He wanted to get eye to eye with her. To have her relax so he could use hypno on her gently and make her forget all about vampires. But he must have been too obvious about it because her eyes widened and she pointed a finger at him.
“You! You can use that mind-control shit that vampires have! You used it on me last night! What else have you done? What have you made me do?”
Her voice was climbing in pitch with every accusing question, and he understood her upset, but that didn’t mean he was in the mood to deal with it. He had bigger fish to fry.
“So now you believe I’m a vampire or am I still crazy? Make up your mind. You can’t have it both ways.”
This gave her pause. She gripped her shoulder tighter and paced, he noticed, at a great distance from him.
“Well…are you? I can’t believe I’m asking this but…are you?”
“Yes. I am,” he responded simply.
He watched her absorb this. It didn’t matter if he told her. He figured he’d wipe her memory at the first opportunity anyway.
“And can you? Do that mind-control stuff?”
He paused. It was harder to control a person’s mind when they were aware it could happen. They resisted much more strongly. Hypno was suggestive, tended to follow a person’s instincts. Most people didn’t want to accept there was such a thing as vampires, so it was easy to wipe it from their memory once they were exposed. It became harder the more aware they were. Not impossible, but harder. Depending on the person’s mental fortitude it could take a stronger vampire. He was a strong vampire, but he wasn’t sure he could go up against someone with her mental fortitude. She had been conditioned to face reality thanks to her experiences with her ex. She was conditioned to be paranoid and on her guard.
“I can,” he admitted. “And yes, I made a suggestion last night to help you sleep.”
“And you made me kiss you!”
“Sorry, sweetheart. That was all you,” he said with a grin.
This gave her pause. “I don’t believe you.”
“Listen, I don’t need to use mind control to get my kicks. I’m more than able to find them without it. I was only trying to help you through the aftereffects of the heroin. The itchies, remember? Did you feel them afterward?”
“No,” she said with a thoughtful frown. “You did that? You were able to make me forget how my body was feeling?”
“It was more like ignoring it for a stronger suggestion. Sleep. I made you believe sleep was stronger than the itchies.”
She thought about this for a moment, her bottom lip pouting out as she frowned.
“So…are you going to suck my blood?” she asked.
“I’m not that kind of vampire,” he said.
“Kind! There are kinds?”
“I can’t speak for other vampires—if they exist at all. Only for my kind. We’re…not so much vampires as we are…aliens.”
She squeaked and backed up a step. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Nope. Dead serious. We came here a very long time ago so we’re just about indigenous. May as well be.”
“How long a time?”
“A few centuries. Before we landed here we were not too much different from indigenous humans. I mean, we could use hypno and were naturally stronger, but when we were caught in the earth’s atmosphere our ship was electrified in a lightning storm. It changed us on a fundamental molecular level. Took us a while to figure it out, but from that moment on we had to feed from the energy of others to survive. Not blood. Energy.”
“So…are you going to suck my energy?”
“I can’t. You’ve been poisoned. The heroin. I can only drink from clean sources. Rather like you can only drink clean water or you get sick.”
“Oh. So that’s why they gave me heroin? To poison me so you couldn’t use me?”
“More like they did it because they’re trying to force me to use you. I am running low on energy. I have a couple of days at best. If I don’t feed I’ll drop into torpor, which will be like a coma. I won’t be able to defend myself. I won’t be able to get free. They could just walk in here and kill me.”
“Why don’t they do that when they gas you?”
“You heard him. He’s got plans for me. He knows I won’t allow myself to drop into torpor if I can at all avoid it. That means feeding from you, a tainted source.”
“But will you die if you do that?”
“Worse. I’ll become a sycophant. It’s a vampire that feeds from poisonous sources and becomes like an addict. They’ll do anything for a fix, even kill their resources. Killing during a feed provides an extraordinary high. We’re very sensitive to the conditions of our resources.”
“So the minute you feed from a tainted source you become a sycophant? Can’t you just feed from a clean source afterward and purge yourself of the poison?”
Man, she was clever, he thought. “Only for a short while can a sycophant be brought back from the edge. Maybe a week. No one knows exactly because it’s not been done very often. Once you cross over you’ll do anything for your next fix.”
“I’m in a lot of danger from you, aren’t I?”
“I’m not going to lie to you. If I cross over, it’s going to take a monumental effort to not use you more than you are able to endure.”
“What happens to a source when you take from them?”
“We take energy. So it’s like siphoning off gas. You have plenty of it, but eventually your tank is going to be empty. Once that happens your heart and brain shut down. You need electrical impulses to survive. Without the energy to generate those impulses you die.”
“And just when were you going to tell me about all of this?” she demanded.
“Never, if it could be avoided. Just like I don’t plan on feeding from you, if it can be avoided. A lot depends on us getting the fuck out of here.”
“And how are we going to do that? You said yourself he’s another vampire and he knows just how to contain you.” She paused. “Wait a minute. The gas. You said it’s like poison to you. Can he turn you into a sycophant using gas?”
