Poppy was shocked. They would never have this glory again after she changed? She wouldn't believe that; she refused.
There must be a way....
Again, she felt the beginning of a reaction in James, but just as she was chasing it, he gently pulled his wrist back. "You'd better not take any more tonight," he said, and his real-world voice sounded strange to Poppy's ears. It wasn't as much James as his mental voice, and now she couldn't really feel him properly. They were two separate beings. The isolation was awful.
How could she survive if she could never touch his mind again? If she had to use words, which suddenly seemed as clumsy as smoke signals for communication? If she could never feel him fully, his whole being open to her?
It was cruel and unfair and all vampires must be idiots if they settled for anything less.
Before she could open her mouth to begin the clumsy process of verbally explaining this to James, the door moved. Phillip looked around it.
"Come on in," James said. "We've got a lot to talk about."
Phil was staring at Poppy. "Are you . . ." He stopped and swallowed before finishing in a husky whisper. "Better?"
It didn't take telepathy to sense his disgust. He glanced at her mouth, and then quickly away. Poppy realized what he must be seeing. A stain as if she'd been eating berries. She rubbed at her lips with the back of her hand.
What she wanted to say was, it isn't disgusting. It's part of Nature. It's a way of giving life, pure life. It's secret and beautiful. It's all right.
What she said was, "Don't knock it till you've tried it."
Phillip's face convulsed in horror. And the weird thing was that on this subject James was in perfect agreement with him.
Poppy could sense it-James thought sharing blood was dark and evil, too. He was filled with guilt. Poppy heaved a long, exasperated sigh, and added, "Boys. "
"You're better," Phil said, cracking a faint smile.
"I guess I was pretty bizarre before," Poppy said. "Sorry."
"Pretty is not the word.,,
'qt wasn't her fault," James said shortly to Phil. "She was dying-and hallucinating, sort of. Not enough blood to the brain."
Poppy shook her head. "I don't get it. You didn't take that much blood from me the last time. How could I not have enough blood to the brain?"
"It's not that," James said. "The two kinds of blood react against each other-they fight each other. Look, if you want a scientific explanation, it's something like this. Vampire blood destroys the hemoglobinthe red cells-in human blood. Once it destroys enough of the red cells, you stop getting the oxygen you need to think straight. And when it destroys more, you don't have the oxygen you need to live."
"So vampire blood is like poison," Phil said, in the tones of someone who knew it all along.
James shrugged. He wasn't looking at either Poppy or Phil. "In some ways. But in other ways it's like a universal cure. It makes wounds heal fast, makes flesh regenerate. Vampires can live on very little oxygen because their cells are so resilient.
Vampire blood does everything-except carry oxygen."
A light went on in Poppy's brain. Dawning revelation-the mystery of Count Dracula explained. "Wait a minute," she said.
"Is that why you need human blood?"
"That's one of the reasons," James said. "There are some ...
some more mystical things human blood does for us, but keeping us alive is the most basic one. We take a little and that carries oxygen through our system until our own blood destroys it. Then we take a little more."
Poppy settled back. "So that's it. And it is natural...."
"Nothing about this is natural," Phil said, his disgust surfacing again.
"Yes, it is; it's like whatdoyouca!lit, from biology lass.
Symbiosis-"
"It doesn't matter what it's like," James said. "We can't sit here and talk about it. We've got to make plans."
There was an abrupt silence as Poppy realized what kind of plans he was talking about. She could tell Phil was realizing it, too.
"You're not out of danger yet," James said softly, his eyes holding Poppy's. "It's going to take one more exchange of blood, and you should have it as soon as possible. Otherwise, you might relapse again. But we're going to have to plan the next exchange carefully-"
"Why?" Phil said, at his most deliberately obstructive.
"Because it's going to kill me," Poppy said flatly before James could answer. And when Phil flinched she went on ruthlessly,
"That's what this is all about, Phil. It's not some little game James and I are playing. We have to deal with the reality, and the reality is that one way or another I'm going to die soon.
And I'd rather die and wake up a vampire- than die and not wake up at all."
There was another silence, during which James put his hand on hers. It was only then that Poppy realized she was shaking.
Phil looked up. Poppy could see that his face was drawn, his eyes dark. "We're twins. So how'd you get so much older than me?" he said in a muted voice.
A little hush, and then James said, "I think tomorrow night would be a good time to do it. It's Friday-do you think you can get your mom and Cliff out of the house for the night?"
Phil blinked. "I guess-if Poppy seems better, they might go out for a little while. If I said I'd stay with her."
"Convince them they need a break. I don't want them around."
"Can't you just make them not notice anything? Like you did with that nurse at the hospital?" Poppy asked.
"Not if I'm going to be concentrating on you," James said.
"And there are certain people who can't be influenced by mind control at all-your brother, here, is one of them. Your mom could be another."
"All right; I'll get them to go out," Phillip said. He gulped, obviously uncomfortable and trying to hide it. "And once they're gone ... then what?"
James looked at him inscrutably. "Then Poppy and I do what we have to do. And then you and I watch TV."
"Watch TV," Phil repeated, sounding numb.
"I've got to be here when the doctor comes-and the people from the funeral home."
Phil looked utterly horrified at the mention of the funeral home. For that matter, Poppy didn't feel too cheerful about it herself. If it weren't for the rich, strange blood coursing inside her, calming her ...