Page 17 of Love Heals
At least it meant that the vampire got to the point quickly instead of wasting time on chit-chat. "Aldrich is watching Silas right now," he said. "I can go after him, but if you wanted to join the rotation again at some point, I thought it wise to let you know about Silas's powers. They don't work on other vampires, but you might be vulnerable."
"What powers?"
"It's a bit peculiar, but as I understand it, he can sense attraction and amplify the emotion. It's one way to draw victims toward yourself." Talon didn't imply that this was exactly what had happened to Jared earlier, but his eyes lingered on Jared's neck nonetheless.
Jared mulled the thought over in his head. "Can he only sense it or can he also create it?"
"I'm not aware of the full extent of his powers."
"Thank you for letting me know," Jared said, hiding his distress from his voice. He'd become quite good at that, growing up in a house that kept adding traumatized children to the family.
"You're welcome." With that, Talon left.
Jared looked at the door for a long time, even after his room was empty again.
Silas had tricked him. He'dsensedJared's attraction and taken advantage of it. He'd amplified it until Jared had had no choice but to act on his desires.
But he couldn't have done that if Jared hadn't been attracted to him in the first place. All this time, while Jared was sitting by his bed, trying to be a comforting presence, he must have sensed that.
Jared swallowed hard.
Could he blame Silas for taking advantage of his weakness?
No, if anything, he needed to apologize for badgering the vampire with it all this time. While Silas had been in a strange house, surrounded by people he didn’t know, and chained to a bed. How must he have felt, sensing Jared's perverse desires every time he was lucid? And maybe even while he was not?
Jared rubbed his face. He'd thought it would be better if he stayed away from Silas, but now he knew he needed to go over there and make it clear that he'd never had any predatory intentions.
And he needed to bury his desires deep, deep down while he did it.
