Soulless (Book #2 of Hunted)

Revert

I stared at him nonplussed. The way he said these words, it almost sounded like he didn't enjoy being what he was. Anton loved being a monster he just hated having this devastating pain inside of him. He loved wanting to kill but he despised having to kill. He loathed being controlled by his hunger; he didn't like being controlled by anything. He did what he wanted to do whenever the fancy struck him. I could tell he relished letting the beast loose but he wanted to lose control when it suited him. He didn't like the idea that he was too weak to keep the real animal locked in its cage. He enjoyed being a killer but he wanted to know he was strong enough to curb his appetite if he ever cared to.

All this information regarding the feelings I didn't even know Anton had engulfed my brain as if someone above had flipped open the top of my head and dropped it all in there, and I knew all of it was true. I looked up and I saw Anton staring at me with a rather peculiar expression on his face. It was like curiosity and frustration got all swirly together and splattered them across his face at random.

He knew I had figured something out about him, something important that I could potentially use against him, but he didn't know exactly what. I could feel him trying to pick through my thoughts but I somehow shoved him out of my head. There was a sudden look of shock on his face as if he didn't think I was able to block my thoughts from him.

"So," I said loudly and he flinched as if he were so concentrated on trying to get at my thoughts that the sound of my voice had taken him off guard. I looked down at the stone floor so I wouldn't have to see his reaction to the words I was about to say next. "What will happen if the blood debt isn't paid?" I asked attempting desperately to keep my tone completely indifferent. I heard the chains rattle and I glanced up. He was twisting the titanium links around his left hand and I saw the terror shadow his face again for one brief instant. He was begging for me not to make that an option.

"Eventually I would revert," he said uncertainly. He didn't know for sure because there had never been a vampire anywhere that didn't pay off their debt.

"What?" I asked. What exactly did 'revert' mean in this case? Revert to what? Anton let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Basically I would be taken over by the demon in its purest form," he said. Demon in its purest form? Was that the thing that had tried to kill Abby?

"Are you implying that being a vampire is like being possessed by a demon?" I had to ask. I saw his eyes roll upward revealing the bit of white left at the bottom.

"Possessions can be reversed, becoming a vampire can't; isn't this a little off topic?" he asked. I shrugged almost indifferently.

"Just expanding my vampire knowledge," I said. "So when you revert," I paused attempting to wrangle my thoughts long enough to form a cohesive sentence. "Do you become like this crazed animal that is so savage that it can't even really speak? All it does to express itself is growl and scream and howl non-words?" I inquired almost as if I were asking him a question off a survey. He nodded slowly.

"I guess it would be something like that."

"Then we've already dealt with that thing before," I said. He stared at me a bit awestruck.

"You have?" he asked still incredulous like the fact that we had come across this part of him and survived was such a shock. I nodded.

"Yeah. Don't you remember?" I looked at him and was surprised to see a look of appalled bemusement. He really had no idea.

"I don't remember," he said softly. I stared at him trying to determine if he was telling the truth. His eyes looked right through me and there was a look of painful concentration on his face. He was seriously trying to remember.

"Has that ever happened before?" I asked him. His eyes slowly came back to focus on me and he nodded. "You forget the things you've done often?" I inquired and for some reason I felt extremely awkward asking him this.

"I don't forget the things I've done," he said angrily. I heard the front door upstairs open and close. Then I heard Phoebe walking back towards the basement. I gestured for Anton to continue speaking though I could tell he was getting a little fed up with all my questions. He groaned loudly as Phoebe came bounding down the basement steps. She made a rude face at Anton and then flung her arms around me.