Chapter Four

Feeding

I didn't move from where I was at my end of the bed, keeping my hands over my ears as though I was trying to keep my wits from escaping from my skull. I was still completely aware of Jove, both in my vampire senses and in another more spiritual type of awareness. I couldn't completely understand that awareness, being that I was new to this, but I wondered if it had to do with connecting with his thoughts when I touched him. I remembered that Jove had a sense of awareness of those he had touched, though he was by far most experienced in that area than I was. Either way, I could sense when he got on the bed I was on to move closer to me cautiously.

"It'll be hard to learn to control your feeding at the beginning," Jove told me carefully, "But you've already proven you have a good sense of controlling yourself when you bit me before. The ability to see into the mind of your victims can prove to be helpful in your own self-control, but it can also be an inhibitor… what I mean is if the mind is one to your liking, you may get curious and want to explore, and if you do that during feeding, it can be easy to lose yourself, and ultimately kill your victim without even realizing it until it's too late." I listened attentively, not wanting to mess up and kill the one person that was helping me.

"So, I'm not saying you'll like my mind, in fact there's a chance you could be repulsed by me," the thought obviously didn't please him as you would think it would, considering if I was repulsed by his mind, I'd be less likely to drain him dry, "But if you find you do, you'll have to find your own control in removing yourself from my thoughts. Tell yourself that you don't have to feed to see this mind, it's not in the blood, it's only in the touch." I thought it was slightly strange that he was focusing on the mindreading part of the feeding more than the actual feeling of hunger and the blood. But then he did know what it was like to have to feed with that ability, considering he obviously had to go through it himself. I could imagine him feeding from some victim and being entranced by their thoughts and memories, and then it being completely cut off in their death. For some reason, that seemed really horrible to me.

"Okay," I told him, "What about if I don't like your mind, but I like your blood?"

"I'll change your mind," He told me, "If you don't remember, I made you feel like you were the one being attacked when you attacked me before, it startled you away from me. If you're focused on the immediate thoughts, it's easier to distract you, instead of focusing on the background thoughts or memories. And if you don't really like my mind, or anyone elses, you'll try not to focus on the background and focus more on the blood… it'll make it easier to control yourself." He held out his arm in front of me suddenly.

I looked at him carefully, amazed in myself that I hadn't just attacked him already. Then I slowly reached out to grip his arm, feeling the rush of energy at the touch, and the touch of his mind in my own. I was startled by the images, they were blurry and disoriented; I couldn't quite focus on one in his mind. It made me forget that I was supposed to be feeding from him, and instead I was finding myself trying to catch his thoughts in streams in my own thoughts. I was thoroughly entertained; I could hear him thinking about the colors of a painting he was peering at in Sir Trenton's house. In my own mind, I remembered the place as a prison where I had been held to be a human slave with countless other girls. I had gotten away easy. I could feel his amusement at Katha's jealousy of some random girl in a nameless city. There was something so warm about his thoughts; they made something flutter inside of me, something close to joy. And then the memory of Jove screaming was in his head; pain when his father beat an object against his flesh in rage...

Suddenly it was gone. Jove had pulled his arm away from me and was waggling a disapproving finger at me, but held a small smile of pleasure behind it. "Bad, Hailence," He told me teasingly, and I blinked, a bit confused as to what just happened. "It's rude to go through people's things, you know."

"Sorry," I responded sheepishly, but then I said, "But didn't you do the same thing when I was under Trenton's… slavery thing?" I narrowed my eyes at him, though I hadn't really intended to invade his mind as I had. I wasn't even sure how I did it or what exactly I was looking at. It was obvious that I needed to work on my mind invading abilities.

"True, but you were just some silly human back then," He answered.

"Oh, so you're better than me?" I laughed, feeling like it was the first time I had laughed in the longest time, making him mess with the back of his head; caught.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, too. I guess we should try again," Jove said quickly, "You haven't fed yet, I think my thoughts interested you as yours interest me." I hadn't forgotten about the hunger in my chest, but the mentioning of feeding only made it worse. I rolled my eyes, bothered by the whole situation.

"You're right," I responded, and before I even thought about it, I had pushed Jove down against the bed and straddled him very near seductively, "It's time to feed." But first I twisted my hand into his enjoying the rush of energy just a touch of his gave me, as if it were a drug. I ignored the twists of thoughts in his head, pushing away his very curious memories, and moving towards his immediate thoughts. All the while, I didn't notice that I had pushed his shirt up and was pressing my lips against the skin of his chest. Behind the sparks of energy with each touch, I inhaled his scent that was very alluring to the hunger inside of me.

I could feel his own thoughts confused between my thoughts and his own, feeling the same energy and also feeling the power I was unknowingly pushing over him that made him relax as if he were becoming drunk under me. I reached his neck, finding the point where his blood pressed the closest against his skin, and my fangs which had been out for hours now easily pierced his skin, letting his blood spill over my tongue. I started drinking, feeling the overall pleasure of finally devouring blood into my body, but also finding myself focusing on his own reaction through his thoughts. When Evanen had fed, his power pressed over the drunk feeling that made his victims feel powerless… paralyzed. I knew that the power to make the feeding more enjoyable for the victim was up to the feeder, but without knowing how, I had made my power feel seductive and pleasurable for Jove. I knew if I didn't stop on my own, he wouldn't stop me, being that he couldn't focus on his own doom any more than some random human.

