To my surprise, I found Ildar standing on the doorstep. In the short time I had spent in the shower, he had managed to change clothes and throw on a light, striped windbreaker.
"Mark isn't with you, by any chance?" I asked from the doorway. Ildar frowned.
"No, we haven't seen him yet. And I understood correctly that he doesn't know…?"
He gestured between the two of us in turn. I needed no further clarification and shook my head.
"No. And I'd rather it stayed that way."
"Got it. I'm not an idiot," he said, holding out a slim thermos. "Here. You should have something."
"No need. I already—" I gently pushed his hand away.
"You shouldn't refuse," Ildar said calmly. "The blood is still warm."
He twisted the lid open and took a long, unmistakably satisfied sip. My mouth instantly filled with saliva.
"Fresh?" I asked quietly. "How?"
"Yesenia shared," he shrugged, as though it were nothing worth mentioning.
"So she knows?"
"Of course."
I let out a short laugh.
"How could you drag your girlfriend into our world? Aren't you afraid this will end badly?"
"Would you hurt the person you're in love with?"
"No," I hesitated for a fraction of a second, remembering how often temptation had crept in whenever Mark's neck had strayed dangerously close to my lips. "Of course not. But their safety isn't always in our hands. The threat isn't just us. There are clan laws. The risk of too many people knowing. Weak-bloods, exposure—don't pretend you don't understand how much danger she's in just by knowing. I won't even mention that you drink her blood."
"I don't drink it from her vein," he replied evenly. "That means there's no risk of turning Yesenia. Besides, I don't belong to any clan that gets to lecture me. I've been through that already."
"That's not how it works," I snapped. "You're a naïve fool if you think you can stay independent forever and answer to no one. Someone is watching you. There's no other way."
"Let them watch, as long as they don't interfere. What difference does it make?" he said lightly. "It's an age of cameras anyway—we're always being observed. I don't use my abilities in public, and I feed at home, from a trusted source. A perfect vampire."
"You don't use them? Really?" I scoffed. "What about the bus?"
"No one's going to believe a bunch of old pensioners," he said seriously.
"The driver wasn't that old," I pointed out, but Ildar was unimpressed.
"He won't be a problem. It's amazing how a couple of extra bills can buy silence."
"And if someone offers him more later?" I pressed, astonished by his recklessness. "What if he talks?"
"As you said yourself, someone always watches the loners," he replied calmly. "Which means they'll fix it later, without me."
"You've arranged things very comfortably for yourself," I snorted. "It's amazing anyone raised you to be this careless."
"And you were raised to be paranoid."
I narrowed my eyes, not expecting the insult. No wonder I'd disliked Ildar from the very beginning. He was wild, uncontrollable—like a random spark on a dry summer day. Vampires formed clans precisely because of people like him, to enforce rules and contain damage. Reckless loners endangered the entire species, and the worst part was that they didn't care.
"Alright," Ildar said, draining the thermos and twisting the lid back on. "I didn't come here to fight. So where did Mark go?"
"I don't know. And I have a bad feeling," I admitted. "What if he saw you flip that bus?"
"Unlikely," Ildar said confidently. "Yesenia was right in front of him, and I moved fast."
"Honestly," I said quietly, "even I didn't see how you did it."
"You were on the other side of the road."
"Still. What if—"
"Then let's find him and ask," Ildar cut in. "He couldn't have gone far. I can smell him."
He tapped his nose with a finger and smiled.
"He smells unbelievably good."
I seized the collar of his jacket and let my fangs slide free. In a heartbeat, Ildar was slammed against the nearest wall. A guttural snarl tore from my throat as my fangs hovered inches from his face.
"Don't you dare take a sip from him."
Ildar raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright—I wasn't planning to. I just… uh, paid a compliment, that's all. I don't touch what isn't mine. I've got enough of my own. That's just the kind of guy I am."
I stepped back from him and tugged at my dress, straightening it. A dull ache throbbed in my fangs. I had never been able to release them instantly, on command, and now my gums burned as they slowly retracted.
"I'm sorry," I said, pressing my hand to my upper lip, feeling how painfully gradual the process was. "I care about him, you understand? Maybe it doesn't frighten you to imagine Yesenia becoming like us someday, but I'm not willing to gamble with his soul. There's always a risk a human won't survive the turning."
"Trying is his right," Ildar replied. "How can you share eternity with someone whose time amounts to twenty years at best? Men die young."
"Some live to eighty. Ninety. A few even reach a hundred."
"Yes—but in what condition? And what about the mind?" he countered. "The human brain can't carry that many years of memory and remain intact."
"Neither can ours," I shot back. "And yet many vampires go on living anyway."
"And how many of them lose what's left of their sanity?" he asked quietly. "The longer you live, the less human you become. You've seen the elders—the ones who had to be put to rest because each additional day cost too much to contain the consequences."
I noted with surprise that, for someone who claimed to be a loner, Ildar clearly had experience among other vampires—and I used it against him.
"Then you should understand better than anyone why Mark needs to stay as far from our world as possible."
Ildar shrugged.
"You're deciding for him."
"It's my responsibility toward him."
"If you say so," he replied, looking away. Everything about him made it clear he disagreed. "So where do you think he could have gone?"
"I have no idea. If he's not with you, then maybe he's wandering somewhere in the woods." I shuddered. "I think someone is hunting him."