Page 23 of Bloodhunter

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped away theblood from his busted nose, then folded the cloth carefully and pushed it backinto his pocket. “I made you part of something that should never have touchedyou. I am sorry.”

There it was again, sorrow, truth, pain. It was in his eyes.He truly was sorry. And maybe my rage dimmed a little more.

But it didn’t disappear. It could never. I still wanted tosee him dead, and I wanted to be the one to kill him. And I was comforted bythat thought.

He tilted his head, frowning a little. “Why are yousmiling?”

“Because I still need to kill you,” I said.

“Part of you will always hate me.”

“The biggest part.”

“Perhaps,” he murmured

My cell began to ring and I felt for it, pulling it from mypocket without taking my stare off the vampire. Then I glanced at the screen. “Angus,”I muttered.

“If he comes here, I will kill him,” Amias said. “I haveresisted because he means something to you, and I would not hurt you further.But tonight, I will kill him.”

I believed him. I send the call to voicemail. Angus wouldnot be surprised that I was avoiding him.

I wasn’t afraid. I felt Amias’s danger. It surrounded himlike a swirling black mist filled with glittering, sharp debris. I felt it. Butthat danger…

It wasn’t for me.

Amias didn’t want to killme.

But my terror didn’t stem from my potential death. My terrorcame from a place that remembered what it was like to be helpless beneath somuch power. It came from a place that believed he would toss me into whatever putridmagic soup that created turned humans, and I would become something worse thandead.

I would become a vampire.

That was my terror. My nightmare. My rage.

Because hecould, and I knew it.

He sighed. “Your emotions change as fast as a child’s.”

“Just tell me what you need to tell me, Sato, then get outof my house.” If my voice trembled, he was too polite to point it out.

He settled back into his chair and crossed his legs. “Thereis an infection that affects my kind. In my youth, this disease was seen onlyrarely. But now it is appearing more often, and is affecting more vampires.Those who fall ill pass this disease to other vampires when they bite them.”

“Vampires don’t bite other vampires,” I interrupted.

“Normal vampires,” he said, ignoring my scoff, “do not.These vampires are not normal vampires. They are sick. The disease createscreatures who become mindless and starving and…” He stopped for a second,remembering. He shuddered, then put his dark stare back on me. “Full ofbloodlust. The vampire you killed behind the bar was recently infected. This iswhat I needed to tell you. Like the human flu, the vampire virus is active againand it is spreading quickly. Those are the vampires you need to hunt. Theinfected vampires have an uncontrollable desire to kill and an indescribablehunger. And it grows steadily worse the longer they’re sick.Theygrowworse.”

I swallowed, my heart beating fast. “So you contracted thisvirus and that’s why you attacked and killed my family.”

“Yes. I was newly infected when I…” He closed his mouth,opened it, then closed it again. Finally, he continued. “When I hurt you. I ama master, therefore I was able to stay slightly sane while it coursed throughme. That virus still exists inside you. It is that virus that rages inside youwhen you see me. You would like me dead because of what I did to you and yourpeople, but that black infection…it is the rage. It is what controls you. Doyou understand?”

“You’re saying the virus is something almost like anotherbeing, and it lives inside me. It was meant to kill you, it hates you, and itis that virus that takes control of my brain and makes me go apeshit when I seeyou.”

He hesitated, surprised. “Yes,” he said, finally. “That isexactly right.”

I smiled, but it was more of a stretching of my lips than areal smile. “You’re wrong.Iwant to kill you, Amias. I do. It’s allme.” And my rage began to stir at the thought.

“No. Not only you, my love.”

I met his stare and could not look away. “I don’t believeyou. I don’t believe anything you say. There was no infection. You’re justevil.”