Chương 23: Getting to know Mira

—Lucius

I had learned a long time ago how to speak varying levels of crazy, thanks to Depravity and other demons, and Mira was actually probably the most sane of them, besides the fact that she couldn't remember anything before being turned.

Oh, to any other vampire, she would sound volatile, as I fast learned, but that gave me relief.

If they suspected the truth, I knew they would fear her, and that worried me.

But it helped that there was still something broken or missing from her. It set the stage to make her sound vulnerable, which would protect her.

I only wished I knew what, exactly, had been taken from her. What was more, she seemed conflicted in her sanity, as if it was an unstable thing, and I couldn't initially figure out what helped her have clarity.

I had hopes that in a few more days when Sadra, Levi, and Vika arrived, they could help me find some answers.

They had turned out easy enough to get hold of, and they'd arrive at my home within a few nights.

Which gave me time to get to know little Mira for myself, get to know what all she could see and how often each of her two hungers needed feeding, especially since one of them required a bit more private tending than the other.

I ceased thinking of her in terms of a payment and started to think in terms of a strange offspring, instead, so that I could better logic out what Depravity had created.

What I didn't expect about these days was how much joy she would give me, how much basic pleasure it would give me to have her by my side, and talking with me.

At first, each conversation was a riddle. Since she couldn't remember anything before waking, she couldn't remember what all was unusual in her sight.

I started to unravel pieces of it right from the beginning, right after I realized she could see Depravity inside of me.

"Alright, I'll give you a command." I gently eased her away from me, staring down at her still naked form.

I had clothes for her, but I didn't bring it up just yet because she didn't even seem to be aware of the fact that they were missing.

"Let's see." I opened my mouth to tell her to kneel, remembering how she had seemed to like my dominance before, but then immediately flinched from it.

Now that I was outside the throes of her magic and such desperate arousal, I couldn't give that command, I suddenly realized.

Even though I knew she would probably enjoy it, I couldn't make the words come because they sounded too close to another voice from my past. Kneel, little lion. "Give me a kiss, Mira," I commanded instead.

She laughed and lifted in my arms, pressing her lips up to meet mine, and I gasped when she did. Her magic rose up with her desire, apparently tethered to it if I had to take a guess.

Because she moaned and that tug of lust rushed through my body, made me grasp the back of her head in a rough hold so that I could deepen it.

I thrust my tongue between her lips, remembering the feeling of thrusting it between her nether lips as well.

It took my breath away with how sinful her kiss was, even while she so innocently ignored her own state of undress.

As soon as I escaped her hold enough to draw breath, I said, "Stop." And she did, pulling back down to stare up at me with those eyes that adored me.

"Christo." She smiled wickedly up at me, and I tapped her nose. "Naughty thing."

Your past is going to cause you problems, you know. She was born from me.

She'll crave the kinds of things Astarte said, but Astarte didn't speak them the right way.

It will help her think if you give it to her, help her be clearer.

The thought made my stomach churn, but I ignored Depravity for the moment. "Now, what did you see when I gave you a command? Describe it to me."

She answered instantly, easily. "It's smoke that comes out of your mouth, and it makes tendrils to make me obey."

This type of shit was going to be dead useful. "We call that the compulsion. You see, vampires have a thirst for blood, and when we're newly born, that thirst can obliterate our thoughts, make us kill too much.

We'd lose our food supply. So the compulsion makes sure a little newborn like you obeys an older Sire like me."

She laughed. "Or you could make me get down on my knees like you were playing with me before and-"

Bloody hell. I tapped her mouth and shook my head playfully. "Alright, it can be used for fun times, and we'll try it sometime, but not right now." Fun times.

They had been torturous times for me. Her entire appearance wanted to play and play so rough. She had arched to my light little spanks, loving them.

Even her eyes swirled black with sinful desires, and I was the only creature who knew she was something different, the only creature who had a chance of figuring her out. "For right now, I would like to get to know each other. Let's go for a walk together."

Please, Lucius. Please, you're not listening to me. You have to play with her.

I ignored Depravity's plea again, though it gave me pause to hear him begging like that. He seemed concerned, but it was a silly thing. Maybe later. I'll try, okay, but that's hard for me.

She followed me when I guided her from my room, seeming delighted to do so, and it was actually kind of nice to have her memory loss.

I had heard other vampires speak of changing a newborn, and oftentimes, this was a thing of abduction like Mira.

There were questions that came with those where the newborn would feel the ties of their mortal life and wonder about their human families.

Eventually, a sorrow would sink in, from my understanding, a sadness where the vampire would realize the punishment of immortality and thirsts.

And finally, like any creature suffering the stages of loss, they would accept. Even Doubt's payment had spoken of sadness, too.

Mira laughed in the face of that punishment and ignored all of it.

She asked none of those questions, instead looking around herself in wonder when I led her through my house. "Will you show me more of this later, too?"

"Of course I will. Come on. I'd like to show you 'The Garden'."

When I led her outside, she looked at the ground curiously, ignoring the fact that she was still naked. Interesting, that.

There seemed a type of innocence to her that made me more curious by the second.

It was sweet how easily she could look at me with s*xual insinuation, with not a single blush on her ageless cheeks, but I wondered how she would fare with company.

Especially vampire company. "It's so beautiful," she whispered softly.

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