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Tei strokes my hair back. “It’s not a whole lot different from how I feed from you.”
Except when I think of eating, it’s usually… well, food. Not people. Not that Tei is technically a person, but still. I don’t have any problems with him feeding from me. It’s natural to him, and I’m a willing — and eager — participant, and honestly the aftercare is pretty fun, too.
But the other way around? I’m not sure what it would say about me if I ended up liking it.
Tei brushes his warm fingers across my cheek until my chin is in his grip. “Your wheels are turning. Tell me why you’re hesitant.”
There’s no point in trying to hide or shy away from my reservations; I trust Tei, and if we want to succeed together, he needs to know what’s going on in my head, no shield and no armor. I start with the least complex of the questions, though. “How does it work? Like, mechanically. I can’t exactly bite you.”
He doesn’t miss a beat. “You could, with a spell. But if you’d prefer I cut myself, I could do that too. It’s not like that would hurt me.” It hits me that he volunteered that answer easily, without hesitation. Just like he’s volunteering his blood to make me more powerful. More equal to him. A few months ago, I would’ve had to pry this information from him one drop at a time, in a constant battle of wits.
And just like that, the floodgates open. “Is that normal? For witches to drink blood? Is it just your kind’s blood, or do we drink other creatures’ blood, too? Am I supposed to hate it? Or will I…” I swallow the knot in my throat. “Will I like it?”
Tei smiles. “What even is normal, little gem? Receiving power from the Beyond is normal for witches. How they go about doing so has changed throughout the centuries. I am offering you my power, and if you are willing to receive it… then this is normal for us. Does anything else really matter?”
I pause to think it through. I guess… not really, no. Certainly, Marta wouldn’t consider it normal; but she wouldn’t consider anything about my relationship with Tei normal, and I don’t care about her opinion on that; this shouldn’t really be any different.
“As far as your experience with it, I can’t really speak on that. I could tell you what Isabel thought of it…” His face distorts in a grimace. “But I’d rather not.”
For a moment, I imagine him with Isabel, a lifetime ago, and realize that before the curse, before their mutual betrayal, there was something else there, something maybe akin to what we have. Not that, cerebrally, I hadn’t realized that, but I hadn’t stopped to ponder what that meant, tried to picture it, and… I shiver. “Yes, I’d rather you don’t, either.”
“I can tell you it won’t hurt.”
I shrug. Pain isn’t a concern of mine, at this point, but that’s good to know. “Ok, I guess I’m in, then.”
“Are you ready now?”
I take a deep breath in, then nod. No time like the present, and it’s not like we’ve got days to waste.
Tei runs a hand down my arm until his fingers are laced with mine. He leads me from the living room to the small kitchenette, where he rummages through the drawer for a small but sharp pairing knife, and then into the bathroom.
The knife, he sets on the lip of the deep soaking tub, before busying himself with taking off his own clothes. “You don’t have to be naked for this, but if you’d prefer to keep the blood off your clothes, it’d be best to remove them.”
I nod, somewhat in a daze, and reach for the hem of my dress to pull it over my head, before repeating the process with my bra and panties. When we’re both naked, Tei steps into the tub and helps me in, his hands on my waist to lift me as I step over the side. He sits down and guides me to straddle his lap, his hands gently running down my arms.
“Are you cold?”
“No.”
“You’re shaking.”
“A little tense.”
He reaches forward, capturing his lips with mine. The kiss melts my nerves, and I sigh into it.
Tei grabs the knife, holding it between us with the handle towards me. “Would you like to cut, or would you rather I do it?”
I laugh. “I’m not angry enough at you right now to find any pleasure in cutting you up.”
He grins, laying back in the tub as if he was just taking a bath and not about to be sliced up by a novice witch. “Then maybe store it in the spank bank for later.” His head tips back, displaying the long line of his neck for me.
“You can’t hurt me, Esme.” Then, he opens his eyes again, finding mine. “You can’t hurt me with a knife.”
The air hangs thick around us. I desperately want to ask him what that means. There’s this thing we’re both dancing around, and it’s electric, a live wire. It feels like if we touch it, it’ll either light up our lives, pull us out of a darkness we didn’t know we were living in, or electrocute us to death.
Before I can say anything, Tei presses the knife in my hand. “Go ahead, little witch. I’m in your hands. I trust you.”
My fingers tighten against the smooth bone handle, which Tei’s touch has warmed, and I take a deep breath in.
