“Dial him and let me talk to him, please,” I replied. Elias pulled out a cheap flip phone. He dialed a number before handing me the phone. I put the phone on speaker as it rang.
“Elias?” Anthony’s deep voice rang through the phone line. “What’s wrong, man?”
Elias whispered to me, “He knows I wouldn’t call unless it was important.”
I nodded. “Anthony, it’s me. I need you to pick up a few things for me for the trip.” I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket.
“Of course, Riley. Anything you need. Let me grab a pen.” I heard him rustling. “Go ahead.”
“Okay, first, do we have any clue how long we'll be gone?” I asked.
Elias answered first. “It’ll take us six to eight days to get to Peru. We have no idea how long we'll search while we're there. Then, if we're alive and successful, we won’t have to hide anymore and can charter a plane to Tennessee before heading to New Zealand to confront the Junta.”
“Okay then, I need to plan on at least a month.” I said. “Anthony, please pick me up a box of tampons and pads. If that makes you uncomfortable, you can let me run in a store somewhere on the way to the Mexican border.”
“I'm not uncomfortable.” Anthony’s laughter echoed out of the phone. “It would take much more to make me uncomfortable. Anything else?”
“Oh, yes, lots more,” I replied. “Grab a big bottle of vitamin B-12, a bottle of iron, and a bottle of folic acid. Also, Vitamin B-6 and Vitamin E. If you can find a multivitamin that has all of those in it, get two bottles. I’ll take extra to be safe. Grab some dried prunes and raisins, some eggs—we can hard boil them—some spinach, ranch dressing, and a big variety of nuts. We’ll need to be able to stop and eat at places that serve things like steak and shellfish.” I paused, consulting my list. “Oh! And several cases of bottled water. I’ll need to stay hydrated.”
Elias stopped me there. “Riley, why do you need these supplements?”
I replied triumphantly, “I did some research after you left me alone at the computer. I’m not comfortable with you two using random people to feed on. If you have to drink from a human, it'll be me for as long as possible.”
I turned my attention to the phone. “Anthony, go by a medical supply store and see if you can get your hands on some supplies to draw blood from my arm. You’ll need to go ahead and use those blood bags before you begin to drink from me or they’re going to go bad. In the days you’re drinking from the bags you can start storing up some blood from me.” The phone was silent. “Anthony? Are you there?” I asked, a little worried.
“I’m here, my Coya. I’m speechless. You’ve shown incredible strength over the past several days. You’re offering yourself up to keep us healthy so that we don’t have to take blood from an unsuspecting stranger. I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. You impress me.” My eyes filled with tears as he continued. “You’re beautiful. I was undecided how far I was willing to go with this search, but now, I’m sure. You are my Coya, and I will follow you until the end, be it our deaths or our long lives. Go gather your things and rest now, I’ll get these items. Goodbye.”
I closed the phone with trembling hands. “What did he call me?”
“Coya means Queen in Quechua. He called you his queen.”
I was shocked. Why would he give me such a pet name? I followed Elias up the stairs.
“Why would he call me his queen? We met only a few days ago! And sure, the sex was great—actually phenomenal—but it was only sex.” I grabbed Eli’s arm, so he’d turn and look at me.
“I thought we’d been pretty clear, Riley. You must know I care about you—we’ve been friends for years. Anthony has watched over you for the same amount of time. He’s grown to care deeply for you. When we say we care about you, it means we think you’re an incredible, smart, strong woman. And that doesn’t even begin to describe how beautiful you are.”
I stepped away from Elias in shock. I could get behind strong. No one went through what I had without believing they were a little tough. I drew the line at beautiful.
In the early days of my relationship with Michael, I was shocked at his attraction to me. When we started dating, I was a size eighteen—too chunky to have much faith in myself. Eventually, I gave in to his persistent chasing and went on a date with him. I’d done some internet research and discovered an entire world out there of men who are only attracted to big women. I figured Michael was one of those men and grew comfortable with his admiration of my body, even though I never understood it.
My face had always been pretty butonlypretty. Beautiful, I wasn't. I was okay with my level of prettiness; I knew my playing field. One oddball man falling in love with me I could believe. But Elias and Anthony too? Nah.
“Elias, why are you messing with me like this? You two couldn’t feel that way about me.” Sure, I’d lost some weight and toned up a little, but my body was still pretty crazy looking. Being strong and being beautiful were not always the same thing, and I was definitely strong.
Elias grabbed my cheeks and pulled me into a kiss. The kiss,oh, the kiss. The kiss was show stopping; the kind they wrote movies about.
At first, his lips pressed hard against mine. Then he pulled back a little to breathe. I opened my mouth to suck in air, and he used that opportunity to caress the inside of my mouth. His lips massaged, making slow, passionate love to mine. His mouth stoked a fire in my belly that made my knees weak. I sagged against Elias's body while my brain turned the consistency of pureed baby food. All I could see or hear or feel was the caress of Eli’s lips.
Then he brought his tongue into play. He teased me by running the tip of it along my swollen lips. I opened them, craving more. He tasted me with his tongue, licking the inside of my mouth like I was his favorite flavor of lollipop.Blood flavored?I giggled into his mouth.
Elias looked at me in amusement. “Did I tickle your tonsils or something?” he asked. “I was going for sexy, not funny.”
“I wondered if they make blood flavored popsicles for vampires.” I said, my expression dead serious. Elias burst out laughing and turned away.
“No, really! I mean, surely some Supay entrepreneur has figured out how to make blood flavored candy!” I teased Elias, following him into the bedroom we’d shared the night before.
Once I entered the room, Elias turned to me and scooped me into his arms. I went flying through the air, squealing before bouncing on the bed and scrambling to the top, laughing. “You think it’s that easy to get me into bed, Elias Tipton?”
