LITMIR.BIZ

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in case a member needs to travel abroad. Otherwise, it would be pretty hard to get around.”

      “So, I take it they’re not a non-profit organization if they can afford jets.”

      That brought a small smile to Nathan’s face. “Most of the Movement funding comes from generous benefactors, very old vampires who’ve had centuries to amass their fortunes. The Movement has been around a long time, and those donations add up. Plus, I believe they dabble in real estate on the side.”

      “I’ve always said my landlord was a monster, but I never thought it might be true.” I tried to hand back the book. “Okay, no eating people, making other vampires, or murder. I’ve been able to follow those rules great up till now, and I don’t foresee any problems in the near future.”

      “Good,” he said, pushing The Sanguinarius toward me again. “Because if you do, the penalty is steep.”

      “How steep?” I tried to sound unconcerned.

      “Death. Cyrus, the vampire who sired you—”

      I snorted. “Cyrus? Is that his real name?”

      Nathan looked mildly annoyed at the interruption. “Cyrus has been on the run from the Movement in America for more than thirty years, longer in other parts of the world. The injuries that brought him to your emergency room were incurred during an attempted execution.”

      I sobered as I remembered John Doe’s horrific injuries, and my mouth felt dry. “Which of the rules did he break?”

      “All of them. Long before he attacked you. We just haven’t been able to finish him off.”

      “No one deserves that.” I tried to force the image of John Doe’s maimed body from my mind. “If you’d seen him, what they did to him…”

      “I did see him,” Nathan said matter-of-factly. “I was the one sent to execute him.”

      “You?” The wounds in John Doe’s chest. The missing eye. The splintered, destroyed bones of his face. The man sitting beside me had done it all. “How?”

      “I started with a stake to the heart, and when that didn’t work, I thought I’d chop him into little pieces and bury him in consecrated earth, but he got in some good hits. I’m lucky to be sitting here right now. Someone must have seen us fighting, because the police showed up. The rest—”

      “Is history,” I whispered.

      Nathan shifted uncomfortably beside me. “Not really. He’s still out there. That’s why Ziggy’s been on the prowl for vampires. We know Cyrus is in town, and he’s the only outlaw vampire in the area. I keep an eye out for any new fledglings that pop up. I find them, kill them and report back to the Movement.” He stretched his legs to get comfortable. “They give me six hundred dollars a head. Figuratively, of course. I don’t have to bring them actual heads.”

      I had to remind myself he was talking about ending people’s lives, despite the casual way he mentioned it. “You kill them? Why?”

      He looked at me as if I had antennae growing out of my head. “Because they’re vampires.”

      “So are you!”

      “Yes, but I’m a good vampire,” he explained patiently. “Good vampires get to live, bad vampires get a one-way ticket to wherever it is we go when we die. It’s not rocket science.”

      I shot to my feet. “Did you ever think maybe some of them might be good vampires? I mean, do you even check first or do you just go all kill-happy on them?”

      “I give them a chance to change my mind but they all turn out the same way. It’s just not possible for them to be good vampires,” he insisted.

      “And why not?”

      “Because they weren’t made by good vampires.” Releasing a huge sigh, Nathan picked up The Sanguinarius. “Every fledgling I’ve encountered so far has gone the way of their sire. The blood tie is incredibly strong, which makes it nearly impossible for a new vampire to fight the will of the blood in his veins, the will of his sire. The book will explain it a lot better than I can.”

      “Well, I’m here now, so why don’t you give it a shot?” I arched a threatening brow and put my hands on my hips to show I wasn’t moving until he answered my question.

      “You’re a very aggravating person, you know that?” He set the book on the table. “The Movement doesn’t want any new vampires made. We’re trying to whittle our species down to nothing. Hence the extinction part of the Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement. Some vampires aren’t so into the idea. So they start creating new vampires.

      “When a vampire exchanges blood with a human to create another vampire, their blood stays in the new vampire’s veins. Forever. It builds something called a blood tie. For the sire, it’s a way of controlling their fledgling, like an invisible leash. The tie weakens as time goes by, but the fledgling and sire will still feel each other’s emotions, physical pain and hunger. The fledgling will always be ruled by the sire’s blood, and most of them don’t want to change. It lasts after death. Even if the sire dies, he can still wreak havoc on the world through his fledglings. The fledgling, forever influenced by his or her sire’s blood and whatever bent morals were handed down to them, could go out and keep making new vampires. Pretty soon, it’s goodbye human race. The way the Movement sees it, the only way to keep somebody like Cyrus from making his own vampire army and taking over the world is to kill his progeny. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it is.”

      I swallowed. “You sound like you’re pretty hard-core about the Movement.”

      “I have to be. When I was turned, I swore my allegiance to them in order to keep my life.” He stood and advanced on me, though for what purpose I couldn’t tell.

      “It sounds like these Movement guys hold a lot of sway. How do you know they’ve really got your best interests at heart?” I was tempted to take a step back, but I held my ground. I was not going to let him intimidate me. Not after all I’d been through. If he wanted to kill me, he’d have to…well, he’d have to go through the new me first.

      He didn’t answer my question, but he didn’t try to grab me or shove a stake through my heart, either. He pushed my hair aside and gently touched the scar Cyrus had left. “He really got you.”

      A chill raced up my spine at his touch. I leaned into his hand. I couldn’t help myself.

      Something changed in his eyes, as if an iron gate were slamming shut. He dropped his arm and turned away. “You’re going to have to make a choice, too. Whether you want to pledge your life to the Movement, or lose it.”

      I snorted. “Where do I sign in blood?”

      “This isn’t a joke.” He turned to face me, and I saw from his irritated countenance that it certainly was not. “I can’t guarantee the Movement will even accept you, but it’s your only shot at surviving. Your sire’s death sentence extends to you.”

      My heart pounded and my legs tensed in anticipation of running. I took a step back. “You’d really kill me, wouldn’t you?”

      “Yes.” He looked away, then sank onto the couch. “It’s nothing personal. But I don’t know you well enough to tell whether you’re going to play loyal fledgling to Cyrus or not. You seem like a nice girl, but I’m not willing to take that chance.”

      “Nothing personal.” I laughed bitterly in disbelief. “You know, it is personal. When I get lured into a trap and almost get decapitated, it’s personal. When some guy I just met tells me he’s going to kill me, it’s personal. Because it’s my life. You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going down without a fight.”

      The corner of his mouth twitched and I thought he was going to laugh. I would have punched him in the face if he did.

      Good thing he didn’t. “I can respect that. But it doesn’t

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