Reclaimed

“No, I’ve not bitten anyone. If I do, there’s a hefty price to pay. If I succumb to my beastly desires, I’m cursed to remain that creature for all my days, and in turn will be hunted down and killed. So, you see, I can’t afford to be weak.”

“Elijah, as a vampire, does he…act like one? I mean, kill people?” She shivered as she pictured Elijah jumping out at an unsuspecting old woman walking down the road.

The now familiar ice-mask he wore when he no longer liked the subject at hand reappeared when she mentioned Elijah’s name, and she cringed. Her inquisitive writer’s mind had to be getting the best of her. Perhaps she shouldn’t ask about Elijah.

Gee, do you think?

But she needed to know every detail about his amazing life. It felt so new and incredible.

“Yes, he acts as a vampire and drinks blood, though he tends to stay away from people. He has, on occasion, weakened and succumbed to his desires. But he mostly feeds off of wildlife and blood banks. He doesn’t change into a bat or anything, and sunlight doesn’t bother him, either. Elijah does, however, hate garlic. It will keep him away from your blood.”

“Crucifixes?” she asked.

“Hates them, especially gold ones. Gold burns vampires.”

“Gold? I thought silver hurt them.”

“A myth they put about to make everyone steer away from gold,” he stated as he shook his head. “It worked, too.”

“Son-of-a-bitch,” she grumbled. “I need to get a gold crucifix.”

“It won’t stop Elijah, or Louisa. It’s merely an annoyance for ones who are as strong as they are. They’d rip them off and heal right away. They’re most effective on newborns.”

“Well, there goes my grand plan. At least he hates garlic, since I happen to love it.”

“That doesn’t, I repeat, doesn’t make him safe or trustworthy. Sometimes, no matter how much a vampire tries to be good, he just can’t resist the lure of human blood—garlic or no garlic. I’ll be honest and say there are ones who succeed in resisting their animalistic nature. Elijah is one of them, and as such, he’s not high on our list of targets. But if I were to come across him, it would be different.”

She nodded, accepting the warning for what it truly meant: stay away from Elijah, or I may run across him and have to kill him. She didn’t want to put any of them in that position. Isaac had been trying to protect her, and in some twisted way his brother, all along. Her suspicions at his secrets faded away.

He hadn’t spoken to her about it before because he’d feared to turn her away. Plain and simple.

“If you came across him and let him go, what would happen?”

“Theoretically, if no one knew, nothing would happen. But if I were caught doing such a thing, I’d be tracked down and killed, like any other target of ours.”

His eyes glittered like ice, and she could almost hear his teeth gnashing together. “Did you find him earlier?”

“No, he’d already left and I didn’t follow his trail. I wanted to come here to explain this whole mess to you.”

“Can I ask another question, about Elijah?” She hated making him mad, but she had one last question. At his nod, she continued. “When I talked to him, he told me he couldn’t tell me what he is. Not wouldn’t, but couldn’t. Why? Did I misunderstand his words?”

“No, you understood. Just as my kind have their sets of rules, so do his. He’s not allowed to tell anyone of his existence, unless it’s a person he’s about to change. Or a person about to become his dinner, neither of which you are. Or ever will be.”

It would be impossible to miss the proprietary tone in his voice, or the warning he gave. She belonged to him and him alone. That didn’t sound too bad, even if he were some kind of freak of nature.

She’d never been normal anyway.

“Oh. I-I see.”

Staring off into space, she wondered what had happened in the meadow after Isaac had lost consciousness. Elijah had said he had killed Amelia, but had he really? Or did he blame himself for his weakness?

Isaac believed her to be Amelia reincarnated. It could be possible, she supposed. She’d been drawn to this area, and God knew she’d become obsessed with Isaac. And, to be honest, to some extent she felt drawn to Elijah as well. They were like two incredibly hot magnets, pulling her in opposite directions.

But she couldn’t deny it any longer; Isaac’s pull was stronger. And would win, hands-down.

“You’ve been quiet for a while now. Are you okay? Got any more questions for me?” He smiled playfully at her.

“Um, yeah. Tons. So many I can’t even sort them out to make sense.” She massaged her temples and flinched at the headache rapidly gaining strength. “You said you change into the creatures you fight. Do you have to become a werewolf to fight a werewolf, or can you fight a werewolf as a vampire?”