“I see,” Mary murmured, accepting the fork he handed her. She managed to wait until he’d reclaimed his seat, then dug in. Literally. She was suddenly starving, her stomach churning with it, so she started with some sort of pasta dish that was quite nice, then halfway through it, picked up a chicken leg and began to alternately gnaw on that and scoop pasta into her mouth until she realized that Dante was watching her with amusement. Realizing what a disgusting picture she must make, she set down the fork as well as the chicken leg and reached for the glass of water he pushed toward her.
Mary took a sip of the cool water, then set it down and asked, “Is it the nanos that are making me this hungry? Am I always going to be wolfing down food? And if I am, how the hell are the nanos going to keep me at my peak condition?”
Dante chuckled and shook his head. “You will not always be this hungry. No doubt this is a result of a combination of the turn and not eating for four days. As for the nanos keeping you at your peak, they will. It is as simple as that. You can eat all day and night and they will keep you at your peak. They will also use a great deal of blood to do it, however, which means you would have to consume more of it.”
“Oh.” Mary had picked up her fork again, but now lowered it to the table and glanced down at her new hands worriedly. She hadn’t considered that part of the deal. It was awesome and lovely to look and feel young and strong again, but he had turned her to do it. She would have to feed . . . on blood. Mary wasn’t sure she could do that. She didn’t even like rare steak. The blood turned her off.
“Eat Mary, you can worry about everything else later,” Dante said gently.
She hesitated, but then gave in and picked up her fork again. Her stomach was still churning with hunger, and she hadn’t eaten for four days. She reminded herself of that and then decided that starving herself would probably mean taking in extra blood too.
Once Mary started to eat again, Dante picked up his own fork to continue eating. They were both silent for a bit, and then Mary said, “Everything smells so . . . much,” she ended finally, because she couldn’t think of another way to put it. The good smells still smelled good, but were stronger, and it was the same for bad smells. Mary had never cared for blue cheese, the smell had always bothered her, and there was a very small, thin slice of it on a steak on a plate in the center of the table, probably more as a garnish than anything, but it smelled to her like there was a pound of blue cheese under her nose.
It was just one of the scents assaulting her, though. Mary could smell everything as if it were concentrated and set directly under her nose . . . including Dante. He had a deep, almost smoky scent combined with a higher note that was slightly coppery. It was quite wonderful, and to her, smelled more delicious than any of the food on the table.
“I did tell you that the nanos improved skills and senses,” Dante reminded her softly.
“You said they improved speed, strength, eyesight and hearing,” she countered. “You did not mention smell.”
“Ah.” He shrugged. “I was born immortal, so have never experienced the difference myself. I can only tell you what I was told by others,” he pointed out. “I suspect the truth is the nanos improve pretty much everything.”
“Hmm,” Mary murmured and turned back to her food. After a moment, however, she jerked her eyes to him again and said, “This means I won’t need my glasses anymore, doesn’t it?”
Dante’s eyebrows rose. “You wore glasses?”
“Oh.” She flushed, and dropped her gaze. “I only needed them for reading. I never needed them when I was younger. I had better than twenty-twenty vision then. It was only as I got older that I started having trouble with reading and such.”
“I see. Well, you will not need glasses anymore,” he said softly, and then grinned and added, “Although that might be a shame. I suspect you were sexy in glasses.”
Mary laughed at his teasing, but merely shook her head and returned to eating. Between the two of them they finished off everything on the table, and still she was hungry.
Giving a little dissatisfied sigh, Mary set her fork back on her plate and leaned back in her seat, her gaze shifting to Dante. Now that all the food was gone, the smells in the room had been reduced a great deal. The primary smell filling her nose now was Dante, and he did smell delicious.
“Your eyes are glowing,” Dante announced quietly after a moment.
“Are they?” Mary asked with disinterest. Then she smiled seductively and stood to walk around to where he sat. Pausing in front of him, she whispered, “I must be feeling passionate then.”
Dante stood at once, but rather than take her in his arms as she’d hoped, he moved around her and walked toward the small fridge in the entertainment center, asking, “Are you thirsty? Would you like something to drink?”
Mary scowled at his back. No she didn’t want a bloody drink. She wanted him to take her in his arms so that she could lay her head on his shoulder, bury her face in his neck and lick, nuzzle and nip her way along the vein pulsing there and—