Page 52 of Kiss of the Vampire

“Then why fight it?” she asked, her voice tinged with amusement.

“It’s really very complicated.” Levka sat down on the couch beside her. “You know we can use hypnotism and telepathic communication. We seek companions that we can’t control. You are that for me.”

“Why not for Stasio, or Ruric, or Arman?”

“They’re special cases,” Levka said, with a sardonic smile.

“Alas, it is true.” Stasio held his hand over his heart. “Had we been able to steal your heart, we would have tried, but Levka made it clear he desired your company above all others. We would never try to break this friendship.”

“But Vlad,” Ruric said, “will be furious when he finds Levka is interested in you.”

“But I live in Florida and you in Texas.” She took Levka’s hand. “Long distance relationships never work out.”

This was not working as Levka intended, yet he knew he could not tell her the whole truth. “I have no ties to Texas that cannot be broken.”

“Us either,” Ruric agreed. “Florida is as good a place to live as any other.”

“You would move to be near me?”

“Yes, but our moving to Florida will not make Vlad go away,” Levka warned.

“You would move to be near me,” she repeated under her breath. “But I couldn’t ask you to do this for me.”

Levka kissed her hand. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. The problem is Vlad.”

She frowned. “He didn’t have anything to do with me for a year. There’s no problem there as far as I’m concerned.”

“He’ll be sweet and polite to all of us, unlike your foster sister and her friends. Vlad will act the perfect gentleman, but he still will want you and will make every attempt to get his way.”

“So what do I do?”

“Tell him you’ve agreed to be mine.”

Arman let out his breath.

“Your girlfriend?” she asked Levka.

“My mate.” Levka had gone and done it now. Though it wasn’t exactly binding because she didn’t really know what she was agreeing to. “You say our names sound Russia. They are. In the old country, we call the one we choose to marry our mate. It’s just our way. If you said you were my girlfriend, it wouldn’t have the same meaning.”

“It sounds strange to me,” Caitlin said.

“It’s just a term, but it will mean something to him.”

She shook her head. “Sounds unreal. So if I do this, he’ll leave me alone?”

Levka took a deep breath. “I doubt it.”

“Then what good will it do?”

“It will show we’ve made a commitment to each other, and that you’re not alone and available.”

“Okay, so I have a question for you.”

But could he answer it? “Yes?”

“Arman said there’s a tracker following you. What’s that all about?”

Levka glanced at his friends, but none seemed willing to help him out. “We’re with a telepathic guild in Dallas.”