Page 74 of Kiss of the Vampire

“Thank you.”

The waiter served their salads and Caitlin speared a tomato. “So you can’t be a vampire.”

“The canines extend when we have need of them.”

She glanced at the others. Though Levka and his friends poked at their salads, she was quite sure they listened to her telepathic communication. Were Vlad’s responses to her private? She couldn’t be sure. If they were for her hearing only, she was certain the others were deciphering what was being said anyway.

Alicia and Lynne were still talking to each other about werewolves and not paying any attention to the rest of them.

“You extend them when?” she asked Vlad.

“In anger or in lust.” Again Vlad grinned.

“Lust?

“Bloodlust. It’s when we have to feed. But it also occurs when we desire to make our chosen mate ours permanently. It takes a great deal of control not to make the girl our own before getting our league’s permission.”

Vlad suddenly glanced at Levka, and Caitlin had the feeling Levka had spoken to him telepathically. Shifting his attention back to her, Vlad smiled but didn’t say anything.

Turning to Levka, she frowned. “What did you say to Vlad?”

“To let you eat your lunch in peace.”

“Do you know what he tells me?”

“Of course. That we are big mosquitoes.”

“I want to know what really happened to Vlad.”

“Hasn’t he already told you?”

“Sure. Arman and Stasio bit him. But I want the truth.”

Levka pushed his empty salad plate aside. “The truth is who knows with Vlad? I’m beginning to think he’s crazy. Self-inflicted wounds maybe?”

Now that, she could believe. Vlad was crazy. Obsessive over her. She could see him making up wild stories. Sure, maybe even hurting himself to back them up.

She took a roll from the bread basket and buttered it. “Next time you extend your teeth, be sure and show them to me, will you, Vlad?”

His smile and the menacing gleam in his eyes were wicked. “Rest assured, my love, I will show them to you the first chance I get.”

Chapter 17

After dinner that night, Levka, his friends, and Caitlin watched a movie. But halfway through the show, Levka’s head drifted to her shoulder, and she found him sound asleep.

“Rough night,” Arman explained.

“Trouble sleeping?” Caitlin asked.

Arman nodded. “Ruric sleepwalks when he’s overly tired, and Levka went looking for him for a couple of hours last night.”

“Oh. Poor thing. Levka should have gone to bed and not stayed up for the movie.”

“He should have, but when I suggested it, he nixed the idea. Seems being with you was too much of a draw.”

She sighed. “Well, you should have told me, and I would have gone to bed earlier so he could get some sleep.” She took Levka’s hand and held it, wishing he already lived in Orlando and went to her high school, that he could take her to the dances, to movies, to just hang out and talk. Why did he have to be from Texas, so far away? She couldn’t ask him to pull up roots just to move near her, especially not when his league had a job for him to do.

Trying to take her mind off the return trip home and the realization they’d soon part ways, she attempted to concentrate on the movie as the jewel thieves tried to make their big museum heist, but she soon saw Vlad watching her from several rows away. Chill bumps coated her arms. Why didn’t he live in Texas instead?