“I’d like that very much,” I said. “It would be nice to have family again. Except the Nolans. Like you said, they can go to hell.”
Sebastian laughed, then made an admiring comment about how much food I could put away. The burger, fries, and milkshake were all gone.
I patted my stomach proudly, resisting the urge to proclaim that I was eating for two. I wanted Robert to be the first individual I told about the pregnancy—beyond Jason, that was, but I didn’t count him on account of me begging for my life at the time.
Once I’d stowed the wrappers, Sebastian asked, “Would you like to hear about how our kind came to be?”
24
“Iwas ten years old when the change took place,” said Sebastian. “The year was 952 A.D.”
“You’re . . .” I paused to do the calculation.
“Really old. Yes,” he said.
Something dark occurred to me. “Wait a minute. If you only age about a year for every hundred you’ve been alive, then that means you were?—”
“A ten-year-old boy for a century. Give or take.” He winked. “If that’s what you were going to say.”
Okay, that wascrazy. “So, if you keep aging at this rate, you won’t die for . . .” I shook my head. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it.
“I try not to think about it. Assuming I’m not killed, we’re talking thousands of years. Imagine what the world will be like by that time.” He shrugged. “Hey, at least I’m not a true vampire. They never die.”
I shuddered at the thought of being a teenager for hundreds and hundreds of years. “So, you can be killed?”
He nodded. “Just like a regular human. I don’t have the same immunity to injuries that vampires do.”
“You must be careful.”
“Yes, very,” he said. “A few of our kind have died off because of accidents. The Industrial Revolution was harsh on humanity—lots of disasters. And all the wars, of course. Still, we’re immune to disease.”
“That must be great, never getting sick,” I said. “I’m sorry for all the interruptions—I know it’s probably getting annoying. There’s just so much I want to know.”
“No worries,” Sebastian assured me. “We’ve got plenty of time to catch up.” He went quiet for a moment. “Before I continue, I should mention that I heard much of this story via other villagers.”
“So, you’re saying it’s embellished?”
“I wouldn’t say embellished. From what I’ve witnessed, it’s mostly true. It’s more like legend, you could say.”
I smiled to show him that I was on the same page.
“When I was a boy, a beautiful girl named Violetta lived in my village,” he began. “She wasn’t only beautiful; she was kind, warm, and intelligent.”
“Sounds like you had a crush on her. Did you know her?”
“She sometimes babysat me, as well as other nearby children. Her parents had an orchard, and if we were good she’d bring fruit for us as a treat. But we werealwaysgood for Violetta because we loved her. She was very sweet.” My grandfather smiled at the memory. “She was seventeen when Luther came to our tiny Italian village. Luther was about a decade older than Violetta—so we believed at the time—in his late twenties, but Violetta was instantly smitten. It wasn’t uncommon at the time for a wealthy older man to take a younger woman as his lover.”
“It’s not uncommon now, either,” I said dryly.
“I don’t want to give you the impression that it was an unsavory courtship. Luther loved Violetta as much as she loved him.”
“So, he wasn’t just a creepy older dude preying on a teenager?” I said tactlessly.
I hoped Sebastian didn’t think I was implying the same thing about his association with Tilly. In truth, I didn’t knowwhatto think. I’d been around enough vampires to understand how complicated immortality was. And love? I certainly didn’t have all the answers.
“Not in the slightest,” Sebastian said. “Perhaps the situation would have ended better for the whole village had Luthernotloved Violetta so much.”
“This doesn’t sound like a happy, fairytale ending kind of story.”
