Page 71 of Eternal Devotion

“It’s complicated.”

“Explain.”

“Ensley. It doesn’t matter because it will never happen.”

I clamped his jaw in a vice grip and got in his face. The glistening tips of his eyeteeth showed behind his slightly parted lips. I stared at them. Mesmerized. Intrigued. Less afraid than I should have been, considering he could probably overpower me without effort.

“Explain.”

Mordecai closed his eyes as though shutting out the sight of me might help. “A human can withstand a single bite, provided they aren’t drained to the point of death. They can withstand several, in fact, if spaced strategically, allowing them enough time to recover. Repeated feedings on the same victim over the course of several nights, enough that the human cannot rejuvenate and perishes, would cause the change. Or, in a more ritualistic sense, if a human ingests the blood of the cursed. Then, at the moment of death, they would rise in their new form.”

I processed the information, considering every angle and comparing it to what I understood of the lore I’d gathered from popular television shows and games. My curiosity overruled my fear.

“Show me your teeth.”

“Ensley. My control is precariously thin. Please.”

“I trust you.”

“I don’t trust myself. You’re a temptation unlike any other. I don’t know why, but resisting you is proving exhausting.” He clamped a hand around my wrist and pushed me away. That time, I let him.

I released his jaw but remained in his space, resting my hand on his chest like I’d done in the basement. Nothing. No heartbeat.

It took a long moment for Mordecai to return my gaze. So much sorrow reflected back at me. We were close, bodies aligned, if not quite touching.

“Did you mean it? Do you care about me?”

“More than I expected or wanted. I’ve never… had this with anyone.”

I wasn’t sure if he meant the bond we’d developed or the physical act itself, but considering his skills in the bedroom, I doubted I was his first sexual encounter.

“What makes it so impossible?”

A sad smile. “Logic, Ensley. Don’t you see?”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It is. You’re refusing to face the truth.”

“Fine. Spell it out for me. Pretend I don’t see.”

“You’re human.”

“And?”

He chuckled mournfully. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-three.”

“And every year you age. The life expectancy of a man in a developed country in this century is between seventy-five and eighty years old. My father would be astounded to hear such facts. He would call it nonsense. Lies.” A wistful smile. “Care to guess how old I am?”

I shook my head, unable to even venture a guess.

“Four hundred and fifty-six. Born in 1570. I’ve lived through four centuries and countless wars. I’ve seen the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment. I’ve observed the birth of the Industrial Revolution. The introduction of machines and steel. I witnessed the unfolding of the digital age of information and technology. I was around for the French Revolution, the invention of the steam engine, the telephone, the transistor radio. I was here for the discovery of penicillin, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and I watched the first moon landing.

“I am an immortal being, Ensley, who will likely live for centuries more. I will see things your grandchildren will only dream about. I don’t age. When you are fifty or sixty or lying on your deathbed, I will still live in the body of a twenty-seven-year-old man. Do you see now?”

“Four hundred and fifty-six?” I could barely wrap my head around it and the amount of history encapsulated in that stretch of time.