Page 56 of B Positive

Oh.

Oh!

I smirked to myself. “I’m sorry, Sun, but of all the stages, that one actually sounds the most enjoyable.”

Sunny frowned at me as we entered the safe room.

My hand went to my mouth as I sucked in a huge gasp.Holy Bloody Mary mix.Aside from the rather depressing windowless expanse of florescent tube lighting and whitewashed cinderblocks, this place was a cat burglar’s dream! I counted fifty safes, all on their own wooden platforms which allowed access to all sides. They had models I’d never even heard of, and if I were to match up Titus’s purchase orders, I’d bet they were all the ones he’d had delivered to his tower.

The wall closest to the stairs was devoted entirely to equipment. Black metal racks held listening devices and sound wave readers, PIN decoders and laptops. All top-tier high-end stuff, too.

When I glanced back at Sunny, she grinned at me, all embarrassment from our previous topic wiped away. “You look like a kid in a toy store.”

Yeah, I guess this really was my element.

She set the paperwork on the single metal worktable by the basement entrance “Hey, so, before you get to work, do you think I could ask you a few questions?”

“Sure, though, I don’t know what I can tell you that you don’t already have in that tablet of yours.”

Sunny gave me a sheepish smile and her bottom lip disappeared. “What was it like?”

“What’s what like?”

“Transitioning,” she murmured.

“Oh, that.” I sucked in a breath. “I—I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer that for you, Sun. I kinda had a rough go of it.”

“Yeah. I know. But I want to know, worst case, what might happen. I want to be prepared.”

I met her gaze more fully. “Oh, Sun, you’re scared, aren’t you? Well, I’ll tell you my gory details if you promise not to let it freak you out.”

A bitter, halfhearted laugh echoed throughout the room, sharpened by the cinderblock walls. “I doubt I can freak myself out any more than I already am. I know I’m supposed to want this, but I just can’t help feeling like it might be the worst decision for me.”

For a split second I considered hyping it up for her. Telling her how seeing Odette and the confidence she embodied, the respect and admiration she garnered from others, was what convinced me. Or telling her how blood was actually really delicious and I fucking loved being super strong.

I did neither.

“Sun, it fucking sucked. I rose confused and disconnected from my own body. My throat and mouth felt like a fucking litter box full of those little packets they put in purses to keep them dry…you know the ones? I thought my ears would bleed at how loud everything was, and I went on a week-long bender, drinking until I felt sloshy and passed out night after night. It sucked. It was the worst transition known to our kind, probably.”

Her throat bobbed, eyes rimmed with unshed tears as she nodded. “Thank you,” she squeaked. “For being honest.”

Sunny turned to leave but I snagged her hand, turning her to face me once more. “And your experience will be nothing like mine, Sunny. You won’t rise with no one to tell you what to do or how to be in your new body. You won’t be alone like I was. You won’t have to figure it out by finding the wrong ways first. That, I can promise you.”

I didn’t know if my words helped her. I didn’t know if what I said had any impact at all.

Sunny simply thanked me again and left me in the murder basement of safes.

Twenty-One

Hours wentby as I got to know the first handful of safes in the room. I’d thought about skipping the ones I already knew and going right to the new safes but I figured I’d better sharpen my skills with all the safes in the basement, not just the ones I hadn’t heard of. So, I began cracking at the entrance and worked my way straight down the line.

I made it a game, forcing myself to crack the known safes as fast as I could. It ended up bolstering my confidence. By the time I made it to my first new safe, I’d thoroughly impressed myself.

Unfortunately, I had to stop in front of a new safe because my head was doing loop-de-loops from hunger. The kind of hunger that crawled into my bones and demanded to be sated with fresh, warm blood.

When I first turned, I could finish off a full-grown adult in a night and only stay satisfied until the next night. I’d slowly worked on getting that under control, and over time, I’d whittled that amount down to just twelve ounces of blood a day. It was higher than average, but great for me.

So why was I now craving multiple cups of blood in a day?

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