Page 34 of Don't Bite the Botanist
“I was saying, we already know everything there is to know about vampires. So there’s not really any research to be done.”
“Oh,” he replied, dissapointed. “Well, in that case, tell me about their weaknesses. How do you take one down?”
“Oh, the usual ways you would kill a human. You just have to make it count since we are able—” She choked on her words, coughing violently.
He rushed to her side and slapped her on the back. “Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, clearing her throat. “Just, um, a bug or something.”
He gave her a curious look but returned to the railing. A safe distance where she was out of touching range, because otherwise he would have kept rubbing her back. Which would have led to rubbing… other things.
“Anyway,” she said, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “I was going to say that vampires are able to heal really fast. So if you want to kill one, it needs to be swift, accurate, and permanent. Lop off the head, sharp implement to the heart, bullet to the brainpan.”
“Squish,” he added with a grin, but the strange look she gave him said the obscure Firefly reference was lost on her. Pity. Maybe he could introduce her to some of his favorite classic sci-fi shows. His mind conjured an image of them curled up on a couch, munching on popcorn, his hand sliding up her thigh…
Focus, Ambrose,he chided himself yet again.
“Well, that’s all good to know, but what else do you have? Is there some way to lay a trap once we find her? I might be grasping at straws here, but is there anything vampires care about more than blood and murder?”
Tressa flinched ever so faintly, but he caught the movement and wondered what he had said wrong.
“Vampires care about a lot of things,” she said quietly as she picked at her cuticles again. “But they care about their mate more than anything else.”
“Mate?” he asked, wrinkling his brow. “Isn’t that like a wolf thing?”
Tressa laughed. “Yeah, kind of, but also not at all. Basically, a vampire has one person that is their destined love. Their mate. Someone the universe pushes them toward because they belong together. The one individual they can easily spend forever with and never grow bored.” She paused for a second, eyeing him carefully. “Most vampires would do anything for their mate, Ethan. To keep them safe, keepthem happy. The bond between mates is more than just love. It’s… destiny.”
He couldn’t deny the little tingle in his chest when she said “destiny.” Even if the whole thing sounded like another vampire myth they got a kick out of humans believing in, right up there with garlic and holy water. But if it was real…
The hairs on the back of Ethan’s neck stood on end, and his hand drifted unconsciously towards his scar as the nauseating slurping sound of the creature feeding filled his mind once more. He noticed Tressa’s eyes tracking his hand, so at the last minute, he diverted it over his shoulder to knead at the ropey knots in his upper back.
As beautiful as this mate concept was, he couldn’t reconcile it with what he knew of vampires. “Okay, I’m not sure which is more ridiculous,” he said. “The whole ‘fated by some mystical higher power to be together forever’ thing, or the fact that the monster who killed my friend could even be capable of love, let alone the kind you’re describing. It’s a beautiful fairytale, but I’m not buying it.”
Tressa shrugged. “I could say I don’t believe in the moon’s gravitational pull, but the ocean tides would still rise and fall. Not believing in something doesn’t make it any less real. Losing a mate is actually how a lot of vampires go rogue. To be sentenced to an eternity alone is…” She sighed. “It can make people act crazy.”
“Except she’s not a person, Tressa,” he reminded her, annoyed that she was still on about some vampires being good. It didn’t even matter if the mate thing was true or not. He didn’t care how the rogue lost her gourd; he just wanted to smash it before she hurt anyone else.
Tressa didn’t argue, but she also didn’t agree with him either. She just regarded him thoughtfully for a second, then hopped off the table. “Right, well, I’m sorry we don’t have any way for you to help right now. Just know that when we do find her, we’re fully prepared tohandle it.”
Ethan nodded. “Gotcha. In that case, how about we try some of that superior training you mentioned? I think I could use a few workouts to get back into shape before we go after her anyway. And I’m feeling much better.” He pushed off the railing and took a steady step toward her as proof that he wasn’t the weak fawn she seemed to view him as. “So what do you say? You down to get a little sweaty?”
When Tressa’s eyes bulged, he quickly added, “In the gym, of course. You know, training.”
“Of course,” she replied with a subtle grin. “I have some things I need to take care of, but I’ll see if Saiden or Derrick can meet you in the gym. Just… take it easy, Ethan. I know you want to get your revenge, but you’re still healing. The effects of a three-month coma don’t just disappear overnight.”
A flash of blood-soaked fangs appeared in Ethan’s mind again, and he shook his head, trying to dislodge the image. He massaged his neck as if working out a kink, but really, he was trying to rub away the pain of phantom fangs sinking into his skin. “I know, but I can’t just sit around. I have to do something.”
Tressa peered at him for a moment. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Always.”
“Why is this so important to you? I know what she did to your friend and the fallout with your job, but it feels…more, somehow.”
Ethan contemplated her words. He knew the answer he wanted to give her—that the rogue made him feel powerless. Pathetic. That she’d forced him to watch as yet another person he cared about died in front of him while he stood by, helpless to do anything but whimper like a child. He was always left behind to pick up the pieces after far better people were taken from the world. Jake should have been the one to survive. Just like his mom should have been. But the world was crueland unfair, and monsters like the rogue only proved his point.
He knew Tressa would understand his suffering and might even have a similar story, but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t admit the painful truth quite yet. He wasn’t ready to rip open his bleeding heart and show her all his wounds. So he took the coward’s way out.
“No, there’s nothing more. She’s a blood-sucking monster who killed my best friend and countless others. Of course I’m going to make removing her from this world a priority.”
