being subject to my will is more of a divine privilege than an eternity of torment."
"I think I'd prefer hell," Cora said. "So you take in the soul through the blood, then?"
"Precisely, and it follows our every command, just as the newborn vrykolakas made of the body does. We can conjure these souls to enact our wills during the day, when we ourselves are somewhat more restrained."
Cora nodded, feigning indifference while her mind raced. The danger of her situation was finally sinking in, stoking the fires of her panic. She was now balancing learning more about her enemy with being devoured and enslaved, and the longer she lingered, the less likely her escape seemed. James needed to know what she knew so he could share it with his friends back in England. If Ben didn't show soon, she would have to make a break for it and hope for the best. Better to go down fighting than to let herself be taken without a struggle. Still, as panicked as she was, she couldn't resist asking one more question. "You all can't drink blood through them souls, right?"
Wash shook his head. "No. Some nosferatu even regret this shortcoming, though I can't fathom why. The thrill of feeling your own lips on a person's pulsing neck, the sweet flow of their lifeblood down your throat, and the screams ebbing to whimpers as you drink them dry simply cannot be replaced."
"You really are a monster," Cora said.
"Words spoken in ignorance," the vampire said. "At times, I try to recall my life before my immortality, when my mind was small and my body frail, but the memories always elude me. I imagine it is what the butterfly feels when it tries to remember its life in the chrysalis: fear and confusion and limitations. I suppose I had a clearer memory when I was still young in undeath, but even an immortal mind cannot hold all the history of the universe."
"Yours sure can hold a lot of bullshit," Cora said.
Wash's blue eyes grew hungry in the dim light. "And what will yours hold, I wonder?"
Cora crossed her arms. "Nothing but my own self till the day I die, which will be well after I put you in your grave."
"Defiant even in the face of certain defeat." The vampire bared Wash's teeth in a smile. "Such willpower is far too valuable to waste in such a miserable shell. I had thought to make you my slave, but you have moved me."
Quicker than a striking diamondback, Wash's hand shot out and grabbed her throat. He pushed her against the wall, his eyes burning with hunger. "No, I shall usher you into the ranks of the nosferatu, and you shall learn to walk the shadows as a true ruler of the night. In time, you will understand the weakness of humanity and their puny gods. We are the gods who shall rule the world, Cora Oglesby."
Cora didn't answer, and silence filled the room. She knew her time had run out, and she struggled to quiet her frantic thoughts enough to prepare for a last stand. Overpowering the vampire was impossible, but it couldn't use the body of Wash Jones to turn her, meaning it would have to come in its own body. When it did, she might be able to get the jump on it and escape. If it left her conscious.
In the silence, she thought she heard footsteps in the hallway. They were slow and intermittent, as if searching for something. She heard a door creak somewhere nearby, and she grinned. She looked into Wash's cold blue eyes and lifted her chin.
"You hear that, spooky?" she said. "That's the sound of my husband looking for me. I hope you got a plan for when he comes through that door and sticks you with a silver dagger."
"Your husband?" the vampire asked. "Surely you don't mean Benjamin Oglesby?"
"The one and only," Cora said. "Even the big bad vampire is scared of him, I see."
"He was never the threat you are," the vampire said.
"Well, that's about to change."
Confusion flickered in the borrowed eyes. "You truly believe he is in that hallway looking for you?" Cora nodded, and the confusion melted into glee. "How absolutely delicious! I heard tales of your madness in the wake of our previous meeting, but I never imagined I could have so thoroughly broken your mind."
"I ain't the one with the touched mind," Cora said. "You ain't hearing me spouting nonsense."