A Quick Bite

Chapter 20

"So you never told me... What happened?"
Lissianna glanced up blankly as Deb walked into her office and plopped into the seat in front of her desk. "What happened with what?"
"What happened with what?" Debbie repeated dryly. "When I left my house Monday afternoon you were settling in for the night. When I returned Tuesday morning after work, the house was cleaner than when I'd left, there was a big bouquet of roses on the kitchen table with a 'Thank you!' card, and you were nowhere in sight. You could have left a note telling me what had happened you know."
"I'm sorry," Lissianna murmured. Thomas had told her that Mirabeau had mentioned the mess Greg had said the house was in when he'd left Debbie's place. Apparently, she'd told Lucian, and he'd immediately made a call to take care of it. It seemed whoever he'd sent over to Debbie's house to handle the matter had done a thorough job of cleaning up. Lissianna wasn't surprised: her uncle would accept no less. The flowers startled her though, no one had mentioned those to her.
"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I should have thought about a note."
"Yes, you should have," Debbie said with a laugh. "Especially since you didn't show up for work yesterday night and your mother called in sick for you. The curiosity has been killing me for two days now." She blew out an exasperated breath. "So? Tell me. I take it you and your mother have sorted everything out? Does that mean she's accepted Greg then?"
"Yes, she has," Lissianna murmured with a small smile. Everyone had accepted Greg. After spending the day alternately making love and napping, the two of them had woken up in the late afternoon to find her bed surrounded by her cousins and Mirabeau.
"Still in bed?" Thomas had asked with amusement, as Lissianna had blinked at them. "I am so glad you got at least a little rest today. I feared you'd work Greg to death while the rest of us tried to sleep."
"Tried to sleep?" Greg had asked, stifling a yawn as he shifted from the spoon position they'd been sleeping in and rolled onto his back under the blanket.
"Yes, well it was difficult," Thomas had informed them. "I kept hearing shouts and screams from this room."
He'd paused then to watch with interest as Lissianna blushed bright red, before commenting, "I figured it must be those pesky nightmares that they say accompany the turning."
"Yes, Greg had nightmares," Lissianna had said, grabbing onto the excuse gratefully.
"Hmm, that's what I thought," Thomas had murmured.
"Then I realized that you were screaming, too, Lissi." He'd arched an eyebrow, then his face was split by a wide grin, and he'd exclaimed, "You two are noisy in bed. I've heard less racket from a cat in heat and her mate."
Groaning as her cousins all broke into laughter, Lis-sianna had buried her face in her pillow as Greg had tried to break up the party by announcing that he was getting up and unless they all wanted an eyeful, they'd best leave.
Jeanne Louise, Mirabeau, Elspeth, and the twins hadn't seemed to mind the idea of a free show, but Marguerite had shown up at that point to check on Greg. After giving him the once-over, she'd pronounced him hale and healthy and shooed everyone out of the room so that he and Lissianna could get up.
The rest of the evening had been spent in the usual chaotic family atmosphere, with everyone happy and talkative and telling Greg all the things they thought he should know now that he was one of them.
Lissianna had been sorry when she'd realized it was time to get ready for work and had briefly envied her cousins Thomas and Jeanne Louise for not having to work that week. The two of them were both employed by her brother at Argeneau Enterprises, but had been given the week off at Marguerite's insistence so that they could help entertain Elspeth and the twins during their visit. Lissianna didn't have the sort of job where she could just take a week off without notice. The people at the shelter depended on her.
Greg had seemed equally disappointed that she had to work and had accompanied Lissianna to her room to "help" her shower and change. His efforts had slowed her down considerably, and she might have been late for work if Thomas hadn't come knocking to remind her of the time and offer to drive her.
Crawling out of bed, her hair still damp, Lissianna had thrown her clothes on and charged downstairs with Greg on her heels. He'd accompanied them into town, given her a kiss good-bye before she jumped out of the Jeep, then the men had driven off, headed for Greg's place to collect more clothes to take back to her mother's home. It had been agreed that he should stay there until he'd adjusted to all the changes he would be going through, and Lissianna was guessing that he was probably knee deep in cousins right that moment, getting a crash course in being a vampire.
