Nikolai opened his mouth to speak, and Darvaak held up his hand. “Not yet. I’ll shock you into unconsciousness and alert them as to where you are if you even utter a peep, Itzov. You’ve involved me in something I’m not happy about, and you’ll indulge me a moment more.”
Nikolai couldn’t believe this man was besting him. The Time Folders were notoriously meddlesome, but also considered rational and fair. He was hoping for a glimpse of the latter attributes. At least Darvaak was calm, as opposed to his counterparts. Over the last two centuries, the only other pair of Time Folders on the planet had become unpredictable at best, as evidenced by the shock he received from a female Time Folder named Hestia the last time the Slayers used them to witness a crime. Stefan Darvaak was the only stable one left—and right now, Nikolai wasn’t so sure about that even.
Darvaak turned his icy eyes to Elena. “So, I only have one more question for you. You fear turning into what you call a heartless, soulless, murdering vampire. Exactly how many vampires do you know?”
“None.”
“So you got this idea from…”
Nikolai fisted his hands to keep from charging him. He was still fucking with them. “Get to the point.”
Elena sighed. “I was shot by one, and we were attacked by three more. They were horrible. My eyes went red when I ingested some blood. I crave it when I smell it. I’m doomed to be a murderer just like they were.”
The girl sewing on the shirt paused again and laid her needle down.
“When did you ingest blood?” Darvaak asked.
Nikolai cut in and answered. “I ran a little test at the hotel. It was only a drop. Her body reacted. There’s no refuting the evidence.”
“I need to see it. Can you replicate it?”
“No!” she cried.
Darvaak placed his hands on her shoulders. “I am trying to help you. I can’t do that until I’m certain what we’re dealing with. Please. Just one time.”
Elena took a deep breath. “Fine.”
She turned her huge, tear-filled eyes to Nikolai, and his heart hammered. The poor woman was terrified, not of him, but of herself. He forced down his uncustomary sympathy and straightened his shoulders. Bit by bit, she was breaking down his resolve, and he knew it would mean his doom. Before her, it was so easy. Vampires were all bad and had to be destroyed. Now, every single solid truth he had held seemed made of gauze, like the flimsy garments of the elves.
“Quit staring at me and just do it,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut.
As Nikolai pulled the dagger out of his boot, he noticed the woman at the table near the back wall was stone still, watching him. Hands in lap. “Perhaps we should be more private about our business.”
Darvaak shook his head. “My employees are completely loyal. That or they are dead.” He held his hand out, palm up toward Nikolai. “Please, allow me. I’m testing a theory.”
Nikolai placed the dagger hilt in his hand, and Darvaak sliced the tip of his forefinger, then handed the weapon back. “Open your eyes please, Elena,” he said as he got on his knees in front of her. “Yes. Now your mouth.”
She obeyed, and he placed his forefinger on her tongue and then withdrew it.
Nikolai’s body went rigid everywhere as he imagined that tongue on his own fingers…or in his mouth…or on his… A growl rumbled deep in his chest. He was going to kill Darvaak, plain and simple.
“Easy, Slayer,” he said. “It’s just an experiment, not a challenge. Look. No reaction.”
Nikolai met Elena’s deep blue eyes and loosened his grip on the dagger hilt. The Time Folder was right; her body hadn’t reacted to the blood.
“Now you, Itzov,” he said, returning to his chair.
Nikolai, never taking his eyes from Elena’s, pricked the end of his thumb and noticed she had clamped her lips shut. Was it him she rejected, or was it that she suspected, as he did, that it was his blood specifically that affected her? He held his thumb up, and she shook her head. Instead of forcing her mouth open like he wanted to, he simply repeated what he had done at the hotel and wiped his thumb across her bottom lip. There was more blood than last time, shimmering like macabre lip gloss. He held his breath, stunned by the revelation that he wanted his blood to affect her.
“Please, Elena,” Darvaak said. “I understand he repulses you, but we need to know.”
Repulsed her? The man was as good as dead. Truly immortal or not, Nikolai would find a way.
Her tongue darted out, and she covered her face. Her shoulders shuddered, and a sob escaped her. The girl in the tinted glasses scooted to the edge of her seat as if to rise, but Darvaak held up his hand. “Let’s have a look, and then it will all be over.”
Elena lowered her hands and then slowly opened her eyes—her piercing, crimson eyes—and all of Nikolai’s blood shot straight to his cock. God, fate was a sick, twisted bitch. Doomed. He was certainly and absolutely heading straight for the fiery pits of hell, he realized, as he lusted for his sworn enemy, the vampire.
After an almost unendurable few moments, the red faded, leaving her irises the wild, stormy blue of the ocean.