CHAPTER 2 #3
For years, the production of insulin was practically outlawed.
Vampires considered certain flavors of blood to be especially desirable and since they viewed humans as disposable vessels, why go to extraordinary lengths to keep a few of them alive?
The billionaires that controlled the pharmaceutical industry had no motivation to lower prices.
Bastards.
Zander looked down. “We’re not all monsters, Dani.”
Heat flooded her cheeks as she realized too late what she’d said.
And still, she couldn’t make herself take the words back.
Did she hate someone like Zander, who had done everything he could to help her get medicine for Ava, despite both of them knowing it was hopeless?
How many hours had she spent sitting in this very chair while he patiently gathered the information to file papers for her and hundreds of other charity cases who came into the center every month?
He’d successfully gotten them a housing assistance voucher that reduced their rent, as well as petitioned for a rebate card so they could get fuel for their aging heater.
Zander was one of the better ones. She understood that much. He’d told her once that he volunteered at the center at night in secret because his father had allowed him to study the law as an indulgence, but had forbidden him from ever practicing it in any formal capacity.
Vampire society was steeped in layers of privilege, disgustingly so, but perhaps behind closed doors, their families were as imperfect and complicated as her own. She knew Zander had his sick mother at home. Was it so impossible to believe his life was so different from hers?
There was a tiny part of Dani that liked to think of Zander as someone who, in another lifetime where things had been different, could have been a friend.
But then she remembered the beggar woman she’d met on the street, her life reduced to living beneath scraps of cardboard and tattered cloth in the snow, hoping for a few coins in order to keep warm, all due to the thoughtless cruelty of some faceless vampire who had taken her blood and long since forgotten her.
No matter how much they talked of books or how kind he might seem to be compared to the rest of them, Zander Hunt still drank blood once a month to survive, and that blood came from someone’s vein.
No matter how kind he might seem sitting across from her, in the end, she was nothing to him.
A food source to be used and discarded. An empty vessel.
Vampires cared no more for any human they took from than she thought about the rolls she’d quickly consumed on the two-mile walk back from the factory earlier that day.
Zander was a vampire. No different from the rest of them. Her oppressor. Her enemy.
And she couldn’t let herself forget that.
“You know,” he began quietly. “There are those among us who’ve been calling for reform. They don’t believe we can ever move forward, end the fighting and begin to rebuild, much less truly prosper, while we oppress anyone living within our borders.”
“You think there could ever be change brought from within the vampire factions?”
He sighed. “Our politics are complicated. Many people aren’t happy with the king’s heavy-handed rule. They think it’s been more than three decades since the first infections, so why haven’t we managed to move on and rebuild our society by now?”
“And Crown Prince Alexander is no better,” she said darkly. “I can’t imagine him being an improvement.”
Zander studied her, expression unreadable.
“You’re not following all the talk of royal balls, I take it,” he said at last.
“Ava loves it,” she admitted. “She’s been dancing around our flat for days.
But I think any prince who drapes himself in gold and finery and throws lavish balls while his people starve in the streets is no prize to be won.
I mean really, who can afford cashmere sweaters and fancy cheese when half the sector can barely buy bread? ”
Behind her, Henri began to cough violently.
For a second, she would have sworn Zander smiled behind the mask. Then just as quickly, he cleared his throat.
“Yes, well, if I had to guess, I would say it’s possible that point was actually brought up in discussions. I’ve heard,” he leaned back in his chair, glancing over to where Henri was still coughing, “that sometimes what’s announced is often rather scripted.”
“So, if blood addiction is caused by exposure to vampire venom, why couldn’t donors bank their blood?”
Zander nodded. “You’re talking about donations made through centers and bagged for later use.”
“Exactly.” Dani sat up. “The vampires still get the blood they need, but no one suffers the consequences.”
He smiled gently, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
“Would it surprise you to know that you aren’t the first to suggest this, and that there are growing numbers among our kind who feed this way?
It’s seen as a more humane way of sating our biological needs.
I wish more would be willing to accept it as an alternative. ”
“Do you—?” She began, then quickly looked away when Zander’s eyebrows rose, heat flushing her neck at the question.