“No. But he can weaken me faster as my body burns energy to counteract the poison. It’s kind of like the flu attacking your immune system. It wears you down. Makes you sick. It’s more likely to put me in torpor than it is to turn me.”
“Oh. Okay. That’s good.”
He arched a brow at her.
“I mean…it’s bad, of course. I don’t want you to go into a coma. But I don’t want you to suck my energy either.”
“Believe me, I’d rather suck other parts of you first.”
She huffed a sigh of exasperation. “You’re not going to make me forget about this by being an ass.”
“I know you’re not going to forget about it. It’d take monumental hypno to make you forget at this point. So don’t worry about it.”
“I don’t believe you,” she said with narrowed eyes.
“I don’t care if you believe me. It’s the truth. Have I lied to you?”
“You’ve done nothing but lie!”
“No, I haven’t. I simply omitted. You can see why we have to keep ourselves hidden from the human world.”
“So you can feed from us willy-nilly?”
“I have never and will never do anything willy-nilly,” he growled. “I am not the willy-nilly type. What about me reads willy-nilly to you?”
She knew he was right so she attacked him from a different angle. “You can feed unchecked from us. That isn’t fair to us.”
“Can you imagine what human reaction would be if they knew we existed? Look at you, for instance. Would you be willing to feed me of your own accord?”
“I am not a cow. I’m not about to be your version of Kobe beef.”
“You were Kobe before the heroin,” he said with a chuckle. “Now you’re spoiling ground chuck.”
“This isn’t funny! And…I’m sure there would be humans willing to feed you. There are all types out there.”
�
��Maybe. But not enough to feed the entire e-vamp nation.”
“So…e-vamps? Like…email?”
“It’s a moniker the new generation has tagged us with. It’s kind of sticking.”
“I see. So, how old are you? I’m assuming you live a long time?”
“We do. Indefinitely. Sycophants believe that makes them invincible. You could gas a sycophant from here to kingdom come and you wouldn’t hurt them, provided they were deep enough into the change from lawful vampire. They become resistant to things lawful vampires are sensitive to. Some sycophants claim this is evolution…the natural order of what we’re supposed to become. They’re sick and deluded.”
“You didn’t answer my question. How old are you?”
“Old enough. Does it matter?”
“I suppose not.” She paused. “Older than Spanish influenza? Older than suffrage? Older than Shakespeare?”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Older than suffrage. Not older than Shakespeare.”
“Why are you being coy?”
“I’m not. It’s just that my age doesn’t matter. It doesn’t affect who I am. Who I’ve made myself become.”
“And you’re a hunter? You hunt other vampires?”
“Yes. And I’m very good at my job. I’m the best hunter there is. The queen wouldn’t stand a chance against me no matter how many powerful vampires protected her.”
“Surely you’re not that strong.”
“I’m that good. Period. I was breathing down Roth’s neck, that’s for sure. My mistake was taking a break from hunting him to have a drink or two. I figured I had time.”
“If you can’t drink from drunk people, how can you drink alcohol?”
“What can I say? I have a strong constitution.”
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“Feeding off intoxicated energy is very different from drinking alcohol.”
“Drinking can kill you?”
“Hell…drinking could kill you. But no. Drinking can’t kill me. But it does drain my energy as my body fights the effects of intoxication. I could drink myself into torpor.”
She nibbled on her lower lip, and he found himself thinking about how succulent that lip looked. She was so clever. So extraordinarily sharp. Anyone else would be panicking. She was merely thinking it through, weighing the danger to herself and to him. She was logical and it was a turn-on. He was so used to women acting emotionally and with drama. Sure, she’d had a little bit of a dramatic reaction at first but who wouldn’t?
A human’s first reaction to finding out about e-vamps was usually very similar to hers. Anxiety. Rejection. Fear. However, the few humans who knew about them did eventually get over it. And often they did voluntarily offer themselves up as food. It was why there was a growing movement of vampires that wanted full exposure to humans. To come forward before they were discovered the hard way. They believed it was the only way to gain the trust of human beings—not to mention that exposure in a world full of electronic surveillance was only a matter of time.
Halo couldn’t care less either way. As long as he could eat and the villagers weren’t chasing him down with torches, he was happy. As long as he could freely hunt and drink and fuck, he was happy. Though he had to admit there was some appeal in making out with someone who actually knew what he was. No secrets. Total willingness to give him sex and energy. Yeah. That could be hot.
“Um, can I become an e-vamp?” she asked.
“Depends.”
“You mean I can? Jesus! I was half kidding!”
“No, you weren’t. It’s a legitimate question. And the answer is certain humans, under the right circumstances, can become e-vamps.”
“What humans? What circumstances?”
“Humans with an abundant self-generating energy.”
“Aren’t all humans like that?”
“Nope. Maybe one out of every five. Most humans take weeks to recover from a feed. These special humans regenerate far more quickly.”
“And that’s how you tell?”
“Also by touch. I can feel it radiating off someone. Not all vampires can sense it like I do, they have to search for clues and signs. Trial and error, I guess you could say. They feed and then monitor the replenishment rate. Or when a vampire touches you, you feel an electrical zing like static electricity.”
