Chapter Eight #3
“That’s not hard, he’s… he’s really good in the kitchen.”
“He is,” Julien said with obvious pride.
Karim returned with a second helping of dinner, and Luis’s stomach fluttered when he picked back up the fork. Across the table Julien worked slowly at finishing his plate in small bites, while Karim retook his seat to watch Luis eat.
It was weird, but Luis decided he didn’t hate the attention. It was intense, but also… kind of nice. A chef who couldn’t eat his own food… maybe this was the next best thing?
“God that was good,” Luis said, as he put the fork down. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Karim said. Luis didn’t think he imagined a quirk up of his lips before he was rising to whisk the dishes away.
“This was really lovely,” Julien said, finishing his last sip of wine. “Thank you for joining us for dinner, Luis.”
“Thank you for the invite,” Luis said.
Then Karim was back. “You bring your kit?” He asked Luis.
Julien was too polite to roll his eyes, but Luis felt the exasperation off him. “You’re being impolite.”
“I’m hungry,” Karim said plainly, “and Luis offered fresh blood.”
The nerves he’d had when he arrived had shaken off with a good meal. Luis pushed out of his chair, “It’s cool, yeah, I can do that now.”
Julien stood. “You don’t have to if you’ve changed your mind.”
Luis knew he meant it. If he decided just to go home, they’d let him. But he wanted this too. He said as much.
“Great,” Karim said, a little hurried, “then let's go.”
Luis held back a laugh as Karim turned to lead him back through the house.
At his back, Julien let out a belabored sigh. “He gets impatient when he’s hungry, please excuse him.”
“It’s fine, I get it,” Luis said. Cassie was like that. Hangry.
He followed Karim back to the bedroom where the kit was.
“Let us know if you need anything,” Karim said. “We’ll be in the living room when you’re done.” He turned to leave with Julien, but paused. “And you’re sure?” He asked.
Luis felt a smile twitch the corners of his lips. “I am. It’s okay, really.”
Karim made a grunt of acceptance, and left.
Luis sat down on the bed beside the kit. He felt more calm and more certain of his choice this time. Dinner had been strange, but nice, and he wanted Karim to have something to enjoy too.
There was only the unpleasantness of doing it first.
Luis went through the steps–alcohol swab, tourniquet, needle assembly. The smell of the antiseptic still hit him hard, but having just eaten, the nausea was better.
The whole process didn’t take long. His muscle memory took over and he tuned his own thoughts out.
He still grimaced at the prick of the needle, and hated sitting through the wait of the blood draw, but then the bag was full enough, and he was wrapping a bandage over the site and breaking it all down again.
His arm ached at the finish, but the relief of being done felt good. Everything went back into the kit, zipped away where he wouldn’t have to see it, except the bag of blood.
Luis sat for a minute letting the queasiness of the treatment settle. The antiseptic smell lingered, and Luis scrubbed a hand over his face, remembering instead the dinner Karim had made. The warm, fragrant scent of the lentils. The crispy, flaky fish.
The memory helped. Soon his heartbeat settled, his breathing evened.
Luis grabbed the bag and stood.
He found both vampires in the living room where Karim said they’d be.
“Here, I’ve, um,” he held out the bag. Both vampires stood–Karim quickly, eagerly, and Julien with a slower, smoother grace.
“And you’re certain?” Julien asked again as he stepped forward. He kept his eyes on Luis instead of the blood.
“Jules,” Karim said with annoyance, despite the fact that he’d asked the same question just minutes ago. He reached out and took the bag. “Quit looking a gift horse in the mouth.”
“You do remember how that story ended, don’t you?” Julien said.
Karim rolled his eyes, “To actually make the analogy work, Luis’s blood would have to be infected and then kill us. I don’t think that’s the issue here.”
“I’m sure,” Luis said. “I promise it’s not a Trojan horse.”
Julien gave him a dry look, but Karim snorted.
“Alright,” Karim said as he walked back to the couch with the bag. There were two empty glasses there. It took only a second for Karim to pull the release on the bag and start pouring into one of the glasses.
Luis stared, shocked. He knew they were going to drink it, but last time it hadn’t been in front of him.
“Karim,” Julien said.
“What?” He paused before filling the next glass. His eyes met Luis’s. “Jules wanted to offer you an out on this part if it creeps you out, but I figured you’ve been out with us for like a year, we’d know if you were squeamish.”
Which wasn’t inaccurate. Luis had been somewhat squeamish in the beginning about blood drinking, but hadn’t thought anything of it in so long.
Still, there was a difference between them drinking blood, and drinking his blood.
“Uh yeah, it’s fine,” Luis said. Because he was at least willing to see this through once, and see if that was true.
“Great.” Karim finished pouring the rest into the other glass. They were half full when he was finished, Luis’s blood a deep ruby red, already staining the glass as Karim picked them up and jostled the liquid. “Cheers,” he said, offering the other glass to Julien.
The man took it, but something in his jaw twitched. “Must you be so uncouth.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Karim said, and then brought the glass to his lips and took a pointed sip. Luis stood there and watched, didn’t know what else to do. The vampire licked his lips and then hummed. He took another long sip.
“Excuse me,” Julien said stiffly, and took his glass and left the room.
“Jules,” Karim called after him, but the other vampire did not return.
