“Ask what?”
Karim looked up from his phone. “You want to know how you taste.”
“I–” Luis hadn’t been thinking that, but now that Karim had brought it up, he did want to know. His hand flexed around the cold juice bottle.
“It’s what every human wants to know.” Karim licked his lips as though still tasting the blood. His eyes roving up and down Luis in one slow trail.
Luis suddenly remembered the effect that blood had on vampires. He hadn’t considered how that might be different when it was his own blood. Despite the juice, his throat felt dry.
“Um,” Luis said. “How do I taste?”
Karim chuckled, catching his gaze. “Maybe one day I’ll tell you.”
Luis glared at him. “Bastard,” he said, but it sounded incredibly fond.
“Gotta keep you on your toes,” Karim said, one-handed tapping on his phone.
Luis’s pocket buzzed a second later.
“Are you serious?” Luis said, pulling his phone out.
“As serious as this ninety-six point word,” Karim said with glee. “You’re going to lose this round for sure.”
“We’ll see, asshole,” Luis hissed as he swiped the screen to pull up the game.
“Not my fault you have the vocabulary prowess of a child,” Karim taunted.
Luis scowled at his letter tiles. He’d forgotten he’d been working on a big drop. Something that was going to smear the floor with Karim. He finally had the vowel for it.
“I guess then it’ll be even more tragic for you when you do lose,” Luis shot back.
To drive the point home, he lined up the tiles on the board and then hit submit. Karim’s look of outrage when the scorejumped nearly a hundred points a second later made it all worth it.
“How long have you been planning that?” Karim growled as he started poking at his phone.
“Maybe one day I’ll tell you,” Luis parroted back.
Karim gave him the finger and just like that, they were back on familiar ground.
Eventually Julien returned. They both put their phones away.
“Is everyone well?” Julien asked, his gaze lingering on Karim who was scowling.
“All good, Karim’s just a sore loser,” Luis said.
“The game’s not over yet,” Karim muttered under his breath.
Julien looked curiously between the two of them, and smiled. “Good. Shall we get ready to go then?”
When he and Julien had talked about this evening, they’d agreed to keep the bar as part of the plans. Luis’s blood alone wasn’t enough to sustain them for the week.
“Ready,” Karim said.
Luis nodded, standing. “Ready.”
That evening at The Last Drop, Luis couldn’t help noticing his reticence to be there. It wasn’t the fear of what had happened at the last bar, or the later night that made him want to leave, but something else.
A small, ugly feeling was growing in the pit of his stomach as he watched first Karim, and then Julien go back behind the curtain for a drink. Because he’d given them his blood, but now they were having someone else’s.
