“Come,” I told Benji as I took his hand. His poor palms were clammy from anxiety.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, his cheeks turning pink with embarrassment again.
“Do not worry. Where we’re going, you’ll be relaxed in no time.”
Theo sighed and hung his shoulders as he followed us out of the dining hall. “So, we’re really doing this, huh?”
* * *
The indoor spaand sauna took up a large section of the lower half of the mansion. The bat servants must have been instructed to prepare it for our arrival, because it glowed with atmospheric candlelight and gentle steam. Quiet, mellow music played somewhere in the background, and the air smelled like a melange of sweet scents.
“Holy crap,” Benji murmured. “Not to be offensive, but I always expected vampires would have like, a torture chamber or something, not a huge spa.”
“Oh, we have one of those too,” Theo said. But with a sharp glare from me, he amended, “But obviously, we never use it.”
Benji raised a brow.
“It’s a piece of history.” Theo grinned. “Actually, I’m not even sure if Margaret would allow us to use it. It’s so old and probably rusty and - you know what? I’m shutting up now. I’m just gonna go sit over here.”
Theo pulled out his handheld video game console and plopped into one of the lounge chairs by the swimming pool, on the opposite side of the bathing pool.
I put my arm around Benji and led him to the massive circular pool in the center of the room. I thanked my luck that the bat servants who had pre-heated the water for us had hidden away. Benji was probably nervous enough without having to explain that particular nuance of our home.
“This is incredible,” Benji said. He closed his eyes and breathed in the pleasant scents. “This is like, something you’d have to pay hundreds of dollars for in the real world.”
“Thisisthe real world, Benji,” I said gently.
He blushed. “You know what I mean.”
His words and cute face never failed to make me smile. “Yes, I do.” I reached for one of the pure white bathrobes hanging from a gilded rack. “Here. There are rooms behind you to shower and change.”
An uneasy expression flickered across his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked gently.
He quickly forced a smile. He took the bathrobe from me. “Oh, um. Nothing.”
“All right,” I said. “Please join me in the water when you’re finished.”
Benji nodded, then shuffled off behind one of the change room doors. I wondered why he suddenly seemed apprehensive.
To give him space, I took one of the rooms a few doors down from Benji’s. I neatly folded my clothes, closed my eyes, and let the warm shower water rush over me. As vampires, we didn’t sweat or have as much of a natural scent as humans, but this type of cleansing ritual was still necessary, especially if we had recently been to the outside world.
When I was finished, I stepped out without bothering to put on the bathrobe.
“Ugh, dude. Do you have to show it off?” Theo muttered, rolling his eyes dramatically.
I smirked. As if he’d never seen my manhood before. “Yes. Now go back to your Gameboy."
Theo groaned and stared at his screen. “I told you, for the millionth time, it’s not a Gameboy.”
I crossed the turquoise tile floor to the bathing pool and entered it. The temperature was pleasantly warm. The water surface shimmered with salts and bath oils, creating an iridescent sheen.
But as I waited for Benji to join me, he never did. Something must have still been bothering him.
I returned back to Benji’s door and gently knocked on it. “Benji? Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” his muffled voice came.
