Page 62 of Enchant the Dawn

But she was jealous just the same.

* * *

Later that night, after dinner, Maddy found herself thinking about Dominic’s parents. The idea of married vampires pricked her curiosity.

She glanced at Dominic, who was sitting beside her, and wondered what it would be like to be married to a vampire. Except for the blood thing and sleeping a good part of the day, he didn’t seem so different from other men. Well, she amended, there was the longevity thing.

“How long do vampires live?” she asked.

Dominic frowned, somewhat surprised by the question. “A long time.”

“How long?”

Knowing it would make the differences between them seem more insurmountable, he was reluctant to tell her.

“Dominic?”

“Hundreds of years.”

“Hundreds? Of years?” she repeated, her face suddenly pale. “Do the other kind of vampires live that long, too?”

“Pretty much.”

Maddy slumped back against the sofa as she tried to fathom living that long. It was inconceivable. Most people were lucky to live to be a hundred. With luck, a good marriage might last seventy years. A vampire marriage might last for seven hundred.

A burst of hysterical laughter bubbled up inside her. How on earth could anyone keep the excitement in a relationship that lasted for centuries? Wouldn’t boredom set in after the first century or so? Surely there wouldn’t be any more surprises, nothing new to discover. What would they find to talk about? What would it be like to see your grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren grow up and have children of their own? Merciful heavens, a family Christmas could involve hundreds of people.

The laughter died abruptly. Dominic might live hundreds of years. But she wouldn’t.

“Maddy?” He reached for her hand, alarmed by the look in her eyes.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m okay.”

“Are you?”

“What happens when your people marry mortals?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you marry, your wife will pass away long before you do.”

So that was what was bothering her.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “You said your father’s a vampire, but your mother isn’t.”

He knew where this was going. “My mother was born a witch. They also tend to live longer than most people.”

Maddy sighed. Why was she worrying about this? He hadn’t mentioned marriage, and she certainly wasn’t ready to tie the knot.

“Among my people, there are ways to prolong human life.”

“What ways?”

“I don’t know, exactly. I just know it’s been done.”

He slipped his arm around Maddy’s shoulders. “How did this conversation turn so serious?”

“I don’t know. I was just curious, I guess.”

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