A Quick Bite (2 page)

“Come on.” Releasing her hips, Dwayne grabbed her hand and hurried her to the back of the parking lot. It wasn’t until he was dragging her behind the large metal garbage bins in the back corner of the lot that she realized his intentions.

Lissianna bit back a sarcastic comment about his romantic nature and decided to just be grateful that it was
early
winter. While they hadn’t had their first snow, it was cold enough that there was no odor from the rotting food in the large metal containers.

“This is good.” Dwayne urged her back against the cold metal of a bin and crowded up against her.

Lissianna sighed inwardly, wishing she’d not left her coat inside. She was more immune to the cold than the average person, but not completely. The cold metal at her back was leaching heat out of her, forcing her body to work harder to stay warm. Hungry and dehydrated as she was, the last thing she needed at the moment was for her body to have to work harder.

The sudden sloppy assault of his mouth on hers forced Lissianna’s thoughts to the matter at hand and convinced her it was time to take control of the situation. Ignoring the probing poke of his tongue at her closed lips, she caught her fingers in the front of his jacket and turned, slamming him up against the bin a little harder than she’d meant to as she traded places with him.

“Whoa,” he chuckled, eyes brightening. “A wild woman.”

“Like that, do you?” Lissianna asked dryly. “Then you’re gonna love this.”

Releasing his coat, she raked one hand into the hair at the back of his skull and caught him by the short strands
there. Jerking his head sideways, she moved her mouth to his neck.

Dwayne murmured with pleasure as she ran her lips lightly along the line of his jugular vein. Once she’d found the best spot for her purposes, Lissianna opened her mouth, breathed in through her nose as her canines slid out to their full, sharp length, then sank them into his neck.

Dwayne released a little gasp and went stiff, his arms tightening around her, but that only lasted for the briefest of moments. He soon began to relax against the cold bin as Lissianna sent him the sensations she was experiencing; the satisfaction as blood coursed up through her teeth and straight into her system, the dizzy rush as her system moved eagerly to absorb this offering.

The only description she could have given to explain that initial reaction, was the off-kilter list of a boat when everyone on board rushed to one side of the deck, making it tilt in the water. Lissianna’s body had the same reaction as her hungry blood rushed to absorb the new blood, racing from every part of her body toward her head, where her teeth were sucking in what her body so desperately needed. It caused a not-unpleasant head rush. She imagined it was similar to what people experienced when they took a drug. Only this wasn’t a drug, it was life to Lissianna.

She heard Dwayne give a small moan of pleasure. It echoed the silent one she was experiencing as the cramping in her body slowly began to ease.

Too slowly, Lissianna suddenly realized. Something was wrong.

Keeping her teeth deep in his neck, she began to sift his mind. It didn’t take her long to find the problem. Dwayne wasn’t the healthy specimen he seemed to be. In
fact, very little about him was as it appeared. From his thoughts she learned that the bulge pressing against her lower stomach was a cucumber he’d shoved down his pants, his broad shoulders were a result of padding under his jacket, and the attractive tan he sported came from a bottle. It was meant to hide the natural pallor caused by…
anemia
.

Lissianna jerked her mouth away with a curse, her teeth quickly sliding back to their resting position as she glared at him. It was instinct alone that made her slip into his thoughts to rearrange his memories. She was so angry at the man…

And Mirabeau, too, she decided. After all, it had been at her friend’s insistence that she’d brought the fellow out for a quick bite. Knowing her mother would have something lined up for her, Lissianna had wanted to wait until reaching her birthday party to feed, but Mirabeau—and cousin Jeanne—had worried that her pallor would lead Marguerite Argeneau to put her on an intravenous the moment she arrived at the house.

When Dwayne had started to hit on her, Lissianna had allowed Mirabeau to persuade her to bring him out for a quick bite. And now she might have a problem. It had taken her several moments to realize there was something wrong, then a couple more minutes to find the information that he was anemic. She only hoped she hadn’t taken too much blood from him in that time.

Finished with his memory, Lissianna eyed Dwayne with equal parts irritation and concern. Despite his bottled tan, the man looked pale, but at least he was still on his feet. Putting her hand to his wrist, she took his pulse and relaxed a little. While a bit accelerated, it was strong. He should be fine by tomorrow morning. Dwayne wouldn’t feel well for a while, though, but then, it was lit
tle more than he deserved for running around all padded and cucumbered to snare a girl. Idiot.

