Page 69 of Good Vampires Go to Heaven

“Please don’t do that,” he urged.

“What?”

“Moan.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s causing me problems.”

“Like what?” He wasn’t making sense.

He hesitated, and she could swear he blushed. “It appears as if I’m getting my mojo back.”

It took her a second to realize what he meant. Then she blushed, too. “It’s probably just adrenaline rush from the battle. I’ve heard lots of men claim the need for sex after fighting.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, clearly not buying it.

“Really, it’s a normal reaction. I don’t take it personally. Probably any woman would garner the same reaction.”

“I didn’t feel the same way when Inga and Dagmar were here a little while ago.” Those were the other female vangels on this mission. They were Norse sisters who’d joined the vangels about a hundred years ago.

“Maybe because they’re a mite older than you,” she said, trying to be kind when what she thought was, and homelier than bulldogs.

Zeb leaned closer to her and dabbed at the side of her mouth with a paper napkin. Then he didn’t draw away, but leaned even closer so that she felt his breath when he murmured, “Do you have an answer for everything?”

At the moment, she couldn’t think of a thing to say, so wrapped was she in the aura that seemed to surround them. As for him getting his mojo back, she was feeling a tug in that region, as well. Her lady parts were coming to attention in a way they hadn’t for centuries, if ever. Whoo-boy!

A change of subject was needed, Regina decided. “Tell me about your life, what you did before . . .”

She could tell that he knew what she meant without her finishing the sentence. She half expected him to evade the question or tell her it was none of her business. Instead, he was forthcoming.

“I died in the year AD 76. A suicide. Unfortunately, a Lucipire was nearby . . . in fact, a young Jasper, it was . . . young in demon vampire years, I mean. I probably would have gone to Hell anyway, but he harvested me for his own group.”

“I had no idea. No wonder Jasper is so outraged by your rejection.”

Zeb nodded. “He often said I was like a son to him. Creepy, huh?”

“Did you ever feel any affection for him? Or any bond?”

“Never. In the beginning, I was too stunned by everything that had happened to my family, and my role in it, to care where I was. And, believe me, it was primitive living in the early days. No castles or luxury accommodations. We came to favor caverns around the world. They were roomy and hidden. Most humans feared entering them. But the bats! I shudder even today when I see one of the flying creatures.”

She had to smile at that. “A demon afraid of a little harmless bat?”

“We all have our phobias.” He shrugged. “What’s yours?”

“Snakes. I hate snakes.” She shivered with distaste.

He smiled then. “I rather like them. They eat bugs in my garden.”

She wasn’t to be diverted. “Tell me more. Why did you commit suicide, if you don’t mind my asking?”

He got up to help two newly showered vangels to food and bottled waters. They spoke briefly about the mission and the game on TV. After they went over to the living room to sit down with their food, he poured two cups of coffee, bringing them back to the island. He’d remembered that she took hers black.

“I had a good life, a wonderful life, but I couldn’t see that for the greed that blinded me. I adored my wife, Sarah, and two children, twins, Rachel and Mikah. I had a small vineyard passed down in my family and a modest house. We were not wealthy by any means. In fact that was the crux of the problem. I should have been happy with what I had, but I coveted my neighbor’s land with its water access which would have made such a good addition to mine.”

“The grass is always greener,” she injected.

He nodded. “I wanted that land with a passion that should have been spent on my wife and children. I took every job I could find, but it was never enough. And I had little time for my family. Obsessed, I was.”