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For some reason, that makes me flinch, but I ignore it as I get to my feet. “I wasn’t rejecting her, Zia. I just… I’m, well, Silas calls me avegan.”
“A vegan?”
I nod.
“What does that mean?”
“I…” I’ve never had to explain this before. Silas knows why I can’t feed the way we’re supposed to, it’s why he brings me the blood bags I never drink because Davina’s device won’t detect the processed shit and I still get nervous, but I’ve never had to break it down for anyone. Mainly because no one fucking knows. “I don’t drink blood.”
Zia blinks at me before she bursts into laughter, but when I don’t join her, her perfectly shaped eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. “You’re serious?”
I nod again as I cautiously walk over and sit with ample space between us. I’m lightheaded still, but I’m not going to pass out. “Very.”
“I thought that was how vampires survived.”
“It is.”
“But you don’t drink blood?” Zia asks as she scoots a little closer.
“I can’t.”
She frowns. “I saw your fangs, though. I can see them right now.” She points at them, almost so close she’s touching them.
God help us both if she touches them.
Barely fighting the urge to roll my lips over my teeth, I sigh. “I canphysicallyfeed. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I don’t understand,” Zia says as she scoots even closer. “How do you survive if you can’t drink blood?Whycan’t you drink blood?”
“I drink coconut water by the gallon. It has qualities that are similar and it’s enough to keep me going. I—”
“You didn’t like what I brought you, did you?”
I blink at her as I discreetly put space between us again. “That’s not what I said.”
Zia shakes her head. “You didn’t like her, and now you’re telling me this just so I don’t chain you to the bed again.”
“That’s not it at all, Zia. I appreciate what you did for me, it was very thoughtful but—”
Before I can finish, she hops up off the bed and rushes toward the dresser. Zia grabs a mug from the top then spins toward me, quickly putting herself directly next to me on the bed again, our thighs touching and everything.
“Here.” She shoves the pea green-colored ceramic toward my chest. “If you don’t have a problem with what I brought you, drink this. It’s fromher.”
I pull my stare away from her brown eyes and look down at the thick, dark liquid-like substance she’s offering me.
And immediately wretch at the coagulated and gnarly blood.
“I knew it!” Zia exclaims as she yanks the mug away and launches it across the room. It crashes against the wall in a mess of goopy blood and ceramic shards, creating the most morbid Rorschach test there ever was.I bet human psychiatrists would have a field day with that. “You don’t like what I brought you and—”
“Zia, stop,” I demand.
To my surprise, she does.
Zia stops dead in her tracks, stops moving completely, save for the rapid pumping of her chest, and she almost looks as though she’s waiting for me to give her acommand.
So, I do.
“Come sit down.” She does as I say, albeit slowly, and sinks onto the mattress next to me. I lower my voice as I turn to face her, Zia’s pulse erratic enough for me to hear. “I appreciate what you did for me.”
