Chapter 9
Eric
Istared at the blackout curtains as if they might pull open and reveal a clear night sky all on their own, even though I knew that wouldn’t happen.
For once, the dark navy blackout curtains had neither a timer nor an electric motor, and also, it was only four p.m. I still had a couple of hours to go till sundown.
Hell, I was supposed to still be in bed and fast asleep, but my fucking brain wouldn’t let me. Nope.
There was one thing and one thing only on my mind: Finn.
I wanted to see him again, wanted to check if he’d received my groceries, wanted to make sure he was eating correctly.
The need was like an itch under my skin. An itch I couldn’t scratch. A nagging feeling that wouldn’t even stop pestering me in my sleep.
And it’d only get worse.
With a sigh, I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. Oh, hey, it was four thirteen now. A whole whopping thirteen minutes had gone by since I’d last checked the time. At this rate, I’d die of boredom by the time the sun went down.
I unlocked my phone and stared at the screen. I could try reading a book to get my mind off Finn. Or I could start watching a new show. But I’d been doing that a lot during the last three years, and there were almost no new shows to watch that actually interested me.
“I need a fucking hobby,” I muttered to myself. A hobby that was not stalking my mate.
Fortunately, I got a new message from one of my roof friends. Unfortunately, it was just an invitation for game night next week, nothing to keep me busy for more than a few moments.
But before I could navigate back to a different app, I spotted Finn’s name in my recent chats.
Right. Because we’d exchanged numbers at the hospital.
Well. More like I’d given him my number and officially texted myself from his phone so I’d have his.
He wouldn’t realize I’d already snagged it when I took him home after I’d accidentally had him drugged.
I could text him.
I should.
If Aries was correct and Finn was my mate, staying away wasn’t an option forever. As it was, it was getting harder and harder to get away from that damn roof opposite his apartment. If Bennie would let me, I’d set up a fucking tent up there.
A tent should have a high enough SPF for me not to get sunburned and end up looking like blistered rotisserie chicken, right?
Then again, maybe actually talking to him via chat would help a little with the nagging feeling of anxiety.
At four… oh look, four sixteen, he should be awake, right?
So he should be able to answer fairly quickly, and that would tide me over until I could safely get out and check up on him in person. Well, watch him from a roof in person.
Hi, it’s Eric. The guy who invited himself along on your hospital trip? Just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing. Hopefully, the puking blood thing stopped.
There…
I read the text again. It sounded different from the notes I’d left. Right?
Hopefully. I didn’t want him to find out I’d been the one trying to get him to see a doctor. He’d have questions like, “How did you know about my iron deficiency?” or “Did you test my blood?” And later, “How the fuck did you get a blood sample?” Followed by, “Did you drug me?”
I shuddered. No, answering any of these questions wasn’t something I wanted to do anytime soon. Possibly ever.
I hit send anyway, then tried—and failed—to put my phone down.
Great, now I was lying in bed, clutching my phone in my hand, desperately waiting for an answer.
Was this more or less pathetic than the stalking?
Bennie would probably call it cute or adorable. Ever since our conversation with Aries two days ago, he wouldn’t shut up about me having found my mate.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as another wave of dizzying anxiety swept through my body.
My chest felt too tight, as if my heart and lungs wouldn’t fit in it.
Which was ridiculous. I didn’t need to breathe.
My heart wasn’t beating. Objectively, it was an interesting discovery that vampires could have panic attacks that felt like suffocating even though they didn’t need oxygen to survive.
But on a more personal note, I just wanted the anxiety to end, even though I knew that wasn’t in the cards in the near future.
Not until I’d fully worked through the revelation of who Finn was to me.
I had a mate. Something incredibly rare. Something paranormal beings apparently searched high and low for. Sometimes they went centuries without finding their person.
And here I was, three fucking years old—well, twenty-nine if I included my human years, which yes, until I’d reached at least my twenties in vampire years, I’d absolutely do—with a mate.
Aries had been incredibly fascinated when I’d revealed to him that I’d felt a connection with Finn when we’d both been humans, thus proving that even changing species couldn’t destroy a mate match.
