Page 84 of Blood Lovers

“I’m fine. Go shower. I feel like I’m starving.” Which is weird.

She eyes me cautiously for a moment. “OK.” Then she disappears inside the bathroom and closes the door. A couple minutes later, the shower is going and I’m slipping Pink Floyd’s The Wall out of an album cover and placing it on the turntable. I eyeball the grooves in the vinyl and set the needle down on the last song.

The cheap, built-in speakers crackle as ‘Comfortably Numb’ begins to play.

I scoot back, leaning against the couch, and stretch my legs out, letting myself get lost in the music and the memories that come with it.

I went to this concert in 1980. In LA, no less. It was fucking amazing.

Syrsee wasn’t even born then. Wasn’t even a blink on the radar. And if I was still human, I would’ve been fifty-one.

In scion years I’m sixty-five but in human years I’m… ninety-three. Damn. I’m old. That’s a pretty big age gap. But I don’t feel old. In fact, I feel very young right at the moment. Very… satisfied, actually.

I close my eyes and let my mind wander. Not to the distant past because that’s pointless, but to yesterday morning when I was out hunting down breakfast for Syrsee.

The guy at the church. What was his name again? I open my eyes and blink. “Joshua.” I say it out loud.

We’re not going back to the food pantry for breakfast. It’s Sunday, which means there will be offers of church, and I would like to avoid those. I look around for a clock, find a digital readout on the stove, and realize it’s barely seven AM.

The bathroom door opens and Syrsee appears in a cloud of steam, all fresh, and smelling good, and looking dangerous in a pair of black tactical pants and a dark-gray long-sleeved thermal. She’s got her boots in hand as she walks across the hardwood floor, plopping down on the couch, close enough to me so that her knee bumps my shoulder.

I look up at her and smile. “You smell fucking delicious.”

“The landlord left some apple conditioner in there. I couldn’t help myself.”

I get up off the floor and sit down next to her, our first night together coming back to me in a rush.

Two days. I’ve known this woman two days and I feel like we’ve been soulmates for all eternity. Before I can stop myself, I reach for her, my hand slipping around her waist, my mouth diving for her neck. She tenses, like maybe she thinks it will tickle, but I kiss her gently, just below the ear. “Fucking. Delicious.” Then I pull back and smile.

“You do realize that there’s nothing to eat in this town.”

“Fuck this place. Post Falls is only about a hundred miles away.”

She laughs. Loud. “Well, it’s too far for us. I hate to break it to you, but the gas station is out of gas and I’ve only got sixty-seven—errr, probably sixty-six miles—left on the truck.”

I shrug. “I’ve got a truck too. It’s got a full tank. And when we get to Post Falls, we should just rent ourselves a little house and stay there. Never come back here, ever.”

She points to her backpack. “My shit is already packed.”

I lean in and I’m just about to kiss her when a knock at the door makes us both jump.

Syrsee looks at me. “Two guesses who that is.”

“The church people?”

“Hundred bucks.” She offers me her hand to make the bet.

But I just smirk at her and get up to grab the door.

Sure enough, it’s Joshua. “Uh, hey!” I say this brightly, like I’m not annoyed that the local do-gooder just prevented me from kissing the sexy girl on the couch. “What’s up?”

“Oh.” Joshua looks a little flustered. “Ryet. I wasn’t expecting you.” He peeks past me to find Syrsee. “There you are. I just wanted to check in on you. Emily, my wife, mentioned that you came in for medicine.” Then he eyeballs me, maybe a bit cautiously.

“Don’t worry. I’m totally better. Not contagious at all.”

“I’m glad to hear that. So.” He pauses to beam a smile. He’s something of a contradiction with his longish blond hair. A little bit rebel, but clean-cut and very church-y at the same time. “We have a huge town breakfast on Sundays. I wanted to make sure you knew about it. Just in case you’re hungry.”

Syrsee walks up behind me and gets so close, I can feel her breasts pressing into my back. I want to attack her for this move. Just throw her down on that couch and fuck the ever-loving shit out of her.