shift back, then it would not take her long to make her way out of here. She would slip away at the first opportunity.
And then she would be free. Free to run and play and live again.
But even then, it would never be the same. She could never go back to what she was before. She knew it, sensed it. In a very real way, her life was already over.
Seth opened his eyes and lay very, very still, because damn. Everything was different.
“Ah, you’re awake,” the vampire said.
Seth blinked, amazed, because, yeah, the guy was a vampire, and it was real and now he was…he was…
“What’s wrong, Seth?”
“Your voice. Dude, it’s like I can hear every vocal cord vibrating when you talk.”
“I know.”
“I can feel the air touching my skin.”
“You can probably hear the grass growing, if you listen for it,” the vampire said.
“So I’m either tripping on acid, or I’m…”
“You’re a vampire. Your senses are heightened. Magnified. Everything is impacted. You’ll feel both pleasure and, unfortunately, pain, at levels almost beyond endurance.”
Seth closed his eyes. “What a trip.”
“An endless one,” the man said.
Seth lifted his head, realizing he was in a car, and that the other man was driving. The road was dark before them, the lines flashing by at an alarming speed. “Where are we going?” A little voice deep inside told him he knew damn well where he was going. He was going to her. He didn’t know how, or exactly why, but he felt it. He was getting closer to her with every mile.
“North Carolina. I was on a mission when you interrupted me, Seth. I don’t have any more time to waste.”
“I interrupted you? By what, almost dying?”
“Exactly.”
Seth searched the vampire’s dark face, awaiting an explanation he seemed reluctant to give. Finally, the man nodded as if he’d decided on something. “There are a lot of things you’re going to need to learn in a very short time, Seth, and this isn’t the most important among them. But I’ll try to sate your curiosity all the same.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m your maker, your sire. Your father, in a way. It’s my duty to educate you.”
“I was being sarcastic, pal. You don’t have much of a sense of humor, do you?”
“I’ve never seen the need for one.”
“You ever…make any others?”
The vampire frowned at Seth briefly, before returning his gaze to the road. “You have a rare blood type, Seth. It contains an antigen called Belladonna. Humans with this blood type tend to grow weak and die young. They also tend to bleed excessively.”
“I’ve always had the bleeding thing. I knew about the antigen—makes transfusions tough to come by. I didn’t know I was gonna get weak and die young, though.”
“You would have, eventually. Now you won’t. But you know that. What you don’t know is that only humans with the Belladonna antigen can become undead, Seth. Such mortals are known among us as the Chosen. All vampires had the antigen as mortals. And all vampires sense mortals with the antigen, and are compelled to aid and even protect them.”
“You’re kidding me. Hell, that’s why you’ve shown up before. Helped me out when I got into trouble.”
“That’s why.”
“But…why you, why not any others? I mean, there are others, right?” He sat up straighter in the seat, surprised that the movement didn’t hurt him. Last he remembered, he’d been beaten within an inch of his life. “How many of them—of us—are there? And where are they? Are we going to meet them? Is there some kind of a—”
The driver actually smiled, and it was such a stunning thing to see that Seth went silent. That dark, morose expression faded for just a moment. But then it returned so swiftly that Seth almost wondered if he’d imagined the change. “May I continue now?” the vampire asked.
“Yeah. I just…There’s so much I want to know.”
“And you’ll learn all of it, in time. For now, I’ll continue with the part I’ve begun. For each vampire, there is one mortal with whom the psychic bond is particularly strong. For me, that mortal is you. That’s why you’ve seen me before. That’s why I’ve helped you when you’ve been in trouble in the past. And it’s why I could not do anything but come to you again when you were near death.”
Seth nodded slowly. “I appreciate it.”
“If I’d had a choice in the matter, I’d likely have continued on my mission and left you to live or die on your own.”
Hell, this guy was one cold son of a bitch, Seth thought.
“Careful. I can hear your thoughts, you know.”
Seth’s brows rose high. “You…?”
“But you aren’t wrong. I am a cold son of a bitch.”
“Damn.”
Again the vampire smiled, just slightly this time. “I’ll teach you to block your thoughts. It’s just further evidence I made the right decision in bringing you along with me. Initially I intended to transform you and leave you behind. I only realized after the deed was done that a fledgling vampire as clueless as you wouldn’t last a week on his own.”
“Hey, ease up there, pal. I think I could have managed just fine on my own.”
The vampire looked at him briefly, brows raised, a look of skepticism in his dark eyes.
“I’m not kidding,” Seth told him; then he turned to gaze out the window, amazed that he could see for miles, and that everything was as clear as day to him, despite the fact that it was dark outside. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. I mean, I didn’t know it was this, but it has to be. I always knew I was meant for something big, something important.”
“The girl,” the vampire said. And Seth shot him a look. The man shrugged. “You mentioned her, earlier.”
He nodded. “She’s part of it. But there’s more. Maybe this mission of yours. What is it, exactly?”
“I’ve got to kill someone.”
Seth shivered and looked down at his hands in his lap. “Hell.”
“Don’t worry. He’s in dire need of killing. And I have no intention of letting you become involved. I work alone.”
“Well,
