But I knew I shouldn't complain too much. It got the job done. It kept me alive. Not thriving, but living.
There was one thing I held out for: the shifter legends of fated mates.
Although vampires can 'shift' into bats, we are not true shifters. Our shape only holds for a short amount of time and is not a real bodily transformation, but an illusion born of the vampire's thrall. The illusion shatters if held for too long, or if we are touched in our bat form.
But among true shifters, there are great legends about fated mates. How finding your one true love chosen by destiny changed your life forever—how it was the greatest blessing imaginable. From what I knew, there was almost a magical quality about the bonding. It sounded almost too good to be true.
But I clung to hope. I prayed that finding my fated mate would cure my bloodlust somehow. Perhaps it was childish to think that way. How could my destined partner sate my thirst? Was it even possible, or was I stuck on a naive fantasy that would simply crash and burn?
I'd never heard of a fellow vampire losing their bloodthirst upon finding their fated mate. Then again, I didn't know many whowantedto. Every vampire I knew tolerated or even enjoyed the act of drinking blood. I was the odd one out.
I only wanted to be normal, and to be loved. Was that so unusual?
The dry sucking sound at the bottom of my fake-blood packet pulled me back to reality. The packet was empty. Good. At least meandering in my thoughts relieved me of being cognizant of the awful taste.
After tossing the packet in the trash, I was at a loss for what to do. Talking to Mallory had been a welcome distraction from the mix of chaos and monotony of her party. Now I felt bored and awkward, an outsider compared to the rest of the partygoers—in my own damned house, no less.
As I stood artlessly in the doorway, a striking new fragrance wafted across my nose.
And everything stopped.
The thudding sound, the busy sights, the coppery scent—for a split second, all of it disappeared. Nothing existed except me and the alluring, delicious aroma.
A shiver ran through my body. To my horror, I began salivating like a cartoon dog. My fangs lengthened in my mouth and my veins quivered, as if vibrating with anticipation.
What was that scent? Who was it coming from?
And why the devil was it affecting me this way?
My eyes snapped to the source like a laser.
There. It was coming from the human who just shuffled into the room.
My mouthwatered.Though nobody noticed it except me, I swallowed hard and fast to destroy the evidence.
Was this... bloodthirst?
Dear god, I had never been so ashamed.
The sight and scent of human blood disgusted me. It always had, since the moment I was turned. I wondered if I'd been averse to it during my human life, but it was so long ago that I barely remembered. All I knew was my dislike of it now. Aside from the moral standpoint, it was part of the reason I chose not to engage in blood-drinking.
But this human smelled different. The blood running through his veins did not repulse me.
It attracted me.
I wanted it. I wantedhim.
The sudden onslaught of thoughts startled me. What was I thinking? I was an upstanding, moral man—as much as a vampire could possibly be, anyway. These horrific ideas appalled me. It wasn't who I was.
I had to leave. Get away from this human.
But I was frozen to the spot. It was like his aura wouldn't let me leave. If he wasn't so obviouslyhumanI would've suspected him to be an incubus, or another vampire pulling me into his thrall, or some shifter with magic. But he had no animal scent. There wasn't a single atom of him that didn't scream "simple, average human."
Except he was anything but average—because no other human ever had this effect on me.
Leave. Now.
My body refused my brain. The two were in such disagreement that I must've looked like a buffoon standing there, unblinking and unmoving, held hostage by my dysfunctional systems. I could only watch helplessly as the human bumbled closer, unaware of my presence. He looked flustered by the writhing couple on the counter. His eyes were averted, stuck on the floor. He didn't notice me until he nearly bumped into my chest.
