Vampire King of New York Read Free Page A

Perhaps you’re not yet ready. Often the heart balks at change, when the mind is uncertain. Of course, that’s merely an observation of life. Being a vampire, I know change too well,” Max said.
    “In my experience, change hurts. Does it always hurt?” She gazed into those wonderful glacier, blue-gray eyes of his, and they weren’t cold at all, but deep, engulfing, welcoming.
    “I am sad to say it does. However, the company we keep can sometimes diminish the pain and give us hope of happiness.”

    Evelyn enjoyed looking at Max and found him strangely comforting.
    David and Laura raised their glasses of blood wine. Max poured some Organa Wine, which Laura had explained to her was cow’s blood, into his glass then raised it as well. Evelyn raised her champagne flute.
    “To Evelyn, may your new life bring you happiness,” David said.
    It was a simple toast but appreciated. The four clinked glasses and drank. The champagne rushed down Evelyn’s throat, and a comforting warmth spread through her as her cheeks heated. Happiness could be a good thing. She could do with a little happiness. Or maybe a lot.
    The waiter arrived and faced David. “Is it time, sir?”
    David nodded and Max turned toward the man. “Yes, my good sir,” Max said, “the gentlemen is ready for your excellent salmon entrée”
    Laura, what’s this all about? Were they mindtalking? Evelyn thought to her sister.
    Yes, Max mindtalked to David earlier, and David ordered for him so he wouldn’t have to wait long after arriving.
    “Thank you, sir.” The waiter hurried off.
    Evelyn could not hide her smile. She had a lot of questions and couldn’t ask them with another human around. Feelings bubbled up inside her right into words. “You can eat?”
    “Yes.”
    “Really eat human food, not just cut it up and move it around the plate?”
    David shook his head and gave her a look. “Evie, it isn’t polite.”
    “What? Vampires have a code of etiquette? Rules on what you can ask and what you can’t?”
    Max laughed, but not in such a way that he offended her. She got the distinct impression that she delighted him and this spurred her on.

    “Are you offended if I ask you questions, Max?”
    “Not at all, Evelyn, ask what you wish.”
    “There. See.” She scowled at David on purpose. He merely narrowed his eyes at her and sat back in his chair.
    The waiter arrived with the salmon. Evelyn thought the least she could do was wait until he left, but the man was full of questions himself. “Is there anything else I can get you?”
    “No, thank you,” Max said.
    “Is everything to your satisfaction, sir?”
    “Yes, thank you,” he replied.
    Finally, the waiter left and she set her focus on Max, though that was difficult. The man was digging into his salmon with gusto.
    “You really eat,” she said.
    “I said I did.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin and then put it down. “You were saying?”
    “If you are eating, you’re at least a hundred years old.”
    “Evelyn, asking a person’s age is …” David started, but Max put up his hand.
    “I don’t care if she asks my age.”
    Targeting her with those gray, glacier blue eyes, he asked, “How old are you?”
    “I’m thirty-two. I’m three years older than Laura. I figure you must have died when you were twenty?”
    “Twenty-eight.”
    “You look younger.”
    “When you become a vampire, the process reverses the body to one’s prime.”
    “That’s handy. So … ” She bit her lower lip in concentration. “How old are you?”
    With his fork in his mouth, he sputtered. Taking a minute to chew and swallow, Max put down his fork. He smiled, gazed over at David and nodded. “Do you want only vampire years or combined with human years?”
    “Both, I guess.”

    “Hmm. I was made a vampire when I was twenty-eight years of age, and I have lived now for one thousand and seventy-eight years. That would make me … ”
    “One thousand, one hundred and four.” Evelyn’s mouth