Dimitri knew all that, but he also knew that what he'd said was true. He was looking forward to spending every moment with Mattie. Today at the lab, when she watched him work, he felt bad about her having nothing to do, but he loved having her there next to him.
When she wasn't near, he missed her and worried about her.
When they reached the lab building, he slowly punched in the entry code so Mattie could see the numbers.
"You should memorize it." He opened the door and held it open for her.
"Why? I'm never leaving the lab without you, remember?"
"Mattie."
"Fine." She made a show of reciting the numbers back to him. "Happy?"
"Ecstatic."
The lab was dark and quiet, the equipment dormant, the workstations abandoned for the night. Petrov hadn't returned yet, was probably still nursing his vodka at the bar, which meant they had the place to themselves.
Dimitri led Mattie upstairs to his room and set her bag on the bed. "Get yourself settled. I'm going to grab that extra bed from downstairs."
"Do you need help?"
"I've got it." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Immortal strength, remember?"
"How can I forget?"
He hoped that she meant that in a good way.
They hadn't talked much about his transformation, and Mattie didn't ask him about how he was feeling and whether his fangs were starting to push through his gums or his venom glands were growing and pressing against his throat. It wasn't because she didn't care. He suspected that she was trying to forget that he was no longer human.
Should he bring it up? Or should he allow her to perpetuate the illusion that he was still the same guy she'd met in the bar not that long ago?
On the inside, he was. But there was no denying the changes in his body, and the enhanced strength was just one aspect of that. He'd always had a healthy sex drive, but now it was off the charts, and he needed to restrain himself not to scare Mattie. He didn't want her to associate him with the other immortals on any level, and especially not their heightened sexuality.
Downstairs, Dimitri entered the first cell and assessed the bed. Metal frame, thin mattress, nothing fancy. It would have to do.
On second thought, he could collect two more mattresses from the other cells to make their new double bed more comfortable.
He bent down and gripped the frame, lifting it experimentally. It was heavier than it looked, probably eighty or ninety kilos with the mattress, but he lifted it easily. Too easily. Before his transformation, he would have struggled with this weight. Now it felt like nothing.
He maneuvered the bed through the cell door, which required some creative angling, and started toward the stairs. The frame was awkward, more than heavy, the mattress threatening to slide off with every step, but he managed to keep it together.
He was halfway up the stairs when the lab's main door opened, and Petrov walked in.
His boss stopped dead and stared at Dimitri. "What are you doing?"
"Getting a bed for Mattie." Dimitri shifted his grip, trying to look like the effort was more than it actually was. "The single upstairs is too small for the two of us."
"And you're carrying it by yourself?"
"It's not that heavy."
Petrov's eyes narrowed. "That bed frame is solid steel. How are you carrying the whole thing like it's nothing?"
Dimitri's mind raced for an explanation, but nothing reasonable came to mind.
"Motivation," he said weakly. "I really want to sleep comfortably tonight."
Petrov didn't look convinced. "Let me help you with that."
