Page 100 of Thorn Evermore
“Whoa.”
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
“Are you sure I didn’t make you sad?”
“No, you didn’t. The reality is we have been hunted in the past. Now, we do the hunting. Turnabout is fair play and all that.”
“There aren’t any hunters now, right?”
“No, but only because most mortals don’t believe we exist. I’m sure the Catholic church would love to find one of us and persecute us. They could use the press.”
I snort a laugh. “Yeah.”
“We thought we had a resurgence a few months ago, but they turned out to be confused vampires.”
“Vampires hunting vampires?”
“Yeah. Long story. It’s about the cult again.”
“Okay, I’m gonna need that story soon.”
Thorn chuckles. “I’ll let Eros and Justice tell it.” We stand in front of the display for a few quiet moments.
Thorn is behind me now, with his arms wrapped around my front. His heart beats in time with mine until we sync perfectly, and the tightness I felt in my chest all day finally loosens.
“We can go now,” Thorn says.
I nod, but before we walk away, I reach into the case and snag the box with the fang in it. “We should… I don’t know how to honor dead vampires. Is it a burial or something?”
He takes the box from me, gazing down at the single fang. “We would burn the body to avoid it getting into the wrong hands. She’s been gone many centuries now. We’ll bring them to Vivienne. She can help.”
I smile up at him. “Good.”
We leave the museum, smiling innocently at the workers who will never know it was us. As we walk hand in hand, my thoughts swirl around this new world I’ve entered and questions bubble up.
“Are vampires born or only made?”
“On occasion, a female vampire will become pregnant by a mortal, but it is always disastrous. The process of growing a human cannot contend with immortal blood, and it comes out… Well, let’s say it’s unpleasant for all parties involved. The best outcome is to prevent birth.”
“Ah. I get it. So a vampire can’t get a mortal pregnant?”
“No. ‘Shooting blanks’ I believe is what it’s called.”
I laugh. “Yeah.”
“Apparently, we still have sperm if one were to look under a microscope, but it moves too slowly and dies before reaching its destination.”
“Fascinating.”
“We are, in many ways, as human as we always were, but it all operates differently. That’s why we require blood. Our bodies function too slowly otherwise to meet our needs.”
“So if you got a physical from a doctor?—”
“Very bad idea. We’d be some kind of medical anomaly. Our pulse alone would be suspect. A normal person would be dead if they had our heart.”
“That makes sense.” I gaze up at him. “One more question?” I say.
“Of course.”