AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Words?” Connor asked. “No. Evidence? Maybe. Ultimately, Cash will believe what he wants. But he can’t avoid Beyo forever, and we’re going to find the rest of them. The clan will see the truth, and there’s a pretty good chance it will change the balance of power.”
“In that case, we look forward to the big reveal,” Theo said, tipping an invisible hat in Connor’s direction.
“Have you heard from Ronan?” Lulu asked.
“No,” I said. “It’s day two, so they’d still be feeding her. I think he’d tell me if she hadn’t made it, at least so he could blame me for it.”
“Lot of guilt throwing in Minnesota these days,” Lulu said. “What happened to Minnesota nice?”
“Only applies to humans,” Theo said.
“I guess.”
“Will you be able to... control her?” Alexei asked.
It was the kind of question that might have rankled, if there hadn’t been genuine curiosity in his eyes.
“No,” I said. “Even Masters don’t control the vampires they make. They usually have a telepathic connection, and a Master can call the other—make them come to the Master. From the way my father tried to describe it, there’s a more general connection. Not parent and child, exactly, but something protective. But she didn’t have much of my blood, so that probably won’t happen here.”
It wouldn’t be tested unless Ronan allowed me near her again. And he didn’t like or trust me.
“Sup life is hard,” Lulu said, taking a sip. “That’s why I opted out.”
“You could use your power for good,” Alexei said, and the look she gave him had nothing friendly in it.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’ve got good magic. I can tell.” He lifted a shoulder. “It’s a waste for you not to use it.”
Lulu stiffened. “You don’t know anything about me or my magic.”
“I know enough,” he said.
“I think you should mind your own business. Power corrupts,” she said. “It changes the person who uses it. It changes the people around. It becomes a bargaining chip, something to fear. Just look around,” she said, spinning a finger in the air to indicate the cabin. “This entire resort consists of shifters who don’t want humans to know what they are. That’s not so very different from what I’ve done.”
“They’re still shifters in private,” Alexei said.
“And I am who I am,” Lulu said. “I can’t change it. But I’m not the only person in the world with a skill they aren’t using. Humans who speak multiple languages don’t get chastised because they enter into careers other than being translators. And if humans are allowed to have gifts and not use them, so am I.”
I couldn’t argue with that—and wouldn’t, even if I’d wanted to. Her magic—her genetic gift and burden—was hers to carry.
Alexei just watched her, quiet and still, then nodded once. An acknowledgment of what she’d said.
“So,” Theo said, breaking the awkward silence that followed, “what was it like?”
“What was what like?”
“The biting. And this isn’t prurient interest,” he added, hands raised in innocence as he smiled at Connor. “I’m just curious.”
“It was... odd,” I said after a moment’s consideration. “Mentally, it felt like a violation—given the circumstances. But physically, it felt natural. It felt vampiric. I’ve bitten vampires before—two of them. Both in Paris, but it wasn’t like this.”
“Who’d you bite before?” Connor asked with a heavy air of “Who do I need to beat up?”
I shifted my gaze to him, grinned. “A single vampire in Paris is going to be a single vampire in Paris.”
He humphed. “Have you ever tasted a shifter’s blood?”
The heat rose to my cheeks so quickly, I might have been on fire. On one level, we were having a perfectly average conversation about our normal biological processes. But beneath it was something more—curiosity, anticipation, interest.
