Page 93 of Once Bitten, Twice Mine

He snorted. “There’s no way to go back, but even if there were, no one would want to. Why would you ever want to be an inferior species?”

“How can you speak so callously about humans when you used to be one?”

He scoffed. “There are many offenses I’ll forgive, but thinking I have ever been human is the greatest. As if I could be prey.”

She furrowed her brow. All of what she knew was that vampires were humans who had been corrupted by evil, turned into vicious bloodsuckers. She knew Valeria used to be human, but now she wasn’t sure about the origins of vampires.

“Then what are you?” Or was it possible he was somehow something worse than a vampire?

The Count studied her for a few beats before a grin unfurled. “You didn’t speak to Valeria about this, did you? Oh, I might rethink her punishment after all.”

Her breath hitched, and it felt as if her heart stilled. She couldn’t imagine the depths of the cruelty of his punishments. Even though Valeria was no longer hers, she still wouldn’t wish anything half so terrible on her.

“Why would she need to be punished?”

“She didn’t do what she promised she would. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not the worst crime, but vampires are petty by nature.”

“So you are a vampire?”

“I’ll take pity on how woefully unaware you are. Yes, I am a vampire. As is your precious Valeria, but where she was Made, I was Born. I know that means next to nothing to you, so I will tell you it means I am more powerful than you can imagine.”

“Perhaps you’re downplaying my imagination.”

She clasped her hands behind her back so he couldn’t see them shake. There was no way to hide her pounding heart, but she wouldn’t give him the full satisfaction of her fear.

“Or you cannot even imagine how terrible I am.”

“It takes a little bit of the threat away when you’re locked in chains and haven’t even tried to escape.”

“The iron is inconvenient, but I’ll be free soon enough. My only dilemma is what to do with you. I could drain you and let Valeria find out when she smells you within me. Tell me, has she drunk from you?”

Caroline shook her head; she was too scared to speak. He spoke of her death so casually that she knew it meant nothing to him. Killing her would be as easy to him as breathing was for her. Even if it would hurt Valeria. Especially if it hurt her.

“Maybe I’ll snap your neck without anyone ever getting a taste. Or I could make her kill you like she promised she would.”

Caroline sucked in a breath. His cruelty wasn’t surprising, but she couldn’t imagine why Valeria and Edgar had been so taken with such a petty, cruel man.

“I could do it tomorrow, or maybe in ten or twenty years. I’ll be exactly as I am now, but you’ll have another life. One where you forgot to keep looking over your shoulder because surely I’ve forgotten all about you. You’ll have a family that you hold dear, and you can’t imagine any other life. Valeria is nothing more than a distant memory. A series of mistakes you made so long ago it was like it happened to someone else.”

Sweat dripped from her palms, and she gripped the weapon the doctor left her so tightly her knuckles ached. The words to tell him to stop were on the tip of her tongue because she could see the future he described. Her hair threaded with grey as she played with children in her garden, even though it looked different than it did now. There were more flowers and a gazebo as well as plenty of toys. The five children ranged from around eleven to a year old and looked like the perfect mix of her and Edgar. It was impossible, but she knew it was a glimpse into her future. One she didn’t want to see.

“Only then will I come back. When you’ve convinced yourself it really was a strange plague that blew through your village all those years ago. Maybe I’ll start with your kids and only give you the sweet release of death after you’ve heard them scream for you in their final moments. Or I’ll play with you for days and days.”

Tears gathered in her eyes at the depth of the pain he was willing to cause her. Already she could feel the love and fear and rage for children who didn’t exist. “Why would you say such awful things? What have I ever done to you?”

Chains rattled as he shot up from the floor and hurled himself at the bars. At first she thought the chains had broken or that he had lied about the effectiveness of iron, but he had only moved unnaturally fast. Fear paralyzed her; she tried to shout for Dr. Murnau, but not a single sound came from her.

“Because you’re trying to take what’s mine. I was there for Valeria when she needed someone most. When her heart was at its most broken, and she needed someone, anyone to love her, I was the only one who answered. Yet, she flouts the rules for you.”

“What?”

“She asked for you to be Made and come with us to America.” His lip curled. “These young vampires have no respect these days. The first vampire I Made wouldn’t have dared to ask me such a thing.”

“I don’t want to be a vampire.”

The thought of killing disgusted her. She couldn’t imagine lying in wait for someone to pass. Or going to a party or someone’s house as a guest and slowly kill them after they showed her kindness. The very idea made her sick.

“You didn’t even want it, and she still asked?” He shook his head. “This is precisely why not everyone deserves the Gift. All of that work wasted on someone unworthy.”