Every day of forever.
Chapter Fifteen
Val and I met Karma on the steps of the Temple of Dendur.
In 1963, the temple was gifted to the United States government and shipped, stone by stone, to be recreated in the Sackler Wing of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art where we were now standing. It was Sunday morning, minutes after the doors opened to patrons, and we were alone in the sun-filled atrium that housed the temple.
Karma was slender and petite. When she approached to greet us, she stood a full foot shorter than Valentine. She had thick black hair that fell in waves to her shoulders and curled softly against the high arches of her cheekbones. Her large, almond-shaped eyes were wide-set and a striking golden brown in color. The morning light that streamed in through the large wall of windows reflected softly off her light caramel complexion, giving her skin an ethereal glow that far eclipsed the beauty and majesty of the temple behind her.
She led us toward the windowed side of the room and we sat on the low wall that separated the temple from a shallow reflecting pool.
“I’m Alexa Newland, and this is my partner, Valentine. Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice.”
“Your e-mail was intriguing.” Karma’s handshake was firm and sure. “It’s not often that I get requests for meetings from a human who is so aware of and curious about our existence.”
“You could tell I was human from my e-mail?”
Karma smiled. “The newly transformed tend to have a desperation in their requests that I didn’t sense in yours. And I know all of the Weres in New York who want to be identified, so…”
I tried to read Karma’s face for any sign of concern, but she just continued to smile in her relaxed and curious way. “Is it a problem that I’m human? Will you get into trouble because you are talking to me?”
“Well, you may be human but you aren’t exactly an outsider, are you?” Karma’s eyes flicked to Val before settling back on me.
I felt a flutter of apprehension in my chest. “How did you know?”
“The circumstances surrounding Valentine’s…initiation…into our community have been much gossiped about. And we’ve met once before.”
“That night at Luna.” Valentine, who had been quietly holding my hand up to this point, spoke a split second before I could ask for clarification. “You were the one who came and got Sebastian.”
Karma nodded. “I apologize for not introducing myself formally at that time, but there was an urgent business matter that required our attention.”
“You work for Sebastian?” From the way Sebastian had been ogling Val, I had a hard time believing that he could employ attractive women and still be productive.
Karma smiled wryly. “With him. No self-respecting woman would ever work for Sebastian Brenner.”
I stroked Val’s hand idly with my thumb. The tension that had been coursing through her since we arrived at the Met seemed to have dissipated a little. Unlike the other vampires and Weres we had met so far, Karma radiated warmth and openness. I had hoped, from studying her site, that she would be helpful. Friendliness was an unexpected plus. I had spent all morning practicing the request I was about to make, but something in Karma Rao’s golden eyes told me that she could be trusted with the unadorned truth.
“You mentioned that you had some questions,” she said into the pause.
I took a deep breath, hoping that I wasn’t making a mistake. “I want to know more about the regenerative powers of Weres. Is it true that transformation can repair almost all corporeal damage?”
She nodded once. “If the physical damage done to you in human form doesn’t kill you, a Were’s regenerative abilities can mend any wound instantaneously at the point of transformation. It is the only way we can survive the shifting process.”
“How about in human form? Do Weres have heightened healing while human?”
“Yes, depending on how old the Were is, I’d estimate that healing happens three to ten times faster than the average human.”
“Everything heals? The skin, bones, tendons, muscles…”
“And blood.” She finished for me, a flicker of comprehension sparking in her eyes. “Yes, everything regenerates to its original state before the trauma.”
I smiled at Val. This was exactly what I had hoped. “I want to know if you think it would be possible to be deliberately infected with the lycanthropy virus. If it’s planned, can we insure that the transformation will take?”
Karma leaned back and gazed at us speculatively. “It has been done before—family members or spouses becoming infected in order to stay close to their loved ones. With the proper facilities, the virus can be introduced through blood transfusions or tissue grafts.”
“What’s the success rate?”
