Free Counselor of the Damned by Angela Daniels

awful. He played off your fears. You do realize the vision isn’t the reality of the situation, right?”
    “It might be.” Tegonni stood and started pacing again. “His assistant called me yesterday and said the chimp blood isn’t working, and that I’m encouraging Fernando to be something he’s not. Last night he told me he had it under control, though he’s taking some anti-craving potion to help.”
    Nat raised an eyebrow.
    “Never mind that. Point is, I believed him.”
    “He told you this on your ‘not date’?” Nat sipped his tea, his tone casual, but she knew he wanted more details of her outing with the vampire. When she’d mentioned Fernando’s troubling declarations that morning, Nat had seemed torn between concern and delight. That was when he’d dubbed it her ‘not date.’ She really wished he wouldn’t call it that. She sent him her best scathing look.
    He did not look apologetic. “Please, continue.”
    “I need him off blood before I have a chance of convincing him that Heaven’s approval is a decent stand-in for salvation. But maybe I’m so focused on that, I’m ignoring a big problem here. What if he loses it? Seeing the possible consequences in that vision…” She shook her head as Nat opened his mouth, surely about to protest. “I know it wasn’t real, but I also know demons enjoy taunting with the truth as well as lies. Fernando may think he has control over this thirst but could snap at any moment. That could mean someone’s life. And I’d be equally responsible.”
    “Damn. You’re right.”
    The defeat in his voice paused her steps. She hugged herself, feeling as lost as she had in the vision.
    Nat put down his cup. “Don’t go all hopeless yet. You need to get Fernando to be honest about what he’s experiencing with the substitute. Even if he’s having issues, they still might be workable without him having an accident like in the vision. I think it’s safe to assume that was the melodramatic version of possibilities.”
    She wiped away her tears and tried to refocus. Nat was right, of course. The demon would use the worst-case scenario.
    “And if the substitute truly isn’t an option long-term… Well, his assistant may have a point. Perhaps the key is not to change his behavior, but find a way for him to accept drinking human blood as being okay.”
    With a bitter laugh, Tegonni shook her head. “But Nat, it’s not. Remember the whole enthrallment problem?” Father Morgan’s face flashed in her mind, expression both anguished and enraptured…and devoid of the man she knew.
    “I’m one hundred percent onboard the ‘compulsion is evil’ train. I’m challenging the assumption that it’s inseparable from the feeding process.”
    “Matanji said—”
    “I know she said it was impossible, but she also said vampires are a blind spot for the Lephiri.”
    Matanji had said that. There could be a way only the vampires knew about. But wouldn’t Fernando have mentioned it? She rubbed her temples, trying to stave off a headache. Fernando might actually keep such information to himself. From what she’d learned of him in the last several weeks, he’d considered drinking human blood evil, period. “If there is a way for him to feed without compelling, he’d probably consider it an unacceptable loophole. I don’t think he’d be swayed from his death wish.”
    Nat picked up his teacup and gave her a wry smile over its rim. “Well then, Dr. Ellis, it will be your job to convince him it is acceptable.”
    Tegonni pondered the notion. Theoretically, it made sense. If she could show Fernando a circumstance in which feeding was a good thing, he might be able to let go of the idea that he was evil. But, even without enthrallment, she didn’t think she could come up with such a situation. She struggled with not seeing it as evil. Viewing it as a good thing? That was a stretch.
    “I don’t know. I’ll consider it since it’s the only plan B I have, but I’m