Chapter 15 Rowan #4
I had been completely silent since my first bite, concentrating on sucking down two spoonfuls of the broth before moving on to try each vegetable in it individually, and then finally the meat.
My plan was then to create perfect spoonfuls of the best mixes, which was probably a pretty strange thing to have a plan about.
“I thought I remembered you saying you weren’t fond of wine,” I murmured happily, still feeling the warmth of the thick stew going down the back of my throat.
It really was something special, because if I didn’t know better, I would think that it was still somehow there, the heat radiating throughout my body and up into my face. It was almost like I had a pulse!
“It’s not for me,” Naomi said, returning from her fridge and placing a familiar bottle in front of me. “It was kind of a pain to get this, but from what I understand, bloodwine is actually pretty popular and can help you sort of process this meal?”
A bit unorthodox to talk about such secrets on a date, but what was our relationship if not unconventional? “I can’t believe you’ve done all this,” I murmured, reaching out to the bottle and looking at the label. “Really, Naomi, you’ve outdone yourself.”
As I looked at her, all of my feelings began to surge, my face growing hotter and my tongue feeling like it was too thick in my mouth to adequately express how grateful I was. How could someone so kind, so beautiful, so thoughtful have spent so much of her life so lonely? A crime, really.
“Aw, it’s no big deal.” I understood that in her experience compliments were often backhanded or a setup to a trap, but I wanted her to understand just how serious I was about her amazingness.
“It is a big deal to me. Thank you, Naomi. You have completely made my night. Maybe even my entire month.”
“I, uh, you…” She blew out a breath, then her smile was back. “You’re welcome, Rowan. I was happy to do it, and I’m also thrilled that you like the food.”
“Like? Now that’s underselling it. I love it. I really do.”
I opened the wine and poured myself a glass, almost doing the same for Naomi. But a slight quirk of her eyebrow reminded me that bloodwine wasn’t exactly a helpful part of her diet, so I put the bottle down and grinned ruefully.
How could everything be so perfect? I had no idea.
But my body was physically reacting to the rampant amount of joy flowing through me.
My eyes watered slightly after I tried a bite with tomato, potato, and the meat all together, and that warmth that had just been in my throat before had spread to much of my body, leaving the tips of my fingers and my scalp tingling.
It really reminded me of what it had been like to be alive, and I couldn’t tell if that was just a special magic that Naomi had or the sheer power of abgoosht.
Everything else grew hazy outside of the two of us, and when I finished, draining the last of my wine since the salt did make me thirsty, and it had been a while since I’d fed on blood of any kind, I sat back in satisfaction.
“You don’t mind if I have one more bowl, do you?” Naomi asked, and I shook my head. I was well aware that she, as a mortal, needed the calories from food in order to live. And I was also aware that she, as a shifter, needed a whole lot of those calories.
“Not at all!”
“Okay!” She started to get up, then paused. “You know, I was going to save this for later, but I think this would be a good time to set this up so you’re not just staring at me while I eat.”
I didn’t tell her that I would be happy to stare at her doing anything in the world, and that watching her enjoy herself would be a treat.
I had a slight itch growing in my throat, and I couldn’t help but think that it was my worrying penchant to say something stupid at the wrong moment.
Somehow, I managed to be quite smooth and natural with Naomi, and I didn’t want to ruin that now.
“I think you’re going to like this,” she continued, hurrying away.
As if I hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from her every effort she’d made since before I’d even walked in the door.
“I’m not exactly an expert on the subject, and there wasn’t time to ship it, so I had to get what was in stock at the retro store, but I figured, this way, whenever you visit, you wouldn’t have to go without. ”
She returned with a gramophone and a vinyl in her other hand.
She… She had really gone out and gotten that for me just so I could listen to records while I was at her place? The burning in my eyes increased, and I now knew for certain that my waterline was growing wet and irritated.
“Naomi…” I wheezed, my voice barely there. She really was the perfect woman. I wished I could articulate that, but I was choking up in the same manner as I had when Ibrahim walked into the sun to conclude his journey.
Actually… wait.
Maybe I was actually choking?
All of a sudden, I wheezed, and the warmth that had been radiating down my throat became more itchy than anything else. What was going on?
