Hefting the cooler in his hands, Remi walked to the stairs and flashed up to his apartment. After setting it down, he took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. In an instant, he was assaulted by that scent, and it took him to his knees.

“Remi? What’s wrong?” Michelle asked, as she rushed over to him from the laundry room.

“What is that odor?”

“Huh? I don’t smell anything.”

His fangs dropped, and an unbidden hiss came from his mouth, as a craving for her sweet blood threatened to overtake him. Slapping the floor with his hands, he collapsed, clutching his stomach.

“Get back, Michelle!”

She took a few steps away, staring at him, as he struggled to bring himself under control.

“Oh, my God! What’s happening? You’re scaring me, Remi!”

“Call Luc! Now!”

Her bare feet pounded on the hardwood, as she ran to where her phone lay. A moment later, he heard her frantic voice.

“Luc, it’s Michelle! Remi told me to call you! He’s sick or something!” There was a pause, and then she said, “Okay. I’ll tell him. Remi! Luc and Paulette are on their way! What? No, I’m not gonna leave him! He’s not well! He needs me!” Another period of silence, and then, “We’ll talk about it when you get here. Why do I need to stay on the phone with you? You’re only 10 minutes away.” After one more pause, she shouted, “Fine! I will!”

Opening the lid, he brought out a bag and began to drink, as his eyes pinned on Michelle’s figure of their own volition. He could see the blood, as it rushed through her veins, arteries, and capillaries. She was a vision of nothing but pulsing, glowing, strings of red.

“Non,” he groaned. “Michelle!”

“Remi!” She rushed over and went to her knees, cradling his head in her arms. “Help is coming. It’s gonna be okay!”

He closed his eyes against the visions of ripping into her and wrapped his arms around her waist, wishing with his entire heart that the scent was coming from her, but he knew it wasn’t.

“Are you still hungry?”

He nodded, and the empty pack he was holding was taken away and replaced by a full one pressed to his lips.

“Michelle!” Luc yelled, as he and Paulette came down the hallway. “Back away from him!”

“Why? Is he contagious? I doubt it,” she said, trailing her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp. “Maybe it’s some vampire flu, and it’ll be out of his system in a few nights. Or maybe he’s allergic to the new laundry detergent I used.”

Flashing to them, Luc grabbed Michelle under her arms and flung her towards Paulette. She caught her and set Michelle gently down on her feet.

“Are you okay?” Paulette asked.

Remi watched through lids closed to slits, as she looked Michelle over for injuries.

“I’m fine! I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Taking her hand, Paulette turned around and started walking back down the hallway towards the entryway.

“You’re coming home with us, Michelle.”

“What? No! Remi needs me! I have to help him!”

Mustering all of his strength, Remi stood, bracing his hands against the door frame, knowing for certain that she had to leave, or he would kill her.

“Michelle.” His voice came out in a terrifying growl and hiss of her name that was somehow laced with seduction—one that even he didn’t recognize.

She took a step to return to him, but when her eyes landed on his countenance, they went wide in horror. Despite her fear, Michelle tried to return to him, yanking her arm and yelling at Paulette to let her go.

It was then that Remi knew he had become some sort of demon. No matter what he had done or said to her, she had never regarded him with the terror she felt in that moment. And it was his vampire’s gift of influence, drawing her back to him.

Unable to shake the urges driving him any longer, he stared at her through the fringes of hair that had fallen in front of his face with his eyes aflame, a red and blazing pinpoint, and his forehead dipped downward.

He forced himself to say, “Go.”

“Remi,” she whispered.

Michelle nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks, as Paulette placed an arm around her and led her away.

Luc took him by the throat and tapped the cooler with his foot, making it slide into the room. After thrusting Remi into the apartment, he kicked the door closed.

“Where is it?” Luc said with his eyes flaming. “What made it happen? It has to be here!”

“Let me go! I need to drink more!”

He dove for the packs, emptying one after the other.

“What the fuck, Remi? You even scared me with that show!”

“I! Don’t! Know!”

Tossing the tenth one onto the floor, Remi got up, sat on the couch, and then fell over onto the cushion. Beating it with his fists, he continued until it was reduced to splinters and shredded fabric underneath him, while Luc watched, leaning against the wall.

When Remi was done, Luc said, “Are you ready to figure out what this is?” He nodded, desperate for the answer. “You’re going to get your nose on every inch of everything in this apartment. Do you understand me?”

“Oui.”

Starting in the living room, Luc marched Remi around the space, pushing his face against every object, bit of cloth, and hard surface.

