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“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Could ever know.”
“How can you say that?” She hated the tears that rained down her cheeks almost as much as the fear that now ruled her. “Did you look at me? My eyes are red. A horrible, evil color. Like blood.”
He eased back and kissed her forehead. “Like passion. Like love.”
She gazed up at him, unable to ignore the needy stirrings low in her belly. Was it his presence that made her yearn so? Or had that irritating little gnome of a woman been right? Was she a latent who mated simply out of thirst for blood and sex?
“I don’t want you to worry about anything. Do you honestly believe I’d let anything happen to you now that I’ve found you?” He growled the last part and tightened his arms until she felt as if he’d locked her in silken bonds of steel that welded them together. But there was no pain. Only pleasure.
She rubbed her nose against the bristly, dark hair that crept over the collar of his green V-neck pullover. The fabric was so soft and snuggly, and his chest so deliciously hard. And his arms were so protective and loving.
Did he love her? Did she love him? Was she crazy to even wonder such a thing after a few days?
“Vampires can’t have children, right?” She didn’t know why the question popped into her mind, or worse, why it tumbled off her lips.
Talk about a mood killer.
“No. They cannot. Vampires are made, not born. The first vampire originated from a simple mistake. Someone who decided to play with something they didn’t understand.”
“Who?”
“A doctor. Several hundred years ago, or so the lore goes. An experiment gone wrong led to a genetic mutation, and the result was a human who thirsted for blood. Blood has regenerative powers, and this person’s blood was especially strong because of the alteration in his code. Once the person drank from an unsuspecting human, he passed on his changed blood and made more bloodthirsty types like himself. Only as the years passed did the doctor realize the mutation had sufficiently changed the blood so that the body continually made new cells. Therefore the host never aged. And never died.”
“So vampires can’t reproduce?” she asked again, still feeling as if she’d somehow stumbled into the middle of an afternoon horror matinee.
“No. Once the transition is complete, the woman’s eggs wither, because that is a function of human life. The need to breathe ceases, as well, although the habit resurfaces at odd times.”
She pressed her cheek against his heart. Not only did it beat, strong and sure, but his chest rose with shallow breaths. “Like now?”
“Yes.” He stroked her hair, brushing damp locks off her forehead in the soothing manner she’d already come to adore. “Being close to you overwhelms me.”
Her lips tipped up, though she didn’t lift her head. “Is that why your heart is beating?”
“No, all our hearts beat. Blood still moves through our bodies, and the heart regulates that. But our hearts don’t have a limited lifespan as human hearts do. Ours aren’t susceptible to disease or the effects of time.”
Before she could comment, Kellan gripped her shoulders and stared down into her eyes with a mixture of sadness and compassion. “We never found your morning-after pills. I couldn’t find them at your apartment, either.”
“You looked?”
“Yes. Though it’s several days beyond the next day now.”
“Yeah.” Sydney bit her lip and gazed down at her flat stomach. Sometime she’d awakened long enough for them to dress her in the tank and shorts she’d worn when she’d encountered their broken-down car. Or supposedly broken-down.
“It bothers you.”
“That I could be pregnant? Yeah, you could say that.”
“Not only that. If you were to become one of us, you would never have children.”
“I’m hardly in a place to be concerned about that.” She forced out a laugh. “I’m a single coffee waitress and chakra reader. I don’t even own a pet. I certainly shouldn’t care about whether or not I can have children—” The sob escaped her before she even knew it was coming.
Stricken, she whirled around and stared at her reflection. At her malevolent red eyes, now streaked with tears. “I didn’t want to believe what was happening to me. Somehow even when you told me the story about being changed, I didn’t fully believe it. I’d stepped into a fairy tale, except my Prince Charmings had fangs.”
“Not two princes. Only one. Only one that cares for you enough to wish he could give you that child you say you don’t want.”
Her breath caught. Why did that statement hurt her even more?
“Not now.” She swiped at her eyes. “I don’t want one now. But someday. I liked knowing the possibility existed. I could get my shit together and have a normal life. And now—” she glared at her reflection as tears dripped off her chin “—now I have no possibilities. Because of you. Because I wasn’t strong enough to resist what you offered.”
