shirt as it moved across her skin. She could feel every single fiber and thread. Looking down, it occurred to her that while the clothes she was wearing did belong to her, they were not the clothes she had last been wearing.
Panic and dread filled her. "What did you do to me?" she croaked. Had he drugged her tea? What was he going to...
"I have freed you," he said gently as he began to untie her from the pole.
It took her a moment to realize he wasn't describing his current actions. "From what?" she asked.
Once Seth had finished untying her, and she stood wavering on her own two feet, he looked her in the eyes and said, "From time."
Tanya stood there, frowning, and then slowly remembered what had happened. How he had changed, one minute a harmless geeky professor, and then the next, her worst nightmare. What he had said before she passed out. We will speak again when you rise.
"No," she whispered before she had even fully figured it out. "Oh, god, no...." She looked down at her hands, which no longer showed all the little scars she had collected over the last few years of fighting. "Oh please, no...." She looked back to Seth, hoping he would tell her she was wrong.
He just smiled. "Oh, yes. Have a look for yourself," he gestured to the wall, where a huge decorative mirror hung.
She turned and looked. Even from across the room she could see every last detail, how her hair, once a subdued auburn, was now flame red with copper highlights and deep russet undertones. Her eyes, which had always been a sort of muddy hazel, were now apple green with brown and gold flecks. Her skin was perfect, free of the lingering acne that had bothered her since high school. The freckles remained, standing out against her delicate, cream-colored cheeks. Even her body had changed, she thought she looked thinner, more muscular, and yet her curves were more generous.
In the reflection, she could see Seth come up behind her, smiling, and saw the difference in him as well. He looked a little younger, early thirties at the oldest. He had changed his unkempt sable black hair. Now it curled perfectly in a look which, if not quite fashionable, suited him exactly. He put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "See how beautiful I have made you?"
Tanya whirled to punch him, or at least she tried. Instead she overbalanced, tripping on her own feet and nearly falling over.
"Careful," Seth warned, catching her in his too-swift hands. "You will need some time to get used to your new body."
She tried to punch him again, and he easily dodged it. Shoving at him, she managed to escape his grasp, but her legs tangled up and she tripped. The cold concrete bit into her palms and she gasped, scrambling to get up. Instead she just flailed helplessly. The sounds of her struggle seemed impossibly loud, and her own heartbeat pounded in her ears. Every time she moved the clothes she wore dragged against her skin. It was too much, she couldn't think, couldn't breathe, and it seemed like the world was crashing down on her.
Suddenly, Tanya was engulfed in darkness, something wrapping around her tightly. She panicked more, fighting against it.
"Shh, Tatiana, it's all right, calm down," she could hear Seth's muffled voice, and it had the opposite effect he intended, making her gasp desperately for air.
Then a strange sensation washed over her, as if she were detached from her body again. She could still feel everything, could feel too much, but she stopped moving, and that helped. Her breathing evened out, stayed steady, and she became aware that the darkness around her was a soft, black blanket that Seth had wrapped her in.
"Listen to my voice," he said slowly, and her heartbeat shifted to align with the rhythm of his words. "You are safe, Tatiana. No one will hurt you. Focus on the feel of the blanket, on its texture," he ordered.
Without thinking, she did as he said. It was soft, some kind of fleece or maybe microfiber, warm and yet thin enough that she could breathe through it easily.
"Now focus on the way it smells," he suggested.
She did. It smelled very faintly like flowers. Lavender, maybe? It was a good smell, and it calmed her further.
"It's all right, you are safe," he repeated. "No one will hurt you."
"You hurt me," she managed to say, tears spilling down her face. They burned against her skin. "You... you turned me into a vampire."
"Yes, I did."
"How could you?! Why?!" she demanded through the blanket.
Seth sighed, and she could feel it as his arms tightened slightly around her, could feel his breath ruffling the blanket. "If you have calmed down, I will let you out and tell you," he said. "But you must try to stay calm, or you will have another panic attack.”
"Okay," she lied—anything to get him away. Beyond her detachment she could still feel the strong impulse to escape, like she was a rabbit caught in a trap.
Slowly, she seemed to come back into her body, and he unwrapped the blanket. As soon as she could move her arms, Tanya reached up and scrubbed the tears away. When he pulled the blanket off her head, she realized that she was sitting, balled up, in his lap. She tried to move away, but he held on tightly.
"Stay," he ordered, and she glared at him, but didn't try to get away again. He would only stop her, she could tell.
They sat there a moment, her sniffing and him giving her an assessing look. "Well?" she demanded at last.
He paused. "Do you remember when I asked you if there was a way to make you stronger, whether you would take that risk?" She was starting to realize his accent wasn't quite the same as before. It was still vaguely British, but maybe something else as well.
She scoffed. "So what, this is what you meant? Turn me into a vampire? That makes no sense!" she shouted, and then cringed. The noise had hurt her ears.
"It is precisely what I meant. And it has made you much, much stronger," he pointed out.
"That's not the point," she growled. "I wanted to be stronger so I could hunt vampires."
He smiled slyly. "And so you shall."
"Wait. What? You turned me into a vampire so I could hunt vampires?"
"Yes, Tatiana. You had reached a point where you were close to your limits as a human. I don't think you realize the danger you were in, how close Etienne du Lac came to killing you," he brushed a hand over the ribs she had bruised, just below her breast. “If I hadn’t told him you would spare him if he gave you my name…”
"Don't touch me," she hissed, trying to squirm out of his grasp. To her surprise, he let her go. She sat on the floor opposite him, trying to think. He had set her up. Had set Etienne du Lac up, knowing she would kill him, just to make sure she got his name. He had planned all of this, just to get her here. "If that was what you wanted, why didn't you just ask me?"
"I did ask you," he argued.
"No you didn't. You know what I mean."
He licked his lips thoughtfully. "If I had asked you if you wanted to become a vampire, would you have said yes?"
"Of course not!" she spat.
Seth shrugged, an elegant gesture on him. "And that is why I did not ask in that manner."
Tanya buried her face in her hands, at a loss as to how to deal with this lunatic.
"Come," Seth stood and held out a hand to her. "It's almost sunrise, you must be tired."
To her surprise, she was. She hadn't been a moment ago, but now, with all the adrenaline draining from her system, she was exhausted. She glared at his hand and carefully picked herself up off the floor, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.
He pressed his lips together. "Suit yourself. Follow me." He turned to lead her towards a black metal staircase. As they went up it, she looked around the place they were in.
It looks like one of those posh apartments they build in gutted old warehouses, except without the big plate-glass windows,