Eternal Shadows by Kate Martin Page B

were clearly plenty of people who did.
    He shook his head. “You don’t ask to be turned. The general chooses you.”
    “The general?”
    Warren looked at me like I was green. “You don’t know about the general?”
    “Uh…no? Should I?”
    Warren broke eye contact and suddenly found the plain carpet very interesting. “I think I’ll leave that to Rhys.”
    My feet slid off the leather of the chair and thumped against the floor. “Why does everyone always say that? Is Rhys the only one capable of telling me anything? Come on, Warren, who’s the general?”
    “Kassandra, I—”
    “Don’t chicken out. God, you’ll let vampires bite you but you can’t answer a simple question?”
    “You’re a very forceful person, do you know that?”
    “Raised by forceful people. Please, Warren? If it will get you in trouble, then I understand, but if not then just tell me.”
    He glanced at the door, probably hoping Rhys would come in and stop him. No such luck. I knew I had won. I had no doubt Rhys could hear every word we said. After all, he had promised not to go far.
    “The general is the head of this family,” Warren said, facing me once again and looking none too happy about having to explain. “This is his family.”
    “Then how come I’ve never heard of him?”
    “No idea.”
    I’d drill Rhys later. It would be fun. “Okay. Thanks for telling me. What’s he like?”
    “The general?”
    “Yeah.” Who else could I have possibly been talking about?
    Warren picked at the newly placed gauze on his wrist for a moment, then looked at me, completely straight-faced. “He was a Roman general.”
    Holy Crap . “Really? Roman? So he’s like, a thousand years old?”
    Warren wrinkled his nose. “More like two. Where do you go to school?”
    Dammit. I knew that. “Oops. Guess it was the shock.” I stood and cracked my back. I felt surprisingly good, despite my little lapse in intelligence. Physically, I felt fit as a fiddle. All thanks to Warren’s blood, I was sure. “So that’s all you’ve got for me? He was a Roman general?”
    “I would think that was enough.”
    “I’ve never met an ancient Roman.”
    “Then just wait. You’ll meet him soon enough.”
    “Fine, fine. So what happens now? I’ve never had a feeder before. I’m not sure what the proper protocol is.”
    “If you could show me the way to the kitchen, that would be great.”
    Kitchen. Right. I felt like an idiot. Hadn’t the Red Cross come to school enough times? After giving blood, juice and cookies were a must. I hoped we had some. “Sure, this way.” I bravely stepped up so we were standing side by side and opened the door. I didn’t eat him. Score one for me. “Sorry. I should have thought of that.” I snaked through the halls, keeping an eye out for Rhys the whole time. Not a sign of him. Unless he could turn invisible, it looked like he hadn’t kept his promise. I considered yelling for him just to see what would happen.
    Food for Warren first.
    The kitchen was still devoid of people, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the refrigerator fully stocked. Warren and Brody were lucky boys. I remembered quite well what turkey and orange juice and apple pie and cheese and muffins tasted like. They were all here. And not for me. I got blood. Bad trade, if you asked me. The price of immortality—no more chocolate cake. I would have taken the cake.
    Warren grabbed the cold cuts and other essentials for making a sandwich. I plunked myself on a stool at the center island and prepared to watch him longingly.
    “Can I ask you a question?” Warren said as he spread mayo on wholegrain bread.
    “Sure.” I couldn’t take my eyes off his food.
    “How did you end up here? Millie wouldn’t give me the whole story.”
    “Yeah, she has this thing about telling other people’s stories.” Note to self, I still needed to give Rhys the third degree. Warren laid turkey with salami. It looked delicious. “I’m here because my father