Page 92 of Sacrifice of the Vampir
I went to him and he pulled me into the light with him, wrapping his arms around me from behind. We stood there together, the morning sun warming us both as we enjoyed just being alive.
I felt the exact moment something shifted between us.
His thoughts brushed against mine like silk, fragments of emotion and sensation rather than words. Wonder. Gratitude. Love so fierce it stole my breath.
And beneath it, a darker current.
Hunger.
Not the violent bloodlust of before. This was gentler, more human, but unmistakably there. Elias wanted blood. My blood, specifically, though the craving wasn't the all-consuming need vampires experienced.
"I can feel that," I said.
"I know." His arms tightened around me. "I can feel you feeling it. This is... different now, too, I guess."
Different was an understatement. Not mind-reading exactly, but I could sense the shape of his consciousness pressed against mine. Could almost taste his wonder at the sunlight, his lingering pain from the transformation, his absolute certainty that I was his.
"Tell me what else is different," I said.
Elias was quiet for a moment, taking stock of his new existence.
"Everything is slower," he finally told me. "My heartbeat, my breathing, my healing. Time is slower." He laughed without humor. "As a vampire, I would have healed in an hour."
"But you're healing?"
"Yes. I can tell. Just at... human speed. Or close to it." He paused, and I felt him shift his weight behind me, something he wouldn't have done before. He could've stood completely frozen for hours and not been affected. "I wonder how long I'll live now, and if my blood is worth anything to you anymore."
I hadn't even thought about that. "You gave up your immortality."
"No. I just traded one kind for another." His lips brushed my temple. "I don't want any kind of eternity without you, Talin. Even if I only live a normal lifespan now, this is better."
I turned in his arms, needing to see his face. "What else?"
"The thirst." The hunger was back in his voice. "I still crave it. But it's not a live or die need anymore, more like a strong preference. Like a good whiskey. And regular food smells really good to me now." He grimaced. "Which is going to be an adjustment. I haven't needed to eat in over a century."
"And the sun?"
He glanced toward the window where morning rays were beginning to slant more directly through the glass. "I can feel it pulling at something in my skin. Not burning yet, but uncomfortable. Like standing too close to a fire."
"So maybe we shouldn't tan by the pool just yet."
His dark eyes searched mine. "Does this bother you? What I am now?"
"Does it bother you that I'm a witch who just got you killed?"
"I didn't die."
"You could have."
"But I didn't." His hands framed my face, thumb tracing my cheekbone with devastating gentleness. "You wouldn't let me. Just like I wouldn't let you go."
"You were going to die for me," I said, the words trembling with fury and grief. "You went into that dimension knowing you'd burn away to nothing, and you grabbed that thread anyway?—"
"Yes."
No hesitation. No regret.
"I can't—Elias, if you had died—" My voice broke.
