"He would be more likely to control the person and have him bring the cooler to him," Marguerite said quietly.
"I think he's too weak to do that; otherwise, he simply would have made me bring it back," Alex said, and frowned as she realized he really had been controlling her this last week as she'd feared.
"An immortal is never too weak to control a mortal," Marguerite assured her. "Cale did not control you because he couldn't. He can neither control nor read you, Alex. That's what makes you special."
"You can control me," she pointed out, not believing her.
"Yes, as can any immortal on this property who wishes to." Marguerite shrugged. "But that is because you are not a life mate to any of us. Cale's inability to either read or control you is what makes you a possible life mate for him."
"What is a life mate?" Alex asked at once.
Marguerite hesitated. "I think I will leave that to Cale to explain."
"Why?"
Marguerite shrugged. "It is his place. In truth, it would have been better for him to explain all of this to you, but I did not think you would be willing to listen to it from him."
Alex frowned with dissatisfaction and stared at the other woman for a moment, and then sighed, and said, "So the nanos gave you fangs and the ability to control and read minds to help you feed after the fall. What else-"
"Not me. I was only born in 1265 A.D.," Marguerite interrupted quietly. "And I was born mortal and later given the nanos."
Alex shrugged that away. "What else can you people do?"
"Do?" she asked uncertainly.
"Do you turn into bats and fly or-" Alex paused. The woman was laughing softly.
"No," Marguerite assured her with amusement. "While I think it would be lovely to be able to fly, I don't think I would care to be a bat." Shaking her head at the idea, she explained, "The nanos only increased the natural abilities all humans have. They were programmed to keep their hosts at their peak and needed blood to do it, so they made their hosts better able to achieve that. They made their hosts stronger, faster, and increased their sense of smell and vision. Immortals also gained incredible night vision so that they could hunt at night and avoid the damaging rays of the sun during daylight."
"They became night predators," Alex said slowly.
"Essentially, yes," Marguerite agreed, "although, it wasn't by choice. They had come from a cultured society and didn't suddenly become ravening animals. They hunted and fed, but most tried not to unduly harm the neighbors and friends they were forced to feed on."
"And the mind control and-?"
"More abilities the nanos brought about," Marguerite said with a shrug. "It makes it easier to hunt and live without the constant threat of discovery if the chosen donor does not fight or even recall being bitten. Understandably, people do not like to be prey."
"No, I suppose not," Alex said dryly, and then tilted her head and returned to an earlier point. "You said you were born mortal."
"Yes. I was turned as a teenager," Marguerite said quietly.
"There were no syringes or doctors capable of shooting you up with nanos in 1265," Alex pointed out.
"No there weren't. My sire turned me by biting his wrist open and pressing it to my mouth so that I would drink his blood and the nanos with it. It is how most mortals are turned even today."
Alex wrinkled her nose with disgust at the thought. "Why? I mean I understand you had to then, but nowadays there are syringes and there is no need for that kind of barbaric nonsense."
Marguerite smiled faintly. "But it has become tradition."
"A painful one," Alex inserted dryly.
"Yes, but then the turn itself is painful, and I think your sister would agree that the pain Mortimer suffered tonight was little enough compared to that she is now suffering in the turn. Besides, there is some suspicion that sharing the same nanos gives an added connection, although no one has proven it yet."
Alex simply stared at her, barely hearing the last part. Her mind had stopped at the "I think your sister would agree that the pain Mortimer suffered tonight was little enough compared to that she is now suffering in the turn" part. The words echoed inside her head as she recalled Sam's agonized shrieks and the way she'd thrashed on the bed. Lifting haunted eyes, to Marguerite, she asked shakily, "Sam isn't-?"
"Yes, dear. Sam is turning," Marguerite said solemnly.
Alex started to jerk to her feet, but just as quickly found herself sitting back down. Not under her own power.