Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 27)
Page 110
Great. It was like he’d edited what I’d said and heard only the sex part. I should have known he would. “That’s not what I said, Olaf.”
“It is the truth.”
“Yeah, because you can’t guarantee that you would be satisfied with plain sex. Aren’t we both worried that if we have sex, you’ll want to push it to that next serial killer level?”
“I told you, Anita, there are things I want to do with you that require you alive and whole. I do not want just one night with you, but many, and for that, I have to find a different path with you.”
The anger was beginning to fade a little. It helped that aching need inside me to let go of me. I’d eaten physical food recently. I’d fed the ardeur before I left home. I shouldn’t have been having this much trouble with it yet. I was usually good for twenty-four hours at a time now with no ill effects. So why was his anger so tempting?
“And I’m trying to let you do that, but I feed off anger, too. Olaf, do you understand what that means for you and me?”
He frowned at me. “What do you mean, you feed on anger?”
“I mean I can feed on the emotion.”
He frowned harder. “I don’t understand.”
“Have you ever fought a vampire that fed on fear?”
He nodded.
“Like that, but instead of fear, I feed on rage.”
“So, when I became enraged just now, it tempted you?”
“Yes.”
“But you do not want to feed on me.”
“No, not like that.”
“How long have you been able to do this feeding on anger?”
“A couple of years.”
“Is this another of Jean-Claude’s abilities you share?”
“No.”
“Then where did you inherit it from?”
“We think another master vamp, but it may just be my own special thing. We’re not advertising it, and I do my best not to use it.”
“Why? Is it so terrible?”
“When it first started, I would wipe out a person’s short-term memory, which was kind of hard to explain.”
“And now?” he asked.
“It seems to weaken them physically, and either way they aren’t angry anymore. It siphons that emotion out of them for a while.”
“The vampires that feed on fear frighten their victims more, and each time it is more to feed upon.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I had one guy that was pissed at what I was doing, and he just kept getting angrier. I drained him until he couldn’t stand up anymore.”
“Did you do it on purpose?”
“Not at first, but that last time, yeah.”