He shakes his head. "Don't ask me what you know I won't tell you, Eve."
Then, my anxiety decreases and I relax, heaving a sigh, but it happens too quickly to be of my own accord. Michel's trying to calm me using his powers so he can feed on me. I block him, shutting him out immediately so that I no longer feel his mind at the edges of my consciousness.
"Don't do that," I say and try once more to stand up. "Don't manipulate me."
"Don't shut me out." For a moment, we just stare each other down. "Eve," he says, pulling me closer, his greater strength easily overcoming my paltry resistance. "You're mine. This is what we do."
I cover my eyes. "I'm not yours. I'm my own."
"So stubborn," he says. "Tell me you don't want me and I'll let you go."
I hit his chest lightly playfully.
"I do want you, but have you ever heard about a thing called equality?"
"We're not equal," he says softly. "Pretending that it's so is, I would think, unscientific."
"Pretending it's so is necessary for this to work," I say and lean in, pressing my cheek against his. "I'm human in that way, I guess." I pull back. "I may not be as powerful as you, or as old, or as wise, but I have just as much right as a sapient being to determine my own wants and desires."
"I know your wants and desires, Eve. Besides, those who have power have the right to take what they desire," he says.
"Might makes right?" Sadness fills me that he can make such a bald assertion. "Might may win, but do you really want to force me?"
"Of course not. I want you to offer yourself willingly as I've said from the start. I'm not a monster. But I know you want this just as I do. Because of your past, you feel this need to fight everything, to reassure yourself that you have power. It's to make up for all those times when you didn't have power."
"Don't remind me."
"Don't you see? That's what your resistance is about. In resisting, you only deprive yourself of what you really want. Being with me is what you really want. Being my Adept is what you really want. It's Fate."
"I don't believe in Fate."
"Nevertheless, like vampires and fallen angels, Fate exists in spite of your refusal to believe. All of us tread a very fine line, trying to influence Fate. She only listens so much, and in the end she has her way despite our best efforts. Just give in."
"Give in to you."
"Yes," he says and closes his eyes. "Give in to me. Acknowledge that this is your fate and your desire and you'll be happy. Finally, you'll be happy."
Emotion wells up inside me. "I can't," I say, my voice breaking.
"You can't what? Be happy?"
"I can't surrender."
"Eve," he says and runs his fingers through my hair. "Wasn't last night good?"
I shake my head. "It was beyond good. It was," I say, struggling with words to describe it. "Bliss."
"Yes, it was." He cups my cheek. "Take the bliss. You deserve it. You've suffered so much pain."
"It scares me," I say, remembering. "I feel as if I'll lose myself. Be consumed. Disappear."
He nods. "I understand. I promise you that you won't." He bends down and kisses the curve of my breast. "If anything, you'll come out stronger."
"Why?"
He runs his hands down my back.
"You'll understand what's important."