As her eyes quit watering, she took another long look at her ex-lover. He might be a cheating worm, but Val was an attractive worm, and he wore authority well. This vampire, who had made his own rules for centuries, was like a giant straddling the world.
He was staring at her neck. She shivered, remembering that necking with a vampire took on a whole new meaning—and that meaning was a far cry from the necking with a redneck in a pickup truck that all good—or not-so-good—Texas girls had done in high school.
Her heart began pounding, and she felt an adrenaline rush much like the ones she got when she ran. Runs always made her slightly dizzy and sick at her stomach. That, she supposed, was why she rarely ran or jogged.
"Fancy meeting you here, Lucy. Slumming and dressed like an Elvira reject?" Val pulled out a chair across from her and sat down.
Lucy narrowed her eyes. Her dress might be a tad on the Goth side, but it was none of her ex's business.
"Hardly slumming," she replied, willing her brisk heartbeat to slow down, willing the butterflies in her stomach to settle and stop trying to crawl up into her throat. "I don't remember asking you to sit down."
"Now, ma petite, your bad manners are showing." Val stared at her fringed sleeves with tiny feathers attached and grimaced. "Definitely the Elvira look. Or maybe Morticia Addams."
Glancing away from Lucy, Val took in some of the other mortals. They seemed dressed more for a Halloween costume ball than a nightclub. His blue eyes lit with scorn. Humans were always trying to imitate what they admired, and most of them were hoping to live forever. They never learned that it wasn't the number of breaths a person took, but the quality of those breaths. A person could live to be a thousand, but that wasn't the key. If he wasn't happy with himself as a mortal, he would probably despise himself as an immortal.
Lucy heard the scorn in Val's voice. She knew he despised Goth clubs and all humans who longed to be something they weren't. It wasn't that Val was a snob; it was just that he believed those who longed to be vampires and leave behind their humanity had little idea what being a vampire really meant. He had explained it all to her: Vampirism wasn't about sex, blood, and violence all the time, or about unending power and very long lives. Rather, being a vampire was a culture within itself, with very strict rules and responsibilities.
Even though she understood his point, she didn't like his disdain. Especially not directed at her. "What cactus bit you in the butt?"
"Cherie, how you've changed since…" He hesitated, the implication clear.
"You mean, since that night we broke up?" Lucy finished crossly. Oh, how that night lived in infamy in her mind.
"Since you ran away like a pichouette—like a little girl. You acted like a spoiled brat, breaking up with me without hearing my explanations." Val hadn't meant to get into their separation, to show that he held any feelings for her whatsoever, but seeing her up close and personal had really tested his resolve. Lucy was still as beautiful and spirited as when he'd first met her. He recalled the strawberry birthmark on her right hip that turned scarlet red when she climaxed. He longed to forget her totally, but he also longed to hold her in his arms.
He leaned back in his chair. Her scent was still managing to arouse him to a painful degree, his preternatural senses running amok with his hormones. He shouldn't feel anything for this woman who could turn away from his love, who could not trust him never to betray her. Her lack of trust had wounded him deeply, especially after he had given her his whole heart. "You wouldn't even take my phone calls," he reminded her coldly.
"You quit calling after six weeks. Such devotion," Lucy asserted. "Romeo would have called Juliet for at least six months before he gave up on her… if they had phones back then," she finished lamely. Just because she had screamed at Val to never call her again was no reason that he had to obey. He should have just climbed up her balcony.
"You told me you loved me, Val. Man oh man, was Hank Williams right!" Lucy said disgustedly.
"Hank Williams?" Val cocked a brow, trying to follow Lucy's slippery thoughts. Sometimes it was like trying to walk on a tightrope covered in grease being cut at one end.
"Your cheating heart will tell on you! You betrayed me with a vampiress. A vampiress! You swore to me that you didn't mind me being human, and yet you made love to another of your species while you were supposedly in love with me! Well, let me tell you something, you crypt Casanova—what goes around comes around!" she snarled, her pale blue eyes darkening. "You didn't find me with my teeth in someone else's neck that night! You're as bad as my father and stepfather." So far, her father had been married three times, and her stepfather had left her mother for a twenty-two-year-old with two big boobs and one tiny little brain.
The muscles in his jaw tightening, Val growled, "E'spes'ces de te'te dure."
"Oh, speak English!" Lucy grumped.
"You hardheaded thing. I did not betray you. Not once. Not ever!"
Val's voice rose on his last two words, and the sharpness of it grated on Lucy's nerves. How dare he criticize her when he was the lecherous leech who couldn't keep his fangs in his mouth? "Liar, liar, pants on fire," she spat out. Then, realizing what she had said, she prayed for the floor to swallow her whole. "Well, that was certainly mature," she said after a moment. And although her face was red, at least she had beat him to any comment.
Relaxing slightly, Val crossed his arms over his chest. "I rest my case. You are as stubborn as a mule and you still haven't grown up."
"Why, you randy horse's ass. Just because I'm not over two hundred years old doesn't make me immature."
"Your age has nothing to do with it, cherie, just your attitude. Deep inside you're still that little girl whose father left her mother for another woman," Val remarked. Watching her angry face tense with the mention of her past, he went on. "You never really gave me a chance. I tried hard to prove to you that I was trustworthy, cherie. I let you see more of me than I have ever shown anyone besides my immediate family. But when push came to shove, you shoved me away."
"Jeez, Val. Since when did you get the psychology degree?" Lucy sneered. He had no right to condemn her when he had betrayed her trust. "My mom was right. Dogs are loyal. Men aren't."
Val glared at her. "You're not the only one who got hurt. You should have just taken a stake and stuck it in my heart. Because that's what it felt like when you threw away our life."
Lucy held up her thumb, making it go around in a tiny circle. "See this? It's the world's smallest record playing 'My Heart Bleeds for You.' "
Val sighed. "Were you always this cruel, or had I forgotten?" He should be over her. There had been other females of all colors, species, and sizes. And yet… none of them compared to Lucy, even on her bad days.
"I'm not some dumb blonde, Val. I know what I saw! You had your fangs in her neck and you were both naked underneath those robes!"
At that moment, Lucy hated Val with an intensity that shocked her, and wanted him with a desperation born of lost closeness. Part of her was crying out to run her fingers over that wonderfully sleek body. It had been so long since she had felt the incredible mind-altering passion he stirred within her. She found herself wondering how a heart could be filled with such hurt, and yet want so much to brave that hurt again.
Val stood up to leave, graceful as always.
"Wait!" The word tore from her throat in its urgency, but Lucy couldn't and wouldn't beg to have him back. Campbell women were made of sterner stuff than that.