Page 83 of Eternal Craving

Twenty or so plush, tasseled burgundy pillows were strewn over the carpet. This room had been prepared.

But I wasn’t.

“Daumia,” Sunaria beckoned.

“I’ve never liked surprises,” I muttered.

Sunaria’s smile faded.

Whatever Sunaria had told the girl, it wasn’t the truth. So lulled by what had been done to her before I’d arrived, she seemed exceptionally passive.

I gave Sunaria a long stare, then turned and walked out.

Imagining what they were up to, I lay on the living room rug staring up at the ceiling.

A lifetime lay ahead of trapping and devouring, and it caused an awful dread to spread inside me. There had to be another way, or a cure. As an eternal being, I had the unending possibility of finding a way back. Fear of what I didn’t know scared me. I’d become like a legend, documented by those who’d encountered our kind and lived.

And I yearned to learn everything about the creature I’d become. Never had I needed anyone like I needed Sunaria. Perhaps that’s why, uncharacteristically, I’d left the hunter alone with the victim.

After several minutes, Sunaria rejoined me.

“I wasn’t sure whether you wanted me to fuck her or drink from her,” I snapped.

Sunaria lay down beside me.

I frowned. “How old is she, for God’s sake?”

“What does it matter?”

I couldn’t look at her. “This is not who I am.”

“Get used to it.”

“Never.”

“Says he who fed on twenty men back in Santiago.”

I turned away from her.

She grabbed my arm. “You have to let go of your past.”

“The past is who I am.”

“No, it holds you back. Remember it, but don’t live in it.”

“What of my humanity?” I pulled away from her.

“You’re not human now.”

I let out a sigh. “What happened to her husband?”

“I told you. He’s away.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Don’t speak to me like that.”

“What are we, Sunaria? Lovers?”