She nodded solemnly. "They do, but I usually only bring it out on special occasions." She lifted her wineglass in a salute. "Or dates that never quite worked out the kinks."
"So I guess no second date?" I wanted to scream at myself the second those words came out of my mouth. I didn't want another date. That was a horrendous idea. The only way I could control this woman was by tying her up and knocking her out with chloroform, and I liked my dates very much alive, thank you.
"Not if hell froze over, suddenly sprung flowers on the ground, and Lucifer repented."
"Well," I said. "That seems... final. And quite Christian, if we’re being honest here."
"Oh it is," she said. "Quite final. Though I have to admit I find you intriguing, Mr. Luna. Your file said you were into some really bizarre stuff. You're a real conspiracy theorist, aren't you?"
I swallowed hard, uncomfortable with the subject already. I knew Portia provided information on the matches, but I knew for a fact I didn't include anything like that in the paperwork I'd returned to her.
"It's alright," Maron said. "I try not to be judgmental. After all, I'm the only vamp in history who doesn't have to exist on blood."
"True," I said. "I guess you could call me a conspiracy theorist. Though I like to think it's something deeper than that. I like to root out lies. No matter who tells them."
Maron tilted her head, interested. "What kind of lies?"
I shrugged. "Doesn't really matter, though I do like it when I catch a big organization in a fat lie. Like NASA or Homeland Security or something."
Maron clapped her hands over her mouth. "Please don't tell me you believe the earth is flat."
I shook my head. "Nothing like that. Though I do believe in the existence of aliens."
"Who doesn't?" Maron said, surprising the hell out of me.
"Uh, basically everyone?" I said, though it came out more like a question.
At that, Maron rolled her eyes. "You shift into an animal once a month. Even though I don't drink blood, I can lift a car with two fingers. Is it really so far-fetched to believe there might be things we've never seen or discovered yet, especially when you can look up to the stars at night and never once get close to counting them all?"
Damn it. Maron was getting prettier and prettier as the night wore on.
"I - yes," I said after a minute. "That's pretty close to the way I think about it. I think we'd be both arrogant and egotistical to believe we're the only ones out there."
She nodded and gave me a smile so dazzling my heart skipped a beat. "Imagine, Sterling! Something we agree on."
"Twenty minutes ago I thought I was going to have to wave the white flag of surrender," I said.
"Well don't get used to it, we still have time to find out how much more we hate each other before the meal ends." As if on cue, the waitress appeared with our food and set it down plate by plate in front of us.
I hated to admit it, but her truffle mac looked delicious, but I bet asking for a bite of it would get me stabbed in the eye with her fork.
Maron grimaced when a massive bloody steak was set in front of me along with a generous helping of mashed potatoes.
"Nothing green?" she said, her tone super judgy.
"I'm a werewolf," I proclaimed. "Not a pansy."
She snorted at that. "You don't have to be a pansy to feed your body the nutrition it craves."
"I'm a werewolf," I repeated. "Since when have you ever flipped the channel and stumbled upon a wolf drinking a green smoothie in the wild?"
"And you say I'm the terrible one," Maron muttered under her breath.
"We eat meat. And a lot of it. You're the weird one," I said, but as soon as the words came out of my mouth and I watched her flinch, I immediately regretted it. I didn't stop to think how much of an outsider she probably was with her family and the vampire population in general. "I'm sorry," I said, even though she didn't acknowledge what I said.
One of her thin shoulders rose up and fell in a shrug. "No worries. I'm used to it by now."
"Still wasn't right of me," I said. This date was making me feel more guilt than I had in a long time. I glanced at my watch only to see I'd missed the start of the podcast by over an hour.
