Chapter Eight #2
Julien looked away, and the pressure lessened. “Of course when you sell antiques, some of the best pieces often find their way into one’s personal collection.”
Luis forced himself to swallow. Why was he suddenly so nervous? “Yeah, makes sense.”
“Karim hates it,” Julien chuckled softly.
“We have a credenza that would’ve paid for the upstairs bathroom remodel if I’d sold it, but I couldn’t part with it.
Instead, we had to save for six months to have the funds for the bathroom.
Karim was quite unhappy having to use the guest bathroom, but when I finally caved and suggested we sell it, he refused. ”
“That’s… sweet,” Luis said. He wasn’t used to putting such an adjective on Karim, but he was also starting to see glimpses of that side of him.
“Yes. He knows how weak I am for beautiful things, and accommodates that far too often,” Julien said with an affectionate smile. “He complains too, of course, but he’s one of those beautiful things I could never let go of. I moved countries and rearranged my whole life to keep him, so.”
“That’s, wow. I’m glad you two found each other,” Luis said and meant it. His own feelings aside, there was no denying how well-matched they were.
“Me too,” Julien said. His fingers drifted over the smooth wood. “You know, we’ve been together for so long. Once I would’ve said that Karim was it for me, I was satisfied. But the thing about appreciating beauty, appreciating life, is that sometimes something new comes along to surprise you.”
His words had slowed to a wandering pace, but Luis was lost.
“What do you mean?” His heart sped up, like it knew something he didn’t.
His eyes met Luis’s again, and he looked amused. Then he shook his head. “Oh nothing. Just thinking out loud. Speaking of surprise, have I ever told you about how Karim and I met? He almost staked me on our first date.”
Luis froze. “What?”
Julien chuckled. “I forget what country it was, they’ve changed names so much, but we were in Europe, somewhere with a white population. I’d heard rumors of a ‘monster’ in the area.” Julien frowned, “I’m censoring this part because the local dialect used far unkinder descriptors,” he said.
Luis nodded.
“I’d guessed the monster had to be a vampire and I was…
still newly Changed and reckless. At that time it was rare to meet another vampire.
Well, one night I managed to find him picking the lock on a barn.
Karim took one look at me, thought I was with the village pitchforks and, well…
I daresay the only thing that spared me that night was the Urdu I’d picked up during my travels.
Karim had a sharp bit of the barn door aimed at my heart before I managed to ask him not to kill me. ”
“Your exact words were, ‘Please don’t kill me, beautiful, dark god’,” Karim said, striding in with three plates of food balanced in his hands.
“I admit I was working with a limited vocabulary,” Julien said. “But it was effective.”
“I was so caught off guard hearing my mother-tongue I stopped trying to kill him long enough for Julien to explain he wasn’t with the villagers,” Karim said. “In very broken Urdu.”
Julien nodded. “We spent the week together trying to bridge the communication gap, and I finally convinced Karim to come with me to a town where I’d set up something with a local doctor to exchange blood for my services.
Karim and I helped move stone for a new construction and Karim had his first guilt-free meal of his new life. Then–”
“Julien please,” Karim whined as he brought the first plate to Julien, setting it down.
“No, this is the best part, I have to tell him,” Julien said, batting his lashes up at Karim.
“Tell me what?” Luis asked, riveted. A plate was set down, but Luis was focused on the story.
Julien looked to Karim, who sighed and dropped his shoulders. “Fine,” he grumbled.
Julien’s eyes brimmed with delight. “So, we finish, Karim has a drink, and then he disappears. And I assume, well that’s it! He’s gotten a meal and I’ll never see him again. I was already head over heels, so it was quite the heartbreak.”
“Jules,” Karim groaned as he took his own seat.
“But then, four days later, who should show up on my doorstep with a bushel of white roses?” Julien smiled at the memory. “Roses that, I should mention, grew nowhere near us at the time.”
“I had to go to the coast,” Karim explained gruffly, “That’s why it took so long.”
“Needless to say, I kissed him immediately,” Julien said. “And made him promise to never disappear on me like that ever again.”
“And I haven’t, have I?” Karim said.
“No. No you haven't, dear. But you’ve never given up on romantic gestures either,” Julien’s eyes fell to the plates they’d been given. He hummed, “So why don’t you tell us what you’ve made tonight?”
Karim gave Julien a look that Luis couldn’t decipher. “It’s fish fry with khichdi,” Karim said, “I hope you like it.”
The last part came stiff, and Luis chalked it down to Karim being put on the spot by the story. He was clearly uncomfortable being cast that way.
