Page 77 of By the Pint

My first thought wasYay, a sleepover with Dima,but his demeanour made it clear there would be no hanky panky tonight. Which was good. That was what I wanted, right?

Not that I didn’t trust Dima’s mysterious, sex-obsessed phone-a-friend, but this was one of those things I simply needed to check myself.

I dangled my arm over the end of the sofa so that Dima wouldn’t see what I was doing, and made a last-minute attempt to block my thoughts. I pulled my mind-bag tight, put extra locks on the locker, added extra red herrings to the room. And I one-handed typed the same thing into my phone. My heartbeat jumped all over the place. It took a moment to load, and I spent another reinforcing my mental barriers. I wasn’t sure what I hoped to find.

When I looked down again, the page had filled with text.

Can you become a vampire from drinking a drop of each other’s blood?

What happens if you think you’ve been accidentally turned.

I skim read down the page. Goldie had been right. I had been right. It wasn’t a real prospect.

…Human metabolism isn’t strong enough to transform with anything less than a pint … At most, you should experience an upset stomach … Take this time to stock up on antacids …

I let out my breath, and realised it was relief I felt. Relief, not disappointment. After all this time of desiring only one thing. It had been dangled in front of me and snatched away, and yet … a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I shot Dima a tentative smile. He pulled sleepy eyes from the wingball game to me and flashed a smile back. A somewhatdampened version of his usual expression, which made my heart feel both simultaneously full and wanting more.

As I continued to read down through the article, other words floated out from the text.

Nearly impossible

Highly unlikely

In extreme cases

A ball of lead formed in my stomach. My phone slipped through my fingers and fell facedown onto the carpet.

Not possible. No, it couldn’t … There was no way …

A pint, though, we needed a pint—

“Bathroom,” I said, pushing to my feet, my head suddenly swimming. I needed space to think.

Dima floated himself upright.

“Uh, you’re not coming with me.”

“What if you pass out on the toilet?”

“I’m not letting you see me take a shit, Mosquito!” I snapped.

Dima narrowed his eyes. He cocked his head to the side at the sudden change in my behaviour. I shrugged past him, slammed the bathroom door shut, and threw the lock across. I closed the lid of the toilet and dropped like a sack onto it, my head in my hands, like a teenage girl fighting with her parents over a boy.

This was my dream. Immortality. Ultimate power. Unlimited funds. To have whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. Living an un-life only for me. Sating every appetite I had as it arrived.

It was still my dream. Nothing had changed.

Had it?

No. No, it hadn’t.

I would still fulfil my end of the deal. Get Killian the info he wanted. Become immortal.

Nothing would stop me.

25.

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