He blinked at the last thought but shrugged nonchalantly. “You have more than the necessary skill set. Most of the information I need to search for is online now. Obviously, you can imagine why that is problematic. Caspar can help, but he’s neither as technologically savvy as you are, nor does he have your background in information sciences.” He paused before he continued. “Though he does make an excellent cocktail, and that shouldn’t be overlooked.”
“Thank you!” he heard his friend call from the kitchen. Giovanni and Beatrice exchanged a smile before she remembered she was being suspicious. She frowned a little and asked another question.
“I’m sure there are plenty of people you could hire. Why me?”
He stared at her challenging expression before he set his drink down and leaned back into the plush couch. “Well, you seemed to have handled the whole ‘blood sucking demon of the night’ thing fairly well, so I thought I’d take a stab at not having to meddle with the brains of every assistant I use.”
Her expression was carefully blank as she absorbed his words. He leaned forward and sipped his drink, noticing her watching him carefully.
“Go ahead,” he offered quietly.
“What?”
“I can see a million questions swirling around that brain of yours. Just ask them.”
She squirmed in her seat. “I didn’t want to be rude.”
He sat back again and stretched a long arm along the back of the sofa. Though he was usually a secretive creature, he found himself curious what she would ask.
“Go ahead,” he murmured as he watched her examine him.
“You drink whiskey.”
“Yes.”
“So, do you eat? Do you need to?”
“I have to drink blood to survive. Human is the most nutritionally satisfying and tastes the best, of course-”
“Of course,” she interjected and he smirked.
“But I can also survive on animal blood if I need to, and many immortals choose to do that. They just have to feed more often.”
“How often?”
“Drinking human blood? About once a week.”
She perked up. “Oh, well that’s not so bad. Oh, unless-”
“No, I don’t have to ‘drain’ a blood donor, Beatrice. I don’t have to kill to survive.”
She paused, a small smile ghosting her lips. “Unlike us, who kill animals all the time.”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t going to mention that if you weren’t.”
She met his eyes, a tentative warmth creeping into her expression. “So, you don’t need to, but you do eat a little.”
He leaned forward and took another sip of whiskey. “Our bodies are very…slow. Well, the processes are, anyway. My hair grows, just very slowly. My fingernails will as well. We digest normally, but again, very slowly. So I can eat and drink, but I don’t need to, though it becomes uncomfortable if I go too long without anything in my stomach.”
“So the coffee thing?”
He shrugged. “I really just like the way it smells. I think it tastes absolutely vile, though. I don’t know how you drink so much of it.”
She grinned, finally looking relaxed as she sat in his chair. “I like it. You drink blood. That smells and tastes vile, if you ask me.”
“Touché.”
“Thank you.”
She paused again before asking, “So, the wooden stake through the heart thing is apparently a myth, but you can be killed by fire. Anything else?”
“Should I be concerned that one of your first questions is how to kill me?”
Her jaw dropped. “What? No! I didn’t mean…I was just curious.”
He snorted. “Well, you can remain so.”
“What about the sun?” she asked. “Extra toasty?”
“I’m not going to burst into flames, but I avoid tanning beds.”
“Silver?”
“Some of my favorite cufflinks.”
“Garlic?”
“Please,” he sneered. “I’m Italian.”
She was wearing an almost adorable scowl as he ruined all of her movie stereotypes of his kind. He was usually bored by human reactions, but found himself enjoying hers. For his part, Giovanni hoped she would take the job as his research assistant. Besides the valuable connection she provided to her father, she was extremely bright, and he found it relaxing not to have to hide around her.
He could also monitor any other vampire who became aware of her. Houston’s immortal population was small, and most tended to mind their own business-which was why he had chosen the humid city in the south of Texas-but if he had discovered her, her father’s sire could, as well.
Beatrice was still sipping her drink and sneaking looks at him when she thought he wasn’t looking.
“So, if I take this job, where would you want to work? At the university?”
“No, here. I have top of the line equipment upstairs and extensive firewalls to keep my research private, along with numerous electronic editions of reference texts and a large library. I just can’t use any of the computers.”
“That has got to be frustrating.”
“Very. Because of my nature and affinity toward fire, I’m even less able to use modern technology than most vampires. It has become more and more complicated as the years go by.”
“Good thing you have Caspar.”
“Yes, it is. He’s very useful, despite the fact that he’s a horrible eavesdropper.”
“I heard that!” Caspar called from the kitchen. Giovanni cocked his eyebrow at Beatrice, who stifled a laugh.
“So, if I take this job-if I take it-what kind of hours are we talking about? And what do you actually do? Can I ask?”
He nodded and took another sip of whiskey as Caspar came into the living room to refill Beatrice’s drink and set a small plate of cheese and olives on the coffee table.
“Of course. I only work when I want to, so it would be part-time. Evenings, of course, but I’m flexible as to which ones. Fridays are not usually available. I don’t have to work, but immortality is dreadfully boring for the idle rich, so I try to keep myself occupied. I’m a hunter by nature, so I hunt rare documents and books for private clients, along with some antiquities. Collectibles, art, that sort of thing, though antiquities are not particularly interesting to me.”
“So, do you work mostly for other-other vampires?”
“Mostly yes, though not exclusively. I don’t advertise, and since clients find me through referral, I tend to take work from those who have worked with me in the past. Most of those people are immortal.”
She sat quietly, staring into her drink before she spoke again. “Wow.”
He frowned. “What? Why? Why ‘wow?’”
“You’re like a-a book detective. That’s really cool.”
He couldn’t suppress his smile. “I think so, yes.”
“And you want to pay me to help you find books and antiques?”
“That’s the idea.”
She paused for a moment, biting her lip before she asked, “Will you help me find my father?”
The blood began to rush in his veins and he smothered a low growl of satisfaction when he heard her. It was perfect. She wanted exactly the same thing he did, though probably for very different reasons.
“Yes,” he said with a smile he hoped didn’t show his extended fangs. “I’ll find him.”
Beatrice smiled. “Then I’ll take it, I don’t even care if you’re an asshole when you’re working. Besides, what you do is a book lover’s dream job.”
He shrugged. “Well, if you’re going to be pursuing a career for eternity, it might as well be something you enjoy.”
“I’ll say so.”
He tried to suppress the smile that wanted to take over his face. “So you agree to work for me? I confess, I’ve never had an assistant other than Caspar. I might very well be an asshole when I’m working.”
“You are!” Caspar shouted from the kitchen.
Beatrice laughed outright when she heard him, and Giovanni couldn’t help but join her. His mind began to race with thoughts of finding his books, and he couldn’t deny that the girl’s amusing presence was an added bonus.