“You turned me into a monster,” I seethe, giving up any and all efforts to be civil.
“No. That’s entirely up to you.” He places the bottle on the counter and walks toward me. His eyes stay locked on mine as he crosses the room, erasing the space that separated us a minute ago. “I have seen both sides of this coin play out hundreds of times, and what happens next is your choice. You can train your mind and body, be mindful of your blood intake, and adjust your life accordingly to keep up appearances and remain a part of this world. Or, you can give in to the bloodlust, become a cold, calculating predator, and embrace this new life you’ve been given.”
The room fills with laughter, and it takes me a minute to realize that I’m the one laughing. Wendy discussed impulsiveness with me relentlessly. While it was her opinion that my damaged psyche began early on in my childhood, she also believed that addiction and a lack of impulse control had a genetic component. Lucky for me, it seemed like I was saddled with a little bit of both. I take a steadying breath and shift my eyes back to his.
“I’m an ex-drug addict, Bane. Impulse control has never really been my strong suit. What do you think is going to happen once I’m hooked on blood and can’t get enough, hmm? I’m not a murderer, I won’t survive if I have innocent lives on my conscience.”
“We’ll work on that. You’re not the first impulsive human to join the Underworld, Piper. In time, you'll see that you fit right into this life,” he says, stopping a few feet away.
“I didn’t want this life!” I shout, running my fingers through my sweaty hair. “I had just gotten the hang of living my other life. I was clean, I had a job, Kit was finally starting to trust me again, and now I’m supposed to put everything on hold and learn how to be a monster with a conscience?”
“We aren’t all monsters,” he says, closing the space between us in the blink of an eye. My heart leaps, and a crooked smile flashes across his lips. “We are vampires. Nightwalkers, kings, and queens of the Underworld. We are whatever we want to be, and we have the power to do whatever we want to do.” He leans in closer, his breath lingers on my ear, and I feel a shiver run down my spine. “Say it,” he urges in the same dark velvety voice that makes my hormones rush, and my stomach flutter.
The smell of sandalwood and rugged spice fills my head, one of his hands begins to trace my exposed lower back, and I feel my body relax at his touch. I close my eyes, breathe him in, and push the nagging voice of my subconscious to the back of my mind.
“Say it,” he whispers. “Embrace it.” This time his lips drag up and down my ear with each word, and I swallow hard as I feel an intense heat course through me.
“Vampire,” I breathe back, wishing he would back me against the wall and claim my mouth the way he did the night before. “I’m a vampire.”
As soon as the words cross my lips, my mind becomes clear, I take a step back and stare into Bane’s surprised eyes.
“What the hell was that?” I demand.
“Interesting,” he murmurs, flashing me another crooked smile.
“Are you going to answer my question or not?” I snap.
He stares at me thoughtfully before he answers, “New vampires are vulnerable to suggestion from their sire, and the leader of their clan. It makes the transition easier, helps with the blood lust, and the aggression that usually accompanies the change. Some weaker vampires are open to suggestion by any vampire stronger than themselves. Others willingly submit to it for…personal reasons. You, on the other hand, seem to be able to pull yourself out of it. You fought it.”
“Ok, ew to that last part. I get the feeling fighting it isn’t normal?” I ask. I can feel my anger resurfacing but can’t tell if it’s real or a side effect of becoming a vampire.
“No, I’ve never seen a vampire as new as you overcome the power of suggestion.”
“Great, well, if you could not try that again, that would be awesome. Also, stop breaking into my apartment. I thought vampires were only supposed to be able to enter places once they’ve been invited in anyway,” I say, crossing my arms and stepping back just enough to cleanse myself of his intoxicating scent.
“I hardly consider it breaking in when the window off of your fire escape is never locked. That’s as good as an invitation. But for the record, that’s a myth and a ridiculous one at that. It doesn’t even make any sense. How would dying, and being resuscitated with vampire venom, bar anyone from entering a building?”
“Ok. That’s it. I’ve heard enough for today. You can go now,” I say, gesturing toward the front door.
“You can’t do this alone, Piper.” His eyes look warmer now, still the color of frozen steel, but somehow deeper, more human.
“Alone is kind of my thing.”
“And what about that friend of yours, Kit? What will you do about him?”
I take a deep breath, fold my arms at my chest, and stare back at him silently. My body begins to warm again, but this time the only thing I feel is rage. How the hell does he even know about Kit? How dare he stand there and throw my best friend’s well being in my face. He fed on me, killed me, and turned me into this bloodthirsty predator. If it weren’t for him, I would be out with Kit right now, living the life I’ve worked my ass off for. Now all of that is on the line. This changes everything, puts my addictive personality behind the wheel of predatorial urges I don’t know if I'll ever learn to control. The truth is, I have no idea what I’m going to do about Kit, how I’ll keep him away from me, or how I’ll adjust to this. What I do know is that I need Bane to get the fuck out of my apartment. Now.
“That’s not your problem,” I snap after a few moments of silence.
“It is, though. People don’t believe in vampires because we aren’t just roaming around spilling our secrets, and aimlessly feeding on whoever we want, leaving clues and letting blood drained bodies pile up on the streets. There is an order, there are rules, and if you plan to stay in this city, you have to live within the established lines. Every territory has a leader; it’s that vampires' job to keep their city in the dark and their ranks in line. The underground world of vampires, the Underworld as we call it, has to be kept secret for everyone’s sake. If the entire world knew about vampires, they would hunt us. Chaos and bloodshed would fill the streets, and eventually, we would grow tired, and we would fight back. We would Kill, and turn every warmblood until the human race was just a distant memory, and then we would grow weak and starve. Neither side wants that to happen. We are content to live in the shadows until the day someone sheds light on us, and we are discovered. Once that happens, all bets are off.”
I sigh, raking my fingers along my scalp in frustration. Now, this is getting a little out of hand. I didn’t sign up for this; I was never a supernatural fantasy chick, and I sure as hell wasn’t the twilight fangirl type. So, while I’m sure tons of basic 90’s kids would be lining up for this, I’m just not one of them. My life was complicated enough, I was just getting the hang of holding onto all of my emotionally damaged pieces without cutting myself deeper. Now it feels like all of those razor-sharp, broken shards have been shattered into even tinier, sharper bits. I can’t help but think that trying to pick up and hold all of those dangerous pieces will kill me, or worse, someone else. Kit.