Page 106 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures

“How can you exist without a source of energy?”

He stared into the red liquid that spilt over the walls of the glass while he stirred it gently. “Everything is energy and anything can be a source. The air you breathe. The water you drink. The sunrays piercing through the clouds. The processes of transformation are endless.”

“So, you’re something like a plant?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “If that explanation satisfies you.”

They drank in silence. When she looked back at him, he was already watching her.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“Nothing.” She shrugged, playing with her glass.

“Liar.” He smiled. “You purse your lips when you’re thinking.”

Amelia took a big gulp of her wine to hide her surprise. Only one person had ever noticed her annoying habit – Sammy. But she didn’t want to think of him, not just then.

“Is it the same when you turn?” she asked. “A transformation?”

His gaze lingered on her face before he said, “Nothing more than a rearrangement of atoms and molecules.”

At that moment, the door opened and an older woman in a chambermaid uniform barged in, pushing a trolley in front of her. “Good evening!”

“This is Stella. She agreed to cook dinner for us tonight,” Mikhail explained.

“All right…” Amelia inspected the woman, trying to decipher whether she was human or not.

“I imagine you two would like a classical Bulgarian dish for dinner. Right?” The woman filled up their plates. “Kapama! I ordered the best pork, beef, and chicken in the area. Stewed it all up in a broth with onions, garlic, and my secret condiments. I won’t even comment on the quality of the sauerkraut.”

Amelia’s stomach somersaulted. She wasn’t vegetarian but the mention of meat brought back her nausea.

“And… the perfect banitsa!” Stella placed a tray of savoury pastries filled with feta cheese, eggs, and spices in the middle of the table. “Don’t eat too much, there’s dessert, too!” She disappeared with her trolley.

Amelia stared at the table full of food in disbelief.

“I had no idea what you might like, so I trusted Stella,” Mikhail said.

“Is she human?”

“Couldn’t be further from it. She’s a vampire.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed. She is… I mean, the wrinkles…”

“Some creatures reach immortality later in life.” He took a bite of the kapama. “It’s good, I guess.”

She forced herself to taste the dish, wrinkling her nose unwittingly when she brought it to her mouth. Despite that, she swallowed it. “It’s good.”

Mikhail wasn’t fooled. One glance at her, and he was reaching for his phone. “You don’t like it. I’ll call Stella and ask her to bring something else.”

“Don’t! I just don’t feel like eating meat… But the banitsa and the cabbage will be enough.”

“Are you a vegetarian?”

“Yes,” she replied, because she could think of no other way to explain her sudden distaste towards meat. She stuffed her mouth with a piece of the banitsa. “This is very tasty.”

“I need to warn her that you don’t eat meat.”

“I‘d hate to offend her. She seemed very excited about this dish.” The last thing Amelia wanted was to make an enemy out of a vampire by insulting her culinary skills.

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