"So, what do you think we should do?" Charlotte asked after recounting her dialog with Snow to Hal.
"What he told you to do. Normalize things in town." He said, very worried about some pieces of the dialog. "I'm not sure how, though."
"Who is he? And what things do you need to explain to me?"
"He's one of the first vampires and the biggest authority for our kind. Whatever he says is law. It's protocol to new born vampires who are presented to him to offer him eternal loyalty and plead for a drop of his blood."
"His blood?"
Hal nodded. "He's one of the first. The vampire bloodline can be traced back to him and his blood has a powerful grip over us. Since I'm your maker my grip over you is stronger than his. If you drink a drop of his blood, he'll overthrow my power over you."
"What does that mean?"
"It means he's like royalty. You don't question royalty; you just do what they tell you to do. After you drink his blood it will be harder for you not to do what he tells you."
"So you didn't just turn me into a monster. You turned me into a monsters who has to bow to another monster." She puffed.
Hal smiled with that remark.
"Why are you smiling? There's nothing funny about what I said." She said angrily.
"You're more worried about your new social status then about the fact that you are no longer part of the human race." He said amused.
Charlotte frowned at him taking in the meaning of his words. She looked again at the two bodies dropped at the far end of the barn. Flies were circling them. She closed her eyes and felt hungry again and with that hunger there was also guilt for what she knew she would have to do to satiate it.
"If I'm not human anymore why do I still feel like a human?" She asked.
Hal looked at her worried. From predator to protector, Snow had told her. He was right, as usual. He wanted to protect her even from the suffering of what she was now. For that he would have to teach her to abandon her humanity.
"You're clinging to human emotions. You need to leave them behind and accept your true nature. Otherwise you'll always be tortured by them." He said to his own surprise. How could he say that when he felt his own humanity clawing at his skin at the very sight of her?
She looked curiously at him. "Aren't you tortured by what you are?" She asked, reading his mind.
Hal swallowed, remembering the guilt and the effort he had made to keep her alive. He forced those feelings out, following his own advise. "I accept what I am. I have no other choice. Neither do you." He said slowly.
"Why didn't you kill me, then?"
Hal smiled crookedly again. "Because you're really good in bed." He said coldly and saw her expression change from sadness to hurt, and finally, to anger. He felt like apologizing but didn't.
The truth was that he tried desperately not to kill her and when he realized he had failed he turned her because he didn't want to be without her. He wouldn't tell her or anyone else that, though.
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply a few times before opening them again and standing up. Her gaze was fierce and fearless and Hal felt again a shiver of desire.
"All right, you need to tell me how to get to town again. I need to go home." She said, calmly changing the subject.
"What?"
"We need to normalize things in town or Mr. Snow will rip me apart, and I have a plan."