breathed out a sigh, then just sat there digesting it all until her eyes drifted to Lucern's leg. His very pale leg. She supposed a tanning salon was out, and recalled how sometimes he was terribly pale and other times flushed with color. "So when you're really pale it's because"
"Because I am in need of feeding," he finished. "I'm dehydrated, and the blood has all moved closer to my organs to keep them functioning. When I am flushed, I have fed."
"Dehydrated." She nodded. "Why can't you just drink lots of water? Why do you have to have blood?"
"The nanos use blood to repair and reproduce themselves. The body can't make blood at a fast enough rate. The nanos cause the hunger for blood when they need more by creating some sort of chemical reaction in the body."
"And the teeth?"
"They create those first. It's some sort of genetic encoding." He sighed wearily. "Kate, I've entrusted you with my life and the lives of my family by telling you this. Were you to tell anyone well, most people would think you mad. But it's possible someone might believe, and just one person is enough to endanger all my people."
"How many of you are there?"
"Under five hundred."
She let her surprise show. "So few?"
"Yes. It would be dangerous to have too many. Each of us is only allowed to have one child per century to keep the population down."
"But there should still be more of you. If there are five hundred now, and all of them have children"
"The five hundred include men, women and children. Out of those, there are perhaps one hundred couples. And then we have a certain number of deaths in each century, too."
Kate was surprised. "I thought you couldn't die."
"We don't age. Everything dies," he explained patiently. "Diseases and viruses have no effect on usthe nanos see to thatand we don't age. But there are other ways to die. For instance, many of us were burned at the stake during the Inquisition."
"What about a stake to the heart?"
Lucern nodded.
"A bullet to the heart?" she asked.
He shook his head. "The nanos would repair the damage quickly."
"Then why does a stake kill?"
"Well, it will kill if you leave it in long enough. The nanos will try to repair the heart around it, but can't force the stake out. The heart won't beat, there will be no fresh blood or nanos brought to help, and they and the body will die."
"Oh. I see." Kate dropped her gaze and found herself staring at his flaccid penis. All this explaining had ruined the mood somewhatwhich was a damned shame. Clearing her throat, she lifted her gaze to his face again. "So Bastien sent you blood, but because I left your name off the registration it was returned, and now you're" She hesitated. He was as pale as death. She would have looked like hell had she been as pale as him. He still managed to look strong and sexy, though. It really didn't seem fair. "What happens if you don't get blood?"
"The nanos will start to eat tissue to get the nutrients they need," he admitted reluctantly.
Kate's eyes widened in horror. "That sounds painful."
"It is," he said simply.
"Would it kill you?"
"Eventually, but there would be a lot of pain first."
"And I hung up on Bastien last night," she realized with horror. "Were you able to tell him to send more before"
"No." Lucern suddenly sounded a little testy.
"Did you call him back?"
"I don't know where he is. All he said was that he was in Europe before you hung up."
"Oh, dear," she said faintly. "How long until it starts to hurt?"
"Four o'clock this morning."
Kate closed her eyes. Great! That meant the nanos were eating him already. She had a hungry vampire on her hands. One who was so hungry he was in pain. And she had him in a hotel with over two thousand romance fans waiting to throw themselves at him. It would be like bringing a lion to a hog farm. Kate heaved a sigh. This was all her fault, of course. She supposed she had better fix it.
"All right. How much blood do you need until we can think of a way to get you more?"
He looked surprised. "A full pint would be enough to get me through the day, maybe. But I need"
"A pint!" Kate shrieked. Dear Lord. "A pint? That's like a milk-bag full."
"Roughly, yes."
Kate considered the matter seriously, it hadn't hurt when he bit her last night. Actually, it had