Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“Real life isn’t usually as dramatic as fiction. It was a… witch who came from a clan who has hated my kind for many generations. They’d created the curse, the cure, and the maze that protected it many years ago.”
“Are you the only vampire who has been cursed?”
“From what I can tell, there’s been about a dozen of us through the years. Though, I think I am the last one. The witch died a few years after cursing me in a car accident. She’d never had a chance to have children, so I assume the knowledge of the curse and cure died with her.”
It wasn’t a surprise to me that entire covens hated vampires enough to want to curse or kill them. I mean, I remembered stories about some killer clan of witches who trained their whole lives, geared up at night, and hit the streets to take out vampires.
We were, traditionally, enemies.
It was just that the modern age made it so easy to forget about things like age-old nemeses.
There were lots of other things to focus on. Better things. Like fictional vampires falling in love with humans and fae and, well, witches.
What can I say? Fictional vampires were always brooding and hot and…
Well, kind of a lot like Nathaniel. Just with better names.
“Why you?” I asked.
“Come again?”
“Why did she curse you? Were you a particularly awful vampire?” I asked. “I mean, I know all of you drink blood. But some of your kind have kind of, you know, evolved. Hence the blood bars and such.”
That was why I’d tried to donate my blood. They offered a lot of money for willing donors because the demand for human blood, without the whole feeding thing, was growing.
I mean, there was even a movement trying to convince humans that vampires weren’t all bad, that they wanted to integrate into society.
I wasn’t exactly convinced since there were still many people being attacked and drained.
“No, I wasn’t… that bad,” Nathaniel said. “I did drink human blood for most of my life. And, yes, often even unwillingly. But once I realized there were humans who would let us feed willingly, I started getting my nourishment that way.”
“Why?”
“Why what? Why didn’t I enjoy the fear and pain of humans?”
Well, when he put it that way.
“That’s a very… human mindset, though,” I said.
“My theory is that the longer we are around, the more we evolve. I haven’t met many vampires my age. But I met one quite a bit older. He’s probably the most empathetic being I’ve ever met. Last I saw him, he was refusing even to drink cow’s blood to survive.”
“Without blood, wouldn’t he die?”
“Yes.”
Huh.
“I’m not going to pretend that vampires are exactly like humans. We don’t have souls. We can’t die, save for specific ways. And I think that immortality makes it harder for us to develop the depth of empathy, joy, and pain that you experience. But I do believe that living amongst you slowly changes us.”
I mean, sure, he’d been a little lacking morally with the whole kidnapping thing. And he was kind of brash and selfish.
But, he’d been good to me.
Kind, at times, even.
If he had another hundred years, it might even be hard to differentiate him from a human.
“Have other vampires tried to get to the cure?” I asked.
“Yes. By my count, three of them. At least, I found evidence of three.”
“Why didn’t they succeed?
“The first two, because they didn’t realize the key factor with the witch.”
“And that is?” I asked.
“The witch has to be willing,” he told me, watching my face for my reaction.
“But you kidnapped me.”
“And then made you a deal,” he reminded me.
Right.
That was true.
The money was the only reason I hadn’t tried to escape when I’d had opportunities to do so.
“What happened to those vampires that tried to force the witches?”
“They burned up the second they stepped into the labyrinth,” he said, shrugging that off.
“What about the witches?”
“The maze isn’t meant to hurt your kind,” he said.
“Um… it almost burned me and drowned me.”
“I don’t think it’s possible for you to die from the spells. They can kill me, especially as I become more mortal, but not you.”
“What happened to the third vampire?”
“The witch couldn’t complete the maze. I don’t know which challenge had her failing. But the only thing I can find is that she went back to her life. I couldn’t find any information about the vampire, though. I imagine he just died in the maze.”
But he still wanted to go in himself.
“Was I the first witch you approached about this?”
“No.”
I went ahead and pretended that my ego didn’t get a little bruised by that.
Because, objectively, of course I wasn’t his first choice. I doubted I was the tenth, or twentieth, choice. I was simply the one he got to say yes.
Then lucked out that I was halfway competent.