"Just give it to me."
Hesitant, I offered him my palm. Viktor lifted my hand and, without breaking eye contact, sank his sharp canine into the soft flesh of his own thumb. Blood welled on his skin. Then he spread his blood over mine, staining what had been only a dry wound.
At first, I felt a tingling. The sudden urge to close my hand and scratch the injury was almost irresistible, but I held back. Gradually, before my eyes, the skin came back together, the wound disappearing without leaving any scar.
"How...?" I blurted out, astonished.
He just shrugged, the corner of his lips curling into a half-smile.
"It’s one of the secrets of my leech cult. I can’t reveal it."
I rolled my eyes at him and put my gloves back on.
The ride back was silent. The trees along the road disappeared in t
