Chapter 7
Eli followed Thano into a small office. He was still a bit stunned over having seen the bear boy.
It was hard to tell how old he was, definitely not an adult.
Romeo had told him about Humbert who wanted to come to Last Hope but wasn't allowed to because he wasn't human-passing, yet Eli hadn't been prepared.
"He's...eh...sweet."
"Who?" Thano glared at him, and Eli took a step back.
"Humbert."
"I wouldn't know. I haven't tasted him."
Eli stared. Was it a joke? Thano didn't look as if he was joking. "O-Okay." Note to self, Thano ate people. Which he already knew but had somehow forgotten. Did it mean he ate others too?
"Hopefully, we'll find what we need in one of these boxes." Thano pulled a sheet off several boxes stacked on top of each other. Each had something written on the side of them.
"I think non-fiction, right? There are no recipes in fiction books." Thano looked into his eyes. "Right?"
Eli couldn't speak, could hardly breathe. Were those boxes of books? A tremor went through him. "Thano." It was nothing more than a whisper. "If anyone finds these, they'll kill Romeo."
Thano shook his head. "No."
"Yes!" He gestured at the boxes. "This, this is a lot."
"Not like a library. Romeo read a book mostly taking place in a library, and there were thousands of books. Not like these. Here are only a hundred or maybe two hundred." He shrugged. "Maybe two hundred and sixty if there are twenty books in every box."
Eli reached out to steady himself on the wall.
"Are you ill?" Thano was in front of him in a blink of an eye.
"No. A little...eh...overwhelmed."
Thano looked between Eli and the boxes. "They're just books. You were excited about the gardening book."
Eli nodded. It was amazing, but this...This was a treasure, a dangerous treasure.
Thano studied him for a few seconds. "No one will come for Romeo's books. They tried it once, and it didn't go well. We're off the paved road. Humans have no say here."
Eli nodded again. It was what had gotten the last board removed--they'd come for Romeo.
"I think we should look through the non-fiction boxes." Thano moved over to the boxes and lifted two of them onto the desk.
"What are we looking for?"
Thano frowned at him. "Cupcakes." He said it as if Eli had lost his mind, and maybe he had.
He pulled in a deep breath and tried to get his brain back on track.
Okay, they were looking for cupcakes. He pulled one of the boxes closer and opened the lid.
There were about twenty books inside, as Thano had said.
He checked the titles. There was one about crocheting, and he pictured showing it to Rosie.
There was one about origami. Eli opened it.
He couldn't help himself. Imagine having so many papers you could fold them into little animals simply for the fun of it. Next up was a recipe book.
Eli opened the back and searched the table of contents. "This one has cupcakes."
Thano stepped closer as Eli searched for the right page. He opened it and stared at a picture of three different cupcakes. One of them was chocolate. He pointed at it. "I don't think we'll be able to get hold of cocoa powder."
"No, most likely not."
"The others have vanilla extract."
"But we can skip it?" Thano's dark eyes bore into his.
"Maybe. It won't taste the same, but it will still be sweet.
I fear they'll taste too much of eggs if we don't have anything else with flavor.
" He turned a couple of pages and stopped when he found a lemon sponge cake.
"Like this." He tapped a finger at the recipe.
"See, lemon zest and juice, no vanilla extract. "
Thano leaned a little closer, and Eli's heart sped up.
"So we need a lemon? There are no lemons on your tree at the moment."
"I think we can substitute. I have some blueberries in my freezer." He had saved them for a special occasion, but maybe trying to bake cupcakes was special enough. "They're not as tart as lemons, but maybe you won't be able to tell there is no vanilla in the batter."
"We'll do that." Thano didn't move away. "I'll borrow the book from Romeo, and we can try it at my place."
Eli couldn't move, couldn't breathe. At Thano's place?
He had a place? Did Eli want to be in a vampire's home, off the paved road, and with no one who could come to his rescue?
He swallowed hard. "Eh...baking powder. I don't have any baking powder, and I don't have any in the shop either.
Sometimes I can get hold of some, but it's not often, and it disappears fast when I have it. "
Thano pressed his lips together, a small crease forming between his brows.
Eli couldn't help but stare. For years, Thano had been the only other in their town--or the only one who walked the streets at least. He might not have been a customer in Eli's shop, but he'd seen him around, and his face has always been a blank mask. Stoic. Dangerous.
