A loud crash came muffled from the back of the house and Holly tore her gaze from the action movie Dante and Tomasso had put on the television to glance toward the door to the hall. Her instinct was to go see if Justin was all right or needed any help, but he’d turned her away the last three times she’d checked on him after such sounds, so she remained where she was seated and forced her gaze back to the television. The man was determined to cook a meal for them and had refused all offers of assistance. But the crashes and bangs coming from the room were a bit alarming. It sounded like he was pitching pots across the kitchen or something. The curses that had occasionally sounded were no more encouraging and she suspected the meal was going to be a complete mess.
Biting her lip, Holly glanced toward the door to the hall again. It had been just after ten P.M. when she’d woken up, well past dinnertime . . . and Justin had been working in the kitchen for what seemed like hours now. It had to be after midnight. She’d been absolutely starved when she’d woken, but enough time had passed that her hunger had turned to nausea now. As a diabetic she had always had to eat on a strict regimen. Skipping meals had not been allowed, so she was not used to it. That thought made her glance to Gia who was seated on the couch next to her.
As if sensing her attention, the woman turned to her in question.
Holly hesitated and then said, “I haven’t tested my blood since . . .”
“You are no longer a diabetic,” Gia assured her solemnly. “The nanos will have repaired your system, removing all illnesses or lack in your system. You will no longer need to test your blood or take insulin anymore.”
Holly stared at her as those words drifted around inside her head. No more shots of insulin, or poking her fingers to test her blood sugars. No more watching every little thing she ate, or strict regimens for mealtimes. She was normal.
Normal, she thought faintly, and the concept was sweet. Like other -people, she could now eat what and when she wanted. She savored that thought for a moment, until it occurred to her that she wasn’t really normal at all. She had to have blood now instead of insulin, she reminded herself and frowned.
In truth, Holly supposed she’d traded in one ailment for another. Instead of not producing enough insulin, her body now could not produce enough blood to support the nanos that had invaded it. Instead of taking insulin shots, she had to take in blood, either intravenously or through her teeth.
While teaching her how to recognize the difference between a hunger for food and the hunger for blood, Dante and Tomasso had said she could even drink blood if necessary and that immortals without fangs did that. The thought of drinking it, though, was terribly unappealing. Holly wasn’t sure why that was, when she’d nearly attacked her husband and then Justin both twice in search of the tinny substance. It certainly hadn’t seemed unappealing then. Well, to be fair, it wasn’t like she’d been imagining biting their throats and allowing their warm blood to flow over her tongue and down her throat, she thought now. Actually, she wasn’t even sure that would have happened if she’d bitten them. Certainly, she didn’t get any blood in her mouth when she bit the bags. Her new fangs seemed to suck it up like straws without her ever having to taste it.
So . . . she was no longer diabetic, but still not normal.
“I have lived a long time, Holly,” Gia said suddenly, her voice soft so as not to prevent Dante and Tomasso from being able to hear the television. “And if there is one thing I have learned in all that time, it is that no one is this supposed normal you are thinking of. Everyone is a different creature with different flukes or tics whether they are physical or mental.” She paused briefly, and then grinned and added, “Besides, this normal thing is like sanity, it’s vastly overrated. Embrace your differences, they make you who you are and I like you.”
Holly smiled faintly, and then glanced to the door at the sound of someone clearing their throat.
“Dinner is ready,” Justin announced when her gaze found him in the doorway.
Her eyes widened as she peered at the man. His face was flushed, his hair disheveled as if he’d been running his hands repeatedly through it, and his clothes were splattered with various foodstuffs. But he also had an air of banked excitement about him. He was obviously eager for them to see the results of his hard work.
“Well, great,” Holly said with a smile as she got up. “I’m beyond starved.”