LITMIR.BIZ

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offered. “Wait here. I will come back for you.”

      They waited, unable to judge time. When he returned, he offered his hand. Elizabeth stared, but Heather remembered what the gesture meant and offered hers. Elizabeth copied.

      “I’m Mr. Roman,” he said. They sensed he was as different from the mortals around as the security he offered was from their remembered horror. “Call me Vlad. I have a taxi waiting. You will be safe now. I give you my word.”

      Chapter 3

      Havering, Yorkshire. The following February.

      “Are you sure?” Stella Corvus, née Schwartz, looked up from dropping teaspoons of cookie batter on a baking sheet.

      Angela smiled. Stella had to be the only vampire in the country, maybe on the planet, who baked cookies on a regular basis. Come to that, she was probably the only one with a kid. “No, I’m not sure, but I’ve got to do something. Tom won’t share anything he’s discovered—if there is anything to share. I feel I’m at the same point as when Vlad found us in the park.”

      “You’re a good bit beyond that.”

      “I know. I’ll be eternally grateful to you and the rest of the colony. You given me a home, clothes, sanity, a job when I needed one. But I can’t stand this anonymity much longer. I want to be more than a name I picked out of the phone book. I look in the mirror and have no idea who I’m staring at.”

      “At least you can look in the mirror! Ghouls have that over vampires. I live in dread, I’m going around with my hair on end and smudged lipstick.”

      Angela chuckled. Stella seldom wore lipstick, and her new, cropped hairstyle always looked sleek. “Please understand, Stella. I need to know who I am. I’m falling in love with Tom. What if I’m married? Have a lover somewhere looking for me?” She sighed. “I used to worry I’d abandoned children or babies, but Justin reassured me there.”

      “Yup, it’s handy having a doctor in the house.”

      “You’ve got a good man there, or rather a good vampire. I keep thinking, perhaps Tom and I…” She sighed.

      “That’s why you left him?”

      “I left him because I got sick of Tom Kyd telling me he’d take care of everything. He followed up leads. He decided if they were red herrings. He studied the old lore books in the library. He declared what was fact and what was fable. He drove me bonkers!”

      “I can see why.” Stella pulled up a stool beside Angela. “They have a way of taking over. I’m not sure if it’s testosterone, the ‘me vampire’ act, or both.”

      “At least you can ‘me vampire’ back!”

      “You could try ‘me ghoul.’”

      “Doesn’t quite carry the same weight. Not yet.”

      Stella raised her eyebrows. “Not yet?”

      “If I can look Tom straight in the eye, and tell him who I am, he’ll have to do something about his ‘poor, little ghoul’ attitude.”

      “Any idea how you’re going about it?”

      “Stomping the sidewalks. Tom’s looking for the answer in old tomes. I’m going to search the here and now.”

      “He’s used the computer too, just as Kit has.”

      “Yes, and every so-called lead is a dead end. I have one clue: my leather coat. I want to go down to Totnes and search for the shop—Mariposa, according to the label. Maybe they keep records of customers.” She sighed. “I doubt it’s that easy. But it’s a chance and I’m grabbing it. If it’s a dead end, at least I’ve done something.”

      “Maybe it isn’t a dead end, but you could be in for a shock. You don’t know what you will discover.”

      “I really doubt I’m a long-lost heiress. More like something very ordinary like a teacher or secretary. But at least I’d know. It might be fun to look Tom in the eye and say, ‘I’m Tallulah Bloggs and I’m a cocktail waitress.’”

      “If that ends up as the name your mother gave you, you’d better stick with the one you picked out of the phone book.”

      Angela’s smile faded. “That’s what’s so hard. Hell, I don’t even know if I had a mother!”

      “You must have, once upon a time.” They were both silent a few moments, until the buzz of the timer distracted Stella for a few seconds. She pulled out one cookie tray, and slid in the next batch. “Don’t forget the reason behind everyone’s caution. Somewhere out there still lurks the vampire who made you.”

      Not a thing she was likely to forget in a hurry. “The odds are he’s the other side of the Atlantic.”

      “He could get on a plane as easily as we did.”

      Angela nodded. “Trust me, Stella. I’ll never forget the horror and terror we fled from. If that monster were anywhere near, and I mean within miles, I’d know.” Just thinking about it made her shudder.

      “Maybe. But we can hide ourselves when we want to. Be careful.” Stella started easing the cooling cookies off the sheet. “It might be wise to leave before Justin gets back from this conference. He’s bound to give you every bit as much flack as Tom.”

      Good point.

      Stella picked up the mixing bowl, but as she turned on the water, Angela grabbed it. “No point in letting good cookie dough go to waste.” She scraped it half clean before she realized Stella was eying her. “Miss it, do you? I’m so wrapped up in myself, I forgot that you, too…”

      “Had a life-altering change?” Stella smiled. “I soon got over the shock. Given the alternative to being vampire, it didn’t take long to accept the inconveniences. But I do miss cookie dough. And ice cream. And chocolate.” She sighed. “No point in going there.” She snapped the lid on the flour canister and put it away.

      Angela held out a spoon. “Sure you won’t have a taste?”

      Stella shook her head “Thanks, but no way. I tried it once. It tasted of nothing, and for days afterward, I had the awful sensation of a lump stuck in my throat.”

      Angela reached for a still-warm cookie. Life as a ghoul did have its compensations, and Stella made great cookies.

      “Bye, Sam.” Stella watched her son as he crossed the crowded playground and joined a group of other nine-and ten-year-olds. Satisfied he was safe inside the school gates, she smiled at Angela. “Here we go.” She turned down the village street and headed for the Moors and York. “How long are you planning on going?”

      “Maybe a couple of days. I’ll either find out something or I won’t. I don’t plan on hanging around.” With a bit of luck, she might be back before Justin. He was liable to be just as unreasonable as Tom. Male vampires tended to act as if they ran the planet. “I don’t want you catching flack over this. Do you think Justin will cut up rough?”

      Stella shrugged. “If he does, it won’t be the first time, or the last. Quit worrying! And for Abel’s sake, take care of yourself. I don’t want you ending up in the same condition as when Vlad found you.”

      “I’ll be careful,” Angela promised, half smiling to herself at hearing her friend invoke Abel’s name. Stella fitted so easily into a vampire existence. She couldn’t help but envy her. Vampires had the colony for support and company; being a ghoul was an empty pain in the patootie. Not much point in complaining. Better up stakes and do something about it. Good thing she hadn’t said the last bit aloud. Vampires could get touchy.

      “Sure you’ll be okay?” Stella asked as the train drew into the platform.

      “I’ll be fine, honest. You know where I’m staying?”

      Stella nodded. “The

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