Old Soul

Chapter Seventeen: Q & A

"Are you not gonna ask?" Emmett asks after I've been quiet for a few moments, the silence too long for him to bear.

"I am. I'm just deciding what's most important." I'm sitting up, my head on my left knee, my right leg dangling off the bed.

"Do you have fangs?" I decide to ask the most basic question first. Emmett chuckles.

"No more than you do." I look at him dubiously. He sighs and forces his face into a smile. I lean closer, as though the fangs are too tiny for me to see from my angle.

"Are you trying to get bitten?" He teases.

"Hey! I'm the one asking the questions here." I sit back, satisfied in my investigation.

"Yes, ma'am." He says, his smile turning genuine.

"If you don't have fangs, how does someone get turned into a vampire?"

"We may not have fangs, but our teeth are much stronger than yours. And we're venomous, but rather than being toxic it's what transforms someone into a vampire—the venom. It takes a lot of self-control, once we taste blood it can be hard to stop. But traditional vampire lore is correct, we can turn others with bites. Carlisle turned me." He supplies.

"Because of the bear?"

"Yeah. Edward still hasn't let me live it down." He frowns.

"I didn't think you were alive at all." I add, faking innocence. Emmett gives me a mock glare.

"Next question."

"Do you still have scars from the bear?"

"Is this your way of trying to get me to take my shirt off?"

"No!" I immediately look away, my cheeks burning.

"Nope. The venom fixes mortal wounds, diseases, most things mortals perceive as imperfections. You'll notice none of us have freckles, moles, birthmarks, nothing." There's a twinge of sadness in his voice.

"Did you have any?" I ask gently.

"I had a birthmark on my wrist, it felt like a permanent severance to my human life when I realized it was gone," He responds. "I also had a freckle on my butt that I was pretty attached to."

I laugh. "Sorry, the first part wasn't funny. I'm sure you miss your family."

"I do, and I don't. Human memories tend to fade, so while I have several memories that are still vivid, well, as vivid as human memories can be, I don't remember the little things. I mostly hate that they spent so much time looking for me."

"Why do your eyes change color?" I change the subject abruptly.

"Well, when we're first turned, they're red. Blood red, if you will. If we continue feeding on humans, they stay red, but if we switch to animal blood, they turn this gold color. And when we're thirsty, regardless of diet, they turn black."

"So avoid you when they're black. Got it." I nod. He rolls his eyes.

"You'd be fine, even if I was thirsty. I like you too much to let anything happen to you." I smile and reach over to squeeze his hand. When I touch his hand, I'm reminded of another question that's been plaguing me.

"Why are you hard?" I blurt out. Emmett raises an eyebrow at me and smirks, and I realize what I've just said. "Scratch that!"

"No, I promised to answer all of your questions." His smirk grows even more pronounced.

"I swear to every deity on this planet, Em, if you try to give me a warped version of the sex talk I will leave this house and never come back." I say, shoving my fingers in my ears.