Chapter Eight #3
Mia gasped. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“It’s embarrassing. I was beyond hungry, and I nearly bit his throat out. He punched me and got back in the water.” Meeda felt her blush.
“Who was it?” Mia asked, “Fuck, who is it?”
“Don’t know. Just know he smelled like food and sex in all the best ways. I had gone sharky and tried to get blood.” She shrugged. “It was during that last video shoot in the islands.”
She finished her plate and used a small spell to deliver it and the cutlery to their receptacles. She looked at the other male. “Who are you?”
“Xletl. I am one of the four surviving pixies. Well, five, with you.” He paused. “What do you mean, gone sharky ?”
Meeda looked at him and let her eyes go black, and her teeth sharpened. “I am a deep-sea mermaid.”
Mia leaned against her shoulder. “Sometimes. She is usually a nice, picture-perfect mermaid.”
Meeda let the sharp and deadly appearance fade.
Xletl nodded. “I think I see what happened there. Did you chase him?”
“No. I was too weak to chase him.” That was partially true. The other part was that she didn’t want to leave Mia.
“Ah. Well, you will have to get stronger if you are to catch him.”
“I don’t want to catch him. I am not chasing any man who runs from me. If he doesn’t want me, I don’t want him,” she spoke softly.
“What did he look like?”
Mia chuckled. “She isn’t good with faces. She’s better with outlines.”
Xletl smiled kindly. “What is his outline?”
“Um, he was like a big merman, but he had tentacles here and here. Two on each side.”
He nodded. “Thought as much. No one has seen him in centuries. He’s mainly a creature of instinct now.”
“Well, he will continue to live on.” She stated it calmly. “His life is not my business.”
Xletl sighed. “No, I suppose it isn’t. If I brought you a willing donor, would you drink?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t know how to drink from the living. With the others, I went for the open wounds. It’s embarrassing.”
He stared at her. “Holy shit. Right. I will ask Kazuya. He knows some water breathers and might know of one who would do for you. I’ll be right back.”
Mia took her hand and squeezed. “There is no shame in it if they are willing, and it keeps you alive, Meeda.”
“But I look... I should put the glamour back on.”
Mik squeezed her hand. “Just be yourself.”
She nodded at her therapist. “I will try. Just being here is as much as I can manage.”
“And you are doing very well.” Mik squeezed her hand.
Mia nodded. “You are. And I don’t mind if you find someone. I can always move to be with you, and if you are on the water, you can just appear in more commercials for us.”
Meeda smiled. “You are just happy to get a model for free that won’t sue if the photographer is demanding.”
“I wasn’t that demanding?”
“You had me flip out of the sea in a circle fourteen times! That was exhausting.”
“But it was so gorgeous. Your images in our stores still get folks posing inside with them.”
Mia looked over and chuckled. “He’s just gotten to the part where he was describing the rib tentacles. That must make for some weird abs.”
Meeda chuckled.
The other two finished their meals, and some dark elves were on clean-up duty. They walked by, and Meeda started to chew on her thumbnail.
Mia held her hand. “I know you are hungry.”
Mik sighed. “You are always hungry.”
“You are not wrong.” Meeda groaned. “Oh, this is stupid. I am going to the car. I can wait until you finish socializing. I have hit my limit.”
Mia was protesting, but Meeda got up, turned around, and slammed into one of the few male non-elves in the mix. She rubbed her nose. “Ow.”
She looked up and cocked her head. “Japanese demon?”
He nodded. “Very good.”
She chuckled. “I have watched more anime than is good for a person. Excuse me. I am going to sit in the car and wait.”
He cocked his head. “Why? This is a fun party.”
“I don’t do well at parties. I am still hungry, so it is rough.”
“There is plenty of food left.” He frowned in concern.
She sighed. “Never mind. It’s complicated.” She eased around him, and a dark body moved to block her.
Xletl said, “Mao has volunteered blood. He’s strong enough to push you away if necessary. He’s sturdy, has a high blood volume, and doesn’t mind being bitten.”
Mao smiled gently. “I am also not shy and not a dark elf, so no bonding will happen.”
She bit her lip. “I don’t know where to bite without killing.”
“I can help you with that.”
She fidgeted. “This isn’t my house.”
Understanding flared in his eyes. He stepped toward her, and the world turned red as he held her, and then they were on the porch of a small house next to a much larger one.
She blinked. “I know where we are.”
“I will take you back to the party afterward. Now, we are going to go over places that I can be bitten that will cause little to no damage.”
Her lips quirked. “Do you have a chart?”
He shrugged. “I don’t do illusions.”
