Keystone (Crossbreed #1)(35)
“Yes, Raven. I see him. Let me heal you first and then I’ll draw some of it out.”
Moments after Niko had removed as much energy as my body would allow, I blacked out. He couldn’t specifically select one light over the other since they were mixed together, but at least it was just a little bit less than it was before.
I awoke in a dark room, my surroundings unfamiliar. The simple décor and arrangement told me this wasn’t my bedroom. The bed was in the same place with the door to my left, but the bathroom was on the opposite wall. I could make out the dark entrance to the left. A few flickering candles in the fireplace to my right drew my attention. I sat up, my fingers smoothing over a fur blanket, and noticed there weren’t any windows.
Light spilled beneath the door to my left, and I spotted a shadow leaning against the wall.
“Who’s there?”
“A Vampire,” he whispered back.
When I recognized Christian’s voice, I swung my feet onto the floor and waited for my Vampire eyes to adjust to the dim light. As he came into view, I noticed blood smeared across his chest.
My blood.
Not much time had passed.
“Whose room is this?”
“Mine,” he replied in a velvety voice.
I reached behind my neck, searching for a wound that wasn’t there. “And why am I not in my room?”
He folded his arms. “I gave it some consideration, but when you made the rule forbidding us to enter without your permission, that left me with few options.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I touched my bare leg and felt no pain. My smooth skin didn’t even have a hint of a scar. Niko had a miraculous gift.
Christian pushed off the wall and swaggered toward me. “Don’t flatter yourself. I only took you in because the others didn’t want you.”
I stood up. “You’re the biggest fanghole I’ve ever met.”
He caught me when I made a misstep, then set me back on the bed. “If you want to go to the toilet, I’ll drag you along. But Viktor wants you healed and back to your perky self by morning. That means bed rest.”
“I’m not an invalid.”
His gaze hardened. “Can you see as well as I can in the dark?”
“I don’t know. How well can you see?”
“I can count all your freckles.”
I laughed. “I don’t have any freckles.”
“Next time you’re in Bed, Bath, & Beyond, locate one of those magnification mirrors and a black light.”
“Okay, okay. I don’t see that well. But I did inherit some of that gift.” I shook my head. “Now I know why you guys are mostly loners.”
“Oh?” He ambled over and sat in a chair near the bed, dramatically crossing his legs. “Enlighten me.”
“Vampires are about as cuddly as barbed wire. It’s no wonder that women haven’t been lining up to become one of you.”
He reached over to the table near his bed and lifted the lid of a crystal candy dish. The sweets inside looked like toffee or caramel, and he popped one into his mouth. “What you know about Vampires could fill a thimble.”
I glanced at the dark entrance to the bathroom and slowly got up. “I need to wash off the blood. It’s probably all over your sheets.”
“Doesn’t bother me, lass. Gem will just think it’s my time of the month.”
When I entered the bathroom, Christian followed behind with a candle. The room looked identical to mine except there wasn’t a window by the shower. He also had a claw-foot tub, but I couldn’t imagine a Vampire, one who wore menace like a cloak, soaking in bubbles.
Hell, he barely shaved.
“Does Gem do your laundry? Way to go on embracing women’s liberation.”
He handed me a towel and sat on the floor, arms draped over his bent knees. “We rotate the chores.”
“Remind me when it’s your week so I can wash my own panties.”
After running the towel under hot water, I took a seat on the floor next to the sink, crossed my ankles, and began wiping the dried blood off my leg and hands. It left stains on his white towel, but he watched with mild interest, not raising a complaint. My blood-soaked hair would have to wait until morning.
I looked up at Christian. “So impart some of your wisdom to me about Vampires.”
“Ah, yes. Your better half.”
“Why is it a man’s world?”
He laced his fingers together. “There aren’t as many female Vampires for the simple reason that centuries ago, men built armies of men, not women.”
“Nothing sexist about that.”
“They were different times. Vampires were demonized and hunted, and some found security in making younglings who would protect them—strong, loyal men. Women didn’t go to battle. They were the caregivers of the family, groomed to be mothers and wives, not warriors. Do you think they wanted to go to war? I knew grown men who didn’t want to fight. A woman born in this century will never understand what life was like in a time when speaking out could get you killed.”
“So why not make more female Vampires now that you’re not busy making little fang warriors?”
He shrugged. “Nowadays not many want to embark on the task of a maker. We’re governed by laws and no longer at war with humans. Most of us are old and set in our ways. Younglings are a handful, to be sure. It takes a long while for them to control the bloodlust. Aside from that, they’re more dependent on their makers than a Learner is with their Creator. The blood connects us.”