“There are a few documented cases of humans being immune to the virus. I would say that is less than two percent of the population. But in a controlled medical environment, the virus can be continuously applied until it takes.”
Val shifted uneasily next to me. “What’s the mortality rate?”
Karma hesitated. “It’s much better now. We’ve managed to control the viral introduction better than we used to. It’s certainly safer than how it’s done in the wild.”
“What is it?” Val’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Six to seven percent.” Karma admitted reluctantly. “Alexa is young and healthy; that should lower it to about five percent.”
“One in twenty.” Val looked like she was going to be sick.
I took Valentine’s face in my hands and gently kissed each cheek and then her lips. I lifted her chin so that she had to look into my eyes. “Val, you can’t focus on that. I refuse to live my life in fear of what could be. I also refuse to live with regrets of what might have been.”
Although I was sure Karma had figured it out, it was important for me to come clean to her. She was being very helpful and generous with her time and information. “I want to be infected.” I looked at Val before turning back to Karma. “My blood is the only thing preventing the vampire parasite from consuming Val’s soul, and right now, I just don’t have enough of it to sustain her.”
I kissed Val one more time on the lips for emphasis and turned my attention back to Karma. Karma had politely turned away from the intimacy and was staring at the temple. She was quiet for so long, I thought perhaps we had miscalculated in trusting her or we had managed to offend her.
When she spoke again, she was still staring into the distance. “Petronius built this temple in fifteen
BC
and dedicated it to Isis and Osiris. Are you familiar with their story?” Val and I shook our heads.
“Isis was the Egyptian goddess of motherhood, life, and fertility. Initially, she was quite obscure and had no temples or followers of her own. Eventually, she was adopted by the Greeks and Romans into their pantheons and worship of Isis would spread across the world.
“In the most popular story about Isis, she was instrumental in resurrecting her husband Osiris after he was slain and dismembered by Set. She traveled the world gathering up the pieces of his body and revived him with her magic.” She looked at Val. “Morbidly romantic, don’t you think?”
Val nodded solemnly, but indignation bubbled up inside me like angry lava. There was nothing morbid about this at all. It was a clever and elegant solution to so many of our problems, and I didn’t want Valentine to back out of our decision based on the ignorant opinion of a stranger. I opened my mouth to protest when Karma cut me off.
“I’ll help you.” She smiled at me. “I’ll probably be ostracized when the Were community finds out, but you seem like good people. I’ll do what I can to assist you.”
“I don’t see how the Were community has anything to do with this,” I interjected. “This is a personal matter.”
Karma shook her head. “What you are proposing would look like slavery to a shifter.” She raised her hand to curtail my indignation. “Try to see it from our perspective; you are deliberately infecting yourself so you can sustain your vampire lover. You are purposefully subjugating yourself to her well-being. There is enough tension between our two species without introducing the idea of breeding us like cattle.”
“Ah, politics,” Val murmured. She and Karma stared at one another for a long, silent moment. They looked like they were evaluating each other, but I couldn’t be sure. Being able to feed Val and share eternity with her weren’t the only reasons that I wanted to become a Were—it would be a relief to finally be a member of this club, instead of an outsider.
“I’m not subjugating myself,” I said. “This was my idea from the beginning and servitude has nothing to do with it.”
“I know.” Karma’s tone softened. “That’s why I am willing to help. But if the nature and circumstances of your rebirth become public knowledge, there is no saying how the masses will react to it. There are many in our community who would seek to use that information to rally the Weres and consolidate power.”
“We’ll be discreet.”
“This is not going to be easy. First of all, you are going to have to go outside of the Were system. Secondly, it may not work. As you know, any kind of trauma causes a Were to shift.” Karma turned to Valentine. “The simple act of feeding would most likely trigger the transformation. It could be very dangerous for you.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” Val said, stubbornness coloring her voice.
Karma smiled at us both sympathetically. “When it is done, I can teach you how to be a Were. But until then, it’s best that we have very limited contact.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
The first of the morning museum visitors finally began drifting into the room. Karma glanced at her watch and then slowly rose to her feet. She shook my hand and then Valentine’s one last time. “Good luck to you both.”
