A knock at the door made us both jump.
Twenty
“BREAKFAST!” Sara shouted in a sing-song tone. I got up from Knight's lap and he fell forward onto the comforter. When I opened the door, Sara had a cute look on her face like we'd been up to something during the night and she knew all about it.
She’d definitely heard us.
She was pushing a cart with a large tray full of food, enough food to feed a Lycan and a vampire, and then some. “Morning guests!” She pushed past me with the cart and rolled it over to the round table by my bed. The tray looked heavy, but she did her best to try and lift it until I had to go help her.
She'd literally cooked every kind of breakfast food there was, including the custard croissants I loved, and a few dishes I didn't recognize.
I smelled curry.
“There's plenty for both of you,” she said with a cheerful smile. “He needs to keep up his strength. I mean both of you do. Silly me. Ta ta!” She waltzed out of the room, pushing the cart and humming something off-key.
“Well, she’s cheerful today,” Knight said with a chuckle.
“Get over here or I'm eating everything,” I told him.
We ate. Well, I ate. He inhaled. He let me get my own food first, and after I filled my plate, he gobbled up everything else, including whatever smelled like curry. I felt slightly bad because I'd drunk so much from him. Though, I'd seen him eat this much before when he still had all of his blood. He caught me staring at him.
“Do you feel weird?” he inquired. I shook my head and leaned in for a kiss. If anything, I just felt more alert. Everything smelled crisper. I could hear better without pushing my senses out. I’d easily drunk three times more blood than I usually had every morning. “You can drink again before lunch. But you'll tell me if you start to feel different, right?” He was trying to help, but he was being a bit bossy.
“Okay, dad.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I am not nearly old enough to be your dad, missy. Plus, that would be awkward considering I plan on seeing you naked in the near future.” I chuckled and took another bite of the hash brown I'd been working on. “Speaking of which,” he started. “Who are your parents? Aren't they going crazy with worry?”
“I don't know who they are,” I said simply, my fork hovering in front of me. “Balthazar knows who my mother is, not that he'll ever tell me her name. My father is a nameless mystery. I don't even think about it.”
Knight stared at me for a minute before putting some egg in his mouth. “Yes. I can see that you don't,” he said around his food. “That's not normal, by the way.”
“Fuck that. I'm a Born vampire. I don't have to be normal.”
He snorted and blew a few pieces of egg onto the table. “Well,” he continued after chewing and swallowing. “You're right about that.” He sipped his second glass of orange juice. “Things like that tend to fade after a while, don't they?”
“It's not like I don't want to know who my father is,” I admitted, though I’d never said that out loud to anyone. I never talked about my parents. Not even to Olivier. “It's just something I'll never get an answer for.” He nodded like he understood. “Are other Lycans like you?” I regretted asking such a question, but I'd been wondering.
He looked hesitant. “You mean freaky with the moon or really, really old?”
“Immortal.”
He almost didn't want to answer. I could see it on his face. “No. They aren't. Because I'm not like them. I was born human.”
I was almost surprised to hear that, but I remembered that he was a werewolf. Werewolves were born human. “The scratches on your chest, they were from the succubus.”
“Yeah. They've never gone away. I spent time with a Lycan pack at first, just to learn about being one of them, until it was clear I wasn't one of them. I've been on my own ever since. I've never...seen another man like me. Not ever.” I got up from my chair and sat on his lap to put my arms around him.
“It's because the Bicus are banned from changing or impregnating humans,” I told him, and he rubbed my back with his free hand. “No one knows why, or those that do don't talk about it. If there were others like you, they'd be very old. Older than me.”
This upset him greatly, though he tried to not show it. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have not a single soul that knew what it felt like to be what I am. I didn't like that mental image. And Knight was a pack animal. He'd never have a pack. Like an ant without a colony. A bee without a beehive.
Maybe I could be his beehive.
