Chapter Ten #2
He sounded neutral, like being tossed out wouldn’t bother him. Luis repressed a groan, repressed the urge to snipe at him like he usually would. Ronan would take it wrong, and he needed to… deescalate.
“We’re doing the bite,” Luis said.
Ronan did not look confident about that answer. He eyed the two of them with extreme distrust.
“I’m consenting, really,” Luis said. “We’re friends, it’s cool.”
“We are friends,” Karim said. His tone had dropped, and Luis repressed any physical reaction to it.
Ronan looked between them once more, and then sighed. “Fine, but if this becomes an issue, you’re gone.” This Ronan directed at Karim with appropriate menace. “I don’t care how much of a regular you are, you get me?”
Karim gave a salute. “No worries, Ronan, I’ll be on my best behavior. Scouts honor.”
“Uh huh,” Ronan said dubiously.
Karim shifted in his seat. “Not trying to do anything, really. Just knew Luis was going to be nervous his first time, thought I’d try and lighten up the mood by bothering him.”
Luis flushed. Had that been his plan?
Well, he couldn’t say it hadn’t somewhat worked. He was… less nervous now.
“Alright,” Ronan said reluctantly. He set his kit down on the table.
Karim sat up from his reclined position, and turned toward Luis. The smugness had dropped off his face, and now he looked serious, focused. “You ready?” He asked Luis.
But Luis was already nodding.
“Come closer.” Karim gestured at the space between them.
Luis scooted over. Was he breathing? He forced air through his lungs.
“Wrist or neck?” Karim asked.
Luis had thought about this a lot while reading the paperwork. Wrist might be less intimate, but his arms had been through enough. “Neck,” he said.
Karim nodded. His hand came up slowly, broadcasting what he was about to do. Luis did his best not to jerk away from the pure surprise of being touched. Karim’s broad hand cupped the side of Luis’s head with startling gentleness. His skin was warm.
“Now tilt your head,” Karim guided.
Luis bared his neck. He’d worn a dark colored shirt with a looser neckline just for the occasion.
The hand moved to settled on Luis’s shoulder. It was a firm weight. Luis was grateful for it immediately.
“Just breathe,” Karim said. It was a tone he’d only ever heard aimed at Julien after two drinks on a car ride home. To hear it here and now made something electric zip down Luis’s spine. “If you need me to stop, I will.”
He was treating this seriously, and that went a long way toward easing Luis’s nerves. It made him feel safe. Safer than he had any right feeling here in a vampire bar about to get his first bite.
Karim leaned in and Luis could feel his heat. Ronan handed something to Karim, and there was the sharp, brief scent of antiseptic. It passed cool and wet over his pulse point and Luis shut his eyes trying to keep his thoughts away from nauseating territory.
“Sorry,” Karim said, voice low, “Antiseptic is mandatory.”
Luis took a shaky breath. “‘S okay.”
“Okay, done,” Karim said when the wipe was done. “Breathe.”
“I know,” Luis said, sucking in a breath. “I’m fine," he said, despite his nerves crashing into each other like overcharged atoms.
“You doing okay?” Ronan asked.
“Okay,” Luis managed to get out. Then he realized he’d need to explain more or Ronan might blame Karim. “I just–I really hate the smell of antiseptics.”
“Bad memories,” Karim supplied. “Ready?”
“Yeah. Do it.” Luis hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.
Then Karim was closing the distance between them. There was a puff of heat against Luis’s neck, so hot compared to the cool disinfectant wipe. Luis’s eyes were still shut, and he couldn’t open them. He was a mix of excited, afraid, anxious, and guilty.
But he needed to know.
A chime sounded. “Time start,” Ronan said.
Then teeth touched his skin and pressed in.
Luis gasped at the first sensation of pressure-pain. It wasn’t anything like a needle, somehow less sharp, more natural feeling. The hand on his shoulder tightened, and Luis relaxed into it. A heavy, almost relieved breath pushed out of him.
Instead of panic, a strange warmth washed through him. It felt like all the blood in his body had been coaxed to the surface, flushing him head to toe.
Karim’s lips on his neck were soft, the gentlest of pressure around the wound he’d made. It contrasted to the scratchiness of his facial hair.
Then there was a draw at his throat—a suck.
Luis’s head spun as if he’d stood up too quickly. Awareness shrank to the one point of contact. It blotted out everything else.
The initial pain dissolved. Luis knew it should hurt, he was bleeding, but it didn’t. There was just the pull of Karim drinking from him and the heat running through him.
Karim sucked again, and something new rippled through Luis. Prickling along the back of his neck, making him gasp.
