“That won’t happen.”
“How can you be so sure? Have you ever done it before?”
“No.”
“I’d be the first?” Somehow, she had assumed that, having lived for so many centuries, he would have made at least one other vampire.
“I never wanted to be a vampire. Why would I make one?”
“But you want to make me one?”
“I’m not sure we have any other options.”
Tessa shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, once it’s done, it’s done, right? You can’t undo it?” It wasn’t like buying a dress. She couldn’t decide she didn’t like it and take it back.
“I’m afraid not,” he said, grinning. “But who knows? You might like it.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“It’s not so bad.” He ran his fingertips down her cheek and across her lower lip. “You’d never age. Never be sick. You would always be as young and beautiful as you are now. You would have incredible power and stamina.”
Tessa looked at Andrei. Really looked at him. He was easily the most handsome man she had ever met. His skin was smooth and unlined. His hair thick and black. In ten years, a hundred, he would look the same. Men spent millions of dollars a year trying to maintain their health and vitality. Women spent millions on cosmetics guaranteed to reduce the signs of aging. But it was all money down the drain. No matter how she tried, how many vitamins she took, how much she exercised, she couldn’t stop the years from passing, couldn’t stop them from sapping her energy or leaving their mark on her face.
But Andrei could. All she had to do was let him make her a vampire. “Does it hurt?”
“No, love.”
It was tempting, in a morbid sort of way. Tempting and scary. And gross. How could she drink his blood? True, she had tasted it, but a little taste was one thing. To turn her into a vampire, he would drink most of her blood and give it back to her. That was certainly more than a drop or two. She grimaced, sickened at the thought.
“The blood will be sweet to you, dragostea mea.”
“Seriously?”
“Once you’re changed, you’ll wonder why you ever thought the taste of blood would be repulsive.”
“Was it that way for you?”
He nodded. The blood had been sweet. The hunger had been excruciating. But it wouldn’t be that way for Tessa. He would teach her how to hunt, how to satisfy the craving without killing her prey. He was an old vampire. His blood was ancient, strong. She wouldn’t need to hunt as often as other fledglings.
Tessa blew out a sigh. Try as she might, she simply couldn’t picture herself as a vampire, stalking humans for their blood, living in darkness. Giving up all the things she loved. “There has to be another way.”
Andrei sighed, then cocked his head to the side. “Luke and Jileen have decided to go back to her place and pick up a change of clothes.”
“Maybe you should go with them,” Tessa suggested. “I don’t like to think of them going alone. But don’t tell Luke it was my idea. I don’t want him to think I doubt his hunter skills.”
“Even though you do?”
Tessa nodded. “I’d just feel better knowing you’re there to protect Jilly.”
“All right, love. We’ll be back soon.”
Tessa lifted her face for his kiss. She smiled as she watched him walk away. She would have preferred to spend her time thinking about Andrei and how good he looked walking away, but his suggestion niggled at the back of her mind.
To be—or not to be—a vampire, that was the question.
With a sigh, she thrust it out of her mind. There was no way she was going to make a life-altering decision like that tonight.
And likely not for many nights to come.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Tessa was hunting for the TV remote when she heard a noise on the landing. Thinking it was Jilly and Luke, she started to unlock the door when something stayed her hand. She peered through the front window, but didn’t see anything. She was about to write the sound off to her imagination when the door exploded inward, striking her shoulder and knocking her to the floor.
Hearing a gasp from behind her, she struggled to sit up. A glance showed Bailey standing in the hallway, wrapped in a towel, a trail of foamy soap bubbles melting on the floor behind her. She stared, wide-eyed, at the opening where the door had been.
Tessa’s gaze darted toward the landing.
Three male vampires stood there, fangs bared, eyes blazing with anger and frustration because they couldn’t cross the threshold.
Andrei! His name screamed in Tessa’s mind.
“Tess, are you all right?” Bailey asked, her voice surprisingly steady.