"How do you know?" DJ challenged.

"Because, I'm sure even in Mexico they test donated blood before giving it to accident victims. They'd have spotted the nanos right away and pulled the blood to examine further and we'd be exposed by now."

"The immortal could have controlled the minds of the people who tested it so that they didn't test it at all," DJ suggested.

Victor rolled his eyes. "Then there'd be a hell of a lot of confused new immortals running around Mexico and we'd have heard about it long before now. Elvi was turned five years ago."

"Oh." The idiot looked disappointed at this news. Apparently, he'd been rather excited at the idea of a Gold-finger-type immortal, plotting to take over the world or some such thing by spreading his blood around.

Shaking his head, Victor walked over to the king-sized bed and dropped, sitting on the side to remove his shoes.

"So..." DJ said.

When he paused, Victor raised his head to peer at him curiously. "What?"

"Mabel's hot, huh?"

Victor blinked at the change in subject, but acknowledged, "She's an attractive woman." A smile tugged at his lips as he recalled the way DJ had been hanging over her all night. He bent to remove his second shoe.

"I can't read her," DJ blurted.

Victor froze, and then slowly raised his head to stare at the man. He raised one eyebrow in question. "You can't?"

DJ shook his head slowly from side to side. "I tried both at the restaurant and then again when we got back to the house. I can't read her."

Victor let his breath out slowly as he was assaulted by sundry thoughts. The main one was that DJ had met his lifemate.

"That could be a complication," he commented finally.

"Yeah," DJ agreed, then stifled his grin and said solemnly, "I'll try not to let it interfere."

"Right," Victor murmured, but knew that would be impossible. He'd had a lifemate once. He knew the effect she had. The man would be scattered and useless, unable to tear his thoughts from the woman who held his future in her hands like a wee baby bird that could be nurtured to adulthood, or crushed with the barest squeeze.Sighing, he pushed aside the envy suddenly gnawing at his insides and kicked off his second shoe, then stood and crossed the room to flip off the switch.

"Good night, Victor," DJ said as the darkness dropped over the room again.

"Good night," he said quietly, suddenly terribly, terribly tired.

Elvi woke up late. She suspected it was a result of the alcohol the night before and grimaced over the cotton mouth she was suffering as she stumbled into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She followed that up with a quick shower, then threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and headed for the door, eager to feed.

Both kinds.

She'd have to have blood of course, but would follow that up with real food. Maybe that cheesecake she'd never got to last night. Or ice cream.

Or bacon, Elvi thought as she stepped out of her room and sniffed. Yes, that was definitely bacon she smelled. Cheesecake suddenly went to the bottom of the list of most-desirable foods. It was too sweet for breakfast, despite the fact that it was actually seven o'clock at night.

The delicious scents teasing her nose didn't prepare her for the sight that met her as she entered the kitchen.

Victor stood in front of a pan of spitting, hissing bacon. Harper was at his side, manning the toaster. Alessandro was just closing the coffeepot and turning it on and Edward was squeezing fresh orange juice.

"Good morning," she said brightly, grinning at the sight of so many men working so industriously in her kitchen. Pedro cooked at the restaurant, but Elvi's marriage had been an old-fashioned one with her husband working out of the house and never stepping into her kitchen. This was... extraordinary.

All four men turned to look her way as one. They also smiled and greeted her in quadraphonic stereo. "Good morning."

Elvi's grin widened for some reason when she saw that Victor was wearing Mabel's apron. She moved forward, asking, "What can I do to help?"

"Nothing. It's all done," Victor announced. He turned off the burner under the bacon, then grabbed a potholder and opened the oven door to reveal two bowls inside. One held scrambled eggs, the other was full of golden hash browns. Glancing her way, he added, "Sit down."

Elvi hesitated, then defied the order and slid into the kitchen, weaving her way through the men to get to the fridge.

"What are you looking for? I can get it for you." Alessandro moved quickly forward, but Elvi had already opened the door and grabbed a bag of blood. She usually kept some in the refrigerator in her room, but hadn't thought to take any up last night.

"Oh." Alessandro stepped out of the way as she closed the door. It just put him in front of the shelf of cups, though.

