Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

will solve nothing, Justine,” Rory told her. “Go now, Raven, and talk to her, show her the kinder, gentler side of yourself.
    Show her the man you truly are. If she thinks you a monster, then show her you are a man like any other. If she thinks you ill-mannered, show her you are a lord and a gentleman. If she thinks you unromantic, show her your softer side.”
    “I haven’t got one,” Raven growled.
    “Then allow yourself to have one. Vampire or ordinary mortal, we are all the same when it comes down to what goes on between men and women.”
    “I’ll try,” he sighed. Raven stood up and the instant he did so Evangeline saw him across the room. With his height he could be no other. He heard her gasp and saw that she scraped her chair backward as if she would get up and run. Instead she clutched the cross tightly in her hand and stood her ground.
    Mrs. Brackett looked up at him as he approached their table, but did not pause in piling butter and ham on her bread. “You’ve got a nerve. After all you’ve done, you’d approach this young lady yet again. You’ve no shame, you blasted heathen.”
    “I wish to apologize,” he said as evenly as he could under the insults.
    “There are no apologies that will make up for what you did to my young lady. Lord or no bloody lord, you are no gentleman.” Mrs.
    Brackett clutched her butter knife as if she would run him through with it.
    Raven stayed several steps back, wanting Evangeline to know he offered no threat. “Miss Rutledge, please allow me to explain myself.
    May I sit with you?”
    “No, sir, you may not.” Evangeline held the cross so tightly her knuckles turned white. “Keep your distance.”

    Sanguinarian 161
    Her tone vexed him and he held back his anger with difficulty.
    “What are you doing with that?” He nodded at the amulet.
    “Protecting myself,” she looked up at him. “It is a known fact that a vampire cannot touch the cross without his hand getting burned, and you are a vampire. I don’t care how many times you try to deny the fact. I saw you last night, remember. I saw you and your eccentric friends.”
    “Me and my people, eccentric?” he asked incredulously. “What about your strange companions, with their disgusting foods and rosy cheeks, drinking tea endlessly? I find you and your sort very peculiar indeed.”
    “I think you’ll find me and my sort are in the majority, my lord,”
    she stated in a superior tone, arching one eyebrow at him.
    “That does not make you right and us wrong.” He was growing angry again after being so determined not to. “And tell me, Miss Rutledge, does that awful stink about you also have something to do with me?”
    “Garlic,” Mrs. Brackett interjected. “We asked the vicar’s advice.
    Garlic keeps away the likes of you. He says it repels vampires.”
    “Does it indeed? Actually, I rather like garlic with a bit of rare roast lamb.” With one quick movement he reached his long arm out, and before she could move back, shoved his hand down the front of her gown. From between her breasts he took the large smelly bulb, sniffed it, then placed it on the table and looked at her.
    “Well, I never.” Mrs. Brackett was outraged at the familiarity.
    Evangeline thrust the cross at him. Raven promptly took it from her hand, tugging on the string hard enough to make it snap.
    “But, the vicar said these things were protection against you!” she burst out.
    “The vicar is an idiot.” He tossed the cross on the table beside the garlic. Then, his patience wearing far too thin, he picked up both items and threw them into the fire where they caught the flame and burned slowly. Both women drew back in horror while Raven 162
    Fyn Alexander
    grabbed the back of a chair and dragged it to their table. He sat down, crossing his legs neatly. “Miss Rutledge, let me apologize for frightening you,” he began, fully expecting to be listened to.
    “You did more than frighten me, Sir. I am not so fragile that I am terrified of every strange person I meet. You outraged my honour, you ruined me.”
    “I didn’t” He shook his head.
    “I don’t know what else you would call it.”
    “I would not call it anything except perhaps some rather bad behaviour on my part.”
    Evangeline’s mouth dropped open. In an instant she was on her feet. Grabbing the teapot, she tossed the fortunately tepid contents into his face. “You call rape nothing but bad behaviour!”
    Raven leapt to his feet, tea pouring