He seems calmer, his eyes no longer red, his teeth have receded in length and even in the low light, I can see that his pupils are now almostnormal.
"Then how do yousurvive?"
"We don't have to kill humans to survive. Merely drink human blood. There are always donors and pets, and when I kill a vampire and drink his or her blood, it is like feeding off tenhumans."
"You drink vampire blood? You have humanpets?"
"No, I don't have pets. I detest the very idea. I subsist off donor blood. But some people like being our pets,Eve."
"I don’t believe that," I say, but the thought of being his pet appeals to me in some way I can’texplain.
He turns and smiles at me. "Even you might enjoyit…"
My cheeks burn. How did he do that? "So you can read my mind on top of everythingelse?"
He doesn't answer as we walk towards a lone car parked near the rear door to the linguistics building. It's a Mercedes hybrid, sleek and jet-black. He opens thedoor.
"In yougo."
I sit inside and he has the nerve to fasten my seatbelt, apparently enjoying the opportunity to get all cozy with me, then he takes my hands again and examines them as if checking to see how theyare.
I can't help but notice how attractive heis.
Then he makes a funny noise in his throat, like exasperation or a grunt of enjoyment, I can't tell which. He leans close to me, smirking, his face just a few inches from mine, and adjusts the strap across mychest.
"Eve, I'm flattered you're attracted to me, but really, I fastened your seatbelt because your hands aren't very useful rightnow."
Ofcourse.
I feel another blush rising. How does he do that? I glance at my hands and he's touching my wrist. It must be skin on skin contact so I quickly pull my hand away. He remains there, leaning over my seat, his gaze moving over myface.
"You have to learn to build up mentalwalls."
He stands back up and closes the door. When he gets in on the driver's side, I turn tohim.
"How do I do that? Build up mentalwalls?"
"Oh, no," he says and shakes his head. "If you think I'm going to tell you, you're extremelynaïve."
So he wants to be able to invade my mind? "It's not fair. No one should be able to dothat."
"Life's not fair, Eve. I'm proof of that. Besides drinking blood, it's our ability to affect your minds and read your memories that vampires crave. It keeps us from losing ourhumanity."
I look at him closely. "You really resent being made avampire."
"Duh," he says and starts the car. For a moment, I'm at a loss. Duh? Is that some archaic Frenchcurse?
"Did you just say 'duh'?"
He smiles and looks at me with that grin on hisface.
"I may be eight hundred years old but I do try to keep up with thetimes."
"Well, let me enlighten you, Michel," I say, pronouncing his name in an exaggerated manner – Mee shell. "Duh is sonineties."
"Oh, Eve, Eve,Eve." He smiles as he shifts into gear. "I can see we're going to have a lot of fun, you and I. But let me get one thing perfectly straight. If I'm going to do this – if I'm going to let you in – you have to learnobedience."
Obedience? As in obey him? "What do you mean, let mein?"