Boys That Bite by Mari Mancusi Page A

thousands of years." "Rules, schmules," I mutter halfheartedly. I know I've lost. I glance over to Rayne, who also looks slightly hurt and disappointed. I'm sure she was hoping to get a firsthand glimpse of this coven place. Like seeing Disney World or something to her vampire-obsessed eyes. "Sorry, Rayne," I say, leaning into the car. "Thanks for the ride, though." "Do you want me to wait for you?" "Sur—" "No." From Magnus, of course. He really likes that word. I can tell. He must have been such fun as a toddler. "I do not know how long we will be. I will take Sunshine home when we are done." I raise an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. As long as it doesn't involve turning into a bat and flying home or something." Actually that might kinda rock, but I'm not admitting that to him. "Uh, no. It'd be in a Jaguar XKR convertible if milady dost approve of that," he corrects, in a mocking voice. Oh. "Uh, yeah. I guess that'd be okay," I say, though inside I'm doing the Snoopy dance. A ride in a Jaguar convertible? How cool is that? Way cooler than bat flying, IMO. And certainly better than our beat-up Volkswagen bug. Cheered, I say good-bye to my disappointed twin and follow Magnus into the darkness. At first I'm a bit creeped out as we wander through the moonlit graveyard, but then I realize the place's only real-life monster is already on my team, so I'm probably pretty safe. We come to a huge, ornate tomb in the center of the cemetery. I mean, this thing is big enough to walk in and has a door and everything. It totally dwarfs the rest of the cemetery and looks really out of place looming in the center of it. I watch as Magnus stops at the tomb and produces a golden key from around his neck. I'd been so annoyed before that I hadn't totally checked him out. Not that I should bother, but loser or not, he is such good eye candy. Tonight he's got this total Euro look going on; he's wearing a leather jacket over a black Armani turtleneck that hugs his perfectly sculptured chest, and distressed, low-rise Diesel jeans that hug, well, you know, everything else. His shiny chestnut-colored, Orlando Bloom hair is pulled back with a black leather tie, definitely giving him the rebellious pirate look. In short, he looks De-lish with a capital D. It really is too bad he's the bane of my existence and all. Magnus inserts the key into the lock and the tomb's heavy marble door creeks open on rusty hinges. We step inside and the musty smell immediately takes over my senses. I start to sneeze. When I do, my vampire guide doesn't say bless you, and at first I contemplate berating him for his lack of manners. Then I realize it's probably too religious for a vampire to say and decide to cut him some slack this time. (Though he could have at least ventured a Gesundheit, IMO.) The door closes behind us and for a moment we're blanketed by darkness. O-kay. Kind of freaky. I'm now standing in an actual tomb, in pitch darkness, with only a vampire to keep me company. Last week if you'd sworn on a stack of Bibles that I'd be okay with all of this, I wouldn't have believed you. Magnus feels around for my hand and then, finding it, latches on and leads me into the darkness. And yes, regrettably, I must admit that his touch sends an unwilling chill up my spine. Thanks a lot, body. Betray your owner much? "Watch the stairs," he says as we step down. Are we going underground? Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice in Wonderland would say. We descend. Step after step after step. How deep are we going? It feels like I'm walking down the Empire State Building or something. They should install elevators in this place. What if they turned a handicapped person into a vampire? Talk about your discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen. "You all right?" Magnus asks softly, his husky British accent cutting through the darkness. "Yeah," I whisper back. "I'm good." Okay, fine. I admit it. The situation is kind of intimate and I'm sort of turned on. I mean, no matter how annoying Magnus is,