“Actually, that happened over seventy years before I was even born. Napoleon’s hatred for me stems from two things, one bringing about the other. Imagine living centuries in the dark because that’s what most of my kind does. They cannot feel the sun on their skin or stroll through gardens overflowing with flowers on a day so bright it’s blinding. They live in the shadows, in the cool of the evening when life slows, when birds still, and the only light in the sky comes from the stars. Their world is filled with silence, for at night, so many sleep, yet they do not.

“There are many things that, as a race, vampire or mortal, we take for granted, and like most, you don’t realize how terribly you’ll miss something until it’s too late,” Bennett said, sadness creeping into her tone. “Because of my ability to walk in the sun, the council added a seat to the table for me, and between that and Napoleon’s jealousy over me being a daywalker, it took his hatred to a whole new level. As a council member, I receive the same…um…the same protection that’s afforded him because of his last name, but that in no way has stopped his animosity toward me. It’s gone virtually unchecked for hundreds of years until I finally had enough.”

“What did you do?” Ruby said, placing her napkin on the table.

“I stood my ground, or rather protected it. Napoleon didn’t appreciate my actions, and you saw the result.”

“You seem really calm about this.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. What’s to stop him from trying it again? What’s to stop him from showing up here tonight and taking you out? It’s not like you live in a fortress.”

“Well, first, when the council found out what had happened, they read Napoleon the riot act. While they won’t end his life if something happens to me, they’ll force him to sleep for a century, and when he awakens, the only thing left of his coven will be those so useless no other coven will accept them. Second, he or any other ordinary vampire can’t come within a block of this building.”

“What? Why?”

“When you moved in, do you remember finding a box of spare light bulbs in your apartment?”

Ruby suppressed another yawn as her eyebrows drew together. “How did you know about that?”

“Prior to the early 1900s, I lived under the protection of another because, like you inferred, there was nothing to prevent Napoleon or his people from coming after me; however, once ultraviolet bulbs were invented, my life changed. You see, it’s the ultraviolet rays of the sun that vampires fear. In a way, it’s yet another thing many vampires and mortals have in common, for, as you know, too much UV light is dangerous.”

“Okay?”