“It doesn’t hurt,” I said again. “In fact, it feels better now than it did before. It’s not nearly as tight.”
“Well then, maybe it’s a good thing?” Emma’s voice rose with the question, indicating she wasn’t exactly sure if my new scars could be good or not.
“Whether it’s good or bad we can’t know tonight,” Avery said firmly. “Tomorrow Megan and I can go to the Spell Library and do some digging. We’ll look up Made Vampires and see what can affect them or change them in any way.”
“Good luck finding anything like my case, though,” I pointed out. “Who ever heard of a Made Vampire drinking from a Drake before?”
“Well, that’s true,” Avery acknowledged. “But for now…” He yawned hugely. “It’s time to get back to bed. As long as you feel okay, Katydid?” he asked, looking at me.
“I’m fine, I guess.” I shrugged. “My body has gone through so many weird changes lately—what’s one more?”
“Well, promise to wake us up if you have any more itching or weirdness,” Megan directed.
“Or if you feel sick in any way,” Emma added. “So we can take you to the Healer.”
“I don’t need the Healer,” I said. “I just want to go back to bed.”
“All right. Goodnight then.” Since I was still wearing a towel, Avery gave me a swift peck on the cheek instead of a hug. “Sweet dreams and let us know if any more weirdness happens.”
“Good night, Avery—thank you.” I looked at all of them. “Thank all of you for being here for me and supporting me through…” I waved a hand, indicating the strange state of affairs I found myself in. “Well, through everything.”
“Of course.” Megan smiled at me. “We’ll let you get dressed.”
“But if you’re not back out pretty quick, we’re going to be worried,” Emma told me.
“I’ll be quick,” I promised and they all filed out, leaving me to change back into my nightdress.
But before I did, I took another long look at the strange new markings on my back.
What was happening to me? And would it happen anywhere else?
48
Kaitlyn
Well, for the next few days at least, it didn’t. In fact, nothing more out of the ordinary happened for over a week. Unless you count me going to the Drake’s Den twice a day to sit in Ari’s lap and drink his blood out of the ordinary, that is.
Though I never would have believed it was possible, I actually got used to doing it. I didn’t ask to drink from his wrist anymore, either. There was no point, really—my knees buckled with the first mouthful of his blood and he had to pull me into his lap anyway. So I might as well start out there and save us both the trouble.
Because no matter how used to sitting on the big Drake’s lap and being close to him I got, I could never quite get used to the surge of pleasure and power drinking his blood gave me. It felt so good—so right—that after a while, I stopped fighting it. I just went straight to Ari, climbed in his lap, and took the vein he offered me which pulsed in the side of his neck.
It occurred to me after some time, that I was getting used to my strange new status as a Nocturne. And not only that, I was almost…happy.
This was such an unusual state of affairs for me, that it took me a little while to recognize it. When was the last time I was truly happy, I asked myself? Was it back before The Fire? Back when my mom and dad were still alive?
Life had been so uncomplicated then—so straightforward and easy. At least it seemed like that, looking back on it now. I was sure I’d had problems and worries and cares but they all seemed small and insignificant after The Fire.
My Coven-mates noticed my new state of mind almost the same time I did. One morning at breakfast, after my early morning “feeding session” with Ari, Avery looked at me and said,
“Well, Katydid, I think being a Vampire agrees with you—you’re positively glowing.”
Megan, who was sitting right across with me and beside Griffin, leaned across the table for a closer look.
“Avery’s right,” she declared. “Your aura has a happy pinkish glow about it—kind of like a sunrise all around you.”
She was learning to read auras and actually having success, she had confided to us, even without using any Blood Magic, which was her specialty.
“You do look happier,” Emma observed. “You’re not hunching your shoulders or trying to hide behind your hair quite as much as you used to.” She frowned. “You look taller too—is that possible?”
“Maybe,” Avery said speculatively. “Maybe it’s an effect of the Drake blood she’s been ingesting.”
“Or maybe it’s just because Kaitlyn is sitting and standing straighter and not, as Emma said, ‘hunching’ so much,” Griffin observed. “She is, what you humans call, ‘coming out of her shell,’ perhaps.”