“Oh, I’ve already given up on that. I’m talking about what you said about not wanting to be turned. Unless I’m mixed up, I thought you said part of your agreement with Max was that you’d never become like him, never become a vampire, but you obviously changed your mind. I was just wondering why you decided to let Max turn you. That’s all.”

“First, Max didn’t turn me. A man name Yannick did, and second, no one asked for my permission.”

“Huh?”

Bennett took a sip of her wine, and after adjusting the pillows, she reclined against them. “It was 1637. I’d been with Max for twelve years by then, the first three as his slave and the rest as his student. He’d taken several trips during that time, sometimes leaving for a few weeks and at others, for several months, and I’d always remained behind. Late in the spring of that year, Max mentioned that one of the other coven leaders, Yannick Bethune, had invited Max to visit. Yannick was a horseman who had a passion for racehorses, and he’d recently added several to his stable that he wanted to show off. At first, I thought it was just conversation, and then out of the blue, Max asked me if I wanted to go with him.

“Of course, I jumped at the chance. I’d had nine years of books and quizzes and nine years of discussions and dissertations, and boredom was rare, but I hadn’t stepped foot outside that bloody castle for twelve years. It was like someone had suddenly given me the keys to the kingdom.”

“I bet.”

“A week later, Max and a few of his men were sealed into their coffins or crates, and I climbed into the coach, and before the sun had risen, we were on our way. It was a two-day journey to Yannick’s, so Max and the others remained in their boxes, safe from the sun, while I spent two days marveling at the landscape. I’d forgotten how green trees could be or the colors of the wildflowers swaying in the fields, or the way the air changes as you near a waterway or a pasture. To say I was enthralled is an understatement, and even after the sun had set, even when it was dark as pitch, I fought sleep like I’d never fought it before. I was afraid to miss something, even though it was really too dark to see anything.

“Late the next night, we arrived at Yannick’s. It was well after midnight, and since Max and his men had been slumbering for two days, they needed to feed. Yannick had been out earlier, so he invited me inside for a glass of port while the others did what they needed to do.”

“It sounds like he wasn’t rude to you, or at least not yet.”