And they miss the sensation of chewing their dinner instead of drinking it. So watching you eat is a reminder of what their loss of humanity has cost them."
"You think they regret it? The Turned?"
Ross turned his dark, fathomless eyes on me. "No."
I waited for him to say more, but he just offered me his arm again.
At the back of the kitchen was a shockingly plain door with an almost invisible padlock, painted white to blend in with the tiled walls. Ross released me once more, pulling an ornate gold key from a pocket in his blazer. The door swung open, giving me an eyeful of sheer nothingness,
"Hold tightly to me until your eyes adjust to the dark," Ross said. "It's quite a few stairs down to where we're going, so mind your steps."
I clung to Ross like a leech, because in the pitch black of the stairwell, I was well and truly blind. Though the situation was far from ideal, even I could recognize that the likelihood of breaking my neck falling down the stairs posed a greater threat than that of Ross accosting me. For the moment, at least, Ross behaved like a gentleman, guiding me slowly, carefully down the hundreds of stairs.
It took a full twenty minutes before we reached the bottom, though to me it felt like hours. I heard a slight clicking noise as Ross pulled down on a string, and a fluorescent lamp lit the small room. The room was empty, except for a heavy steel door at the back. No keyhole was visible, but the door was flanked by a circular machine at roughly eye level. An eye iris scanner. I'd seen one of those in an episode of NCIS. Ross brought his eye to the scanner, the machine beeping three times before the door swung open.
"What do you keep down here, the family jewels?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood as Ross led me down a long hallway.
Ignoring my question, Ross kept his gaze straight ahead. "Tell me, Corrie. What do you know of the Turn?"
"Just the basics. You drink from them, they drink from you, the human dies, and is reborn a vampire."
Ross's mouth twitched. "A crude description, though accurate. It's a bit more complicated than that - certain prerequisites must be met."
"Such as?"
"Well, there are certain obvious precautionary measures - we test all vampiric candidates' urine and blood for disease and other signs of malaise. A human needs
"You think they regret it? The Turned?"
Ross turned his dark, fathomless eyes on me. "No."
I waited for him to say more, but he just offered me his arm again.
At the back of the kitchen was a shockingly plain door with an almost invisible padlock, painted white to blend in with the tiled walls. Ross released me once more, pulling an ornate gold key from a pocket in his blazer. The door swung open, giving me an eyeful of sheer nothingness,
"Hold tightly to me until your eyes adjust to the dark," Ross said. "It's quite a few stairs down to where we're going, so mind your steps."
I clung to Ross like a leech, because in the pitch black of the stairwell, I was well and truly blind. Though the situation was far from ideal, even I could recognize that the likelihood of breaking my neck falling down the stairs posed a greater threat than that of Ross accosting me. For the moment, at least, Ross behaved like a gentleman, guiding me slowly, carefully down the hundreds of stairs.
It took a full twenty minutes before we reached the bottom, though to me it felt like hours. I heard a slight clicking noise as Ross pulled down on a string, and a fluorescent lamp lit the small room. The room was empty, except for a heavy steel door at the back. No keyhole was visible, but the door was flanked by a circular machine at roughly eye level. An eye iris scanner. I'd seen one of those in an episode of NCIS. Ross brought his eye to the scanner, the machine beeping three times before the door swung open.
"What do you keep down here, the family jewels?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood as Ross led me down a long hallway.
Ignoring my question, Ross kept his gaze straight ahead. "Tell me, Corrie. What do you know of the Turn?"
"Just the basics. You drink from them, they drink from you, the human dies, and is reborn a vampire."
Ross's mouth twitched. "A crude description, though accurate. It's a bit more complicated than that - certain prerequisites must be met."
"Such as?"
"Well, there are certain obvious precautionary measures - we test all vampiric candidates' urine and blood for disease and other signs of malaise. A human needs
