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“No, son. She’ll be ready when she’s ready.” His father gave a slow smile, and sat down at the kitchen table.
They waited for another five minutes, and then Rick heard footsteps on the stairs. A little frantic whispering outside the door, and then it opened. Jess walked into the kitchen, her head held high and her back straight.
The smallest Dracula buried his head in his mother’s lap. The two middle Draculas stared at their sister, open-mouthed. The largest Dracula sprang to his feet, a broad smile on his face.
“Honey, you look beautiful!”
Jess did indeed look very different from the shy girl who waited tables at the café. Her red hair was piled on top of her head in a mass of curls and silver ribbons. She wore a long white dress, trimmed with lace, under a silvery-gray cloak, made of a thin fabric that seemed to float around her silver slippers. Her lips were very red, and her cheeks very pale, with dark violet around her eyes.
“I’m supposed to look like a ghost, Dad.” Jess frowned.
“The most gorgeous ghost in town. Doesn’t she look great, Emma?”
Emma laughed. “Beautiful.”
Fleur was leaning in the doorway, grinning, her jacket thrown over her arm. An off-duty Moon Warrior. “Show them the lamp, Jess.”
Jess raised the lamp she was carrying. As she blew on it, the cobwebs swathed around the glass cover fluttered, and the candle inside burst into flame. Everyone around the table caught their breath.
“Neat trick...” The middle Draculas expressed their approval. Jess blew on the lamp again and the candle went out.
“Do it again, Jessie.” The youngest Dracula had got over his bashfulness at his big sister’s appearance and demanded a repeat performance. She blew on the lamp again and the flame kindled once more.
“Right, then. Is everyone ready to go now? Got your fangs in your pockets, boys?” Jim rose from his seat, giving his sons a final once-over, and Emma chivvied them all into the hall, hugging her daughter as she went.
“Fleur...” As Rick followed them he heard Jim’s voice behind him. Quiet now, instead of booming over the chatter of his family. “Thank you for what you did tonight.”
“It was my pleasure. You know that,” she answered.
“Have you thought any more about what I asked you the other day?”
Something about the sudden seriousness in Jim’s tone made Rick keep listening for Fleur’s answer.
“Yes, I have. I don’t want to reopen my case, Jim. It’s over now, and I don’t want to dredge up the past...”
It wasn’t over. Rick knew that Fleur was still struggling with the agony of not being believed, and it seemed that she was still determined to cover that up.
“There are things you don’t know, Fleur.”
“There are a lot of things I don’t know. But raking it all up again isn’t going to help me. It’s really important for me to look forward now, not back.”
“As you wish. You know my door’s always open.”
“I do. And I always appreciate it.”
Rick heard Fleur’s footsteps on the tiled kitchen floor, then jumped as he felt her hand on his arm. Maybe the guilty feeling that he shouldn’t have been eavesdropping showed in his face, because Fleur shot him a querying look.
“Are...you okay?” Rick couldn’t think of anything else to say. Not here, and not now. He needed to think about this and choose his moment to talk t
o her.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She grinned up at him. “Ready to go?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT HAD BEEN decided that Jess should go in Rick’s car, so that the rough and tumble of her three vampire brothers wouldn’t crease her dress. They made a five-minute detour to pick Ellie up, and waited in the car outside the library for Jim and Emma to arrive.
Flaming torches lit the outside of the library, sending shadows dancing across the piles of snow. A heavy mist issued from under the heavy outer doors of the building.
