Sighing, Wulf relaxes against the couch, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling as he continues to talk.I am dying to touch his metallic hair, curious to see if it really is threads of obsidian and copper, because that is what it looks like.
I have to remind myself that he is a monster.
“It was Tempest’s theory that the Red Queen’s telomeres never got short.That was what gave her immortality.She was able to pass this evolutionary adaptation on to her lovers through her blood, but only after it had mingled with the lover’s blood inside her.”
The pieces begin to fall into place.Wulf is from the modern era, just like me.He has a way of explaining things to me so that I understand.
“Was it a mutation?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Wulf shakes his head.
“I have no idea.But it makes sense that nature, or Mother Earth, would do her best to try and create a superior predator to take out humans.Apex predators come and go, you know, and men have been at the top of the food chain for way too long.Humanity is due a correction, don’t you agree?”
Human predators.“We have psychos.They hunt us.”
“That’s not a modern mutation.That’s how humans originally were.Flee, kill, or be killed.Survival is all about who’s got the longest spear and how hard they can thrust it.”
A vaguely sexual undertone clings to his words.It makes me shift as if I am uncomfortable.
Maybe Wulf notices, but he makes no comment.
“So, why were the Riders so surprised when you were born, Wulf?”
“Any vampire can impregnate a woman, cuz.But they don’t for two reasons: one, they never stick around long enough for it to happen, and two, because the woman becomes infertile from blood loss if the vampire does stick around.”
I’m not loving this topic!So I quickly change it.
“You’re not such an aberration as they try to make it sound, Wulf.”
“Heh.Nah.But do you honestly think those primitive brutes at the MC have any idea what a fucking chromosome is?They were basically cavemen when they were turned into vampires by the queen!My father was born during the Iron Age, for fuck’s sake!They think my mother’s special brew is like some kind of magic.”
“What makes it work?”
His long fingers draw diagrams in the air.He shifts closer to me, making the breath catch in my throat.
“It’s notbloodthe vampires need, Luna.It’s MC1R.The melanin-concentrating hormone.Only redheads have bucket loads of the stuff in their blood.Okay, that’s not strictly true.Any brunette whose hair turns red in the sun.Any strawberry blonde.They have the gene, too.But redheads have the most.”
Wulf turns and touches my hair.“That’s about four percent of the population.Make that two percent, excluding men.”
I have officially run out of questions.Wulf grins.
“The polymerase duplicates the MC1R gene, making concentrated genetic material.Enough to satisfy the vampires’ bloodlust—more than you can ever imagine.”
The other shoe has to drop.I’m waiting for it.
Putting his arm around my shoulders, Wulf pulls me close and kisses the top of my head.
“Sweet cuz, allow me to save you from yourself.Do you see what has happened?They are using you.My own mother set you up.All they want is your blood.And like a dumb farm animal, you fell for it.”
I try pushing him away, but he is too strong.
“Aha!You know I speak the truth, but you are too much under his spell to escape.What do you think is going to happen to you once you hit menopause, Luna?”
I will be a dried-up husk of a middle-aged woman, infertile, wasted from blood loss, old and alone.Enslaved on Landslide, forced to keep brewing my blood essence until my lunar cycle finally sputters to an end…
This is crazy!Ten minutes ago, I was sure Shadow loved me, and now I am unsure.My heart gives one last push of hope.
“B-but you killed your mother, Wulf.Shadow told me?—”
