your age. To be so hungry.” You tossed me a blood bag from the fridge and even though I’d just eaten, I tore into it as well. I tried to nurse it rather than gulp.
“What was it like for you?” I asked. You’d never really shared the details of your blood cravings before.
“It was an obsession, an unhealthy one at times. Every waking moment, feeding was all I could think about. I fantasized about human flesh and planned my days around my next bloodmeal. Human smells drove me insane. I wanted to taste every person I came across, but really, I wanted to tear into them with my teeth. Not just for their blood, but their muscles and bones too. Sometimes, if I couldn’t get to blood fast enough, I’d bite my own arm.”
You were voicing my own forbidden fantasies.
“That’s exactly what it’s like for me, even after I’ve eaten. How did you ever get enough?”
“What has Mater told you?” you asked, eyes clouded with suspicion.
“That she kept blood slaves,” I said cautiously. I knew how you felt about it, and I shared in your disgust. “But she promised she wouldn’t anymore. When she gets out of prison.”
Your eyebrows hitched. You didn’t trust her to keep her word. Should I?
“Growing up we had blood slaves,” you said. “And when I went to war, I fed on the dead and mortally wounded.”
I should have been revolted by the idea, but I wasn’t.
“I fantasize about eating people,” I admitted. “Not chewing them but sucking them dry.” A vision of Carter flashed through my mind. Before he collapsed, it had been so good—so warm and rich and satisfying. Then, I thought of his waxy skin and bruised eyes, feeling doubly guilty that I’d enjoyed it.
Spooky wedged her body between my calves, so I scooped her into my arms and stroked her back. The feel of her soft fur and the repetition of the movement calmed me.
“That’s normal for a youngblood. It takes time to learn to control your thirst.”
“How long?” This shit was getting old fast.
“A while, but with age, you can go longer between feedings, and the craving isn’t quite so sudden and severe. You can feel it building and anticipate its arrival.”
“It makes me feel so out of control.”
“I’m going to teach you to hunt. Humanely.”
“That’s possible?” And also, why had you never mentioned it before?
“It’s how I feed when I travel.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” I never wanted to be in the situation I was with Carter, ever again. “He almost died, Henri.”
You laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I won’t let that happen.”
You could overpower me, or compel me with seduction, and maybe that was enough. For the first time since you’d left, I began to feel optimistic. I didn’t want to be a slave to my thirst.
“When do we start?”
“Well, I have some news. We’re going to take a trip to Las Vegas. For work.”
“Your work?” Your job, as I understood it, was something like a bounty hunter for the gods.
“Yes, where you will begin your training as my apprentice.”
Apprentice. I didn’t know what all that entailed, but I figured some sort of badassery was involved. “I’m kind of soft,” I admitted. My martial arts training—even my fencing—were mostly for self-defense. I didn’t actively start trouble with people. My strengths were in persuasion and manipulation. Mind control? Yes. Mortal combat? Not so much.
You smiled at my admission. “I won’t ask you to do anything beyond your abilities.”
“What about Spooky?” I nuzzled my chin against the top of her head. Her light purr was a soothing rumble against my chest.
You shot her a wary look. “Is it important to you that she join us?”
My cat was immortal. I’d made her this way. I couldn’t leave her behind. She was mine.
“Extremely,” I said.
“I have a one-cat limit.”
I smiled. “We’ll be on our best behavior.” I draped Spooky over my shoulders so I could wash my hands and get to work on the cake. “What are we going to do while we’re in Las Vegas?”
“We’ll catch a show or two and hopefully track down a meddlesome demon.”
I started to ask more questions, but you held up a hand to stop me. “Can we continue this conversation after I’ve showered?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
You headed for your bedroom, and I started the cake. I caught a sliver of your naked body through the crack in the door—your chest and shoulder in profile, the side of your thigh, that delicious muscle in your ass