When Taylor started crying, Nat crept over to the other side of the cell and put his arms around her. “Hey, kiddo, it’s going to be okay. If I have to choke those two to unconsciousness and then knock myself out on the sink to keep you safe, I’ll do it. My self-restraint is pretty good. I went to med school a bunch of different times after I became a vampire, to get all those different degrees. I can handle being around blood. And the baby can’t even crawl to you.”
“You’re so sweet,” Taylor choked, burying her face in his chest. “I’m…I’m not sure you’ll be able…and what if one of you…”
Sally patted Taylor on the back. “I doubt a little scent is going to overcome our feelings of humanity.”
“How kind of you to lie; Sally. Dianne – Ferdinand’s daughter – told me that Ferdinand couldn’t even be in the same room with her and her mom during their heavy days. Selene had to resort to…you know…those kinds of…of birth control.”
“If worse comes to the worst, I solemnly swear that I’ll make sure you get changed rather than outright killed,” Ferdinand said, shifting Rivki to the other side to get a better view of Taylor. “Unless you strongly object to that, of course. Selene did. She thought the werewolf-and-vampire combination would be dangerous for everyone else. And I respected that.”
“I need to go to the bathroom,” Taylor whispered, untangling herself from Nat. She rushed away. They could hear her unsuccessfully fighting sobs.
Nat turned towards his comrades in woe. His face was grim. “We have to stay optimistic for her sake, but how thirsty are each of you? I could drink about a gallon.”
“With Rivki feeding on me? I’m dizzy already,” Sally replied.
Ferdinand thought for a while, burping Rivki and rocking him. “I’m going to try prayer again. It helped a little earlier.”
Yay for Nat, and nice for him that he managed to sound funny while he was at it. Everyone's attitude here is very interesting- Taylor (again, poor Taylor!) is saying, it seems, exactly what she's feeling, but the others seem to be holding themselves off from that, acting neither worried nor offended (Ferdinand especially, who seems to really cut himself off from wherever his thoughts were going, trying to actively turn them with the prayer thing).
ReplyDeleteThanks!