"Thanks, Maxwell. Don't worry about Bonnie. She can't get to me. I know she's the one who sent the enemy faction to invade the city. And then she triggered the vampires, thus shooting herself in the foot. The two factions joined forces on the battlefield against their common enemy, and now they want to join us, and they also want Bonnie dead. You never told me that vampires hated Dester. As for Bonnie, she's in hiding. And only I know where she is."
"I always knew about the vampires' antagonism towards Dester, but they hate you too, and so I believed it was a feud between species. I slowed them down, Adam. Now, Genevieve is after every one of them who sensed my betrayal, and killing them. I hope you know what you're doing... Now, I need to go and see Anna."
"Go... And tell her how sorry I am for what I did to her. Not just yesterday, but everything. I'm sorry for the day I forced her into bed with me and made her my lover. I could conquer her, and I didn't want to waste time, and it cost me her love."
"I'll say." Maxwell said and sat back in his chair, making Adam stare at him intently. "I need to tell you something just about Anna."
"Do you really have to? Don't you want to spare me?"
"Adam... Anna now, you might become just like me."
Adam frowned.
"If you did that, it means that... you found her almost dead."
"Yes."
Adam smiled and remained silent. Maxwell hadn't expected that reaction.
"What happened, Adam? I thought you'd be furious."
"No, Max. This could be the best thing that's happened in my life since Allister bought Anna."
"I don't understand you."
"Max, she can no longer keep the Bruma without it awakening inside her after she receives the magic of a vampire."
Max understood.
"And when the Bruma awakens in a life with Alpha..."
"Luna is awakened, too." Adam finished his sentence and they stared at each other as if they were children.
Maxwell stood up and bent down to Adam, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "See you soon, my brother."
Maxwell left the same way he came in, and went back to the hospital where Anna was. The nurse was still standing paralyzed. Maxwell looked around, and taking advantage of the fact that no one was watching, approached her, and pushing her hair away from her neck, sucked some of her blood, and liking the taste, looked into her eyes.
"Be a good girl and take me to Anna's room."
The nurse, unable to refuse because she was no longer the master of her own will, obeyed.
He walked slowly into the room and Henry was talking quietly to her, sitting in the armchair near her bedside.
She seemed to sense his presence, as she raised her head to look at him, but it wasn't the same look he was used to seeing in her eyes. She looked confused, but after looking at him, she seemed to recognize him and smiled, turning her head back to the pillow.
Henry looked back and as soon as he saw Maxwell and the nurse, he stood up.
"I'll leave you two alone. The doctor said he might let her go home later today." He said this and was about to leave when he made up his mind and turned back to Maxwell. "You look like Adam in those clothes. I hadn't realized how much you look alike. Almost as if you were twin brothers, if you weren't three years older than him... Henry said and looked at the nurse. "You can come with me. My daughter wants to be alone with her husband."
"She will." Maxwell said coldly. "I'm going to need her."
Henry stared at Maxwell for a long moment and then left without asking any questions.
Maxwell smiled as he closed the door behind him. So that's why Anna stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few seconds. She thought he was Adam. And she knew she didn't need to fear him in the presence of her father. He came over, sat down in the armchair and took her hand.
"Are you feeling all right?"
"Better, now." She replied and looked at the nurse. "Why do you need her here?" she asked quietly.
Max realized that she was speaking with difficulty.
He lowered his eyes and kept turning the green stone ring on her finger.
"Anna... When I met you... I... You were dying, and..." Max took a deep breath. "And I had to make you become something like what I am."
Anna frowned.
"Similar?"
"I don't know yet what you're going to be."
"Will you tell me what you are?"
Max held out his hand to the nurse, who approached.
"I got my neck close to Anna's nose."
"What...? What kind of joke is that, Max?" Anna asked voicelessly.
Maxwell didn't answer, and the nurse approached Anna.
She felt something. A nice scent, and then she felt thirsty. Very thirsty. She looked at the dried blood on the nurse's neck and licked her lips. She felt she needed it. Blood. She felt something else swell up inside her mouth and ran her fingers through it, which came away bruised but quickly healed. She pushed the nurse away and glared at Maxwell.
"You're a vampire!"
"Now you too!" He retorted in the same tone.
Anna frowned.
"I feel something inside me, holding me back, I feel light, as if I could float away. The tips of my fingers are tingling, as if I were emitting some kind of energy from inside me, I know that if I look firmly into your eyes, I'll discover all your secrets, feel all your feelings, and... I think I can set things on fire, just by looking. Does being a vampire give me all that?"
"No, Anna. Being a Bruma gives you all that."
Anna turned to Maxwell.
"I'm a Bruma and a Vampire?"