You persist in this romantic vision of what it is to be a vampire, but despite my best efforts to curb it I have a taste for blood.

That evening, rowing on the quiet river as sunset turned to dusk, I saw an occasional smoky smudge on the towpath, always slightly ahead of me, like a dark star guiding me home.

Be still,” he said, voice harsh. “I might not be able to control myself if you step away.

Within days they'd formed an unholy alliance with a foppish young French vampire in the Garden District who had implausibly golden hair and a streak of ruthlessness as wide as the Mississippi

Sorry, we've got ghosts.

Her bark is worse than her bite.

She was like a camera that had been chronically out of focus until someone came by and twisted the lenses into alignment.