“Thank you.”
“I need to ask you something,” Mara said anxiously.
“Sure, anything.”
Steeling herself, Mara went for it. “You didn’t have a choice…about your turning. I just need to know if you’re angry. Did I do the right thing? Should I have let you go?”
Sergei’s initial reaction was one of surprise. Of course he would rather be alive than dead. What kind of a question was that? On the heels of that first thought, the reality of his situation crashed into him. He was a vampire now. Vampires drank blood. Vampires were capable of extreme feats of strength and speed, always having to be wary when in human company. The thought of drinking blood made him want to gag. Immortality sounded great, but at what price? Would he be alone for all eternity? If he fell in love with a mortal woman he would literally have to kill her to be with her...was he capable of that?
Sensing his inner turmoil, Mara sighed and gave him a sad smile. “It’s a lot to take in, I know. There are some obvious drawbacks, but I can assure you that there are a great many wonderful things you can experience as a vampire. I’ve had the chance to witness the changing of the ages, the dawning of new inventions, and the rise and fall of empires. On the flip side, I’ve had to watch friends grow old and die, and I have to move every decade or so to fly under the radar.”
“How did you learn to control yourself around...humans?” Sergei asked, stumbling over the idea that he was no longer human.
Mara’s eyes filled with sadness and pain. “Unfortunately for me, there was a lot of trial and error. There were...accidents. I finally met up with another of our kind. He was able to teach me how to live among humans without causing harm and drawing attention to myself. It was a dangerous time for demons. I could have very easily wound up dead or ‘deader’.” She ended on a rueful smile.
“And the blood?” He asked with a grimace.
“You’re one lucky vampire! We’re living in the age of synthetic plasma and blood banks my friend.”
“Yeah, I know, but how do you handle the taste? I mean…yick,” Sergei said, making a face.
“It’s mind over matter really,” Mara said with a laugh. “Your brain will tell you what you’re doing is gross, but you’ll actually like it…it’s a real mind-fuck.”
“This whole thing is a mind-fuck, so I guess that’s just par for the course,” Sergei answered, finally cracking a smile.
“You seem calm, so I’m going to release you now. Just keep in mind, your eyes are working just fine. Things seem blurry because you’re moving at warp speed now. Pretend you’re a snail going uphill through molasses and you’ll find it easier to focus on things, okay?” Mara raised an eyebrow in question.
“What do you mean release me?” Sergei asked.
“My eyes,” She replied. “You haven’t been able to look away have you? It's a kind of hypnosis, I’ve been keeping you calm and focused so we could talk.”
“Right. Hypnotism – I read about that in the Dictionnaire Infernal, I wasn't sure it was actually real. There’s so much in the grimoires that’s conjecture.”
“Yup, lots of bullshit to wade through, but that one is true,” she replied.
Mara blinked and looked away from Sergei, releasing him from her hypnotic pull. It felt like a magic string connecting them had been cut and the world around him came back into focus. It was amazing. He could hear everything, from the dripping of water to the conversations upstairs. If he focused hard enough, he could hear sounds from outside on the street. Sitting very still, Sergei took stock of his body. He suddenly realized that he hadn’t taken a single breath in all this time. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was dressed in medical scrubs. Thank Fuck. He had absolutely no desire to know the state of his clothes after what he'd been through.
Sergei looked over at Mara. Her face broke into a huge, sunny smile, then she zipped over to the far wall in a blur. A book lay face down on the floor. Dropping onto her butt, she picked up the book and began to read, giving Sergei a modicum of privacy while he tested out his new senses.
Sergei slid down off the table to his feet. His whole body was pulsing with energy just waiting to be expelled. In a burst of speed, he crossed the room. Sergei smiled. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Baal sat staring at the cup of coffee in front of him. Making a face, he brought it to his lips and took a long sip. What he really wanted was a shit-ton of salvia so he could get himself completely fucked up. But he couldn’t do that because he’d volunteered to be a juice-box for a baby vampire, and getting Sergei shitfaced on his first trip down feeding lane would make B a complete asshole. When had he ever worried about looking like an asshole before? That’s right, never! But then again, he’d never been asked for a favor by a gorgeous, flame-haired surgeon…who just happened to be an immortal vampire. He was totally fucked.
Glancing down at his watch, he realized it was just after six o’clock in the evening. The sun had gone down ten minutes ago and Sergei should be awake now. B rose from the table and headed toward the basement. Time to get this over with. Just knowing that he’d offered himself up as a meal to impress Mara was a mind-fuck. B was not the kind of guy that ever did anything to impress a woman. In his life, women were a "bandage on a bullet
