Free Truth in Legends [Part Three of the Thicker than Blood Series] by Olivia Leighton Page A

cringed and took a deep breath, his head bowing to the floor.  “Yes.  That was me.”
     
    “I'm... I... wow.  I'm sorry.”
     
    He shrugged.  “After I had my revenge, I spent two years searching for Peter, but could not find him.  He was ten years old the last time I saw him.”  Alex put his hands around his knees and laced his fingers together.  “After that, I moved to northern Italy, changed my name and became a doctor.   I've been Alessandro Amante since then.  I moved to the United States not long after your Civil War.  I met another fallen then... he was also a doctor.  We stayed in touch and I only recently moved here because he told me of the increase in demon activity.”
     
    My head swam in the knowledge that there was truth in legends.  “Alex... do I still call you that?”  It was the only thing I could think to ask in light of his story. 
     
    He nodded.  “Please do.”
     
    I sat up, hanging my legs over next to Alex.  Dr. Amante had become an open book and I sat there, fighting to find a question to ask.  “Why did you bite me?”  My words came out with a little more bitterness than I expected as my hand went to my neck.
     
    He hung his head in guilt.  “To feel your emotions, to taste your life.”
     
    “My life?”
     
    He nodded.  “Tasting someone's blood enables us to feel the emotions of another.  We aren't dependent on blood, like the vampire myths imply, but some choose to feast on blood instead of food.   While I was wanting to feel your emotions while you were with me, other fallen like to feel human anxiety, fear... they get off on human terror.” 
     
    “Do only fallen angels bite?”
     
    “No.  Archangels could indulge, but none of them would ever stoop so low as to touch a mortal.”
     
    “Demons don't?”
     
    “No, they have other ways of getting into human's minds.”
     
    Alex stood and sat next to me.  He tenderly lifted my hair from my neck and studied the bite mark.  “If I would have told you what I was going to do, I could have helped you relax and it would have been pleasurable to you.  Healing would have occurred almost instantly.”
     
    I turned my head slightly towards him.  “What...”  There was no way for that to be possible, even if he was a fallen angel.
     
    “As it is, it's almost healed completely now.”  He smiled.  “Would you like to see, nurse ?”
     
    Alex was right on.  It was my nursing instincts that made me oh-so curious about instantaneous healing.  Even so, I looked skeptically at him.  It had hurt like a bitch before, why would now be any different?
     
    “I know you're afraid that it will hurt but it won't.”
     
    “I think you are full of shit.”
     
    Grinning, Alex looked at me thoughtfully.  “My, you certainly have a mouth on you, my dear.”
     
    My eyes narrowed to slits.  I wanted to give him an excuse for my foul language, but I had none.  “Yeah, but I don't go around biting people with mine.” 
     
    He flinched and looked away for a moment.  “Yes you do, only you use words.”
     
    I inhaled sharply.  My words bit him.  “Oh.”  I guess he was right.  I wanted to blame my environment on my foul mouth, but because I could control it when I wanted to, I was to blame.
     
    Alex stood and took my hand and pulled gently.  “Come, let me show you.”
     
    I remained seated, not wanting to budge from the cushion.  “Alex... I'm afraid.”  Wow.   Did I say that?   I felt a little pride in myself for admitting my fear.
     
    “I know, but please, trust me?”  He pleaded with his eyes.
     
    A fallen angel... Vlad the Impaler... Dracula himself was asking me to trust him.  While my brain was screaming at me to run from him and never turn back, something overrode the thought – something deeper.  Was it the influence of an angel?  I stood.  “Fine, show me, Azariah ,” I heard myself say.
     
    “You were listening.”  He smiled back at me as he led me to