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“You’re the one who dragged me to the Autumn festival. Were you not prepared for the seasonal change?”

“It’s been so hot, though.” She shoved her hands under the cat—probably for warmth.

I watched for a moment, then sat up.I can’t believe I’m doing this.I slipped off the jean jacket I wore over my red Henley shirt and offered it to her.

“Thanks, are you sure?” She asked.

“Jade, I’m a vampire,” I patiently reminded her. “We don’t get cold.”

“I knowthat. But you’re fussy about your things. Thanks, though. I appreciate it.” She shrugged on my jacket, which drowned her surprisingly athletic shoulders. “You know, I’ve always wondered about the cold thing. Does that mean you could go help scientists in Antarctica and not be bothered by the cold? If you went when it was dark all day long, would it be a power boost?”

“We might be able to help, but no vampire would do it,” I said. “We’re too selfish. And we don’t care about scientific discoveries. The world is lucky most elders are too musty and crusty to emerge from their homes or there would be lots of screams about witchcraft and wizardry.”

“Yeah, I guess that sounds about right. Oh! I texted my mom! I figured out where I went wrong with the Scottish shortbread.” Jade rubbed her hands together one last time, and the warm scent of blood pierced the air.

“How delightful,” I said. “Does that mean you’re going to attempt making another batch today?” I glanced around, unbothered by the smell—I was too old to be affected by blood.

“No.” Jade laughed. “I know better than that—Nan always said you shouldn’t bake when you’re tired or sick. Since baking needs love to make things turn out right.”

I traced the faint smell of blood—which smelled so average it bordered on bland—and realized it was coming from Jade.

She must have a papercut or something. It’s a miniscule amount of blood, anyway.

I leaned back in my chair. “How nauseatingly human of her.”

Jade rolled her eyes. “You say that, but I know you’re secretly a softy.” She reached across the table and patted my hand.

She unknowingly left a smudge of blood on my hand. I deftly slipped my hand under the table as I glanced at her fingers, seeing a thin cut that sliced across them. The wound looked mostly healed—she’d just opened a corner of one of the cuts when she’d rubbed her hands, probably.

She patted the cat on the head and reached for her ceramic cups—as if peering in them yet again was going to magically create more caffeine for her to consume. She paused, and something in her eyes changed when she looked down at her fingers.

“Shoot, I have a cut that just opened up. I didn’t get any blood on you, did I?” She wrapped her fingers in a paper napkin, which was hardly necessary as I doubted more than a single drop of blood had oozed out of the cut.

“No,” I carelessly lied.

“I’m serious, Connor. I didn’t leave any on you, did I?” I waved a hand at her—the one that didn’t have the drop of blood. “No. I’m fine.”

“Okay, good. I’m going to go wash my hands and then put a bandage on—I knew these cuts were going to be a pain in the butt. Here—hold Rajiv while I’m gone.” She stood up and dumped the cat on my lap, then grabbed her purse.

I looked down at the abandoned feline. “Since you asked so nicely.”

Jade laughed as she slipped through the side door into the restaurant, wafting the flavorful scents of turmeric and cumin into the air.

I expected the feline to immediately jump off, instead the contrary creature hunkered down pressing its paws against my leg. “If you unsheathe your claws, I will immediately dump you on the ground,” I warned him.

The cat purred and shifted to sitting on its side, getting its fur all over my trousers.

The cat managed—as much as a cat couldbemanaged, that was—I finally pulled my hand out from under the table, studying the tiny smudge of blood Jade had left on my hand.

She’s quite emphatic that I don’t drink any of her blood… in a weirdly intense way.

I could respect her request to not be bitten. A vampire could secrete a variety of chemical cocktails when biting a victim—mostly because feeding was a potentially hazardous time for a vampire, though we kept that a secret from everyone else. Fresh blood from a living human knocked most vampires out in a sort of hazy food coma.

However, once a vampire got to be old enough, it would take a great deal more blood to achieve the feeling so I could remain levelheaded and still feed as long as I didn’t go overboard.

But Jade’s insistence about her blood was more than a dislike for the idea of getting bitten. She was… intense about it.

Is she ill, and she means to hide it?