Essence (Nectar 3)
“Why are you in such withdrawals when I fed only yesterday? This feeling, does it feel like when you hadn’t been fed on?”
Her eyelids fluttered and then she passed out in his arms.
He rocked her for a minute, holding her close, chills in his gut, fucking hating every goddamn minute of this shit. He heard noise outside the door so put her into the bed and put his head against her chest for a minute and listened. Her heart was beating steadily. Her breathing was normal. So he tucked her into the blankets and went back out into the living space. Sasha was gone. Sam sat at the table, waiting.
“Where is she?”
“She wanted to give you space. I know you didn’t get a lot of time in but she is happy to have you attend her facility, meet Kyle, decide if you want her to try to help your girl and if you might want to help Kyle, too. She wasn’t affected by the scent of Kyla’s blood but she didn’t want you uncomfortable so she wanted to leave. She said Kyla’s blood smells very similar to Kyle’s but she’s not a threat. She says she has zero urge to feed on Kyla.”
Tristan’s eyes moved to Sam’s eyes, trying to read him.
“You can trust her, Tris. She has a set of morals and beliefs that, I’m telling you, you can trust. We can try patching her, too, if you like, but she believes she’s fine around Kyla. The scent is close but not exact.”
“Haven’t had a whole lot of success in the trust arena, Sam.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. Read me. Read any part of me or her next time you see her. Program away. But I’m telling you, this is real. I don’t know if she can help you or not but I know she’ll try. She believes that vampires can be good, not just inherently evil. She’s restoring my own faith, man, with the things she’s told me, shown me, in just a day so far.”
Tristan wasn’t entirely convinced.
“Tris, my sister and I were born for a purpose. Our parents were set up just like Kyla’s, just like yours. Adrian tried to orchestrate that purpose. He was successful with me to a certain point but there was a problem. No, there were a few problems. First, I’m royal but I don’t get access to all the same rights and privileges as other blue bloods because I was bred to be a concierge. I don’t get an enchanted pet. I don’t get to sit on councils. Instead, I got to do others’ bidding. I do your bidding; I do his. I constantly walk a line where I can’t build real true bonds. As a vampire, I shouldn’t want them. But a few intriguing things have happened. First, I’ve seen your transformation. I’ve seen how your pet has gotten to you. I crave that kind of connection all of a sudden. I wondered when I had that girl brought to the house that Rebecca killed what it’d feel like to have an actual conversation with her. It started to happen when I cared for Kyla while you had her separated from you back at the house, before the fire. When I got patched, it intensified. Why? Because my natural vampire urges were suppressed and those have brought round some new emotions. I think you can relate because her blood has suppressed some of your inclinations.”
Tristan shook his head, “No. They haven’t suppressed a thing. They’ve heightened who I truly am. She just helps me be better.”
Sam inclined his head to the side, “Yeah, well, there’s been a shift. I’ve been avoiding my sister because I knew she was unhappy before she turned and she was real unhappy with me and the role I was playing. She tried to communicate with me but who I was, as vampire, wasn’t who I was before I was turned and she said it broke her heart. Spending the last day with her, I felt different. More receptive to what she was telling me. I couldn’t work it out. I thought I missed her, seeing her youthful and beautiful and happy again may’ve been responsible. But then I got in the shower last night and realized I hadn’t taken my patch off even though Kyla wasn’t near. So whatever was suppressing my urges to feed on your pet was also suppressing some sort of filter that kept me indifferent. Don’t you see? We have something very fucking wrong inside us. I’ve asked Sasha to try to analyse what’s in those patches. Replicating them could be a game-changer. And I’ve had a few instances in my life where I’ve stopped and questioned things. I’ve generally avoided those emotions because they didn’t feel natural. But now they do.”