“Ah, I know! Tessa and Leo will come over later. That boy can eat.”
“Werewolf,” Jesse whispered as they took a seat.
Mr. Minegold chuckled, reminding Sophie that there was no point in trying to whisper— not around any one of the three members of this luncheon. It would probably be rude to blurt out her questions before they even sat down, but her tongue felt positively itchy.
Jesse pulled out the high-backed chair with its embroidered cushion. “M’lady,” he teased.
She giggled and sat. “This home is gorgeous. Everything looks delicious!”
“Nothing is too good for Jesse and his lady,” Mr. Minegold rolled his wrist with a flourish. Jesse rolled it back and both men laughed, at ease. “Lord, it is a sight for my heart, to see you finally happy like this. Happy to your bones, it radiates from you.” Their host busied himself at the head of the long table, pouring something thick and red out of a silver pitcher into two fancy goblets. “I got out the good dishes and everything,” Mr. Minegold admitted with a self-conscious smile.
Jesse’s eyes darted to Sophie’s. She smiled reassuringly. It wasn’t like she didn’t know he needed to drink blood. She’d seen him do it, discreetly, hastily, in the corner of his dorm room.
“Do you partake?” Mr. Minegold paused before putting the pitcher down.
“Oh. No. No, I don’t.” Sophie fussed with the linen napkin at her place.
“She’s not a vamp like us.”
“I know. But... she is something like us. Aren’t you, my dear?”
For a moment, Sophie bristled. The Philly hardness was part of her as much as her skin, but she heard the gentle welcome in Minegold’s voice. He wasn’t accusing, he was questioning out of curiosity and wanting to understand her. That made sense; she was curious as well.
“I guess I am. I don’t know what I am, aside from human. Just not a normal human.” Sophie replied with a small shrug.
“Actually, I told Soph maybe you could help her.” Jesse took the proffered goblet, looking earnestly into his mentor’s eyes. “We have a lot in common, but vampires don’t make living children, so—”
“Well, not two vampires, anyway.” Minegold sat.
Sophie started. The words from her dream echoed in her head, unsettling her.
“I’m sorry, dear. I did not mean to offend,” Mr. Minegold solicitously. “But you know, not all vampires are bad. Most of us... but not all. It’s very easy to give in to temptation. You must have something that motivates you highly to keep your soul stronger than what else inhabits you.’
“Wh-what motivates you?” Sophie asked.
Minegold cut into a highly decorated pie with a golden brown crust. Putting a thick wedge on each plate, he finally answered, “To protect. To find justice. To help. If a person is willing to help, they will always be busy. That is good for a man with a long life. He will need something to fill the hours.”
“Don’t forget about family.” Jesse moved around the table as if it was his own, placing salad dressed in vinaigrette on his plate and passing the bowl to Sophie. “You’re like a dad to half the kids in town. Kids like us.”
“Jesse, you’re not a child, you’re a man.”
“Yeah, but I’ll always be a kid compared to you,” Jesse teased.
Sophie relaxed a little. “I’m not offended, I’m just a little confused. Vampires don’t reproduce. They don’t... they’re not alive.”
“Ah, yes. But just like there are different wildcats, there are differences among the vampires of this world. Some, in Albania, so I hear, will be able to impregnate the woman they loved in life and produce in turn adhampir. He will have some of the father’straits, very pale, no shadow.... But these are things I hear of. I do not know any personally and I have not seen with my own eyes. I hear they are rare.”
“Do— do their fingertips glow when they’re really upset?”
Minegold’s fork hovered between his lips and his plate. The fork returned to the plate with a gentle chink. “Sad? Any emotional upset, dear?”
Sophie couldn’t help but feel her heart melt a little at the courtly manners he used. She couldfeelJesse swelling happily across from her, despite the seriousness of his expression. “Not any emotional upset. When I feel... when I feel so angry, sometimes it’s almost like heat in my chest and it spreads to my hands.”
“Mm.”
Everyone took several bites before Mr. Minegold put down his fork again. “I have many books on such matters. They are at your disposal.”
“As long as we don’t bend the pages or eat while we look,” Jesse added in a stage whisper.
