"And you're paranoid," Mei said gently. "He was on a date. They picked a respectable place, probably off a Google recommendation, just like we did."
"Yeah," Dahlia breathed. "Well, I kinda threw him around the bathroom a bit."
"Did you kill him?" Mei asked, her tone completely neutral.
"No. I fucked him. Well, he fucked me. Told me to take what I needed. That's why I was full when I left." She sucked in a breath as Mei pushed her tiny fingers into the hole on Dahlia's side. "Fuck," she groaned.
"Don't move," Mei warned.
So Dahlia just tried to breathe through the pain. This was one of those times that being drained and numb made things easier. It didn't stop the pain, but it kept it at enough of a distance that she could pretend to ignore it. Mei's digging around in her body, however, was persistent.
Then Mei tossed the hunk of lead in the sink and pushed a wad of toilet paper over the wound. "You get the others out?"
"One's a through and through, and I got the other," Dahlia assured her.
"So, should I be worried that you're spending more time in bed with this man than you are with me?"
Dahlia's head snapped down only to find a devious little smile on Mei's lips, proving she was mostly teasing. "No," Dahlia assured her. "I can't trust him, Mei. I just can't. I know he was there on a date, and I saw the woman slap him."
"What? Why?" Mei asked.
"Because he fucked me in the bathroom, and according to the bartender, it wasn't exactly quiet."
Mei groaned. "Oh, yeah. He deserved that."
"And he took it," Dahlia admitted. "But there was an SUV of inquisitors waiting when I left. They followed me; I killed a priest and two others. I can't tell if they were priests or hunters, but they had stakes. I let the driver live."
"Getting soft in your old age?" Mei teased, lifting the tissue to check the bleeding.
"I thought that if I let a second one live, they'd give Thane a little more space. I knocked him out and stole his shirt because I was bleeding, but he's alive."
Mei tossed the toilet paper in the toilet, then leaned over to flush it. "It's ok to like him," she said. "When I fell in love a few centuries ago, you encouraged me, so this is me doing it back. We are eternal, Valka. We will be together forever. Let's not let life pass us by because we're scared to try, ok?"
"I do not deserve you," Dahlia breathed, cupping both sides of Mei's face and kissing her.
Mei kissed back gently, careful not to lean into her, but that didn't mean there was no passion. Their tongues swirled, savoring each other's mouths. Their fingers caressed, following the lines of each other's faces. They couldn't truly fuel each other, but this was more than that. This fueled their minds. It filled their hearts.
This was love.
It was timeless, it knew no bounds, and it was a reason to keep going. While the world around them lived and died, people came and went, they were forever. Mei was the one thing in the world that Dahlia could always count on. She was the person who would never betray her. She was the reason Dahlia still lived.
"We can't stay here," she breathed against Mei's lips.
"I know," Mei promised. "You get dressed. I'll pack what little we have." But she didn't leave. Instead, her eyes dropped to the wounds on Dahlia's side. "You going to be able to heal that?"
"Yeah," Dahlia assured her. "Thane..."
"Right. Filled up."
"No," Dahlia groaned. "You don't understand. I drank from an inquisitor today. He had more vitality than a human, but Thane still has more. I don't know what it is about him, but when we fuck? He's fine afterwards, and I feel like I'm alive again. I can see, and smell, and hear everything. It's like there's no barrier between my senses and the real world. It feels like he pulls me completely out of the Abyss, but why? Why don't the other inquisitors do it?"
"Is he more powerful than the rest?" Mei asked.
"He's never spoken a Word," Dahlia admitted. "He's strong, though. He's as strong as me."
"What if the rumors are true?" Mei asked. "For each of us, there's one of them?"
"Numbers don't work out, though," Dahlia countered. "Never mind that they're breeding. Plus, if that was the case, my inquisitor would be dead a few thousand years now."