Page 43 of Thicker than Blood

“I have no idea why. I’m not popular anywhere.”

“There’s something special about you. I find myself equally intrigued.”

He gazes up at me with pretty eyes. “Weird, but okay.”

Chuckling, I gesture to the couch. “Does this work?”

“It’s fine.”

He sits and opens his bag, working to inject himself again. Lucius appears too, bumping his arm into mine.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s the vaccine he’s working on,” I explain. “It worked well on his friend but not on him when he first tried. He wants to see how it works with a different vampire.”

“What would you like me to compel him to do?”

“Ask him to offer his neck. That’s what I did.”

Lucius nods, watching Geordi squirm with pain as the vaccine moves through him. “Looks unpleasant.”

“Apparently it’s painful.”

“All this to allow us to be more ourselves?”

“That’s what he says.”

“And you trust him?”

Nodding, I tear my eyes away from the mortal for a moment. “I do. Oddly enough.”

Lucius chuckles. “Then I will trust him too.”

Geordi exhales and drags a hand through his hair. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Lucius approaches, sitting next to Geordi. I stand nearby, watching intently as Lucius does his thing. Even from where I stand, I can tell the compulsion is having no effect on the mortal.

“Offer your neck,” Lucius says as he drags his fingers up and down Geordi’s back.

Geordi’s eyelids flutter and he sways just slightly but he’s clearly still in charge as he pulls the collar of his shirt around his neck in a protective gesture.

Lucius frowns and leans in closer, whispering words I myself have used on many mortals.

We drown them in flattery, soak them in desire, bathe them in our sex appeal, but Geordi’s gaze doesn’t falter. After a few more minutes of this, he leans back.

“That was different from before.”

“I felt your resistance to my advances,” Lucius says.

“I felt it too,” I add. “It definitely works. No average mortal could resist what Lucius just put you through.”

He nods, nibbling his bottom lip. He doesn’t look as happy as I expected.

“Isn’t this a good thing?” I ask. “You had a different reaction the first time, if memory serves me.”

He’s already scribbling in a notebook as Lucius gazes up at me, looking amused.

“Thank you for your help, my friend.”

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