Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Itried to get my thoughts in some kind of rational order.

“You said George is going to die tonight, didn’t you?”

Hans’ expression was so calm. Not a hint of trepidation in sight.

“Yes. I did.”

“You said he was being spared pain. What did you mean?”

The vampire sitting beside me answered without a hint of concern.

“George is on the edge of death regardless. He’s eighty-six and his health has been declining for years, but he doesn’t want to get treatment for it. He wants to live an independent life, right up until the very end. Understandable.”

“And the very end will be tonight?”

“Indeed, and it will save him suffering. George only has a few weeks until his heart gives up, but his heart will fight, because he’s a fighter. That fight will put him in hospital, plugged into machines while doctors attempt to give him just a few more days of a miserable existence. He stopped enjoying his life a long time ago.”

“How do you know that? About what lies ahead for him?”

“We have heightened senses. We read a lot of things about people, but we particularly read a lot about the flesh. It’s our food source, after all.”

“By we, you mean vampires? I guess there are a lot of you?”

He smiled. “That depends what you mean by a lot.”

“Ok.” I framed my question differently. “How many vampires are there in the world? Roughly?”

“There doesn’t need to be a roughly about it. There are four hundred and ninety seven vampires in the world at present. We’re quite a close knit community, spanning over thousands of years.”

I tried to imagine four hundred and ninety seven vampires. It wasn’t all that many. The population of Orcop was just over four hundred – a very small village.

My next question sprang up naturally.

“Is your friend Frederick a vampire?”

“No. He isn’t. He’s a mortal man associated with vampires.”

“Associated how?”

“He’s a financial asset manager. He ensures our estates pass down through generations when it comes to official paperwork. His family have been in the trade for a long, long time. His father was an excellent accountant before him.”

“Is it Frederick who is going to kill George?”

“No. Frederick will just alert someone who will. George is likely already dead by now. I hope his passing was a peaceful one. God speed.”

I got a pang of grief so hard it made me blanch. The very idea that George was dead already. It was just–

“Horrible, I know,” Hans said. “I still remember how painful the ending of mortal life seemed to me in the early days, especially some. They can cripple your soul. But you adjust. Your perspectives change as your experiences change you.”

I tried to get back on track.

“Why is George being killed? Is it because of what happened in the bar? Did I do something wrong?”

Hans reached out and squeezed my knee.

“You didn’t do anything wrong as far as I’m concerned. I am in debt to you, actually. As are the rest of the vampire community. There are always hunters out to get us, and people who get scared and run to them. George was one of those people. He’s been too familiar with Frederick through Regency for quite some time. He’s heard plenty of things he shouldn’t have.” He paused. “People are like an interconnected web and rumours whisper through silky threads. George tapped into two sides of a long waging war, and he picked his side. A lot of people choose the righteous hunters. That’s understandable. There are always two sides to every story.”

I had a horrible rush of terror at the mention of vampire hunters, the pang of grief for George buried under panic.

“You got to him in time, did you? The hunters won’t be coming for you?!”

“It’s good to see your priorities are where I’d hoped they’d be, little one.” Hans squeezed my knee again. “No, I don’t believe any hunter will be coming for me. I’m sure Frederick will have things under control by now. George was only on the outskirts of the hunter network. He was splashing in a shallow pond, thinking his depths were deeper. He had a long way to go into the ocean before he found the central ship he truly needed to find where hunters are concerned, but that’s all over now. George is at rest. His splashing is over.”

I took a breath of relief.

“Thank God for that.”

Hans smiled. “Indeed.”

There was something that glowed deep underneath the bright green of his eyes, and I couldn’t place it. Spirit? Soul? Belief? I didn’t know, but it gave me another fresh new sensation, striking a chord in my chest. My brain spun, trying to understand, but failing. I was growing weary of the confusion, and much more needy of the basics. I needed… time. I needed–

“We can pick up questioning tomorrow if you’d prefer,” Hans said. “I’d strongly recommend you leave your mind to catch up and work things through. There has been a lot of revelation in a very short space of time.”

I nodded. I’d trust Hans to guide me from here on in. I felt like a loved child at his side, which was a new one for me. A happy place to be.

“You need sustenance before I drink more blood from you,” he said. “Let me get you some dinner. What do you like?”

I laughed, surprisingly light hearted. “You mean you don’t already know? Jam on toast, please.”

He laughed along with me. “Of course. I should have known that. I’m afraid I don’t have any jam. I’ll make sure to get some in for you.”

He stood up from the sofa and held out a hand. He pulled me to my feet so easily.

“How about a nice, rare steak, Katherine? That’s always good fuel to feed the fire.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten steak, but the idea sounded a good one. My stomach rumbled at the mention.

“Wonderful,” he said.

He guided me through to the kitchen, which was another impressive room with high ceilings. This one had rich terracotta floor tiles and black marble counters. Hans opened one of the thick oak cupboard doors and an inbuilt fridge appeared. Quite a contrast to the antique decor.

