A Hidden Fire: Elemental Mysteries Book 1 by Elizabeth Hunter Page B

don’t have to kill to survive.”
    She paused, a small smile ghosting her lips.  “Unlike us, who kill animals all the time.”
    He shrugged.  “I wasn’t going to mention that if you weren’t.”
    She met his eyes, a tentative warmth creeping into her expression.  “So, you don’t need to, but you do eat a little.”
    He leaned forward and took another sip of whiskey.  “Our bodies are very…slow.  Well, the processes are, anyway.  My hair grows, just very slowly.  My fingernails will as well.  We digest normally, but again, very slowly.  So I can eat and drink, but I don’t need to, though it becomes uncomfortable if I go too long without anything in my stomach.”
    “So the coffee thing?”
    He shrugged.  “I really just like the way it smells.  I think it tastes absolutely vile, though.  I don’t know how you drink so much of it.”
    She grinned, finally looking relaxed as she sat in his chair.  “I like it.  You drink blood.  That smells and tastes vile, if you ask me.”
    “Touché.”
    “Thank you.”
    She paused again before asking, “So, the wooden stake through the heart thing is apparently a myth, but you can be killed by fire.  Anything else?”
    “Should I be concerned that one of your first questions is how to kill me?”
    Her jaw dropped.  “What?  No!  I didn’t mean…I was just curious.”
    He snorted.  “Well, you can remain so.”
    “What about the sun?” she asked.  “Extra toasty?”
    “I’m not going to burst into flames, but I avoid tanning beds.”
    “Silver?”
    “Some of my favorite cufflinks.”
    “Garlic?”
    “Please,” he sneered.  “I’m Italian.”
    She was wearing an almost adorable scowl as he ruined all of her movie stereotypes of his kind.  He was usually bored by human reactions, but found himself enjoying hers.  For his part, Giovanni hoped she would take the job as his research assistant.  Besides the valuable connection she provided to her father, she was extremely bright, and he found it relaxing not to have to hide around her. 
    He could also monitor any other vampire who became aware of her.  Houston’s immortal population was small, and most tended to mind their own business—which was why he had chosen the humid city in the south of Texas—but if he had discovered her, her father’s sire could, as well.
    Beatrice was still sipping her drink and sneaking looks at him when she thought he wasn’t looking.
    “So, if I take this job, where would you want to work?  At the university?”
    “No, here.  I have top of the line equipment upstairs and extensive firewalls to keep my research private, along with numerous electronic editions of reference texts and a large library.  I just can’t use any of the computers.”
    “That has got to be frustrating.”
    “Very.  Because of my nature and affinity toward fire, I’m even less able to use modern technology than most vampires.  It has become more and more complicated as the years go by.”
    “Good thing you have Caspar.”
    “Yes, it is.  He’s very useful, despite the fact that he’s a horrible eavesdropper.”
    “I heard that!”  Caspar called from the kitchen.  Giovanni cocked his eyebrow at Beatrice, who stifled a laugh. 
    “So, if I take this job— if I take it—what kind of hours are we talking about?  And what do you actually do?  Can I ask?”
    He nodded and took another sip of whiskey as Caspar came into the living room to refill Beatrice’s drink and set a small plate of cheese and olives on the coffee table. 
    “Of course.  I only work when I want to, so it would be part-time.  Evenings, of course, but I’m flexible as to which ones.  Fridays are not usually available.  I don’t have to work, but immortality is dreadfully boring for the idle rich, so I try to keep myself occupied.  I’m a hunter by nature, so I hunt rare documents and books for private clients, along with some antiquities.  Collectibles, art, that sort of thing,