"I will," Etienne interrupted again. "Soon."
Bastien sighed but apparently decided to let the subject, whatever it was, drop. Clapping a hand on Thomas's shoulder, he turned him to the door, announcing, "You'll need more blood. You'll probably use this up quickly, repairing the damage you've done to each other. I'll send Thomas back with more later. Try not to kill each other in the meantime."
Etienne's answer was a grunt.
His two relatives left the kitchen and started up the hall. When the front door closed behind them, some of the tension left his shoulders and he grabbed another bag of blood from the cooler Thomas had set on the table.
"So," Rachel said quietly as she accepted the bag. "What is it exactly that you were supposed to talk to me about?"
Etienne stared at Rachel. He supposed it really would be a good thing to talk and try to convince her that it was in her best interests to claim Pudge had kidnapped her. But he was reluctant to spoil the rapport they had shared since Night Club--the bond they were building so new and fragile, Etienne was hesitant to possibly ruin it with an argument. Distracting her with something that would bring them even closer together seemed the better option.
"You don't like the night," he said abruptly, and could tell by her expression that he had startled her.
"I don't dislike it. It's just..." She frowned, then shrugged. "I don't like working at night while everyone is sleeping. I'd rather sleep, then work during the day like everyone else."
"Why?"
"Well..." She scowled at him, obviously annoyed. "It's not so bad on work nights," she said finally. "But I can't stay up on work nights and keep normal hours on my nights off, so I'm up all night then and there's nothing to do but sit around twiddling my thumbs or playing video games by myself. Everyone I know but my co-workers on the night shift work normal hours. There's nothing to do."
"Nothing to do?" He gaped at her, then shook his head. "I'm afraid you need an education, my dear."
Rachel took in Etienne's certainty with doubt. She'd worked the night shift for three years now and doubted there was much he could teach her. She'd searched desperately for things to do on her evenings off, and while she could always hit the malls or a movie early in the evening, it was the wee hours--11 to 7, when she would usually be working and was awake as could be--she had trouble filling. Other than the bars that closed at 2 a.m., and Rachel wasn't really a bar person anyway, there wasn't much to do but wander around her apartment lonely and bored.
"Go get changed," Etienne ordered. "Dark pants and top. And a jacket--it's chilly out." When Rachel merely stared at him, he waved her away. "Go on. Get changed."
Giving another shrug, she tossed her last blood bag into the garbage and left the kitchen. Change, he said. She would change. But Rachel didn't believe for a minute that he was going to teach her anything about the night that she didn't already know.
Chapter Eleven
"I've never been on the beach at night," Rachel admitted with a sigh. She leaned back in the sand as the warm breeze brushed her arms. This was the second evening Etienne had taken her out to show her the night. Their first jaunt had been a night walk in the woods. They'd walked hand in hand, listening to the sounds of animals and catching glimpses of them. Surprisingly enough, Rachel hadn't had any trouble navigating the uneven path beaten into the dirt. It seemed her senses were really improving--she had been able to see almost as well at night as in daylight. Etienne's eyes shone silver in the night, or perhaps they simply reflected the moonlight, so she asked if her own eyes were glowing. Etienne smiled and nodded, and Rachel contemplated that. She was now a nocturnal animal. She was a vampire. A hunter.
Rather than alarming her as the idea had once done, the thought gave Rachel an odd surge of confidence. As a woman in the modern world, working at night, she was rather used to being threatened by any number of perverted sickos out there. She had spent most of her life darting from her vehicle to wherever she was going, ever alert for trouble. Now she was experiencing the first tastes of her new strength and abilities.
Her vision wasn't the only thing improved. Last night they had climbed and run and played in the woods, and she had learned that her body was stronger and faster than ever. Much stronger. Inhumanly strong, though she wasn't sure how the nanos managed that. She hadn't bothered to try to figure it out. She was enjoying it too much to care.
"It's a nice night. Want to go for a swim?"
Rachel glanced over the deserted beach and the water reflecting the moonlight. It was a nice night. While yesterday was unseasonably chill, tonight was warm as a summer evening should be, and a moonlight swim sounded enticing. But they hadn't brought any swimsuits.
She smiled to herself and peered up the beach again. They had it all to themselves, which would have been impossible during the day. The few policemen who patrolled at night were watching for under-aged partiers who had already arrived and been sent away by Etienne. Really, she supposed, a swimsuit wasn't absolutely necessary. Etienne had already seen her na**d. Several times.
Rather than answer his question verbally, Rachel tossed a wicked grin Etienne's way. Reaching for the hem of her T-shirt with both hands, she raised it up and over her head.
"Beautiful," Etienne murmured as her br**sts were bared.
His suddenly serious expression made Rachel laugh, and she tossed her T-shirt in his lap as she got to her feet. She hadn't bothered with a bra tonight. Actually, she didn't wear them much at all anymore. There was no need. Her br**sts were firm and perky, as they had never been, the nanos keeping them that way. She was going to save a ton of money in the future.
Standing before him, Rachel unsnapped her jeans and shimmied out of them. She felt herself blush as she did so, but he had seen her na**d before, and besides, she was aware that her body was now flawless. It was really rather freeing. Well, mostly. Someday she could actually envision managing undressing without blushing.
A featherlight caress up her calf made her glance down. Etienne was looking heatedly up at her, trailing his fingers lightly along the sensitive skin of her inner leg. If she gave him the chance, Rachel knew they would be rolling around on the sand within minutes, growling like animals--but he was the one who had mentioned a swim, and now she really wanted one. She danced lightly out of his reach and, leaving him seated upon the blanket holding their picnic basket, Rachel turned away to jog lightly to the water's edge.
Her first step into the water was a bit of a shock. While the night was warm, the water was cold. It closed around her foot, but she barely let that slow her down. Rachel continued determinedly forward for several steps until the water reached her waist, then raised her hands and dived under the rounded waves. She swam underwater for what seemed an impossible time, surprised by the fact that she could. When she finally surfaced, it wasn't out of a need for air so much as a curiosity as to how far she'd swum.
Deciding she had a lot more questions to ask Bastien about the effects of nanos, Rachel swiveled in the water. She stopped treading water and nearly sank under the surface upon seeing how far she was from shore, but she then caught herself. Stronger and faster didn't begin to describe her new state. Rachel hadn't been swimming very hard, but she had propelled herself an incredible distance.
A dark shape broke the surface of the lake on her right, and Rachel smiled as Etienne appeared. His hair was slicked close to his head, his eyes again aglow in the moonlight. He swam closer.
"You look beautiful," he said solemnly.