Page 43

“While their blood is in my veins, I have their abilities.” He stroked my throat.

“You feed off them until they die?” I asked.

“Yes. When I find a psychic, I keep them as a food source or pledge until either the secret to eternal power is discovered or they cease to exist. Humans are sadly quite fragile.”

I nodded, commiserating. “Who is your current source?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, he just passed away while you were gone, you naughty girl. I’ve been powerless for days. You should be terribly sorry.”

“I apologize,” I said, though I wasn’t sure why. Still, I trusted him.

“Stand by the fire,” he said. “Like our conversation, you won’t remember this either.”

I followed his direction. The heat from the flames licked uncomfortably at my side as he stalked toward me, fangs elongating and the veins in his neck rising darkly.

“Undo your blouse, pull it aside, and show me your throat,” he said around his fangs.

I followed his directions, stretching my head back to expose the tender flesh of my neck.

His fingertip trailed down to my pulse point, and he tapped there lightly. Then he dipped his head to the spot. I startled as he sank into the vein.

A familiar euphoria washed over me as he pulled at my life source. A strange, unsettled feeling accompanied the pleasure, and I wanted him to stop. But I trusted him…

“Please don’t,” I managed.

Instead, his palms found my breasts and squeezed painfully as he nearly knocked me over, sucking at my throat.

The door to the office burst open and Silas was off me in an instant.

“How dare you interrupt,” he bellowed at Lydia who stood in the doorway.

She glanced at me then back at him. “You told me to inform you immediately when we had a breakthrough.”

Silas’s entire countenance changed, and he was back to the golden-eyed businessman. “Excellent. You found a way to maintain a psychic’s powers when changed?”

Lydia swallowed. Oh. I must be disturbing her. My blouse was open, and blood still ran down my neck. How had that happened? I pressed one hand to the wound and buttoned with the other.

“Dr. Devaux believes it has to do with stimulating the parietal cortex with an electrical impulse at the moment of transition," Lydia said. “Obviously, we need to test the theory, but we’d need a volunteer, and those might be hard to come by.”

“Not as difficult as you may think,” Silas said. “Leave us and don’t speak of what you’ve seen here.”

Lydia’s gaze unfocused for a moment before she nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

“You can glamour other vampires?” I asked, rejoining him at the desk.

Silas made a disgusted sound and zoomed around to my side where he pried my hand away from my neck and licked the wound closed. I waited patiently.

“Once you reach a certain age, you can glamour vampires at least 500 years your junior. Where is Julian? I would like him to be here for our momentous occasion. That bitch spoiled the mood, but having him here would help rekindle the flame.”

I pulled a face. “I don’t know where that asshole is, nor do I care.”

To my surprise, Silas chuckled. “I see. He still sent you back to me, though. Why not whisk you far away? Silly child. In any case, I need to find a spare psychic in the event this trial goes awry.”

“I know where some are. But it wouldn’t be easy to get them,” I offered and told him about MorningStar’s lab outside of Phoenix.

“Thank you for the information. Perhaps I have a way.”

“You need a volunteer for the procedure my father discovered?” I asked, intrigued.