Page 82 of Immortal Bastard

“Birds are fragile creatures—”

“No.” She shouldered out of his hold, no longer finding his touch comforting. “I don’t want to live in a world where baby birds die and vampires live forever. How is that fair?”

His startled expression unnerved her. She sensed his judgment and his desire to enlighten her, but she was sick of his version of reality. Why was she here? What good was this new existence if she would only outlive everything else? She couldn’t bear the thought of surviving while every beautiful thing around her eventually died.

“Delilah, there’s a natural order we all must follow. God’s plan—”

“No!” She shoved him back. “I don’t want to hear any more about God’s plan.”

“The bird fell from the trees. It probably felt very little pain—”

“Stop!” With her free hand, she tried to cover her ears, but it was no use. He was in her mind, pushing his cold logic at her while nothing about her new circumstances was logical. “Just let me be sad about this. You’re always trying to—” Her breath hitched. Like a tiny pebble falling into a well a hundred miles away, she felt the slightest ripple of motion and opened her palm.

“Delilah, we must accept—”

“Shh! Do you hear it?”

She gasped again, her fingers coasting over the warbler’s breast as the tiny wing twitched.

Christian stilled. His denial clattered through her open mind like a church bell cut from its belfry.

It was dead. He had sensed its last breath.

The rapid tapping of its little heart abruptly beat to life, and Delilah laughed breathlessly. “He’s alive!”

The flat, beady eyes reanimated with life. Her fingers coasted over the broken wing, and the bird righted itself. More euphoric laughter bubbled out of her as it fluttered its little body upright and perched in her palm.

Christian’s unblinking stare watched the bird as he whispered, “What have you done, pintura? Did you give it blood?”

“What?” She frowned up at him. “Gross. No.”

Ignoring him, she laughed and kissed the smooth gray head of the warbler then raised her arms high, and the bird miraculously flew from her grip, swooping low under the trees and then shifting, building up speed and zeal as it disappeared into the forest.

“Did you see that?”

When she turned back to Christian, he wore a blank look of shock. “You toy with the laws of nature.”

She scowled at him, finally seeing some value in this vampire stuff only to have him shit on her parade. “That bird is alive. Why can’t you be happy about that?”

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. You saw me.”

“The bird was dead, Delilah.”

“Maybe not.”

He shook his head in awe. “It was. I felt it die.”

She’d felt it too, but that also didn’t make sense. Standing, she brushed the pine needles from her skirt. “Well, it’s not dead anymore.”

“Death is a part of life, pintura. We cannot interrupt such things. The warbler was not meant to live.”

“Why do you care? It was just a baby.”

“How did you bring it back to life?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…wanted it to live. Maybe it’s a vampire thing. I mean, I was sort of unimpressed with your species so far, but that was badass. Can we save other stuff?”

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