Mabel put the ad in the single's column and responded to all your e-mails, then invited you down here for the week. Elvi has no idea about any of this."
"I told you our kind wouldn't be stupid enough to put an ad in a single's column," DJ said with satisfaction.
"No, but your kind are stupid enough to answer it," Brunswick snapped, his face flushed with either embarrassment at being involved in this match-making attempt, or just plain irritation. Possibly, it was both.
"So, she wasn't advertising?" Harper cast a hopeful look Victor's way that seemed to say, Here's one less sin on her list at least .
But it was only one, Victor thought, his mouth tightening. He turned his attention back to Brunswick and said, "There are rumors all over the club scene about a beautiful young female vampire residing in a small southern town. Like this one."
"Yes," DJ said, picking up his intent. "Does Elvi go to Toronto and visit the clubs?"
"Well…" Brunswick looked slightly embarrassed and glanced away. "She… er… we…"
"Does she?" Victor asked, impatient with his dithering.
"No," Brunswick admitted reluctantly. He ran one hand agitatedly through his hair before explaining, "You see, this is a small town."
No one commented on this obvious statement.
"There's one high school and we all went there together. We're pretty tight because of that, I guess, but over the last five years or so we've lost several of our group. Mabel's husband died six years ago of a heart attack. Elvi's husband and daughter in a car accident a year later, then Elvi turned…" He frowned. "It's all been downhill from there. We've lost one or two a year since then, but this year we lost three in a row in a six-month period. We're at that age," he acknowledged solemnly.
Victor remained silent, aware of the discomfort of the other immortals. There was a certain amount of guilt attached to the knowledge that this was not a problem they suffered. Heart attacks, cancer, and so on weren't an issue for them. Victor himself was over two thousand years old. Age wasn't a threat to his kind like it was to mortals.
"We all took the deaths hard," Brunswick went on, "but Elvi seemed to take it worse. She's watching her friends and loved ones die around her and realizes she'll soon be completely alone. Of course, the younger set will step up and befriend her, I'm sure, but it won't be the same. Besides, they'll die soon enough too, and so on." He frowned down at the table and ran his finger around one of the ceramic tiles before admitting, "We don't like the idea of leaving her behind to go through that alone."
Victor's eyes widened at the knowledge that—as they realized their own mortality—these two people, Mabel and Brunswick, were more concerned with their immortal friend being left behind alone, than with how death was creeping up on them. It impressed him and made him curious too.
Victor had always avoided attachments to mortals precisely because they weren't around long in the grand scheme of things. If an average life was sixty-five years, he'd lived more than thirty-four lifetimes. Spending that time watching friends die around you one after another just didn't bare thinking about.
"So…" Brunswick straightened. The pink flags in his cheeks announced that he was embarrassed by what he was about to say and his expression was pained. "Barney and I took a couple trips up to Toronto some months ago."
"Barney?" DJ queried lightly.
"My lieutenant."
"Unbelievable," Victor muttered.
"What's that?" Brunswick asked.
"Nothing. Go on. You and Barney made a couple trips to Toronto."
"Yes." He looked uncomfortable again. "We were thinking if there were any vampires in Canada besides Elvi, they'd be in a big city like Toronto. We went looking for some."
This then was how the rumors had started going around the clubs, Victor realized. "You hit the club scene?"
Brunswick nodded. "It was Barney who thought we were more likely to find them at the clubs. He said if
"I told you our kind wouldn't be stupid enough to put an ad in a single's column," DJ said with satisfaction.
"No, but your kind are stupid enough to answer it," Brunswick snapped, his face flushed with either embarrassment at being involved in this match-making attempt, or just plain irritation. Possibly, it was both.
"So, she wasn't advertising?" Harper cast a hopeful look Victor's way that seemed to say, Here's one less sin on her list at least .
But it was only one, Victor thought, his mouth tightening. He turned his attention back to Brunswick and said, "There are rumors all over the club scene about a beautiful young female vampire residing in a small southern town. Like this one."
"Yes," DJ said, picking up his intent. "Does Elvi go to Toronto and visit the clubs?"
"Well…" Brunswick looked slightly embarrassed and glanced away. "She… er… we…"
"Does she?" Victor asked, impatient with his dithering.
"No," Brunswick admitted reluctantly. He ran one hand agitatedly through his hair before explaining, "You see, this is a small town."
No one commented on this obvious statement.
"There's one high school and we all went there together. We're pretty tight because of that, I guess, but over the last five years or so we've lost several of our group. Mabel's husband died six years ago of a heart attack. Elvi's husband and daughter in a car accident a year later, then Elvi turned…" He frowned. "It's all been downhill from there. We've lost one or two a year since then, but this year we lost three in a row in a six-month period. We're at that age," he acknowledged solemnly.
Victor remained silent, aware of the discomfort of the other immortals. There was a certain amount of guilt attached to the knowledge that this was not a problem they suffered. Heart attacks, cancer, and so on weren't an issue for them. Victor himself was over two thousand years old. Age wasn't a threat to his kind like it was to mortals.
"We all took the deaths hard," Brunswick went on, "but Elvi seemed to take it worse. She's watching her friends and loved ones die around her and realizes she'll soon be completely alone. Of course, the younger set will step up and befriend her, I'm sure, but it won't be the same. Besides, they'll die soon enough too, and so on." He frowned down at the table and ran his finger around one of the ceramic tiles before admitting, "We don't like the idea of leaving her behind to go through that alone."
Victor's eyes widened at the knowledge that—as they realized their own mortality—these two people, Mabel and Brunswick, were more concerned with their immortal friend being left behind alone, than with how death was creeping up on them. It impressed him and made him curious too.
Victor had always avoided attachments to mortals precisely because they weren't around long in the grand scheme of things. If an average life was sixty-five years, he'd lived more than thirty-four lifetimes. Spending that time watching friends die around you one after another just didn't bare thinking about.
"So…" Brunswick straightened. The pink flags in his cheeks announced that he was embarrassed by what he was about to say and his expression was pained. "Barney and I took a couple trips up to Toronto some months ago."
"Barney?" DJ queried lightly.
"My lieutenant."
"Unbelievable," Victor muttered.
"What's that?" Brunswick asked.
"Nothing. Go on. You and Barney made a couple trips to Toronto."
"Yes." He looked uncomfortable again. "We were thinking if there were any vampires in Canada besides Elvi, they'd be in a big city like Toronto. We went looking for some."
This then was how the rumors had started going around the clubs, Victor realized. "You hit the club scene?"
Brunswick nodded. "It was Barney who thought we were more likely to find them at the clubs. He said if
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