Page 170 of Vampire so Virtuous

“Heavens, no. You’ve met Antoine, after all. Though I can’t deny he’s charming in his own way.”

That wasn’t entirely fair. Antoinewassmooth. She’d seen him be polite, kind and playful—not unlike Gabe, at least when he wasn’t making light of things—and while it was true he occasionally seemed awkward, she liked that about him. Smooth without trying. While Gabe? He was trying.

She shook her head. “I expected you all to be more like Minh.”

“In truth, most of us are. It so happens I never saw myself in that light, and our boy Antoine… well, he struggles along in his own way.”

“You keep calling him ‘our boy.’”

A flash of something fond passed across Gabe’s face. “Isn’t he?”

But there was a flicker of something else in his gaze, something briefly self-conscious, before it vanished just as quickly. It made Cally wonder. “Do vampires have friends?”

“Officially, we’re allies.” He grew more contemplative. “Unofficially, this is a good time for vampires to have friends.”

“Because of the Curia?”

He inclined his head. “You’re well informed.”

She hesitated, unsure whether to tell him, but figured there was no harm. “I spent much of last night with Belle.”

“Did you now? And what was that like?”

“It was… interesting.”

“Uh-huh,” he said. “Interesting enough for you to be on a first-name basis with one of the most powerful vampires on US soil?”

Cally blinked. “Is she really so powerful?”

Gabe shrugged. “It’s simple numbers. A vampire gains power as they age, and most of the truly ancient ones remain in Europe. To them, America’s still just a collection of colonies. Back home, Lady d’Aubigny may sit on the Curia, but she’s far from the top dog. Which is probably why they sent her.”

Cally thought she was here because Antoine was, but kept it to herself. Besides, Gabe could be right, and she could be wrong.

His eyes crinkled playfully. “I’m still going to need yourmeasurements—unless you want to meet Antoine smelling of dried blood.”

She made a face. “Not a good idea. He wouldn’t take it well.” She gave him sizes for a new pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a hoodie, waiting as he relayed the information to his thralls.

“The clothes will not be long, but the food is already here,” he said, rising. As he reached the door, it opened, and a thrall she hadn’t seen before handed him a brown paper bag and a to-go cup.

While she ate, he entertained her with stories of nineteenth-century Virginia, making her laugh so hard she had to cover her mouth. When she was done, he asked her about her past, particularly her interest in taekwondo. At his prompting, she’d just begun explaining how she met Antoine when he interrupted her.

“Apologies,” he said with mock seriousness. “Deliveries.” A second later, there was a knock on the door.

Again, he got up to answer, and this time two thralls came in, carrying more shopping bags than Cally had ever seen in one go.

“I said a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a hoodie,” she said as soon as the thralls left, staring at the bags piled in the middle of the rug. “Did you have them buy the store?”

Gabe laughed. “I can’t remember the last time I got to play host like this. Let me have my fun. You can complain later to Antoine.” He held up another bag, this one smaller and made of thin white plastic.

“What’s in there?”

“Lidocaine, scalpel, forceps, needle and thread, cotton wool, gauze, analgesia.”

“They got all that from Macy’s too?”

“My thralls get injured from time to time.”

“Lidocaine? Not over-the-counter stuff, is it?”