What is it with this guy?
He looks so out of place here. He doesn’t even talk like a vampire. It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s none of my business. If I start wondering about vampire backstories, I’m going to make a mess of my entire mission, now and for the rest of my life. I can’t afford to give a shit.
On the other hand, I’ve never seen a vampire like him before. If the nest has started a suburban outreach program or something, I should probably know about it. At least that’s the excuse I’m making for what I’m about to do.
“How did you end up like this?” I ask him, cursing myself inwardly for my curiosity.
“Like a terrible dancer?” He chuckles as he steps on my toes again.
“No. A vampire. You’re… unexpected.”
He flashes me a grin, then gestures toward the high table with a look that borders on hero worship.
“Bastian,” he tells me, then quickly amends, “I’m sorry, Prince Bastian. It’s so weird to use titles and things like that, isn’t it? I didn’t even call my doctor ‘doctor’ when I was human, I called him Paul. Anyway, Bastian—Prince Bastian, dammit, I swear I’ll get it right one of these days—he saved my life.”
My heart sinks. I feel like I know where this is going. Connor got wrapped up in some kind of criminal activity, got pressured by a gang—probably one run by vampires—and made a deal with another vampire to get out of it. That’s always how these things go.
“I was hit by a car,” he says quietly, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I look up at him, startled. That wasn’t what I was expecting at all.
“A… a car?”
He nods somberly. “Yup. Downtown Baltimore, one rainy night, I was walking home from work. You know how the sidewalk sort of just disappears sometimes? I wasn’t paying attention, and I stepped off a little awkwardly. Would have gotten away with nothing worse than a twisted ankle if that car hadn’t come flying around the corner. I didn’t even see the headlights until it was right on top of me. Crushed my chest.”
He shudders at the memory, and I rub his shoulder comfortingly for a second before I catch myself. This is exactly what I was afraid of. He’s too damn pure to be a vampire, the confusing bastard. He sighs heavily and shoots me a grateful smile.
“It was a hit and run with no witnesses. Nobody to call an ambulance. And honestly, even if someone had called nine-one-one, I would’ve been long gone before the ambulance got there. I knew I was dying. I was drowning in my own blood, and my heart couldn’t seem to find a rhythm. Kind of like my feet.”
There’s that self-deprecating grin again. How can he joke about this?
“After the initial burst of pain, I couldn’t feel anything,” he continues. “Couldn’t hear anything. Darkness was creeping in around my vision. Just as the world shrank down to two little pinpoint dots, I tasted blood in my mouth. I thought it was mine, at first. But the more I tasted, the stronger I felt.”
He twirls me around, out of sync with the rest of the dancers, but doesn’t drop me or step on my toes. He beams, thrilled at his success. I smile at him encouragingly and tell myself it’s just the part I’m playing. I have to be nice to him, because that’s what blood tributes are supposed to do. They’re here to serve the vampires.
“It was really freaking weird too.” Connor shakes his head, his nose scrunching up a little. “You ever popped a rib out of place? I never had, not until then. Even then, it was less of a pop and more of a crush. But when the bones grew back—or came back together, I guess. Grew again? I don’t know exactly how it works. Anyway, it hurt like hell but in a satisfying kind of way, like popping a joint into place.”
I don’t try to fight the shudder that creeps down my spine. It seems like an appropriate reaction for the role I’m supposed to be playing anyway. I have to imagine an average human would be a bit grossed out by his story, so there’s no reason to hide that I am too.
He smiles at me apologetically. “Sorry. Not the nicest thing to imagine, right? I won’t even mention the nastier stuff. Anyway, the point is, I drank a bunch of Bastian’s blood and re-inflated like a cartoon character. I had to spit out a few teeth afterward, but somehow I wasn’t missing any. See?”
He grins wide, proving to me that his mouth is, in fact, intact.
“I see.”
He chuckles, and the sound washes over me like warm waves on a beach. “So obviously I can’t just go home or back to work after that. Bastian took me to a little coffee house on the corner and explained everything to me. Since I worked outside in a nursery—and since the place I was living was full of windows and roommates—it was safer for me to come here and live in the palace.”
“So… he kidnapped you?” I ask. It’s not the most polite question, but I don’t care. Honestly, I’m partially trying to goad him into telling me how he really feels about all this. He’s too damn cheerful.
Connor’s eyes widen, and he looks truly shocked. “What? No! Bastian would never do something like that. He gave me a choice, but let’s be honest—I’ve never been good at lying or skulking around keeping secrets. I would have gotten myself killed, either by telling the wrong person about all this or by forgetting about the whole can’t-go-out-in-sunlight problem and stepping outside for coffee or something. This is way better for me. Bastian really, truly saved my life.”
I give him a skeptical look. “You really think you’d forget about the sun problem?”
He nods earnestly. “Oh, yeah. I’ve forgotten things you wouldn’t believe.
