Page 29 of Top Secret Vampire

“Thank you. I’ve had that recipe for years. I’m happy to share it with you,” Mom said. “But tell them. The story is equally delicious.”

“I truly don’t like to spread tales. Let it rest. Wilber’s a decent enough fellow. He’s a lawyer. He’s running for office.” Her gaze landed on me. “You could do much worse than him.”

“Oh, what an interesting suggestion.” Mom leaned toward me. “Wilber is single. His family has considerable money and a lovely home on the water. As for his mother, that was in the past, and I doubt it would matter to anyone now.”

I hadn’t shared what happened back in high school. After the principal brushed it off, I worried everyone else would, too.

“I have my own lovely home on the water,” I said, wondering if I should bring the incident up now. Maybe not. “I don’t need his. And I have money as well. I don’t need to hook up withWilber to make my life better. Besides, I don’t believe he and I share the same political views.”

“I thought your mother taught you better,” my aunt said with so subtle a huff, I doubt Mom heard. It pinned me to my chair like always, and I floundered, trying to figure out how to respond. Funny how, with one glare, she could turn me back into that uncertain fifteen-year-old who’d spoken up and been ground into the dirt for doing so. Everyone said they wanted to raise strong girls, when in actuality, they preferred meek ones.

“In what way?” I asked sweetly, taking a cookie with a shaky hand and biting into it. Amazing. In that, my aunt was right.

“Politics should never be brought into the marriage bed,” she said.

Wolf watched our interaction with a sharp gaze, and the longer he looked at my aunt, the deeper his frown grew.

“What makes you believe Reese would wish to be with Wilber?” he asked.

“She should dream of being with him,” my aunt said casually. “He has prospects.” From the way she looked Wolfram up and down, she must believe he did not.

Not that he and I were dating or even talking about anything like that. But my heart kept pattering whenever he was around, and I was looking forward to getting to know him better.

Kissing him.

“Wolfram comes from a very old family,” I said.

“You’re a vampire, aren’t you?” Mom asked in a bubbly voice, oblivious as always to my aunt’s mean girl attitude.

He dipped his head forward.

“Where do you get your blood?” Her smile held true even when it slid to my neck. Please, I wasn’t that gauche. If there was biting in my future, there were cooler places than my neck for something like that. A neck bite would be the teenage equivalent of a hickey.

“Bags,” he said. “Many are eager to donate.”

“What about people who need that blood after surgery and things like that?” my aunt asked with a touch of fascination. “I understand that everyone deserves to live, even those of questionable parentage, but surely that disturbs you.”

“All our donated blood is shared. You’d be surprised how many will eagerly give to a vampire but not to the blood bank. We ensure they receive more than they otherwise would.”

Aunt Beverly nodded. “Hmm.”

“Wolfram showed me his home on the water last night, and it’s gorgeous,” I said. Not that something like that mattered, though it must to her.

“Purchased or . . . did you lure someone into giving it to you?” my aunt asked.

Could I smack her? I really wanted to verbally do so. This time, I’d find a way to win the argument. I wasn’t a bumbling teenager any longer.

“Beverly,” Mom said with a roll of her eyes. Her lips thinned, and she paused as if gathering her thoughts. “Finish the story about Wilber because I’m sure Reese would enjoy the gossip if nothing else. As for him dating Reese, I believe she’s right, now that I think about it. They wouldn’t be compatible.” Mom patted my hand sitting on the table. “He’s not a cheerful person like my daughter.”

“Wilber’s mother embezzled money from one of the businesses,” Aunt Beverly said, speaking around another bite of cookie. “As if that wasn’t enough, she was caught shoplifting. Her husband fixed it for her, and whatever he said or did made everyone stop talking about it fast. I’m not sure anyone but me and Alice remember.”

Since Wilber was on Wolfram’s suspect list, I tried to see where this new information might lead him to attack me.

Anything I could come up with would be a stretch.

Unless he suspected I knew about what his mother had done and worried I’d tell the community about that, in addition to what he’d done to me.

Both of those juicy details could ruin his bid for the legislative position.

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