People could be such fools, she thought with irritation. Like children playing dress up and pretending they were older than they really were, adults now ran around padded, corseted, or siliconed to be something they really weren’t, or to be what they thought was attractive. And it got worse all the time. She wondered why they didn’t understand that their true selves were good enough, and if they weren’t, then the someones they weren’t good enough for were really the ones not good enough.

Lissianna put the thought in Dwayne’s mind that he’d come out for some air because he hadn’t felt well. She made sure to instruct him to stay there until he felt better, then to take a taxi home, then had him close his eyes as she completed wiping herself from his memory. Once assured she’d done the job properly, Lissianna left him swaying where he stood and walked back around the bins to the parking lot.

“Lissi?” A figure crossed the dark lot toward her.

“Father Joseph.” Eyebrows rising, Lissianna changed direction to meet the elderly man. The priest was her boss at the shelter where she worked the night shift. Bars were not usually his sort of hangout. “What are you doing here?”

“Bill said there was a new kid on the streets. He doesn’t think the boy’s more than twelve or thirteen and is pretty sure he’s been eating out of the garbage bins back here. I thought I’d see if I could find him and convince him to come to the shelter.”

“Oh.” Lissianna glanced around the lot. Bill was one of the regulars down at the shelter. He often pointed them toward people who might need their help. If he said there was a new kid on the streets, then there was. Bill was de
pendable about such things. And Father Joseph was equally dependable about going out in search of such strays in the hopes of getting to them before they did something desperate or stupid, or got dragged into drugs or prostitution.

“I’ll help,” Lissianna offered. “He’s probably around here somewhere. I—”

“No, no. This is your night off,” Father Joseph said, then frowned. “Besides, you aren’t wearing a coat. What are you doing out here without a coat?”

“Oh.” Lissianna’s gaze slid to the garbage bins as a
thump
sounded behind them. A quick probe of Dwayne’s thoughts told her that he’d thumped his head against the bin as he leaned against it. Idiot. She turned back to find Father Joseph peering toward the containers and spoke quickly to distract him. “I forgot something in my cousin’s car.”

It was a bald-faced lie, and Lissianna sincerely hoped the man hadn’t noticed where exactly she’d come from, but would think she’d been in the little black Mazda parked beside the bins. Not wanting to lie any more than necessary, she rubbed her arms, and added, “Gosh you’re right though, it
is
cold out here.”

“Yes.” He peered at her with concern. “You’d best go back inside.”

Nodding, Lissianna wished him good night and made her escape. She hurried across the parking lot, then around the corner of the bar, only slowing once she stepped inside the loud and crowded bar.

Thomas was nowhere in sight, but—thanks to the fuchsia-tinted tips of her ebony hair—Lissianna didn’t have any trouble spotting Mirabeau at the bar with Jeanne.

“Well, you look…” Mirabeau hesitated as Lissianna reached them, then finally finished with, “the same. What happened?”

“Anemic.” She spat the word with annoyance.

“But he looked so healthy,” Jeanne protested.

“Padded shoulders and bottled tan,” she said. “And that’s not all.”

“What else could there be?” Mira asked dryly.

Lissianna grimaced. “He had a cucumber down his pants.”

Jeanne gave a disbelieving giggle, but Mirabeau groaned, and said, “It must have been a seedless English cucumber, the man looked huge.”

Lissianna gaped. “You
looked?
”

“You didn’t?” she countered.

Jeanne burst out laughing, but Lissianna just shook her head and glanced around the bar. “Where’s Thomas?”

“Here.”

She spun around as his hand settled on her shoulder.

“Did I hear you right? Was your Romeo sporting a cucumber down his pants?” he asked with amusement, giving her shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

Lissianna nodded with disgust. “Can you imagine?”

Thomas gave a laugh. “Actually, the sad fact is I can. First women padded their bras, now men pad their boxers.” He shook his head. “What a world.”

