“Leah, I’m just like you, except different.”
“Yes, you’re way different! You suck human blood!” Her voice had risen and she tried to pull away but he stopped twisting her hair and drew her closer with both arms wrapped around her.
“We feed on human blood, yes.”
“That’s wrong.”
“It’s natural.”
“It’s crazy!”
“It’s been happening since time began.”
She shook her head looking anywhere but at him visibly unable to process this information.
“This is nuts,” she muttered with an edge of hysteria.
“It isn’t.”
Finally she looked at him. “It’s sick.”
His arms tightened further and he held control of his temper but his voice betrayed it when he explained, “You should know, that’s offensive, pet.”
Her eyes skittered away and she accused his shoulder, “You move faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. That is not natural.”
“You’ve never been with a vampire.”
“You smell things, hear things –”
He cut her off, “Leah, this isn’t difficult to understand.”
Her eyes shot to his. “Easy for you to say!”
“Species have been evolving since the planet formed. It’s entirely natural, what I can do, how I feed. It’s who I am. It’s the way of my people.”
“I can’t believe this,” she whispered.
“It’s true.”
She studied him briefly, her eyes working, her thoughts shifting, wildly different expressions swiftly drifting across her features, settling on one. Distrust mingled with horror.
“So, what, we’re your prey? My people, that is. In this ‘natural world’ of yours.”
He didn’t hesitate with his reply, “Yes.”
She went still and stared at him, clearly stunned at both his answer and his honesty.
He took advantage. “What I haven’t explained yet is there’s more we can do. Something I didn’t do last night. Something that would have made things go far better for you if you hadn’t made me lose control.”
She gritted her teeth at another mention of her responsibility for last night’s events before asking, “And that would be?”
“I can anesthetize your skin.”
Her body jerked before she said, “Pardon?”
“Before feeding, only before feeding, my saliva has a numbing agent that releases. Not only does it anesthetize, it has healing properties. Strong ones. The healing begins even before I finish feeding.”
Leah blinked, the distrust and horror gone, confusion and disbelief in its place.