Chapter 12

I try to hide my cough into the plush, leather couch. It burns my lungs and tickles the back of my throat. The air is dry and chalky, a rough mixture of dirt, dust particles and burning electrical wire. Leo warned me about the smell from all the construction, but I refused to let him open a window. It just seemed too dangerous.

I gingerly reach for my pillow and clutch it to my chest. Goosebumps trail up the length of my arm, and for the hundredth time today, I have the irrational fear that someone is watching me. I squint against the darkened room and steady my breathing. No one is there, I remind myself. It's just fear.

The lingering smell of my old home clings to the fibers of my pillowcase. Leo didn't have to stop by my studio apartment, but I think he was trying to make me feel more comfortable knowing I wouldn't be back for quite some time. 

When we got there it was a ghost town, though. Eerily quiet. Most of the doors were bolted shut or left open and completely empty. No one made a sound as we traipsed down the hallways. The air felt heavy, almost like the entire building was afraid to breathe.

At first I thought it was just my imagination, but when we got back into Leo's car, the broadcast on the radio gave a very different story. Apparently the attack today against the University wasn't just one...it was one of many. In other words: an immortal ambush. The police conducted a full broadcast to every home, encouraging us to get to safety, check our homes for any intruders, and to stay put until advised otherwise.

The sounds of Leo's breathing patterns sweep into the living room, loud enough to let me know he's alright. It's a comforting sound. I reach for my phone from the glass coffee table to check the time. When I do, I see I have an email waiting for me.

My heart thrums in my chest. The heat of anxiety spreads through my limbs, all the way up to my neck, curling around my throat. My thumb trembles over the small button, and when I tap it, a cold sweat breaks out across my palms.

It's from Bogdan.

From: Bogdan Emanuel
Sent: Wednesday, July 7, 2137 10:20:37 PM
To: Finn Weston
Subject: Are you safe?

I cannot find your scent. Are you safe?

I stare at the words. It's like I can hear his deep, seductive voice saying them aloud even though he's nowhere near me. It causes a dull ache to bloom in my chest. He said he can't find my scent; does that mean he's been keeping an eye on me all along? Or perhaps he was searching for it recently?

My eyes glaze over. Am I safe? Maybe he only cares because I'm technically his consort. Or maybe he's already out of blood and knows I'm a willing donor. I suck my bottom lip into my mouth and bury deeper into the comfort of the couch.

A response hovers at my fingertips...

From: Finn Weston
Sent: Thursday, July 8, 2137 1:29:15 AM
To: Bogdan Emanuel
Subject: Re: Are you safe?

What's a nirv?

I want to say more, but I hit send instead. He'll know I'm safe from the response. He doesn't need to know more than that. Besides, after witnessing all that I did today, I'm second guessing myself as to how trustworthy Bogdan really is. He told me from day one that he was pretty much a heartless immortal who didn't really care about me.

So why should I believe any different?

My phone buzzes with a response, much faster than I expected.

From: Bogdan Emanuel
Sent: Thursday, July 8, 2137 1:31:54 AM
To: Finn Weston
Subject: Re: Re: Are you safe?

Nothing that concerns you.

I sigh, deflated. Well, that's Bogdan for you. He asks a question that makes me believe he cares. In return, my glimmer of hope is met with a kitschy, emotionless response, one that –

My phone buzzes again.

I tilt it upward slowly, expecting to see a new email waiting for me. Instead I see an unopened text. A frown creases my brows as I tap to open it.

Leo Adams: Can't sleep?

This time I smirk and pop my head above the couch, glancing past Leo's open door. I didn't notice that his heavy breathing had subsided. I can see the light of his phone illuminating his face in a soft glow. He gives me a small smile, nodding for me to join him.

So I do.

I slip off the couch and grab my pillow. Leo pulls the covers aside when I get closer to his bed, and I toss my pillow beside his.

"What's goin' on?" he whispers.

His voice is a bit hoarse and groggy, but the combination produces a sultry roughness, the kind of voice you think only exists in the movies. I shrug and cuddle up beside him. The subtle move isn't lost on him, and he slips his arm over my shoulders, pulling me into his chest protectively.

I never viewed Leo as a protector. I never viewed him as much, really. He was just my hot professor, one that was a common fantasy among most of the women and a few men in his classes. Now I am seeing a very different side to the man at the front of the classroom as we're thrown into a different arena together.

"Are you thinking about it?" Leo continues, lowering his lips to my ear. "What happened today?"

The warmth of his breath tickles the bottom of my earlobe and I shiver. Now isn't the time to get aroused by something like a whispered conversation. I close my eyes and lean into his touch.

"I need to know," I whisper in response. "That vampire today...he called me a nirv. Do you know what that means?"

Leo tightens his hold on me but remains unresponsive.

"Please," I try again. "I don't know what it is, Leo. I just want to be prepared."

