"Romeo wasn't at the meeting.I'm sure Ciar has talked to him by now, though.What's this?"Thano held up a potato masher.
"To mash potatoes or other veggies you want to turn into...mash."
His eyes narrowed."I don't think Romeo has one."
Eli shrugged.He had no idea if a potato masher was something most people had.It had always been in the kitchen."I don't use it often, but sometimes it's good to have one."He remembered his eggs and got up.He put them on a plate and grabbed a knife and fork.If he was going to live, he might as well eat before they turned rubbery.
Thano watched him, which was a bit unnerving.He wasn't used to having anyone in his kitchen, much less a vampire.
"Do you like eggs?"
Eli shrugged."It's...eh...something I have.Since I have my chickens, and they lay a lot of eggs this time of year."
"But you don't like them?"
Smiling, Eli took another bite."They're a good source of protein.When the first eggs come after the darkest of winter, I do enjoy them, but eggs are something you grow tired of pretty fast if you have to eat them every day."
"And you do?"
Eli gestured around."I don't have much."
"I think you have a lot."
"Edible.I don't have a lot that's edible, and I don't have a lot of money to buy things.Despite the shop being essential for people's survival, I can hardly make it go around."
Thano watched him as he ate another bite.
"But if you made cupcakes, maybe you'd like the eggs better."
Eli chuckled."I don't have any baking powder.Flour, I have.I have some sugar, but not a lot, and it's expensive.They don't produce any sugar in Fisherman's Lake, so I have to order from Grave Ville.The transportation is almost as expensive as the sugar itself."He ate another bite without tasting the egg."I don't have vanilla of any kind, but I think you can bake without it.The sugar should make it sweet enough to taste good, and I remember Mom adding lemon zest for taste sometimes when she baked."
* * * *
Thano watched Eli eat.Shouldn't a man like him eat more than two eggs?He didn't spend a lot of time with Romeo, but he believed he ate more despite being smaller.Eli was a big man, and in Thano's experience, the bigger you were, the more food you needed.
Maybe he was wrong.
"Your mother had lemon zest?"He didn't care, but the crows would be happy if they could make cupcakes for Romeo, and maybe Eli needed some variation.Two eggs with nothing else did not make Thano want to taste it.Cupcakes, however, were more interesting.
He didn't need solid food, and most often he didn't eat it, but sometimes Romeo made something that smelled good, and if he offered, Thano would eat.Emeric loved pancakes, and Thano could see the appeal, but he wasn't obsessed.
Eli gestured at the window sill.There were several small pots with plants in them and one big one with a miniature tree."Lemon tree.I have no idea how old it is.One year, I believed I'd killed it.It dropped all its leaves, and I was terrified.I have no idea where I'd be able to get hold of a new one, but it grew new leaves, and I've been tending to it vigorously since then."
"How did you get it?"Could he find a lemon tree somewhere?Maybe he could send the crows out on a scouting mission.But lemon trees didn't grow here.
"I don't know.Mom got it somehow."
Eli finished his eggs, and Thano was convinced it was too little.He still looked hungry, and it made Thano hungry.He hadn't fed for several days.It would get harder now when he wasn't coming to town as often.Vampires didn't need to feed every day like in one of the books Romeo had read to them, but a couple of times a week.Normally, he grabbed someone who walked past him when he was in town for a meeting, bit them, and erased their memory.They had no idea what had happened, but it was important not to be seen.
He looked at Eli.Maybe he could set up some sort of arrangement.Enyo had a female she traded with.She bit her twice a week and gave her some food in exchange.A vampire had no problem taking down an animal.Thano avoided it since he didn't like to get bloody, but he could.
"If I get baking powder, we can make cupcakes?"
Eli looked at him for a long time."I don't know how.I only have a vague memory of the recipe."
Recipe.Maybe there was a recipe in one of Romeo's books.He should bring Eli to The Moonlight Ranch and ask Romeo if they could look at the non-fiction books.He was sure Romeo would be fine with it.
"When do you finish work tomorrow?"
