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I chuckle. “I preferred Hamlet at Drury Lane in the 1700s.” Hopefully, now that she’s more calm, I won’t upset her more, though I really don’t know why I’m telling her all this.
She looks amused. “There’s no way you saw it then.”
“Vampire,” I say, gesturing toward myself. “Four hundred years or so.”
She gives me a side eye that is more cute than threatening. “Even if I experienced some weird episode—maybe I sleepwalked or whatever—there’s no way vampires are real. The fangs must have been a trick or something.”
I grin and can’t seem to resist showing her my fangs again. “You don’t believe I’m a vampire?”
Janet straightens her back and glares at me like an irritated schoolmarm. “Nope.”
I let my hunger show in my eyes, knowing they are turning red. “How about now?”
She frowns. “How did you do that?”
I turn and sprint up and down the garden with vampiric speed. With my enhanced hearing, I catch her soft gasp and sharp inhale.
I race to her and pull her into my arms again. She stares up at me, eyes wide, but she feels like she belongs here. I breathe her in. She smells like apple blossoms.
“That seems like normal human speed to you?”
She swallows. “You really are a vampire?”
I grin, leaving my fangs out. Her nearness is doing something to me, something that I haven’t felt in a long time. I’m barely distracted by the pump of blood through her arteries, and instead focus on the soft plumpness of her lips.
She licks them and tries to step away. I tighten my hold. “I won’t hurt you,” I insist. “I’ll never hurt you.”
“Then let me go,” she murmurs.
I do, and she backs toward the garden gate, as far away from me as she can get. That hurts a little, but I have to remember that she’s human. There was a day I’ve almost forgotten—a day four centuries ago—when I discovered a world I wasn’t ready for. I have to remember that.
Janet takes a few unsteady breaths. “Okay, vampires are real.”
I try not to look too menacing. “I’m Archibald LaVere,” I say, offering my hand. “Archie to my friends.”
She looks at my hand dubiously. “Janet Collins.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
She shifts from side to side, looking down at the stone path. “A real vampire.”
“Yes,” I repeat. “I know it’s hard for humans to understand.”
Her sky-blue eyes meet mine again. “Have you been to Paris?”
I smile, keeping my fangs inside. “The City of Love is beautiful. I love the Eiffel Tower. The view is tremendous, especially at night with all of Paris sparkling.”
She looks wistful. “I’ve never been. And I’ve always wanted to.”
“Maybe I can take you sometime,” I say, and immediately regret it.
I may be drawn to Janet in a way I haven’t felt before, but I shouldn’t be making promises. Not when I’ve been planning my death for over a year now. If she hadn’t popped up in front of my home today, I may have gone through with it. I’d been seriously considering it. How can I promise this vivacious woman something like that if I don’t know if I will be around to do with her? What if the novelty wears off and I step into the sun?
“To Paris?” she asks, her eyes shining.
“And who knows where your magic book will take you,” I mention, sidestepping the question.
“Oh,” she says. “I hadn’t thought of that. I mean, if it really is magic, it might take me anywhere!”
