Satisfied that Vlad wouldn’t be running around Toronto screaming about vampires loose in the streets of Port Henry, he mentally urged him out the door and sat back in his seat.
“At least there’s one less bed to find,” Brunswick commented as he watched the door close behind Vlad. Then he slid into the opposite seat and peered curiously at Victor, “Could you really read his mind?”
Victor raised an eyebrow at the question. If Elvi was truly one of their kind she should have the skill as well, and Brunswick, who claimed to be her friend, should know it. Then again, it could make mortals uncomfortable to know they could be read and controlled. Such knowledge might put a strain on a friendship and she might have kept it to herself.
Before he could decide whether it would cause problems or not to admit he could, another lull hit the conversations in the room and Brunswick glanced toward the door. “Another one. We’ll talk later.”
Victor watched him slip out of the booth and then leaned to the side again to get a look at the latest arrival. He cursed on spotting the tall, fair-haired man who’d just entered and was now surveying the restaurant.
“Who is it?” DJ shifted in the booth, half raising from his seat again to see, despite it not having worked last time.
“Harpernus Stoyan,” Victor answered, his gaze locked on the tall, blond German dressed in cords and a casual shirt.
“Harper?” DJ asked with surprise. “Here? How did he—?”
“The same way we did, I imagine,” Victor muttered, settling back in his seat when Brunswick began to lead the man to their table.
“You think he actually answered the ad?” The younger man sounded so amazed that Victor had to roll his eyes. This was another sign of DJ’s youth…if not in age, then at least in thinking. He himself had long ago learned that once an immortal reached a certain stage, there was little he wouldn’t do to find his lifemate. Victor himself wasn’t far from that stage. Unfortunately, he’d already found, loved, and lost his lifemate, and didn’t hold out much hope that there was another out there for him.
“This is—” Brunswick began as he reached the table. It was as far as he got since Harper had spotted the occupants and recognized them at once.
“Victor! DJ!” he exclaimed. His surprise quickly turned to chagrin and he shook his head. “Fancy meeting the two of you here. It looks like I’ll have some competition.”
Brunswick’s eyebrows rose. “The three of you know each other?”
“We’re old friends,” Victor admitted as he slid out of the booth to shake hands with Harper.
“Well, I didn’t expect that,” Brunswick admitted, then glanced past them toward the door and sighed once more. “Number four of six.”
Harper and Victor turned to peer at the latest arrival, both of them scowling when they saw who it was.
“Edward Kenric,” DJ muttered, spotting the man as he too got to his feet beside the booth. Unlike the rest of them, Edward had apparently thought a Mexican restaurant meant black tie. He was dressed to impress in a tux, his light hair slicked back from his patrician features.
Brunswick’s eyebrows rose at the distaste in DJ’s voice. “I take it this is someone else you know?”
“Oh, yes, we know him,” DJ admitted, then added under his breath, “the pompous prick.”
Brunswick smiled faintly, but merely asked, “Is he one of you?”
Victor almost said no in hopes the police captain would invite the other immortal to leave. It would be one less complication in this case. However, just as he opened his mouth to answer, he thought to check Brunswick’s thoughts first and found that he’d nearly made a very large mistake. The officer had already guessed from their reactions that Edward was one of them; the question wasn’t to see if he was, but to see if Victor would answer honestly or take advantage and try to eliminate what Brunswick thought was competition for the hand of the unknown Elvi.
“Yes, he’s one of us,” Victor answered and then pointed out, “the booth is starting to get a bit crowded. Maybe you should sit him somewhere else.”
“Preferably far away,” Harper concurred.
“Seating him in the parking lot would be good,” DJ suggested.
“The parking lot is full at the moment,” Brunswick said with amusement. “I think I’ll just sit him here with the three of you. After that we’ll have to maybe move to a table, though. That is, if the others are for real as well.”
Before anyone could comment, he turned and headed off to greet Edward.
“You should have lied and said Edward wasn’t one of us,” DJ muttered as they watched Brunswick go. “Now we’re going to be stuck with the bastard.”
“No, he shouldn’t have.” Harper settled himself on the far bench seat of the booth as Victor and DJ returned to their side. “It was a test. Brunswick had already guessed Edward is one of us. If Victor had said he wasn’t, he would have been the one to go,” Harper announced, proving he too had read the man’s thoughts. He then glanced toward the door, his eyebrows rising. “Isn’t that…what’s his name?” Harper frowned. “Damn…Alessandro something.”
“Cipriano,” Victor muttered, having leaned to the side to see that yet another immortal had entered the restaurant and now joined the conversation between Edward and Brunswick. Like the rest of them, Alessandro had dressed more casually for this meeting. While he wore a billowing white shirt, it was tucked into tight blue jeans.
“Cipriano’s all right,” DJ commented. “Only one more to go, then. Maybe once he’s here, we can finally meet this Elvi.”