I listened more carefully for the other voice as I sat on the floor beside David’s bed.

“Yes,” Morgaine continued. “Mike went back to Loslilian this morning. He’ll start phase two of Ara’s training on the weekend.”

Okay, she must be on the phone.

“Yes, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”

My ears pricked. Happy to see who? This sensitive hearing thing is growing on me, but I wish I could magically prod people as well, and tell them to shut up. Last thing I need is visitors. I looked at David, wishing he’d regain consciousness so we could just run away together.

“Come in,” I said quietly when someone knocked.

“Hey.”

“Eric,” I beamed. “Hi.”

“Hello, Amara.” He grinned widely and sat cross-legged on the floor beside me.

“Was that you on the phone with Morgaine?”

“Yes.”

“How did you get here so fast?”

Eric paused, a half grin on his lips. “You’re not serious are you? Really.” He shook his head. “Mike needs to teach you how to run properly.”

“He did. Guess I just didn’t really think of that.”

“So, how is he?” Eric looked at David.

I shook my head. “Not so good. I slit my wrist every few hours and coat him in blood, and Emily’s been robbing the local hospital to get human stuff, but he can’t open his eyes, he, I mean—” I let out a breath and sniffed it back in so as not to cry, “—he doesn’t even have eyelids.”

“I’m sorry, Amara.” Eric reached over and laid a red rose on the bedside table; the soft scent brought a feeling of familiarity to my otherwise dark day. “If I could trade places—”

“Thanks, Eric.”

He took my hand; the same vibrant electricity he always sparked in me rose up under his fingertips. “How have you been coping, kiddo?”

Every time someone asked me that in the last few days, it had been in reference to coping with what happened to David, but I knew Eric meant this in reference to surviving torture—a subject no one else around here mentioned, whether for fear of upsetting me or for sheer repulsion, I wasn’t sure, but the only friend I’d had to talk to about it so far was Petey. “I’m okay,” I said humbly.

David took a gasp of air, and I launched to my knees. “David?” The breath stopped. “David can you hear me?”

“Holy shit, Amara?” Eric said, softly tracing a fingertip down the length of my spine, touching under my singlet top a little. “You need to eat, girl. You’re very thin.”

“I—I don’t want to leave him.”

“Hasn’t Emily been coming in to feed you?”

I shook my head. “Once or twice, but I…well, I think they’ve all forgotten I’m here.”

Eric smiled sympathetically. “They haven’t, kiddo. They’re all just busy recruiting knights and organising the refurbishment of Loslilian. They can’t have a queen come out to an old run-down manor that’s been inhabited by vampires for the last seven centuries.”

“But they can leave her in a room for eight hours a day with her crispy husband?”

Eric burst out laughing. “Ah, the girl found a decent joke book.”

I half smiled. I wasn’t joking, but I guess that might’ve sounded funny to a vampire with a sick sense of humour.

“Funny as that is, though, are you really alone—all day?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Some days. Not all. Em comes in and out to nurse David, and Mike was taking me out for walks, but he’s gone now, so—”

“Perhaps I should visit more, then?”

“I’d like that.”

“Good. Then, consider it done. And while I’m here—” He held out his wrist. “Eat.”

I looked up at David; still not breathing, still as bad as he was the first day I saw him.

“David’s unconscious, Amara. Even if my feeding you offends him, I welcome his rebuff. Besides, he’d agree it’s better than you starving yourself.”

“I’m not starving myself. Emily fed me last night, and offered again this morning, but I...”

“You’re starving yourself. Punishing yourself because you blame the blood for the reason you bit David.”

“Maybe a little. But, I also don’t think David would like it if I had your blood, Eric. He’s okay with Emily, I think, but, you’re a guy.”

“Amara?” Eric knelt beside me. “It’s not that big a deal, really. David and Emily have been sharing blood since she was turned.”

“What?”

“It’s a quick means of nutrients.”

“Do they…I mean, would they have…”

“No, Amara, don’t even go there. Vampires sharing vamp blood is like a human drinking his own urine to survive; you can’t live on it, but it gets you through, except, uh—drinking another vamp’s blood isn’t quite as gross as urine, but you get what I mean. It doesn’t have to be lustful.”

“Well, how do you know they were sharing blood? David never told me that.”

“He never told you how many humans he killed a day, either, did he? Doesn’t mean he wasn’t doing it.”

“So, you think he won’t be upset if I drink from you?”

“What does it matter if he does?”

“He’s my husband, Eric. It matters.”

“Not anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because you, my friend, are immortal now. Everything’s changed. You’re not just David’s little human girl, drinking blood from a big bad predator. If you don’t feed from a vampire, you get blood starved. He has to get used to it.”

“I suppose. It’s not like I can choose which species to survive on. Like you said, I kinda have to eat vampires.”

Eric chuckled. “Well, you can drink from me, but the idea of being eaten isn’t so appealing.”

“Ha-ha. You’re so funny. Not.”

Eric rolled up his sleeve and held his arm out. “Okay, so, vampire etiquette one-oh-one; the wrist isn’t as intimate as the neck. If you offer the wrist it’s like offering a can of drink to a friend; if you offer the neck, it’s like sharing straws at a milk-bar.”