SINGLE WHITE VAMPIRE Page 0,18

letters into categories when a series of loud chimes rang through the house. Recognizing it to be the doorbell, she hesitated, then dropped the letters and went to answer. She opened the front door to find a uniformed man on the other side, a cooler stamped "A.B.B." in hand.

"Hi." He stopped chewing the gum in his mouth long enough to grin at her, showing off a nice set of white teeth. "You must be Luc's editor."

Kate lifted her eyebrows. "Er, yes. Kate. Kate C. Leever."

The man took the hand she held out and squeezed it warmly. "Aunt Maggie was right. You're a cutey."

"Aunt Maggie?" Kate asked in confusion.

"Luc's mom and my aunt. Marguerite," he added when she continued to look confused, but it didn't help Kate much. The only people she'd met since arriving were the pair who had been leaving when she got out of the taxi, and the woman certainly hadn't been old enough to be Luc'ser, Lucern'smother. Kate shrugged that concern aside as the other connotations of what he'd said sank in. "You're Lucern's cousin?"

"Yes, ma'am. Our dads are brothers." He grinned, making it hard for her to see a resemblance. Oh, this man was tallish and had dark hair like Lucern, but Luc didn't smile, and this young man hadn't stopped smiling since she'd opened the door. It was hard to believe they were related. "I'm quite a bit younger though."

"You are?" she asked doubtfully. She would have placed both men around the same age.

"Oh, yes." He grinned. "I'm centuries younger than Lucern."

"Thomas."

Kate glanced over her shoulder. Lucern was coming up the hall, a scowl on his face as he glanced from her to his cousin. She sighed inwardly at his obvious displeasure. Apparently, he didn't like her answering his door. Geez, the guy was such a pain. Why couldn't Thomas here have written the vampire novels? He would have been much easier to deal with, she was sure.

"Here you are, Cousin." Thomas didn't seem surprised or disturbed by Lucern's expression. He held out the cooler. "Bastien said to get this here pronto. That you were seriously lacking and in need," he added with a grin and a wink.

"Thank you."

Lucern actually smiled at his cousin, Kate noted with surprise. And his face didn't crack and fall off.

"I'll return directly," Lucern added. As he turned toward the stairs he warned, "Try not to bite my guest. She can be provoking."

Kate scowled at her host's retreating back, then smiled reluctantly at Thomas's chuckle. She turned with a wry smile and asked, "Has he always been this irritable, or is it just me?"

"Just you," Thomas said. At her crestfallen expression, he started to laugh. Then he took pity on her and told the truth. "Nah. It isn't you. Lucern is kind of surly. Has been for centuries. Although he seems to be in a good mood today. You must be having a good influence on him."

"This is a good mood?" Kate asked with disbelief. Thomas just laughed again.

"Here you are," Lucern called. He jogged down the steps and handed his cousin's cooler back to him. "Give Bastien my thanks."

"Will do." Then Thomas nodded, gave Kate another wink, and turned to walk off the porch.

Kate glanced at the driveway and the truck parked in it. "A.B.B. Deliveries" was stamped on the side, the same as the cooler, she noted. Lucern maneuvered her out of the way and closed the door.

"What ?" she began curiously, but Lucern saved her from proving just how rude and nosy she could be. He turned away and started back up the hall before she could ask the questions trembling on her lips.

"I thought that, as there are so many letterstoo many to answer individually, reallywe could divide them into categories and come up with a sort of form letter for each. Then you could just add a line to each response to make it more personal."

Lucern grunted and took another sip of the coffee Kate had made while making lunch. Well, it had been her lunch, his breakfast. Although, if he counted the bag of blood he'd sucked down while stacking the rest Thomas had delivered in the small refrigerator in his office, he supposed the meal could count as his lunch, too. They had since moved to the living room, and he was seated on the couch while she explained her plans for his letters.

"I'll take that to mean you think my plan is brilliant and agree to cooperate," Kate said in response