Something about that made me feel sick, and I quickly removed my mouth from his bleeding neck. It was really hard to do, pulling myself away from the blood, but something about him being a vampire made it easier than I assumed it would be with a human. I hesitated, but then reconnected with his mind when I licked his wound which I realized wasn't healing like a regular vampire wound would have. Sure enough, when I moved away, his wound was healing now that I had licked it like I'd seen and felt Evanen do with me. Except with my wounds, licking it didn't so much heal as just prevent the wound from bleeding anymore. I assumed the healing part was because Jove was a vampire.

I knew I had fed enough once I was away from Jove, though, for the hunger which I felt would always be there wasn't as pronounced as it had been before. I felt slightly embarrassed for the way I had fed from him though. It had felt really intimate, and I wondered if it was just Jove or if I would act that way with any person I fed from. I was okay with making my victim feel pleasure when I fed, but I wasn't okay with feeling that same pleasure that made me do things such as making out with parts of their body before feeding from them…

Jove didn't move for a while after that, I assumed he was waiting for the effects of my feeding to wear off or waiting to gain his own strength. I didn't look too much at him while waiting, though, not wanting to see anything that may embarrass us later. After a moment, Jove sat up and touched the area on his neck which was now healed.

"That went differently than I expected," He finally said, his amazingly green eyes brighter than before and holding something in them that I couldn't pinpoint. I smiled shortly, amused by his amusement, before looking away shyly. "Did you get enough blood? You took a lot, but I feel like I could feed more if you needed to."

"No, I'm okay for now, but I think it would be helpful to feed from just you until I can figure it out," I replied, "If that's fine with you? I don't want you to feel like you have to be my feeding bag or something…" I looked at him, wanting to make sure I didn't see a sign of hesitation that would show he was uncomfortable with me feeding from him. I really did appreciate it, knowing I could probably control myself easier if I fed from him instead of some random human.

"It's okay," Jove told me, "Actually, it was very pleasant for me. You did really well." I smiled, happy he didn't think it was embarrassing or didn't make things weird. Jove moved in the bed to lie next to where I was, and I led down next to him as we had the day before. "I plan to teach you to defend yourself against vampires as well, once we're far enough away. There are some things you need to know about our world."

"Like what? Nothing can really kill me, can it?" I felt suddenly cocky, like nothing could really hurt me so there was nothing to fear. It was something unlike me… or who I used to be. I felt like someone completely different. I felt like I would be fine with killing anybody who would try to hurt me, and laugh about it.

"You don't know your strengths or powers yet," Jove said, "You may not be able to be killed, but you are able to be contained, whether it is by the Council, the VaMoS, or possibly even vampire hunters. You probably don't have to worry about vampire hunters though, they probably have no idea about you or the key to immortality."

"Oh… Who are the VaMoS?" I was peering at Jove, finding myself wanting to touch his skin again not only to satisfy the curiosity I had about his memories, but also to feel that warmth again. He didn't move his eyes from the ceiling, though I had no doubt he knew what I wanted and just was ignoring it for now for some reason. It was strange how different he acted towards me now that I wasn't human… not that he wasn't as interested, but in the restraint he kept from touching me as much and such.

"The VaMoS is a secret organization of elite vampires. It's short for the Vampire Movement Society, a society of vampires whose only goal is to recruit for the dawn of a Vampire Society, where vampires rule the earth rather than humans. Drewdon was one of their members, but I don't think they mentioned to you about his little club he was in," Jove told me darkly, "Though it's not little at all. The Council was in agreement with them, which is why they agreed to have Drewdon gain the immortality key to start the new race of vampires. There was a huge argument about the Rising in the government, but being that even some of the Council was a part of VaMoS, it was pointless."

"What did they argue against," I asked curiously, "Did some people not want the Rising to happen or something?" I wondered if there were vampires who preferred being in the dark, or maybe some who cared about humans.

"Well, mostly any arguments against the Rising were fear of the new race being created. After the power of the new race was given, either to human or vampire, that person could only create the new race using humans, who then could create more through humans. Needless to say, vampires now would end up the dying breed. Humans would be used for creation and feeding, and the new race would be indestructible. So what would the old type of vampires be used for, if not competition for food?"

It was intriguing to think people would want to contain me to keep me from making more of my kind. But at the same time other vampires like VaMoS wanted me to build an army. It was silly, though, for I wasn't planning on building this army and ending human kind. I wasn't going to curse more people with this disease. It wasn't like I was some huge hero made to save the world from vampires… I just really disliked what I was and I wasn't planning on making more like me. Plus, I wasn't very interested in ruling the world as a superior race.

"Eitherway, it came down to who would get the power, and seeing as Drewdon was a top member of VaMoS and founded Evanen himself, he became the ideal choice. Some disagreed, thinking someone of the Council should be appointed, but ultimately the votes won in Drewdon's favor," Jove finished. "I guess you got in the way of all that trouble, though. Everyone thought they'd be able to spot the One of Questions from a mile away." He smiled humorously.

I scoffed, not very impressed with the prophecy of me being the "One of Questions". I didn't ever think I was something too special, and honestly the only thing I had wanted was to go home. Instead, I ended up something more than a vampire, and now I was on the run with a very unlikely accomplice. But as I looked at Jove, I felt something warm inside that I could only feel was appreciation for his help.

"Thank you for helping me," I finally said, "I would no doubt have been caught easily if it wasn't for you, and you didn't have to throw away your life for me."

Jove finally turned his head from the ceiling to look at me. "I knew the moment I touched you that I would throw my life away for you one day." He held his hand out to me easily, making it easy for me to ignore it if I wanted to, but I didn't hesitate before I lightly touched his fingers and wrapped my hand against his. I could feel what he meant in that touch… that connection that sparked a dangerous energy, one that was demanding and spoke volumes. Jove was made to be mine, and I was made to be his, even if my heart hadn't reached that conclusion yet.