Karim huffed and retook his seat on the couch, gesturing for Luis to sit. He did so on the couch across from Karim. There was something squirming in Luis’s stomach. He felt too warm, but not disgusted.
“Him and propriety, I swear,” Karim grumbled. He took another sip, leaning back into the couch lazily. Then he eyed Luis. “You good?”
“I am. I think? It’s… weird, but…” he shrugged. His body was a swirl of emotion he couldn’t put name to.
“Yeah, that’s what I told Jules. I knew you’d be okay. You’re adaptable.”
Luis blinked at him.
“What?” Karim said, smiling with fangs. “Is a compliment that out of character?”
“Considering I can’t think of any other time you’ve ever done it…” Luis trailed off.
Karim chuckled and took another sip. “I’m adaptable too.”
“Uh huh,” Luis couldn’t stop looking at the glass, at how quickly Karim was draining it.
“Is Julien coming back?” Luis asked after a few seconds.
Karim waved a hand in the direction he’d disappeared. “Yeah. Don’t worry about him, he’ll get a lot more relaxed when he gets it that you’re not fragile.”
“What? Fragile?” Luis frowned. He’d never thought of himself as fragile, but he supposed from a vampire’s perspective, humans were. Still, Luis didn’t like it.
“Oh,” Karim sat forward quickly and reached for another bottle that had been sitting on the coffee table. It was bright orange and unlabeled. “This is for you.”
He chucked the bottle at Luis. Luis fumbled, but managed to catch it.
“Drink it so Jules doesn’t come back and lecture me for neglecting your health,” Karim said.
Luis looked at him, then at the bottle. It was unlabeled. Homemade? He hadn’t been offered a sugary drink after losing blood in years.
Now, he twisted the cap off and gave it a tentative sip. It was a mango juice blend, sweet and cold.
“Mango’s my favorite,” Luis said after he’d taken a few swallows.
“I know,” Karim tipped his glass back to finish it, then set it down on the table.
“How do you know?” Luis asked.
Karim shrugged and fished his phone out of his pocket. “A couple of months ago one of the bars had a virgin mango mojito for the summer special. You got excited and ordered it because mango’s your favorite.”
Luis remembered that vaguely. He hadn’t thought Karim had been paying attention though. “Oh.”
Karim kept tapping at his phone. Luis sipped his juice, unsure what else to do. He knew how to handle a prickly, contentious Karim. He didn’t know what to do with this one.
“So…” Luis started when the silence had gone on too long.
“Just ask,” Karim said.
“Ask what?”
Karim looked up from his phone. “You want to know how you taste.”
“I–” Luis hadn’t been thinking that, but now that Karim had brought it up, he did want to know. His hand flexed around the cold juice bottle.
“It’s what every human wants to know.” Karim licked his lips as though still tasting the blood. His eyes roving up and down Luis in one slow trail.
Luis suddenly remembered the effect that blood had on vampires. He hadn’t considered how that might be different when it was his own blood. Despite the juice, his throat felt dry.
“Um,” Luis said. “How do I taste?”
Karim chuckled, catching his gaze. “Maybe one day I’ll tell you.”
Luis glared at him. “Bastard,” he said, but it sounded incredibly fond.
“Gotta keep you on your toes,” Karim said, one-handed tapping on his phone.
Luis’s pocket buzzed a second later.
“Are you serious?” Luis said, pulling his phone out.
“As serious as this ninety-six point word,” Karim said with glee. “You’re going to lose this round for sure.”
“We’ll see, asshole,” Luis hissed as he swiped the screen to pull up the game.
“Not my fault you have the vocabulary prowess of a child,” Karim taunted.
Luis scowled at his letter tiles. He’d forgotten he’d been working on a big drop. Something that was going to smear the floor with Karim. He finally had the vowel for it.
“I guess then it’ll be even more tragic for you when you do lose,” Luis shot back.
To drive the point home, he lined up the tiles on the board and then hit submit. Karim’s look of outrage when the score jumped nearly a hundred points a second later made it all worth it.
“How long have you been planning that?” Karim growled as he started poking at his phone.
“Maybe one day I’ll tell you,” Luis parroted back.
Karim gave him the finger and just like that, they were back on familiar ground.
Eventually Julien returned. They both put their phones away.
“Is everyone well?” Julien asked, his gaze lingering on Karim who was scowling.
“All good, Karim’s just a sore loser,” Luis said.
“The game’s not over yet,” Karim muttered under his breath.
Julien looked curiously between the two of them, and smiled. “Good. Shall we get ready to go then?”
When he and Julien had talked about this evening, they’d agreed to keep the bar as part of the plans. Luis’s blood alone wasn’t enough to sustain them for the week.
“Ready,” Karim said.
Luis nodded, standing. “Ready.”
That evening at The Last Drop, Luis couldn’t help noticing his reticence to be there. It wasn’t the fear of what had happened at the last bar, or the later night that made him want to leave, but something else.
A small, ugly feeling was growing in the pit of his stomach as he watched first Karim, and then Julien go back behind the curtain for a drink. Because he’d given them his blood, but now they were having someone else’s.
What was it like, back there behind the curtain? Luis knew they sometimes had regulars they fed from. Humans they recognized. Did they have relationships with these people?
None of this had mattered to Luis before, but suddenly he was curious. Maybe even a little jealous.
And that… wasn’t good.