“Do you eat food? As in food, food?” I asked, and Hans shrugged.

“Very, very rarely, and usually only as a token display when in public. I don’t enjoy it, and usually spit it out again as soon as I’m out of view. My appetite for blood soon wiped out my appetite for almost every other food in creation. Blood is my only necessity. It’s like being an addicted wine connoisseur with a million different bottles of red to sample. Everything else pales into insignificance.” He smiled. “And that’s putting it mildly.”

I took a seat at the kitchen island as Hans took a steak from the fridge. A huge piece that looked like rump.

“Did you get that in especially?” I asked. “Did you know I’d be coming?”

“Yes on both counts.”

“Thank you.”

He had heavy steel pans and lit one up and seasoned the steak like a master. Very confident and skilled for someone who rarely ate anything.

I grinned. “Were you a chef in a past life?”

He smirked back. “I enjoyed cooking food in a very distant part of this one. It’s a hobby I’ve kept alive in the background. If not for myself, then for other people.”

“Do you have many non-vampire friends to cook for?”

He shot me a glance full of humour.

“I thought we were done with questions for this evening, but since you asked. No, I do not. I have many non-vampire acquaintances, but not many I’d call friends. A life passes by in a finger click. Broken bonds can hurt for a lot longer.”

I sighed at my own stupidity for asking, another round of what, what, whats running riot in my head.

“I really am going to stop asking questions now,” I told him. “Every answer you give me leads to a thousand more questions.”

“I’m sure that will be the case for a long time to come.”

I got a fresh tingle. A long time to come.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m hoping we will be acquainted for a long time to come. I wouldn’t have introduced myself if I didn’t.”

I almost waded straight on in with another question. Almost. But I stopped myself. I needed to stop digging at the quicksand.

Hans started chopping up onions and I walked over to watch him. He had peas and broccoli, too. He took out some peppers and mushrooms to add to the collection.

“Is it really true what they say about garlic?” I asked him, and he rolled his beautiful eyes.

“Questions, Katherine.”

I giggled. “That’s hardly a serious question, Hans. Are you allergic to garlic, or not?”

“We don’t appreciate garlic, no. It’s an antibiotic. It doesn’t do well for our blood, and it doesn’t taste nice in other people’s. You could see it as you see chocolate for dogs. They can eat a little, but it definitely won’t agree with them. Too much of it will certainly put them in the veterinary clinic.”

“What happens if you need a doctor? Do you have vampire clinics you can check into if you have a garlic OD?”

He grinned. “Not exactly, no. I’d have to retreat into darkness for a few days. Let the cold sweats take it out of me.”

I became serious again, watching Hans’ beautiful fingers chopping food.

“It’s sunlight, isn’t it? That’s your biggest danger.”

“Yes. It is. That’s the killer. A very brutal way to pass, being burnt up into cinders.”

I shuddered, hoping that never happened to him. The idea of having him gone from me was already unbearable.

He tossed the ingredients into a pan and added some spices, mixing them together like a pro. He really did know what he was doing with food.

“Plenty of health in this for you,” he told me. “You’ll need to keep your nutrient levels high.”

He laid the thick, raw steak into the sizzling hot pan and within seconds it smelt absolutely delicious. I was definitely hungry for it.

“Take a seat and relax,” Hans said, and I did what I was told, retreating to the island with my elbows back on the counter. Finally, I sat in silence, letting the questions slip away.

No more questions. Not tonight.

It was only a few minutes before Hans presented me with my dinner, arranged beautifully on a big porcelain plate, blood oozing from the steak. It made my mouth water. It had been a long time since I’d had such an extravagant meal. I’d been consuming jam on toast for weeks like a girl gone mad.

“Thank you so much.”

“You’re very welcome.”

The first bite melted on my tongue. “This is truly delicious.”

“Blood generally is, I find,” my vampire chef said with another flash of humour. “But you could say I’m biased.”

I felt my strength coming back with every mouthful of steak. Strangely vivid–

“Your body knows what it’s lacking,” Hans said. “You’ll feel the digestion a lot more intensely than you would do without a vampire in the equation.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Yes, it is. Since you’re going to be needing that energy very, very shortly.”

His smirk was divine. His eyes were like perfect green daggers. His tone was alight in a way that made every single part of me tingle.

I paused with my fork in the air. The rush of excitement was insane, even though I was still on the verge of exhaustion.

“Shortly as in tonight? More bites and more touching, and…”

My words dried up. I felt like the awkward virgin girl I really was.

“Sex, yes,” Hans said easily. “Bites, and touching, and tasting, and sex. I’m going to fuck you, tonight.”

The words sounded so filthy from such an eloquent mouth.

My fork was still in the air, hovering. My needs were still tingling, rising.

Hans grinned and gestured to my plate. “I’m going to take your innocence, hard and fierce, and I’m going to drink an awful lot of blood from your throat to go along with it. So, please. Finish up your steak and we can get started.”

Wow. Holy fuck.

I’ve never gobbled up a meal so quickly in my life.