AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re my hero,” I comment.
He chuckles and tells stories of his home planet, Korn, which sounds similar to Earth. Hale shows me pictures on his tablet of his own “domicile” and the general area where he lives. It looks like his species mainly lives in a high-tech modernized medieval Europe-type setting, with lots of stone and wooden buildings and castles, thick forests and heavy snows. And Hale owns his own magnificent fairy-tale-looking castle, like something I’d only normally get to tour while on a fancy river cruise of the Danube.
We sit so close our thighs touch and our arms are next to each other. But this is through layers of clothing. I lean in and giggle at something funny he says, resting my cheek on his fabric-covered shoulder.
An animalistic growl emanates from his chest.
I sit up straight. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking…”
“No, this is not your fault. It’s mine. But the symptoms are getting worse,” he says. “It’s time for more blood.” He scoots back his chair, stands and grabs a bag of blood out of the fridge.
I can’t help but wonder what he means by “worse”?
And then I blink with surprise because his crotch is tented with an impressive erection he can’t hide. And also, he’s lifting the cold bag to his lips. “Are you going to drink that blood in here, right now?”
He pauses, because it’s obvious he was going to totally drink his synthetic blood in front of me as if it’s as natural as drinking a soda. He’s now second-guessing himself.
And I feel guilty. I shouldn’t be grossed out by things that are natural to his species. If for instance I were to go ahead and become his mate, this is what would happen. I would have children who were half-Korn and most likely drank blood sometimes too. “No, don’t leave. I’m sorry. I want you to feel comfortable.” I give him a big, encouraging smile. “I hope you will also accept all my weird human attributes.”
“I will.” And then he picks up the bag and I watch as he opens a tab at the top that turns into a sort of straw. He puts it to his mouth and starts drinking the blood, sucking it all down in great gulps as if he’s drinking a milkshake.
I do my best to not openly stare, but it’s hard. His corded neck looks magnificent as he swallows the blood. Somehow he appears powerful as he ingests this synthetic blood. “I’ve never seen someone drink blood before,” I admit afterwards. “But it doesn’t look so bad. Does it taste good?”
“It takes good. It’s flavored, so that helps. It’s only synthetic blood. Not the real thing.” He licks his lips and I can see a drop of blood or two and some of the deep red stain on his two sharpest teeth, but then he licks it away and it’s as if it was never there. He places the empty blood bag, that still contains drops of blood in the interior, back in the fridge. Then he turns toward the sink to wash his hands.
“It helps?”
“Yes, I already feel better.”
I can’t help but glance at his crotch again, and it’s true that he’s lost that magnificent hard-on. Although that package, even at rest, is still impressive. I shift on my seat, trying to relieve the heat between my thighs. “Tell me, if we did do something crazy, like give in to these urges and I became your mate—what would that be like? For instance, how would you feel about having a mate not of your species? I would be human so your children would be half-human. How would your family feel about that?”
He shrugs. “It has happened before. Korn mate with other species. After we officially joined the four sectors and mingled more often with other species, we’ve had offspring that are half Korn. But one thing you need to know—it always seems that the offspring, no matter what species the parent is and the gender, the offspring always retain the fangs of the Korn and the ability to ingest blood as we do. They move forward in life finding their mates through blood frenzy.”
“Do you think it’s weird that I don’t drink blood?”
He sits back down next to me. “Yes, it’s odd to me that your species is similar to mine and yet does not have this ability. I am concerned that you have blunt teeth and that this makes you defenseless.”
I grin. “I’ve managed to take care of myself all this time.”
“How old are you?” he questions.
“I am twenty-seven. How old are you?”
“Thirty-two.”
We gaze at each other, a beat too long and our hands again much too close on the table.
This isn’t good. It’s not fair for me to do this to him.
“I’m getting my knitting,” I announce.
Chapter5
Hale
Time goes by and I'm beginning to lose my mind concerning Sabine.
I ingested the last bag of blood minutes ago, which allows me to sit near her and behave reasonably. Three bags were left when she arrived and they were supposed to get me through the next few diurnals, which included the worst of the frenzy. My isolation should have done the rest. But being stranded with Sabine has ruined this careful plan. I drank a bag of blood an hour after she arrived, then I needed to ingest the rest of the blood every hour, on the hour.
