The Accidental Vampire(76)

think you could only drink from the source. Was your biting her the first clue to your

having been turned? And how did you end up at the hotel? The turning makes a mortal

very sick. Why didn't you end up in a hospital?"

"I think regaining consciousness after the accident to find me with my head in a cooler,

lapping up spilled blood from burst blood bags was really her first clue," Elvi said dryly.

Victor stiffened. "You didn't mention that."

"Well, it's not really a clear memory," Elvi explained. "And you said to tell you the next

thing I remember. Mostly the blood bag episode at the crash site seems like a dream

to me and I'm only sure it happened because Mabel said it did."

Victor frowned. "Tell me your memory of it, dreamlike or not."

Elvi paused to collect the memory, and then said, "Well, as I say, it's kind of blurry. I

remember waking up and smelling something that…" She hesitated, unsure how to

describe what she'd felt. She'd been in terrible pain, every inch of her body aching, and

that smell had driven her into a frenzy. She'd been desperate to get to it.

"I understand," Victor said. "You must have been amazed when you realized it was

blood drawing you so."

"Maybe. I don't remember feeling anything at all except relief. I'd caught the scent,

struggled to get free of my seat belt, crawled over Mabel, trailing the smell and there

was an open cooler there. It must have been in with the luggage that fell everywhere.

The lid was off and one of the bags had burst open. And…"

"And you lapped it up, then went after the unburst bags," Victor guessed.

Elvi nodded. "I didn't have anything to open them with, not even fangs at that point, so

I was tearing them open with my teeth, getting more blood on me than in me when

Mabel woke up and spotted what I was doing. I have a vague recollection of her yelling

at me, and then I think I passed out again."

"She said I was already starting to look younger when she found me and that I had a

bad gash on my forehead, but an hour later it was gone and I looked younger still. She

knew right away something was wrong," Elvi offered. "When someone came across

the accident scene and the authorities showed up, they wanted me to go to hospital,

but she wouldn't let them take me. She bribed them to take us on to the resort."

Victor was silent for a minute, and then asked, "Are there any other dreamlike

memories, prior to that one, that you haven't mentioned?"

"One," Elvi admitted. "But I know that one's a dream."

"Tell me," he insisted.

She closed her eyes, trying to place herself back in the van so that she would

remember more clearly, Finally, she said, "The first thing I remember is it was raining."

"Raining?" Victor echoed with bewilderment.

Elvi nodded. "Yes. My mouth was open and filling with water."

"In the bus?" he asked doubtfully.

She nodded. "It tasted funny when I swallowed it. Tinny."

"Like blood," Victor suggested.

Elvi kept her eyes closed. Now that she was examining the memory, it was clearer than

it had ever been before. She could actually recall the slow drip, drip, as the liquid hit

her tongue and slid down her throat.

"I opened my eyes, and… the lone man in his twenties was hanging over me."

She sensed Victor leaning further forward, his body tense. "Hanging over you?"

"The bus was on its side," she reminded him. "His seat belt had kept him in the seat,

but he was dangling over us." Elvi could see him there now and cringed. "He'd been

injured in the accident." She opened her eyes, banishing the image. "That's how I knew

it was a dream. Mabel said she saw him after the accident and he was just fine.

Uninjured."

"Forget about that," Victor instructed. "I want you to close your eyes and picture the

scene again. What exactly did you see?"

Elvi reluctantly closed her eyes. She allowed the memory to blossom in her mind

despite its unpleasantness. "His eyes were closed. I thought he was dead. There was a

large, sharp triangle of glass in his stomach, and another in his upper shoulder. It had

pretty much sliced his arm off and there was blood running down his dangling arm and

dripping…"

"Into your mouth," Victor said with triumph.

Elvi opened her eyes with amazement. "Yes."

"You really are an accidental vampire," he said with a grin that then faded. "I'm

surprised he didn't realize what had happened when he woke up and saw you jonesing

for blood."

"I don't think he did," Elvi said with a frown. "Mabel says she got me out of the van and