After Knight and I made out for a long time in the tub and we made sure I didn’t smell like him, I went to my usual feeding at James’s mansion. He didn’t mention his proposal, probably trying to respect that I hadn’t made up my mind yet. I drank from the human he provided, the extra blood only helping my cause. He wanted to talk about the merits of Napoleon, so I sat through that for over an hour.
Yawn.
He finally let me go before lunch. Drake took me home, and I fed from Knight again before Sara served us stewed duck. As I breathed in the smell of the food, I noticed everything smelled better. The colors of the 1950’s kitchen were brighter like someone had turned up the graphics setting. I could hear every part of the hotel without having to focus my ears.
That night, with our underwear still on, Knight and I shared several life-shattering climaxes. With the extra blood in my system, I was almost afraid I would hurt him. I’d have to be very careful not to do so.
The next day came. I drank from Knight before breakfast. I drank at James’s house. When I came back, I had a lovely craving to take a walk. Knight's presence wasn't sitting well with the local populous, which was why we had been spending most of our time in the hotel before now, among other reasons. The humans had either never seen a Lycan, or had and didn't enjoy the memory. The vampires were no better.
“If they keep hissing at me, I'm going to be soaked in saliva by the end of the day,” Knight complained after the fifth vampire had flashed their fangs in his direction.
In order for them to not tell James about us, we couldn’t touch each other in public, and it was torturous. Still, I patted his arm like I would a puppy and sighed with happiness. I was so happy. Happy, happy, happy. “Don't worry. I'll protect you from the big bad vampires.”
He glared at me frostily. “I can't tell if that's my blood talking or if you're just always like this. Oh, wait. You are.” I stuck my tongue out at him and imagined kissing him against a telephone pole. “They say age makes you more mature, but in your case, they lied.”
“Who said age makes you more mature?” I retorted. “I've never heard that. And I've been friends with plenty of philosophers.”
“Like who, Friedrich Nietzsche?”
This time I glared. “Galileo, smarty pants.”
He actually looked surprised. “Really? Wow. That's cool. I mean, I've known a few influential people too, but Galileo? What was he like?”
“And that is the question everyone asks me about everyone. What was Tolkien like? Was Jane Austen cool? Did the pilgrims like music?”
He was trying not to laugh. “Did they?”
I shrugged and smiled. “I didn't know the pilgrims. The one person who asked me that, I lied and said no.” He’d gone on to create an entire religion based around that fact, but let’s not dredge up the past.
Knight was still on the topic of famous friends, and he just barely brushed his fingertips against mine, making flames flick up my arm. “Knowing someone who became famous isn't a frame of reference. You just knew them as a friend. You didn't know them as their public image.”
“You sound rather knowledgeable,” I told him, surprised he understood something I’d felt for a long time. So many well-known people I’d called friend. And they were all dead now. Well, most of them. “Who'd you know?”
“I fought in the civil war, remember? I knew a lot of the officers. I met President Lincoln once. He smelled like shoe polish.”
>
“What side did you fight on?” I'd already guessed, but I wanted to ask.
He smirked and looked away. “Not the side my family did, I can say that.” We stopped at a hot dog stand to get some lunch. The owner, a young human, took one look at Knight and started to scowl.
“Sorry,” he said curtly. “I don't want your business.” Knight's face fell for a second before it went blank.
“Why not? We haven't done anything,” I countered. I was James’s main squeeze. All the humans should be doing whatever I wanted. Speaking of squeeze, I wondered how Knight would react if I pinched his luscious ass.
“My best friend is a vampire,” the man spat. “Lycans killed her brother. James told everyone that this guy is a Lycan too. We don't want his kind around here.”
I stared at the prejudice hot dog vendor, my mouth curled down and my good mood gone, until he looked me in the eye. “Please. We just want some hot dogs. We won't bother you anymore if you just give us some food.”
To my surprise, he blinked, reached down, and handed me four hot dogs that were already prepared in a paper carton. Knight grabbed my elbow and tugged me away before the vendor could start complaining again.
