“Personally, I’m happy to see all the normal food groups.” Milk, cheese, bread, meat and vegetables fully stock the shelves, the smell fresh and crisp.
“Or maybe…” Kai lowers his voice next to my ear. “We’re dinner.” He snaps his teeth. I laugh and push him away.
“We have no plans to eat you.”
An embarrassingly high squeal jumps out of me as I spin, knocking into Kai—whose own cry of surprise is equally high. Our flailing limbs send a basket of apples tumbling to the floor, and scatter like loose marbles towards Ramy.
“Holy shit, dude,” I wheeze. “I’m putting a bloody bell on you.”
“Is my heart still beating?” Kai pats down his chest.
Ramy’s laugh is light and air. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry. I suppose I’m too used to living with vampires.”
“I’ll forgive you this time,” I tease, and begin collecting the shiny red apples. “Erm about last night. Thanks for…Well. Thanks for everything. I did feel a lot better once I was in bed. I guess I was pretty tired.”
Ramy looks as if he’s uncomfortable with the praise, but a small smile tugs at the corners of his mouth as he helps gather the apples. Kai takes bread, butter, and cheese from the fridge for sandwiches.
“Hungry, Ramy?” Kai calls over his shoulder. “If you eat, that is?”
Ramy appears taken aback by the question, but quickly recovers and says, “That’d be nice, thank you. ”
After the apples are back in place, Ramy pours three glasses of orange juice, and Kai finishes his tower of sandwiches, then we sit at the kitchen island and eat.
Kai chats happily with Ramy as if they were old friends, and after some probing Ramy sheepishly admits he’s thought of a few tattoo designs. Kai seizes on this with infectious enthusiasm, even offering to draw up some stencils, and soon Ramy’s matching my friend's energy—though in a softer, quieter way.
I try to keep track of their conversation, but I perk up at every creak the house makes, hoping to see a dark figure with startling blue eyes in the doorframe. Soon my untouched sandwich lays abandoned, my fingers wrapped around the table’s rim while chewing on my bottom lip.
Flicking my attention to Ramy, I wrack my brain to find a way to ask about Lucero without…asking about Lucero.
“Sooo, did Lucero tell you about the blood mages? He was pretty worried.” He actually seemed more put out than worried, but Ramy doesn’t need to know that.
Ramy turns to me and nods. “He told us when he got home this morning,” he replies, also seeming unbothered by blood mages. “But we’ll get rid of those rats.”
Both Kai and Ramy wait a beat, but I duck my head and they soon return to their conversation.
“Are there other vampires here?” Kai asks.
“Rurik. But he’s looking after a club we own,” Ramy answers smoothly.
“Does he have tattoos?”
Ramy laughs in that same airy way. “Yes, actually.”
My hands tighten with each passing second. The words forced down my throat scratch at my tongue before I can’t hold back anymore.
“Where is he?” I blurt.
“Rurik?” Ramy replies innocently, though there’s a sly little quality to his question.
“Lucero,” I whisper. Nails digging into the wood, hoping I don’t sound desperate.
“Would you like me to take you to him?”
Do I want to be Lucero’s soulmate? Am I risking too much? Does he see me?
Am I strong enough to catch him?
None of it matters, really. Of course I breathe, “Yes.” And it carries enough weight to fill the kitchen.
