The space was altogether cramped, costumes and props in every corner. It didn’t have the same warmth as Thea’s chaos, though, and the finery was for show, not for truth.
Raphael pulled a pile of silver pieces from his pocket and set them on a low cabinet. “Your time and discretion.”
She arched a brow, the only hair on her head save her lashes. “That’s never all it is. I’ll tell you now, you three will get no blood from me.”
“Of course not,” I interjected. “That’s not why we’re here.”
It couldn’t be, right?
“Good, because I’m prone to anemia, and perform atrociously after any blood loss, including my monthly.” She turned back to the mirror and added a bright red smear to her lips before finally rising to face us. “Then why are you here?”
“My fledgling is going to thrall you, or at least attempt it.”
I jolted. That was nearly worse than blood drinking. “Raphael,” I hissed.
“You can decline,” Raphael said after glancing at me. “My guard will give his word to intercede on your behalf if anything untoward were to occur.”
Demos’s role became clearer. Raphael had mentioned the fledgling bond compelled him to aid in my survival. It must be a known thing, hence the import of a third party.
Of course, I couldn’t imagine Raphael expected trouble, and truthfully I doubted Demos could stand against him. But the actress didn’t know that.
Raphael hadn’t identified himself as a king, and we blended well enough with the crowd. This might be a standard method for training vampires for all I knew.
“Do you agree to this?” The question was directed at the actress, but I forced myself to consider.
It’s a violation. The gut instinct to reject anything related to being a vampire was strong. But I bit my tongue. I’d promised to embrace these efforts. Besides, a calculating part of me considered that learning how to thrall a human might be thefirst step to learning how to use the ability on vampires. The two seemed similar enough.
I didn’t have a witch teacher, but perhaps a vampire would do.
“You get an hour, my discretion, and that pile of silver had better double by the time you leave.”
“Agreed,” Raphael said.
Thankfully, the woman wasn’t a vampire, so I didn’t have to watch Raphael kiss her.
She stuck her hand at me. “My name’s Flo.”
I shook it, keeping my press gentle. “My name—”
“Eh-hem.”Demos cleared his throat, not so subtly.
Well, discretion or not, it was rude not to give Flo something to call me, especially if I was supposed to violate her free will.
“You can call me Samantha,” I settled on. It wasn’t my name, but shecouldcall me it, so it wasn’t a lie.
“Nice to meet you, Samantha.” She arched a brow, looking between the two vampires flanking me. “I won’t bother asking for introductions from your sire or Mr. Tall, Pale, and Grumpy since you’re paying for discretion and all. So, what do you want?”
Raphael studied me. “We’ll start simple. You will endeavor to stand still, whileSam”—he almost never shortened my name, so it felt rather pointed—“orders you to perform simple functions.”
“Easy enough,” Flo agreed.
He turned to me. “Eye contact is essential. You must look into a mortal’s eyes to thrall them. Then give them the order.”
I met Flo’s green eyes for half a second before turning back to Raphael.
“What if they’re blind?” I asked. “Or they can’t see you in the dark?”
“That’s why vampire eyes glow slightly when thralling, so they can be seen. Even individuals with extremely limited sight can be affected, but true blindness, no.”
