“You know, it doesn’t matter, right?” I said. “So what? You have a past. As long as you’re still not working for the Council, that’s all I need to know.”
He looked stunned for a second, then shook his head, smirking. “You have no idea what you’re saying, little one, but thank you anyway.”
“Then tell me. Or don’t, if you’d rather not. I’m not going to pressure you, but I’m not going to judge you either.”
He raised his hand and slipped it around the back of my neck, pulling me in to his chest. He wrapped his other hand around my back and I could feel him inhaling as he put his face toward the top of my head. He wasn’t as tall as Xan, but he was still at least a head taller than me.
Matias released me and looked down at me with a relaxed smile. “Can I tell you about my past another time?” he questioned. I nodded my agreement and smiled back at him. “I promise I’ll tell you everything. But first, I want to teach you how to be a vampire. Okay?”
“Sure. I just have one question. How old are you?”
He threw his head back in laughter. “You know, I don’t even know,” Matias told me. “I stopped counting a long time ago, but for you, I’ll figure it out.”
He picked up one hand and kissed the back of it, then released me and walked across the mat to the other side and faced me. He took a deep breath as if trying to clear his mind.
“So, what are we working on first?” I asked nervously. “You said something about testing my strength earlier…”
“Yes, I think that’s where we should start.” He brought his tattooed arm up and dropped his chin in his hand looking thoughtful. “You already have incredible control over your thirst, so even though that is one of the first things young vampires need to figure out, I think we can skip it and move on.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “I do?” It hadn’t even occurred to me. Sure, I craved blood, but it was no more than when I craved certain foods to eat.
“Oh, yes. Usually new vampires desire blood so much they begin hunting prey from the moment they wake up for the first time.”
I was disoriented and on edge when I awoke, but I didn’t even realize I wanted blood until I asked Camille for it.
“Why do you think that is?” I asked, confused.
“I don’t know, little one. It could be because you have such great control over the other parts of you.”
I scoffed. “You call what happened up there control?” I asked, referring to the remodeling I did of the rock cliff.
“No, but that’s not what I mean. Before you were changed, you were a very powerful caster and dragon, were you not? Did you not have a mastery of both of them?”
“I wouldn’t say that I have mastered powers from both of them, but I was beginning to get a handle on them.”
“Oh Emelia, I believe you had more control than you think. You are very powerful, so it would only stand to reason you are able to control your thirst without even trying.”
I thought about it and walked to the back wall between two displays of swords and leaned against the surface.
“Why do we drink bagged blood?” It was something that seemed reasonable to me, but I knew vampires were hunters. They fed from others normally, right?
Matias took a deep breath and began walking toward me. “Well, we live in a more civilized time. Most of the time, bagged blood from donor sites are supplied to us so we don’t have to hunt. It keeps the vampires in line so they don’t hurt others unnecessarily. Feeding is usually a pleasurable experience for both parties involved because of the intent is usually one of desire, but some feed with the purpose of harming others. When a vampire wants to hurt their prey that way it’s excruciating. Humans have gone insane from going through it, at least the ones that lived. The Council decreed several years ago that bagged blood would solve that problem.”
I thought about how it felt to be turned by Di. It wasn’t at all pleasurable, in fact I remembered wishing for death. She wanted to hurt me. Fucking bitch.
“Did it?” I asked, trying not to think about Di’s sadism. “Did it solve the problem?”
“Yes and no. Bagged blood isn’t always available when you’re traveling or in a new place, so feeding naturally is the only real option in those cases. Plus, there’s also those who don’t adhere to the laws. Just like there are criminals in the human world, we have them in the supernatural one too.”
“How do I feed naturally?”
Matias stopped walking and stared at me with a heated look. His eyes took on a crimson color, a darker red then when he was angry or agitated. I gulped at the sight of them, knowing what it meant.
“Emelia, it is probably not the best idea to teach you how to feed on others since just the thought of it makes me want to rip your clothes off and take you right here on the mats.”
I swallowed and backed further into the smooth wall. My lips parted as I thought about his description of what he wanted to do to me. I wanted that too.
Matias took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Before I could blink, he was right in front of me, cupping the back of my head and bringing it toward his. Our foreheads touched one another and it took everything I had not to bring my lips down on his.
With him as close as he was, I could smell his need in the air between us, making my need even greater. It was heady and everything
