“Do you need me to feed from you? Are you aching?”
Funny enough, I absolutely wasn’t. “Not yet.”
“Okay. Sleep. If you wake up and it’s daytime, I won’t be awake.” He kissed my cheek. “I don’t understand what’s happening. We will figure it out. You need to rest.”
As he’d ordered, I went back to sleep.
Two
Iwoke up in a haze. It had been a very long time since I’d slept during the night and into daytime.What time is it?The quilt Caesar covered me with fell off my chest when I sat up. I didn’t have my phone and there weren’t any clocks in the room. I rubbed my eyes, pushing sleep from my mind. I hadn’t dreamed, not that I could remember.
Looking down, I stared at my hands. They weren’t shaking. It took me a moment to digest that feeling. I wasn’t in any pain, either. When was the last time that happened? The morning I’d woken up when they had all died? After that, it had been a steady series of hellish wake-ups ever since. My stomach grumbled.Am I hungry?
It was daytime, so wherever Caesar had gone—as he wasn’t in the room with me—he wouldn’t be around to ask about food, but he’d fed me the night before.
Maybe there was something left? Where had he gotten the food, anyway? I pushed my blankets aside and stopped to stare at the bed. I cleaned this place more than I cared to remember; making the bed was almost habit. Even my tiny little bedroom above Wanda’s bar was spotlessly clean. When I had any energy, I got busy keeping things straight and in order.Something in life should be that way.
Fuck it. I’m not making this bed. My own personal passive aggressive moment that no one would ever know about except me.I’m not making any more beds in this vampire compound ever.
Period. End of story.
I didn’t know how long feeling not-shaky and not-sick might last, so I made my way upstairs. The lights were all off, so from the outside, it would look like no one was home. Maybe. That’s what I imagined anyway, I really had no way to know. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like he’d been deliberate in his use of light, perhaps trying to avoid letting anyone know he was in residence.
He said he had to find me.Well… he found me, but why did he want to find me?
I opened the fridge and caught my breath in surprise. It was packed with food, more than I could probably eat in a week. Maybe a month. Where did he get so much food? It was well after midnight when we’d arrived. The grocery stores weren’t open, not that vampires particularly concerned themselves with things like business hours.He probably robbed the place.
I should feel morally offended, but I was too hungry to care. I grabbed one of the sliced hams and started to make myself a sandwich. It was breakfast but who cared anymore? I ate over the sink, not even making it to the chair to sit down. For just a second, everything felt heavenly. A full stomach was such a gift.
Then the pain started. I winced.Yep.My stomach wasn’t used to so much food. I should have known better. Starting small was key.
Puking sucked, but I had no choice. It looked like I was missing work. My phone was on the bathroom counter, plugged in and charging, where Caesar must have put it, so I shot a text to my manager. Maybe it was the only available outlet? Who knew how vampires thought. My manager would have to come in and handle things. I didn’t have a car and this location was too far for me to walk. As I puked into the toilet, my good mood fled.Yeah… this fucking sucked.
I was drinking tea when Caesar appeared in the kitchen. I never actually looked around the house to find him, as it seemed like a good idea to let the vampire keep his sleeping area private. So far, Caesar hadn’t been threatening. That didn’t mean things wouldn’t change.
He stared at me a long moment. “You don’t feel well.”
“I woke up hungry then ate too much too soon. Forgot I needed to be really, really small with portions, so I spent the morning into the early afternoon puking.” I winced at the memory. “I’m settling my stomach now.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. He was so cool, so passive. “Does that happen to vampires? Can you gorge yourself on too much blood?”
“No. We are always hungry. It’s a constant ache. We learn to take enough to be sharp, to be strong, and then to leave the need alone unless we are in a rage, in which case it usually ends up in a bloodlust frenzy. It can be hard to be pulled back from that. We all wake up the first time in a frenzy, and it doesn’t go away for some time. Months at best.” He tilted his head in the way that vampires do. “Actually, at this moment, I’m not noticing my hunger. It is very much at bay, so small I am hardly aware of it. How is your need? Are you craving the venom?”
That was interesting. I’d never heard that about how they fed before. “No.” I shook my head. “Surprisingly enough, I’m absolutely fine in that regard for the first time in a long time. Why is that? What did you do?”
“Nothing.” He stepped further into the kitchen where I sat. “Last night is a mystery. What happened to me and you during the feeding doesn’t make sense. Even vampires in serious committed paramour relationships don’t want to have sex during feeding. Sex and food are separate things.”
I was glad he wasn’t avoiding or redirecting the subject. “Why didn’t you act on it then? I tried to touch you, but you stopped me. If it’s such a unicorn of an occurrence, why not… I don’t know, use it?”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I hadn’t uttered them.What is the matter with me?Having sex with the vampire Caesar wasnoton my to-do list. Still, I’d already said it, and it wasn’t like I could take the words back, so I swallowed.
He shrugged. “First off, you were minutes from death. Even in that state, I knew it wasn’t a good idea.”I was what?I sat forward but he was still talking. “You also had rules about sex. I remembered them and recognized that, despite what we were both feeling, it wasn’t going to happen.”
I tried to swallow. “I’m not minutes from death.”
“You might be underestimating how worn out you are. We’ll fix this.” He passed me to stare out the window. “I can’t stand the smell of cooking food, but I will continue to feed you appropriately until you are better."
I got to my feet. “Why are you doing this? And you can remember my rules?”