Chapter 21 #2
"Okay." Viktor nodded. "But his blood doesn't make you faint?"
"No." Charlie forced himself to look at the bag in Viktor's hands. His stomach churned, but the dizziness was manageable as long as it stayed sealed. "His is... different."
"Different how?"
Charlie didn't know how to explain that Simon's blood tasted like safety and controlled violence and something protective that made Charlie's entire body sing. That wasn't a normal thing to say about someone's blood.
"It just doesn't make me sick."
Viktor hummed thoughtfully. "Interesting. Well, we need to get you tolerating other sources." He stood, taking the bag with him. "Stay there."
"Where are you going?"
"Getting supplies."
Charlie watched Viktor move around his kitchen, pulling out a bowl, a spoon, and…
"Is that ketchup?"
"You can tolerate ketchup." Viktor set everything on the counter. "You need blood, so we're trying something."
Trying what…?
"No. No, no, no." Charlie stood, alarm bells ringing in his head. Did Viktor mean to mix blood and ketchup? "That's not a solution. That's a crime against nature."
"Desperate situations call for desperate solutions." Viktor opened the ketchup bottle with the focus of someone conducting a scientific experiment. "Think of it as a stepping stone."
"You're not seriously going to—" Charlie watched in horror as Viktor opened the blood bag and squeezed a measure into the bowl like he was making pancake batter.
The smell hit immediately. Charlie's fangs descended while his stomach simultaneously tried to crawl up his throat.
"This is good," Viktor said, adding ketchup to the bowl. "You haven't fainted yet."
"I'm going to throw up."
"You haven't eaten anything to throw up." Viktor picked up the spoon and started whisking like he was competing on one of those cooking shows on TV. "The consistency is important. Too thick and it's obvious what it is. Too thin and the textures separate."
"You're just making shit up."
"I'm problem-solving." Viktor added a pinch of salt. "Let's have some electrolytes."
Charlie watched the mixture turn a repulsive color, neither brown nor red, and somehow worse than either option alone. It looked like evidence from a particularly creative murder scene.
"There." Viktor poured it into a glass and held it out to Charlie. "Think of it as a Bloody Mary. Without the vodka. Or the celery."
"Right..."
"Just try it."
Charlie took the glass against his better judgment. It smelled like sweet tomatoes mixed with iron, artificial preservatives battling with organic copper. His fangs ached, wanting the blood, while his human memories screamed that ketchup should never smell like this.
"Maybe if I do it fast…" Charlie brought the glass to his lips and took a large gulp.
It was instantly, catastrophically worse than he'd imagined.
The ketchup's sweetness somehow amplified the blood's metallic taste, like pennies dipped in corn syrup. The textures were wrong, too thick and too thin simultaneously, coating his throat with something his body couldn't decide whether to accept or reject.
Charlie made it three steps to Viktor's sink before his body came to a decision.
"That was dramatic," Viktor said, handing him a dish towel after the retching stopped.
"That was assault." Charlie wiped his mouth, the taste somehow worse on the way back up. "Never make me eat that again."
"It was worth a try."
"Was it?" Charlie turned on the tap, desperately trying to rinse the flavor from his mouth. "Was it really?"
Viktor leaned against the counter, and for the first time since Simon left, he looked genuinely puzzled. "I don't understand. When I need blood, I just drink it. It's not pleasant, but it's manageable."
Charlie paused, water still running. "When you need blood?"
Viktor's expression shifted, like he'd said more than he meant to. He moved back to the living room, but Charlie followed, pieces clicking together in his mind.
"The enhanced strength you mentioned. The blood bags in your fridge." Charlie's voice rose. "You're not human, are you?"
Viktor's jaw tightened. For a moment, Charlie thought he wouldn't answer at all. Then he moved to the window, pulling the curtain aside just enough to look down at the street below.
"I'm like Simon. We're... something in between."
"In between what?"
"In between human and vampire. We were bitten but not fully turned. The organization intervened before the transformation completed." Viktor let the curtain fall. "Then they pumped us full of experimental drugs and turned us into weapons."
The words settled heavy in the room. Charlie sat back down on the couch, processing.
"Simon's like that too?"
"Why do you think he's so strong? Fast enough to keep up with vampires?"
"I thought he was just... really good at his job."
"He is. Because the Organization made him that way.
