Naomi let out a truly impressive string of expletives while she ran to the pot, slammed the lid on, then sprinted out of the kitchen. She returned a bunch of pill bottles.
“Here! One of these has to help you! I’ve got Claritin, and oh, here’s Benadryl! Midol, which has anti-inflammatories in it, a generic antihistamine pill. Oh! Hydrocortisone cream for the rash!”
It was sweet, just as everything Naomi did was, and it was cute too, but none of that would help.
“No,” I wheezed and now I was actually getting worried. How much garlic had I ingested? A single clove? Two?
But then Naomi was picking me up,still babbling as she started carrying me to the door.
“There’s gotta be something at the drugstore that can help you, right? Or is there an emergency vampire doctor I can take you to?”
“No,” I repeated, even though words were becoming more and more difficult by the moment.
“Okay! Your coffin then, got it. I’ll just load you into my car and?—”
“Too far. Too slow,” I ground out. “Need. Feed.”
Her muscles tensed even more. “What?”
“I need blood. To heal. Coffin is too slow for something…” A deep wheeze ripped out of my chest in a way I hadn’t intended at all. “Like this,” I finished lamely.
Naomi set me down and visibly relaxed. “You need to drink blood?”
“Mmhmm.”
A sigh of relief. What was going on again? “Oh, well why didn’t you say so?” Abruptly, she pulled the collar of her tunic aside and bared a tanned column of enticing flesh. “Here ya go!”
That knocked some clarity into me, and I swallowed hard. Well, tried to swallow. It was really just more choking. “Y-you don’t—” I shook my head, which turned out to be a bad idea. “No.”
“No? What do you mean, no? You need to feed, and I heal way faster than a human.”
How did I explain this when I couldn’t really articulate physically all that well? “Feeding is… intimate.” At least to me it was. I knew some vampires viewed humans as livestock and feeding as a right they were entitled to. But the way I saw it, whoever I fed from was donating their life force for me to extend mine. If that wasn’t something to be grateful for, to treat with reverence, then I didn’t know what was.
“Yeah, and guess what, I wanna be intimate with my boyfriend, who is in medical distress!”
“I don’t want you to agree under duress.”
She took my face in both of her hands, and I knew I was in trouble when her palms actually felt cool against my flesh. “Rowan Solomon Vincent, Iwantto do this. Iwantto take care of you.” She stood on her tiptoes, bringing her neck that much closer to my aching, burning mouth. “This is given freely, so drink deep. I promise I can take it.”
I could continue to argue with her, but if I truly trusted her like I was sure I did, I needed to take her at her word rather than badger her with what I thought her opinion should be. But I did need one last assurance.
“Are you certain?”
“I am.”
“Okay. B-but if you—” I hated that I had to pause and take another wheezing breath. It was like I was trying to inhale through a straw. But I had to get the words out, so I fought through it. “You need me to stop, you say so.”
“I will. I promise.”
What more could I ask for? And if I was being real with myself, I would have to admit that all my symptoms were going from uncomfortable and painful to downright terrifying. I pressed my lips to her neck and let my fangs slide into the spot I’d been eyeing for weeks.
Fuck.
Her blood poured over my tongue in a soothing balm, the itch receding instantly. It flowed down my throat and filled my belly like a fire of the good variety, reminding me what the comforting warmth of a good meal wassupposedto feel like to my vampire digestion.
It was everything I’d imagined it would be and more. Her scent inundated me from the inside, making my head spin with its headiness, and I could taste parts of her that weren’t even supposed to have a flavor. Her tenacity. Her caring. Her wit. Her dreams. Her disappointments. Her pain. It all blended together into a truly intoxicating bouquet that no bloodwine could ever compare to.
God, it was divine.
