Greg eyes widened in alarm. "What about werewolves and stuff?"
"Oh well, you're a psychologist," she said with amusement. "Surely you studied lycanthropy?"
"It's a psychosis where the patient has delusions that they're a wolf."
"There you are then."
What did that mean? Greg wondered. He didn't really believe in such things as werewolves, but then he hadn't believed in vampires before either. This whole business had really turned his belief system on its ear. He didn't know what to think.
"I'm sorry about biting you."
Lissianna's voice drew him back from his thoughts, which was probably a good thing. He could drive himself crazy with the ideas running through his head. Next he'd believe in fairies and pixies.
"It was a mistake," she added quietly. "When I saw you tied to the bed with a bow around your neck I thought you were my birthday gift.. which you were. I just didn't realize you were to treat my phobia. I assumed you were... a special treat."
"A special treat?" Greg echoed her delicate phrasing with disbelief. "Don't you mean you thought I was dinner?"
She grimaced and had the grace to flush guiltily, and Greg was sorry he'd said that. He wasn't really angry at her for biting him. It was difficult to be angry about something he'd enjoyed so much, and Greg had enjoyed it. Just recalling it was enough to make him harden.
"So, you're a vampire with hemaphobia," he said to change the subject.
"Ridiculous, isn't it?" she muttered with self-disgust. "I know that I shouldn't fear blood, that there's nothing to fear, but..."
"Phobias aren't rational. I have a client who's six feet tall and weighs two hundred pounds who's absolutely terrified of teeny-tiny spiders. Phobias are definitely not rational," he assured her, then another thought occurred to him, and he asked, "What about sunlight?"
"Sunlight?" she asked uncertainly.
"According to legend, sunlight destroys vampires," he pointed out.
"Oh, well..." She hesitated, then told him, "It does the same damage to our bodies as it does to you, but it's a little more dangerous to us because our bodies use up blood at an accelerated rate to repair the damage... which, in turn, dehydrates us and means we have to feed more. In the old days, we avoided sunlight like the plague to prevent having to feed more often. Feeding was a dangerous business back then. It could lead to discovery."
"And now?"
"Now, most of us use blood banks for feeding, but many still avoid the sun out of habit, or for convenience sake. Walking around carting coolers of blood to replenish with can be a pain."
Greg nodded in understanding. "If you aren't cursed or dead, what are you?"
Lissianna considered the matter for a moment, then said, "It would probably be easiest to understand if I explained from the start."
"Please." Last night he'd been furious at finding himself here again against his wishes, or more specifically, without being given a choice, but now... well, if the truth were to be known, Greg was curious. Intellectually speaking, this was all terribly fascinating. It was like discovering there was a Santa. Well, sort of.
"You've heard of Atlantis?"
It wasn't really a question, but Greg grunted a "yes" despite being a tad confused by what the mythical land could have to do with vampires. "The lost civilization, Plato, Poseidon, Creita. A paradise with wealthy people who displeased Zeus by becoming greedy," he recalled from his courses at university. "Zeus punished them by gathering all the gods together and wiping them out."
"That's what the books say," Lissianna agreed with a hint of amusement.
"What does the mythical Atlantis have to do with your being a vampire?"
"Atlantis is no more a myth than vampires are," she announced. "It was a very advanced race, and just before the fail, scientists there developed a sort of nano."
"Those tiny little computer thingies?" Greg asked.
"Yes," she said. "I don't pretend to understand it all. I've never really found science that interesting. My brother, Bastien, could explain this all more clearly, but basically, they combined the nanotechnology with some sort of bio something or other--"
"Bioengineering?" he asked.
"Something like that," she allowed. "They combined the two technologies to create microscopic nanos that could be shot into the bloodstream, where they would live and replicate."