Feral Bonds

Chapter 19

"So if every vampire gets a gift as they get older," Natania asked as she tugged her shirt on, "what's yours?"

Lily rolled so her head hung upside down over the edge of the bed. "You already know what I do," her voice was gruff and slightly irritated, she didn't like to talk after sex.

Natania pushed on anyway. "You said you were born with the visions, did you not get another as a vampire?"

"The visions before I turned were future," she scrunched up her face, "or maybe present happenings, I don't remember, only." She twisted back onto her stomach. "The first touch insight came later."

"What about," she inclined her head in the direction of Vincent's room.

Lily threw a pillow at her. "Ask him yourself. Go away wolfie."

Natania forced a grin to cover the hurt and tossed the pillow back. "Bye Lily."

She didn't know why she kept accepting the vampire's propositions, well, she knew why, but even if it was good, the easy dismissal afterwards left her feeling raw every time. She knew Lily didn't have any intention to hurt her, the vampire just had different expectations, and had made those very clear. Natania should have been able to push it aside, she wanted to, but she couldn't.

Natania sighed as she closed the door behind her. One month left of her bargain, and then she could get some distance, figure out what she wanted from her life, but living here, working for Vincent and being a snack, literally and figuratively, for the vampires wasn't it.

She made her way to the rooftop, intending on watching the stars for a bit, but the clouds ruined any possibility of that. Disappointed, she made her way back inside, opting to run out some energy instead. She had only been running for a half hour when she heard Vincent send out a summon for her.

Natania growled as she slammed her hand on the stop button, taking a minute to catch her breath before she answered his call, stalking her way into the parlour. Two of his vampires were going over some papers with him when she arrived, and they stopped when they saw her.

"Yes?" she asked, trying not to let the irritation she felt leak into her voice.

Vincent curled a finger at her, and she approached the table. Glancing at the documents, she saw they had pictures of her, as well as other random tidbits of information. "Er, what is this?" she asked, picking up a picture of herself. She had no idea when it was taken.

Vincent placed a couple cards, a passport and some other papers in front of her. Natania recognized a bank statement and frowned.

"I'm having paperwork made for you," he explained, "you can't exactly use your old identification." He glanced around like he was missing something then said, "I don't even think you brought any with you."

She hadn't. All of her paperwork had been lost the day she had gotten his address. Abandoned on the side of the road somewhere. For a moment, she wondered if she should check her credit score for fraud. She had left everything needed to make accounts in her name, but then decided it didn't matter.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. He didn't owe her anything. She had expected nothing more than to leave here with whatever fit in her pockets.

Vincent furrowed his eyebrows. "To get you started? How far are you going to get with no passport, no id, no record of your existence?"

Natania shrugged. "I don't know, but that's not your problem."

Vincent rolled his eyes then continued as if she hadn't spoken. "We can have the last name changed if you'd rather, but I have an account setup," he held up a finger like he knew she was going to interrupt, "I added what I would have paid my people for the work you've done beyond bleeding. Of course, if you wanted to go to college or university, we could work something out."