“What are you doing here?” she asked, climbing out of bed. It seemed in her groggy state, she hadn’t even registered the nausea she used to have near Strigoi.

I had slowly crept into her room to get my books. I didn't mean to wake her up. At least she looked like she was sleeping.

I flipped another page casually, bidding my time.

“Waiting for you to wake up,” I said, not bothering to turn around. I was overly confident in her inability to inflict damage. As a Strigoi she might but that's for the future. Once her morals are a bit addled, I doubt it'll make much of a difference.

“Sounds kind of boring.”

She walked into the living room, moving herself far to the side of me and leaning against the wall. Crossing her arms over her chest, she again took comfort in that meaningless protective posture.

“Not so boring. I had company.” I chuckled,  glancing over at me and held up my book. A western. I think that shocked her almost as much as my altered appearance. There was something so . . . normal about it all.

It hurt me to see Rose's expression. She was studying my face intently. What was she thinking? I had loved western novels as a puny dhampir. Obviously I love them still. It's not like the person inside changes when we're turned. It's just a change of food habit. It's the same person minus some irritating morals and values.

Love, loyalty, responsibility — these things rage strong... Maybe even stronger, owing to heightened senses.

“You slept for a long time,” I commented
It was hard to be in silence around her. She dared a quick look at the window. Totally black. It was nighttime.

“And you ate.” I couldn't help the amusement in my voice after all that threats of starving herself. I knew she'd try to escape, to fight back and if my training was any good, she'd know when to eat and when to hold her ego.

“Yeah, well, I’m a sucker for pepperoni. What do you want?” the usual Rose Hathaway quip.

I placed a bookmark in the book and set it on the table. Time to be honest, “To see you.”

“Really? I thought your only goal was to make me one of the living dead.”

I didn’t acknowledge that. My patience with her was running thin. If the price to pay for my lady to be turned is to endure hours of meaningless chitchat, I'd rather not. I knew she hated feeling like what she had to say was being ignored. And I enjoyed keeping her in line.

I looked into her eyes. Molten chocolate stared back at me almost making my stone heart beat for a second. But the thing that bothered me more was the flash of a purpose in them. I had thought captivity would break her and so would seeing me turned. But she turned out to be stronger. I had to do something to take out the fight from inside her. I had to make her docile, submissive.

I weighed my options, carefully calculating my moves.

“Aren’t you tired of always standing?” I had to make her sit. If she continued standing it'd be difficult to overwhelm her. A plan was beginning to whisper at the edges of my mind.

“I just woke up. Besides, if I can spend an hour tossing furniture around, a little standing isn’t that big a deal.” she looked at me squarely — challenging.

“Sitting’s not that big a deal either,” I replied, unfazed “I told you before, I’m not going to hurt you.” I added, this time more softly.

“‘Hurt’ is kind of a subjective term.” she mused.

Then, in a suddenly, surprising me, she walked over and sat in the armchair across from me. “Happy now?” The new move surprised me. What kind of a game was she playing?

He tilted my head, looking closely at her “You still stay beautiful, even after sleeping and fighting.” my eyes flicked down to the clothes she had tossed on the floor. “You don’t like any of them?”

Of course she doesn't like any of them. My Rose was a girl of denims and iron, not silk and diamonds. I put them on purpose to annoy her.

“I’m not here to play dress-up with you. Designer clothes aren’t going to suddenly get me on board with joining the Strigoi club.”

Of course.

I gave her a long, penetrating stare. “Why don’t you trust me?” Mentally I was rolling my eyes.

She stared back, disbelief flashing inher eyes. “How can you ask that? You abducted me. You kill innocent people to survive. You aren't the same.”

Aagghh! Not that again.
Time for a pep talk Roza.