"Earth to Lissi. Earth to Lissi," Debbie repeated and Lissianna blinked as the other woman's hand passed in front of her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she murmured as she was pulled back from her thoughts. "I was just thinking."
"Thinking?" Debbie arched an eyebrow. "Honey, share some of those thoughts with me, cause I want to feel whatever made you smile the way you did."
Lissianna blushed at her teasing and wrinkled her nose, then said, "I really am sorry I didn't leave a note, Deb. It was good of you to help as you did."
"No problem," she said easily. "I'll even forgive you completely if you'll just tell me what happened''
Lissianna hesitated, then said, "Well, Greg got ahold of my cousin Thomas, and he and a friend named Mirabeau cleared everything up." That was about as close to the truth as she could get, she decided. "Mom is happy, I'm happy..." Lissianna shrugged. "Everything is working out great."
Debbie stared at her face, examining her expression minutely, then said, "You don't sound completely sure."
Lissianna dropped her gaze but didn't know what to say. She wasn't all that sure. She was mostly happy, but...
"Is it fear?" Debbie asked. "Cold feet? Now that there's no resistance from Mom, is it giving you a chance to have some doubts of your own?"
Lissianna started to deny it, then realized she would be lying. She was afraid.
Debbie didn't make her say it. Instead she simply said, "I wouldn't be surprised if it is. I felt much the same way before Jim and I married. It was fear, pure and simple. I was afraid he couldn't possibly be as wonderful as he seemed, that something would happen to wreck things, that I'd get my heart broken..." She sighed heavily. "And I was right."
Lissianna's head snapped up in surprise.
Debbie smiled wryly at her shocked expression, and added, "The day he died my heart broke irretrievably." She let that sink in, then said, "Life isn't always easy, Lissianna. It's full of tough decisions and heartache, and things don't always work out the way we hoped. Life just doesn't come with guarantees. And while it's true that sometimes, by avoiding taking a chance on people, we can avoid some heartache, we might also miss out on the best times of our life. Don't be afraid to love."
Lissianna sat back in her seat as Debbie left her office, the other woman's words playing through her head. "Don't be afraid to love." It reminded her of her conversation with her uncle Lucian.
"You think I am afraid to love?" he'd asked, and when she'd nodded, had said, "Well, perhaps... And perhaps it's true that it takes one to know one."
Lissianna blew a slow breath out and acknowledged that she was indeed afraid. Fear had kept her from discussing "forever" with Greg when he'd wanted to talk about it after waking up from the turning, as well as the two other times he'd later brought it up. She was scared of being hurt. Not by rejection, she already knew that he was willing to be her life mate, and Lissianna knew it wasn't because she'd turned him. Greg loved her. She felt that every time their minds merged. What she was afraid of was the future and what it would do to their love.
"Life just doesn't come with guarantees',' Deb had said, but neither did love. No one knew what the future might bring, but Lissianna did know that the time since she'd met Greg had been the most wonderful of her two-hundred-plus years. She also knew that if she allowed fear to keep her from taking a chance on a future with Greg, the price would be giving up the opportunity for any more of those best times. Basically, it didn't pay to be afraid to love, she thought, and decided tonight they'd have that talk about forever. She was ready to take a chance.
"Lissianna?"
She glanced up with a start at the sound of her name and found Father Joseph in her doorway. "Yes, Father?"
"There's a gentleman here to see you," the priest announced, then turned to wave someone forward.
No one ever came to see her at the shelter, and Lissianna was just starting to frown with confusion, when Greg stepped into view.
"Greg!" She pushed her desk chair back and got to her feet, but then paused and refrained from running around the desk to throw herself at him as her first instinct had urged. Trying to maintain a professional attitude for Father Joseph's sake, Lissianna managed a calm tone as she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to drive you home," he announced. "Are you ready to go?"
"Oh." Lissianna glanced down at her watch and frowned as she realized it was past quitting time. As usual she'd lost track of time. Her gaze slid over her desk, and she grimaced. "I need to put away the files and leave a note for the girl who has my job during the day, so she knows what calls to make and--"
"Go ahead," Greg interrupted. "I don't mind waiting."
Lissianna smiled, then glanced toward Father Joseph.
