SINGLE WHITE VAMPIRE Page 0,103

donned the slim sheath of black silk, then used makeup to give her skin the fine white sheen of bone china before adding a blood-red lipstick. That done, she released her hair from its bun and brushed it out until it fell around her shoulders in soft waves.

Deciding she was as done as she was going to get, Kate grabbed the two pairs of vampire teeth she had brought from New York and hurried out of her room.

Lucern was standing in the living room, dressed and ready to go. Kate felt a gusty sigh slip from her lips at the sight. The man looked absolutely fabulous in the tuxedo and cape she had brought. He was every woman's fantasy. She really wished she wasn't about to anger him with the news she had to impart.

"You look ravishing," Lucern said solemnly.

Kate forced a smile and walked forward, holding out one set of teeth.

Lucern glanced down with distaste at the cheap plastic vampire teeth, then stiffened. His gaze shot back to her face. "Please say you jest."

Kate bit her lip to stifle the laugh that was suddenly eager to burst from her; Luc looked so horrified at the very thought of wearing the tacky teeth.

"Everyone will be wearing them," she informed him. "It's a vampire ball."

"I have my own teeth," he said with great dignity.

"Yes, I know. But no one will expect that. Please, just put them on. Please, Lucern?" She touched his arm.

His gaze settled on her lips in a way she found most distracting; then he sighed heavily with exasperation. "Oh, very well."

He snatched one of the pairs of teeth from her palm and popped them into his mouth. Then he proceeded to move them about, making faces and shifting his jaw in an effort to make them more comfortable. "Vees ore asrocious."

Kate blinked at his slurred words. Deciding it would be best not to encourage his whining, she shrugged and popped the second set of teeth into her own mouth, then understood exactly what he meant. They were atrocious. They were damned uncomfortable. They were so bad, she almost considered leaving both pairs behind.

Chris sauntered into the room in his own tuxedo and cape. "You two look great," he said.

He smiled at them both, revealing a pair of realistic-looking vampire teeth.

Lucern immediately scowled. "Ou ee? 'Is eeth ook eal. An a amn ight ore omorta-ul."

Kate was trying to translate his attempted words when Chris winced. "Man, Kate," he said. "Where did you get your teeth? Sheesh. Those are so out-of-date it isn't funny."

Kate glared at her friend's betrayal. Deciding to ignore both men, she headed for the door, saying, "Let's go, I don't want to be late." At least, she tried to say that. It came out more like " 'et's o ah own an oo ee ate." Sighing as Chris burst out laughing, she dragged the door open and led the way out.

Lucern tried to remove his teeth in the elevator, but Kate managed to convince him to put them back in. She then removed her own, cleared her throat and said, "Luc, I really should have mentioned this before, but"

"I a uh oco oin uh uh awe."

"What?" Chris gaped at him, then glanced at Kate. "What did he say?"

"He said, 'I am the focal point of the ball,'" she answered distractedly. Then she asked Lucern. "How did you know?"

Lucern spat his teeth out before answering, "Jodi told me."

"Oh." Kate bit her lip and surveyed his face, trying to figure out why he wasn't angry. "It wasn't my idea," she informed him quietly.

"It really wasn't," Chris said. "This was Chuck's brainchild. Kate tried to talk him out of it."

When Lucern merely nodded and didn't say anything else, Kate frowned. "You aren't angry?"

He shrugged. "I was a tad annoyed at first. But it's only a couple of hours out of my life. I have a lot of hours to fill, Kate. This whole conference is barely a heartbeat of time for me."

Chris looked perplexed. Kate wasn't perplexed as to Luc's meaninghe had lived hundreds of years, and would no doubt live hundreds more; these few days were barely a grain of sand on the beach of his lifebut what she did wonder about was whether his words held a secret meaning for her. She was one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women who had passed through his life in those hundreds of years. Was the relationship they were enjoying just as unimportant to him as this conference? Was she