Love Me Forever. Rosemary Laurey
do so quite that eagerly, but the sight of him brought back her erotic dream and she half-suspected she was grinning.
“Anyone else dare to venture into the vampire’s realm?” Justin asked. A couple of the boys nudged each other but no one volunteered.
“I do!” Sam piped up.
“You don’t want to,” one of the girls said. “It’s too scary for a little kid like you.”
Sam gave her a look that showed how he felt about being dubbed a little kid. “I’m not a little kid,” he said. “I’m a vampire kid!”
Justin’s mouth twitched. He gave Stella a fast glance that seemed to ask, “Okay with you?”
“Fine,” she replied and realized he hadn’t spoken but she’d understood.
Justin smiled down at Sam’s upturned face and bright eyes. “Sure about this?”
Sam nodded. “Sure. Us vampires stick together.”
Justin glanced across to where Stella stood beside Dixie. Any signal from her and he’d have refused, but he sensed her agreement. Now that was scary! “That’s right. Vampires unite!”
Sam giggled and took Justin’s offered hand. It was Sam’s utter trust that humbled Justin. That and the swift young heartbeat that walked beside him as he parted the dark curtains and led Sam between the stacks of books and into the storeroom beyond. “Can you keep a secret?” he whispered as he opened the door.
“You bet!” Sam raised two fingers and drew them across his chest. “Cross my heart, hope to die.”
How lightly the young speak of dying! Come to that, how lightly mortals speak of vampires. But Dixie had been right, vampires brought in the crowds. “Can we go?” Sam tugged at his hand.
Justin opened the door to the darkened room. Keeping hold of Sam’s hand, he pulled the door closed and flicked on the light. Sam blinked in the sudden brightness. “Here’s where I share my secrets,” Justin said and took Sam over to the bowl of cooked spaghetti. “Monster guts.” Sam ran his hands through them and poked the half grapefruit, or ogre’s eye. Justin lifted him up to touch the strands of wet string that hung from in the doorway. “They hit people in the face,” Justin explained, “and scare them.” Sam had been short enough to walk under them.
Sam lapped it all up. Delighting in the frozen, water-filled, rubber glove hands of the corpse and the bowl of raw egg white dubbed “werewolf blood.” “Want to try them with the lights out?” Justin asked. Sam did, keeping tight hold of Justin with his free hand.
“It’s not scary when you know what it is,” he confided.
“But remember, it’s a secret.”
Sam nodded. “That’s right! Vampires unite!”
What had he started? Still, it was fun to see the amazement on the cocky teenagers’ faces when Sam strolled out smiling.
“Hey! I bet he didn’t go through the whole thing,” one of the girls said.
“I did!” Sam wasn’t letting that insinuation on his manhood pass. “I did it all: the ogre’s eye, the monster’s guts, the corpse. I wasn’t scared.”
Maybe not, but Stella looked worried. Justin needed to talk to her. Kit had come in while he’d shared trade secrets with Sam. “I’ll take over a while,” Kit said. Justin didn’t wait for him to offer twice. He crossed to Stella, as Kit started his spiel. “Any of you lads got the courage of a nine-year-old?” It was an affront no one could ignore. Kit took the first two through the gap between the stacks. Good thing Sam had helped replace the thawing corpse hands with fresh ones.
“I brought him back safe and sound,” Justin said, just in case Sam’s grin and sparkling eyes weren’t enough to reassure Stella.
“So I see.” She gave Sam a hug and Justin found himself in the ludicrous position of stifling a stab of envy. Come off it. She was hugging her son! It was just…He knew exactly what it was. He’d been longing for her touch again since he’d climbed his way into her bedroom. The sound of her heartbeat had him longing for a taste of her sweet blood.
“Thanks.”
She wouldn’t be thanking him if she could read his thoughts.
“Sam was my assistant.”
Sam repeated the “vampires unite” line. “It was fun, Mom.” His young eyes scanned the room. “Hey, can I bob for apples?”
Justin looked at Stella. “All right with you?”
“Can he reach them?” she asked. The teenagers were having a hard time getting to them.
“If I hold him.”
She hesitated about two seconds. “Go for it, Sam!”
Stella smiled to herself as Justin swung Sam up on his shoulders as easily as if he’d been a bag of cookies. Sam looked beyond cute, cape billowing behind him and Justin stood within easy reach of the apples. She just had to get a picture. Climbing onto a chair tucked in one corner, Stella angled herself just right and got a great snap between the crowd just as Sam grabbed a bright red apple in his teeth.
A couple of people turned at the flash but most eyes were fixed on Sam and Justin. As Justin set Sam on his feet, still with the apple between his teeth, a little girl dressed as Snow White came forward. For a while Justin did the honors of the apple grab, but he soon left it to Dixie to referee and made his way over to Stella.
“This is some evening,” he said. “I’m glad you came and brought Sam.”
“So am I,” Stella replied.
“Me too,” said Sam through a mouthful of apple. She suspected a couple of candy bars had sneaked out of his pillowcase into his mouth, if a chocolate smear on his lower lip was anything to go by.
“Chew first, before you talk, Sam.”
He chewed fast. “This has been the best Beggars’ Night ever,” he announced once his mouth was empty, “and I have the best costume.” He grinned up at Justin. “I wish I really were a vampire.”
Stella just caught the questioning flicker in Justin’s dark eyes. “What makes you say that, Sam?” he asked.
“I could wear a cape like this to school.” He swirled it right and left as he spoke. In the crowded shop he missed the full effect. “Never mind,” he went on with a shrug. “They are just make-believe anyway.”
Justin’s eyes wrinkled at the corners as he smiled. “Certain about that are you?”
“Oh, yes!” Sam nodded. “My mom told me.”
Justin looked her square in the eyes. She sensed outright interest and an odd emotion she couldn’t quite place. “Don’t believe in vampires? What’s this?” He flapped a corner of his cape.
“Beggars’ Night fun!” she replied. “And speaking of that…I think it’s time the littlest vampire was going home.”
Sam’s pout suggested he disagreed.
“I agree,” Justin replied. “Where’s he going to sleep tonight?” He looked at Sam. “Are you one of those coffin-sleeping vampires?”
“No!” Sam shook his head. “I sleep in a bunk bed.”
Justin smiled. Lord, that smile could melt chocolate.
“Good idea. I always thought the coffin bit was odd. Has to be cramped. Tell me, are you flying or walking back?”
Sam giggled. “We came in the car. Mom parked in the Giant Eagle.”
“May I walk with you back to the Giant Eagle?” Justin asked Stella. And waited.
She sensed he was asking for more than a few blocks’ stroll down the narrow