“Yes.”
“When you were in your forties?”
“Give or take a few years.”
She touched the hand resting on her stomach. “Did you have to die?”
“No. I didn’t.”
She frowned. “How is it possible to become a vampire without dying if you weren’t born one? Were either of your parents—”
“Our parents were human. I was turned by a very skillful centuries old vampire. It was a slow, sometimes painful process but I never actually died.”
“You came close?”
“Yes.”
“Did you want to be a vampire or were you turned against your will?”
“It was either that or risk dying. I wasn’t very fond of dying.”
“Did it happen during The Trail of Tears?”
“No.”
“What happened to you to force that choice on you?”
“I was stabbed and shot and left for dead.”
She turned in his arms, tracing her fingers over the scar on his shoulder and then his ribcage. “Oh…
Adrian
!”
“It was a long time ago and I survived.”
“But only because you were turned?”
“I might have survived anyway. My brothers and I survived a lot before we became vampires.”
“Then why did you choose to become a vampire?”
“I was determined not to let the cowards who tried to kill me go unpunished.”
“What happened to them?”
He bared his incisors and spoke in a low, menacing voice. “I killed them and I enjoyed every second of it.”
She shivered. The cold ruthlessness she heard in his voice was a reminder that he was a vampire who had killed in the past and would probably kill again. “How many were there?”
“More than you want to know about but every one of them deserved to be killed.”
“Did they have families?”
“Yes, but then so did I!” He released her and rolled onto his side with his back to her.
She scooted close to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “
Adrian
…”
“I know you want to know about my past, but do we have to talk about this now? Remembering still makes me angry and…” he turned to face her. “I don’t want to be angry when I’m with you.”
“No. We don’t have to talk about it now.”
His shoulders relaxed.
“Is he still alive,
Adrian
?”
“Is who still alive?”
“The vampire who turned you.”
“Actually, I was turned by a fem.”
“A fem? A woman?”
His lips twitched. “Fems are women, Brandi.”
“Is she…still alive?”
“Yes.”
Brandi swallowed. She didn’t much like the idea of
Adrian
having a mistress who was still alive. “Is she…do you…is she your master?”
“No. She’s my friend.”
“What’s her name?”
He hesitated before he answered. “Her name is Marcella.”
“And she doesn’t command you?”
“No one commands me.” He smiled suddenly. “Except you, of course.”
She shook her head. “Clearly you don’t want to talk anymore, but I’m not delusional enough to believe I can command you, Adrian. And I have one other question I have to ask you.”
“Only one? It must be my lucky day.”
She grimaced.
He smiled. “Go ahead.”
“What’s going to happen to me, Adrian?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“Will I…what’s going to happen when I start to age and you no longer find me attractive?”
“That doesn't need to happen.”
“What’s the alternative,
Adrian
? I love you but I don’t want to be a vampire.”
“There are advantages to being one, honey. You—”
She shivered recalling how easily and ruthlessly he’d spoken of killing Doug. “I don’t want to lose my respect and reverence for human life. I don’t ever want to feel that it’s okay to kill someone just because they’re in my way.”
He sighed. “I guess that’s your charming way of chiding me for threatening to kill your boyfriend.”
“He didn’t do anything to you and yet you were ready to kill him. You would have killed him. Wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” he told her, his voice cooling. “Don’t expect me to apologize for who and what I am, Brandi.”
“I love who and what you are—I just don’t want to be like you.”
“I don’t consider myself the parasite you seem to think I am, but—”
“I don’t think you’re a parasite. I think you’re a handsome male who has potential.”
“Damn. That’s kind of you, Brandi.”
She sighed. He was annoyed. “I didn’t mean to imply—”
“Didn’t you? You hinted once before being with me fouled you.”
“Oh, hell, no! You’re not going there. Not after what you said to goad me into saying that!”
They stared at each other in a cool silence.
Chapter Seventeen
She waited for him to soften but after nearly a minute, she knew he wasn’t going to. “Just because I don’t want to be a vampire doesn’t mean I think you’re foul.” She caressed his cheek. “So lighten up already,
Adrian
.”
“How can we spend eternity together if you grow old and die?”
“I’m human. That’s what we do,
Adrian
. I hope you’re not planning to turn me without my permission.”
“I’m tempted to do just that, but I won’t—at least not for a few years.”
Lord, he was impossible. “
Adrian
!”
“I don’t have any immediate plans to force you to do anything you don’t want to—except maybe give me your anal cherry. That I’m going to take sooner or later with or without your permission.”
Although he smiled, she suspected he was serious. She decided to let it pass since she was confident if the need arose she could sweet-talk him out of using force. “So what happens when I start to age? I’ll lose you?”
He shook his head. “I have no intentions of going through this shit ever again. You’ll never lose me. I can stop your aging process without turning you.”
She would have preferred his assurance that her aging wouldn’t matter but she was realistic enough to know that it did and would matter at some point. “How?”
He arched a brow. “If I told you that I’d have to kill you, honey.”
She laughed. “Be serious.”
“I am serious. I can slow your aging until for all intents and purposes it’s stopped without turning you. You can look as beautiful in a hundred years as you do today.”
“That can’t be possible.”
“No? How old do you think Rayna is?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“She might look twenty-nine—”
“Actually she looks a little younger.”
“She’ll be fifty on her next birthday.”
She stared at him and knew he was serious. “Fifty?”
“Fifty and she’s not a vampire. Her aging process has been slowed. I can do the same for you. And one day when you love me enough to want to spend eternity with me…I’ll turn you. But not before you want that.”
“I said I didn’t—”
He pressed his fingers against her lips. “One of these days I’m going to have to teach you who’s in charge. Let me give you a hint, honey, it’s not you!”
She stared at him.
After a moment he softened and caressed her cheek. “It’s not as if I’m thinking of forcing the decision on you anytime soon. Once you become a fem…my fem…we won’t be able to procreate together. So we have to have our babies while you’re still a luscious, albeit, fickle human woman with the most incredible pussy in the world and the power to touch me as no other woman ever has. And honey, I’ve known more women than you want to know about.”
“I’m sure you have,
Adrian
.” She sighed. Clearly she had a lot to learn about vampires in general and Adrian in particular. What if she learned something she’d rather not know? What if he did something or admitted something she couldn’t handle?
He rolled on his back.
She scooted next to him. “Are you all right,
Adrian
?”
“I don’t know. That depends.”
She caressed his cheek. “On what?”
He sighed and shifted to his side so they faced each other.
“On you.” He stroked a palm over her breasts. “Everything depends on you, honey.”