Close Liaisons (The Krinar Chronicles 1)

“Um, she wouldn’t be particularly happy either.” For a moment, she had almost forgotten how much he knew about her.

“She’s older than you, right?”

“By nearly eight years. She got married last year.”

“I wonder what it would be like to have a sibling,” he mused. “It’s not a very common occurrence for us, having more than one child.”

Mia shrugged. “I’m not sure if my experience was particularly authentic, given our age difference. By the time I was old enough to be anything more than a brat, she had already left for college.” Her curiosity kicking in again, she asked, “So you don’t have any siblings? What about your parents?”

“I’m an only child. My parents are back on Krina, so I haven’t seen them in a while. We do communicate remotely, though, on a regular basis.”

Their waiter returned to clear the table and give them their dessert menus. Mia chose tiramisu – made with real cheese and eggs – and Korum went with the apple pecan tart. Somehow, in the course of their conversation, she’d managed to down two glasses of champagne, and was beginning to feel buzzed. The evening took on a slightly surreal tint in her mind, from the restaurant filled with Manhattan’s most beautiful people to the gorgeous predator who sat across the table from her, blithely chatting about their families. Mia wondered how old he was. She knew the Ks were very long-lived, so there was really no way to tell his age from appearance. Had he been human, she would have guessed late twenties. Her curiosity got the best of her again, and she blurted out, “How old are you?”

“About two thousand of your Earth years.”

Mia stared at him in shock. That would put him somewhere in the very ancient category by human standards. Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire still ruled the Western world, and the Christian religion was just getting its start. And he had been alive since that time?

She drank some more champagne to help with the dryness in her throat. “Does that make you old or young in your society?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I guess on the younger side. My parents are much older. It doesn’t matter, though. Once we reach full maturity, age literally becomes just a number.”

“We must all seem like infants to you then, huh?” Mia took a big gulp from her glass and felt the room tilt slightly. She hoped she wasn’t slurring her words. She probably should stop with the champagne. He could easily take advantage of her if she got drunk. But, then again, he could easily take advantage of her sober too. She was completely at the mercy of an alien who wanted to fuck her and drink her blood, so she might as well enjoy this undoubtedly excellent vintage.

“Not infants. Just naive in certain ways. More like teenagers, if anything.”

Mia rubbed an itchy spot on her nose with the back of her hand, wondering if she wanted to know the answer to her next question. She decided to go for it. “So are you immortal, like the vampires of our legends?”

“We don’t think of it that way. Everybody can die. Our species has always enjoyed negligible senescence, but we can still be killed or die in a bad accident.”

“Negligible senescence?”

“Basically, we don’t have the symptoms of aging. Before we were sufficiently advanced with our science and medicine, we could still die from a variety of natural causes, but we’ve now succeeded in achieving a very low – almost negligible – mortality rate.”

“How is this possible?” asked Mia. “How can a living creature not age? Is that something peculiar to Krina?”

“Not really. There are actually a number of species right here on Earth that have that same characteristic. For instance, have you ever heard of the four-hundred-year-old clam?”

“What? No!” He had to be making fun of her ignorance; surely such a thing didn’t exist.

He nodded. “It’s true – look it up if you don’t believe me. There are a number of creatures that don’t lose their reproductive or functional capabilities with age – some species of mussels and clams, lobsters, sea anemones, giant tortoises, hydras . . . In fact, hydras are pretty much biologically immortal; they die from injury or disease, but not from old age.”

Trying to process this incredible information, Mia rubbed her nose again. That’s it, she realized, no more alcohol for her. For some reason, her nose had a tendency to get itchy after a few drinks, and Mia had learned to respect it as a sign of when to stop. The few times she’d ignored this warning, the consequences hadn’t been pretty.

Seeing her weaving slightly in her seat, Korum motioned the waiter for the check. Mia hazily wondered if she should offer to split it, the way she always did when she went out with college guys. Nah, she decided. He had practically forced her to come out today, so she might as well get a free meal out of it. Besides, she wasn’t sure she could afford this place, given the priceless menu. So instead, she just observed when Korum waived his wristwatch phone-wallet over the waiter’s tiny digital receptor, and added what seemed to be a generous tip, judging by the grateful expression on the waiter’s face.

“Ready to go?” He helped her put on her coat and again offered her his arm. Mia accepted this time, as she felt somewhat woozy and didn’t have a high degree of confidence in her own ability to make it out of the restaurant without tripping at some point.

“Are you drunk?” he asked with amusement, observing her slightly unsteady gait as they exited onto the street. “I only saw you drink a couple of glasses.”

Mia raised her chin and lied, “I’m perfectly fine.” She hated it when people pointed out what a lightweight she was.

“If you say so.” He looked like he was about to laugh, and Mia wanted to smack him.

Roger and the limo were waiting at the curb, of course. Mia hesitated, her heart rate accelerating at the realization that she would be alone with an extraterrestrial predator who wanted her blood.

She turned to him. “You know, I really feel like getting some fresh air. I can just walk from here – my apartment is only about a dozen blocks away, and the weather is really quite nice and refreshing.” The last bit was a lie. It was actually quite chilly, and Mia was already shivering in her thin coat.

His expression darkened. “Mia. Get in. I will take you home.” It was his scary tone of voice, and it worked just as well on her the second time around. Shaking slightly from a combination of nerves and the cold