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Ritual? Does she expect me to bed the girl? I rub my forehead and grimace in pain from the ache in my teeth. There's no way I can – not the way Ifeel.
What's wrong withme?
Marguerite pushes the girl onto the bed beside me, so that she half-lies half-sits on me, her hands on either side of my hips. Marguerite crawls onto the bed as well, and once more pulls back the girl's long hair, exposing the creamy smooth skin of herneck.
"Take her, Julien," Marguerite says. "You needher."
"Take her?" I say, confused. "I'm in nocondition..."
"Of course you are. You have a need and so you take." The girl's nearness seems to intensify all my senses and the ache in my veins grows stronger, my teeth hurting, my vision focusing in on the girl's neck. I can hear her heartbeat from where I sit, feel her warmth radiating from her body and most of all, I can smell her blood. It stirs something in me that I've never feltbefore.
"Bite her, Julien," Marguerite says. "The skin on her neck just under her ear. You know it's what you need. Do it now, and you'll feel better. If you don't, you'lldie."
"What?"
Marguerite creeps closer to me on the bed, and pulls the girl into my arms. The girl complies as if she's drugged, tilting her head to reveal more of her neck. I can't help but inhale sharply. Now I feel a need for blood. My heart pounds, and the ache in my teeth grows unbearable. I run my tongue over my teeth and the canines have become longer, sharper as if I'm some predator ready for thekill.
"Bite her," Marguerite says, her voice soft but compelling. "Drink her blood. It's what you need. If you don't do this, you'll dieforever."
"Is this some kind of devilry?" I say, staring into Marguerite's eyes. She shakes herhead.
"Only that which will make you immortal." She pushes my head down towards the girl's neck. "Takeher."
I'm unable to resist the pull of the girl's blood. I bend down, my mouth hovering over the girl's skin just below her ear. I press my mouth against her and feel the thrum of her heartbeat against my lips. My desire almost overwhelms me, my lust building – bloodlust – an overwhelmingneed.
"God help me." I take the girl more firmly into my arms and bite down and the sensation is so powerful. When my teeth break her skin, cutting into her flesh, releasing a pulse of blood into my mouth, and I shudder from the pleasure ofit.
"That's it," Marguerite coos, and her voice sounds as if from a great distance. "Drink, beautiful Julien, and liveforever."
* * *
Michel reads silently,and I blink rapidly as if awakening from adream.
"There's much more explicit material coming," he says and glances up at me. "Should Icontinue?"
"Howbad?"
"Badenough."
I hesitate. "Read. I'll justblush."
"Yes, you will." He smiles softly and looks back at the manuscript, tracing ahead on the text with one hand, touching his lips with the other. "You do it verywell."
He pauses and then starts readingagain.
* * *
"Ipullmy mouth away from the girl's neck and the girl is limp in my arms, her skin pale, twin gashes where I bit her oozing blood, the skin around the wounds bruised from me sucking. The fog of pain and lust that shrouds my mind lifts. I no longer feel that pull, that need, and the pain is all gone. I feel – alive. I feel completely energized, my hearing acute, my visionsharp.
I see things – details of everyday objects – that I've never noticed before. The minute threads in the girl's gown, the fine down of hair on her cheek, tiny blood vessels in her skin. I hear noises I've missed –the crackle of the fire in the hearth, the wind underneath the windowpane behind the curtain, a branch tapping against the leaded glass window. Every thing, every sense, comes into sharpfocus.
The girl's heart beats very fast, far too fast, and I know then that I drank too much. She exhales suddenly and her heartstops.
I killedher.
"No." I shake her but it's no use. "No, don't die." She's dead, her eyes staring blankly ahead, her head and limbs flopping. Marguerite's smiling as if supremely pleased with me. "I killedher!"
"Shh," Marguerite says and strokes my brow. "Beautiful Julien. You drank what you needed, no more. She was mortal. Mortals are meant todie."
