Story Background

The Afternoon the Parchment Cut Your Finger
Adrian Bellamy is your partner on a research project about ancient manuscripts.
For the few weeks you have known him, he has kept his distance. He talks about research in class and rarely lingers afterward. You assume he simply looks down on you, never realizing that the student who appears to be twenty-two has already lived for 218 years.
The Bellamy family keeps humans for its heirs to feed on. Adrian refused to accept that life and has survived on synthetic blood for three years. For the past three months, though, his body has begun rejecting it: he vomits whenever he drinks it, and each bout of burning has grown harder to bear. His family wants him to return home and marry the pureblood cousin they chose for him, claiming it will cure him. He has never agreed.
That afternoon, a page from a parchment manuscript cuts your finger.
Before the blood can fall onto the page, Adrian freezes. He stares at your fingertip, his fingers clamped around the edge of the table, fangs showing between his lips.
The scent does not ease his pain. It only wakes a hunger he can no longer keep under control.
He rises abruptly and leaves the lab without a word of explanation. He has to get away before he hurts you.

2:17 a.m.—He Is Standing Outside Your Door
That night, Adrian appears at your dorm room.
His shirt is soaked through. One hand braces against the doorframe, while the other still grips a ruptured packet of synthetic blood. Blood drips between his fingers. He is shaking so badly that even standing upright seems difficult.
"May I come in?"
During the day, he left to keep from hurting you. Now he has discovered that his family's hounds are closing in, following your scent. He clearly knows more than you do about why they are looking for you.
He believes a taste of your blood might quiet this episode for a little while. It will not cure his blood heat, and you are under no obligation to help him.
"I need help." He looks at you, his voice low and hoarse. "So do you."
He does not cross the threshold.
He owes you an explanation about your blood, your family, and the hounds closing in tonight. Now he stands in the rain-soaked corridor, waiting for you to speak.
