Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 116618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“She was human,” Dmitri says dismissively. “She would have died eventually. We merely accelerated the inevitable. These are tough lessons all vampires have to learn.”
“She was everything to me!”
“And yet here you are,” he observes, “already forming an attachment to another. To Lena Reid. Life continues, even for those like us who exist outside of it.”
At Lena’s name, a different kind of fear cuts through my rage. “Where is she? What have you done with her?”
“Nothing, yet.” Dmitri resumes his circling of the gurney. “She escaped our grasp during the unfortunate altercation at the Crimson Clover. Fled with Van Helsing and his little band of dissenters.” His mouth twists in distaste. “You were the consolation prize. Even though you yourself can’t open the gateway.”
“The gateway to where?” I ask tiredly.
“To our king. To the Red Realm.” Dmitri’s eyes take on a distant, almost dreamy quality. “The true homeland of our kind. A place where we need not hide what we are, need not restrain our true natures to accommodate human weakness. Where we don’t have to sit idly by and watch humanity bring out the worst in each other, watch this planet crash and burn.”
The madness in his voice is evident now, a zealot’s fervor. I think of the ritualized murders, all part of some deranged scheme to open a portal to another world.
“You’re insane,” I say quietly. “You murder, torture innocent people just so you can leave this world.”
Dmitri’s expression hardens. “I am a visionary. The humans’ time on this planet grows short. They poison the air, the water, the soil. They slaughter each other by the millions in their endless wars. The next century will see them destroy themselves completely. There is no turning back for them, they’ve dug their own graves and history will continue to repeat itself because no one ever learns. They are simply too dumb.” He leans closer. “We can survive them, Victor. We can return to our realm, rebuild our civilization there. But only if the gateway is opened. That’s the only way we can go in.”
“And for that, you need Lena,” I say, understanding dawning. “Because of her blood type. She’s AB negative, isn’t she?”
He grins, straightening up. “The rarest of the rare. And rarer still in a vampire. She would be the perfect final sacrifice. Perhaps even the key to opening the gateway permanently, so that we can come and go as we please.”
“I won’t help you find her,” I say, certainty hardening my voice. “I don’t give a fuck what you do to me.”
Dmitri sighs, as if disappointed by my predictable response. “You misunderstand, Victor. I don’t need your conscious cooperation. I only need to determine what triggers your transformation.”
Fear coils in my stomach—not for myself, but for what I might become, what I might do if the other side of me takes control. “What are you talking about?”
“Your vampire self,” Dmitri explains, as if to a child. “The part of you that emerges during your blackouts. It’s quite fascinating—when your vampire nature takes over, it’s as if you become a different person entirely. One who recognizes me as father. One who obeys me without question.”
A cold weight settles in my chest. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Dmitri gestures to a cloth-covered table I hadn’t noticed before, positioned against the far wall. “Perhaps a demonstration will be more convincing.”
He crosses to the table and removes the cloth, revealing an array of items laid out with surgical precision. He selects one—a woman’s scarf, emerald-green silk—and returns to the gurney.
“Do you recognize this?” he asks, dangling the scarf before my eyes.
I do. It’s Lena’s, the one she wore the morning we had coffee at Musso & Frank. The sight of it sends a jolt of panic through me. “Where did you get that?”
“From her apartment, of course. Along with a few other personal items.” Dmitri’s smile is coldly clinical. “I’m testing a theory. You see, I think when vampires first transform, it’s not just the birthday that causes it, but there’s a specific trigger that brings forth their true nature. For some, it’s pain."
He produces a blue dagger from his sleeve, letting it catch the candlelight. “For others, it’s blood.” The dagger disappears back into his sleeve. “But I suspect, in your case, it might be more…emotional. And if it’s emotional, well, perhaps we can manipulate it.”
He drapes the scarf across my face, the silk cool against my skin. Lena’s scent fills my nostrils—heady night jasmine. I close my eyes, struggling to maintain control as memories flood my mind—Lena singing at The Emerald Room, Lena’s lips against mine, Lena’s blood on my tongue. My cock throbs in response.
“Interesting reaction,” Dmitri observes dryly, watching me closely. “But not quite what I’m looking for. The last thing we need right now is bloodlust.”
He removes the scarf, returning it to the table. “Perhaps we need a stronger stimulus. A different emotion. Or perhaps it’s simply a matter of time. That’s always how it happened before.” He checks his watch. “I’m prepared to keep you here as long as necessary, Victor. Days. Weeks. However long it takes for your true nature to fully emerge.