Unlike the other groups, this one held a vampire dressed in a wrinkled suit. His curly brown hair gave him a charming, innocent look. The way he was eyeing my friend made him seem anything but harmless. No, that made him seem more like a wolf in a dinner suit. It was the first time tonight a vampire had triggered that thought in my mind. It made me even more intent on getting her out of here.
“Caroline, I’ve been looking all over for you,” I said, giving the group a big smile after making sure my fangs were retracted. No need to terrify the art lovers.
“I don’t know why as I’ve been here for the last half hour,” she said somewhat acerbically.
My smile didn’t falter. “I need to show you something.”
“Later. I’m talking.”
Why is it that my excuse never seemed to work when I needed it to? Perhaps it said more about the people I spent time with that they didn’t respond well to being interrupted.
The curly haired vampire’s attention shifted to me, his eyes lighting as if he saw a tasty snack he’d like to gulp down. Not in this lifetime, buddy.
How to get my friend out of her current conversation without destroying our relationship forever. We weren’t in active danger quite yet, though I could feel it lurking right around the corner, so I hesitated to do something I knew might take our relationship back to the arctic tundra days. She wouldn’t forgive me if I embarrassed her in front of these people, especially if they turned out to be potential benefactors.
Hearing the current conversation begin to wrap up, I latched onto Caroline’s arm and pulled her away. “There’s someone I need to introduce you to. He’s been asking to discuss some fourteenth century manuscript with you all night. He’s a huge benefactor to the university.”
“Really?” Caroline asked me skeptically.
“Uh huh. Huge.” I was going to hell for lying to my friend like that.
I led her through the crowd, keeping an eye on our rear for anyone following us. I breathed a sigh of relief when Curly watched us go with interest. At least I had one less obstacle to deal with.
“I’m surprised you know anyone who’d be interested in that sort of thing. Don’t your friends tend more toward an interest in studying different ways to kill people?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, surprised out of my surveillance. “What kind of people do you think I hang out with?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. People who own guns and think the second amendment should justify owning enough weapons and ammo to start a third world war.”
“That’s some opinion you have of me,” I said. “It’s a wonder you asked me to come at all. I would think you’d be too ashamed to have your violent, unintelligent friend in the same room with all these intellectual giants.”
Caroline flinched. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I think it was exactly what you meant,” I returned in an even voice.
It might not have been in her thoughts when she invited me, but it had certainly occurred to her by the time we walked in here. Maybe after that conversation with the group who had stared at me like I was an animal from the zoo, here to entertain them with my experiences of war.
It’s why she hadn’t really introduced me after that or tried to include me in any of the conversations. It was why she’d left me to fend for myself in the conversational jungle. She might not want to admit it to herself but some part of her thought I didn’t fit with these people and it embarrassed her.
“Aileen,” her voice had a soft, pleading tone to it.
As much as that realization stung, it actually helped. It gave me an excuse to get us out of here.
“Come on. We’re leaving.” I used my grip to keep her moving, making sure it wasn’t tight enough to hurt her. Just firm and unyielding.
“What? We can’t. I still have potential donors to talk to and the chair of my department will have my head if I leave this early.”
I tugged her closer to the door.
“Aileen. Are you listening to me?” Caroline’s voice was no longer apologetic. It had the firm confidence that made her such an unstoppable force.
“Not really.”
“Didn’t you have someone to introduce me to anyway?”
I gave her an ‘are you serious’ expression, arching both eyebrows and widening my eyes slightly.
Her mouth clicked shut as she got the message. It made no difference that I had never intended to introduce her to someone. If I had, I wouldn’t have wanted to after her statement. She wouldn’t have deserved it.
