54
As we wander the shoreline together collecting rocks and shells, talking and laughing, I find myself actually enjoying myself for the first time in a very long time.
Thorun is an intelligent, articulate and beautiful woman. Even though I know she won’t last the distance in this Game, and even if she did she wouldn’t thrive in my world, I enjoy her company.
I know dating her might speed up her demise if others see her as a romantic threat, but I’ve been careful, so far, not to do anything that might intimate I have designs upon her.
When I’d asked her on the one-on-one date it was for a two-fold reason, three-fold, maybe.
Firstly, as a reward for showing good values in saving other people during the last contest, secondly because I like her, and thirdly because of all people, I want to make her happy while I can.
Wolf’s assertion that I should show the contestants a ‘great time’ had helped me embrace my position.
To that end I’ve ensured that whatever the contestants have asked for, I’ve given — no matter how I might feel about their request. If they’ve asked for kisses, to sit on my lap, for slow dancing and caresses, I’ve obliged.
After all, how could I deny them any warmth they seek when they’re willing to die for me?
I haven’t broken the Game rules and fucked any of them, although I can’t rule out that I won’t, if they insist. Outside my time with the contestants, the make-up woman has so far satisfied my more primal urges.
It occurs to me now as I walk with Thorun that I’m most comfortable in her company because she isn’t insistent upon intimacy.
She, Catriona, and one or two other women, seemed more interested in getting to know me intellectually, although I had in some respects been more intimate with Catriona than any of the others.
When her blood had coursed through my veins we’d momentarily become one, my body responding to hers as much as it did to her blood.
But that was not something anyone knew about.
I’m still grappling privately with it. I’ve gone so far as to have some of her blood secretly drawn and sent to Falcon for analysis.
In the meantime, as far as I know, she hadn’t discussed the bite at all with any other competitor, and never takes off her ribbon.
As Thorun and I walk in comfortable silence I consider Evelyn’s assertion that Catriona is considered the greatest threat, based on her violent tendencies.
‘So violent. So broken. She brings up more questions than answers, yet I feel a strange affinity with her. Her remarks about honour and friendship had hit home. Yes, I’d made mistakes.
Yet haven’t all my troubles been caused in the past few years by Falcon’s fuck-ups?
Dishonourable actions brought about by honourable intentions. ’
As if reading my mind Thorun asks about my friends back home as she holds up a particularly interesting green shell.
“I have many friends,” I answer slowly as I bend to pick up a pink striped shell and hand it to her. “Human and vampire.”
“Cat says you disappeared for thirty years,” Thorun says, turning to me and smiling. “She said nobody had seen you in magazines or knew anything about you until this year when the Games were announced. Were you on a holiday with your friends?”
‘Yes, she would know that. She’d left no stone unturned, or so it seemed, in preparing for this game.’
“Something like that,” I drawl. “I was farming for a while, and sailing. Do you enjoy yachts?”
“No,” she shakes her head. “I get violently seasick. I’m a landlubber through and through.”
“I understand you enjoy painting as a hobby.”
“Yes, do you have any hobbies?”
“I confess,” I smile, “I very much enjoy cooking. Desserts mostly. Do you cook?”
“No. I mean, I can, a little. I don’t enjoy it. Cat does, she cooks breakfast for us most mornings.”
“Does she?”
“She loves boats too,” Thorun goes on as we continue walking. “Ooh, look!”
I raise my eyebrows as she holds up a large golden coin.
Covering her hand quickly with my own, I pull her violently into my arms. She stiffens, naturally, as the camera pans in, no doubt believing that I’m going to bite or kiss her.
Instead I whisper urgently into her ear.
“Hide it. Don’t show anyone or tell anyone about this, Thorun. Not. A. Soul.”