Chapter 67 - A Long Story

There was no answer. I waited and waited, feeling more and more awkward with each passing second. Then, to my great relief, the kitchen door opened and JJ stepped in.

For a moment—or two, or dozen—I just took him in. The terrible burns disappeared like a bad dream from his pale skin, leaving it as smooth as ever. Even his destroyed eye was as clear and green as its twin.

But his hair… He cut away the burned parts and evened the rest out. As a result, the luxurious strawberry-blond locks that once fell to his shoulders now barely covered JJ's ears. It made him look a couple years younger, but also somewhat unfinished. Like an unripe fruit.

With JJ's skin fresh and clear again, it was easy to forget about his wounds in the explosion and the fight that followed, but his short hair was a brutal reminder. The guilt punched me in the gut. How could I be angry with JJ when he suffered so much worse than me? How could I not be when I still got in that mess thanks to him?

If my emotions weren't conflicting before, they were now.

"I don't think any conversation between a man and a woman that started with words 'we need to talk' had ever been a good one," JJ said, with a hint of a smirk dancing on his face. In the next moment, the smirk turned into a full-blown smile as he made a show of moving his bangs away from his forehead. "But I hope that the sight of my restored face, ma chèrie, will reduce your ire."

JJ's light-hearted attitude made me feel a little better about myself. I gave him my sourest, my most unimpressed look, even if I had to bite my cheek to keep it. JJ's smiles were contagious, but this was serious.

"This is serious, JJ," I repeated aloud. "You got to explain to me what happened and who the hell this Christina is and what she can do. She almost got us both killed!"

He nodded, his face darkening.

"Yes. I don't want to say that I underestimated her, but…" JJ silently mulled over something as he walked to sit on the chair across from me and propped his head on his elbow. "It would be better for my ego to say that I underestimated the technology of this age. I hadn't detected her in the building until after the explosion, but she must've been aware of my presence when she gave his thrall a signal to activate the bomb."

"A thrall?"

"A thrall, a slave… all the terms used to describe someone whose free will a vampire takes away by repeated use of hypnosis and, usually, other brainwashing techniques. A thrall would follow their master's every order, no matter what it is. Most of the time, though, the brainwashing takes away thrall's personality, leaving only an emotionless husk. Sergei must've been turned with special care, but if anyone could do that, it's Christina."

"This is terrible." I shivered and looked at my palms, lying one on top of another on the table. "You know, JJ, I wish I could use this stuff as an argument against all vampires, but I can't avoid thinking that humans do all that with other humans and worse."

"I hope it will bring you some solace to know that for Sergei, death was probably a mercy. The fact that there was enough of the old him left to pretend to be a normal person only means that there was more left to suffer."

"No, this is NOT helping," I grumbled, giving JJ a hard look. Now I had these mental images in my head, too.

JJ's eyes met mine. There was a genuine sympathy written on his face, though there was something distant in it, too. Like he couldn't really imagine what I felt in the moment, but tried very hard. "I truly regret bringing you into this, Diana. Your face was made for smiles, not frowns and tears. Even if you did astoundingly well, and saved both our skins, I should have realised what toll it will take on you."

And for trying, I gave him points. But for acting like he did, I took them away, and also frowned, just out of spite. "Too bad, but you did bring me into this scuffle. Without giving me all the information about the situation, which is basically blatant manipulation. So please, do it now. Start with… Your hair."

"My hair?" JJ pointed at his head in visible confusion.

I nodded, frowning again. This was a very, very serious matter. "Is it stuck like that… forever?"

He shook his head furiously. "No, no, thank God! It will regenerate, give it… A week or two."

I relaxed in relief, only to lean forward, eager for information. "So fast? And what do you mean 'regenerate', JJ?"

"While humans' hair and nails grow during their entire lives, vampires' stuck in the moment of their transformation. They will regenerate to their original state if harmed, but," he lifted a hand to his face and looked at his nails with pursed lips, "will never grow past that."

I raised my brow at him. "Why that unhappy face, JJ? Don't tell me you want some faaabulous nails?"

He turned that unhappy face to me and put his hand on the table. "It's not the matter of whether I want it, but of whether I can."

"Oh." I scratched my cheek. JJ with painted nails? I couldn't decide if it would suit him or not. Though, he was a person who'd look great in a potato sack, so... "Well, if you ever want fabulous nails, then you can just get nail extensions. Really, then it would only be better for you that your nails don't grow because you won't need to redo it every week."

The curious look on JJ's face almost made me explain what nail extensions were, but then I remembered why I called JJ in the first place and forced my mouth shut.

"Anyway!" I exclaimed loudly. "You can't distract me from what I wanted to know."

"I swear, I wasn't trying to distract you, ma chèrie."

I gave JJ a dirty look, but I had to admit that it felt good to go to our normal way of interacting. The only thing lacking were attempts at getting close and personal with me, but hell, if I were in JJ's place, I'd be cautious with approaching me at the moment, too.

"Tell me about Christina. Everything you know. Starting with who the hell she is to you to call you 'my love'?"

JJ took in a deep breath. His face, animated and smiling only a moment earlier, became distant and grim.. "Very well, ma chèrie. Sit comfortably, because this is a long story…"