Page 32 of Fangs and Fudge

MC glanced between Doc, me, and down the hall. “Yeah. Okay. Everly, I’m serious. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will.”

I locked the door after they left and began to tidy the kitchen as I waited for Vena. By the time the coffee pot was sparkling and the cups were put away, Vena emerged.

She peeked through the house.

“They’re gone,” I said.

She let out a breath. “Good. The house was getting a little too small with the wolves in here.”

Checking the time, I said, “I guess I didn’t need to say we’d meet Cross in two hours. I just didn’t know how long it would take to get out of here without followers.”

“That’s okay. We can stop by Miles’. He hasn’t texted yet today, and I want to bring him the books.”

“Based on all the marked pages, you must have been up all night, reading.”

“Close, but it was worth it,” she said. “I’ll tell you what I found on the ride over.”

By the time I pulled onto the road, Vena was opening books and spreading them on her lap.

“There are a few things I read that concern me.

“Basically, what we saw Cross do with the pawnshop guy was compelling. It’s a mental nudge to get the person to do something that doesn’t go against who they are. There are no lasting effects to being compelled, and it doesn’t require a feeding. However, if there are feedings with the compelling, the vampire can form a bond with the feeder called a thrall. It’s more permanent, and it’s more dangerous. The feeder’s personality changes. They want to please the vampire and will do anything to that end even if it’s something they wouldn’t normally do. It’s like being mentally-enslaved.

“That’s what happened to Sierra. Considering that Miles and Gunther have been fed on, there’s a serious risk they could be thralled too. Even you, Ev. Cross has tasted your blood several times already. And just because he hasn’t compelled you yet doesn’t mean he won’t in the future. The connection is there and lasts for a long time. Unfortunately, there are only a few ways to break it, and none of them are easy or without risk.”

“Cross wouldn’t enslave me, Vena.”

When she remained silent, I glanced at her.

“What?”

“He scared me with the way he compelled both me and Sierra without even looking at us.”

“Is eye contact necessary?”

“Typically. But honestly, Cross is less terrifying than the thought that Miles might be under the thrall of a vampire as sadistic as the one who took Gunther. Which is why I want to break any potential connection Miles might have.”

“Okay. How do we break it?”

“Either the vampire or the feeder would have to die. I doubt we’d be able to kill a vampire without help, especially not after the sun charm-cleavage fiasco that scorched your girls and my mom’s chair.”

“You shouldn’t have bought the sun charm in the first place.”

Ignoring me, she said, “The second way to sever a bond is to wait until it fades. But it takes time, during which the vampire will still have a link to the person and will know how to track them.”

“I’m fine with that option for me. I trust Cross. But it doesn’t sound like a good option for Miles or Gunther.”

“Exactly. Which brings us to the final option. We would need to find an older and more powerful vampire to take over the link.”

“Wouldn’t that be worse?”

“I thought so, too. But, what if it’s a vampire we know?”

“Cross? You just said you barely trust him and that I might be under his influence.”

“Listen, we both know it’s better him than the vampire that fed off Miles and Gunther. Then the enslavement link can fade, and everyone will be okay.”

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