"I need a mug," she said apologetically, lisping slightly around her fangs as just the sight of the bag of blood combined with her hunger to draw them out.

Rather than step out of her way, Alessandro reached up to the open shelf to grab a cup for her.

Before she could take it, though, Victor said, "It takes too long to drink that way. Your breakfast will get cold. Alessandro, show her how to feed from the bag."

"From the bag?" Elvi asked uncertainly, glancing over to see that Victor had placed the eggs and hash browns on the table and was now transferring the bacon from the frying pan to a plate.

"Don't you know how to feed from the bag?" Harper asked with surprise as he carried the toast to the table.

"She never met her sire and wasn't trained... in anything," Victor answered for her, and Elvi felt herself flush when the men all turned to stare at her with combined horror and pity. She felt as embarrassed as if he'd just announced that her skirt was caught in the back of her panties.

"You said that last night, but I never imagined it included not teaching her how to feed herself," Edward commented and moved to take the bag from her before Alessandro did, and instructed, "Open your mouth."

Elvi caught the irritation that flashed across the men's faces at Edward's usurping the chore as she opened her mouth, then gave a start when the bag was popped onto her fangs with a quick sharp move.

Elvi instinctively tried to ask what he was doing, but of course she couldn't talk around the bag in her mouth and gave up the effort when Edward caught her hand and said firmly, "No speaking. This will only take a moment."

Elvi stood still as she waited for the bag to empty, surprised to find the man hadn't been kidding. He was soon tugging the emptied bag from her teeth.

"That's incredible," she said with amazement as he moved to discard the bag.

"Much faster than drinking from the glass, no?" Alessandro took her elbow and steered her around the counter to the table.

"Much," Elvi agreed with a smile, and then turned her attention to the breakfast laid out in front of her as she took her seat. Her eyes widened incredulously at the amount of food on the table. They must have used all three packages of bacon she'd bought. Harper had apparently toasted a whole loaf of bread, and she suspected Victor had put both cartons of eggs and one of the frozen rolls of sausage in the scrambled eggs. It seemed the men had found their appetites.

"Here." Victor began to scoop scrambled eggs on her plate and Elvi's eyes widened with amused horror at the small mountain he served her. Harper immediately began to dump bacon on top of the eggs.

"Toast?" Alessandro asked, holding the plate out for her as Edward poured fresh-squeezed orange juice into her glass.

Wow! If this was what being courted was like, she could learn to like it, Elvi thought and murmured "thank you" to all of them as she took a piece of toast. She was not going to eat all this, but would have fun trying.

"I take it you guys are eating again?" she commented with amusement as the men claimed their seats around the table and began to fill their own plates. "Over your boredom with food, are you?"

The sudden silence at the table made her glance up curiously from scooping eggs onto her fork. The men were all still and staring at each other.

"What?" she asked curiously. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," they answered in stereo. Then Victor and Harper turned their attention to their plates, their expressions troubled. Alessandro had a curious expression on his face as he glanced from man to man, and Edward was eyeing everyone with calculation. It was all very odd and Elvi hadn't a clue what these reactions were all about.

They ate in silence for a bit, and then she decided to make another gambit at conversation. She glanced at Alessandro and said curiously, "You said last night that you hadn't eaten in fifty years?"

"Si," he nodded.

"DJ is the only one young enough to still eat... prior to this," Victor added uncomfortably, and then forged on with, "I fear the rest of us are too old to be bothered with food most of the time."

"Too old to be bothered with it?" Elvi echoed, glancing around at their faces.

"After a century or two most immortals grow bored with the trouble of eating and refrain from bothering unless it is a social occasion,"

Harper explained.

"A century or two?" Elvi gasped but had some vague recollection of having heard this before. Probably the night before, either on the way to or during shopping.Anything told to her then had gone out the window. Her mind had been wholly on food at that point. She glanced from man to man. "How old are you?"

The others all looked to Victor in question. When he shrugged, Edward cleared his throat, drawing her gaze. "I was born in 1004."

While Elvi was sucking in her breath over this, Harper leaned forward and offered, "I was born in 1282."

"Me, I was born in 1794," Alessandro announced. When she glanced his way, he grinned and added, "I am the youngest."

"The youngest?" Elvi murmured faintly. The room suddenly seemed to be spinning. Or perhaps it was her head.