Henri, she noted, had stopped typing and was watching them with… concern? No, that couldn’t be right. Surely, she was imagining things.
The paralegal’s phone buzzed. Frowning, he rose.
“Excuse me.”
Zander cleared his throat. “It’s been three years since I last fed from someone directly, since my conscience could no longer condone the excuses I made for the side of my mind that will always have predatory instincts.
That part of me will always exist, but I can choose what sort of man I want to be. ”
Dani swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. She wondered if Zander could hear her heart pounding in the tiny room. “Do you think it will catch on?”
“Hard to say.” He tapped his finger against the desk. “What you have to understand, Dani, is that for us, feeding isn’t just about sating the craving for blood. There’s a biological drive built into our DNA, to capture and restrain our prey.”
Her fingers unconsciously traced her throat, and Zander looked down as if he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. “Feeding from a cold blood bag wouldn’t be the same.”
“No. And of course, feeding isn’t the only biological response that happens during a blood exchange.”
Dani felt her cheeks grow warm. Vampires in general held no attraction for her.
She never allowed herself to get close to any of them.
And yet, she could admit that what she felt for Zander bordered on the closest she’d ever come to a harmless crush.
She knew she should stop this conversation, and yet she needed to know. “Sex always happens after feeding?”
“Not always, but… feeding is inherently an intimate act. There’s an immediate endorphin response triggered as soon as human blood is ingested, and vampire venom reaches the human bloodstream. Many choose to indulge.” He cocked his head. “Why are you asking me this?”
Now her cheeks were flaming. Despite knowing she shouldn’t, despite knowing it was dangerous, she couldn’t help but feel curious about Zander. He felt safe to her, and in other ways, entirely forbidden.
Nothing would ever happen between them. So what harm was there that sometimes she pictured his lips and fangs skimming her throat in the fleeting stolen moments when she touched herself in bed? Heat crept up her neck as she forced those images away.
“Just… curiosity, I suppose.” She swallowed, suddenly finding it a little hard to breathe.
Zander was watching her now, and as her pulse picked up, she saw the unmistakable flare of silver at the edge of his irises. Her breath caught. Was it possible? Did he want to—
There was a quiet rap at the door.
Dani inhaled sharply. Zander rubbed a hand over his face.
“Your—” Henri cleared his throat. “Apologies. Sir, you’ve just been summoned to appear down at the clerk’s office.”
“Can this wait?” Zander frowned.
“I’m afraid it’s rather urgent.”
“I should go.” Dani lurched up, accidentally knocking several files to the floor in the process.
As she bent to gather them, she cursed herself for getting distracted by an attractive man and a ridiculous fantasy.
Real life wasn’t a fairy tale. Vampires didn’t take human mates and Zander Hunt wasn’t the solution to her problems. She’d sworn to her father that she would find a way to keep her sisters together and safe and she intended to keep that promise, without the help of any man.
“I’ll see about getting the appeal filed with a different judge,” Zander said, following her out. “It’s a longshot, but it’s worth a try.”
“Thank you.” Dani wrapped her scarf around her face. Darkness had fallen while she was inside, and light snow flurries were swirling down. “Truly, I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. I should get home.”
“You’re taking the train back?” Zander frowned out at the snow. “The weather looks like it’s getting worse.”
She hesitated, thinking of how many new cameras had gone up in the past three days.
According to Evan’s sources, half the city center was now under surveillance by the new and improved technology that could more easily scan and upload faces in real time.
There was no way she could risk taking the train or one of the main roads home.
She probably wouldn’t make it halfway there before being picked up.
“Yes,” she lied, refusing to meet his eyes. “I’m just at the next stop.”
Dani wasn’t sure when she first noticed the footsteps behind her. Maybe just past the abandoned building a block after she turned off Market Street? Maybe when she reached the poorer section of the city where maintaining working streetlamps was never a priority.
She prayed she was wrong, hoped it was nothing but the product of an overactive imagination on a dark, cold night.
It wasn’t.