“What the fuck just happened?” Knight asked when we'd turned the corner.
I knew exactly what had happened. I’d controlled the human. And I liked it.
Twenty-one
Knight wasn't happy. I handed him three of the hot dogs, which he wolfed down, and I ate the other one while we walked. Once I was sure no one could see us, I pulled Knight into an alley and kissed him in between bites of hot dog.
I'd controlled someone's mind. It was a first for me. I wasn’t sure what to think of it. On one hand, being controlled was horrid. Even in my current state, I remembered how it felt, though I had a hard time feeling sad about it. But on the other hand, I liked it. That hot dog man had been rude to my friend and I’d made him do what I wanted. That was a win in my book.
My kisses didn’t distract him, and I looked up into his eyes, feeling only a tiny sliver of guilt. I didn’t regret what I’d done. But I didn’t want Knight to be mad at me.
“Eat your hot dog,” was all he said.
I was still scared I’d made Knight mad. If he was mad, he wouldn’t kiss me, and I liked it when he kissed me. Luckily, another drink from Knight before lunch took care of that for me. I no longer felt upset about what had happened, and I didn’t care what Knight thought. I also wasn’t totally feeling it when he started running his hands on my ass, but he stopped once he saw my disinterest.
We went downstairs to the kitchen and Sara was there wearing green coveralls, her pink-tipped hair in two little buns.
“I'm about to start some falafels!” she said brightly, holding up a bowl of chickpea batter. I groaned and wished she would order pizza. Before, I’d found her odd taste in food quite charming. Now I just wanted her to stop being weird. Her face changed and she put the bowl back into the fridge. “On second thought, let's just order some pizza.”
She trotted out of the room to get the hotel phone, leaving me in utter shock. Did I just influence her thoughts? Wicked!
Knight was equally surprised, but for a different reason. “I didn't know she liked pizza. I thought she hated it.”
I needed to test this. I focused on where I knew Sara was standing in the other room and sent, “No mushrooms or peppers, extra meat, and breadsticks” to her.
She walked back into the kitchen and said, “I got extra meat, no mushrooms or peppers, and some breadsticks!”
That was the seal on my assumption. I'd influenced her thoughts. Knight was happy to get the pizza and didn't notice anything was off. I decided to not tell him what had happened. He’d just lecture me anyway. I didn’t like lectures. I liked kisses.
After we ate, I drank from him again. I had to hold his arms to steady myself as a sonar pulse suddenly burst from my head. I knew where everyone in the town was without even thinking about it. I could tell their gender and smell their scent. It overwhelmed me and I whimpered slightly, wishing it would stop. Knight's fingers gently brushed through my hair.
“It's getting too much, isn't it,” he asked me softly, his lips brushing over my neck.
I gasped and tightened my grip on him, willing myself to focus on only what I could see with my eyes. I lost a little of that giddy feeling I’d had before. “I have to keep going. I can handle it.” My senses snapped back and the room became clearer. I could still sense everything at once, but it was dull, like a slight headache. “I just have to stay focused on my surroundings.”
His hand slipped through my hair to rest on my shoulder, then lower to press me against him. “Remember, I'm here.” I felt so warm and I wanted to feel him inside me. No more rubbing, no more underwear.
“We can’t be intimate anymore,” I groaned against him. “I’ll go too far, it’ll ruin everything.”
His hands stilled, but he didn’t pull away from me. “I understand.”
By the next morning, I’d gone back to being giddy again and I wasn’t upset about the lack of sexy times with Knight. When I went to James’s, I truly had a full conversation with him without getting bored once. I still didn’t want to stay here with him forever, but I couldn’t remember why I didn’t like being around him. I was careful to not act too weird though. I didn’t want him to know what I was up to. He checked his bite again, and despite the enormous amount of blood in my system, it hadn’t faded. Not even a little.
On the way back to the hotel with Drake, I chatted him up with questions about his parents, which was completely inappropriate, but I didn’t care. I even mentioned how he was not-human and human at the same time and that it weirded me out. He ignored me.