"Thank you, Father," she murmured, moving around her desk to the door. "Thank you for showing him back."
"It's all right then?"
"Oh, yes. He's a friend," she assured him.
"Oh." Father Joseph nodded. "Good." He hesitated, then backed away from the door as Greg slid into the office. "I'll just..." The priest waved his hand vaguely, then turned and moved off down the hall.
Lissianna watched him go with concern. Father Joseph still wasn't sleeping, and it was beginning to worry her. He had bags under his eyes big enough to store groceries in, and his complexion was taking on an unhealthy gray tinge. Sighing as he moved out of sight, she closed the door and turned to Greg, gasping in surprise when she found herself suddenly pulled into his arms and his mouth descending on hers.
"Mmm," he murmured as he ended the kiss. "Hello."
"Hello," she whispered huskily. "Have you been waiting long?"
"Thirty-five years, but you're worth waiting for," Greg assured her.
Lissianna laughed softly and kissed the tip of his nose, then said, "I meant tonight."
"You mean this morning," he corrected. "Though it seems like night still since the sun hasn't risen."
"It is a bit confusing having the opposite hours to everyone else," she acknowledged.
"Yes, it is," Greg agreed. "And to answer your question, I've been waiting about half an hour. I got here five minutes early. Actually, I hit town half an hour early and stopped at a donut shop so I wouldn't look pathetically eager by sitting in the parking lot."
"Pathetically eager, huh?" Lissianna asked with amusement, relaxing back in his arms and toying with the buttons of his shirt. "It's probably good you stopped at the donut shop. I doubt you'd have been in this good a mood if I'd kept you hanging about for an hour."
He shrugged mildly. "You didn't know I was here."
Lissianna nodded absently, her gaze on the button she was fiddling with until Greg gave her a squeeze, and said, "I recognize that look, it's your 'worrying' look. What's up?"
"I was just wondering--"
"Worrying," Greg corrected dryly.
"If you'd thought about what this will do to your practice," she went on, ignoring the interruption.
"Ah," he said solemnly. "You mean you're worrying that it will affect my practice and I'll resent its affecting my practice and come to resent you for turning me."
Lissianna smiled wryly at being so easy to read. "You're pretty smart, huh?"
"Smart enough to recognize a good woman when I see her," Greg said easily, then pressed a kiss to her forehead, and said, "In fact, I have thought about that and it's not a worry. Most of my clients are employed and prefer evening appointments that don't interfere with their work. Up until now I've spent most of the day working on my book and updating patient notes, and the late afternoon and evening in sessions with patients." He shrugged. "Now I'll only take patients from five o'clock on and work on my book while you're at work, then sleep during the day."
Lissianna frowned. "So you'll be working while I'm off and writing while I'm working?"
Greg blinked. "That's right," he said slowly as realization sank in. "You start work at eleven o'clock and I'd probably be taking patients until ten. We'd never see each other." Now he was frowning too. "Maybe I could--"
"No wait," Lissianna said quickly, her mind working swiftly. "You wouldn't see clients on Saturday and Sunday, so if I changed my nights off to Monday and Tuesday, then it would only be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that we didn't see much of each other."
"So I'd see you half the week? I don't think so," he said with dry displeasure, then blinked and a slow smile started on his lips.
"What?" Lissianna asked.
"It's just nice to know you do want to continue to see me," he said quietly. "I haven't been sure where I stood. You didn't seem to want to discuss the future."
Lissianna sighed and leaned her forehead against his chin. "I'm sorry. I was just a little..."
"Scared?" he suggested, when she hesitated.
"Yes, maybe. And a little overwhelmed too, I think. It's all happened so fast." She lifted her head and assured him, "We'll talk about it all when we get home; us, our hours, everything. Weil figure out a way to make it all work out."
"Okay." Greg hugged her, then he pulled away and gave her bottom a slap. "Go on, get your note written so we can get out of here. The sun will be coming up soon, and I'm already hungry again. I shouldn't be, I had a bag of blood before I left the house."
"You'll be hungry a lot for the next little while," Lis-sianna said sympathetically as she slipped from his arms.
"Yeah. Your family has been warning me about all the things to expect," he murmured, watching her reclaim her seat and pull a notepad in front of her. "Thomas has also promised to show me how to hunt some night while you're at work, so I won't be completely clueless if there's ever an emergency, and I need to feed off the hoof."