He was still dangerous, but there were so many more expressions Eli hadn't seen before. Without knowing why, he touched Thano's arm. "We'll get hold of some. I might be able to use Elijah's phone to call New Town or Grave Ville, see if anyone is willing to deliver."
To have something delivered, he'd had to order a lot more things, and he didn't think he could afford to.
Not when he had to pay for the things Joshua would bring in the morning.
Worry clawed at him. How would they survive if the board went through with the docking fee?
Joshua hadn't made any promises about continuing to deliver--of course he hadn't.
Neither of them could foresee what it would mean, and while Eli was sure Joshua would be willing to go through some trouble to keep Eli as a customer, there were already so many troubles in their lives, so the easiest option made the most sense.
"I'll fix it."
Eli jumped at Thano's voice, and it took a second for him to make sense of the words. "Fix it?"
Thano nodded. "I'll have some tomorrow."
"Oh..."
"Shall I pick you up at the same time?"
"Eh..." Eli was aware he was making noises, not words, but he couldn't get his mouth to work. In the end, he nodded. Shit.
* * * *
Thano watched Tuur drive away with Eli. He was reluctant to let him go, but Eli needed to get home to eat, and Thano needed to get a move on. He watched the taillights disappear out of sight.
He should've gone with him. Now Eli was alone with Tuur for the entire drive, and Thano hadn't liked the look of relief on his face when Tuur had suggested going back. Didn't he like The Moonlight Ranch?
"Is this going to be a thing?"
Thano turned to look at Romeo who walked out on the terrace. "What?"
"People driving my car back and forth to Last Hope several times a day. You better pay for gas."
Thano nodded. He'd pay for gas.
"You forgot your bag." Romeo held up Eli's bag with the strawberry slicer.
Fuck. He'd forgotten all about it in his focus on the cupcakes and his worry about Eli starving.
He should return it. There had been more than one bag in Eli's cleaning closet, but maybe he needed this one.
Grabbing the bag from Romeo, he almost shadow walked off the terrace and toward Last Hope, but he needed to get baking powder.
He'd give the bag to Eli tomorrow. He could send one of the crows to tell him he hadn't stolen it, only forgotten to hand it back.
Romeo cleared his throat. "Why did you bring him?"
"To check the books for the surprise."
"You can read. I believe you and Kerrin are the best readers here."
"No, you are."
"Apart from me. Among the breed living here, you and Kerrin can read books and take in the information without problem, so why bring Eli? You could've read up on the surprise yourself."
Thano glared at him. He wanted Eli to be part of the process, and he wanted to show him The Moonlight Ranch, and Eli knew food a lot better than Thano did.
"Why Eli? You've been in Last Hope for years, and from what I've understood, you've never made any friends, so why are you suddenly spending all your free time with Eli?"
"Suddenly?" And what did he mean by all his free time?
Romeo shrugged. "Maybe suddenly is a weird word to use, but you had no interest in the shop before, and now you're hanging out there."
"Hanging out?"
Snorting a laugh, Romeo shook his head. "He's a good guy."
"I know." He did. Eli cared about the people in Last Hope.
"Don't eat him."
Thano slowly turned to face Romeo. "Excuse me?"
"If you're looking for a meal, pick someone else. Eli is...a friend, and I don't want anything to mess up the relationship we have."
Thano had always known humans were stupid, but he'd believed Romeo was an exception.
"Oh, don't look at me like that! I only meant be careful with him. I don't want him...hurt."
"I'm not gonna hurt him." Maybe Romeo didn't deserve cupcakes if he believed Thano would hurt him. "He's helping me."
"Don't bite him."
Thano straightened his back, and Romeo flinched.
"Don't tell me what to do, Romeo Gallo. I'm still the leader of The Moonlight Ranch, and while I'll honor the--"
"I know!" Romeo threw his hands in the air. "I'm not telling you what to do."
"It sounds as if you're telling me what to do." Thano raised his lip to show off a little bit of fang. "Who I feed from is none of your business."
Romeo's eyes widened. "You're feeding from him? As in...regularly?"
"It's none of your business."
Swallowing, Romeo nodded. "If you do, though, you should make sure he eats better. He's lost weight since I moved here, and he was too thin to begin with. He'll need better nutrition if he's regularly losing blood."
Heat washed through Thano. He liked the sound of that. He should take care of Eli, make sure he ate as he should. He should've gone with him and made sure he ate more than only a couple of eggs. "What food has good nutrition?"