Made us that way." Viktor moved back to his chair.
"When a vampire attacks someone but doesn't complete the turning, there's a window.
A few hours where the victim exists between states.
The Organization developed a way to... stabilize that state. "
Charlie's mind raced back through every interaction with Simon. The way he'd moved in that alley, fast enough to take down four vampires. The way he'd found Charlie on that rooftop even though Charlie hadn't been able to call him.
The way Charlie felt inexplicably safe around someone who hunted vampires for a living.
"So he's part vampire."
"We prefer 'enhanced.'" Viktor's smile held no humor. "Sounds better in the reports."
"How many of you are there?"
"Not many. The process has a high failure rate. Most die. Some go insane. A lucky few get to spend their lives hunting the thing they almost became."
Charlie shook his head. "Does that mean..." his face heated. "Is that why his blood tastes different? Because he's not fully human?"
"Could be," Viktor allowed. "But my theory is different. Did you know newly turned vampires usually get their first blood from the vampire who turned them? Your sire abandoned you, so Simon unwittingly stepped into that role when he fed you. Turns out we're just vampire enough for that."
Charlie had no idea how to feel about that.
How should he feel about the fact that his sire had left him hungry and the person who'd saved him from starvation was a hunter who hadn't known what he was doing, who'd never wanted to be Charlie's anything?
But even though Simon didn't want Charlie, Charlie wanted Simon.
Against all reason.
Was that because Simon was his sire now?
Charlie couldn't untie all the knots in his head—or his heart.
"What do I do?" Charlie asked.
Viktor shrugged. "Honestly, kid? I don't know. Never expected anything like this to happen. But you're not bound to Simon forever if that's what you're worried about. Plenty of vampires live independent lives away from their sires." He paused. "You just gotta learn how to be independent."
"Right." Charlie forced a wobbly smile. "How do I do that?"
"Well…" Viktor thought. "I guess the blood training didn't work out." His eyes lit up with an idea. "Let's try something else."
"Please don't make me drink anything else."
"No, this is different. Better." Viktor leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Every vampire has an animal form. Something that connects to their strongest ability."
Charlie peeked up. "Like turning into a bat?"
"That's mostly movie bullshit. Real forms are more varied. It's usually tied to whatever your strongest trait is. I knew a vampire who had amazing perception and she could turn into an owl. And then there was this guy who had incredible strength. He turned into a grizzly bear."
Despite himself, Charlie felt a spark of interest. "I can be really fast."
The fact that he couldn't control his speed was a different matter that he shoved aside for now.
"Exactly," Viktor said. "So your form will be something fast." Viktor's enthusiasm seemed genuine now. "Maybe a cheetah. Or a falcon! Imagine diving at two hundred miles per hour."
Charlie sat up straighter. A cheetah would be cool. Sleek and deadly, all coiled muscle and grace. Or a falcon, sharp-eyed and free, nothing but sky and speed.
"How do I find out?"
"Meditation, basically. You focus on your core nature, let your body find its true shape." Viktor stood, pushing the coffee table against the wall to clear floor space. "Sit in the middle. Cross-legged is fine."
Charlie positioned himself on the carpet, trying not to feel ridiculous. "This seems more like yoga than vampire training."
"You want to discover your inner predator or not?"
Inner predator. Charlie liked the sound of that. Maybe he'd be a wolf. Or a powerful and lethal jaguar. Something that would make other vampires stop laughing at him.
"Close your eyes," Viktor instructed. "Focus on your speed. Remember how it felt when you ran from Simon at the bar."
Charlie's memory supplied the panic, the desperate need to flee. His body moving faster than thought, propelling him up and away from danger.
"Good. I can see you connecting. Now let that feeling spread. Don't force it, just let your body remember what it wants to be."
A tingling started in Charlie's fingers and toes. Like pins and needles but deeper, his bones themselves shifting. His skin prickled, itched, then—
"Holy shit," Viktor said.
Charlie opened his eyes. The room looked wrong. Too big. Too bright. Everything in sharp focus but from a much lower angle.
He looked down at himself.
Brown fur.
Four legs.
Paws.
Big paws, granted, but definitely paws. And his ears… He could feel them, hanging down past his face. Soft and floppy and…
Charlie thumped his back foot against the floor in frustration. The sound was exactly what he feared.
He was a rabbit.
A rabbit.