Anatoly didn’t want to stop and yet he knew he needed to. The more he took, the harder it would be for her to recover, and so he forced himself to pull away, his tongue flicking over the pinpricks from his fangs with some remorse that his mark would no longer be on her.
As Maggie began to slump in his arms, Anatoly scooped her up easily and took her to the living room where he sat her down on the couch. Guilt lashed at him that he had given in, that he had put her in harm’s way, but she reached for him and it eased a little.
There was a smile on her face and when he took her hand, she gave him a weak tug that didn’t abate until he was sitting beside her. To his surprise, she took it a step further and shifted until she was snuggled against his side. It was so natural to slide his arm around her shoulders and he marveled at how well she fit next to him like she was made to exist with him alone.
“Now what?” she asked a few moments later.
“Now, you rest,” came his immediate answer. “We can talk little more, but hope you did not have plans as I am sure you will soon be sleepy.”
Maggie’s grip on him tightened a little. “I don’t want you to leave,” she whispered. “Tell me how you became a vampire…”
Leaning back, being careful not to jostle her too much, Anatoly settled in and got comfortable, which didn’t take much. He doubted she would last the whole tale, but he endeavored to share as much with her as possible before she drifted off.
At one point, Gremlin joined them, settling into Maggie’s lap as Anatoly did his best to relay the simple story of how he became a vampire.
It wasn’t a long story, but Anatoly certainly made it longer than it really needed to be. Thus was the nature of being a scholar, he could be terribly verbose when not kept on a tight leash.
Anatoly started at the beginning, in the quiet chapel where long ago he had been discovered by his sire. He was a vampire of note, looking to continue his bloodline in much the same sense as the great lines such as Dracula and Rollo the Walker. He had seen potential in the thirty-two year old priest to one day become his heir.
So he offered Anatoly power, knowledge, and immortality in a fancy package that was too good to be true. At first, he had resisted with all his might, but, being a weak mortal, he ultimately fell to that temptation. He was lured by the promise of how much good he could do with the tools he was being offered.
Knowing what he did now, Anatoly would never have fallen prey to his sire’s eloquent, insidious words, but that was hindsight. He’d learned in time what a monster the man was and had severed all contact for over a century now. In all that time, Anatoly had lived as a priest, moving from one city to the next as it became harder and harder to hide that he wasn’t aging.
He had eventually immigrated alongside other priests and slipped through the system on account of there not being a lot of paperwork in that day and age.
When she seemed concerned, he made sure to assuage Maggie that there were vampires who could help him disappear. He had only to reach out to the local coven and they would succor him, but he hoped that would never come to pass…
Sure enough, by the time he was finished, Maggie’s eyes were shut and he thought at first she was sleeping. Then she groaned, snuggling a little closer, much to Gremlin’s dismay at being jostled by the movement.
“Keep talking,” she bade him sleepily. “I enjoy listening to your voice.”
Anatoly couldn’t stop himself from blushing at the compliment. He was still getting used to her being sweet to him. If he was being honest, he wasn’t accustomed to this sort of affection at all.
As a priest, he had kept everyone at a professional or friendly distance, especially as a vampire. Now, here was someone he had shared so much of his private self with. He was still wrapping his head around it.
“Anatoly?” She lifted her head off his shoulder, looking at him with concern in her big brown eyes.
“Is nothing, just lost in thought,” he replied, kissing her forehead absently. “You should sleep, Maggie.”
Her lips formed into a cute little pout and he couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she was right now.
“I’m resting,” she pressed. “Tell me more.”
He chuckled at her insistence. “There is nothing left to tell,” he replied. “You have heard whole story.”
This didn’t seem to satisfy her and she tried again. “What about your sire? Where is he now?”
“I honestly do not know,” he answered without hesitation. He had no secrets from Maggie. “He has not contacted me and I have not sought him out.”
Maggie began petting the cat still curled up in her lap. She seemed very thoughtful for a long, quiet moment until finally, she whispered, “Do you miss him? He’s like a father, right?”
“It is complicated…” Anatoly struggled to find the words, wanting to be forthright, but not knowing how to explain the complex nature of vampire politics.
His sire had wanted him to aid him in conquest and Anatoly hadn’t been willing to participate in backstabbing and trickery. Even if that was the name of the game when it came to how the covens worked.
Sure, they would support each other: at a price. For that reason alone he wanted to keep Maggie as far away from other vampires as possible. He knew she was a liability to him in many ways, but it was less that and more her safety he was concerned with. If someone wanted to hurt him, she was the best way to go about it.
His grip tightened on her and he kissed the top of her head, unable to keep the frown off his face at the mere thought of her being harmed.
