Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,70
me, plus the horses. I prefer to be boring. I’d say it’s the secret to success.”
“I’ve always loved horses.”
“Horses love you back too, but when they die, it’s not as bad as losing a human,” he said. “There’s always another perfect horse.”
“Well, that’s callous!” But I giggled a little. I knew what he meant. “That sounds nice, actually. I always thought being a vampire would be too much drama.”
“You’re right. But the old ones find a way to just live in the moment. It’s strange to think I’m that old, anyway.”
“How old do you feel?”
“Forty,” he said.
I gave the horse’s mane a gentle stroke and she seemed to perk up just a tiny bit, like she approved. “I guess I see why you don’t want faeries moving in. They probably wouldn’t want you working there anymore. It must be hard to change when you’ve been doing the same thing so long.”
“That’s right. But I’ll manage.”
“You’ve done great work on the cottage. I wonder if you’d—”
He looked at me, his expression hardening, but in a way that seemed more tired than mean. “Don’t get any closer than this,” he said. “Like I said…I don’t get close to humans.”
“Oh. Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like—”
“I know,” he said. “But it happens anyway. Especially since you’re pretty cute. At least, for now.”
“Aw!” I was both flattered and indignant. Cute for now? I hoped I’d be cute for a while! But, I guess time flew when you were in his shoes. Immortal and all. And I didn’t take care of my skin as much as I should either.
“Don’t take it personally,” he said. “You ride well, too. It’s just, by my reckoning you only have about a week to live.”
“Surely it’s not that bad. I probably have seventy-five years to live.”
“But it does get awkward a little sooner than that.”
“I hate you immortals.”
Now Gaston was holding me as the world fuzzed in and out.
“Billie, look at me,” he said.
I couldn’t see much of anything, as stars filled my eyes.
“Your head is bleeding,” he said. “Can you manage a healing spell?”
“Umm…”
“Stay with me. Look at the moon.”
“Where?”
“Right above us.”
I wasn’t sure if I was looking at the moon or just noise in my head. I was trying to decide if I could feel my body. Oh, there it was. I was made of lead.
“Shit…”
“Hey, Gaston…” I was getting colder. I was scared because I knew all of these sensations were bad signs. “Hey…” I tried to clutch him. “Stay with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m dying, aren’t I?” I whimpered. Yeah, I was really scared. This was terrible. I didn’t get to go do anything. The council killed me, easy as pie, by the side of a dirt road. Live like trash, die like trash. A fitting end for Hill Billie. I bet that was what they were thinking. “This is so stupid…”
I wasn’t even able to help Hel or find the last piece of the box. Nothing. Tears filled my eyes. “You’re right,” I choked out. “I only did have a week to live.”
I felt him move a little under me, and I cried, “Don’t leave me!”
“I’m not!” Suddenly he pressed something to my mouth. Blood. “If you don’t want to die, drink it. It’s all I can do.”
He’s going to turn me. This isn’t what I wanted…
“Come on!” he growled. “I don’t want to do this either! I’ve never sired anyone before! It’s too much responsibility!”
I think, if he had not sounded so reluctant to do it, I might have just gone and died, but when he said that, it sort of made me want to do it. I guess because he wasn’t a fancy, experienced vampire with a whole clan. I didn’t want to get involved in that. But if he was going to have to deal with me the same way I’d have to deal with him, and none of us knew what we were doing, that seemed fair.
I drank, even though I wanted to choke on it. Hot blood. It tasted awful.
He put his arms on my shoulders and forced me up, and then he bit my neck. He didn’t have time to be gentle, I knew that. I was so weak I couldn’t do anything about it. I could barely even moan. Even the pain of his fangs seemed more like a memory or a dream.
The blood loss felt like the last straw. I was spiraling into unconsciousness.
This was just terrible, but in the end, I wanted to