Feral Bonds

Chapter 18

"How are your injuries?" Vincent asked, the next morning.

Natania kept her gaze on the ground. Every time she looked at him she heard Dario's screams. Lily hadn't been joking, Vincent had tortured him for hours, and they had heard every second of it. The curse of good hearing.

"Just dandy," she muttered. Lily's blood had healed her nose and her ribs, but the bruises remained.

"May I?" Vincent gave a small tug on the corner of her shirt. Natania nodded once and he pulled it up, revealing yellow and purple bruises along her right side. They went from her thigh to her shoulder, but he only looked at the ones on her hip. "You shouldn't have gotten involved," he said softly.

"I'm not afraid of fighting," she replied.

"You were afraid last night." Vincent bit his wrist and offered his blood. Natania sighed heavily, but accepted it without argument. He hadn't fed from her, and she didn't think he was going to that day. He had had one of the human feeders when she'd arrived.

Natania pushed his arm away after a moment, then asked, "Is it your blood that makes me suddenly want to eat people? Where did the human even come from?" She narrowed her eyes. Why had he killed his own staff?

Vincent scoffed and shook his head. "The body was the man who was stupid enough to allow another vampire to compel him. All my people take a potion whenever they leave to prevent just that. He failed in his duty and put my people in jeopardy. That's unacceptable. As for the hunger, that is all you, Wolf."

Damn, Natania thought, failure had a steep price, then she hesitated. "What does that mean?"

Vincent watched the bruises fade under his fingers before he answered, "Did your parents not tell you what you are?"

"I know what I am," she growled. "I've never had the urge to eat a dead person before."

"Because you always had a pack."

Natania frowned at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Vincent put his hand under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him. She met his eyes, then glanced away. "I scared you last night as well."

Natania shrugged. "I'm not keen on torture, but I knew what you were when I came here. Frankly, I was expecting more of it, so whatever."

Vincent snorted, then continued with the previous discussion. "The part of you that is aware and functioning, is the wolf, but you get your magic and healing from the demon. They call you half demons, but it's more like you have a second passenger."

Natania frowned, but kept her gaze on the ground as he continued, "The more you use your magic, especially to heal, the stronger the hold the demon has on you. If you have a pack of half bloods, with weaker, lesser demons, the burden of controlling it is shared amongst you all. The bigger the pack, the longer it takes to touch you."

Natania took in a breath, then blew it out. "And I don't have a pack anymore."

"Exactly." Vincent patted her head once. "It's usually a slow process. A very slow process. You shouldn't have any effects from it until well into your fifties, even without a pack. With a pack, maybe your hundred and fifties. From what Lily has seen of you," he grimaced, "and the scars you carry, I expect your demon half is particularly powerful, and you've relied upon it a lot."

That wasn't reassuring. "So I'm just going to become more unstable as time passes, then?"

"No," Vincent disagreed. "You have a good chance to control it. You just need to be careful of how much magic you use."