“Dinner’s almost ready, Karim’s so excited.” Julien started down the hall, motioning Luis to follow. “I figure we’ll have dinner, and then you can do your treatment. Do you want to leave your things in the guestroom for now?”
“Yeah, sure,” Luis said. He followed the vampire back to the same guest room he’d stayed in before and set the kit on the pristinely made bed.
“Now,” Julien said as he led him back out. “What can I get you to drink? Water? Tea? Wine? Oh, I guess not alcohol if you’re giving blood later.”
“Water would be fine,” Luis said.
The vampire led him down to the end of the hall where it opened up into a spacious dining room.
The dining room matched the general style of the house, the walls done in a rich blue damask wallpaper. In the center of the room was a long elegant dining table lined with chairs, above which hung an expensive looking chandelier. There wasan antique glass cabinet on one wall, and a collection of moody landscape paintings adorning the opposite wall. The table held a tall vase of overflowing flowers and three table settings.
“Are all the rooms like this?” Luis asked, looking around.
Julien motioned for them to sit. “Like what?”
“So… elegant.” Luis took one of the seats. “It’s beautiful, all of it.”
Julien made a sound of pleasure. “Oh, thank you.” There was a carafe of water on the table which Julien brought over to fill the empty glass at Luis’s place setting.
Tonight, Julien was dressed in another immaculately tailored button-down with a pair of charcoal gray slacks. His hair was pulled back from his face in a neat bun, and it left the sharp planes of his face without distraction. He always towered at least a head over Luis, but tonight he looked particular svelte.
“I’ve spent a long time making this house to my liking,” Julien said, returning the carafe and picking up a bottle of wine. “It was actually going to be demolished before we purchased it.”
“Oh, really?”
Julien poured himself a glass of wine. “Yes. We had to renovate it top to bottom to bring it up to code, it was an old property. But we wanted old when we moved to America. Something that could remind us of home.”
Luis took a sip of his water. “Remind you of Tangier?”
Julien chuckled, “Oh no, we never really had a residence there. Before here, we lived in France.”
“When did you move?” Luis asked.
“About twenty years ago.” Julien’s long fingers reached for the stem of his own glass, but then paused, thoughtful for a moment. “France had become… unfriendly to us. I daresay Americans mind their own business more, and are more used to seeing diversity and brown skin. We’ve come to enjoy it here, especially more recently.”
“I wouldn’t guess that America is better than France,” Luis said, surprised.
“It’s not without its issues,” Julien conceded, “but for Karim, it has been much better here. And if he is happy, I am happy.”
“I see,” Luis said. He still hadn’t learned more about Karim’s history, but he was starting to piecemeal together a rough picture.
“But thank you for the compliment on the house, I’ll pass it on to Karim. I had the vision for this old place, but Karim did much of the physical work. This table, for example, he refurbished.”
Julien caressed the smooth finish of the table. Luis followed the movement, and wondered what those elegant fingers would feel like on skin.
“It’s gorgeous,” he said, shifting his eyes off of Julien’s hands.
He met the man’s eyes instead. The corners of Julien’s mouth tipped up. “I greatly enjoy surrounding myself with beautiful things. Aesthetics are one of my greatest pleasures, so you’ll notice everything in the house does have a certain degree of… design.”
Julien’s attention grew heavy, and nerves buzzed to life in his stomach. “Yeah it’s… lovely,” Luis said.
Julien looked away, and the pressure lessened. “Of course when you sell antiques, some of the best pieces often find their way into one’s personal collection.”
Luis forced himself to swallow. Why was he suddenly so nervous? “Yeah, makes sense.”
“Karim hates it,” Julien chuckled softly. “We have a credenza that would’ve paid for the upstairs bathroom remodel if I’d sold it, but I couldn’t part with it. Instead, we had to save for six months to have the funds for the bathroom. Karim wasquiteunhappy having to use the guest bathroom, but when I finally caved and suggested we sell it, he refused.”
“That’s… sweet,” Luis said. He wasn’t used to putting such an adjective on Karim, but he was also starting to see glimpses of that side of him.