“And how does a human become an e-vamp?”
“They have to be electrocuted with the equivalent of being struck by lightning.”
Her jaw dropped. “Humans very rarely survive that!”
“And those that do usually become e-vamps. Take the odds of being struck by lightning plus the odds of being the sort who can survive that kind of jolt plus the odds of figuring out you need to feed from energy before you fall into torpor…you can see why there are no reports of humans becoming e-vamps. That and we keep an ear to the ground for just such survivors.”
“I’m absolutely floored,” she said breathlessly. “And people choose to do this voluntarily? Choose to become e-vamps?”
“It’s kind of hard to turn down immortality. But not all who are given the information act on it, and we allow very few humans to know about us, as I said.”
“I feel like I’ve been struck by lightning. Just like last night when we…”
“Kissed?” he supplied when she looked away and stared hard at the floor as if doing so could take the act back.
“Yes.”
“You know, you shouldn’t be ashamed of doing something that comes naturally. I don’t understand why you don’t embrace the things that make you feel good. I never understand human guilt when it comes to that.”
“I’m not ashamed!” she argued, still not meeting his eyes. “I’m just…” She looked up and their gazes clashed. He could see fire and determination in her gaze. “I promised myself that I wouldn’t let my impulses get the better of me ever again. It was acting on impulse that got me hung up with Michael in the first place. He was a handsome stranger on the street who asked me out and in an act of pure impulse I said yes. After that it was one impulsive decision after another that got me in deeper and deeper with him. I thought it was neat how much he loved me. How possessive he was of me. I thought it was romantic. Now it’s just a nightmare I can’t wake up from. So no more acting on impulse for me.”
Halo got up off the bed and crossed over to her. When he reached out for her she quickly moved back three steps. Fine. She wasn’t ready to trust him yet. “Look, the impulsiveness wasn’t your mistake,” he said. “Acting on impulse is a part of who we are. Every decision is a type of impulse. You can’t cut it out altogether. There would be no enjoyment to life if you did.”
“This is coming from a self-proclaimed hedonist.”
He chuckled and stepped one step closer. This time she didn’t back away.
“I am a hedonist. I enjoy pleasure and so should you. So should we all. Life is so short for humans, for any of us really. It can be over in a heartbeat. Even for e-vamps. Do you really want to curtail something that makes you feel good out of fear for the rest of the short time you have left?”
“No. I guess not. Not when you put it like that.”
“Good. Very good.” He reached out and rubbed his rough hands up and down her arms. Her skin was so silky and she was so soft, it was easy for him to forget what he was talking about.
“You know,” she said suddenly, “you can’t plan a lightning strike.”
“You can duplicate the power of it. At least we can. We have a method. But it’s rarely done. Mainly because it’s against the law for us to tell humans about us in the first place. Breaking that law can have dire consequences.”
“You’ve broken that law,” she noted, her hands lifting to rest on his chest. “What will they do to you?”
“Technically Roth broke the law. He told you, not me. I’m guilty of fleshing out the information, which is just as bad, I suppose. I should erase your memory of all of this in order to satisfy my people.”
“No
! I won’t let you!” she cried out, suddenly jerking back in his hold as if to escape him. But he had anticipated this reaction and tightened his grip on her.
“I didn’t say that’s what I’m going to do. I said it was what I should do.” She settled warily in his grasp and he pulled her close, gently kissing her on her temple. “I have never been known to do what I should do. I’m a bit of a rebel among my people.”
“No! You? Really?” she said, bright sarcasm shining from the words.
He chuckled. “I’m a bad boy. They put up with me though because I’m the best bad boy there is.”
“So…you’re not going to erase my memory?”
“Not if I can help it. You’ve been dragged into this for a reason. I don’t know what that reason is yet, but until that’s cleared up you need to be aware of your situation so you can better defend yourself. I am not about to leave you out there ignorant of any danger that may come your way.”
She exhaled in relief. “Thank you for that. It means a lot.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, sliding his hands over her back as she impulsively hugged him close. Her hand crawled up the back of his neck and threaded into his hair, while her other arm was wrapped around his body, holding him tightly. He was immediately aware of their naked state, of how sinfully good she felt pressed up against him. However, it wasn’t just a physical thing, he realized. He felt comforted—relaxed and stimulated at the same time. He found himself thinking about what a special creature she was. How extraordinary she was. He had met many strong women in his life, but they had all been vampires. The human women he met were usually very…transient. He’d never stuck around long enough to figure out if they were strong or not.
It was an incredible turn-on.
That turn-on translated to the physical parts of his body and he tightened his hold on her, anticipating her reaction and withdrawal.
Instead she sighed and rolled her eyes.
“You’re impossible,” she said accusatorily. “But at least you’re honest. Now anyway.”
“I have been honest all along. Omission is not lying. And I have laws to follow.” He was intrigued. Intrigued that she did not pull away from him and sputter about what a pervert he was. Instead she leaned into him, into his erection as if it weren’t even there. A neat trick considering its length and girth. But if she wanted to stay close, who was he to argue?
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