The Reluctant Vampire by Lynsay Sands Page A

things to her that . . . well, he wouldn’t say they were gross, but they were disturbingly hot images and made him withdraw quickly from the guy’s mind and scowl at him irritably.
    “What are you going to order?” Drina asked Stephanie, no doubt to change the subject.
    “A club sandwich and fries with gravy on the side,” Stephanie answered promptly.
    “Hmm. I guess I’ll get the same,” Drina decided, closing her menu.
    “You eat?” Harper asked with surprise.
    “On occasion,” Drina said with a shrug. “Besides, we can’t make Stephanie eat alone.”
    “No,” he agreed on a murmur, lowering his gaze to his menu again and looking to see what a club sandwich was before announcing, “I’ll have the same.”
    “So,” Stephanie said once their waitress had left with their orders, “if you guys are both so old and both from Europe, how come you’ve never met before?”
    Drina appeared surprised by the question and chuckled. “Sweetie, Europe is a big place. I’m from Spain. Harper is from Germany.” She shrugged. “It’s like suggesting someone from Oklahoma should know someone from Illinois just because they’re from the United States, or that someone from BC should know someone from Ontario because they’re both in Canada.”
    “Yeah, but you guys are immortals and as old as the hills. Don’t immortals hang out together, or have a secret club, or something? You’d think you’d at least have met each other before this,” she said, and then added, “Besides, I thought you guys move around every ten years or something. You haven’t always lived in Spain, have you?”
    “No,” Drina admitted wryly, and shrugged. “Egypt, Spain, England, and then Spain again. Mostly Spain, though.”
    “Why?” Stephanie asked curiously.
    “My family is there,” she said simply. “And until recently, women didn’t exactly wander the world on their own. They were expected to stay with family for protection.”
    “Even immortals?” Stephanie asked with a frown.
    “Especially immortals,” Drina assured her dryly. “You have to realize that we have it drilled into our head from birth not to draw attention to ourselves or our people, and an unattached female on her own would definitely have drawn attention through most of history.”
    “Oh, right,” Stephanie murmured, and then her gaze shifted to Harper. “What about you? You aren’t a girl.”
    The words brought a wry smile to his lips. After a day of being considered “one of the girls,” it seemed that, at least Stephanie, was finally acknowledging he wasn’t . . . if only for this conversation.
    “I traveled more than Drina appears to have. I was born in what is now Germany, but have lived in many European countries, not England and Spain though. I’ve also lived in America and now Canada.”
    “So, if it weren’t for Drina’s having to help look out for me, you two might never have met.”
    “Perhaps not,” Harper acknowledged, and found himself thinking that would have been a great pity. Drina was an interesting woman.
    The food came then, and Harper turned his attention to the sandwich and fries placed before him. The brown sandwich, pale sticks, and brown gelatinous liquid in the small bowl on the side didn’t look particularly appetizing. Harper had been a chef when he was much younger and felt presentation was important, but the food smelled surprisingly delicious.
    Curious, he picked up his fork, stabbed one of the fries, and raised it to his lips, but paused when he saw Stephanie dipping hers in the small bowl of thick liquid on the side of her plate. Emulating her, he dipped his own fry in what he supposed was the “gravy on the side,” and popped it in his mouth. His eyes widened as his taste buds burst to life. It was surprisingly good, he decided, and stabbed, dipped, and ate another before picking up half his sandwich and taking a bite of that as well.
    “Aren’t you going to finish your fries?” Stephanie