“You do not have to die, my young friend.”
“What do you mean?”
“One such as you is too unusual for the world to lose. I can make you whole again. There will be loss, there will be pain, but you will live on. In a sense.”
“Too unusual? Because of my curse?”
“You think something as simple as your skin is unusual? I have met many with skin of ash and bone and alabaster in my journeys. No, I do not mean your curse, Ya Bhai. I mean your heart.”
That was the first time anyone had ever said I was special for something other than my albinism. He’d gone on to explain the consequences of the change while I was bleeding out, but there was only so much time. I had agreed, of course, but I only had foggy memories of him biting me and draining my blood, then slicing his arm with one of his fangs and letting me drink deep until I no longer felt like I was going to freeze. I’d lost consciousness soon after that, but it had been with the knowledge that I would befixed.
Until I resurrected as luminescent as ever.
“Thank you, for listening to all of that,” I murmured, reaching for my fork. Although there wasmuchmore about that tale I could share, it was a bit too intimate, too raw for the moment.
Besides, I didn’t want the delicious meal to grow cold.
“Why don’t we dig in?”
The smile she sent me was bright enough to have me worrying about sun exposure.
Even with my muted, blood-oriented taste buds, the food flowed over my tongue in the most wonderful, savory ambrosia. So many complex, indulgent flavors blended together, some emphasized more at the front of my mouth, others toward the back, and even more in the aftertaste. It was heaven, if I even believed in such a thing, wrapped in warm spices and meat so tender it was quite literally falling off the bone.
I couldn’t help but wonder if said bones in the broth was making it more appetizing to me, considering the marrow waswhere blood cells were generated. Even without the satiation that was supposed to come from eating, there was a deep umami and depth to the stew that was strong enough to potentially ebb an intense bloodlust. Not for a whole night, but maybe for a couple of hours.
Perhaps something to explore in the future? And then, Naomi and I could make it together. I quite liked that idea. Although I had let my scant culinary skills regress to almost nothing, I was certain that with her beside me to guide my hand, we would make a winning dish.
It was complicated, for sure, a wolfless wolf dating a colorless vampire, but I was tasting the proof that it could be something glorious.
“Oh! The wine!” Naomi blurted out of nowhere.
I had been completely silent since my first bite, concentrating on sucking down two spoonfuls of the broth before moving on to try each vegetable in it individually, and then finally the meat. My plan was then to create perfect spoonfuls of the best mixes, which was probably a pretty strange thing to have a plan about.
“I thought I remembered you saying you weren’t fond of wine,” I murmured happily, still feeling the warmth of the thick stew going down the back of my throat. It really was something special, because if I didn’t know better, I would think that it was still somehow there, the heat radiating throughout my body and up into my face. It was almost like I had a pulse!
“It’s not for me,” Naomi said, returning from her fridge and placing a familiar bottle in front of me. “It was kind of a pain to get this, but from what I understand, bloodwine is actually pretty popular and can help you sort of process this meal?”
A bit unorthodox to talk about such secrets on a date, but what was our relationship if not unconventional? “I can’t believeyou’ve done all this,” I murmured, reaching out to the bottle and looking at the label. “Really, Naomi, you’ve outdone yourself.”
As I looked at her, all of my feelings began to surge, my face growing hotter and my tongue feeling like it was too thick in my mouth to adequately express how grateful I was. How could someone so kind, so beautiful, so thoughtful have spent so much of her life so lonely? A crime, really.
“Aw, it’s no big deal.” I understood that in her experience compliments were often backhanded or a setup to a trap, but I wanted her to understand just how serious I was about her amazingness.
“It is a big deal to me. Thank you, Naomi. You have completely made my night. Maybe even my entire month.”
“I, uh, you…” She blew out a breath, then her smile was back. “You’re welcome, Rowan. I was happy to do it, and I’m also thrilled that you like the food.”
“Like?Now that’s underselling it. Iloveit. I really do.”
I opened the wine and poured myself a glass, almost doing the same for Naomi. But a slight quirk of her eyebrow reminded me that bloodwine wasn’t exactly a helpful part of her diet, so I put the bottle down and grinned ruefully.
How could everything be so perfect? I had no idea. But my body was physically reacting to the rampant amount of joy flowing through me. My eyes watered slightly after I tried a bite with tomato, potato, and the meat all together, and that warmth that had just been in my throat before had spread to much of my body, leaving the tips of my fingers and my scalp tingling. It really reminded me of what it had been like to be alive, and I couldn’t tell if that was just a special magic that Naomi had or the sheer power ofabgoosht.
Everything else grew hazy outside of the two of us, and when I finished, draining the last of my wine since the salt did makeme thirsty, and it had been a while since I’d fed on blood of any kind, I sat back in satisfaction.
“You don’t mind if I have one more bowl, do you?” Naomi asked, and I shook my head. I was well aware that she, as a mortal, needed the calories from food in order to live. And I was also aware that she, as a shifter, needed a whole lot of those calories.
“Not at all!”
