"Oh, God, tell him to come."
He's there in a second, taking me into his arms, his wrist already open to provide me with blood. At that point, I don't care any more what I'm doing. I only need for the pain to stop. I know what it means to be an addict going through withdrawal and it's pure hell. I swallow a mouthful and then two, the taste so sweet and almost immediately, the pain ebbs, the anxiety and fear dissipating. My body feels better, my hands stop shaking, but I cry.
I weep and Michel wraps his arms around me even more tightly. I can't last twenty-four hours without drinking his blood.
"Just kill me now," I say.
"Don't talk like that."
"I mean it. What's the difference between what I am and a vampire? Nothing."
"No," he says. "You aren't a vampire. You won't die if you don't get blood. You don't need much – just a few mouthfuls. You can walk in the sunlight. You're not damned."
"How will I ever leave you?"
"What do you mean?"
"If I can't go a day without your blood, how can I ever have my own life? Do I have to drink it from you directly? Can you put it in a vial and bring it to me?"
"Why would you want to do that?"
"In case I need to be away from you for longer than a day. It might happen."
"Not if I can help it."
"Michel," I say and shake my head in frustration. "There will be times when I can't be with you. What will happen then?"
He closes his eyes as if deciding whether to tell me. "It's not just my blood," he says finally. "Any vampire will do. Mine's just more potent. You need less of it."
I lie in the darkness for a while with his arms around me, trying to get my mind around it. Finally, I sit up and face him, wiping my eyes.
"So, Julien's will do? Any vampire? Will Soren still take me, even if I'm addicted?"
"In a heartbeat," he says, his voice almost a whisper. "You'd be even more desirable."
"Why?"
He shakes his head. "The connection. It's one thing for us to know how a mortal feels, what they think, have access to their memories. It's another for you to know us. Feel our emotions. He'd guard you like a treasure, just as I will."
“Why hasn’t he taken me yet?”
“He wanted me to have you, for Julien to have you, and for both Julien and I to be his creatures. You were the bait used to ensnare us both. He has us where he wants us now.”
That makes me feel somewhat better. It will make me more desirable. I'll still be able to get close to Soren – close enough to kill him. Thing is, how?
I'm done with feeling sorry for myself. I wipe my eyes.
"Tell me how I can kill him."
He rubs his forehead for a moment, and then looks at me.
"Eve, you don't want to do this. It'll be very dangerous to go to him. Besides, if you drink his blood, you'll be at risk because for at least twenty-four hours, his blood would be inside of you. You could be destroyed when he is."
"Tell me how. I don't care what happens to me as long as he dies. How does this nanotech solution work?"
He sighs. "It's like an infection, except it's not an organism. Molecular machines meant to deliver a poison. You need to infect him in some way – get it into his lungs or into his blood."
"So if I were to ingest this nanosolution, and he drank my blood…"