Feeling ridiculous that I really hadn’t ever prepared my own nourishment, but also terrified of Scotty’s reaction watching me drink blood, I pulled the bag up onto my lap.
“It’s not going to bite you,” he said.
I spared him a quick glance before pulling out a teal, purple, and white plaid thermos.
Scotty barked out a laugh. “Lysandro really loves color, doesn’t he?”
Gulping, I managed to nod. Scotty sat quietly, observing me, unaware of the battle raging inside of me. He probably thought I was acting like the diva he’d always accused me of, but I wasn’t. I didn’t mind drinking straight out of the thermos either. I didn’t need it in a cup or goblet or anything else, as long as I didn’t have to suck it out of someone’s veins.
But I didn’t feel comfortable drinking it in front of Scotty. Consuming Lysandro’s blood was so different than the blood bags. Once I started, I guzzled it quickly, leaking the crimson essence out of the sides of my lips.
It was utterly messy and horribly uncivilized.
Lysandro told me I needed to work on my control. He wanted me to sip the delicious sustenance, but I hadn’t even tried.
And now here was Scotty, patiently waiting for me to unscrew the lid and eat. I didn’t want him to see me like this. I was starving, craving the blood with every part of my being, but I needed some dignity. He might be fascinated by the whole vampire-thing now, but he’d change his mind once he witnessed the truth of it.
I focused on the thermos, so I didn’t even realize he’d stood up until he dropped his hand, palm up, in front of me. “Give me the thermos.”
I clutched it tightly to my chest. “No. What? Why?”
He huffed, air blowing out of his nose and hitting my skin. “Give it to me, Ego.”
I held it tighter until he leaned down and began pulling it. Not wanting to hurt him—or him to hurt himself—I let go. Scotty stomped over to the bar, keeping his back to me. The lid swished open, followed by the clatter of him dropping the top onto the counter, just before the sound of the nectar of life splashed into the goblet.
Was Scotty making it for me? But why? He didn’t owe me anything. He’d never shied away from showing me howdistasteful he found me. Why would he humor what was obviously me being ridiculous?
As he came back, the coppery scent overwhelmed me. My vision clouded into a haze of red. I wanted to consume it—bathe in it. Be it.
I heard, “Here you go,” as if from a distance, before the goblet was pressed into my hand. Without any kind of chill, I raised it to my lips and?—
Blinking rapidly, my vision cleared slowly, the room coming back into focus, no Scotty in sight. “What…what happened?” I mumbled to myself.
Right as my thoughts began to spiral into the darkest places, wondering if I’d done something to hurt Scotty or if he’d run out the front door screaming, I felt the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat in my very bones.
Following the sound, I whipped my head in the direction it originated, and saw Scotty standing on the other side of the bar, running water at the little sink there. “Feeling better?” he asked.
“I…shit. Sorry. What are you doing?”
He turned off the water and set the wet goblet back in its place on the counter. “Washing your fancy cup. It fell from your hands onto the carpet after you drained it. I was scared blood would spill out and stain your fancy floor, but”—he chuckled—“you got every bit of moisture out of there.”
“I’m…” I licked my lips. “I didn’t do anything, uh…”
“Weird?” he asked, striding back and dropping into the chair across from me. “Nah. Although, it was like watching someone pass out from an amazing orgasm. Not that I’ve ever had one that good, but I’ve seen it in porn.” His eyes twinkled with humor.
The idea of him watching porn was the last one I needed in my head in my current state. Especially while this embarrassed. I rubbed the back of my neck. “Sorry. I, uh, don’t usually, uh…”
Scotty waved me off. “Don’t worry. I expected it. Lysandro warned me that you might go a little feral on it since I was here.”
I jerked back. “What does that mean?”
Scotty smirked. “You’d know if you listened to a word he tried to teach you.”
My irritation spiked. Sure, he could be so nonchalant about this because it wasn’t happening to him. I was an oddity to him, a curiosity, but he got to walk away when the novelty wore off.
“Oh, stop. I can see you’ve got your panties in a twist—again—but I’m not here to give you a hard time. I went to the library earlier hoping to catch Lysandro before he came out here. I’ve missed him the last couple of weeks.”
Of course, he did. He liked Lysandro. Maybe even more than liked the old vamp. It would make sense. He didn’t look older than dirt, but more like he was in his mid-thirties, and he was attractive. Super cute, if I was being honest. I could see how Scotty would find his uniqueness appealing. Plus, Lysandro was kind and helpful, as normal as any human I’d ever met.