“Non,” Remi said, when Luc shoved him down onto the mattress.

“Non,” again was his reply, with his cheek pressed to the kitchen cabinet.

“Non,” he repeated, when Luc lifted his prized deck of cards in front of him.

Later, with his face mashed onto a rug, Remi said, “Remember when we were kids? You rubbed our dog’s nose in his own mess.”

“I was showing him not to do that. Making him suffer in his own feces like we were with the smell.”

“That’s how I feel right now. Like I’m Beau, and I’m paying for how I’ve screwed up. But I haven’t done anything. It’s been done to me instead.”

“Oui. The difference is, brother, I’ll rip your nose off if we don’t find what’s causing this effect on you.”

“It isn’t in here.”

“Wait. Michelle said that she was using a new detergent. Do you know for how long? Maybe the previous one hampered the scent from passing into the air somehow.”

“How the hell would I know? I don’t wash our clothes.”

Remi shrugged, and Luc dragged him into the laundry room.

There, in a corner, was the black trash bag Michelle had brought from Marcel’s. The knot was loosened, and the scent coming from it was strong, beckoning to him like a siren’s song.

“Aaahhh!” Remi shouted.

When Luc released him, he dove for it, ripping it open. Pulling the clothes out, he buried his face in the material, rolling from side to side. He held the leg of a pair of jeans stained with dried blood to his face.

“What is that?”

“A woman Marcel and Michelle helped! She was wearing this.”

“And what’re you feeling, Remi?”

“Starving but whole,” he said. “For the first time in my life, I’m at peace. I don’t understand, Luc. What could this be?”

“I think I know.”

“Aahh! The packs! I need them!”

Luc withdrew his phone from his pocket, and Remi moaned, enveloped in what had been provoking his thirst.

“Luc? ‘Ello?” Paulette said.

“Are you able to speak freely?”

“I was only just now able to shut Michelle in the backseat of the car. Despite what she saw, she was fighting with me to go back and help Remi. What is it? Did you find something?”

“C’est tout.”

“Non! Are you serious? That’s it? The book I found was correct? It’s the Thirst?”

“Oui. Say nothing of it to Michelle.”

“Why would I? If what I read to you is what’s happening, there’s no cure for a true and fated mating, rare as they are. Remi has to tell her. Poor things. Both of them. They’d just had such a breakthrough in their relationship.”

“Michelle should stay with us until she’s emotionally healed.”

“I agree. I want her to be at the house, where we can care for her. She’s going to be devastated. I can’t imagine it. But Luc, if I were her… I wouldn’t want to be around the memories. Our home is filled with them.”

“Do you think she’d agree to room in the quarters at the back?”

“I can try to coax her to.”

“Do that.”

“Okay. I will.”

“Go home, Paulette. I’ll come later, after I explain to Remi what’s happening.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” Remi said. “I heard it all. Michelle and I are not to be...” He clutched the denim in his hands. “...because of this woman, Sophie, someone I’ve never met. She’s tearing Michelle and me apart, and I can’t stop this overwhelming desire for her.”

“I need to explain,” Luc said, as he placed his phone in his pocket. “You don’t understand fully, Remi. Sophie’s your fated bloodmate. It’s her scent that’s causing your loss of control as well as the peace you’re experiencing right now. You are meant for her, and she, for you. The universe has decided. You must drink from each other to seal the mating. Your feelings that recently blossomed for Michelle will come to a natural end, and you’ll be drawn to Sophie stronger than with anyone else in your past, even Grace. You’ll only be fulfilled when you’ve bonded with Sophie.”

“Did this happen to you and Paulette? I don’t recall you going insane with bloodlust.”

“Non. The Thirst doesn’t happen very often. It’s something special, and though you’re probably cursing it right now, you’ll be happier with Sophie than you could’ve ever envisioned with Michelle.” Remi didn’t know what to say. His entire life had been turned upside down by something he’d never heard of. Luc murmured, “Remi, we have to find Sophie.”

“She’s with Marcel... or she was.” He paused. “Mon Dieu. It all makes sense now. We were by his bar when the incident with Michelle happened, when I almost killed her. Sophie must’ve been close. Same with these clothes. The scent must’ve been dulled by the bag, soap, or something, and I only caught tiny traces of it until it was opened. That’s why I was able to manage my Thirst at least to some degree before tonight. Michelle must’ve opened it.”

“Let’s go get Sophie and put this behind us.”

Remi sat up, bent his knees to his chest, and hung his head with a groan full of sorrow.

“Oh, Michelle… chér. I am so sorry.”