*
Helen’s secretary was testy when we showed up unannounced. She tried to give us the runaround by telling us that Helen was out of the office, but even my ordinary human hearing could pick up her voice through the closed door. Time, I felt, was of the essence, so Val and I settled into the plush leather sofa outside Helen’s office to wait it out. She had to come out eventually and we would be there to corner her.
About twenty minutes later, the door finally opened and Helen stepped out wearing a brown crepe silk skirt suit and holding a stack of files. If she was surprised to see us there, she didn’t show it. She just placed the folders on her secretary’s desk and instructed her to file them. Then with a quirk of her lips, she asked us to step into her office. I took Val’s hand in mine and we followed her in.
“Would you like something to drink?” She gestured for us to sit in the armchairs facing her desk.
Val and I both declined the offer. The windows of her office were shaded with a special filter that significantly blocked the sunlight entering the room. Looking through the windows at the city beyond felt like looking through a pair of dark sunglasses. To compensate for the darkness, small inset iridescent bulbs studded the ceiling and bathed the large office in light. Helen leaned back against the black leather of her office chair and regarded us curiously.
“I have an idea for how I can sustain Valentine better, but I’ll need your help.” I hated starting the conversation with a request, especially of Helen, but under the circumstances, I thought she might appreciate the candor. Below Helen’s field of vision, Val rested her hand lightly on my thigh. The warmth was reassuring. “I’ve done some research and I think I can feed Val indefinitely if I become a Were.”
If Helen was surprised, she didn’t show it. She leaned forward over her desk and locked gazes with me. I could almost feel her peering into my soul, sorting through all my emotions and motivations, judging and calculating the merit of my suggestion. I swallowed uncomfortably at the sudden dryness in my throat but returned her gaze openly and boldly. Val was mine and I was going to do everything under my power to keep her soul intact. To prevent her from becoming like the vampire staring at me from across the desk.
After what felt like an eternity, Helen leaned back into her chair. “It won’t work.” There was a hint of regret in her voice. “Vampires have tried feeding off of Weres for generations and all we have to show for it is righteous indignation from the Weres and a bevy of dead vampires.”
“I would never hurt Valentine.”
“You may not want to, but your animal half will have very different opinions.” The initial spark of interest was fading and I could tell that Helen was preparing to dismiss us. “Besides, the Were community would never stand for it. This could spark a civil war. I appreciate—”
“You don’t understand.” I slammed my hand down on her desk for emphasis. Helen flinched in surprise. “I love her. I will not let her lose her soul. Not if I can save her. It will work because we will make it work. It will work because it has to.”
Helen lifted her chin slightly and stared at me unblinking. “Noble proclamations with absolutely no basis in reality.”
I leaned forward, closing the distance between us. There was an icy sharpness to her aura that palpably hurt me as I got closer, but I needed to make my point clear. I was in her personal space now and I could tell it made her uncomfortable. She held her ground and I looked her straight in the eyes. “Tell me, in all the history of vampires feeding on Weres, how many of those stories involved a love like ours?”
“Baby—” Val took my hand and chafed it between hers. I could still feel the sting from slapping Helen’s desk. I sat back down and brought her hands to my lips and kissed them softly. Tears burned behind my eyes but pride held them at bay. I would not show weakness in front of Helen.
Her gaze flicked from our joined hands to Val, finally settling on me. “I need you both to leave my office now.”
“Wait a minute, I—”
Helen raised a perfectly manicured hand and cut me off. “I need to make a private call. You can wait outside until I’m done.”
I wanted to protest some more and make my case stronger but Val tugged me gently to my feet. “Come on, babe. We’ll be right outside.” Reluctantly, I followed her to the waiting room and settled back into the couch. Val sat closer this time and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. I leaned into her, decorum be damned. I needed this connection and I didn’t care who saw it.