Page 87 of Suck This

“What?” I asked, realizing that she had something on her mind but was reluctant to say it.

“Were you worried about me going crazy?”

I saw no reason to lie. “I was.”

Her eyes closed.

“What would you have done had I been… you know?”

I let her see exactly what I would’ve done.

“You would’ve protected me?” She gasped. “But, Constantine!”

I shrugged unrepentantly.

“I’m in love with you,” I told her bluntly. “You can’t really expect me to do anything differently. I know that you wouldn’t.”

I could read the truth in her eyes, and it caused me to grin widely.

She dropped her head to my chest and closed her eyes, causing me to feel content for the first time in well over twenty-four hours since this entire mess had started.

“I love you, too, you know,” she whispered into the quiet.

I squeezed her tighter.

• • •

“How does that work?” she asked, voice scratchy. “I thought you weren’t dead when you were turned.”

I rolled over in the bed, allowing my eyes to fall closed despite Acadia’s best effort to wake me up and keep me awake.

“You don’t have to be,” I admitted. “But in this case, and Chen’s case, you both had just imbibed on my blood the day of and the day before. Had you not done so, it wouldn’t have been possible.”

Her eyes widened. “So am I different than a regular vampire?”

I nodded.

“I had to will a lot more of my power into you than I would’ve done to any other vampire. You’re more like me, and a lot less like a newly formed baby vamp,” I admitted. “You’ll have more affinity for the sun at first, and by the end of your first year I’m sure you won’t even have a problem standing out on the beach once it’s all said and done.”

“What, exactly, happens to you with the sun?” she asked warily.

I grinned.

“Nothing.”

She blinked.

“Nothing?” she gasped. “But… why demand all those cells away from the sun then?”

My grin split my face.

“People believe what they want to believe. In this instance, I gave them something they thought would control me. It makes them feel better, and helps me in the long run for them to think they have that out.” I cleared my throat. “If they ever do try to torture me with it, then they’re in for a rude awakening.”

“So what would happen if I went into the sun right now?” she asked, sitting up in bed.

She was staring at the windows—the ones covered by the shutters—like she was about to fling the things open.

“Nothing, not really. You’ll be lethargic, like you’re sick. If you were to drink some blood, you’d feel a little more like yourself. Mostly, though, you’ll just be tired. Like, not being able to lift your hand off the table, tired,” I explained, tugging the t-shirt—my t-shirt—that she had around her frame.