Simon kept himself rooted to the spot, too aware of Viktor's gaze on him.
It was no use. His old friend wasn't going to let him off the hook. "There's something between you two," he said, moving closer. He sniffed the air. "Something about your scent on him. It's not just that he's fed from you."
Simon stayed focused on Charlie's sleeping face.
Why did everything about this target have to bring up more questions?
"One of the vampires at the bar said something before I killed him."
"What?"
"He asked if I knew what it meant to give a starving fledgling my blood. Being the first to feed him."
Viktor went very still. "You were his first?"
Simon licked his lips. "I suppose so."
"Fuck." Viktor sat down hard in his chair. "Simon, do you know what that means?"
"It doesn't mean anything. I kept him from dying. That's all." And that was already weird enough.
Viktor rubbed his face. "When a vampire turns someone, they're supposed to feed them immediately. First blood comes from the sire. It completes the turning and creates the bond between maker and fledgling."
"So?"
"So his sire abandoned him and never gave him that first feeding." Viktor looked at Charlie's hand gripping Simon's sleeve. "And then you came along."
Simon stepped further away from the couch. This couldnotbe right. "I was keeping a potential informant alive. Nothing more."
"You gave a newly turned vampire their first real blood. In vampire terms?—"
"In vampire termsnothing. I'm not a vampire." Simon's voice came out harder than intended. "He's not my anything. He's a target who happens to have information I need."
Viktor studied him. "Can he refuse your direct commands?"
Simon's lips drew into a thin line.
"Have you tested it?"
Simon didn't know what to say. He thought of Charlie's hand dropping the pill bottle. His mouth snapping shut. But that could be explained other ways. Fear. Confusion. Charlie being Charlie.
"The Organization teaches us about sire bonds so we can exploit them," Viktor said carefully. "But they never mentioned we might be capable of forming them ourselves."
"Because we're not. We're human. Enhanced, but human."
"Right. That's why you need those pills. That's why you can smell blood through skin. That's why you're strong enough to fight vampires hand-to-hand." Viktor's voice was gentle but insistent. "We're something in between, Simon. The Organization made sure of that."
"The Organization saved us."
"Did they?"
Simon shook his head and focused back on Charlie. "He's going to turn. Eventually. They all do. Once the hunger really sets in, once he gets a taste for real hunting?—"
"And when's that gonna be?"
"Soon! He's still new and clinging to human morality." Simon stared down at Charlie's sleeping face. "Give it time. He'll become what they all become."
"A monster?"
