“You make it sound idyllic,” he muttered.
“It is, in some ways. Now that Norman is dead and his vampires have perished, the humans he brought with him want to stay here. They want to be part of this world,” Ida said.
“And what about Norman’s city? What will happen to that?”
“The humans have already sent word of his demise,” Ida sounded happy about this. “Apparently, there was a plan in place to usurp his throne while he was here. A new vampire is already ruling his city, and from what I hear, she’s a much better ruler than he ever was.”
“Good.”
Colin squeezed my hand, and I felt a little bit of warmth there. My legs and arms were starting to feel warm, too, and my nose didn’t feel like it was going to freeze off. They talked for a few minutes and I faded in and out of consciousness as they did. I caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but then Ida lowered her voice and spoke in a tone that let me know she was talking about me, and I was alert almost instantly.
“Are you going to tell her?” Ida asked.
“About what?”
“About her brother. You know, apparently, she thought he was human.”
Wait a minute...
Matthew had been human. They couldn’t be talking about Matthew...could they? Was that what they were talking about?
Only, my brother had fed me some misinformation about vampires. He’d told me they couldn’t eat, for one thing. I’d been surprised to see Colin eating real food. Had Matt said that so I would think he was human when he wasn’t? And he’d worked nights forever. Come to think of it, I never actually saw him during the day. He was always “busy” during the daytime.
Holy dragons.
My brother had been a vampire, and I hadn’t even known.
It hurt a little to know that he hadn’t trusted me with his secret. It hurt even more to know that I hadn’t had a clue. How dumb had I been? If I could open my mouth I would have cried. Matthew had died defending Colin’s wife, but he’d also died a vampire. My brother was an immortal, and I hadn’t even known.
As it was, I couldn’t move my body. I tried to move my toes, but they wouldn’t do anything at first. Why couldn’t I move? And why was I cold?
“It’s been a long time,” Colin said quietly. Something in his voice sounded pained and hurt. Why did he sound sad? It seemed as though we’d won whatever skirmish we’d been facing. That was a good thing, wasn’t it?
“She might not make it.”
“Ida, if you say that again, I’m going to stake you.”
“I’m just trying to be helpful.”
“Telling me the woman I love might not make the transition from human to vamp isn’t exactly comforting.”
Wait.
What?
Then I remembered more.
Norman had attacked me. He’d bitten me while I was crying, and I hadn’t fought as hard as I should have. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already weak from sobbing, and I hadn’t been able to push him off of me. He’d been relentless, and he’d drained my blood, and while I was dying, I had been sad about not getting to see Colin to say goodbye.
Colin had turned me.
I didn’t know how he’d been able to. I knew that to turn, I had to drink the blood of the vampire who had drained my blood. Had Colin given me Norman’s blood? Had Colin given me his own blood? Had it been enough that they were brothers?
I didn’t know.
I tried wiggling my feet again, and I felt the sheets against them. It was working. I was coming back to life. I was going to be a vampire.
I squeezed Colin’s hand, trying to let him know that I was alive. I was dead, technically, but I was conscious. I was a vampire now. I was his vampire.