“Okay, I am guessing here.” She waved her hand, and a flat image of Mao, in demon form, stood in a kimono.
He smiled. “Great. So if you need blood fast, the wrists are good. The interior, not the exterior.” He went over a number of other places and then mentioned that, “There are a few places that are good for arousal, but that basically depends on how you do it.”
She blushed. “Um, how can I not do it?”
“No-nonsense movements. No flirty gazes or licking lips.”
“I do that when I am nervous or when my teeth come down.”
He smiled. “Why don’t we sit down, you can bite my wrist, and we can call that a solid start.”
She nodded nervously and toed off her shoes before they walked inside.
He smiled and sat on a cushion on the floor and said, “It will be easier logistically if you sit on my lap.”
She blushed and nodded, letting him settle her before he lifted his forearm to her mouth, and she felt the heat of his skin and the pulse beneath it.
Her teeth came down, and she leaned forward and bit, her hands coming up to hold him.
Blood cascaded into her mouth, and her body got excited.
Meeda focused on breathing evenly, calculated two ounces, and stopped.
Her body was surging with energy, and she swallowed and licked her lips.
“You didn’t take much.”
She said softly. “I took what was polite.”
He stroked her cheek softly. “You aren’t still hungry?”
“Howling, but I don’t want to leave you a desiccated corpse, so...” She paused. “Safe word?”
He grinned. “Squid.”
She nodded and looked at his arm. The punctures were gone. “So you heal fast?”
“Very fast.”
“Can I bite this arm again?”
“Please. Take what you need.”
She nodded and said, “Thank you.”
She bit again and drank rapidly. She felt him stroking her hair and raised a finger. He laughed and continued rubbing her back.
Half an hour later, she let him go and swayed slightly. He caught her against him as his arm healed again. “There you go. I... don’t know your name.”
“Meeda.”
“What do you do for a living, Meeda?”
“Vice president, Akorin Swimwear.”
“Who is the president?”
“My half-sister, Mia.”
“The woman you were with?”
“Yes.”
“She’s quite a bit older than you.”
“Yes. She was nearly an adult when I was born. I arrived via IVF.”
He was still stroking her hair and said, “Do you ever wear your hair down?”
“Sure. Anytime I am not near alphas. They get sniffy.” She leaned limply against him.
“Did you get what you needed?”
“Yes. Thank you. What can I give you for your assistance?”
“You have already thanked me. I am gratefully accepting that I have done a good deed for the day.”
She fidgeted, and her clothing felt tighter. She looked at her hands and down her shirt. “Good god. How much did I take?”
He chuckled. “Enough to start restoring you. When we return to the party, I will give you my number, and you can come to me anytime.”
She blushed. “I think I have importuned you enough today.”
“I am in full oni mode, and you are cuddled against me like a kitten. That never happens, and my beast is willing to hack off an arm to keep you there.”
She smiled. “Thank you for being my first living donor and my first volunteer donor and my first surviving donor.”
He blinked. “That requires some explanation.”
She explained the boat, being trapped, and then pulled by shadows into the dark realm, where her teeth were her only means of survival.
“You escaped?”
“I did with some help. I flew, and she opened the portal. We ended up back where we left off. I was drowning, and she was back where she was.”
“Who rescued you?”
“I did, and then Mia found me. She has a link to me, and she hired mercenaries to go looking. One of them fished me out of the water.”
“Your parents weren’t rescued?”
“Their bodies were recovered. The bullets made it hard for them to breathe, and the water finished the job.” Meeda sighed. “Right. I need to get back to the party.”
He sighed. “Yes, we probably should.”
He didn’t seem inclined to let her go.
She chuckled and sat up slowly, getting to her feet. Mao sighed and got to his feet in one graceful move.
Meeda nodded, and they got their shoes on. He wrapped his arms around her, and they were back at the party.
She squeezed his hand and tried to step away, but he said, “I am coming with you. I am not leaving you until you have my number.”
Meeda looked and found Mia, holding her phone up. Meeda hauled Mao with her and grabbed her phone, unlocking it and opening her contacts. Mao grinned and tapped his name and number into her phone before sending himself a text.
Meeda smiled. “Satisfied?”
“Not yet, but we just met.” He stroked her cheek.
She blushed.
Mia cleared her throat. “Hello. I am her big sister. Well, elder sister. She is watched. She is protected.”
“I am glad of it.” Mao nodded. “I serve Kazuya, as have my family before me. He is my priority.”
Meeda nodded and exhaled slowly. “Okay. Good.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“You did, and I do better with clarification. Thank you for the use of your blood.” Meeda nodded with a smile. “I am bound to Mia, but for a much shorter lifespan.”