Epilogue
Laith
One month later
I rushed down the street toward the party in Novak’s courtyard. The celebrations spilled out beyond his residence, with neighbors and strangers talking excitedly as they drank, ate special meat dishes prepared by Novak’s chef, and smoked their best darakt.
It seemed as though I missed the blood mate ceremony, and the after-party was in full swing. I hoped Amy wouldn’t be too upset with me. I didn’t mean to miss her ceremony, just the first and most boring part of the evening where Thorne gave his stamp of approval on the formation of a new clan.
They were now Amy and Novak of Blood and Truth, blood mates bonded and blessed in the eyes of Temkra and the ruling clan, Blood ‘til Dawn. Great stuff; I was happy for them. But it wasn’t exactly the most pressing issue on my mind at the moment.
I slid through the crowd, looking for Des, my best friend.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Rhain.” I spun around, coming face-to-face with the big hulk of a vampire. “You seen Des?”
“He’s over there with Tavia and Cyan.” Rhain gestured with his drink hand, eying me suspiciously. “You missed the ceremony.”
“I know.” I cringed. “Is Amy mad?”
“I don’t think she noticed. She’s only got eyes for Rath— I mean, fuck. Blood and Truth. It’s gonna take a while to get used to saying that. But anyway, where were you?”
“Had to make a stop at the blood bank.” That wasn’t a lie; it just wasn’t the full truth.
Rhain took out his phone and glanced at the time on the screen. “And that took you two hours? Did you drink from a syringe?”
“Yeah, how’d you know? Didn’t have any people, so I had to drink from a gerbil without killing it. Tiny blood vessels, it was highly inconvenient. Anyway, I gotta find Des. Enjoy the party!”
I pressed through the crowd before he could call bullshit on my, well, bullshit. Near the curved retaining wall, Des was talking animatedly to Tavia. Next to her, Cyan and Novak were engaged in conversation, the two of them looking jovial and almost brotherly.
It was quite a sight, but Des was my target. I zeroed in on him, dropping my arm on his shoulder while smiling apologetically at Tavia. “I’m sorry, Tavi. Can I steal him for a quick minute?”
“Hey!” Cyan barked. “Watch what you call her.”
Fucking Temkra and her possessive, mated males. Couldn’t even call a female friend by a nickname if her mate claimed ownership of it.
“Sorry, Cy. Tavi- ah , may I?”
The human woman nodded and rolled her eyes. “Sorry about him,” she whispered, jerking her head toward Cyan.
“All good,” I said tightly. After what just happened at the blood bank, I was beginning to understand that possessiveness.
I patted Des’s back and beckoned him to follow me to a quiet area just outside of the courtyard.
“What’s up? Where you been?” Des stuck a darakt cigarette between his lips and thumbed his lighter.
“I’m pretty sure I just drank from my blood mate,” I said in a harsh whisper. “At the fucking blood bank.”
Des’s dark brows furrowed, and then relaxed. “No way.”
“Yeah way. My usual didn’t come in for the appointment, so they paired me with a human who just happened to show up. And Des, I’m telling you.” My head shook slowly, recalling the sweet, silky flavor that ran over my tongue and quenched a deep thirst I didn’t know I had. “I’ve never tasted a human, vampire, or anyone like this.”
“That good, huh?”
“Yeah. Better than good. It was… everything.” I looked toward the party just in time to see Amy and Tavia wrap each other in a hug, their vampire mates watching them with quiet love and adoration. “Now I see why those dummies risk it all. That taste… it’s unreal.”
“So what happened?” Des asked. “Who is she? Where is she?”
“That’s the thing, dude. I don’t know.” I laced my hands on top of my head, blowing out a breath. “The donation process has to be anonymous, I get that. But after it was done, she wouldn’t tell me her name. She just left. And the blood bank staff knew something was up, so they kept me in that room so I wouldn’t follow her. By the time they let me out, I couldn’t trace her scent or her blood. She was just fucking gone.”
“Damn.” Des’s face crumpled in sympathy. “So she could be anyone.”
“Yeah, literally. Gimme one.” I held my hand out for a cigarette and he tossed the whole pack to me. “I don’t even know if she’s a regular donor or just a one-off who needed some cash.”
“And you don’t even know what she looks like.” Des handed me his lighter. “That’s rough, man.”
“She could be as big and toothy as a Marrower and I wouldn’t give a fuck. She’s mine.” I lit up, took a long drag, and exhaled it slowly. “But I do know she’s human. Caucasian, I think. She had purple nail polish on and a weird tattoo on her wrist.”
“Weird how?”
“It was just like lines and a bunch of shapes. Really clean and simple, but nothing I’d ever seen before.”
Des gave me a knowing look. “Sounds like you need to do some serious searching among the humans. Maybe even try a bunch of different blood sources.”
“Fuck.” I scratched my eyebrow with my thumb. If I really did drink from my blood mate, life would be utter misery until I found her again. Now that I’d tasted the perfect blood chemistry for me, my brain would not be satisfied by anything else. All other blood sources would be nausea-inducing by comparison.
But if Cyan and Novak’s dopey faces of happiness were proof of anything, it was that finding your blood mate was worth it.
Resolute, I finished my cigarette, flicked the remains to the ground, and crushed it under my boot.
“Guess it’s time to become one with the humans then.”
Whoever this woman was, she was meant to be my one and only blood source.
And I was meant to find her.
Thank you so much for reading Taste of Death! I hope you enjoyed Amy and Novak’s love story.