Page 19 of Viktor

“So I’ve been told.” Waverly switched on the gas.

“Are you okay? How do you feel?” Viktor asked and leaned against the counter.

“I feel like I’m living in another dimension. Like I just got shot at.” She glanced back at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I was worried about you,” he confessed, inwardly shocked that he meant it.

“You just met me.” She knifed off a pad of butter and tapped it into the pan.

“This is the third time we’ve met. Fourth if you consider last night. We better be careful. People will talk.” He smiled, enjoying the sight of her in his home.

“You like your eggs over easy? Over medium?”

“I don’t eat eggs.”

“You’re vegan? I could make something else.”

“I drink blood, my clever doctor.”

“So…you want scrambled eggs?” she asked, toying with the egg in her fingers.

“I eat humans. Not human food,” he replied flatly.

“Okay.” She blew out a breath. “But you used to eat eggs?”

“Yes, I suppose at one time I did.”

“So did you eat them over easy or over medium?” she pressed.

“I don’t know. It was many years ago.”

“You strike me as sharp. You must remember. Come on now.”

“I ate them however they were made. Food was food,” he recalled, not wishing to remember details.

“All right then. You get what you get.” She cracked an egg. It sizzled as it dropped into the frying pan. “Why don’t you eat? Is it a vampire thing? Are you broken inside? Pipes clogged?”

“Pipes clogged?” He laughed. “No.”

“What is it then?”

“It’s simple. I eat people.” Viktor watched as she continued cracking eggs.

“Food tastes good. Why would you ever give it up? Is there some kind of vampire rule that doesn’t let you have it?”

Viktor sighed, feeling woefully unprepared for this discussion with the human. Hours had passed since she’d fallen asleep in tears. Yet this morning her air of confidence had returned to her like a pair of comfortable slippers.

“No super-secret vampire rules, it’s just that, well…I was human a long time ago. And I felt like a human. Heard the birds sing like a human. Smelled, tasted food. All human.” Viktor’s expression fell flat as the somber memories weighed down his soul. “But then one day you die. You see the light of the Goddess. In those seconds of dying, there’s this most beautiful warm light. It’s more than acceptance, it’s almost as if it’s a conscious decision to let go. And in a snap of a whip, you’re sucked back to the earth.” Viktor cocked his head, his voice brightened. “That’s it really. But you’re no longer human. You wake with the most intense hunger you’ve ever had. For blood. Not food.”

Viktor detected her heart beat faster at the mention of blood. But as Waverly casually reached for the spatula and swiftly placed the eggs onto the plates, she turned to him, her face devoid of fear. He moved to the side as she set them on the table, noting how effectively she concealed her emotions.

“Sometimes when I wake up, I make a protein smoothie. It’s very nutritious,” she replied, facing him. “But I still eat eggs.”

“But you see, pet. There is nothing more I need. Blood is my only sustenance.”

“Blood? Your only need?” she challenged, taking a step toward him. “That’s not living. It’s existing. Why would you ever want to live life like that?”

Viktor closed the distance between them, coming within inches of her. Her pulse raced yet she refused to move, standing her ground. He leaned to whisper in her ear. “I can assure you that once I taste you, drink from you, you will learn to enjoy it as much as I do.”