“Stop what?”
“You’re feeling guilty for asking me when it makes perfect sense that two people are safer than one. We can watch out for each other.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“I’m an intuitive genius?” she said, a smile evident in her voice. “Now, what’s the lady’s name and number?”
Campbell gave her Olivia’s contact information and told her how to get to the diner. “I want you both armed when you go out, no exceptions,” he said. “And be aware of everything and everyone going on around you. Don’t go too far from your car.”
“Okay, Dad.”
“I’m not old enough to be your dad.”
“You will be before long.”
“I don’t age, remember?”
“On the outside.”
“Remind me why I like you,” he said.
“Because I’m impossible not to like.”
“Oh, yeah, that.”
She laughed, and he thought some guy would be very lucky to win her heart. In a world that was full of too much darkness, she was like a bright ray of happy sunshine.
“I’ll help her as much as I can,” she said.
“Thanks. You’re the best.”
“I know. If only some hot guy with a pulse would notice.”
Five minutes after the call ended, Campbell was still staring at the same spot on the ceiling and still thinking about Olivia. What had gotten into him? She wasn’t the only beautiful woman he’d ever seen, not even the only one since he’d been turned. He should be directing his attention toward a female vampire if anywhere, but something unnamed was pulling him toward Olivia. And it wasn’t just her blood type. Wasn’t even the fact that she was stunning. What the hell was it?
Olivia burned with guilt all morning as she and Mindy worked to feed the breakfast crowd. She hated that she’d broken her promise to her friend, hated that she couldn’t talk to her about what had happened.
She glanced through the pass-through and saw a young redheaded woman approach the front counter. Mindy stopped clearing tables to help her.
“What can I get for you?” Mindy asked.
“I’m here to see Olivia DaCosta.”
Olivia froze for a moment before telling herself that this woman looked about as likely to be a kidnapper as Bugs Bunny. She wiped her hands and went to stand next to Mindy.
“I’m Olivia. How can I help you?”
The pretty redhead smiled. “Of course you are.” Before Olivia could ask what that meant, the other woman glanced over to where a few older guys were in the corner drinking coffee and shooting the bull. When she looked back at Olivia, she said, “I’m Chloe Ferris, a friend of Campbell’s. He sent me to help you.”
“Help me?”
“I understand you need to deliver some meals and are without wheels.” She gestured to where she’d parked outside. “I happen to have wheels.”
Mindy made a sound of disgust and stalked toward the kitchen.
“Excuse me,” Olivia said to Chloe then raced after Mindy, who was headed toward the back door. “Min, wait.” She grabbed Mindy’s arm, but she shook her off.
“You’re still in contact with that vampire, aren’t you?” The look on her face was one of wounded disbelief.
Olivia hesitated for a moment. “Yes.”
“You promised me you wouldn’t.”
“I tried. But he really is different.”
“I’ll remember to say that at your funeral.” Mindy grabbed her jacket and left, slamming the door in her wake.
Olivia stared at the door for several seconds, her heart breaking. She didn’t have many friends left, and she’d done the one thing Mindy might never be able to forgive. Slowly, she forced herself to turn and retrace her steps to the dining room. She noticed the coffee drinkers had left their money on the table and vacated the premises.
“I take it she’s not a fan of Campbell’s,” Chloe said.
Olivia shook her head. “No. Her mother and sister were killed by vampires.”
“Ah. I understand, then.”
Trying to get her mind off Mindy and how she might have just walked out for good, Olivia asked, “How do you know Campbell?”
“I work at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I provide V Force with the holy water they need to do their jobs.”
“Are you...a nun?”
Chloe shook her head, her riot of beautiful copper curls bouncing around her face, and laughed. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. No, I’m just the church secretary.”
“Oh.”
“But I like to think of myself as a covert operative.” Chloe shot Olivia a wide smile. “I sneak holy water out when the priests aren’t around. The church doesn’t do shades of gray well. It’s all good or evil, and vampires are firmly ensconced in the evil column. But I know better. My brother was turned, and he’s the same guy he always was unless he’s hungry. Luckily he doesn’t get hungry since he works at the blood bank.”
Olivia scanned the empty diner. “We’ll have to make the deliveries quickly so I can get back before lunch. Looks as if I’ll be running things by myself.” Suddenly, she wondered if talking to Campbell, kissing him, had come at much too high a price.
“Quick we can do. I have to get back to work, too.”
Olivia went to the kitchen and boxed up the dinners.
“Here, let me take that,” Chloe said, and reached for the box when Olivia returned to the front. “Campbell wants us to be armed when we go out. You got something?”
The idea of a church secretary with a weapon struck Olivia as really out of place, but she guessed over the past two years lots of people had started taking precautions they’d have never considered before.
“Yeah. Be right back.”
She made quick work of running upstairs and slipping her Glock into the back waistband of her jeans and covering it with her shirt and wool peacoat since the temperature had taken a dip overnight.
Olivia changed the sign on the door to show when she’d be back, then locked the door before hurrying outside and into the passenger seat of Chloe’s little blue SUV.
“Where to?” Chloe asked.
“Central Park.”
As Chloe zipped out of the parking space, turned the corner and dodged a garbage truck, Olivia realized how cooped up she’d felt the past couple of days and how freeing it was to be outside of her building.
“So have you done this for a long time?” Chloe asked.
“About three years.”
“Like I told Campbell, I think it’s awesome. There’s just not enough kindness and selflessness in the world anymore. People have let the fear replace them.”
“You don’t seem afraid.”
Chloe shrugged. “Don’t much see the point. As long as I don’t go out at night and don’t do something stupid,
