“How have you been?” Luther asked. “Are they treating you well?”
Eddie nodded. “Scanguards has been good to me.” He pushed himself away from the door.
“And you?”
Luther shrugged. “I live.” He sighed. “But somehow I get the feeling you didn’t come to ask about my wellbeing.”
“You’re right. They’ve given me fifteen minutes with you. So let’s not waste any time with chitchat neither of us is interested in.”
“Let’s not,” Luther confirmed.
“I want to know what you did to me.”
Luther raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t understand the question. “What I did? Care to explain what you mean by that?”
“During my turning. You screwed something up.”
Luther moved his head from side to side. “From what I can see, you turned out just fine. A perfect vampire. Strong. Invincible.” He paused. “Although a little stubborn, but then you were stubborn even as a human.”
Eddie clenched his teeth. “You changed something else about me. How I feel. What I feel.”
Fuck, there was no easy way to say this. No words he could use to make this any less embarrassing. Did he have to spell it out?
“I’m afraid you’ve lost me. Eddie, if there’s anything you want to know you’d better ask directly. I’m afraid my mind reading capabilities aren’t worth shit.” Luther tossed him a look as if he wanted to challenge him to a fight.
“You changed something about me. You changed my . . . my desires,” he pressed out.
“Are we talking bloodlust here?”
How could one man be so dimwitted! Eddie made an impatient hand movement. “I’m not talking about fucking bloodlust. I’m talking about who I’m attracted to.”
Slowly, one of Luther’s brows arched. Then his facial expression changed to one of understanding. “Ah, now I get it. You’ve switched camps.”
Eddie made a step toward Luther and jammed his index finger into his chest. “It wasn’t my choice! You—”
“It never is,” Luther interrupted. “Being gay has never been a choice. Nobody chooses to be gay, nor to be straight. It’s nature.”
The word grated on him: gay. “I’m not gay!”
“Ah, so you have gay tendencies, just like that preacher. What was his name?”
Eddie ignored the question, his anger rising at Luther’s flippant attitude toward his problem.
“I thought as my sire you’re supposed to support me. You screwed this up! You made me like this. Now change me back to how I was before.”
Luther rocked back on his heels. “How you were before? Oh, Eddie, you’re still the same way you always were. Turning you into a vampire didn’t change who you are, or who you love.
Whatever you feel now, it was already there when you were human. Latent, maybe. But you already had it in you.”
Eddie pushed his hand against Luther’s shoulder, making him stumble back a few paces.
“What are you saying? That I was a fucking queer when I was human? I assure you, I wasn’t! I never looked at another man! I loved women!”
“You did, huh? Well, you must have had girlfriends left, right, and center. With your looks and all, they must have been flocking to you. How was it? Lots of fucking?” A mocking expression spread over Luther’s face.
Eddie sucked in a deep breath, his thoughts going back to his adolescence, his early manhood. He’d had the occasional girlfriend, and he’d certainly had sex with women before, but he hadn’t been promiscuous. He just wasn’t the type. He’d always respected women and wasn’t one to take advantage of them. In fact, he’d had lots of female friends.
“I see,” Luther continued. “Not so much, huh? Guess you didn’t like fucking women so much after all, did you?”
Angrily, Eddie shoved Luther against the wall. “You’re wrong! Just because I don’t sleep around, doesn’t mean I don’t love women.”
“Don’t kid yourself, Eddie! If you’ve got the hots for men now, your true nature is finally coming out.”
Before Eddie’s eyes, the picture of Thomas standing half-naked in front of the sink in the garage flashed. It sent a bolt of desire through his groin, spreading heat in his cells. Suddenly he fought for air.
Unfortunately, his sire was perceptive as hell. “Oh, so it’s not just any man. It’s one in particular. Who is it who tickles your fancy? Do I know him?”