Snod knew this was for the best.
It was the only way to be sure.
For both of their sakes.
Lorenzo already had a syringe drawn up, saying less than confidently, “Okay, based on some rough
calculations... uhm. This should be enough? Ish?”
“Ish?” Frankie scolded. “You’re gambling my boyfriend potentially having a heart attack on ‘ish’?”
“I know CPR!” Lorenzo whined as he stepped up to Snod, syringe in hand. “He’ll be fine!”
Snod rolled up his shirt sleeve, his lip flinching slightly when Lorenzo stuck the needle in. He was
certain that Lorenzo had done it harder than needed to be cruel, but didn’t strangle him.
It took a lot of effort, but Frankie’s reassuring smile gave him strength.
Snod waited.
He felt a slight burn in his chest, his heart fluttering hard. He was sweating and there was a strange
heat washing over him that made him gasp.
Then nothing.
Frankie and Lorenzo were staring at him expectantly, perhaps waiting for a more adverse reaction to
occur.
“Anything?” Lorenzo demanded. “Pain in your chest, tingling in your left arm?”
Snod shook his head and looked at Frankie. The thumping in his heart continued, still fluttering
sweetly as ever. The burn was gone and he felt no other discomfort. Nothing had changed. “Wait,” he
said. “I don’t think it did anything.”
“Why?” Frankie asked, frowning.
“I still feel the same,” Snod said quietly. “About you, I mean.”
“Really?” Frankie asked, touching his chest. “No bond, no blood, and you really want to keep...” He
glanced at Lorenzo, clearing his throat as he shyly said, “Eh, courting?”
“Yes,” Snod insisted.
“We should take another blood sample to be sure,” Lorenzo said awkwardly. “See if the V is really
gone.”
Another tube of blood revealed that in fact virtually last drop of V had been eradicated from Snod’s
system. He had to sit back down, overwhelmed by the implications. What he was feeling for Frankie
right now was truly and entirely his own.
