“What?” she murmured, catching my expression.
“Just… you’re very charming, you know that, right?”
She blinked at me, and I got the impression thatno,she didn’t know that. While I wasn’t scared of humans or antisocial, I didn’t think I could stop a person and get information out of them like that—not without using a bit of glamour magic.
“Thank you,” she said eventually, and I decided not to press the matter. After all, maybe she was the more normal one, and I was the person who felt the need to wear an entire face of makeup just to go out in public.
Well, that was perhaps oversimplifying things a little bit. It wasn’t that Ihadto wear makeup—I wasn’t ashamed of being an albino—but without it I drew a lot of attention from humans, which I didn’t want. Frankly, it reminded me a bit too much of when I was one of them myself. The people who had been around me had gotten used to my complete lack of pallor, but anyone new who wandered through our village always stared and asked questions.
That was what had drawn me to Ibrahim in the first place. The tall, pale stranger had rolled in one night, somehow unburned from the desert sun and cloaked in finer clothes than I’d ever seen in my life. At the time, I had thought he was a wealthy merchant, like ones I’d heard of in tales and legends, but he didn’t act superior to us in any way.
“Do you wanna go sit up front?” Naomi asked, pointing to the chairs set up in front of the musicians.
“We don’t have to,” I hedged, even thoughof courseI wanted to! I just wasn’t sure it would be appropriate for a first-date activity. My conversation skills would be negligible while they were playing, and then I’d go on and on afterward.
“Do you not want to?” she asked, her head tilted to the side.
I couldn’t help but wonder if it was offensive to find that habit more and more canine-like.
Why was I pretending to be something I wasn’t? Surely, I had already maxed that bar out by masquerading as a human; I didn’t need to add anything more onto it.
“You know what? I’d love to.”
“Hell yeah!”
Her enthusiasm surprised me, and I grinned like a cat that got the cream as she led me forward. I didn’tneedher arm looped through mine or her hand on my wrist, but I appreciated their presence.
Was I really over a century old and having a reaction to what was essentially holding hands? Apparently. Then again, when was the last time I’d actually had such contact? My family had died before I even turned fifty, their only son unable to have children in the traditional way, and my maker had been gone several decades now.
Was… was I touch starved? I’d never thought about it before because I had my music, my instruments, and my Brammy boy. What more could a vampire possibly need?
I looked at where Naomi and I were joined by the tiniest bit of skin.
A lot more,I admitted to myself.I need so much more.
I was pretty sure Naomi didn’t notice my dazzled nature, but if she did, she made no comment on it. Once we reached the chairs, she let go of me, and it almost felt like a physical blow. I never would have thought I could crave touch so strongly, to long for the warmth and vitality that emanated from the sunny woman, and I was scrambling to come to terms with it.
“Wow,” she murmured, only barely audible above the sound of the band while they wentforteon their rendition of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”.Already, I could feel the reverberation of the trumpet traveling through me, starting at my feet before making its way to my undead heart, animating it once more with the sheer musicality. The saxophone followed right after, its notes forming a lasso around me, cocooning my willing form into its embrace as I was drawn deeper and deeper into the uproarious tale of a man who couldn’t be stopped from breakin’ it down even when he was snatched up by the gool ol’ army itself. “This is so cool!”
Cool.Cool.Wasn’t that the epitome of jazz when it came down to it? I remembered the very first notes I heard, approximately a week after I’d landed in America. It was an exciting but also terrifying new land of opportunity, where vampires were supposedly able to get by without notice a lot easier considering the sprawling cities between large chunks of rural area. Perfect for feeding, hiding, or blending in.
I’d gone into a bar, looking for a drunkard I could pay to let me feed in a quiet alley, only to be met by a small, five-man band with a trumpet, clarinet, trombone, a bass, and a banjo, accompanied by a full-figured and rapturous woman singing her soul out. Instantly, my prey was forgotten. As their music filled my mind and soul, I knew I had reached the land that was for me. A swirling mass of people from all over the world had united together to make the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard in mylife.
Now, eighty years later, I felt the same. Something about music being played by those who loved it, were moved by it, spoke to the deepest parts of my soul and reminded me just how incredible yet ephemeral life could be.
“Incredible,” I agreed, only belatedly realizing that Naomi was waiting for me to say something.
“I’m glad you think so. What luck we found them here.”
Yes, luck.
In all my years traversing this thing called life, I’d seen enough miraculous coincidences to wonder if luck was a thing at all or if some things were indeed fated. Because at the moment, as I watched a modern jazz band play their hearts out with a beautiful, kind, andenthusiasticwoman next to me, everythingfeltlike fate.
Maybe I should have been dating humans all along.
I forgot about my sorbet until it began to drip over my fingers, lukewarm and sticky along my skin. I probably wouldhave ignored it completely if it wasn’t for my makeup allowing me to look like just a regular human.
Shit!