Well, it's partly true. However, the real reason I want to know what a nirv is, is to find out if that's the reason Bogdan turned me away the first time we met. Is the fact that I'm this 'nirv' good enough justification for my vampire to turn me away?

Leo sighs.

"What I'm about to tell you stays between us," he begins. "Do you understand?"

"Of course."

"A nirv – short for nirvana – is a vampire's term for a human that can essentially make them untouchable."

I think through all of Leo's lectures this year. Not once do I remember him or anyone else mentioning the term 'nirv.' As far as any of us know, humans are all pretty much the same to vampires. The taste of the blood might be slightly varied, but the blood itself is all the same.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Do you remember in class you asked me what ways there were to kill a vampire?"

I nod, remembering that day and moment quite clearly. It was right after I found out the real reason behind Kelly's trip to the Village. It was the day everything changed.

"The only way is to infect them with the liquid from another vampire's heart," I answer.

"Correct. But if a vampire drinks the blood of a nirv? It essentially protects them. No matter what poison they're put up against, the vampire who has consumed the blood of a nirv will always win. They'll remain immortal forever. They'll be untouchable."

I blink into the darkness in disbelief. The vampire from today shouted that I was a nirv, that I was one of these rare humans with the rare blood.

But...is it true? Is there something special about my blood?

I chew on my lip, and the nervous action reminds me of when I did it in Bogdan's presence. When I was with him, I bit my lip so hard that it began to bleed. Yet he had no problem turning me away. If my blood was really that special, why wouldn't Bogdan want it? Especially if it was going to help him in the long-run?

There has to be a catch, some loophole or piece that Leo isn't telling me.

"And that vampire today," I whisper. "He thinks I'm one of them....?"

Leo nods.

"They can smell that?" I ask.

Leo laughs humorlessly. "Of course they can. In fact, because your blood is so valuable, it carries with it a scent that is fundamentally impossible to resist."

My gaze flickers to the living room where my phone is still resting atop the coffee table. Does Bogdan know I'm a nirv? Is that why he didn't answer my question? Leo said it's nearly impossible to resist the blood of a nirv. Go figure Bogdan would be that one, glaring exception.

"So what's the catch?" I question, trying to hide the frustration in my voice.

Leo kisses my temple a single time before leaning his head against mine. His trails his fingers up the length of my arm, his touch far more affectionate than Bogdan's ever was. I close my eyes, enjoying the roughness and warmth of his fingertips. It's hard to ignore the fact that I'm not nearly as affected by Leo's touch as I am by Bogdan's, but I refuse to let that thought linger in my mind.

Leo's the one who wants me, where Bogdan only tolerates my presence.

Leo is the one who is trying to protect me, where Bogdan only sent a vague, one-liner email.

"The catch," Leo finally answers with a sigh, "is that once a vampire drinks the blood of a nirv, he becomes linked with them for eternity. Granted, the human won't live for all of eternity, but the vampire will. And from the first second they taste a nirv's blood, they become dependent on that blood and that human forever."

"I don't understand," I argue. "How is that a catch? At least then the human is protected."

"It isn't a catch for the human," Leo whispers. "It's a catch for the vampire. Vampires don't think or feel like we do, Finn. They're emotionless creatures. But to put it in a way that might make sense is this: when a vampire tastes the blood of a nirv, they become more powerful. Unstoppable. They become dependent on the verge of obsession for that blood. I would even go so far as to say it's a vampire's version of falling in love."

He pauses to let his words sink in, the very same conversational tactic that he uses in classes. I've always wondered how Leo differed from Professor Adams. It turns out they're not so different after all. For some reason, this makes me smile.

"But once they taste that blood, they won't ever be able to stop wanting it," Leo continues. "So in vampire's terms, they'll be dependent and in love with that human, long after they are gone."

"In love..."

An image of Bogdan fills my mind, his immortal shell melted away and open to the idea of such an earthly and mortal emotion. My chest squeezes at the fantasy.

"Correct. But vampires don't think like we do," Leo adds, his words dripping with disdain. "They're all too blood hungry to realize the catch. Even though a nirv is rare thing to find, the second they're spotted, the vampires will flock. They're instinctual creatures, Finn, as you witnessed today. They don't have a moral compass like we do. And when they smell the blood of a nirv, they can't help what they feel. Their mind tells them they have to have it. So they go after it."

I think back on the various encounters I've had with Bogdan. He's spent hours on end with me without tasting a single drop of my blood, even when I was offering it up to him. I witnessed his fangs elongating with desire. He has to know that I'm a nirv, and it's obvious even though he continues to turn me away that he wants my blood.

But after hearing Leo's mini-history lesson, another harsh truth reveals itself. As badly as Bogdan might want to my blood and to be untouchable, the idea of being in love with me outweighs it.

In other words?

He wasn't just rejecting my blood when he turned me away. He was rejecting my heart, too.