Page 101 of Vampires of Eden

With my pulse beating hard and my eyes blazing, I open them and cautiously glance over. He’s looking back at me with that soft, patient expression that he offers more and more.

“Hello, Rabbit,” he says, smiling.

I huff in a laugh and look away again. “Hey.”

“It’s not so difficult, is it?”

Exhaling, I look back at him, keeping my nature and all its angst stifled in my gut. “Are you sure you aren’t offended by this?”

“I’m not. Your constant effort to suppress and reject this probably agitates your nature and makes it worse. Was someone else offended by it? Did someone react poorly to your eyes alighting?”

“Did Raphael tell you about that?”

Daniel shakes his head. “He didn’t. It’s just something I sense. Am I wrong?”

With my free hand, I run my fingers through the top of my hair and massage my scalp. God, this is embarrassing. “Well… the first time my eyes alighted, Oliver and me were—I don’t know, fourteen? Fifteen? We’d been feeding from each other for years, but one day, they just sparked out of the blue.” I pause at the memory and chuckle humorlessly. “He um… did not reciprocate my feelings, to put it mildly. I’ll never forget his expression when it happened. He drew away as if my ass and my face had unexpectedly morphed and switched places.”

Still holding my hand, Daniel plasters his palm against his forehead, stifling a laugh. This time, my amusement is genuine. “You can laugh,” I say. “It’s hilarious.”

He takes a deep breath and drops his palm. He looks me square in the eyes. “Your description is hilarious but his reaction is not. When our eyes alight for the first time, the way in which another vampire responds is a pivotal moment. It colors the way we handle intimacy and trust. I’m sorry that he didn’t make you feel safe.”

The words sink in and touch my heart, but his tone is so serious that I instinctively want to lighten the mood. I shrug. “It’s alright—we were kids and he had his own reasons. I’m obviously a predator so I deserved it.”

“You are not a predator,” he says sternly. “Far from it.”

Daniel lifts my hand and urges me to spread my fingers as if he’s about to give me a high-five. I’m confused as he places his palm and fingers flush with mine. I watch, enamored by his electric energy coursing through my palm and down my arm. If I weren’t so paranoid, I’d close my eyes and let it course all through me.

“Raphael said you had a hard time with thetremoloin Beethoven’sPathétique?”

“Yes,” I say, quietly relieved by the sudden change in subject matter. I exhale a breath. “I did.”

He sets his palm more firmly to mine. “It’s partially because of your hands. Spread your fingers wider?” I do what he asks. Through my glowing eyes, I see it. His fingers are longer than mine and also, the stretch of his hand between his thumb and pinky finger is wider.

“The long octave tremolos in that piece are difficult for most pianists,” he goes on. “But especially if the width of your hand and fingers is a little short.”

“Danny, are you telling me that I have small hands?”

He chuckles. “Well, yes and no. I’m mostly saying that this is why you might have needed to work harder for it. Could you trill between notes in general?”

“Yeah,” I say, contentedly looking into his eyes. “I could.”

“There you go.” He slips his fingers through the gaps in-between mine and folds them down. “It was your reach that was being challenged. Not necessarily your skill and rhythm. Your teacher never pointed this out to you?”

Cautiously, I mimic his gesture so that our fingers are clasped as he lowers them between us. I look down at our hands, amazed. “No, he didn’t.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t hurt yourself. I’ve heard of students injuring themselves on that piece.”

“Well… I’m a purebred vampire,” I say, looking up and meeting his eyes. We both grin. The moment is comfortable and I’m beside myself that we’re holding hands. My eyes are alighted and we’re laughing. It’s bizarre and…

Nice.

Really nice.

He stands from the trunk, casually squeezing my palm before letting my hand naturally fall away. “I’ll let you unpack. I made a vegetable hot pot for lunch if you’d like to eat together? If you’d rather have your blood bags?—”

“No, well… I can have both? I mean, I’d love to have lunch with you.” Slowly, my eyes burn out. I exhale a deep sigh and run myfingers through the top of my hair from the sheer relief of my nature surrendering its frustrated grip.

Daniel smiles as if he were totally unfazed by it all. “Perfect. Meet me in the kitchen whenever you’re ready?”