Giovanni curled his lip, but nodded. “I avoided the sex talk, so I suppose it’s only fair.”

She looked at her mate, amused by the uncomfortable expression on his face. It was the oddest things that seemed to be an issue for him. Teaching Ben how to kill someone silently and with minimal blood spray? No problem. Telling him about sex or feeding? Immediate squirm.

Beatrice laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, but her ears perked up when she heard the booming voice of the college boy at the table next to her. The young man was regaling his friends with some highly unlikely sexual exploit. He was also, apparently, familiar with a surprising number of professional athletes, Hollywood starlets, and at least one dangerous African warlord.

Her eyes lit up, and she looked at Giovanni. “Go ahead,” he said with a smile. “He’s your favorite flavor.”

She grinned. “I do love the sweet taste of bragging liar.”

Her husband chuckled, shaking his head and leaning back to watch her work. As soon as the bragging boy went back to the bar, she followed him. He was taking a long draw from his imported beer when Beatrice sidled up to him. His eyes raked over her breasts before he finally looked up to her eyes. She smiled, careful to conceal her fangs.

“Hi, how are you?”

She held him by the neck in the back alley. “And what are you doing in your classes?”

The boy’s dazed eyes swam. “Well... not much.”

“So you’re wasting all the hard-earned money that your parents are putting into your education?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Do you think your mother’s proud of you?”

The drunk boy shook his head sadly. “Probably not.”

“But you’re going to turn over a new leaf, right, Dave?”

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded with a smile. “Totally.”

“Good. Make your parents proud of you.”

“Okay.”

“And the next girlfriend you have, you’re going to be respectful and faithful, right?”

“Right.”

She heard the back door open and felt Giovanni’s energy as he walked toward them.

“Are you being a guidance counselor again? Stop playing with your food.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “I get blood; he gets some good advice.”

“Can’t you just drink him so we can do other, more interesting, things?” She heard the low growl in his voice and decided the college boy had been given enough advice for one night. She looked back at Dave, letting her amnis wash up his neck.

“Give me your wrist.”

He lifted his wrist and she grabbed it, turning to stare at her mate as she bared her fangs and struck. She heard the boy give a low sigh of pleasure as she drank from him, but she kept a firm grip on his throat, monitoring his pulse as she locked her eyes with Giovanni’s.

Her mate watched her with hungry eyes, pacing a short distance away, and she saw his fangs grow long in his mouth. His tongue darted out and licked his lips as he watched her drink, and Beatrice knew that she would not be the only one feeding that night. She took a few more deep swallows of the boy’s blood before she sealed the wounds and whispered instructions in his ear, keeping her eyes on Giovanni the whole time.

The mindless boy wandered back into the bar, and Giovanni waited for the alley door to click before he sprung on her. He shoved Beatrice up against the wall, pushing her arms over her head as he attacked her mouth. One hand held her wrists against the sharp brick while the other slid down her side, dragging her hips to his as he pushed their bodies together.

Beatrice hissed and bared her fangs, reacting instinctively to his attack. Her hands fought against his iron grip, and she finally worked one free only to reach around and drag Giovanni even closer, pulling at his shirt and digging her fingers into the hot flesh at the small of his back. He whipped her around so that he was leaning against the wall and she climbed his body, locking her thighs around his hips as they moved together.

“Home,” he snarled.

“Here. We’ll hear anyone coming.”

“Fine.” Giovanni grabbed her hair, angling her neck to the side as she gasped. “You listen, I have other things to do.”

Her eyes rolled back when his fangs struck. If anyone interrupted them after that, Beatrice just didn’t notice.

“They’re babies! It doesn’t count!”

“Yes, it does.”

Beatrice frowned when she heard Ben and Tenzin arguing from the living room as she and Giovanni walked through the kitchen door hours later.

“Babies can’t help drooling, so it doesn’t count.”

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Giovanni, who only shrugged his shoulders.

“I think you’re wrong.” They heard Tenzin speak again. “And I am older, so I am right.”

“Do you think that B and Gio will ever adopt a baby?”

“I certainly hope not. They’re very messy, and they smell horrible.”

Beatrice shook her head and walked toward the living room. Giovanni locked the door behind him before he followed her.

“If we do,” she said as she entered the room, “you two will be last on the babysitting list, that’s for sure.”

“Hey!” Ben raised his hands. “I was defending the human babies. Tenzin is the barbarian here.”

Tenzin rolled her eyes. “I was simply saying that once a human has reached the drooling stage, it is a valid question whether they should be considered a real human or not.”