“Well, what?” I finally asked.
Now that I thought about it, why wasn’t I hungrier? Yesterday, I was nearly willing to rip apart my sister to get to all that lovely blood. Today, a slight pang of hunger. Maybe I was getting a handle on this appetite of mine.
“Why the basement?” he asked, sounding very put out.
I looked around and shrugged. “It feels safe.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It doesn’t even matter. After the way you’ve screwed up, you’ll be lucky to sleep anywhere but six feet under from now on.”
I paid closer attention to the boy. He was tall and gangly, as if he’d had a growth spurt and now didn’t know what to do with all the extra length. His face was nice enough, and he’d probably be a handsome man in a few years. Right now, he was all angles and bones with a beautiful pair of green eyes.
He spoke like I knew him, but he didn’t look at all familiar.
“Do I know you?” I asked.
He frowned at me. I fought a laugh. He probably meant for me to be intimidated, but after the alpha’s stare from last night, he just seemed kind of comical.
“Do you know me?” he semi shouted. “I’m just the guy whose delivery you screwed up.”
I straightened. He had to be some type of supernatural. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I had ever done a job for you.”
“Does this ring a bell?” His voice deepened and the room darkened as if someone had dialed down the light. Shadows flew from the corners to wrap around him like a cloak, rendering him invisible.
“The sorcerer is a kid?” I asked.
This was weird, even for this world. How could a sixteen-year-old boy have enough power to scare an entire city to such an extent that they didn’t even call him by name? Just the Sorcerer, like Cher or Madonna.
The shadows flew apart leaving the boy standing there glaring at me in affront.
“I’m not a kid. I’m over fifty years old.”
I blinked. Impossible.
“Uh huh.”
His lips turned down giving him a mulish expression. The air charged and an arc of green light snapped from him, zapping me and sending me flying into the cement blocks behind me.
My head knocked against the wall. Lights exploded behind my eyelids as I slid to the ground. I could barely move and everything hurt. It felt like someone had frozen my lungs, making it impossible to draw a full breath.
That’s how I found out that vampires didn’t really need to breathe. It didn’t stop my lungs from trying, though.
I managed to get a look at my chest, expecting to see charred flesh. There were small singe marks on my shirt, but it and the flesh below, were whole and undamaged.
Everything in me hurt. It felt like I’d stuck my finger in a high voltage socket, only maybe worse. My mouth tasted like old pennies.
When I had enough saliva in my mouth to speak, I asked, “What the hell?”
He shrugged, not looking the least bit guilty. “I felt like you needed a little help to process my appearance.”
More like torture.
I drew myself up to sitting. My legs didn’t feel quite steady enough to attempt standing.
A soft green light gathered around his hands. “Do you need another demonstration?”
“Alright. Alright. I believe you. You’re the sorcerer.”
The light dyed.
