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“Yes?”
    Jodis blinked, then blinked again, her blue eyes imploring. “When was the last time you fed?”
    Cronin pulled away from Alec and answered weakly. “I’ve um, I’ve been feeding from Alec.”
    Well, if they weren’t shocked before, they were now. “You haven’t fed from another source?” Eiji asked.
    Cronin shook his head. “I’ve not left Alec alone, and well….” He smiled sadly and blushed. “We’ve um….”
    “We’ve been having a lot of sex,” Alec finished for him, not embarrassed at all. “And he bites me every time. I like it. Actually, I love it. And he’s been having a lot of small amounts. He hasn’t been hungry at all.”
    Jodis and Eiji both looked between Alec and Cronin for a full ten seconds. “I don’t know what to make of this,” Jodis said, shaking her head slowly. “Alec’s blood is powerful, yes? That’s what Eleanor said. She said there was something special about your blood, didn’t she?”
    Alec nodded. “You think it’s my blood that’s doing this to him?”
    “What else could it be?” she replied. “Cronin, you seem to be acquiring the talent of a transfer.”
    Alec knew what that was. Cronin once told him that a transfer was a vampire who could mimic the power of another vampire if he were close enough. They simply transferred the talent into themselves. The host never lost their ability, the transfer simply acquired it.
    Cronin shook his head slowly. “How is that even possible?”
    Both Jodis and Eiji shook their heads. “I don’t know,” they said in unison.
    Jodis put her hand on Cronin’s arm. “Cronin, I think you should go feed. Maybe it will flush your system. I don’t know. Eiji will go with you. I will stay here with Alec.”
    Cronin looked a little unsure but he nodded, and with a simple touch on Eiji’s arm, they were gone. Alec was left staring at Jodis. “What the hell does this mean?”
    Now that Cronin was gone, Jodis let her worries be known. “I don’t know, Alec. In all my years, I’ve never heard of such a thing. I don’t even know if there’s ever been a case of a vampire feeding from the same human more than once.”
    “Because they either die or turn into a vampire, right?” Alec asked.
    “Exactly,” she answered.
    “Um, this is probably going to sound a little naïve,” Alec started, “but is it necessarily a bad thing? I’d have thought getting a new talent would be a good thing?”
    Jodis shook her head quickly. “We cannot change or evolve from what we are. For Cronin to experience this after twelve hundred years means something is not right.”
    “And it’s my blood that’s doing this to him?”
    “It is the only thing I can see as a possible reason,” she said. “Your blood is different, Alec. To what purpose, we don’t yet know.”
    Alec was suddenly lost for words. He struggled to find the right ones. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
    Jodis’ face softened, as did her eyes. She put her hand on his arm. “I know.”
    Alec swallowed hard and pressed the heel of his hand against his sternum, letting out a slow breath.
    “I thought the passing of weeks might have lessened the yearning,” Jodis said.
    “Or made it worse,” Alec countered. He hadn’t felt this ache in months, not since their very first times apart. He puffed out a breath. “Maybe it’s because we’ve spent so much time together lately.”
    Jodis frowned. “Yes, maybe.” She certainly didn’t seem convinced.
    Alec found that pacing, even slowly, helped with the dull weight in his chest. As did thinking of something else. “So tell me,” he started. “How’s Eiji been?”
    Jodis watched Alec as he walked back and forth across the living room. “He’s healed completely,” she said. “He was in considerable pain for the first week, not that he said as much. He’s more of a suffer in silence kind of man.” She almost smiled. “He’s a traditional Japanese man in that way; he reflects inward. And he is very sorry