Poo, poo on you, Drake. I don’t need to know your secret. It’s probably boring anyway. Like you. You don’t even go by your real name.
Knight isn’t boring. Knight tastes good. He makes me laugh and gives me beautiful pleasure. I might keep him. Provided he stops being such a Debbie Downer all the time.
My mind control powers worked on every human. They didn’t work on Knight. Maybe it was a werewolf thing, or maybe I just didn’t want to control him.
He was so fucking bossy. We went to the movies after I’d been binging on his blood for almost a week. I wanted to control the humans serving food but noooo he told me to stop talking and stand in the corner like a little toddler that had stolen cookies. He paid for the food, like a moron. I could’ve saved him ten bucks, but whatever. His loss. He also wouldn’t let me take someone else’s seat. It’s not my fault that the seats I wanted were already occupied!
“There are 32 people in here,” I informed him once we’d settled in our seats and I’d stolen the popcorn from him. He stole a few handfuls when I was distracted by the smells and sounds in the room.
“Fascinating,” was his response. Humph. He can’t even appreciate how awesome my powers are. What good are you? You’re supposed to be impressed. Cameron would be impressed. He’d be like, ooo Lisbeth, you’re so awesome, like some superhero I forgot the name of. I needed a cape. People with powers have capes.
“Stop talking out loud or I’m going to spank you,” Knight bossed. Like I said, so bossy. The spanking sounded nice though. “I am not bossy,” he added. Oh. I was talking out loud again. I stuffed my mouth full of popcorn before I could reveal the location to my secret superhero bunker.
Twenty-two
The next day, I could feel the emotions of everyone near me. Sara enjoyed the taste of guacamole far too much. James thought my smile was pretty, but he also thought windows were too flat. The ice cream man hated the smell of dairy. And Knight. He was worried about me. So worried. Also annoyed that my internal monologue kept spilling out of my mouth and most of it was about how fluffy cotton candy was. I patted his cheek and told him to stop fussing over me, and also to learn to appreciate fluffy things.
Knight and I had started at three feedings per day. Then four. Then five. By the time we wer
e up to six times per day, it had been almost two weeks, and the giddiness I'd felt at first was gone. Now I just felt powerful. Sara automatically cooked foods I wanted. No one in town charged me for anything. Men didn't flirt with me. Women didn't stare at Knight. And James. Dear James. Seeing him was easy. His bite was still there, but even though I’d grown considerably stronger, it wasn’t enough to tip him off. Or I’d just gained the ability to fool him.
But the cost. The cost of the blood binge was starting. I became short-tempered if someone messed up what I'd asked for. Sara had a constant stomachache from the rich food I enjoyed. I didn't care about anyone's feelings. I was the only one that mattered, including with Knight. We barely touched anymore, and I missed it so desperately that at every turn I was prepared to tear his clothes off to have him back in my arms.
I’d reached that level of power that I feared so badly. I was uncontrollable and unstoppable. And I wasn’t afraid of it anymore. I liked it. I wanted more. I never wanted to come down. With this much power, I could stop Arthur and the Hunters. I’d be free. Maybe I’d start my own little town somewhere with nice humans to do my bidding and Knight in my bed. With my powers, I’d be able to tell exactly what they were doing at any moment of the day. There’d be no crime, no insurgency, only me and my whims. And they would all obey me. I had no doubt about that.
Knight questioned me every day to check on my mental state. I knew he could tell I was getting worse, so I had trouble understanding why he kept bothering me with the constant questions. The irrational part of my brain that was taking over didn’t want to care what he thought about all of it, but somehow, I still did. When he got mad at me, I felt sad, and all I wanted was for him to forget whatever I did to anger him and say he liked me again. I hated upsetting him. Even so, it didn’t make me stop. Not even a little.
Knight of the Hunted (NSFW Edition) (Born Vampire Book 1) Page 14