“Yeah, um.” He couldn’t meet Julien’s eyes. “I don’t know if you can–but if you can–I just–it’s just hard for me today.”
Julien stepped fully into the room, shutting the door behind him. “Anything you need,” he said as he came to the bed.
“Um,” Luis had the latex tourniquet strip in hand. He’d never explained this to anyone who wasn’t a medical professional. He tried to piece it together. “I have a blood condition. It’s–I produce too many red blood cells, so I have to regularly treat it by-by removing blood.” His voice wobbled.
Julien nodded. His hands were neatly tucked behind him, and everything about him was calm and contained. He was trying to put Luis at ease.
“I see,” Julien said. “You need help?”
“Um, yeah. If–if you can be around blood?” He hated asking, the question felt offensive, but he didn’t actually know if asking a vampire to do something blood-related was… bad.
“I can.” Julien reassured quickly. “You’re safe here, I promise. We are not–that is–our appetites are similar to human appetites. We eat when we’re hungry, but we’re not mindless about it. If you need help removing blood, I can help you.”
Luis’s cheeks were burning in a confusion of gratitude and humiliation. “Okay.”
Julien took a tentative seat further down the bed on the other side of the lunchbox kit. Giving Luis plenty of space. “Tell me what I should do.”
“Okay,” Luis said again. He took a breath, then another. He was trying to radiate calm and not the tangled-up anxiety and fear. “You’re going to draw blood. So first,” he offered up his left arm and the rubber strip, “can you tie this around my forearm?”
A few things had to be shuffled around for Julien to get closer. He did so carefully, and Luis stiffened so he wouldn’t jolt at the first touch as Julien’s hand moved his arm away from his body to wrap the strip of rubber and tie it.
“Next the alcohol swab,” Luis said through a grimace. He hated the tourniquet too, the sharp, uncomfortable pressure. He offered the crook of his arm and Julien opened a fresh packet and then wiped his arm. Luis held off breathing as long as possible. “Okay,” he said when that was done. “Now I need you to assemble the needle.”
He described each piece and Julien plucked them out of the kit, opening the packaging and looking at Luis to make surehe had everything right. He took to it easily, and Luis worked on flexing his hand.
“Now,” he said with a gust of air when that was done. “I’m going to explain how to do the rest, because if I freak out, you need to know how it goes and finish it.”
Julien nodded. His expression was serious and attentive. Maybe he’d been telling the truth and this was all okay with him. Luis really hoped it was. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake.
He instructed Julien through how to draw the blood, fill the bag, and how much to remove with as much detail as he could manage. He’d done this so many times and he knew his body.
“Keep going if I hyperventilate,” he added at the end. “I should come back around in a few seconds. If it’s anything longer than that–if anything else happens medically, then I’ll need to be taken to the hospital.”
At that Julien looked uncomfortable. “Do you think that’s… likely to happen?” He asked.
“No. No, I just–I want you to know what to do in case anything happens.”
“Alright,” Julien said, but he still looked troubled. “You normally do this all by yourself?”
Luis tried for a casual shrug. “Usually. But usually, I haven’t been drugged before having to.”
Julien frowned. “About that, Karim got the man’s ID–”
Luis held up a hand to stop him when his gut clenched. “I can’t–not right now. I need to get this done.”
Julien inclined his head. He had the needle in hand, held aloft to keep it sterile. “Of course,” Julien said. “Then shall I…?”
Luis offered his arm, turning his head away. “Yeah.”
A hand wrapped around his arm to steady him. Luis wanted to apologize for the way his body was quivering. Still, Julien’s touch was warm, skin and not nitrile gloves.
“Starting,” Julien warned.
Luis shut his eyes at the familiar sensation of the needle as his breathing shallowed.
“Good, you’re doing so well,” Julien said, even though all Luis had done was sit there.
“I hate this so much,” Luis said, voice small. “Every time. It never gets easier.”
