Page 25 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 3
“You remember?” He smiled back at her.
“Of course, I do, but you do as well! That’s amazing!” she laughed delightedly.
He grinned back. “Yeah, I can remember some things very well. Others…” He shrugged. “Completely gone.”
“Not forever. I’m sure it will all come back,” she said genuinely.
“I rather think so too. Once I’m turned, I’m betting,” he told her.
She bit her lip. “About that, have you thought of who you’re going to have turn you?”
He grimaced. He’d walked into dangerous territory--again!--by not thinking before he spoke. Like Ryder, she would likely have thoughts about who should turn him, with herself being on that list.
“I have,” he said. “But I’ve come to no decisions. It must be strategic.”
She furrowed her brow. “Strategic? How? Is there someone in the Ashyr you think that would give you some greater benefit than… than me?” She added the last almost defiantly.
He shook his head. “No, Dani, not at all. You would be an extraordinary Master.”
She blinked and he could see how what he’d said touched her. “But then I don’t understand--”
“If there’s anyone in Ashyr that turns me, it will be you,” he assured her.
Her confusion grew. “Who else but an Ashyr would turn you? You need to take your place among us again.”
“No matter who turns me in, I'm still the Immortal Ashyr and you’re still my Bloodline,” he said calmly, but a little cooly.
“But if another Bloodline turns you, you’ll have their gifts!” she protested.
“We don’t know that.” He smiled tightly at her. “Caemorn turned Balthazar--”
“A Kaly slice did. Not Caemorn. And that slice was possessing an Eyros Vampire named Roan Tithe at the time,” she objected. “It’s true that Christian has powers that come from Kaly, but still, Balthazar’s Master was an Eyros, and so there was no question what powers he would have.”
“Imagine if I could have both powers? My own and another Bloodline’s?” he asked as he stepped towards her. “Having the power of Eyros in battle would be something.”
Her brows drew together. “I can see how that would be appealing…”
“But Eyros has Christian right now, so perhaps having another Childe--even one as undemanding as myself--would be too difficult.” He tapped his chin, feeling her discomfort, but wanting her to stretch her mind around this. After all, if he couldn’t convince Dani this was a good idea, he would never convince the others. “Or in addition to an army of Vampires, I could make an army of the undead with Kaly’s powers.”
“Kaly?!” Her eyes widened.
“It would secure me--hopefully--from another attack like the one that took me down last time,” he said lightly, even as the memory of being touched by those cold, ghostly hands that ripped at his soul had the skin between his shoulder blades twitching.
“I…” Dani looked at a loss for words.
“Then, of course, there’s Seeyr. I would know if my battle plans would work or not before I made them,” he laughed.
“That would be handy,” Dani agreed weakly.
“What about Wyvern? Imagine me being able to move armies with a blink of an eye, not to mention myself,” he suggested.
Reluctantly, she admitted, “Fiona’s is wonderful. She would be a good Mistress, I think, though she’s still struggling as they all seem to be with being an Immortal.”
“But I’m not,” he told her and put two fingers underneath her chin to tip her head up to look at his face. “I’m going to be me no matter who my Master or Mistress is.”
She licked her lips and he knew she was going to offer something she feared would offend him or he wouldn’t like, “No matter how careful and respectful a Master is, a Childe is always beholden to them in some way. So you would be beholden to another Immortal.”
“And if you turned me, Dani? Wouldn’t I be beholden to you? My own Childe? My own Bloodline?” he pressed.