Arousal.
He was plunged, suddenly, headfirst into a sea of it.
His teeth clattered together around the sounds that wanted to escape at the sensitized pleasure radiating from his neck and down his spine.
He had no idea it would feel like this. He’d done some poking around online, people had said it didn’t hurt, could even feel good but–but no one had mentioned this.
Luis’s hand came up to grasp at Karim’s shirt.
This didn’t feel like something that should be happening at a bar.
He was grateful for the booth and table though, because his reaction would be obvious otherwise.
His whole body went tight, and it took all his concentration not to respond, not to push forward, not to moan.
Fuck.
Fuck.
There was nothing in his head but the desire, and it was being stoked by the pleasant, subvocal rumblings from Karim as he drank.
He’d never felt anything so good. He wanted more, wanted Karim to—
“Time.” A voice cut through the haze. It was followed by a sharp ping of an alarm going off.
That dizzying pull at Luis’s throat stopped, and the teeth came off of him. A tongue swiped once over the punctures in his neck, and it made the skin tingle.
Then Karim was pulling away, uncurling Luis’s hand from his shirt. Luis forced his eyes open.
But instead of Karim, it was Ronan hunched down in front of him. The man was looking at him assessingly.
“Bite haze,” Ronan diagnosed, reaching down to put two fingers on the other side of Luis’s neck, feeling his pulse. He glanced at his watch on the other wrist. “Can be a lot the first time. Give it a few seconds.”
Luis blinked at him. His mind was sluggish. Bite haze?
He hadn’t read about that.
Ronan pulled his hand away, and then reached for Luis’s water. “Here.”
It took all of Luis’s focus to bring it to his mouth and swallow. The cold helped, his thoughts began to arrange themselves once more.
He’d been bitten. Now he was done.
Ronan’s attention stayed on him.
“I’m okay,” Luis said between sips. His words slurred.
“You’re getting there,” Ronan said with a smile. “You did great. Not so scary, huh?”
Scary? No. Scary was not the word Luis would use.
He turned to look at Karim. The vampire was leaning back against the booth, looking subdued.
Their eyes met for a charged beat. Then Karim licked his lips. His fangs were still down.
“Feel sick?” Ronan asked.
“No,” Luis said, setting down the water. “I’m a little… drunk feeling? But otherwise okay.”
Ronan nodded. “Vampire enzymes help with the pain, but they can pack a wallop, especially your first time. You’re looking better though.”
Luis reached up to touch his neck where Karim had bitten him. There was a slight tenderness, a scabbing, but it was nothing like how his arms felt after he drew blood.
“You’ll have scabs for a few hours,” Ronan explained, “but by tomorrow it’ll be pink and fading.
In two days, you should have nothing there at all.
If you do have any issues or reactions, come back and I’ll take a look at it.
You can also go to a walk-in clinic. Once in a while we get someone allergic to the enzymes, but that usually shows up pretty immediately. ”
Luis nodded, but his head was stuck on the fact that he’d done it. He’d let a vampire bite him.
He’d let Karim bite him.
“Well,” Karim said, sliding out of the other side of the booth. He looked more himself again. “That was fun. Thanks, Ronan, for your oversight. You’ll make sure he’s okay?” Karim gestured at Luis.
“Yeah, I’ve got him,” Ronan said, friendlier now.
“You’re leaving?” Luis blurted.
Karim’s gaze dipped to him. “We’re not encouraged to linger back here.” He said it almost apologetically.
“That’s correct,” Ronan said. “Have a good night, Mr. Singh.”
Karim gave Ronan a nod, and then started toward the exit with an almost reluctant saunter.
“What…?” Luis watched him go. He was just going to leave? Luis tried to stand, but a heavy hand stopped him.
“Give it another minute,” Ronan said gently. “You didn’t lose much blood, but the bite haze can turn you around for a few minutes.”
Luis didn’t want to give it a few minutes though. Karim had just drank from him, and now he was leaving? Shouldn’t they… talk about this? Discuss what it meant going forward. Were they going to do that again, or…?
Wait.
A more pressing concern pushed forward.
Who was driving Karim home? Luis was their usual driver, and Karim had confessed Julien didn’t know he was here. Had he taken a rideshare? Was that safe?
“Thanks,” Luis said when Ronan lifted the hand off him. “Um, can you check me out? Is that–how does it work?”
Ronan frowned, but reached for his handheld. “Yeah, I can check you out. I’d advise you to give it a few before leaving though, just to make sure you’re good to drive.”
“Cool, thanks, I will,” Luis said. The moment that Ronan’s attention slipped to the handheld, Luis got out of the booth.