Lissianna found a reluctant smile tugging at her lips at his expression, then gave in and allowed her irritation to drop away. She wasn’t really upset that Dwayne had sported a cucumber; she hadn’t been interested in what was in his boxers anyway. Hell, she hadn’t even really wanted to take him out for a bite. She was just annoyed at the waste of time and the fact that she’d used up more en
ergy staying warm out there than the man’s weak blood had supplied. She was even hungrier than she’d been before going outside. All the outing had managed to do was whet her appetite.

“How long until we can go to Mom’s?” she asked hopefully. Her cousins and Mirabeau had decided to take her out dancing before heading to the birthday party her mother was having for her. Lissianna had been pleased with the idea at the time, but that was when she’d only been hungry. Now she was ravenous and eager to get to the party and whatever offering her mother would have on hand. She’d even accept an intravenous at that point, which was saying something. Lissianna hated being fed intravenously.

“It’s only a little after nine,” Mirabeau announced, with a glance at her wrist watch. “Marguerite said we weren’t to bring you to the party until ten.”

“Hmm.” Lissianna’s mouth twisted with displeasure. “Do any of you know why the party starts so late?”

“Aunt Marguerite said she had to pick up something for you in the city before the party, and couldn’t do it until after 9
P.M.
,” Thomas offered. “Then, she has to drive back too, so—” He shrugged. “—no party till ten.”

“She must be picking up your gift,” Mirabeau guessed.

“I don’t think so,” Thomas said. “She mentioned something about Lissianna and feeding. I suspect she’s picking up a special dessert or something.”

“A special dessert?” Jeanne asked with interest. “In the city? After nine?” Her gaze slid to Lissianna full of excitement as she suggested, “A Sweet Tooth?”

“It must be,” Lissianna agreed, grinning at the prospect. She’d inherited her mother’s love of sweets and nothing satisfied it like a Sweet Tooth, which was how they re
ferred to undiagnosed diabetics who ran around with dangerously high blood sugar levels. It was a rare treat, made rarer by the fact that afterward they always put the thought in the person’s mind to call his doctor and arrange to have a blood test, thus removing one more Sweet Tooth from the menu.

“That could be it,” Thomas commented. “It would explain Aunt Marguerite’s willingness to drive around downtown Toronto. She hates city driving and generally avoids it like the plague.”

“If she drove,” Mirabeau commented. “She could have had Bastien send one of the company cars out to chauffeur her around.”

Thomas shook his head at the mention of Lissianna’s brother, the head of Argeneau Enterprises. “Nope. She was driving herself and not happy about it.”

Lissianna shifted impatiently, and asked, “So, how long till we can go?”

Thomas hesitated. “Well, it
is
Friday night, and the traffic might be bad, with everyone trying to escape the city for the weekend,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m guessing we could go in another fifteen minutes and not risk being too early.”

“How about if we leave now and you drive slowly?” Lissianna suggested.

“That boring, are we?” he asked with amusement.

“Not you. This place. It’s like a meat market,” Lissianna wrinkled her nose.

“Okay, brat.” Thomas ruffled her hair affectionately. He was four years older and more like an older brother than her own brothers were, but then they’d been raised together. “Let’s head out. I’ll do my best to drive slowly.”

“Yeah, right,” Jeanne Louise said with a snort. “Like that will ever happen.”

Lissianna smiled as they collected their coats and headed for the exit. Thomas was a bit of a speed demon, and she knew Jeanne Louise was right. She had no doubt they’d arrive early and annoy her mother. It was a chance she was willing to take.

Lissianna had forgotten all about Father Joseph when she’d suggested leaving, but there was no sign of him as they walked to Thomas’s Jeep. He’d either given up, or taken his search elsewhere. Her next thought was for Dwayne, and Lissianna glanced toward the bins as Thomas drove by them, her gaze searching the shadows for his seated figure, but there was no sign of him either. He’d left, too. She was a bit surprised at his quick recovery, but then shrugged the matter aside. He wasn’t lying unconscious in the middle of the parking lot, so had obviously managed to find a taxi home.

Traffic wasn’t bad after all. It was late enough that they’d missed the worst of it and made good time getting to her mother’s home on the outskirts of Toronto. Too good.

“We’re half an hour early,” Jeanne Louise said from the backseat as Thomas parked the Jeep behind Marguerite’s little red sports car.