“You’re coming back, then?” He seemed to need reassurance. “I’m going to see you again?”
“Of course. I told you, we have unfinished business.”
His dark eyes locked with mine. And they were warm and endless. “Do you promise?”
I felt a flicker of something stir in my breast—a spark of something that hadn’t been there before. Because Eli suddenly looked outrageously vulnerable. Fragile. And it occurred to me for the very first time that he might need me. That it wasn’t merely my own curiosity at stake in this situation. And, for some reason, that mattered far more than it should have.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I promise.”
His eyes slid closed, and I could see the relief there. He nodded. “Good.”
But by the time he opened his eyes, I was already gone.
* * *
I found a suitable feeding partner only a few blocks away from my home. He was twenty-something and dressed in black club clothing that was more net than cloth, his body smeared with glitter, smelling of sweat and alcohol. He only stumbled a bit, but he was clearly intoxicated—probably on his way home from an after-party. Or, given that it was nearly dawn, an after-after-party.
Perfect.
“Hello, handsome,” I said, appearing in front of him.
His survival instincts were better than most. He took one look at me and his whole expression went wide with fear. Then, without missing a beat, he turned and tried to run the other way.
I moved at top speed. He didn’t get very far before he had to stop dead—or else run directly into me.
He let out a startled gasp, backing away from me. His eyes were so wide that I could see the whites all the way around the pupil. “Who the fuck are you, man?”
I ignored the inane question. Instead, I fixed him with my gaze and let the power in my voice roll over him. “That doesn’t matter. You’re safe. You don’t want to run away.”
The fear drained out of his face all at once. I felt a flash of relief. At least my hypnotic abilities were still working on most people, even if they didn’t work on Eli for some unknown reason.
“What’s your name?” I asked him. Then my eyebrows slammed together and I frowned at myself. Odd. I hadn’t usually cared about that sort of thing before.
“Todd,” he replied.
“Okay, Todd. Here’s the situation. I’m a vampire, and I need some of your blood. The bite won’t hurt. You won’t feel any pain at all.”
Todd’s eyes went unfocused. “No pain?”
“No pain,” I agreed. I took a step forward and tilted his head to the side, exposing his jugular. But then I hesitated. It seemed oddly… intimate. Wrong, somehow, to feed from him there. I added, “Todd, please give me your wrist.”
Todd obeyed immediately, holding it up. “Are you going to kill me?”
His tone was neutral, completely flat, but the fact that he was able to even ask the question meant he had a strong will.
“Have you ever taken an innocent person’s life away from them, Todd?”
“No.”
“Then I will let you live, I promise. I’ll even walk you home after I’m done.”
Then, standing right there in the shadows between the streetlights, I bit into his wrist. I drank only what I needed—only a few mouthfuls. Not enough to harm him. I was tempted to drink more, but he was an innocent man. He was good for feeding upon, but not for killing.
After I was done, I drew a single drop of my own blood by pressing the pad of my thumb against one of my fangs. I smeared the blood over his bite wound. It closed at once, like magic.
“All done,” I announced. I locked eyes with him again and pushed with my will. “I’ll walk you home, and once you’re through your front door, you’ll forget all about me and what just happened.”
Todd nodded slowly. Then he frowned at me, though his expression was still mostly glazed from the vampiric hypnosis. “That didn’t feel like much of anything. I thought it would hurt.”
