Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Chapter 8

Jamie smiled; this was the most scintillating banter he had ever shared with a near stranger. Just tell her, he thought to himself, if she finds it strange you can just influence her to think it's not strange at all.

Jamie frowned internally at that thought. No influencing, he ordered his brain. Usually he relied on his skills in mind manipulation to do just about anything that involved humans. He used it to shield himself from them when he didn't feel like being seen. He used it to make women follow him home, then used it to make them forget everything that happened once they got there.

But he wanted all of Sam's thoughts to be her own, and all of her actions to be done of her own volition. If she thought him strange for what he was looking for, let her. Maybe she'd think that strange was good.

Jamie looked at Sam, who was seated in her chair watching him with her arms folded, patiently waiting for him to speak.

"I'm looking for books on Vampires," he said with a sigh, and watched her face for a reaction.

Her expression remained neutral. "Mythology or fiction?" she asked, almost as if it were an automatic response that she hadn't given much thought to. Jamie was a little surprised and a little disappointed. She didn't seem to care about what he was reading at all. For a while he'd thought maybe all of the banter had been her way of flirting with him, Apparently not.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Jamie said. Lying in an attempt to prolong their conversation.

Sam looked at him as if he were a complete moron and sighed. "Mythology, as in the myths, the legends, the folklore on Vampires, and fiction, as in stories that people make up about them."

Jamie took his time answering, then said, "Could you explain that a little more?"

Sam looked at him, the corner of her lips twitching in a momentary smile. "Seriously?" she asked. Jamie nodded. "You know what mythology and fiction mean," she said with a sigh of boredom.

Jamie innocently shook his head. "The meaning of the words, yes. But when it comes to library classification it could mean something different entirely."

Sam gave him an unconvinced look, then she shook her head a little and said, "Fiction, make-believe stories with Vampire characters that are written by people. People, human beings as a collective." Jamie tried not to laugh, Was she going to define every word in that sentence? "Mythology," she continued. "Myths, legends and folklore on Vampires. Vampires, annoying bloodsuckers who are allergic to sunlight." Sam looked at Jamie and smiled brazenly. "But I'm sure you knew that already."

Jamie gave her a confused look and tried to hide his fear. How could she know? "Uh . . . " Jamie had to think a little before speaking. Deny it! his brain screamed at him. "I don't know what you mean," he said slowly.

Sam smiled in amusement. "What?" she asked innocently. "You've never heard of Dracula?"

Jamie laughed a little and relaxed. Of course she didn't know. How could she? "Right," he said. "Dracula, of course I have. I read the book when—" Jamie stopped himself from speaking. He had almost said, 'when it was first published.' He took a quick second to think. Sam watched him as she waited for him to finish his sentence. She was smiling as if she could hear his thoughts frantically trying to find some words. Eventually he said, " . . . When I saw the film."

"Which one?" Sam asked. "There's millions of them, Nosferatu," she counted them out on her hands, "Dracula 1931, Dracula 1958, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula 2000—"