“Hey–” Ronan started.
But Luis was already halfway to the door. He was sure Ronan could catch him if he really wanted to, but Luis must’ve been passable on his feet, because no one stopped him.
On the other side of the door the bar was stuffy and crowded now with humans. Luis scanned the darkness to find Karim, but he was nowhere to be found.
Luis dug his phone out of his pocket to call him, when he spotted the dark, messy hair through the front windows of the bar.
Quickly, he headed in that direction.
Stepping out into the cool night air gave Luis the last push he needed to get his head on straight. He sucked in a deep breath, making his way through the smokers.
And just beyond the sidewalk crowd, he spotted Julien and Karim.
He couldn’t see Karim’s face from this angle, but Julien looked angry. As he neared, Luis could hear Julien speaking in rapid, furious French. Karim had his hands up in a placating gesture.
“—me calmer. Ce que vous avez fait est complètement irréfléchi, n'avez-vous pas considéré que mettre Luis—”
“Hey,” Luis said, stepping up and cutting in as he heard his name.
They both startled. Julien recovered first, turning to him. His eyes went immediately to Luis’s throat.
How obvious was it he’d been bit? Clearly enough for a vampire to see out here in the dark, because Julien’s eyes narrowed.
“Luis. Je suis—I am so sorry,” Julien said. “I told Karim not to come here, but—”
“He’s an adult,” Karim cut in. He was attempting a scowl, but the blood had already softened his demeanor. “He can make his own decisions. He’d never had a problem telling me to fuck off before.”
Julien snapped something sharp at Karim in French. Then, “It’s inappropriate, following him here, biting him. Luis is our employee.”
“And our friend who hangs out and has dinner with us,” Karim added. “Who has already given us blood of his own volition, if you recall.”
Julien’s look could whither grapes on the vine. His hand closed tightly around Karim’s bicep.
“That’s not the point, and you know it.” Julien’s English had thickened, making some of his words more difficult to understand.
Then his attention turned back to Luis, softening.
“Luis, I’m so sorry about this. It’s so inappropriate, and if you no longer feel safe with us, if you don’t want to drive for us, I completely understand–”
“Wait, what?” This was all happening too fast. “You don’t want me to drive for you anymore?”
That made Julien pause in his attempt to drag Karim away.
“Ah, not–not what I meant,” Julien said. “I only mean if Karim crossed a boundary, I would understand–”
“Friday at nine,” Karim interjected, “we’ll have dinner and drinks.”
Julien made a sound of outrage. “Chut, mon c?ur.”
As threatening as it sounded, the words only seemed to please Karim. He mimed zipping his lips.
Julien sighed, and then gave Luis a discerning look. “Are you well enough to drive home? I could drop you off, or call you a car…?”
Luis waved him off. “Uh, no. I’m fine to drive. Really,” Luis said, which was the truth. “I’ll see you Friday?”
Julien paused as though he wanted to say something further, then sighed again. “Alright, yes. I’m sorry he sprung this on you. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I am,” Luis said, “don’t be too hard on him, okay? It was… better than a stranger,” he offered.
Karim’s brows went up, and Julien looked thoughtful.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Julien said. “You have a good rest of your evening, Luis.”
Then Julien was turning and hauling Karim away by the tight clamp he had on his arm.
“Goodnight!” Luis called after them.
He stood there and watched them until they got to the car parked across the street. He could tell Julien was still speaking, even if he could no longer hear them. Karim glanced his way one last time before dipping down to get into the passenger side of the car. Luis caught the flash of fang.
Then he spun on his heels and headed for the back lot where he was parked.
An hour later, in the harsh bathroom lighting, Luis stared at the scabbing mark on his neck. It looked like a vampire bite, two small points of puncture that had sealed up.
So, vampire saliva really did work.
Luis tried to imagine going to the bar again, but letting a stranger bite him this time. Would it be better or worse?
If it felt the same way it had tonight, he couldn’t imagine having that with a stranger. It was too intimate, too… arousing.
As strange as it had been with Karim, it would’ve been ten times worse with a stranger. Would he have grabbed at them?
He went to his bed. For the fourth time since he’d gotten home, Luis reached for his phone. The screen lit up, but there were no new messages.
He stared at the screen for a long time, and then swiped over to open the Words with Friends app. There was a new notification from Karim. Between Luis’s vertical CRETIN and ANNOY, Karim had played BITE, touching the edge of the board and putting him back in the lead.
Luis stared at it.
Bite.
He put a hand over his face, the chuckle escaping against his will.
What the fuck was he doing?