Page 15 of Love Bites
Why did my thoughts always circle back to sex when the vampire was around? The predator was the last person I should want to be naked around, and yet...
Maybe Dad had been right when he told me that I was making bad choices.
"I don't know if it's magic," Talon said, making me focus back on the conversation we were having. "But you're different, and looking around here suggests that your whole family is."
"Leave my family alone." My sister and my brothers weren't the ones being stupidly reckless. I wasn't going to let Talon drag them into this. Whatever this was.
"Don't worry. None of them are nearly as interesting to me as you are." Talon came to stand in front of my chair and touched my chin, tipping it up. His fingers felt cold, but his touch was gentle. I could almost believe that he meant me no harm—and then he spoke and I caught a glimpse of his fangs again. Fangs that he'd sunk into my skin mere hours ago. "What you saw earlier, that was a memory," he explained.
"A memory?" Even while I hung on Talon's lips, I barely processed what he was saying.
"I assume you know that all vampires used to be human once, however long ago."
I nodded.
"But did you also know that none of us remember our human lives?"
I had not known that. But it explained why Talon had been so confused by that 'memory' we'd seen. If it had been one of his, a scene from his life as mortal... "Why don't you remember?"
"We lose our memories the moment we're turned and reborn as vampires. It makes sense. We have no use for them anymore. We're nothuman, anymore. Whoever we were before doesn't matter."
"You're not curious at all?" Skepticism flowed into my voice. If it was me, I'd want to know.
Then again, I also knew that there were some things it was better to forget.
"In a cruel twist of fate, we see the memories of everyone we drink from. I've seen enough to know that most human lives are quite unremarkable. That's not to say that I don't feel any sort of curiosity as to my past, but..." Talon trailed off and his fingers dropped from my skin. "The important part is that I wasn't looking for my own memories when I bit you. I was looking for yours, but you turned that around on me in a way that can't be explained."
"Hang on, why were you looking for my memories?" Now that he said that, I was glad he hadn't succeeded. There were too many memories that I didn't want to share with anyone, that I didn't even want to relive all by myself.
"You saw too much that night outside the bar. I needed to erase myself from your memories," Talon said this as if it was no big deal, but to me, those words changed everything.
I got up from my chair. "You can erase memories?"
"I can indeed.”
"So that's why you stalked me to the cemetery to bite me, but that didn't work, did it? Can youmakeit work? And could you erase other memories as well?" I didn’t want to sound too eager, but that was an exciting idea.
Talon studied me silently for a moment. "I would advise against altering too much of one's memories. The mind is a tricky thing."
"I don't care about the risks." If letting go of this one memory meant that I could live a life free of suffocating anxiety...
"I might make you forget more than you want to. Especially if the memory is old," Talon cautioned. "They lose their shape over time and bleed into the memories around them. It's hard to know where to cut."
"That's fine." I said without hesitation. There wasn't too much around those particular memories that I needed to remember.
Talon nodded slowly. "I suppose I can try if you're sure that's what you want. I do have to erase myself from your memory. The only other option would be to kill you, and that would be a waste."
A cold shiver ran down my spine at how casually the vampire talked about killing me. Even if he wasn't going to, it was definitely in his power. "How are you going to erase my memories?" I asked, if only to distract myself.
"Drinking more of your blood will give me more power over you. Whatever defenses you're putting up, consciously or not, eventually I'll be able to break through them."
"What if it doesn't work?" Would he kill me then? It would be hard for me to run when I was drained of half my blood.
"It will." Talon sounded confident enough that I believed him, which was probably stupid of me, but there was just something in the way this vampire spoke, in the way he held himself, that made me feel like he knew what he was doing.
And then there was also that part of me that really wanted him to bite me again. That probably played a huge role in why I sat down on my bed when Talon motioned for me to do so. "Make yourself comfortable," he said. "You might faint when this is over."
I turned to study him as he sat beside me and brushed the hair from my neck with his fingers in a way that was almost gentle.
