“Well, how am I supposed to get to a tire shop?”His voice was so defeated, I almost felt bad. Almost.
“I dunno. You should’ve figured that out before you tried to run us over.”I waved before walking away with Dennis at my side.
“Your reflexes still suck,”he said.“Also, you’re the worst at crossing streets. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Stop being mean. I zone out sometimes and forget to check.” I made a show of checking the next intersection before stepping out. “Where are we going to drink?”
“We can try over here.” He slowed as we reached the nearly deserted lake,wherealone couple sat on a bench ahead.
It was perfect timing; I could feel ablood craving coming on. I started to walk forward, then hesitated.“How are we gonna do this? Maybe we should ask permission. Can we do that?”
“What the fuck, Vixen?”Dennisseemed downright offended.“No. What’s wrong with you? What kind of vampire asks for permission?”
“Never mind.”I backtracked but it was already too late.
“You’re a disgrace. I can’t believe you’d even ask that—”
“Okay,”I cut in.“I get it, no permission. Is ripping their throats out good enough for you?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “Let’s do a murder.”
“What? No!”
“I’m joking.” He chuckled as I sighed in relief. “It’s the same as usual. Start drinking, it’ll lull them to sleep. They’ll wake up thinking it never happened. The only uncomfortable part—for you, I’m assuming—is getting started. There’s no way around that.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to control my nerves.This would be my first time drinking blood without pretense. It felt wrong. But that thought was pushed aside when another bout of the craving tore through me. Their blood smelled so alluring. Their heartbeats sounded so fresh. I could only imagine the taste of warm blood as it soothed my thirst.
I snapped out of it at the realization Dennis was already gone. He’d grabbed the man from behind. The woman reacted but I reached her in a flash, covering her mouth to keep things silent. Dennis was already drinking, so I followed suit.
My fangs gently punctured her wrist. I was careful to focus, not to be rough, not to cause any actual harm until I felt her relax in my grip. Eventually, she fell unconscious. I was still drinking when Dennis touched my arm. A few seconds passed before he forcefully pulled the woman away.
“I wasn’t done yet,” I complained.
“You were drinking too much.” He took my hand and placed it on her neck. Her skin was cold and her pulse had slowed significantly. “I don’t care, but I figured you would.”
“I almost killed her?” A rush of emotion hit, and I nearly teared up at the realization.
“It happens. You stopped in time. She’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
My body relaxed when he nodded. He placed the man on the bench and I did the same with the woman, propping them up as they were before. I wiped the final droplets of blood from each of their wrists, then listened to the woman’s pulse for a few seconds. It wasn’t back to normal, but it was getting there.
“Thank you,” I murmured. “For stopping me, I mean.”
“No problem. You’re doing a lot better than most new vampires. You haven’taccidentally killed anyone yet. That’s pretty rare.”
“Does that mean I’m ready to drink alone?”
“Unless youdowanna kill someone, nowhere near.” Hewalked away so I skipped to keep up.“Why are you skipping?”
“Because I want to. I like skipping.”I slowed to a normal pace to seem less hyper than I actually am.“Do you normally put people back after you drink from them, or are you only doing it since I’m with you?”
“If they seem nice, yeah. If they seem like an asshole, I might kill them and leave the body. Depends on the day.”
“At least you don’t torture them.” I was trying to point out the good, but he didn’t agree. Or say anything.“Wait, do you?” I glanced over and stopped dead.Kiro was a couple of blocks past Dennis, leaving Miller’s Marketa block away.“Can we go a different way?”I asked it quietly, but Kiro seemed to recognize my voice and looked our way. My stomach flipped when he smiled.
“You okay?” Dennis asked.
