Page 53 of Dark Embrace
Then his words triggered a thought. “How often did you require it in the early years?” And that question triggered another. “How often do you require it now? How does it work? You said you take it from the bleeding bowls…how long after the patient is bled does the blood remain viable as a source of nourishment for you? Is there a difference when you feed directly from a person? Why blood? Is it the whole of it that you crave or just a singlecomponent?And—”
He rested his fingers on her lips, grinning at her. “Ever the physician, my Sarah. Socurious.”
She laughed. “Iamcurious.” She paused. “Alright, answer the first question first. How often did you feed in the earlyyears?”
“At least once each week. More often than that, if possible. It was like a madness, a thirst that could be assuaged no other way. And if I went too long, the madness became amaelstrom.”
Sarah tapped her lower lip, his answer sending her thoughts racing along different paths until one snagged her full attention. “The killer at King’s College,” she mused. “He takes the lives of those who are dying, those who suffer terrible pain. I think he believes it a mercy. But he does it often. Does that mean he is...new? That these are the early yearsforhim?”
Killian blinked, and sat straight. “A newly made vampire. Yes. That makes sense. And he is making an effort to turn his thirst to the good, to find a way tocontrolit.”
“Did you control it?” she asked, not quite certain that she wantedtoknow.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed, planting his bare feet on the carpet, and he turned his face to her over his shoulder, his expressionsomber.
“Not at first. At first, I was careless and greedy, drinking where I would. I did not murder indiscriminately. I tried to take from those who were already touched by death’s hand, or those who ought to be. The murderers. The villains. Those with true evil in their hearts.” He raked his hand back through his hair, and took a slow breath, as though deliberating how much to reveal. “I would have you know the truth, Sarah, though it paints me in a less than perfect light. I did not always drain my prey unto death, but I took no pains to ensure that I did not. I simply did not care if they livedordied.”
“But the vampire who hunts at King’s College does care,” she pointed out. “He kills on purpose, and he chooses to drain those who are suffering a horribledeath.”
“A strange form ofmorality.”
“Killian, I think it is the vampire that follows me. I have seen him in the graveyard, sensed his presence behind me in the alleys. He dogs my steps.” She shook her head. “It is the same man, Killian. The man who stalks me is the same as the one who moves like a wraith through the wards, stealing lives.” She paused. “But that comes as no surprise to you,doesit?”
“It does not. My kind are a territorial lot. We have an ability to sense other blood drinkers who step into a place we consider ours. I sensed him there, outside Mrs. Cowden’shouse.”
She gasped, for though she had suspected it, hearing confirmation was disturbing. “What does he want with me? Why does hefollowme?”
Killian reached back and took her hand. “I don’t know. I do not think he wishes to drain you. That would have been an easy feat for him and he would have done it long before now were that hisintent.”
“How very reassuring,”shesaid.
Killian studied her for a moment. “He moves about only in the darkness,” he said. “His pattern indicates he is too new to have built up any sort of tolerance of thelight.”
“That is why you told me I would be safe in the light.” And as she thought about it now, she realized it was true. She had never felt the sensation of being watched, being followed, in the daylight. Only in the hours between dusk and dawn. “Butyoucan move about in thelight.”
He smiled at her then. “I can move about in the light, if I am careful and my skin covered, but I am centuries olderthanhe.”
Centuries. Her breath locked in her throat. She was not accustomed to that yet. Hundreds of years, alone. She could not imagine it, could not imagine how he hadborneit.
“What happens if you are exposed to thelight?”
“Much the same as what happens ifyouare exposed for too long. My skin pinkens, then reddens. Blisters form. There is discomfort, then pain. It is not deadly, merely unpleasant. But if I stay in the light for a length of time and do nothing to protect myself, unpleasant turns to deadly. If I stand unprotected in the full light of the sun, I will burntoash.”
“Burn to ash? How long?” She was horrified by the thought of Killina dying in thesunlight.
“How long can I bear the sun? I have experimented over the years and the duration increases exponentially. At present, the longest I have dared is an hour. And then it cost me a month of recovery. But the newly born will burn more quickly.” He paused and Sarah sensed that he was about to share something of import. “My maker cast himself into the sunlight and crumbled to ash withmoments.”
Sarah didn’t know what story lay behind those words, but she sensed that it was one that yet caused Killian sadness. She crawled across the bed and wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek againsthisback.
“So sunlight can kill him,” she said. “What else? A pistol? Aknife?”
For a moment, she thought he would not answer, would hold fast the secrets she longed now to know. Then he made a huffing exhalation and said, “There is very little now that can kill him.” After a pause, he finished softly, “Another vampire could dothedeed.”
She shivered, reading his meaning in the things he did not say. “You will kill him, this newly made creature, if he does not agree to cease murderingpeople.”
“Yes and no. He must cease murdering in such a public manner. In truth, I have no argument with his choice ofvictim.”
“I dislike that word,” Sarah said with ashiver.