“Those were the sensations I needed to experience, to write down,” Adriel continued. “So I was lost in my thoughts. I wasn’t being careful. The other townspeople were paranoid, too cautious. I thought I was bulletproof, so to speak, that nothing would happen to me.”
His hand tightened around mine. I stroked the back of his hand with my thumb, trying to soothe him in any way I could.
“I didn’t see it coming. My nose was buried in my writing when it happened.” Adriel opened his eyes again, and they were dark and tormented, like he was prying open an old scar. “A vampire attacked me. A stray, just a passerby looking for a meal. A predator seeking prey. I didn’t stand a chance. I shouldn’t have.” Adriel’s eyes hardened now. “The only reason I’m still alive is because he was sloppy.”
My skin prickled and I nestled closer to him for comfort. “How?”
Adriel stroked my hair, as if I was the one recalling a difficult memory and not him. “He was too eager, and therefore careless. He must have been too hungry to think, and attacked the first human he saw.” Adriel paused and stared into the darkness. “It was violent, loud and brutal.”
I winced in sympathy.
“He shot out of the treeline, faster than anything I’d seen before in my life, and attacked me. I remember screaming and seeing blood everywhere. I didn’t know what was happening until after it was over.”
“Over?” I asked hesitantly.
“It was all a blur, but I knew at one point someone else had joined him. My first thought, hazy from blood loss and terror, was that another one had joined him. In a way, I was right - another vampire did come to me. But that one was Margaret.”
“She saved you?”
“Yes.” Adriel shut his eyes for a moment and continued. “She killed the vampire who attacked me in one quick motion, snapping his neck with her bare hands. She told me later - much later - why she did it. She said she couldn’t have clumsy and careless vampires like him roaming the lands. The more we were seen and understood by humans, the more difficult it became for us to live. She said we should stick to the shadows, and be as secretive as possible.”
I nodded, as if I understood any of this. Like it wasn’t something out of a fantasy. Like it wasn’t reality.
“What happened after Margaret… killed the other vampire?” I asked. Even just saying it out loud made me shudder. I imagined the woman I met, small and frail, being so powerful in the past - strong enough to kill another vampire like he was nothing.
A bittersweet tenderness glowed in Adriel’s eyes. “She looked down at me. I was pathetic and broken, laying in a pool of my own blood. Dying.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why she saved me. Maybe she saw something in me that even I didn’t know about myself.” He frowned. “Or maybe she was just lonely.”
I remembered that Adriel was the oldest out of the brothers. He had been by Margaret’s side the longest. They had been together for centuries, and now she was dying. I couldn’t imagine how hurt and conflicted Adriel must have felt.
“Was it… painful?” I asked. “Your turning?”
“More painful than you can ever imagine,” Adriel murmured. “I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody.”
I pressed myself closer to his chest and wrapped my arms around him. “I’m sorry.”
Adriel nodded and hugged me back. Neither of us spoke for a long while.
“So the scenes in your books, of humans turning into vampires,” I said, “they’re all based on reality.”
“Yes.” He stroked my hair, then dipped down to my back where he continued petting me in soothing motions. “And you’re the only human who knows that.”
I smiled a bit.
“Just in case you ever ask me to turn you,” Adriel said suddenly, “my answer will always be a resoundingno.I refuse to put anybody through the pain my brothers and I faced.”
“I get it,” I replied. “I wasn’t going to ask anyway. No matter how cool and sexy you are.”
An impish smirk tugged at his lips. “You can be cool and sexy without being a vampire.”
“Are you saying I’m cool and sexy?”
“Cool?” He cupped my face. “Maybe. Sexy?” He leaned in closer so his lips were inches from my ear. “Absolutely. Especially last night.”
I shivered. “Cut it out before you give me another boner.”
He grinned at me like a snake. “Would that be so bad?”
“I haveworklater,” I complained half-heartedly.