Lissianna stiffened and peered up at him to ask archly, "He has, has he?"
"Why, Lissianna, my love. Is that a touch of green I see in your eyes? And here I thought they were silvery blue."
Lissianna scowled at his teasing. "It would seem to me you know how to feed off the hoof. You've certainly practiced on me enough."
"How's that letter coming?" he asked with a grin.
Mouth twisting, Lissianna turned her attention down to her note and continued writing.
"I'll make a deal with you," Greg said as he watched her write.
"What's that?" she asked absently.
"You promise to bite only other women from now on, and I'll promise that when Thomas takes me out to teach me, I'll bite only another man."
She glanced up with surprise at his suggestion and found he was frowning at his own words.
"Or, maybe I'll change that to I promise only to put the whammy on other women and not actually bite them," Greg decided. "As you say, I can practice the biting part on you, and I'd really rather not get that close to another man."
Lissianna grinned with amusement as she finished her letter and stood. "But you don't mind me getting that close to other women?"
"Hmm." He considered it briefly, looking torn, then sighed. "Okay, so amendment number two, I'll cure your phobia so that you don't have to bite anymore at all, and I--"
"Greg," she interrupted gently and he paused to glance at her questioningly. Lissianna moved to collect her purse and coat, and said, "We can discuss this when we get home too, but right now we need to get moving, the sun will be up soon."
"Yeah." A crooked smile curving his lips, he caught her hand and walked her to the door.
Father Joseph was standing at the end of the hall when they left her office, and Lissianna slipped her hand selfconsciously from Greg's when she saw him. She had barely done so when the priest glanced their way.
"All set?" he asked, as they approached.
"Yes." Lissianna smiled as they reached the door, then commented, "I'm surprised Kelly isn't already here. Has she called in sick?" While Claudia filled her position on those evenings Lissianna had off, Kelly was the girl who filled her position during the day shift. She was usually there before Lissianna left.
"No." Father Joseph shook his head. "I told her you had someone in the office with you, so she went down to the kitchen to fetch a cup of coffee. She should be along soon."
"Oh, okay." Lissianna smiled. "I guess I'll see you tonight, then."
"Yes. Have a good day," Father Joseph said, then glanced at Greg, and added politely, "It was nice meeting you."
"It was nice meeting you, too, Father," Greg answered, then opened the door for Lissianna.
"Where's the Jeep?" Lissianna asked, as they crossed the parking lot.
"You mean Thomas's Jeep?" Greg asked with surprise.
"Yes. Didn't you borrow his Jeep to come get me?"
"No. I brought my own car," he said, then explained, "We picked it up when Thomas took me to my apartment to pack a suitcase. He drove back in the Jeep and I followed in my car. It makes me feel less like--"
"A prisoner?" Lissianna asked softly when he cut himself off.
Greg grimaced, but nodded as he led her to a dark BMW. He unlocked and held the front passenger door for her to get in, then closed it and walked around to the driver's side. Lissianna leaned over to unlock the door for him, then sat up as he got into the car. She did up her seat belt as he stuck the key in the ignition and turned it, then raised her eyebrows when nothing happened. Frowning, Greg tried again, but the engine wasn't even turning over.
"What the--?" He pumped the gas pedal a couple of times and tried once more, then cursed with frustration when nothing happened.
Lissianna bit her lip as he tried again. "Maybe we should call a taxi."
"It was working fine on the way out here," Greg muttered, trying once more, then a tapping sound on the window made them both jump and glance out at Father Joseph. The priest stood on the pavement outside the driver's door.
Greg rolled down the window when he gestured and the man asked, "Problem?"
"It won't start," Greg muttered, trying again.
Father Joseph watched him turn the key, and frowned when nothing happened. "It must be the starter. It isn't even turning over."
"No, it isn't," Greg agreed, sitting back in his seat with a sigh.
The old man hesitated, then said, "I was just going to pick up some supplies. I could give you a lift. Where were you going?"
"Oh, that's sweet, Father, but it's probably way out of your way," Lissianna said, then mentioned the area her mother lived in.
