Feeling as though a million butterflies had just taken flight in her stomach, Vicki glanced over her shoulder. And there he was, dressed all in black, as usual, his hair damp from the rain that had started to fall a short while ago.
His gaze found hers. The electricity that arced between them could have lit up the whole state.
As though drawn by an invisible string, Vicki followed him to the booth in the back.
"Hi," she said, hoping he wouldn't notice how breathless she sounded.
"Good evening, Victoria."
She laughed softly. "Good evening."
"You find that amusing?"
"No. Well, yes. Haven't you ever seen Dracula?"
He lifted one brow. "Excuse me?"
"You know, the movie, Dracula. He also says 'good evening.'"
"Ah. I saw you talking to Miss McGee. Is she a friend of yours?"
"In a town this small, everyone is either your friend or a relative. She said you warned her not to open her door for strangers."
He nodded.
"She also said she was tempted to ask you in."
Man or vampire, they all had egos. It was blatantly obvious that he was flattered.
"Do not let me keep you from your work," he said.
"All right." She cocked her head to one side. "So is it true that you never eat and that you never drink anything but… you know?"
He nodded, his gaze intent upon her face as he waited for her reaction.
She took a deep breath. "Well, I guess nothing on the menu will tempt you, then."
"Only you."
The look in his eyes, the husky longing in his voice, made her knees go weak.
Reluctantly, she went to wait on her other customers.
He sat in the booth the rest of the evening, one arm across the back, toying with a cup of coffee that he never drank.
Gus grumbled a bit about that until Vicki told him that Antonio was there to see her safely home.
When Bobbie Sue heard that, she took Vicki aside and asked her if she had lost her mind.
"He's a vampire," Bobbie Sue said, glancing around to make sure no one overheard her. "A vampire, Vicki. And Tom, well, he hunts them, you know, and… "
"And what?"
"He's going to kill him or destroy him or whatever it is he does."
"What? Why? Antonio hasn't done anything to anyone."
"Vicki, read my lips. He's a vampire. They kill people and drink their blood."
"No." Vicki looked over at the booth where Antonio was sitting. In spite of what she had just said, she couldn't dismiss the truth of Bobbie Sue's words. Hadn't Antonio himself told her just that night that he drank blood? Where else was he going to get it, if not from… from people he killed? So he wasn't responsible for killing Sharlene and the others. That didn't mean he hadn't killed others, only that he hadn't been caught.
It was all she could think about during the remainder of her shift. She served platters of steak and shrimp and bowls of soup and all she could think about was Antonio and how many people he must have killed to survive as long as he had.
He was waiting for her outside when the diner closed. Without a word, he walked her to her car, waited while she unlocked the door and got behind the wheel.
"Get in," she said. "We need to talk."
The ride home seemed longer than usual. His presence in the car was almost overwhelming. Never had she been so aware of how very male he was. He exuded strength and power and a sense of invincibility that was both reassuring and frightening.
When she pulled into the driveway, he got out of the car first. As he had before, he scanned the yard and the trees beyond before he opened the door for her.
Inside the house, she closed and locked the front door, then went into the living room and sat down. He followed her, still silent. He didn't sit down, simply stood there, waiting, as if he knew what was coming.
"You drink blood," she said. "Where do you get it?"
He grunted softly. "What you want to know is how many people I have killed."
"Yes."
Antonio paced the length of the room, then came to stand in front of her once again. "I am not like Dimitri Falco. I do not kill for pleasure. I have killed in the past. I do not deny it I have killed to preserve my existence. I have killed to defend myself, but never without cause."
"But you have to kill to live, don't you? How often? Every night? Once a week?" Even if he only needed sustenance once a year, he would have killed over six hundred people.
"There is no need for me to take life, Victoria. I can take what I need without killing. I have been a vampire for a very long time. My need for blood grows less with each passing year, though my desire for it has not changed."
"Tom Duncan intends to kill you."
Battista lifted one brow. "Indeed?"
Vicki nodded. "Bobbie Sue told me."
He made a sound deep in his throat. It sounded almost like a growl.
"Can he? Kill you?"
"I am already dead, but he can destroy me, though he will have to find me first."
She didn't find that very comforting. Of course, Duncan hadn't been able to locate Falco thus far, though she prayed that would soon change. Hopefully, Duncan would never find Antonio's resting place, wherever that might be.
"Did you think about what I said last night?" Battista asked.
"Are you kidding? I haven't been able to think of anything else."
"What have you decided?"
"I want you in my life." She hadn't known what her answer was going to be until that moment. Now, hearing the words, they felt right. "So, I guess we're going steady." Using such an outdated term made her cheeks grow hot.
"Going steady." He repeated the words, his tone faintly amused, as he sat down beside her. "You are sure? You have no doubts?"
"Oh, I have a lot of doubts, but I'm not listening to them."
He smiled at her.
Was he pleased with her answer, she wondered, or just amused?
He leaned toward her and she knew he was going to kiss her. She put her hand against his chest, staying him.
"There's just one more thing. You're not planning to drink my blood, are you?"
He glanced briefly at her throat. "Only if you want me to."
"No worries, then," she said, confident that even if she lived to be a hundred, she would never ask him to do anything so inherently repugnant.
Chapter 20
Vicki woke with a smile the next morning. She was going steady. With a vampire.
A look at the clock showed that it was already past noon. She never slept this late.