Page 13 of Caller of Crows
"That's the price of immortality," Altair said. "Eternal life, but at the cost of warmth, of humanity. Mortal blood, on the other hand, is like a blazing fire in our veins. It's like tasting life itself, It's addictive, Sven. More than any drug or alcohol you could ever imagine."
Sven shuddered at the intensity of Altair's words, at the intensity of the look he was giving Sven as if he wanted to consume him right then and there. He wanted to push the vampire away, to deny the longing that was flooding his veins, but it was like his body had a will of its own.
Altair seemed to sense his struggle, because he pulled back, a satisfied smirk on his face that made Sven want to hit him.
He glared at the vampire again. "If my blood is so good, why don't you bite me?" he challenged.
Altair's eyes seemed to gleam with a dangerous light. "You really have no idea what you're asking for." Before Sven could react, Altair's hand shot out and grabbed him by the back of his neck, pulling him forward until their faces were inches apart. Sven could feel the coldness of Altair's breath against his lips, and he couldn't help the thrill that ran through him.
"You want me to bite you?" Altair asked. "What makes you think you can handle it?"
"I can handle it," Sven insisted because he was not going to show weakness. "I've been bitten before."
Altair recoiled as if Sven's skin had burned his fingers. He quickly schooled his expression, but it was obvious that something about Sven's words had upset him.
"What?" Sven asked. "Are you pissed that you wouldn't be my first?"
Altair's eyes narrowed. "Don't be ridiculous." He turned to leave. "I suggest you get some rest," he said on his way out the door. "You've got a strenuous day ahead of you."
Sven watched as Altair walked out of the room, the door locking behind him. He was left alone with his racing thoughts, his body still buzzing with the adrenaline of their encounter. He knew he had pushed the vampire too far, but he couldn't help feeling a sense of satisfaction at the reaction he had elicited.
As his nerves calmed, though, he was left with a sense of unease. He was playing with fire, and he knew it. Altair was a dangerous creature, and Sven was nothing more than a mortal without special powers.
He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, his head in his hands as he drew in a deep breath and released it again.
What the hell was he going to do?
ChapterFive
Sven was in the middle of reading one of the books he'd found on the bookshelf of his new room when the door opened and Keegan came in.
"Hope I'm not bothering you," the vampire said as if he was interrupting Sven in the middle of a very important activity.
Sven closed the book and set it aside in favor of shooting Keegan a wary look. "What do you want?"
"You've got a lot of unread messages on your phone."
Those words were so unexpected Sven didn't know how to respond except to stare at the vampire. "You looked at my phone?"
"It wasn't hard to unlock," the vampire said as if that was the issue Sven had with all of this, rather than the fact that Keegan had just casually invaded his privacy.
Sven stood up and walked over to Keegan, his fists clenched at his sides. "That's not the point," he said, trying to keep his voice level. "Why were you looking at my phone in the first place?"
Keegan shrugged like it was no big deal. "You wouldn't tell us anything, so I had to get information elsewhere. Plus, I thought you might want to know what's going on in the outside world."
Sven snorted. "Like I can do anything about it from here."
Sven's bravado was fake, though. He did want to know what was going on in the outside world. His mother hadn't been well when he'd left, and thinking of her made his heart clench. He'd left home in order to offer her a future, but what if he wasn't fast enough?
What if he was just being an idiot?
There was a pretty high chance he was just being an idiot, wasn't there?
"What did you see on my phone?" Sven asked. "What did you find out about me?"
Keegan shrugged. "Well, for starters, I saw a lot of messages from a lot of different women. Seems you're quite the ladies' man."
Sven shook his head. "It's not like that." He had a lot of female friends, sure, but he didn't have the time or the energy to be dating any of them.
