***
Adelaide dug her nails into her palm. She wouldn’t cry. She never cried. But her daughter’s defiance, shock at her own extreme reaction, and memories of her human life conspired together to leave her feeling broken. At least she’d managed to avoid telling Harriet whom she’d killed to complete the transformation. She’d never speak to her again if she knew the truth.
Gus walked silently into the room whilst Adelaide lingered in her memories and worries. He could appear and disappear at will. She’d been learning how to do it too, but they preferred to maintain a semblance of normality in their dealings with each other.
“You’re thinking about the past again, aren’t you?” he whispered, coming up behind her, muscles honed in the Roman legions holding her tightly. “If there’s one thing that 2000 years have taught me it’s that you should never dwell on what’s gone before. Don’t worry about Harriet either. She loves you and she’ll soon get over it. Anyway, I’ve invited some of the interns from the bank over for drinks. Shall I call for them?”
Adelaide nodded. Gus rang a bell, and a few minutes later two twenty-one year old bankers walked into the room, following Gus’s PA, a Victorian vampire named Polly who had worked for him for decades.
“I hope you’re enjoying your work,” Gus said softly to one intern, touching her on the shoulder. She nodded, eyes wide with nerves at the CEO having summoned her into his presence.
“Do you need any help, darling?” he said, turning to Adelaide.
She laughed. “I’m quite capable of a little light hypnosis, as you well know.”
Sometimes she suspected the way that her powers had grown so fast, surpassing vampires centuries older, alarmed Gus, but most of the time it pleased and amused him.
“Come here, my dear,” she said, smiling at the remaining intern. He stared at her, already half entranced by her beauty and the aura she gave off before she’d so much as tried any mind tricks. He walked over to her, his hands shaking slightly.
“It’s always so lovely to meet my husband’s new recruits,” she said huskily, lightly brushing his forehead with her fingers as she did so. He smiled as his eyes closed. Adelaide nodded at Gus, and then they both bent their heads, biting into their respective intern’s neck with sharp fangs and lapping at the blood that spilt out.
The blood tasted delectable. It suffused her body with warmth and made her worries fade. Everything would be fine with Harriet. She drank more than usual, keen to soothe herself as much as possible.
By the time she lifted her head, Gus had already finished. He watched her with a glint in his eye. Polly led the two dazed interns away. She turned to Gus, a little blood still on her mouth. The blood rushing in her desiccated veins always filled her with lust. She grabbed her maker and kissed him passionately.
Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers: Book One) Page 30