Page 142 of Volik

Volik moves so his body is behind mine. “I believe so.”

He wraps his arms around me, and I watch our blurry reflection as he dips his head and presses a kiss to my wet hair.

Then he makes a sound and wipes a palm over his mouth.

I snicker, the heaviness of the moment lifting as I realize he kissed the shampoo.

Huffing, Volik keeps his hold on me and steps us both back under the water.

I let Volik move me around. Rinsing my hair. Applying conditioner. Rinsing again. He makes it all feel amazing, and I promise myself I’ll pamper him like this next time. When I’m not so overwhelmed with everything.

Volik pulls me back out of the water, and I watch him squeeze soap onto a soft sponge-looking thing.

“So.” I heave out a breath and put my personal transformations aside. “Portals are real. They are used for travel. And mirrors have something to do with it?”

Volik hums as he sets the soap down. “Da. A druid can make a portal anywhere. They open and close them at will. But they can also put a portal into the surface of a mirror with the destination in another. A long time ago, they were common. I myself have never traveled that way, but it is now believed that only a few remain.” My eyes slip closed as Volik works the sponge over my shoulders, across my breasts, then down my stomach. “They are not as convenient as a standard portal. But if I had a set, we could put one in the house and one in your classroom, and then you could walk back and forth between the two.”

“Handy.” My voice comes out quieter, my focus torn between what Volik is telling me and what his soapy touch is doing to me.

“Very.” He lowers to his knees so he can smooth the soap down my legs. “But even though few remain, we do not take chances.”

I think this over.

It feels like a lot of superstition is still involved, but it’s also smarter to play it safe.

“What about public mirrors? Cars, bathrooms?” He grips my hips and turns me, then drags the sponge up the back of my legs.

“Any mirror can be used as a portal. But the portal is only as big as the mirror. So a side mirror on a car could not let a person through.”

I picture some enemy popping out of a mirror in a public restroom.

Then I wonder if vampires even use toilets. Or if there’s something else behind that door on the other side of this bathroom. Which then makes me wonder how I’ve gone all night without having to pee. Which then makes me wonder…

“Do you pee?”

Volik’s laugh is loud in the shower stall. “Da. Would you like to watch?”

I start to say no, but cut myself off.

Fingers pinch my butt cheek. “Freaky Mate.”

“I don’t want to watch you pee.” I swat his hand away as I turn back to face him. “I’m just a curious person.”

He just smiles at me. “We can eat and drink as humans do, but our bodies consume more energy, so we have much less waste. And if our sustenance is blood, then there is hardly any waste. Speaking of.” Volik lowers his face so it’s close to mine. “You consumed my blood last night. How do you feel?”

Oh. Right.

I think about his question, taking stock of my body.

My muscles don’t ache.

My core isn’t the least bit sore.

I gingerly feel my gums with my tongue.

The first words I spoke were a bit muffled, like the way I sounded when I wore a retainer as a kid. But already, it feels like my mouth is adjusting and my voice is back to normal. I just need to focus on not poking my lip.

Holding Volik’s concerned gaze, I answer him with the truth. “I feel amazing.”