Page 153 of Blood Mosaic

—ur already making me $$$ what is it?

Tatyana took a deep breath, glanced at the closed door, then back to the computer.

—if my mom needed to disappear from svstpl could you help her?

There was a slight pause, and then he typed back.

—tell me when and where.

Chapter Forty-Two

Oksana was a relentless taskmaster, but at least working in the ballroom with the water vampire worked a little bit to alleviate Tatyana’s tension.

It had been four nights since Zara had called Oleg, three nights since they had sex in the sunflower room, and Tatyana was avoiding him. She wanted to feel more in control. Of her body, her mind.

Her life.

“Good.” Oksana mirrored Tatyana’s hand motions in the ballroom, standing on the far side of the fountain as she lifted a sheet of water from the base of the fountain. “Now hold it.”

Tatyana had her hands out, and her amnis was alive. It was as if she could feel tiny tethers flowing from her fingertips to the water she held in the air. “Why?”

Oksana smiled. “I want you to feel it. Your arms won’t get tired, but your amnis will. Controlling it is a combination of training and instinct. The water wants to come to you. It wants to serve you. But your amnis is new.”

“Oleg told me that my strength is average for a newborn. Do you agree?”

“He’s far older than me with far more experience, but yes, I’d say that is correct.”

Tatyana held the sheet of water, feeling her amnis flag for a moment before she focused her attention on the energy. She’d decided that amnis was like a cat or a precocious child. The moment her attention wavered, her energy dropped. But the moment the amnis felt her attention focused back on it, it grew stronger, flowing happily between her hands and the water.

“You get strength from the water,” Oksana said. “Never forget that. It’s an endless well. Water is everywhere.”

“Not the desert.”

The other vampire smiled. “Even there, a little bit. But yes, I’m going to advise you stay away from deserts until you’re older. You’ll feel quite helpless there. You’d still have vampire strength, but a lot of that is augmented by your amnis.”

“I almost broke off my door handle the other day.”

“I’m not surprised. Fine control is going to be your biggest challenge.” Oksana moved to the left. “Walk with me.”

Tatyana listened to her trainer and mirrored her movements on the other side of the fountain.

“Do you knit?” Oksana asked.

“Do you need a sweater?”

“No, but it’s good for control. Anything that forces you to pay attention and move deliberately. Tai chi. Knitting. Embroidery. Find exercises or hobbies that force you to pay attention to your muscles. Learn an instrument. Piano trains your mind; violin trains your amnis.”

“I was never very musical,” Tatyana said. “I liked dancing to music, not making it.”

“Dancing is good. Instruments are better.” Oksana’s voice was blunt. “You have the time, and your brain is faster than when you were human. Your amnis will help you create neuralconnections more rapidly. You’ll learn languages faster. You’re a computer person, right?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have the same kind of access to that life anymore, so you’ll need to find something new.” Oksana met Tatyana’s eyes. “The good thing is? You have time. And money from what Mika said.”

“There are worse ways to start over?”

Oksana smirked. “You could have been turned by a vengeful Russian aristocrat with a grudge against the communists.”

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