“Oh,of course, I’ll be sure to do that!”
Shewas never going to listen tomy show.
Backat our table, Ben offered me a fresh glass of wine and I gratefullydrank it down.
“What’dyou get, what’d you get?” Ben asked.
“Food.”
“Hm,the night almost pays for itself.” He cheered my wine with his glass ofwater.
Withthe speeches over, the dancing began. The DJ started the first set withSmash Mouth’s “All Star.” So, it was going to be like that, was it?
“So,”Ben asked. “Why’d you break up with this Jesse guy?”
Inarrowed my gaze. “Is this going to be a problem, you being jealousof a guy I dated ten years ago?”
“Justcurious.”
“Hewas going away to Boston for college. He made noises about trying tostay together, but . . . it was just noise. We’d have been settingourselvesup to fail.”
“Itmight have worked out.”
“Andif it had, we wouldn’t be here,” I said.
IfJesse and I had managed to stick together and make it work . . . mylife would be so completely different I had trouble fathoming it. Forone thing, I wouldn’t be a werewolf. Which sounded good until I alsorealized it meant I wouldn’t have my radio show, and I wouldn’t haveBen.
Itried to avoid regretting pretty much anything. Regret had noboundaries once it started.
Trevorwas standing a little apart from the table, watching the crowd, notingevery face, turning to the doorways every time someone entered orleft.
“Youlook like a hunter on the prowl,” I said.
Hechuckled. “Yeah, I suppose you’d know all about that.”
“What’syourstory? You joined the army, and then . . .”
Heshrugged. “Here and there, this and that. It’s not that interesting.”
“Notlike me,” I said, waving the envelope I’d won for having the mostinteresting job. Trevor laughed.
Nextup on the set list: “Tubthumping.” That got a couple of people out onthe dance floor for some half-hearted bouncing.
Bensaid preemptively, “I’m not dancing, that’s my line in the sand.”
“Iwill not ask you to dance, I promise,” I said.
Suddenly,his chin tipped up, his nose flaring. His brow furrowed, and atension tightened his shoulders. An intrusive smell caught hisattention. I took a breath to find the scent he’d spotted. A bodymoving into the ballroom. Chilled, corpse-like but not rotting, coldwith death but still alive. A vampire.
Weboth turned to the man who had just entered the ballroom. Svelte,wearing a dark shirt and gray slacks, casual and stylish, his hairslicked back. Everyone was eyeing him. He looked good.Of course he did, it was how vampires attracted prey. I gasped andslapped my hand over my mouth, astonished, because it finally clickedand I recognized him.
JesseKramer, my high-school sweetheart, broke-up-at-prom-dramaex-boyfriend, was a vampire.
Acrossthe room, he met my gaze. And I let him, and I think Sarah McLachlancame up on the set list right that moment. For just a moment, he lookedinto my eyes with his vampiric, mesmerizing stare, and I was frozen—
“Ohmy God, he’s actually here,” Sadie exclaimed.
Ishut my eyes and shook my head to clear it. Had Jesse actually triedhis vampiric hypnotism on me? The bastard . . .
“Therehe is,” Trevor murmured and stalked toward him. Jesse spotted him. Hiseyes widened, and he turned and walked out.
“Waita minute—” I ran after Trevor.
“What—”Sadie ran after me. I assumed Ben followed as well.
Ina foot race between a vampire and a mortal human, I’d put money on thevampire every time. Trevor must have known he couldn’t win astraight-up race, so in the ballroom lobby he veered to a side doorwhile Jesse charged out the front. I kept after Jesse.
“Jesse,get back here, you jerk!” I shouted.
Thiswas almost exactly what had happened at senior prom, which made me evenmore furious. You cannot escape the past, you can only repeat it. Ipounded out the doors to the lighted nighttime parking lot and caughthim just about to round the corner of the building. Wolf loved this.This was a chase. We had him in our sights. Next was the pounce, thegrabbing him by the throat, the ripping—
No.I just wanted to talk.
“Jesse!”I yelled, and it must have come out partly like a growl, because hepulled up short. Slowly, he turned around.
Jessecouldn’t have been a vampire for more than a couple of years—he lookedto be in his mid-twenties. Now, if this had been the twentieth reunion,there’d have been questions about how well preserved he appeared.
Still,I had a lot of questions.
“Hey,Kitty.” He scuffed his foot, tried to smile.
Ihad to take a moment to slow my breathing down so I didn’t, like, freakout and sprout fur. A reunion to remember.
“What. . . what is this?” I gestured vaguely at him, his condition, unableto formulate a concise question to take it all in. “Although this ispretty much the first time I’ve met a vampire and known exactly howold he is.”
“Goodto see you, too,” he said, chuckling.
Thatmoment, Trevor came around from the other side of the building, aiminga handheld crossbow loaded with a wooden bolt. Without thinking, Isprang, getting between Trevor and his target. I ended up pushing myex-boyfriend into the wall, covering him with my body. A wooden stakewould barely scratch me.
“Kitty,get out of the way!” Trevor ordered.
Thatwas the moment Ben jogged up with Sadie and saw me and Jesse lockedtogether.
“Thismust be the famous Jesse,” Ben said evenly.
Great.Just great. “Trevor, put that thing down!” I said. He didn’t. Ibared my teeth. “Trevor!”
Helowered the crossbow. Jesse relaxed, just a bit.
“Putit on the ground, now!” I said. He did. I stepped away from the wall,straightened my dress. I was blushing. I resisted an urge to pour outapologies to Ben. This isn’t what it looks like . . .I trusted he knew that.
“Whatthe hell is going on?” Sadie demanded, her voice edging into panic.
Ilooked back and forth between the two men, the vampire and theapparently professional vampire hunter. “What are the odds, really?” Imuttered. “Trevor. Why are you trying to kill Jesse? I mean, is thissomething you make a habit of, killing vampires? And Jesse . . . whythe hell are you a vampire!”
“You’rea vampire?” Sadie said, taking a step back.
“Whois that?” Jesse said, pointing at Ben. “I don’t remember you.”
“We’venever met. Hi, I’m Ben, I’m
