“Your experience is unfortunate, yes. Your sire didn’t follow the unwritten rules, which state that one does not bring over an unwilling fledgling. And vampires are not evil.”
“Yes, they are.”
“No, they are not. Not as a rule, anyhow. Some are, some aren’t. Just like humans. How one was as a human will govern their behavior when they become a vampire.”
I was still frowning. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
He sighed. “I don’t know why I even bothered trying to help you. It’s obvious you won’t last.”
“What do you mean I won’t last?” I was weak and scared and still almost completely convinced this was all just a bizarrely vivid dream, but I could still feel insulted.
He counted on his fingers. “Your sire is dead. You seem to attract hunters like a magnet. And you know absolutely nothing about vampires.”
I frowned at him and crossed my arms. “I’ll have you know I know loads about vampires. Anne Rice is one of my favorite authors.”
Thierry grimaced. “That will get you far.”
I felt a rise of anger chase away my fear. “I don’t need anybody’s help. I’m fine all by myself. I didn’t ask for you to bring me back to your”—I looked around at the sparse decor—“subterranean love nest, mister. And for another thing—”
White-hot pain exploded through my entire body. I clutched at the side of the couch and tore at the smooth leather with my French-manicured fingernails. “Oh, God. Oh, my God,”
I moaned in agony. “What’s happening to me?”
“You’re dying,” he said matter-of-factly. “But it should be over before dawn, so don’t worry.”
“Dying?” I yelped. I was starting to believe him. Another wave of pain hit me and I doubled over and slid down to the floor. “Help me,” I managed, fear slicing through me like a knife through butter. “Why are you just standing there? Do something!”
“I can’t do anything more.” His handsome face was blank. “I gave you the blood. I can’t drink it for you.”
The pink-tinged water sat innocently on the coffee table as I suffered next to it. After another burst of agony I grabbed the cold glass, brought it to my trembling lips, and glugged the whole thing down. The pain stopped immediately. It was like Gatorade-for-vampires. I lay on my back on Thierry’s hardwood floor and stared at the ceiling for a couple of minutes. Then I pushed myself into a sitting position and took in a long, deep breath while I tried to compose myself.
“More?” Thierry offered.
“No, I’m good.”
“You should go home now. It’ll be dawn before too long.”
I nodded with a firm shake of my head. “Can’t go out in the sun anymore, right? I’ll be burned to a crisp?”
He almost looked amused with me. “Is that from the school of Anne Rice? Sunlight is not good for vampires, correct. You’ll feel your strongest at night. During the day the sun will make you feel weaker and it will seem at times overbearingly bright, but I promise that you won’t burn up.”
“Really? Well, that’s good to know.”
“If it bothers you too much while you’re still new, I suggest you try to travel about the city using the underground tunnel system; what do they call it here in Toronto? The PATH?”
“And how long will I be considered new?”
“Fifty years or so.”
“Oh.” I thought about that. I’d be considered new till my seventy-eighth birthday. I’d be as old as Uncle Jim, who recently said a final good-bye to Canadian winters to move permanently down to Florida. “So it’s true that vampires live forever?”
He frowned. “We don’t die of the usual human ailments and we essentially stop aging from the point we are sired, if that’s what you mean.”
Interesting. Completely implausible, but very interesting.
“So how old are you?” I asked.
He took the empty glass away from me and returned it to the kitchen. Through the open doorway I could see him rinse it under the sink, and then place it neatly into a stainless-steel dishwasher before he answered me.
“Old.”
“How old?”
“Well over six hundred.”
My mouth dropped open. “Wow. I mean, you look good for six hundred. I would have thought you’d be all crusty and falling apart by that age. That’s amazing.”
He looked away with an odd expression on his handsome, noncrusty face. “Yes, amazing.” There was zero enthusiasm in his voice.
“I guess it’s just going to take me a little while to get used to being undead.”
“Un-what?”
“Undead. An animated corpse. A vampire.” I shrugged at him. “Duh.”
He looked exasperated with me. “Are you breathing?”
I frowned and concentrated to make sure I was still inhaling and exhaling. Yup.
“Of course I am.”
“And, is your heart still beating?”
I put a hand over my chest. There it was, the steady thumping of my heart. A little erratic, but still beating. “Yeah.”
“And my heart, does it beat?”
I frowned at him, then raised a hand to press against his very firm, very warm, and very male chest. It took me a moment before I remembered why I was touching him. Oh, yeah, the heart thing.
I nodded. “Yes.”
He took a step back from me and my hand fell to my side. “So what does that tell you?”
“Not undead?”
“Correct.”