Shaking his head, with a slight roll of his eyes. “No. We do not have souls. We are divine beings. It’s not the same.”
“Well, if you can live forever without turning evil, so can I. So to keep my crystallized soul from atrophying, I need to do the soul’s version of push-ups. Maybe that means volunteering at the soup kitchen regularly. That would do the trick.”
He shook his head, a frown tugging at his lips again. “It is difficult to explain.”
“I’m immortal too, I’ve got time,” I said, pointing at my wrist where a watch would be.
“Sekhors were once slaves to the gods.”
My jaw dropped so hard, I was sure it hit the ground.
“Exsqueeze me?”
“For many centuries we lived in symbiosis, providing for each other. But the sekhors always turned power hungry and countless cities were plunged in fire and bloodshed. Finally, it was decided the sekhors could be no more. If they were wiped out, the destruction would cease.”
That was it? The vampires were violent and cruel and so the gods exterminated them. I swallowed hard, finally meeting a pill I couldn’t swallow.
A phone rang, causing me to jerk.
Grim crossed over to a set of drawers, opening the top. There was a lineup of cellphones on a velvet cloth. Picking up the one that was ringing, Grim answered, his eyes still on me. He didn’t say a word, and I couldn’t tell if he was trapped in the moment with me or if he was intently listening.
Even though the eight-foot monstrous form he took by the pool was pee-my-pants scary, he had fought his own brother off to protect me.
Because he needs you for bait.
Still, seeing him go all protective had made me feel things I hadn’t quite processed. It had sparked something in me. Hope? I immediately tried to bat away the notion. What did I think? He was going to keep me alive and ask me to be his girlfriend? He was Death. The ancient death god, Anubis.
Then something new occurred to me. It should have been my very first thought, but the little dudes running my brain were working overtime as it was.
If the Original who was in a coma was a god, did that mean I was given a god’s blood?
“Yes, thank you for letting me know, Timothy. We are on our way.” Grim turned the phone off. “We need to go, now.” His tone brooked no argument.
But I wanted to brook. I wanted to brook hard.
We weren’t done talking about this. And next time there would be more clothing, less drool, and more answers.
26
Once the door opened, I dropped the pizza box, so it was no longer obstructing my face under the ball cap. “Hiya, Skip,” I said.
Skip’s eyes flew open. He tried to shut the door but a hand stopped him. Grim pushed his way into the apartment and I followed, kicking the door shut. It crunched in the frame behind me.
Right, vampire strength.
I needed to cool it. But excitement thrummed under my skin. I was finally going to get some answers.
Grim pointed at the La-Z-Boy recliner. “Sit.”
Skip opened his mouth to protest, but Grim’s eyes glowed like molten gold.
Skip’s butt hit the chair so fast he almost sent the entire thing flying backward. His foot bounced in agitation. I grimaced. Socks with sandals. God, I hoped Grim was wrong and this wasn’t my boyfriend. I’d just die if I found out I was hooking up with one of those socks-with-sandals guys.
Or, I mean, die again.
I set the ball cap and pizza box on a beat-up wood table. I’d changed into dark pants and a halter top again.
“You know her?” Grim asked, his voice reverberated with monstrous echoes.
