could almost believe you were there.ââ Kate paused and glanced up. âAll the letters in this stack arealong that line, praising you for the realism of your writing and the fact that it reads as if you were actually there.â
When Lucern merely nodded, she frowned. âWell?â
âWell, what?â he asked with surprise. âThat reader is right.â
âThat reader is right?â She gaped at him. âThatâs what youâre going to write? âDear reader, Youâre right?ââ
Lucern shrugged mildly, wondering why she was raising her voice. The reader was right . His books did read as if heâd been there in medieval times. Because he had been. Not during the precise time period when his parents met, but not long afterwardâand in those days, change was slow enough that little had differed.
He watched his editor slam the letter back on the pile and move on to another. She muttered the whole time about him being an arrogant jerk, and added other uncomplimentary descriptions. âInsensitiveâ and âlacking in social skillsâ were just two. All of which Lucern knew he wasnât supposed to hear.
He wasnât offended. He was six hundred years old. A man gained some self-confidence in that time. Lucern supposed that to most people he would seem arrogant, possibly even a jerk. Insensitive certainly, and he knew his social skills were somewhat rusty. Etienne and Bastien had always been better at this social stuff. Yet, after years of living as a reclusive author, he was terribly lacking and knew it.
Still, he couldnât see any good reason to sharpen those social skills. He was at that stage in life where impressing someone seemed like a load of bother.
Heâd taken a waitress for dinner once whoâd explained the way he felt rather nicely. Sheâd said, âYou can go along, working your shift and everythingâs fine. Most of the customers are pretty good, though there might be the occasional bad one. But sometimes you have that night where you get a real nasty customer, or even two or three in a row, and they bring you down, make you tired and miserable, feeling like the whole human race sucks. Then a baby might coo and smile at you, or another customer will say âRough night?â with a sympathetic smile. Then your mood picks up and youâll realize maybe people arenât so bad.â
Well, Lucern had suffered a couple of bad decades, and he was feeling tired and depressed and as if the whole human race rather sucked. He didnât have the energy or desire to put up with people. He just wanted to be left alone. That was why heâd started writingâa solitary pursuit that kept him busy and took him into much more pleasant worlds.
He knew that all it would take was someone to smile and say ârough decade?â to change that. Someone like Kate. As much as heâd resisted having to deal with her, heâd begun to enjoy her company. Sheâd even made him smile several times.
Realizing the path his thoughts were taking, and that they were rather warmer than he was comfortable feeling for his unwanted house guest, he drew himself up short and began to scowl. Dear God, what had he been thinking? Kate C. Leever was a stubborn, annoying woman who had done nothing but bring chaos to an orderly existence. Heâ
ââDear Mr Argeneau,ââ she read grimly, drawing Lucern out of his thoughts. ââIâve read your vampire novels and enjoyed them immensely. I have always been fascinated with vampirism and read everything on the subject voraciously. I just know that there really is such a thing, and suspect you yourself really are one. I would love to be one. Would you please turn me into a vampire, too?ââ Kate rolled her eyes and stopped reading, glancing at him. âWhat would you say to her ?â
âNo,â he said firmly.
Kate threw the letter down with
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