Luis turned his attention to the plate. He’d been served two deep fried filets with lentils; all artfully arranged like something one would order at an upscale restaurant. It smelled warm and vibrant with spices.
Luis’s mouth immediately started to water.
“Wow,” Luis said. “It looks amazing.”
“Please, eat,” Julien said, “we don’t stand on ceremony here.”
Luis picked up his fork.
The first bite was warm and delicious. The spices were vibrant, the coating on the fish crunchy and perfect with the soft inside of the fish. As someone who regularly subsisted on microwave meals and takeout, it had been a long, long time since Luis had had something this good.
So focused on enjoying the meal, it took him far too long to look up and remember he was sitting at the table with two vampires. Vampires who… weren’t eating?
His eyes went to the two other settings. Karim and Julien’s plates were the same size as his own, but the servings were miniscule, tiny cuts of fish with a spoonful of lentils at most.
Julien smiled and elegantly speared his bite of fish. “Don’t mind us,” Julien said, “our anatomy doesn’t allow for a lot of regular food digestion, so it’s small servings only.”
Oh. Luis looked at his own plate. Was it rude to eat in front of them? But they’d set this up…?
“Please enjoy yourself,” Julien said, as if picking that worry out of the air.
Right. “It’s um, it’s really, really good,” Luis said.
Karim hadn’t touched his fork yet, was just watching Luis.
“Karim, you’re going to make him uncomfortable,” Julien said when he finished his bite. Then to Luis, “He used to be a chef, so feedback is very important to him.”
“Oh,” Luis said. Karim had been a chef? “Well, it’s amazing,” Luis said, “really. I don’t think I’ve had this dish before, but it’s delicious. I didn’t know you cooked.”
Karim shrugged.
“Are you not eating?” Luis asked.
Karim looked him up and down, “I will in a few minutes.”
Luis’s heart tripped over itself. The blood.
“Solid foods are tricky for vampires,” Julien supplied. “Most of us can have a little, but solid food is best paired with blood for digestion. Karim has a more delicate stomach than myself, so often he forgoes solid food.”
“Then why the plate?” Luis asked.
Karim shrugged, “Julien doesn’t like to feel like he’s eating alone, so I just always serve myself. Sometimes I eat, sometimes I wait for something better.”
The implication of that was clear.
“Oh. Right.” Luis could feel heat on his face.
“Don’t feel bad about eating with us,” Julien said. “We don’t have the same feelings about solid food we did as humans. We don’t get satisfaction from it; we don’t desire it.”
“Do you want more?” Karim asked, glancing at Luis’s plate that was half cleared.
“At least not first hand,” Julien added.
Karim was watching Luis like he was the meal at the table, and Luis supposed that was true. Heat broke out along the back of Luis’s neck, and his skin prickled like Karim’s gaze was a physical touch.
“I’m not finished,” Luis said.
“Will you want more?” Karim asked, and his voice had dropped a register.
“Careful,” Julien said.
Luis lowered his eyes to his plate. It was really, really good. “Yeah,” he admitted, “if that’s okay?”
“It is. You can have however much you want,” Karim said.
Luis swallowed and forked another piece of fish instead of trying to reply to that, sticking it in his mouth.
And Karim watched.
When he’d cleared his plate, Karim stood and rounded the table to him. Luis tries not to be so aware of his presence, the way tonight he was wearing a dark button up shirt with the sleeves rolled that bared his muscled forearms. The way he stood just a little too close as he picked up the plate.
Against his better judgement, he looked up. Karim was looking at him, dark eyes gleaming.
“I’ll be right back,” Karim said, and then was stepping away, taking the plate back to the kitchen.
Luis sucked in a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
“He won’t say it,” Julien said when he’d gone, “but he’s thrilled to have someone to cook for.”
It took a moment for Luis to shift his focus. When he did, he saw that amusement was back on Julien’s lips.
“Doesn’t he cook for you?” Luis asked.
“He does, but you’ve seen my portion. Much more satisfying to cook for someone with a real appetite.”
“Oh,” Luis said. “Don’t you have other people over? Dinner guests?”
But now that he thought about it, they really never mentioned friends or coworkers they spent time with.
“No.” Julien reached for his wine glass, touching it as though he were going to lift it to his mouth, and then didn’t. “Karim’s… not fond of most people. It’s complicated. You’re our first guest in a while.”
“I hope I’m doing okay,” Luis said, suddenly self-conscious. “I think this is my first non-family dinner.”
“You’re perfect,” Julien said. “And you like his food, that’s all I could ask for,” Julien winked at him.