Page 73 of Bad Luck Vampire

“The nanos would... well, they repair injuries using blood, and when it comes to illness, they surround any virus or bacteria that doesn’t belong and remove it from the body.”

“Nanos,” she murmured on the other side of the door.

“You’ve heard of those, right?” he asked.

“Well, yeah. But Atlantis is supposed to have existed like thousands and thousands of years ago.”

“Yes, it did,” Alasdair agreed.

“Huh,” Sophie muttered. “And you’re trying to tell me that they developed nanos way back then?”

Alasdair grimaced at her open disbelief. “Yes, they did,” he assured her. “And they probably would’ve improved their technology even further except that earthquakes and whatnot struck and destroyed Atlantis. Most of our people died. Only the ones who had the nanos survived, and they moved out to join the rest of the world.”

“That doesn’t explain the fangs and blood thing,” she pointed out, sounding suspicious.

“Well, that came about because of the fall of Atlantis and the directive the nanos had been given.” Alasdair stopped, frowned, and then backtracked. “I should’ve mentioned the nanos are bioengineered, which means they use blood to make copies of themselves and to make all the repairs. Of course, that takes a lot of blood, sometimes more than the human body can produce, depending on—you know—what they’re having to repair.” He paused and then sighed unhappily and pointed out, “Sophie, this would be easier if I could talk to you face-to-face.”

“Well, Alasdair, this would be easier for me if we didn’t have to discuss it at all,” she countered, and then muttered, “Only I could end up dating a deranged bloodsucker.”

“I’m not deranged!” he protested, and then tried for calm and asked, “Sophie, seriously, do we seem dangerous to you?”

“Do you seem dangerous?” she asked with disbelief. “Your uncle just stabbed you in the kitchen.”

“Actually, he stabbed me in the chest,” he countered, trying to lighten the situation, and earned only silence. Apparently, she wasn’t in the mood for humor, he thought, and sighed. “Yes, he stabbed me. It was to show you that I will heal so you don’t have to worry about my dying. I can handle anything that your murderer throws at me, Sophie.”

“Don’t call him my murderer,” she snarled, unlocking and yanking the bathroom door open to glower at him furiously.

“I’m sorry,” Alasdair said soothingly. “I didn’t mean it that way, sweetheart.”

He reached out for her, but she jerked back away from him and he let his hands drop. “Sophie, I’m a human being with some nanos inside me that make me immortal. Age, like illness and injuries, is seen as something that they have to fight. So, yes, we all look about twenty-eight years old, which is when mortals are at their peak condition. And yes, I’m over three hundred years old, my uncle Ludan is over seven hundred years old, and my great-great-great... I’m not sure how many greats fit in there, but Nicodemus Notte, the head of our clan, is thousands of years old. But all that means is I’m not gonna die easy. It doesn’t mean we’re a danger to you. Especially me,” he added firmly. “I would never hurt you. Never ever. In fact, it’s impossible for me to hurt you, because you’re my life mate. And immortals simply cannot harm their life mate.”

Sophie’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean I’m your life mate?”

When Alasdair hesitated, trying to decide how to explain life mates, she added, “You still haven’t explained the blood and fangs thing either. I mean I understand that the nanos mean you need blood, but where do the fangs come in?”

Deciding that was an easier thing to explain, Alasdair dropped the subject of life mates for now, and said, “While in Atlantis, if we needed to top up our blood levels, they simply gave us transfusions. But once Atlantis fell, we were suddenly in a world where there were no more blood transfusions.” He paused a beat, and then continued, “Unfortunately, none of the scientists survived, and none of my ancestors who got out thought to drag out any of the paraphernalia needed for transfusions. They were too busy trying to survive. So, they suddenly found themselves in a much less developed world, with no way to get the blood they needed.

“But the nanos were programmed to ensure the survival of their hosts. They needed blood to do that. We believe they forced a sort of evolution, bringing on the physical attributes needed to ensure they could get the blood they needed to ensure their survival.”

“By ‘physical attributes’ you mean fangs,” she said slowly.

Alasdair nodded. “That and strength, speed, night vision, and anything else that would help us get the blood the nanos needed.”

“What are the anything else’s?” Sophie asked suspiciously.

Alasdair grimaced, knowing she wasn’t going to like this, but admitted, “We developed the ability to read and control non-immortals. Mortals.”

“Oh my God.” Sophie turned and walked to the sink, then turned around and asked with horror, “So do I even like you? Am I really attracted to you? Is the sex really that amazing? Or am I just enjoying it because you’re making me think I am?”

Alasdair started shaking his head even before she finished speaking. “I cannot read or control you.”

“What? You just said—”

“Immortals can control almost all mortals, and yes, we can read the minds of almost all mortals. But there are exceptions,” he said.

“What kind of exceptions?” she asked abruptly, her eyes narrowed.

“Immortals can’t read or control mortals who are insane. Their minds are too scrambled to be able to read,” he explained.

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