Soulless (Book #2 of Hunted)

Rejection

"You figured right," I replied slowly. I glanced at Phoebe and she looked like she was puzzling something out; you could always tell because she looked at the ground and got this little tiny crease between her eyebrows. I looked back to Keegan and asked, "What's rejection?" He smirked at me and sank his hands into his jacket pockets.

"It's something that most vampires don't experience very often unless they're in the habit of starving themselves and then bingeing," he said leaning forward on the balls of his feet and then rocking back on his heels. I was trying to grasp the concept and I think I almost had it figured out when Phoebe asked, "That's very helpful...not! What happens when a vampire goes through rejection?" I gestured at her and cried, "Thank you!"

Keegan sighed dramatically and sat down on a bar stool. "You really should have attended the Academy. Maybe then you would know all these things," he mumbled to himself. I was curious, but I decided that now wasn't really the time to ask. He splayed his hands out in front of him and for the first time, I noticed a thick stainless steel band around his middle finger on his right hand and a white gold Rolex around his left wrist.

"Then again, if she had gone to the Academy when she was supposed to, she would have never fallen in love with a fucking vampire," he continued muttering. I sighed and sat down across from Keegan. He looked up at me and his eyes were clearer than they had been before.

"Rejection," he said in a flat tone. "What would you think the word meant?" he shook his head as if we were stupid. 

"When a vampire goes for a while without enough food and then they suddenly start gorging themselves they could go through rejection. Their body sort of adapts to the feel of less blood and when twenty odd gallons are suddenly guzzled down by someone who had been drinking like three gallons of animal blood a day..." he trailed off and shook his head. 

"I'm surprised he didn't start puking it all up. His body isn't used to that much blood. It's sad when a vampire has to get used to drinking blood again and it's really really difficult to not just drain everything in sight." He brushed his hair back with his fingers and glanced back at the broken basement door. "I can't even imagine the pain he's feeling right now."

I felt my throat tighten with the threat of tears. Not even Keegan could fathom the pain Zane was experiencing.

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked wringing my hands nervously. Keegan shook his head and replied, "Anton has never been notorious for his self-control and the only way to stop him from...reverting-" he said the word as if it were a curse that burned his skin just being uttered. "Is for him to gradually get used to human blood again and then once he's used to it, take him somewhere where he can binge." I shook my head in confusion. If that was the only way to help Zane then why had he made such an effort to abstain? None of it made sense.

I felt Keegan's eyes on my face as I tried to puzzle things out and I could feel him trying to get into my thoughts, but he wasn't as skilled as Zane was at that particular talent.