I almost waded straight on in with another question.Almost. But I stopped myself. I needed to stop digging at the quicksand.
Hans started chopping up onions and I walked over to watch him. He had peas and broccoli, too. He took out some peppers and mushrooms to add to the collection.
“Is it really true what they say about garlic?” I asked him, and he rolled his beautiful eyes.
“Questions, Katherine.”
I giggled. “That’s hardly a serious question, Hans. Are you allergic to garlic, or not?”
“We don’t appreciate garlic, no. It’s an antibiotic. It doesn’t do well for our blood, and it doesn’t taste nice in other people’s. You could see it as you see chocolate for dogs. They can eat a little, but it definitely won’t agree with them. Too much of it will certainly put them in the veterinary clinic.”
“What happens if you need a doctor? Do you have vampire clinics you can check into if you have a garlic OD?”
He grinned. “Not exactly, no. I’d have to retreat into darkness for a few days. Let the cold sweats take it out of me.”
I became serious again, watching Hans’ beautiful fingers chopping food.
“It’s sunlight, isn’t it? That’s your biggest danger.”
“Yes. It is. That’s the killer. A very brutal way to pass, being burnt up into cinders.”
I shuddered, hoping that never happened to him. The idea of having him gone from me was already unbearable.
He tossed the ingredients into a pan and added some spices, mixing them together like a pro. He really did know what he was doing with food.
“Plenty of health in this for you,” he told me. “You’ll need to keep your nutrient levels high.”
He laid the thick, raw steak into the sizzling hot pan and within seconds it smelt absolutely delicious. I was definitely hungry for it.
“Take a seat and relax,” Hans said, and I did what I was told, retreating to the island with my elbows back on the counter. Finally, I sat in silence, letting the questions slip away.
No more questions. Not tonight.
It was only a few minutes before Hans presented me with my dinner, arranged beautifully on a big porcelain plate, blood oozing from the steak. It made my mouth water. It had been a long time since I’d had such an extravagant meal. I’d been consuming jam on toast for weeks like a girl gone mad.
“Thank you so much.”
“You’re very welcome.”
The first bite melted on my tongue. “This is truly delicious.”
“Blood generally is, I find,” my vampire chef said with another flash of humour. “But you could say I’m biased.”
I felt my strength coming back with every mouthful of steak. Strangely vivid–
“Your body knows what it’s lacking,” Hans said. “You’ll feel the digestion a lot more intensely than you would do without a vampire in the equation.”
“That’s good to know.”
“Yes, it is. Since you’re going to be needing that energy very, very shortly.”
His smirk was divine. His eyes were like perfect green daggers. His tone was alight in a way that made every single part of me tingle.
I paused with my fork in the air. The rush of excitement was insane, even though I was still on the verge of exhaustion.
“Shortly as in tonight? More bites and more touching, and…”
My words dried up. I felt like the awkward virgin girl I really was.