment, but it had been worth it.
"Begin as you mean to go on," she declared under her breath, wiping sweaty palms against her shorts. "Maybe Mom's old sayings have more value than I thought."
She was still smiling when she got into the cab, still flushed with victory, then she leaned back and looked up at the fuzzy rectangles of light that were Henry's building. She couldn't see him. Couldn't have even said for certain which fuzzy rectangle was his. But he was up there. Looking down at her. Wanting her. Like she wanted him - and she felt like a teenager whose hormones had just kicked into overdrive.
Why the hell wasn't she up there with him, then?
She let her head drop down against the sweaty leather of the seat and sighed. "I am such an idiot."
"Maybe," the cabbie agreed, turning around with a gold-toothed grin. "You wanna be a moving idiot? Meter's running."
Vicki glared at him. "Huron Street," she growled. "South of College. You just drive."
He snorted and faced forward. "Just 'cause you unlucky in love, lady, ain't no reason to take it out on me."
The cabbie's muttering blended with the sounds of the traffic, and all the way down Bloor Street, Vicki could feel Henry's gaze hot on the back of her neck. It was going to be a long night.
The tape ended and Rose fumbled between the seats for a new one with no success. The long drive back from Toronto had left her stiff, tired, and too tense to take her eyes off the road - even if it was only an empty stretch of gravel barely a kilometer from home.
"Hey!" She poked her brother in the back. "Why don't you do something useful and dig out... Storm, hold on!" Her foot slammed down on the brake. With the back end of the small car fishtailing in the gravel and the steering wheel twisting like a live thing in her hands, she fought to regain control, dimly aware of Peter, not Storm, hanging on beside her.
We aren 't going to make it! The shadow she'd seen stretched across the road, loomed darker, closer.
Darker. Closer.
Then, just as she thought they might stop in time and relief allowed her heart