treat my dinner.
But when you're the same as that dinner, it's different."
"We may be human in
appearance, but vampires are a different species. We exist and thrive in very
different environments. There are many mysteries we don't understand about one
another."
Her voice was becoming more
flat, her body language minimal. Feeling Jacob's close regard again, Lyssa knew
she was showing her weariness. While she didn't have to retire at the first
glimpse of the sun, this evening, including her fainting episode, had drained
her. She'd done her best for now. If they wanted to leave, well, that would be
fine. But even as she had the thought, her gaze drifted back to Jacob, his bare
shoulders and firm mouth. When a pang of yearning clenched a cold fist in her
belly, she had to push it away with a surge of effort.
"That's my philosophy on
it," she continued. "But it's not shared by all my kind. Many view
you as tools, fodder for entertainment, food, experiments. The same as many of
you view other species. Not equals in any sense, not deserving of any rights we
haven't given you. Beings who have the simple misfortune of being treated as a
product instead of a sentient being with its own right of existence."
She lifted a shoulder.
"It's an understandable deduction. For the most part, the weakest of us is
superior to you in strength and longevity. Most of us that live to one hundred
years outstrip your experiential intelligence, because if we don't, we don't
live to see two hundred."
"So you don't agree with
that viewpoint?" This from Jacob, his mind working over her words so hard
she could see it in his expression.
"Yes. And no." She
leaned back in the chair. "I'm a predator, Jacob, and humans are my prey.
I'll never view them in a way comfortable to you or your kind. But like the hunter
who's finally learned to respect the stag enough to kill few and far between,
and only when necessary for food, I've learned there's far more to you. An
essence whose value is separate from my needs. However, while a human may sit
down to a burger, despite the fact there's a salad bar nearby with enough lower
food chain nutrition to fully sustain him, for a vampire there is no salad bar.
There is only human blood."
Time ticked away for a quarter
of a moment as she waited. Jacob picked up Ingram's keys from the counter as
the driver at last raised his gaze, meeting hers with visible effort.
"I'll think about it awhile, but if you're… interviewing elsewhere, I'll
tell you it's likely I'll say no. There are just some things it's hard for a
human to do. It's hard to watch a cat catch a mouse and not help the mouse,
isn't it? I could maybe drive you around while you're here, for your manicures
and errands. I'd have to think about that, too. I'm just not sure I'm your man
for the rest."
"I understand. I appreciate
your honesty, more than you realize." Rising, she came around the counter
and extended her hand. "Thank you for considering it."
He hesitated. When she began to
lower her hand, her gaze frosting, he surprised her by reaching out, albeit
awkwardly. A light shake, the way a big man tended to handle a woman's fingers.
It almost made her smile, though his honest words had stung. Not because she
was ashamed of what she did to survive, but because she liked him.
"I'm finding it hard to
believe you're letting me go so easy after telling me all that."
"Well, again, Mr. Ingram,
who would believe you? But there's another reason." She withdrew her hand.
"No one serves me except by choice."
She shifted her attention to
Jacob so he would not miss the warning note in her voice. "Once the choice
is made, I become far more territorial."
----
Chapter Eleven
Jacob remained in the kitchen
while she escorted Mr. Ingram to his limo. He wasn't sure what to make of all
the images she'd put in his head, all the feelings she'd stirred in him in less
than one night's time. Whether it was emotional overload or something else he
didn't know, but he realized
But when you're the same as that dinner, it's different."
"We may be human in
appearance, but vampires are a different species. We exist and thrive in very
different environments. There are many mysteries we don't understand about one
another."
Her voice was becoming more
flat, her body language minimal. Feeling Jacob's close regard again, Lyssa knew
she was showing her weariness. While she didn't have to retire at the first
glimpse of the sun, this evening, including her fainting episode, had drained
her. She'd done her best for now. If they wanted to leave, well, that would be
fine. But even as she had the thought, her gaze drifted back to Jacob, his bare
shoulders and firm mouth. When a pang of yearning clenched a cold fist in her
belly, she had to push it away with a surge of effort.
"That's my philosophy on
it," she continued. "But it's not shared by all my kind. Many view
you as tools, fodder for entertainment, food, experiments. The same as many of
you view other species. Not equals in any sense, not deserving of any rights we
haven't given you. Beings who have the simple misfortune of being treated as a
product instead of a sentient being with its own right of existence."
She lifted a shoulder.
"It's an understandable deduction. For the most part, the weakest of us is
superior to you in strength and longevity. Most of us that live to one hundred
years outstrip your experiential intelligence, because if we don't, we don't
live to see two hundred."
"So you don't agree with
that viewpoint?" This from Jacob, his mind working over her words so hard
she could see it in his expression.
"Yes. And no." She
leaned back in the chair. "I'm a predator, Jacob, and humans are my prey.
I'll never view them in a way comfortable to you or your kind. But like the hunter
who's finally learned to respect the stag enough to kill few and far between,
and only when necessary for food, I've learned there's far more to you. An
essence whose value is separate from my needs. However, while a human may sit
down to a burger, despite the fact there's a salad bar nearby with enough lower
food chain nutrition to fully sustain him, for a vampire there is no salad bar.
There is only human blood."
Time ticked away for a quarter
of a moment as she waited. Jacob picked up Ingram's keys from the counter as
the driver at last raised his gaze, meeting hers with visible effort.
"I'll think about it awhile, but if you're… interviewing elsewhere, I'll
tell you it's likely I'll say no. There are just some things it's hard for a
human to do. It's hard to watch a cat catch a mouse and not help the mouse,
isn't it? I could maybe drive you around while you're here, for your manicures
and errands. I'd have to think about that, too. I'm just not sure I'm your man
for the rest."
"I understand. I appreciate
your honesty, more than you realize." Rising, she came around the counter
and extended her hand. "Thank you for considering it."
He hesitated. When she began to
lower her hand, her gaze frosting, he surprised her by reaching out, albeit
awkwardly. A light shake, the way a big man tended to handle a woman's fingers.
It almost made her smile, though his honest words had stung. Not because she
was ashamed of what she did to survive, but because she liked him.
"I'm finding it hard to
believe you're letting me go so easy after telling me all that."
"Well, again, Mr. Ingram,
who would believe you? But there's another reason." She withdrew her hand.
"No one serves me except by choice."
She shifted her attention to
Jacob so he would not miss the warning note in her voice. "Once the choice
is made, I become far more territorial."
----
Chapter Eleven
Jacob remained in the kitchen
while she escorted Mr. Ingram to his limo. He wasn't sure what to make of all
the images she'd put in his head, all the feelings she'd stirred in him in less
than one night's time. Whether it was emotional overload or something else he
didn't know, but he realized
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