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and confusion. I ran my tongue over my newly sharpened teeth. 
    How am I going to live off blood? Does he really expect me to bite someone?
     I wanted all of this to be a dream. Lysander’s words reverberated in my head. Your body will need blood regularly .
    How could I be this thing? I couldn’t do this. Why the hell did this happen to me?
     I realized I’d been sitting silent for a while. I turned back toward Lysander, meeting his hypnotic blue-gray eyes. His stare questioned me, as if looking for some sign of acceptance. I wanted to speak, to say something profound, but all I could come up with was, “Why me?”
    “Fate, perhaps,” Lysander said with a casual wave of his hand. “Those two men were meant to be my victims.”
    A pained look crossed his face, his brow furrowed as if the mention of those men caused him some unknown suffering. “Regrettably, they attacked you first, and I couldn’t allow you to die by their hands.”
    I nodded to myself as he spoke and again ran my tongue back and forth across my teeth, enjoying the new feeling of the sharp, pointed ones. I tried to grasp everything he’d explained to me. It all sounded crazy, but this was reality now.
    “You’ll do best not to bring much attention to those,” Lysander said catching me lick the tip of one of my teeth.
    I snapped out of my daze. “Sorry, I just can’t help it, it’s all so... so... ” I was at a loss for words. How could I describe how I felt about all of this? It was new and frightening.
     He shot me a stern look. “I know this is very different for you, but you will have to learn to be discreet about your new self. The world is not that accepting of us, and we must be vigilant for fear of discovery.”
    “But who would we need to fear? Didn’t you just tell me we are immortal?”
    He lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose before letting out an impatient sigh. “Immortality does not mean invincibility, Alyssa.” Annoyance tainted his voice. “Ours is a life of secrecy. The better we blend in and the less attention we draw to ourselves, the better. There are people out there who hunt us.”
    “What do you mean, like actual vampire hunters?”
    Lysander glanced up at the ceiling as if looking for guidance. “Yes. There are hunters out there, Alyssa. They call themselves the Acta Sanctorum—the Saints. Their church promotes the hysteria that all supernatural beings, and anyone else who might be considered different, are unnatural. They see us as nothing more than monsters. They use fear to allow them free rein to kill whomever they please, to rid the world of what they deem evil.”
    “Wait, so you mean there are more than just vampires out there? What else is unnatural? Were-wolves, wizards, witches?”
    “Yes, there are many other supernatural beings in our world. But…” His face became serious, as if contemplating something important. “Not all of us are evil, and sometimes the hunter should be destroyed rather than its prey.”
    This was way too much to handle. I didn’t want to hear anymore. I was overwhelmed. Vampires, werewolves, religious crusaders… there were too many new things to process. I tried to get up, but my muscles protested, refusing to move more than an inch. I sank back down into the couch cushions.
    “Alyssa, let us try to concentrate on one thing at a time, for now. I know this is all new for you. Just try to focus on vampires, our kind, now. The Acta Sanctorum hunts—”
    “Maybe we should be put down,” I snapped. My hand balled into a fist at my side.
    “What?”
    “Sounds to me like the Acting Santum people—”
    Lysander’s eyes narrowed. “The Acta Sanctorum,” he said slowly, enunciating each word.
    “Whatever. It sounds to me like they are trying to be the good guys. They hunt down murderers.”
    “Being a vampire does not make you a murderer.”
    “But didn’t you just tell me we have to kill and drink blood to survive? Doesn’t that make us evil?”