SINGLE WHITE VAMPIRE Page 0,10

to his editor. "Yes?"

"What do you like to drink?" she repeated.

He glanced back at the shopper. "Er coffee's fine."

"You said you don't drink cofNever mind. What brand?"

Lucern surveyed the choices. His eyes settled on a dark red can with the name Tim Hortons. He'd always thought that was a donut shop or something. Still, it was the only name he recognized, so he pointed at it.

"The most expensive one, of course," Kate muttered. She picked up a can of fine grind.

Lucern hadn't noticed the price. "Stop complaining. I am paying for the groceries."

"No. I said I'd pay and I will."

Had she said she'd pay when she'd mentioned it earlier? he wondered. He couldn't recall; he hadn't been paying much attention at the time. His thoughts had been on other things, like the blood dripping down the sink and not into his parched mouth.

His gaze slid back to the plump, pulsing-veined shopper who continued past him. He imagined he looked like a starving man watching a buffet being wheeled past. He was hard-pressed not to throw himself onto it. Warm, fresh blood much nicer than that cold bagged stuff he and his family had taken to ingesting. He hadn't realized how much he missed the old-fashioned way of feeding.

"Lucern?" There was a touch of irritation in Kate Leever's voice, and it made him scowl as he turned back. She wasn't where she'd last stood, but had moved on down the aisle and was waiting for him. She wore an annoyed expression, which in turn annoyed him. What did she have to be irritable about? She wasn't the one starving.

Then he had a vague recollection of her saying she hadn't eaten since breakfast, and he supposed she was hungry too and therefore had just as much right to be grouchy. It was a grudging admission.

"I am paying," he announced firmly as he pushed the cart forward. "You are a guest in my home. I will feed you." As opposed to feeding on you, he thought, which was what he most wanted to do. Well, not what he most wanted to do. He'd rather feed on the plump little brunette behind him. He had always found the blood of sleek, blond creatures like Kate C. Leever to be thin and bland. Plump-girl blood was better-tasting, more flavorful, fuller-bodied.

Of course, he couldn't feed on anyone. It was too dangerous nowadays, and even if he himself was willing to take the risk, he wouldn't risk the safety of his family just for a few moments of culinary pleasure.

It didn't mean he couldn't dream about it, though, so Lucern spent the next few moments trailing Kate around the canned food and dry goods aisles, absently agreeing with everything she said while he fondly recalled meals he'd enjoyed in the past.

"Do you like Mexican?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," he murmured, the question immediately bringing to mind a perky little Mexican girl he'd feasted on in Tampico. She'd been a tasty little bundle. Warm and sweet-smelling in his arms, little enjoyable moans issuing from her throat as he'd plunged both his body and teeth into her Oh, yes. Feeding could be a full-body experience.

"What about Italian?"

"Italian is delicious too," he said agreeably, his memories immediately switching to a pleasing little peasant on the Amalfi coast. That had been his first feeding on his own. A man always remembered his first. And just the thought of his sweet little Maria made him warm all over. Such deep, dark eyes and long, wavy, midnight hair. He recalled tangling his hands in that hair and the deep groan of pleasure she'd breathed into his ear as he'd given her his virginity and taken her blood at the same time. Truly, it had been a sweet and memorable experience.

"Do you like steak?"

Lucern was once again drawn from his thoughts, this time by a package of raw meat suddenly shoved under his nose, interrupting his fond memories. It was steak, nice and bloody, and though he normally preferred human bloodeven cold bagged human blood to bovinethe blood-soaked steak smelled good at the moment. He found himself inhaling deeply and letting his breath out on a slow sigh.

The package was jerked away. "Or do you prefer white meat?"

"Oh, no. No. Red meat is better." He moved closer to the meat counter she'd led him to and peered around with his first real interest since they'd entered the market. He had always been a meat-and-potatoes man. Rare meat, as a rule.

"A carnivore, I take it," Kate