Chapter Seven
Rhys
I watched as Savannah moved around her kitchen with her cell phone pressed to her ear. She seemed to float rather than walk, her steps light and quick. With her multi-colored aura pulsing around her like a halo, she looked like an ethereal being, as though she belonged in another plane of existence. In my long life, I’d never seen the Goddess, but there was something about Savannah that made me think of the deity.
Then there was the dress she wore. The purple fabric was opaque in the sunlight that poured in from the kitchen window. I could see the shadow of her legs beneath the skirt. The sight distracted me, bringing up thoughts I had no business entertaining.
I didn’t listen as she ordered the pizza, instead focusing on the movement of her hair against her bare shoulders and the light flush of pink on her cheeks. I knew she was attracted to me and I felt the same, but I would never act upon it. She didn’t understand what I truly was. It would be wrong for me to take advantage of that.
I remembered the moment in her driveway when her fingers clasped my hand and the soft skin of her palm rested against mine. She hadn’t believed me when I told her I was evil. She didn’t understand that I was dangerous.
I shouldn’t even be near her, but I couldn’t stay away. The light that emanated from her soul was warm and bright and it drew me in despite my attempts to resist.
“Pizza should be here soon,” she said, setting her phone on the counter. She glanced at me. “Do you want some salad with it?”
“You eat salad with your pizza?” I asked.
Savannah laughed and I relished the sound. I liked her laughter. It was vibrant and warm, much like her. “Not usually,” she answered.
“Then don’t worry about the salad.”
She shrugged. “Fine with me.” She moved to the fridge. “Do you want wine, soda, water, or something else?”
“Soda is fine,” I answered.
Savannah smiled and took a bottle of wine and a can of soda out of the fridge. “More for me.”
After she poured the soda into a glass and added ice, she handed it to me. “Thanks. Do you want me to open the wine?” I offered.
She laughed again, her face and eyes lighting up. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a screw top.” Then she twisted the cap off the bottle and poured a glass for herself.
A delicate tap on my calf drew my attention down. Savannah’s small grey cat looked up at me with expectant blue eyes, her paw suspended in the air in front of her. Understanding what she wanted, I reached down and lifted her in my arms. I’d always enjoyed the company of animals. They were simple creatures that typically wanted nothing more than a meal or attention. I’d never considered getting a pet before because I was constantly looking over my shoulder. Perhaps in time I could change that.
“Hello, Satchel,” I greeted the animal.
She curled up against my chest, a rumbling purr emanating from her small body. Savannah studied us while she leaned a hip against the counter and sipped her wine. “Why did you say you weren’t a good…creature?” She hesitated. “Do you think you’re a creature rather than a person?”
I stared down at the glass in front of me. I didn’t want to discuss this but she deserved to know. “I am a creature, Savannah. I may have begun my life as a man, but what I am now…I was created. I’m not human any longer. I haven’t been for a long time.”
She stood completely still and kept her gaze locked on mine. “Then what are you?”
“It’s complicated,” I evaded.
She leaned forward. “Rhys, I’m not going to judge you for something you have no control over.”
“I don’t understand.”
Savannah put aside her wineglass. “Did you ask your creator to make you what you are?” she asked.
My only response was to shake my head.
“Did you want him to do this to you?”
“Of course not,” I answered.
“Then what you are now is not of your doing. You had no control over this and what kind of person would I be to judge you harshly for it? I was born an empath. Do you know what that means?”
I nodded, wondering why she was bringing this up.
“Did you know that other supernatural beings loathe empaths and telepaths because of what we can do?”
I hadn’t known that, but I could understand it. Anyone who could see into your mind or heart was dangerous when your life was full of as many secrets as ours were.
“I won’t look at you differently, Rhys.”
I knew that wasn’t true. She might believe she was telling the truth, but knowing what I was would change her view of me. I liked the way she looked at me, the way she felt about me. I didn’t want to change it. But I had to. She should know.
“Have you ever heard of the animavore?” I asked.
She appeared confused for a moment. “Creatures who consumed the souls of others? They’ve been extinct for millennia, if they ever existed at all. They’re part of the dark lore in our history.”
“They existed,” I stated. “But to my knowledge, I’m the only one left.”
Savannah’s reaction didn’t surprise me. Her eyes widened and her face paled. However, I was taken aback by her words. “I’m so sorry, Rhys.”
I expected her to recoil in disgust when she heard what I was, not express sympathy. “I’m a vampire, Savannah. A parasite. I feed off a person’s emotions. Their soul.”
Speculation entered her gaze. “Do you often kill the people you feed from?” she asked. Once again, she reminded me of the Goddess, but now it was because wisdom and power were evident in her eyes. She might be gentle and nurturing, but she was also capable of great feats and ferocity.
“No, I never kill.” I paused. That wasn’t entirely true. I had killed my brother, Cornelius. I’d had no other choice. For century after century, he hunted me and took everything he could from me until I realized that I had no other choice. If I didn’t stop him, he would kill me, then he would go on to hurt thousands, maybe even millions, of innocent people. Even now, the knowledge that I’d taken my brother’s life still weighed so heavily.
When we were younger, before Gaius purchased us at a slave market, Cornelius had been joyful and kind. Gaius’ attentions eventually hardened him and evil tainted his soul. When the experiments began, my brother was already a completely different person than the boy I’d grown up with. After Gaius succeeded in creating us, Cornelius was no longer human. Until the night I killed him, I’d often wondered if he even had a soul of his own left.
It wasn’t until I drained the life force from his body that I’d had my answer. Cornelius had a soul, but it was so dark and tortured that any shred of humanity within him was lost millennia ago.
“Then how do you feed?” she asked me, her voice gentle.
