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in a small truck with a man-eating vampire therion jaguar,” Cora said, digging her elbow into me as she made herself comfortable.
    â€œActually, I prefer women as my dinner companions, and do I sense a subtle hostility regarding my origins?” Avery asked politely, pulling down the visor and angling it toward the side of the window where the morning sun was spilling sunlight into the truck.
    â€œYou do, you murderous fiend. It was a vampire who bit the lady who decapitated me with her ox cart. The same vampire who lives next door to my best friend, except now she can’t remember anything because he did some weird brain thing to her, so she won’t believe me when I tell her what happened that night, and what’s more, she refuses to move. Luckily, she has retained enough wits to also refuse to give him my name and address, so he can’t hunt me down and kill me as he did the ox lady.”
    Avery’s expression of disbelief was priceless. He transferred his gaze of stark confusion from Cora to me. “Your sister was decapitated?”
    â€œIt was a past-life regression,” I said, waving at Jo as she and Allison entered the shelter. “I assume we can drop you off somewhere?”
    He named a rural mountain town about half an hour away. “Since I seem to be without a vehicle, hybrid or otherwise, I would appreciate a ride.”
    â€œNo problem,” I said, pulling out onto the highway. “So, how is it that a Scottish vampire is in the Pacific Northwest?”
    â€œWill you stop that?” Cora demanded, pinching my wrist.
    â€œStop what?” I asked, surprised once again by her rudeness.
    â€œYou’re chitchatting with him!”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œHe’s a vampire! He just wants one thing from you.”
    â€œBrains?” I asked, feeling my lips twitch with the effort not to smile.
    Avery’s lips, I couldn’t help but notice from a glance that way, did the same.
    â€œNo, you idiot, that’s zombies.”
    â€œBlood, then. Do you want to drink my blood, Avery?” I asked over her head.
    â€œI’m not particularly hungry at this moment, but if you were offering, I certainly wouldn’t turn you down,” he said with a devilish twinkle in those clear blue eyes.
    Warning sirens went off in my brain, but I ignored them. Oh, I could tell he was a ladies’ man, that he was quite comfortable with who he was, and that he could probably charm the spots off a cheetah, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate him for the eye candy he was.
    â€œYour pants,” Cora announced, nodding when both Avery and I glanced at her in surprise. “That’s what he wants. Or rather, that’s what he wants to get into. Don’t look at me like that, Jas—I’ve read all sorts of vampire books, and they all have one thing in common.”
    â€œSparkles?”
    She shot me a look of scorn. “No. Vampires are always oversexed stud muffins who just want to get into women’s pants. And the way this one was sucking your face, it’s obvious he wants into yours. If I hadn’t come along when I did, he probably would have been boinking you in the hallway of the cat shelter.”
    We stopped at a red light, giving me an opportunity to assess Avery. “Would you have boinked me in the hallway?”
    â€œNo,” he said, his lips curving into a slow, sensuous smile that suddenly had me warm all over.
    â€œI think you owe Avery an apology,” I told my sister, clearing my throat and wondering if anyone would notice if I turned on the air-conditioning.
    She pursed her lips at him and waited.
    His smile changed into a grin. “The floor in the hallway was too cold, Jacintha. Now, the room beyond had a lovely rug. I would have boinked you there.”
    I couldn’t help myself; I laughed, Avery joining in with me. Only Cora didn’t see the humor, muttering darkly to herself as we