I rolled my eyes as I remembered his plea for me to keep him updated on the situation. He said he wanted to help, but there had to be ulterior motives, right? Vampires never did something out of the goodness of their hearts, aside from maybe clanmates.
But Aries wasn’t part of a clan, and he definitely wasn’t a clanmate of ours, though technically Bennie and I weren’t a clan either. Our ragtag group of two was too small to be considered a clan.
My phone chimed, dragging me out of my thoughts. I immediately unlocked it and stared at the display in awe. Finn had answered!
Finn: Hi, Eric. I actually remember you this time around. And yeah, I stopped puking blood, got meds, infusions, and I’m back at home.
I grinned.
Texting with him was great. With a single text, I’d gotten more information about his current state than I’d ever have gotten staring at him from afar.
Finn: Thank you for ordering that Uber. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking walking to the hospital.
Oh, I could answer that.
You weren’t thinking. Lol. You were in shock.
Finn: That’s entirely possible. Still, I’m grateful. I’d love to invite you out for drinks, but I think the doc from the ER might actually murder me for that. I would also invite you over for dinner as a thanks, but it’s nothing but bland food for the foreseeable future for me.
I pressed my lips into a thin line. If he’d listened to me when I first told him about his low iron levels, he might’ve had a chance to stop the progression of his gastritis in time, so we could have dinner together.
Dinner at his apartment sounded fantastic.
Then again, if he’d listened to me in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to drag him to the hospital, and he wouldn’t feel the need to invite me out.
Wait, was I pleased he hadn’t listened to me?
No. I shook my head, thinking about the weeks spent in agony because I knew there was something wrong with my human. My Finn. My mate.
Damn.
Holy fucking shit.
He really was mine. He just didn’t know it yet.
But I did. I so fucking knew he was mine. And I wouldn’t let him get away with treating himself badly any longer. I didn’t care how, but I’d make sure he would take better care of himself.
And the first step was to get closer to him. If he didn’t listen to my notes, maybe he’d listen to me personally.
Would you like to meet at a café? I know one that carries great blends of tea. The owner makes them herself. I’m sure she has something stomach friendly.
In fact, I knew they carried stomach-friendly tea because I’d asked her about it yesterday. She’d told me all about the anti-inflammatory herbs she used, and I’d planned to go back to buy a little pack of loose tea.
Oh well, I could still buy something for Finn after our little meet-up. He might like a get-well-soon gift from me. Tea, a new mug, maybe some honey?
Finn’s answer interrupted my musings.
Finn: That sounds great. I spent the last forty hours in bed and on my couch, so going out might do me some good. You wanna meet up today?
Sure, I’m free.
As opposed to all the other nights when I was busy watching him.
In a year or two, I’d need to get serious about finding a job and learning about investments from Bennie or find a hobby or something like that.
Bennie had said that vampires should take a couple of years to get stable and comfortable with their new bodies and abilities before going back to work.
Then, if they did it correctly, they should start amassing money. Not too much to gather the interest of the media or government, but enough to tide them over for a couple of centuries.
Bennie had hit the jackpot. He’d lived through the golden age of IT and had invested heavily in Bitcoin when it first became a thing. I think he also mentioned having purchased Tesla stock in the early days.
I snorted, still incredibly amused by the fact that a vampire—a being from an ancient species known to be a little stuck-up—had made money by investing in IT.
I guess Bennie and I were part of a new generation, like Boomers and Millennials or Gen Z, with the difference that vampires produced a new generation every couple of centuries instead of every couple of years like humans.
Laughing quietly, I imagined telling someone like Alaric, “Okay, Boomer.” If it weren’t for the fact that vampires got stronger with age, it would definitely be something I’d want to do.
Finn: Great, text me the address, and we can meet up at six? I need to shower; otherwise, my stench will send you running.
I highly doubted anything about him could ever send me running, but I was aware of the fact that telling him that would be considered creepy by anyone—hell, even by me. So I kept quiet and simply texted him a thumbs up, followed by the address.
Six should work in terms of the sun setting, otherwise I’d have to get creative.
I’d had to get creative.
Fucking hell.