Tall, Dark & Lonely (Pyte/Sentinel 1)
“Yup.”
“What a bitch.” Ephraim managed to pull himself up a little on the pillows.
“That she is, but not to worry, Madison is taking over.”
“God help us,” Ephraim muttered.
Chris placed the gun in the top drawer of the bureau. “She thinks you forgot her birthday you know.”
“Fuck, I didn’t forget her birthday.”
“I know.”
His eyes shot to Chris. “Wait, how do you know?”
Chris rolled his eyes as if it should be very obvious. “I found the boxes when I was taking your clothes off.”
Ephraim looked down at his body and for the first time noticed that he was clean and naked. “You cleaned me?”
“Hell no!” Chris said, disgusted. “Madison snuck back up to do that. Then she helped me put you in bed.”
“She didn’t see the boxes, did she?”
“No, I put them under your pillow before she turned around.”
“Good, thank you,” he said relieved. “You think you could uncuff me now?”
“Sorry, man, I have orders not to do that. Madison said she would bring me a huge slice of cake if I left you cuffed.”
“You’re leaving me like this for cake?” he asked dumbfounded that cake held that kind of power over the boy. He wondered if it was like bloodlust.
“Well, that and you are a bloodsucker.”
“Shit. Did Madison explain it to you?”
He nodded. “Pretty much. I got the basics down. I’m to keep my mouth shut. Vampires really exist. You’re a Pyte, which I don’t completely understand what the hell that is except you can go out into the sun and all that shit.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you swear too much?”
He pondered that question. “I believe it may have been mentioned a time or two.”
“What is it you want to know?”
“You’re going to answer my questions?” he sounded surprised.
“In exchange that you keep what I tell you between the three of us.”
“I will. I promise!”
“Okay then, ask away.” He laid back and tried to get comfortable.
“Okay, um how old are you?”
“Two-hundred and six years old.”
Chris’s eyes shot up. “Little old to be dating a twenty-four year old wouldn’t you say?”
“Chris.” That one word held a world of warning.
Chris put his hands in surrender. “Relax big guy, I’m just saying.”
“Say something else quickly if you want answers.”
“Hmm, where were you born?”
“London.”
“You don’t have an accent.”
“I lost it seventy-five years ago. Next.”
“How did this happen to you?”
“You mean how did I become a Pyte?”
“Yes.”
“My father was a vampire and my mother was a human. Somehow she became pregnant with me. I think he feared for her giving birth to me so the last month of the pregnancy he did a blood exchange with her. It worked. She lived and I lived.”
“Did you come out with fangs?”
“No!” he said, chuckling. “I was a normal boy, well a little weak and I didn’t age properly. Until I was your age I looked like a small boy.”
“Really? What changed?”
“I went into a coma.”
“For how long?”
“A month. Then I woke up looking exactly as I do today.” He looked at the handcuffs and smiled wryly. “Actually I woke very much in the same situation. I was chained to the bed after biting a maid.”
“So, I’m guessing you can’t die.”
“No.”
‘That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“Why you shot yourself. You knew you weren’t going to die so you did it. Didn’t hurt you much, did it?” He guessed.
“Chris, it hurt very much I can tell you that. I felt every single movement of that bullet as it broke through my skin, my breast bone, my heart and then when it stopped in my spine. If I had been a human there would have been an instant death. That pain wouldn’t have been felt. Trust me when I tell you that I do not want to repeat that particular event again.”
“But you passed out!”
“No, Chris, I didn’t. My eyes may have closed my body might have gone limp, but I was not entirely out of it. I couldn’t focus on anything going on around me. I was in the beginning stages of bloodlust when I realized I was hurting her. If I hadn’t reacted when I did, when I had some semblance of control, I would have been lost and Madison would have died.”
“The blood lust keeps me from thinking straight. If I’m deep in bloodlust the only thing that will stop me is blood or violence. When the bullet shot through me my body appeared to be shut down but my mind was kept in a haze. I was aware of all the pain and the scent and taste of Madison’s blood. Time and blood were the only things that kept me from waking up still in bloodlust. If I had I would be right now tearing through the house in search of her.”
He sat down on the edge of the bed, taking in what Ephraim was telling him. “Did you know it was going to hurt like that?”
“Yes.”
“But you still did it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“I mean why did you purposely put yourself through that much pain if you knew how badly it was going to hurt?”
“Because I was hurting Madison.”
“Why didn’t you just let go? I know she said her blood was your weakness and all, but if you knew you were hurting her you could have let go.”
“Not with bloodlust I couldn’t. I wasn’t in control.”
“But you were able to shoot yourself.”
“I had to while I still had that little amount of control on my arm.”
Chris looked at the bedroom door. “What happened to those others things? They were vampires, right?”
“Yes, they were after my blood. I’m what you would call a day walker. Living forever is a plus too I suppose. They wanted my blood and it killed them.”
“So, that’s why you let them do it.”
“Not so much as let them do it. They trapped me.”
“You mean when you kissed that skank.”
Ephraim sighed, “I didn’t kiss anyone.”
“Are you sure? It sure looked like that to me.”