“Wait, are you wearing makeup again? I’m sorry, I didn’t notice. Did you do that for me?” Naomi asked, but it was like she kept going above and below water, her tones and syllables warping all around each other.
“No,” I rasped. “No makeup.”
“Oh, are you sure? Because you look like you’re wearing blush. And maybe even a little lipstick. I don’t mind. I wear makeup too. As long as it’s something you want to do and not something you feel forced to do.”
She was sweet, but I actually didn’t like to wear makeup at all, and also, I haven’t put any on.
Concern rushed through my mind as the heated feeling went from comforting to extremely uncomfortable.
I whipped out my phone to check my reflection in the camera.
Sure enough, my cheeks were red and growing redder by the second.
And now that I thought about it, my tongue was indeed feeling too big for my mouth.
“Need… need to check something.”
I stood, going to the kitchen where Naomi had taken the empty bottle of wine. Checking the label again, I saw it was indeed a trusted brand, so it was unlikely to be poisoned or cursed. Okay, So what could possibly be happening?
I heard soft footsteps behind me and turned, planning to inform Naomi that the wine was safe, but I didn’t get a word out before she let out a sharp, startled scream.
“Rowan!”
“Wha?” It wasn’t enunciated or coherent, but she understood what I meant. She took a photo of me with her and showed it to me. I blinked at her screen, eyes itchier and more watery than ever.
Oh.
Yeah, that really wasn’t good.
My face was puffy, swollen, and exaggerated in a way that didn’t seem physically possible.
My eyes were nearly swollen shut, tears streaming from them, which explained why the world was suddenly so blurry.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was a rash spreading from my face down my neck—and the rest of my body, if the itchiness was any indication.
“Do you know what’s happening?” Naomi asked, her voice carrying a hint of panic. “Is there anyone I can take you to? Is there vampire medicine for... whatever this is?”
I shook my head, thoughts vacillating between rapid and sluggish, and I tried to remember what this element could possibly be.
I hadn’t been human in a long time, but it tugged at the recesses of my memory.
Something similar to when I’d used a soap that had been a gift from my father that had left me. ..
“Allergy!” I said with a surprising amount of volume considering that my throat felt like it had narrowed down to the size of a pencil.
I was having an allergic reaction.
And that was when my eyes landed on our empty dishes in the sink and the pot with the delicious meal that had filled me with such beautiful nostalgia and introspection.
A dish I hadn’t had in so long, I had forgotten that along with the onion, there was another significant aromatic in it.
After all, I’d only ever cooked it once in my entire life and that had been more than eighty years ago.
“Garlic!”
“Wait,” Naomi yelped, all the color draining from her face. “The garlic thing is true? Every source I read said that it didn’t actually work as a vampire repellent!”
“Doesn’t.” Oops, and there went the vision in my left eye completely. I was now down to monovision. “Repel, that is. Hanging garlic is useless. But we are allergic. Severely.”
Naomi let out a truly impressive string of expletives while she ran to the pot, slammed the lid on, then sprinted out of the kitchen. She returned a bunch of pill bottles.
“Here! One of these has to help you! I’ve got Claritin, and oh, here’s Benadryl! Midol, which has anti-inflammatories in it, a generic antihistamine pill. Oh! Hydrocortisone cream for the rash!”
It was sweet, just as everything Naomi did was, and it was cute too, but none of that would help.
“No,” I wheezed and now I was actually getting worried. How much garlic had I ingested? A single clove? Two?
But then Naomi was picking me up, still babbling as she started carrying me to the door.
“There’s gotta be something at the drugstore that can help you, right? Or is there an emergency vampire doctor I can take you to?”
“No,” I repeated, even though words were becoming more and more difficult by the moment.
“Okay! Your coffin then, got it. I’ll just load you into my car and—”
“Too far. Too slow,” I ground out. “Need. Feed.”
Her muscles tensed even more. “What?”
“I need blood. To heal. Coffin is too slow for something…” A deep wheeze ripped out of my chest in a way I hadn’t intended at all. “Like this,” I finished lamely.
Naomi set me down and visibly relaxed. “You need to drink blood?”
“Mmhmm.”
A sigh of relief. What was going on again? “Oh, well why didn’t you say so?” Abruptly, she pulled the collar of her tunic aside and bared a tanned column of enticing flesh. “Here ya go!”