Page 1 (1/2)

CHAPTER ONE

In Which Parasols Prove Useful

Miss Alexia Tarabotti was not enjoying her evening Private balls were neveramusements for spinsters, and Miss Tarabotti was not the kind of spinster who could garner even thatin the puff: she had retreated to the library, her favorite sanctuary in any house, only to happen upon an unexpected valared at the vampire

For his part, the vampire seemed to feel that their encounter had improved his ball experience immeasurably For there she sat, without escort, in a low-necked ball gown

In this particular case, what he did not know could hurt him For Miss Alexia had been born without a soul, which, as any decent va knew, made her a lady to avoidout of the library shadoith feeding fangs ready However, the er darkly doing anything at all He was si quartet in the background as he foolishly fished about with his tongue for fangs unaccountably mislaid

Miss Tarabotti was not in the least surprised; soullessness always neutralized supernatural abilities She issued the vaht folk wouldn’t peg her as anything less than a standard English prig, but had this man not even bothered to read the vareater environs?

The vah He reared away fro over a nearby tea trolley Physical contact broken, his fangs reappeared Clearly not the sharpest of prongs, he then darted forward fro in for another chomp

"I say!" said Alexia to the vampire "We have not even been introduced!"

Miss Tarabotti had never actually had a vampire try to bite her She knew one or two by reputation, of course, and was friendly with Lord Akeldama Who was not friendly with Lord Akeldama? But no vampire had ever actually attempted to feed on her before!

So Alexia, who abhorred violence, was forced to grab the miscreant by his nostrils, a delicate and therefore painful area, and shove him away He stumbled over the fallen tea trolley, lost his balance in a raceless for a vaht on top of a plate of treacle tart

Miss Tarabotti was most distressed by this She was particularly fond of treacle tart and had been looking forward to consu that precise plateful She picked up her parasol It was terribly tasteless for her to be carrying a parasol at an evening ball, but Miss Tarabotti rarely went anywhere without it It was of a style entirely of her own devising: a black frilly confection with purple satin pansies sewn about, brass hardware, and buckshot in its silver tip

She whacked the vaht on top of the head with it as he tried to extract himself from his newly intiave the brass parasol just enough heft tothunk

"Manners!" instructed Miss Tarabotti

The vampire howled in pain and sat back down on the treacle tart

Alexia followed up her advantage with a vicious prod between the vaher in pitch, and he crumpled into a fetal position While Miss Tarabotti was a proper English young lady, aside fro half Italian, she did spend quite a bitand was therefore unexpectedly strong

Miss Tarabotti leaped forward--as much as one could leap in full triple-layered underskirts, draped bustle, and ruffled taffeta top-skirt--and bent over the va about The pain would not last long given his supernatural healing ability, but it hurtwooden hair stick out of her elaborate coiffure Blushing at her own temerity, she ripped open his shirtfront, which was cheap and overly starched, and poked at his chest, right over the heart Miss Tarabotti sported a particularly large and sharp hair stick With her free hand, she made certain to touch his chest, as only physical contact would nullify his supernatural abilities "Desist that horrible noise immediately," she instructed the creature

The va and lay perfectly still His beautiful blue eyes watered slightly as he stared fixedly at the wooden hair stick Or, as Alexia liked to call it, hair stake

"Explain yourself!" Miss Tarabotti deies" The vampire looked confused "Who are you?" Tentatively he reached for his fangs Gone

Tohirew back

He gasped in aht you were a lady, alone It would be ht to feed, if you were left this carelethly unattended Pleathe, I did not s, real panic in his eyes

Alexia, finding it hard not to laugh at the lisp, said, "There is no cause for you to be so overly dramatic Your hive queen will have told you of my kind" She returned her hand to his chest once s retracted