"Oh!" Father Joseph exclaimed, brightly. "That isn't far from where I'm headed. It must be providence. Come along, I'll have you home in a jiffy."
Turning away without waiting for a response, he walked to the van with the shelter's logo on the side, and Greg glanced at her in question.
"It is getting late," he said. "And I could call the garage and have them take the car in to have a look at it while we sleep today."
Sighing, Lissianna nodded and unbuckled her seat belt.
"I hope you don't mind, but as it's on the way, I thought I'd just stop at the suppliers on the way out."
Lissianna glanced toward the front of the van at Father's Joseph's words, then out the window as he turned off the highway. By her estimate, they were less than rive minutes from her mother's house.
"I suppose it would have been just as quick to stop on the way back, but I could really use a hand loading the supplies, and as you wouldn't be with me on the way back..." He sent an apologetic glance toward Greg. "You wouldn't mind, would you? I can turn around if you--"
"No, of course not, Father," Greg assured him. "We appreciate the ride. It only seems fair to help you with your supplies."
Lissianna smiled faintly at the polite words. She knew Greg well enough to recognize that while he was disap-pointed at the delay, he felt it would be rude to refuse to help when the man had saved them the price of cab fare to her mother's.
"Here we are."
Lissianna glanced out the window, frowning as he started up a long driveway leading to a large white house. There were no signs anywhere that would indicate it was any kind of business. It was also in the middle of nowhere from what she could see as she glanced around. There were no neighboring houses in view. Lissianna began to feel a bit uncomfortable all of a sudden.
"This is the lady who embroiders our logo on all the towels, sheets, and pillowcases, Lissianna," Father Joseph announced as he parked in front of the house. "She's one of my parishioners, a very sweet old lady."
"Oh " Lissianna murmured, and felt herself relax.
"It does take a little longer than a mechanized place would," he went on cheerfully as he turned off the engine and undid his seat belt. "But she's a widow and needs the money, so I bring all the sheets and towels to her whenever we get a new batch."
"That's kind of you," Greg murmured, unbuckling his own seat belt.
"Actually, I'm glad to have you two with me," he babbled on. "She often tries to get me to stay for tea, and I'll have an excuse not to stay with you two along."
Lissianna murmured politely, then undid her seat belt as Father Joseph opened his door and got out.
"He seems a nice old man, but he's pretty chatty, isn't he?" Greg muttered once the door closed and they were alone.
"He's been suffering insomnia the last week or so," Lissianna explained apologetically, but wasn't at all sure the man wasn't chatty whether suffering insomnia or not. He worked days, she worked nights. She really hardly knew him.
'"Well, the sooner we grab those sheets, the sooner we get home," Greg said, reaching for his door handle, then he paused, and asked, "How much sunlight can I take at this stage of the game?"
Lissianna glanced toward the skyline, noting that the first fingers of dawn were creeping up the sky. She shook her head. "I'm not sure. But this shouldn't take long and we're only five or six minutes from home. You should be fine."
Nodding, Greg opened the door and got out, then held the door open and offered her his hand as Lissianna climbed out of the bench seat and scrambled over the passenger seat to get out.
It was obvious that the sweet old lady who embroidered the linen had been waiting for them, the door was already open and Father Joseph was entering the house by the time Greg closed the van door. They hurried to catch up to him and heard him speaking as they approached, then he paused and glanced back at them as they started up the porch steps.
"She says they're all done, and she was just packing them away," he informed them as they reached the door. "She's gone back to put the last of them in the boxes. It's this way."
Lissianna closed the front door so all the heat didn't escape, then followed the men down the hall. At the end of the hall, Father Joseph paused to open the door and held it to usher them in. Lissianna murmured, "Thank you," as she followed Greg into a small dark room, lit only by a tiny lamp on a table by the door. She nearly stepped on Greg's heels when he suddenly halted.
"Go on," Father Joseph said, and Lissianna glanced back, then froze at the sight of a gun in his hand. She stared at him blankly for a minute, confusion reigning in her mind, then turned back and stepped to the side of Greg to peer around him. She wasn't at all surprised that there was no little old lady who embroidered linens in sight. Lissianna was surprised, however, when she recognized the man standing in front of them, pointing a second gun at Greg's chest.