The high from her kill was wearing off, and she found herself craving more. Each person she saw represented someone whose life she could take, and she wondered how each one would react to imminent death. Her thoughts turned to the fact that she would likely never die. She would never know that feeling of fear. Would she mourn the life slipping away? Would she be angry, sad, scared?
She tried to drum up the memory of those emotions, but it was convoluted. How would it feel to experience them as a vampire? Only time would tell. It seemed patience would be a new constant in her life. There was no “quick enough” when hundreds of years stretched before her. She was eager to see what time would bring.
At home, she’d barely removed her cloak and entered the parlor before Lawrence began questioning her.
“So, did you feel it?” His voice was earnest as he stared into her eyes.
“What?” She was lost in her own thoughts.
“His life as it left him.”
Amaia sat on the couch, gazing at the cold ashes in the fireplace. “Yes. Of course. It went into me, filled me.”
“Good.” Lawrence grinned and joined her on the couch. “Excellent. All vampires eventually learn to notice this energy, but to do it so quickly is rare. I’ve never seen it.”
“I don’t understand. How could you not feel it?” Amaia couldn’t decide which part of the feeding she liked best: the actual taste of the blood, tangy-sweet as it was, or the pouring of her victim’s life into her body.
“You’ve always been perceptive, Amaia. It’s why Zenas wants you, why he let me get away with transforming you.”
“I don’t understand.” Amaia turned from the fireplace to Lawrence.
“Zenas is a collector of knowledge. His clan is one of intellect, not brute force. It’s how he’s managed to stay in power for so long. You have a gift. You can sense energies. It’s why you were so proficient at seduction. You reacted to the energy of the client, played off it.”
“I don’t recall being aware of it.” What he had seen was a mystery to her.
“Of course not. I didn’t think you were. It just came naturally. That made you even more appealing.”
Amaia didn’t know how she felt about being referred to so casually, as if she were a piece of merchandise with better features than the one next to her in the shop window. The thought was absurd. Her body had always been the merchandise she sold.
“Zenas and I feel that given your heightened senses, you’ll be able to learn about the life force of humans. He wants that knowledge.”
Understanding began to dawn. “Which is why he wanted to turn me himself, so he could have the link with me.”
“Yes.”
Amaia shook her head. “But you didn’t want him to have that.”
“No, I wanted it for myself.”
“Why?” She didn’t delude herself into believing it was a paternal bond.
“Because you are the link to our next evolution.” Lawrence stood and paced as he explained himself. “I’m not as intuitive as you, but before you, I had the strongest senses in Zenas’s clan. I’ve been studying human energy for more than two centuries. I’m convinced that if we are more selective in the humans we turn, we can create a new, superior race of vampires. And at the head of that race will be you and I, unencumbered by any outside force.”
“And what of Zenas?”
“There will be a place for him.”
“But not at the lead.”
“No.”
“He won’t take kindly to that.”
“I don’t suppose he will. But we are the future, Amaia, and he is the past. We will win in the end. I’ve kept much of my knowledge on this matter a secret from him. I believe that energy can be manipulated by a person with the right amount of natural talent and discipline to do it. I believe you’re that person.” Lawrence clasped her right hand as he resumed his position next to her on the couch.
“Me? I can barely control my own movement.”
“Nonsense, you moved quite well on the way back home. You can’t expect to wake up perfect from your transformation.”
“Just because I can feel this energy doesn’t mean I can do anything with it. Why do you think I’m different from anyone else?” So far, Amaia didn’t feel particularly special. Turning her seemed like quite the gamble on Lawrence’s part.
“A hunch. Don’t worry about it. I don’t expect you’ll be able to do much with it now. At the moment, I’m only concerned with your ability to detect the energy. You had the strongest aura of any mortal I’ve encountered. It’s why I took you in when you came knocking on my door as a little scullery maid at the age of eleven. I knew then that you would be the first of my clan. I want to seek out more like you, find more humans who have an extraordinary aura, encourage breeding between mortals to enhance their lines. And when the time is right, I will turn them into your brothers and sisters. We will have created a new race of vampires, the much needed evolution of our stale species.” Lawrence’s eyes lit with a passionate gleam as he laid out his plans, entrancing Amaia with his words. He had always been a man of vision. Given Zenas’s strict reign over his clan, Amaia didn’t doubt this was the first opportunity Lawrence had to verbalize his desires.