Page 9 of Shift in the Blood
“No way.” A range of emotions passed across her face. Fear, disbelief, wonder, and then fear again.
I was pleased to see that she settled on interest, replacing the fear.
“I didn’t think they—you—were real.”
“I am very much real.”
“I can see that. You want to tell me what really happened last night? Who tried to cut me? I mean, who cut me? I feel like this could have been worse.”
“It’s my belief that he was trying to target your eyes.”
Her eyes widened. “I’d never be able to work again.”
It pleased me to see her grasp the bigger picture. “Is there any reason someone would wish to hurt you?” I had my own suspicions, but I wanted to give Clara a chance to get there on her own.
She sighed heavily, the sigh of one much older. “If Maxim knew I was talking to you he’d be pissed. He wasn’t there last night, though. I looked.”
“Then who else would want to hurt you? It could have been me who was the target, but I don’t believe so.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’d bet you’ve racked up more enemies than I have in four hundred years.”
I laughed. “You’re correct, but most of them of are dead. Those who are not are like me, and after fighting for decades, you realize that it’s just not worth it.”
“That makes sense. Okay, then. You want me to paint the six newest Laferriere’s, because you’re going to steal the real ones. Why?”
“He was my father.” I looked out the window into the night. “I can still see my father the night I left. Neither of us knew it was the last time we’d see one another. I was picking up some supplies for Papa, and I was attacked as I walked home.”
“By another vampire?”
I nodded, my thoughts in the past. “Yes. He sought me out later, my sire. He was starving. He’d been held by priests. Beaten. Tortured. He got away, but he was on the verge of madness. Had he been healthier I doubt he would have turned me. As it was, he stopped before he killed me. Part of him knew that I was an innocent, and he stopped. He tore himself away from me, filling his hunger with a cow in the neighboring field. Then he returned to help me.”
“I’m surprised you wanted the help.”
“I didn’t know what I wanted.” I couldn’t help but to smile. “My body was dying, and I was in great distress. Marcelo, my sire, felt my distress, and helped me to get underground. He brought me a sheep to help me with my thirst and stayed by my side as I made the change. Not all who change survive. In that time, those who died were more numerous.”
“You made it.”
“Yes, and Marcelo made sure to make me as comfortable as he could. He felt extreme guilt over turning me without my permission. He helped me to find my passions. That was when I began to collect my father’s paintings. The work he did after I disappeared took on a darker tone.”
“I’ve wondered about the shift.” Clara nodded, half-lost in her own thoughts. “It’s almost as though there’s a line between the work before, and the work later in life.”
I nodded. “Sadly, I must agree. I hate thinking it was due to my disappearance, but in that time, there was no way for me to return to my village. I would have not been able to live there, not as a vampire.”
“Can you go out in the daytime?”
“With great caution, yes. It’s not my favorite pastime.”
She nodded, although I wasn’t sure what she was agreeing with. I allowed my senses to open, to see if I was able to feel her.
I was.
Her emotions were in a jumble, moving quickly through her, so fast it was hard to keep track of them. She was processing what I’d told her, although with a strong sense of disbelief. Part of her could not accept it was real.
The other part of her said that it made sense. Something about a cool lake, and the beauty of me.
Beauty? I’d heard myself described in many ways, but beautiful wasn’t one of them.
It filled me with an emotion I could not identify to know that this woman, this human who made my heart beat, found me beautiful.
