Page 20 of Immortal by Morning (Argeneau #37)

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” It was Roberts suggesting he tell her about his own family that made him ask about

hers. But her answer was a bit confusing.

“Not really.”

Crispin took a chance and glanced up from the screen long enough to take in her expression.

But he couldn’t read anything from that and quickly looked back to the game.

They were not actually playing the game together so much as playing against each other.

One would play until they died, and then the other would play, and each would hope they got more points than their adversary in each round.

Presently he was playing, but then that was the only reason he was asking questions.

He would never ask her questions while she was playing.

That would be unfair. He would be distracting her, and might cause her to die sooner than she otherwise would, losing on points.

After a moment to think about how he should respond to her answer, Crispin pointed out, “ Not really is not usually an answer to that question. It is generally a yes or no question as a rule.”

He glanced up again then to check her expression once more and was surprised to see a myriad of emotions cross her face. Sadness,

regret, anger, and even grief were each briefly on display. Finally, she said, “It’s a long story. I—look out!” she warned,

and he shifted his attention quickly back to the game just in time to watch the red ghost get him.

“Damn,” he muttered, letting go of the controls as the game screen shifted to face Abril.

Since he no longer felt he should distract Abril by asking questions, he prepared to sit back and simply watch her play. But

she surprised him by asking questions herself now that she was the one playing.

“What about you?” she asked. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Several,” Crispin admitted.

“How many is several?” Abril asked at once.

That’s when Crispin hesitated. He didn’t think answering twenty-two was likely to be taken well. In fact, he was almost certain

she wouldn’t believe him. In the end, he merely said, “It’s complicated.”

“The number of siblings you have is complicated?” she asked dubiously.

“Hey,” he said as she gobbled up some strawberries and went after the ghosts to eat them. “You will not even tell me properly

if you have any brothers or sisters, so have no right to complain about my answer.”

“Fair enough,” she said easily. “What about parents then? Do you have any of those?”

“Of course. I was not hatched,” Crispin said with amusement.

“Are they both alive and still together?” she asked, her tone dry.

“Still alive,” he answered slowly. “But they were never really together.”

“They never married?” she queried, glancing quickly his way before returning her gaze to the game.

“Not to each other. Although my father got married some years back to someone else.”

“So, you have a new stepmother,” she teased. “Do you like her?”

“Yes,” Crispin admitted. “They are perfect for each other. She makes him very happy.”

“That’s nice,” Abril said. “I mean, you hear so many stories about the wicked stepmother, it’s nice to hear about someone

who likes theirs for a change.”

When Crispin merely grunted in what might have been agreement, Abril asked another question. “What made you want to be a police

officer?”

“I wanted to help people,” Crispin said slowly, and knew that answer was kind of on the cusp of being honest. Because while it was true, he had wanted to help people, the people he had wanted to help were the rogue hunters who had been overwhelmed trying to keep up with depleted numbers.

But he was quite sure that she would take it to mean he wanted to help the victims of crimes, and he did enjoy that aspect of his career, but that wasn’t the reason he had joined the police force here in London.

It was just that Mortimer had needed somebody on the police force to watch for cases that might include rogues and handle the mortals who stumbled into them.

Which meant erasing their memories and taking care of these situations themselves.

It was why both he and Roberts were here.

They were the only immortals who lived in the actual city itself.

Although there were others in nearby neighboring small towns like Port Henry.

“Do you like being a police officer?” she asked now, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Sometimes,” he said, honestly, and then explained, “You are looking at a homicide detective who—sadly or perhaps happily—does

not have a lot of homicides to investigate. Roberts and I spend most of our time chasing down punks, muggers, shoplifters,

truants, or working other really not very important cases.”

“The person who was mugged probably thinks their case is important,” Abril commented distractedly as she tried to avoid getting

eaten by ghosts in her game.

“Yes, of course, I apologize,” Crispin said, and quickly assured her, “I did not mean to suggest that the victims of muggings

do not deserve our help.”

“It’s okay, I understand. You don’t have to apologize, and I didn’t mean it that way. I know you meant that you were trained for a job and now really don’t get to do that, but do lesser jobs most of the time or jobs you consider less because it’s not what you are trained for.”

She paused, frowning slightly as if what she said wasn’t quite what she meant, but was too distracted with her game to fix

it. In the end, she gave her head a small shake as if pushing the issue aside and explained, “When I said the person who was

mugged probably doesn’t feel their case is unimportant, I just meant you should be proud of yourself. You help people. Even

if not in the capacity you are trained for.”

“Thank you,” Crispin said softly because she was right. He may not have taken on the job of homicide detective expecting to

be catching muggers instead of murderers. But he did help mortals and his real reason for having that job had nothing to do

with homicide anyway.

Crispin wanted to ask her why she had become an executive assistant, but he didn’t want to distract her while she was at bat,

so to speak. It was one thing for her to ask questions of him because she could pick her moment. And she could ask the question

and then simply listen to the answer while still concentrating on the game.

“So, I guess that means that you do like your job?” She glanced up, and seeing his expression, said, “Or maybe you don’t like

your job.”

“I am not sure,” he admitted. “I mean, some days my job is awesome.”

“Days when you solve the homicide and catch a killer?” she suggested.

“I was thinking days more like today, when I en counter a beautiful woman who has me out of my pants within hours of meeting her.”

Abril’s jaw dropped and her eyes were wide as plates in her head as she gaped at him with a sort of horror. “I can’t believe

you just said that.”

“Too much?” he asked lightly.

“Too much,” she agreed with a wry twist to her lips. “Too much charm, too much leg on display, too gorgeous, too—”

“You think I am charming and gorgeous?” he asked with delight.

Abril snorted at the question, her concentration on the ghosts she was trying to outrun, and then muttered, “Oh please. You

must know you are. You’re nicely ripped, but not overly so. You have a handsome face, awesome smile, sexy bedroom eyes.” She

shrugged. “Gorgeous.”

Crispin stared at her with wonder as she listed off his assets in a very distracted voice. He wasn’t even sure she was really

aware of what she was saying as she worked to avoid getting her Pac-Man killed, and he decided Roberts’s idea had been a brilliant

one. Crispin was quite sure she would never have admitted her attraction to him if she weren’t so engrossed in the game. Not

that finding him attractive was all that unusual. She was his life mate after all, which pretty much guaranteed sexual attraction.

But it was still nice to hear anyway.

A groan from Abril drew his attention to the game screen to see that she had died. It was his turn to play. And his turn to

ask questions.

“What made you decide to become an executive assistant?” he asked at once.

She took so long to answer that he began to wonder if she was going to deflect this question as well. But then she admitted, “I actually wanted to study to become a vet.”

“Really? Why a vet?” he asked with interest. Crispin was a great animal lover himself and had toyed more than once with the

idea of training to become a veterinarian for his next career when he was ready to move on from his present position.

“Because I like animals better than people,” she said lightly and then chuckled when he glanced up with an expression of surprise

tinged with concern.

“I guess that sounds bad. But it’s only partially true. Maybe,” she added under her breath, and then gave a little huff and

said, “I suppose I should probably explain or you’ll think I’m some kind of antisocial freak or something.”

Crispin didn’t comment and simply waited for her to say what she wanted to say. But he didn’t think she was a freak. in fact,

while she was mortal, she sounded much like every immortal he knew. Avoiding others for the sake of their own sanity. If that

made her a freak, then so was every immortal on the planet.

“You see,” she began, and then fell silent as a timer began to sound.

“Saved by the bell,” she said lightly standing up. “I’ll be back in a minute. Try not to get killed while I’m away.”