I stared blankly at her. “What do you mean?”
“You need a person’s soul to survive. That should be lethal. How do you feed without killing?”
“I don’t need their soul in its entirety. The human soul is made up of many things but it’s their emotions that I siphon. Sometimes at the deepest level.” She didn’t speak, merely met my gaze levelly, so I continued. “I choose victims who are in pain. Those who are hurting so badly that they’re irrevocably broken. I feed on their agony, their heartbreak.”
Savannah nodded. “What happens to them when you’re done?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Are they still in pain? Can they function?”
I stared at her, uncomprehending why this was important. “I remove part of their pain when I feed from them. It’s an unfortunate side effect.”
Her smile was small and sad. “Maybe, but maybe not. Did you ever stop to think that you might be helping these people by lessening their suffering?”
“That doesn’t matter,” I argued. “I’m stealing from them. Who we are is determined by what we experience in life. Pleasure, pain, joy, sorrow. Without the full range of human emotion, people never reach their potential.”
“That’s a good point,” Savannah agreed. “But you’re talking about people who are in despair. They aren’t suffering from a short-term pain that teaches them an important lesson. They’re battling demons with their bare hands, and they’re losing. By lessening their burden, you might be helping them.”
Her reasoning echoed my own justifications too closely to convince me. It was an empty reason. An excuse to make my actions seem less loathsome.
“Whether I’m helping them or hurting them doesn’t matter. I’m taking something that is not mine. Especially something so essential.”
She nodded. “I can understand why that concerns you. We’re taught not to steal and to treat others with kindness but—”
Before the conversation could continue further, the doorbell rang.
“There’s the pizza,” she said, tearing her gaze from mine and taking a step toward the living room.
I got to my feet and bent down to place Satchel on the floor. “I’ll get it.” As I walked out of the kitchen, I pulled my wallet out of my pocket.
“I’ll grab the plates and meet you in the living room,” she called behind me.
When I opened the front door, a man stood on the porch with two pizzas in his hands. He blanched when he saw me. “Uh, hey. How are you today?”
“I’m doing well,” I replied, wondering why he seemed unsettled. “How are you?”
“Um, I’m good, man.” He looked around me, digging in his pocket for a slip of paper and pen. “Is Van here? I need her to sign the receipt.”
“Receipt?”
“Yeah, she paid with her credit card so she needs to sign the receipt.”
Before I could turn to find her, Savannah’s warmth hit my side. “Hey, Tanner. How are you today?” She reached out and took the slip of paper and pen from the younger man.
He grinned at her, his eyes wandering over her face and shoulders. “I’m better now that I’ve seen you.”
Savannah scoffed then laughed lightly. “Yeah, yeah. Stop flirting with me. I’ve told you more than once I’m too old for you.”
“It’s only five years,” he argued.
“It might as well be fifty,” she shot back.
He laughed, his eyes flicking to me for a moment, before he looked back at her. Something dark rose within me, a feeling I wasn’t familiar with. I didn’t like the way he looked at her and flirted with her right in front of me. It made me angry.
I stuck my wallet back in my pocket and reached out to take the pizzas from him as Savannah signed the paper. “I’ll carry these into the living room,” I stated.
Satchel appeared between Savannah and I and sat down on the floor. She looked up at Tanner with suspicious eyes. When he glanced down toward her, she growled at him. I could sense that she didn’t like him either.
As I carried the pizzas to the coffee table, the cat followed me and I murmured to her, “Good girl.”
Her only reply was to rub against my calf.
I set the pizzas down and stood next to the couch, watching as Savannah gave the receipt back to Tanner and brushed off his attempts at further flirtation.
“Go back to work,” she admonished. “Flirt with someone your own age.”
“But none of them are as pretty as you.”
His reply had me biting back a growl of my own and tamping down on the urge to walk over and slam the door in his face.
“You’re still getting the same twenty percent tip you always do,” she retorted, putting a hand on her hip.
“I’ll take a hug and a kiss instead,” he offered.
Savannah laughed. “That hasn’t worked the last ten times you’ve tried it and it’s not going to work now. Thanks for the pizza.”
Tanner chuckled as well. “It was worth a try,” he sighed.
She shook her head. “Bye, Tanner.”
“Bye, Savannah.”
She didn’t see it, but as she closed the door his eyes came to me. I saw and felt it clearly then. He was jealous. He wanted to be in my place. Then comprehension filled me. The dark feeling that I experienced earlier was also jealousy. Somehow, I’d formed an attachment to Savannah. I didn’t want other men flirting with her or looking at her the way that Tanner did. I felt…possessive of her.
“I wanted to buy lunch,” I commented as she sat on the couch and reached for the first box of pizza. “You helped me today.”
Savannah waved a hand. “It was my pleasure.”
“I still wanted to repay you.”
She put two slices of pizza on each plate. “You can buy lunch next time then,” she relented.
Pleased that she spoke as though she intended to spend time with me again, I let it go and sat down next to her.
“Want to watch TV or a movie?” she asked.
“Sure,” I replied.
“What do you want to see?”
I shrugged and took a bite of my pizza. “I don’t know. I don’t have a TV.”
Her eyes widened. “You don’t have a TV?”
“No.”
“I have no idea what to say to you now,” she murmured.
“Why don’t you show me your favorite television show?”
Her cheeks grew pink. “I don’t know if you’d like it.”
“I might not, but now I definitely want to see it because it’s making you blush,” I teased her.
Savannah laughed. “Fine, but no complaining if you don’t.”
I didn’t tell her that I wouldn’t complain even if I didn’t because I wanted to learn more about her and understand who she was. The more I was around Savannah Baker, the more time I wanted to spend with her.