"Yes, I learned a bit about him and a bit more about what you are." As she said the words, Christian stiffened because even though she already knew what he was, she had now just seen what a truly evil vampire was capable of, and, in truth, what Christian was capable of. She read him easily.
"Christian, stop. I know who you are. How I feel about you won't change because I've seen what your kind can do," she said gently. "It would be na?ve for you to think that I don't know what a vampire is." She frowned. "He was different though, wasn't he? Not like a man, more like an animal."
"They are trained assassins, more fiend than vampire. They are control fed, only to keep their hunger sharp, to kill. I'm sorry I wasn't there—" Christian's face was tight.
"It doesn't matter. I'm here now with you." She paused, her words cautious. "When you say control fed, you mean starved?"
"Yes, of blood." His voice was strained.
Victoria watched him, speculative. She understood that Christian had to feed, but it was more convenient for her to equate that in her head with the natural act of eating as opposed to the unnatural act of consuming live blood.
Even earlier when he'd returned, it hadn't bothered her. Now that she'd seen into the other vampire hunger-warped consciousness, she understood all too clearly what feeding meant.
"You eat food though, I saw you on our date ... but you still need ... blood or you'll become like them?"
"I can still eat human food although flavors are far more overpowering now, which is why we tend not do it very often. And yes, blood is a necessity." The apology was ever present in his eyes.
"Human blood? Do you ... have to kill?"
"Any blood works really. Human blood tastes different, which mainly has to do with diet, herbivores and carnivores, that sort of thing. And no, I don't have to kill." Victoria noticed the emphasis he placed on saying "I" and tilted her head questioningly.
In response to her unspoken query, he explained, "We have an enzyme in our saliva that has special healing properties, so if I need to, I can take blood from someone and they would heal easily. The trick is to know when to stop. You see, a young vampire can barely control the hunger, so early on killing is a natural consequence of feeding. Over time, most learn control."
"But won't you make more vampires by killing people?" Victoria asked, curious. Christian smiled thinly.
"Myth. If that were the case, humans wouldn't exist. We have special rules, more laws actually, for that. Unfortunately there are some vampires who are far more indulgent and enjoy taking a victim's death for the pleasure of it, the thrill of it."
"Is it thrilling?" she asked in morbid fascination. Christian stared at her with those compelling silver eyes and she shivered softly. She changed direction very quickly.
"What about mirrors?" she asked, forcing a teasing note into her voice.
"I look pretty good in them most days," Christian said, rising to her attempt at light banter. Victoria smiled. More than pretty good, she thought.
"Can you change into a bat?" A look of involuntary disgust crossed her face and he laughed.
"Mostly myth, although very old vampires can shift forms."
"Crucifixes?"
"I died a Catholic, remember?"
"Hmmm" Victoria pursed her lips racking her brains for some of the other so-called facts she had read in books. "Sunlight's a myth too right, because you walk around in the day?" Christian shook his head.
"Correction, I walk around in the shade. Sunlight is actually deadly to us. Not as in incinerate in seconds to dust, but still lethal." He paused, searching for a suitable example and continued. "Imagine the pain you would feel the next day if you lay out in the sun for four hours without any protection? Well, think about that multiplied exponentially in the space of minutes. We can get fatally ill after prolonged exposure. Light clothing and sun block like zinc oxide can help but I just try to stay out of direct sunlight. The older we get, the better the tolerance, you build up immunity."
"Ah ha!" she said. "I've got a good one!" She paused dramatically and then her face fell. "Never mind, I just realized I pretty much slept in bed with you the other night, so probably no coffins, right?"
Christian burst out laughing. "Only you can make not sleeping in a coffin sound like a tragedy."
"Garlic?" she asked hopefully.
"Love the smell, hate the taste," he said, his lips twitching.
"Silver!"
"Wrong type of monster, sorry. Although as you know, it hurts if it gets into our blood." She stared at him in sham disappointment.
"Do the movies get anything right at all about you people? We have been so misled!"
"Well, we can die from being stabbed in the heart, pretty much any sharp object. We don't age, take my beautiful young effervescent self for example." He earned a punch in the leg for his vanity. Then his voice grew quiet, a sudden rough tenderness to it. "And when we fall in love, it's for forever."
She stared at him, her breath hitching in her throat. "You're falling ... for me?"
"What do you think?"