“You should be home sleeping. What is the use of having a man in the house, if he cannot take care of you for a while?” “Mmm,” I said. “I give up. What's the use of having a man in the house?”

“She tried to imagine what Charles would do if another man came up to him and said, "You bring me joy.”

“He stepped back with exaggerated courtesy. But when I walked past him, he swatted my rump. Hard enough to sting.“You need to be more careful,” he growled. “Keep interfering in my business and you might get hurt.”I said sweetly as I continued to Jesse's room, “The last man who swatted me like that is rotting in his grave.”“I have no doubt about it.” His voice was more satisfied then contrite.”

“Charles looked at her thoughtfully. "People talk to you," he said. "That could be useful.”

“His heart's occupied elsewhere," said Ben from behind me. "And even if it weren't he's not interested in your kind. But, I'm available and ready.""You don't have a heart," I told him. "Just a gaping hole where it should have been.""All the more reason for you to give me yours."I pounded my forehead against Warren 's back. "Tell me Ben's not flirting with me.""Hey," said Ben sounding hurt. "I was talking cannibalism, not romance.”

“See you tomorrow,” he said, instead.“All right.” Then, impulsively, I asked, “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?”“Sure,” he said with a smile, and started off as if he had somewhere to be.I could have bitten off my tongue because I pushed him into a lie. Once he started lying to me, it would be harder to get him to trust me with the truth. I don’t know why it works that way, but it does—at least in my experience.”

“Then again, maybe you couldn't have killed me," he said, crawling out of the stairway. He moved very slowly, like a lizard who had gotten too cold.I heard a whimper from behind one of the closed doors next to the bathroom, and sympathized. I wanted to whimper, too."I'm not hunting you," I told him firmly, though I stepped backward until I stood in a circle of light at the end of the hallway.He stopped halfway out of the stairway, his eyes were filmed over like a dead man's."Good," he said. "If you kill Andre, I won't tell-and no one will ask."And he was gone, withdrawing from the hallway and down the stairs so fast that I barely caught the motion, though I was staring right at him.I walked out of his home because if I'd moved any faster, I'd have run screaming.”