"Actually, DJ is just over a hundred. He's the youngest," Edward corrected him.

Alessandro shrugged. "Si. But he is not here right now."

"Yes," Edward conceded, then announced out of the blue, "Victor is the oldest."

Elvi's mind wobbled to a stop and she turned a look full of horror on the British man. "Older than you?"

Edward smiled at her expression and nodded.

Elvi turned slowly to peer at Victor. He didn't look a day over thirty and could have passed for twenty-five, but they were telling her he was more than a thousand years old.

Victor shifted under her glance, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable, then muttered, "230."

"That's the year he was born, not his age," Edward explained helpfully.

"230?" Elvi asked with incomprehension. "But that would make you"-she paused to do the math then said-"one thousand, seven hundred and seventy-seven years old?"

Victor pursed his lips and shook his head, but before he could answer, Edward said, "I'm afraid not. Victor was born in 230 B.C."

"BC," Elvi echoed, blinking rapidly as her head began to spin again. "Before Christ... Oh my," she murmured and began to slide down her seat.

"I think she's waking up."

Elvi fought off the last of sleep's cobwebs at what she felt sure was Harper's voice. The next one was definitely Edward's as he muttered a grim, "Hmm. Finally."

Blinking her eyes open, she found herself staring up at the four men. They all had identical expressions of worry on their faces as they bent over her.

"You're awake," Victor said with relief. "You've been out so long we were starting to worry. Are you all right?"

"What happened?" Elvi murmured with confusion.

"You fainted." Edward announced. "A very Victorian thing to do, if I may say so."

Elvi scowled. "I never faint."

"Apparently you do now," he pointed out.

"How much blood have you had over the last twenty-four hours?" Victor asked.

"One bag last night and the one before breakfast," she murmured, pushing herself up to sit upright. The men backed off a bit to allow her to lean back against the arm of the couch and Elvi glanced around to see that they'd moved her to the couch in the big living room while she was unconscious.

"One yesterday and one this evening?" Victor asked with irritation. "No wonder you fainted. You should have at least two or three bags a day. You'll be sorry if you try going without."

"Yes, I know." Elvi had tried to resist blood when she'd first been turned and had given that up in a hurry when the pain had claimed her. If she didn't eat enough, it physically hurt. In fact, now that she thought about it, the tummy upset and headache she'd been suffering last night had probably been due to not having enough blood rather than being due to the food she'd consumed. Both symptoms had been worse this morning, but had eased the moment she'd consumed the bag of blood. Another bag or two and they'd probably disappear altogether.

"I-" Elvi paused as Victor suddenly stood and moved out of the room. She stared after him with surprise, then swung her feet to the floor and cautiously stood up, waving off the other three men when they reached out to steady her. She was still a bit wobbly, but suspected it had as much to do with what she'd learned earlier about these men as any lack of blood.

Elvi and Mabel had discussed her new, extended life, pondering that she might continue to exist another hundred years or so, but neither of them had considered as much as seven hundred, one thousand, or even two thousand years. This had been shattering news. And she wasn't at all sure she'd classify it as good. The idea of living another hundred years was rather distressing, let alone a thousand or more. Dear God.

Everyone she knew, plus their children, their children's children, and so on, would die before her and she'd have to witness it, grieving over each new loss, mourning yet another passing while she stayed there, living in Port Henry, as unchanging as a statue.

Hell, her home and even Port Henry might very well crumble around her and return to dust before she died. What sort of future was that?

"Here."

The men shifted to make a path for Victor as he returned, carrying a bag of blood.

"Thank you." She accepted the offering.

The moment the cold bag rested in her palm, Elvi felt her teeth shift, allowing her fangs to slide out.

When she peered at the bag uncertainly, Victor seemed to understand what was making her hesitate and instructed, "Just pop it firmly to your teeth."

Nodding, Elvi opened her mouth, took a breath, and then popped the bag upward as Edward had done for her earlier. There was a moment's resistance when the bag met her teeth, then a popping sound and it continued upward, until it was fully impaled on her fangs.

"Perfect," Victor praised.

"Si, is very good," Alessandro agreed.

Harper nodded. "A natural."

Edward merely grunted.