“Yeah. So?” she asked, suddenly concerned.

“Why? What did he want with you?” my voice was ice.

“I don’t know. He kept wanting to know why I was in Russia but finally gave up and just wanted me to leave. I think somebody from home hired him to find me.”

“I don’t want you near Abe Mazur. He’s dangerous.” I was angry, and I could see from her expression that she hated that. I wasn't mad at her. The expression on her face made all the anger disappear.

I ran my fingers along her arm once more, pushing the strap down further. “Of course, people like that won’t be an issue when you awaken.”

“What have you been doing today?” I asked, hastily wanting to switch topics.

“Errands for Galina. Dinner.”

“Do you drink from them . . . for fun?” I stared at her, wondering where she was going with that. Did she think I had a whole harem of women for fun? Even Strigoi didn't stoop that low.

I ran my lips along her neck, my teeth taunting her skin but not biting. She gasped and pressed closer to me.

“No, Roza. They’re food; that’s all. It’s over quickly. You’re the only one I take pleasure in.”

She seemed satisfied as she reached up and touched my face, then ran her hand through my hair. The soft touch of her hand felt surreal

“You keep wanting to awaken me . . . but we won’t be able to do this anymore. Strigoi don’t drink from each other, do they?”

“No,” I agreed. “But it’ll be worth it. We can do so much more. . . .”

I left the “so much more” to her imagination, and a pleasant shiver ran through her. The kissing and blood taking were intoxicating, but there were some days that I did want, well . . . more. Maybe she wanted the same. The memories of the one time we’d made love haunted me when we were this close together, and I often longed to do it again.

I never pushed for sex, no matter how passionate things became. That was actually the trump card I was using to lure her to my whims. Sex — the animal instinct of us all. Yet even in her most incoherent moments, even when she wanted me so badly, she wouldn’t agree to turning. There was some intrinsic part of her that refused to budge.

Most of the time, I would shrug off her refusal, like it was a joke. But every once in a while when she declined, I felt angry, I felt defeated and I, Dimitri Belikov, didn't like to be defeated. Those moments seemed to scare her.

“Here it comes,” she teased. “The sales pitch. Eternal life. Invincible. Nothing to stand in our way.”

“It’s not a joke,” I said. Her flippancy had brought that hardness back in me. I had been going soft on her. The desire and the fondness that I’d just seen in me just now now, fractured into a million pieces and blew away. I suddenly grabbed her wrists and held her in place as I leaned down, intimidating and menacing. “We can’t stay like this forever. You can’t stay here forever.”

I held her long enough for her to realise the gravity of my words.

When I finally released her , she wrapped her arm around my neck and tried to kiss me. “Can’t we talk about that later?” Our lips met, fire blossoming between us and urgency coursing through our body. I could tell I had a matching desire, but a few seconds later, I broke away. This was going too far and I had plans for the night.

“Come on,” I said, pulling away from her. “Let’s go.”

I stood up. She stared stupidly. “Where are we going?”

“Outside.”

She sat up on the bed, dumbfounded. “Out . . . outside? But . . . that’s not allowed. We can’t.”

“We can do anything I want,” I snapped. What did she think? I don't need permission from the puny Nathan to take my babe out for a walk.

My extended my hand and helped her up. She quietly followed me to the door. I blocked her vision with my body as I punched in the code.

The door clicked open, and I led her out. She looked dazed. The door led to a short corridor blocked by another door. I swiftly opened that door, took her arm and  guided me through that door and into another hallway.