I had to have heard him wrong; I could have sworn that he said that I was his mate.
"What did you just say?" I asked.
"I said that you are my mate." he said watching me carefully.
My first response was "hell no!" then several things came to mind at once, the first thing being was this like another Micah Lannister where the sun moon and stars came into play? The second thing was why I got pissy when he said that he found his mate, my thought was that he was supposed to love me. Did I love him? Hell I hadn't even thought about it, it's like I told Annie, I know that he and others risked themselves for me and I appreciate it and yes I was worried about him when they left him alone with Micah but that doesn't equal love. I decided to be as blunt as he was.
"How do you know this? Did we sneeze at the exact same moment?"
He looked at me and laughed but I wasn't joking, I couldn't go through another Micah Lannister scenario.
"No Regina, it is nothing like that but if you wish I will be more than happy to explain it to you."
The question was did I want to hear it? And what would happen if I did? As if reading my mind Delgado spoke.
"If you tell me that you want to know then I will tell you everything so be warned, what are your wishes?"
I excused myself to the ladies room, I needed a few minutes to think, maybe I needed the evening to think but then I started to think about some of the things that Annie told me. Like what? That I could have a good thing with Delgado if I would just let myself but the vampire thing.... Remember when I said that I would brood for only so long and then deal with the issue? Well I had brooded long enough and obviously Delgado wasn't going anywhere until we talked about this.
I washed my face and hands and went back to the table where fresh drinks were waiting. I sat down and didn't say anything for several minutes.
******
There it was said, she was surprised- her initial reaction was "hell no!" But not surprised if that makes any sense and I had to wonder if Annie had spoken to her or if she was already coming to her own conclusions, maybe it was a combination of the two things. I had to know so I asked.
"Has Annie spoken to you about this?"
When she hesitated I had my answer, I really needed to speak to Gremlin and Annie about her helping me. I didn't want her to help me, I wanted to win Regina on my own but what's done is done.
"What did she tell you?" I asked.
"She basically that I should give you a chance because you care about me and she wants me to be happy."
"What she said about my caring for you is true." I said.
"But you don't know me!" she exclaimed and there was my in.
"Regina, you have been through a horrible experience and you have done well at recovering from it. You talk with your brothers and Annie and accept what they are and for that I commend you." I said.
"But...." she said.
"But you just made a very interesting statement, you said that I don't know you and that is true but you won't allow me to get to know you. I could understand your reticence when we were in New Orleans and even for a time afterwards but that threat has been taken care of. I have given you six months to readjust to your life and with the exception of a few emails and cards, I've left you alone."
She was giving me a very wary look but she said nothing.
"I am going to issue a challenge to you; I want you to spend time with me. We can do whatever you like, whenever you want with the only stipulation being that we must talk and I don't mean superficial idle conversation although that does serve its purpose."
********
The dare.
I felt like a kid playing truth or dare. Unwittingly he touched upon my competitive streak, what he wasn't saying was that if I said no then I was a coward and he still wouldn't leave me alone.
"If I agree to this- by the way how long are we talking about?" I asked.
"A month." he replied without hesitation.
"A month?" I asked. I was thinking more like a week.
He gave me one of those looks; you know the one that asks, "What's the matter? Scared?"
"As I was saying," I continued, "If I agree to this, and at the end of the month I decide that I don't want to see you again, it ends there. Deal?"
I should have known by the way that he smiled at me that he had no intentions of losing.
"I agree." he said, his eyes twinkling, "The month starts now." he said.
"I thought that you were only here for a short time." I replied.
"For a vampire a month is a short period of time." he replied.
********
She is so mine she just doesn't realize that she's already lost. I might have to thank Annie after all; I think that she softened Regina up for me.
"I'll tell you what," I said, "this evening we'll get all of the superficial nonsense out of the way, tomorrow we will begin to get to know each other in earnest."
I started by asking her the basic getting acquainted questions such as favorite color and things like that. I encouraged her to ask me anything that she wanted about myself and vampirism. By the end of the evening I had come to several conclusions with the most important one being that other than Annie she had no real close friends. She had people from her job that she on occasion went out to dinner with or to some social function but for the most part she was a loner.
My guess is that the Lannisters had something to do with that; it was a case of keeping her isolated so that when the time came for her to leave few people would miss her. I believe that they only allowed Annie to get as close as she did because they needed her to get Regina to New Orleans.
I also found out that her relationships with males were.... Lacking. Again I think that the Lannisters had something to do with that but she was free of them and still she hadn't socialized with the opposite sex. I didn't ask her why, that was a topic for another day.
"Surely there is something that you would like to ask me." I said.
"Well, yes but I don't want to be rude." she replied.
"Please, ask." I said. "I won't be offended, I give you my word."
*******
So I can ask him anything......
