What was it like, back there behind the curtain? Luis knew they sometimes had regulars they fed from. Humans they recognized. Did they have relationships with these people?
None of this had mattered to Luis before, but suddenly he was curious. Maybe even a little jealous.
And that… wasn’t good.
Chapter Nine
It became the new routine.
Twice a month, Luis went to Julien and Karim’s house earlier than he normally would, and Karim prepared dinner. He ate under Karim’s watchful eyes, and he and Julien talked about movies or music or antiques.
The food Karim made was the best meal Luis had on any given week, and somehow it began Pavloving his treatments to be a more pleasant experience.
Tonight, as a change of pace, Julien was giving him a house tour as Luis sipped through his mandatory-after-phlebotomy juice. This one was raspberry and lime because Karim thought Luis might like it. He’d been right.
“Luckily, we’re far enough from neighbors that we didn’t have to deal with noise ordinances during the remodel,” Julien was saying as they took the staircase up to the second floor.
Luis had never been to the second floor, and his eyes were roving everywhere, taking in the artwork that lined the staircase, the beautiful fixtures of the house.
And then he couldn’t stop noticing that a lot of the art was from the same artist, a lot of it was… very naked.
“It would’ve been a nightmare to handle a daytime construction crew,” Julien went on. “We hired some human workers in the beginning, but Karim had strong feelings about quality construction and wanted to be able to oversee everything. Not to mention all the roadblocks we ran into. You’d be surprised how many discoveries about a place are made in the middle of demolition.”
Karim grumbled under his breath about the house’s ancient plumbing.
“Yeah, I bet,” Luis said. They passed another painting, and Luis had to ask. “You have a lot of… angel art.”
“Julien’s obsessed with François Boucher’s putti paintings.” Karim interjected. “They’re all naked angel babies.”
Luis laughed before he could stop himself. “I, uh, see.”
“He’s one of the most decorated artists of the 18th century,” Julien said stiffly. “It’s not my fault you cannot appreciate the Rococo style.”
Karim huffed. “If you’ve seen one naked angel baby, you’ve seen them all.”
“They’re not—” Julien made an undignified sound, and when Luis glanced back, Karim had wrapped his arm around Julien and was kissing neck.
Luis quickly looked away.
“I know, I know. I’ve never protested you buying them, have I? I’m just teasing you,” Karim said.
“Yes, well,” Julien said and cleared his throat. “Let me show you the library Luis, it’s the second door on the right.”
The tour went through everything but their personal bedroom. Every room had its own color profile, but they blended together seamlessly. It was clear a lot of love and attention had been put into the house. Luis felt honored to get to see it all.
“So many baby butts,” Karim whispered conspiratorially to Luis as they passed another painting featuring naked cherubs.
Julien, who’d been walking ahead of them, talking about importing part of the stairwell from France, gave Karim a look.
“–It still astonishes me how little taste you have for the finer things after all this time.”
Karim grinned. He left Luis’s side to slink over to the other vampire. “I’ve got taste for just one fine thing,” he flirted, wrapping his arms around Julien again.
They’d both already had a serving of his blood this evening. Luis’s cheeks splashed again with heat. He always felt like he should excuse himself in times like these, but couldn’t figure out how.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught Karim playing with the top buttons to Julien’s shirt.
“Mmm,” Julien hummed, capturing Karim's wandering hand. “Dearest, we haven’t gone out yet.”
