Maxim tapped the side of the mug with his nail.The small noise was enough to get Raven to turn.Hearing’s already sharpening.Good.
“Is that for me?”
“Yes.All fresh.I’d say freshly squeezed, but the donors don’t like my jokes.Have a taste.”
Raven climbed onto the other chair.Maxim saw the hunger in the young vampire’s eyes, something that was rare in this day and age, especially for one newly made.Everything is planned nowadays, and they know they have to drink.No one is turned and left to fight for themselves anymore.That’s how it should be, and he doesn’t even know it.
As Raven reached for the mug and drank, Maxim wondered whether he’d already failed him, whether he should’ve done better, whether he should’ve focused on getting blood into Raven instead of taking him to the dorm where he knew the whiplash of the old normal had been lurking.
But his wounds were fresh.Still are.He needed to know he could choose.
Like an echo from a long time ago, Maxim felt the ache in himself, that scar he bore, so similar in shape to the hurt Raven had suffered.Everything had been dull, right after.Maxim recalled it like something that had happened to someone else.
Raven put the mug down with a click.“It’s good.I really like this.”He giggled.“Fuck.It’s freaky.I like drinking blood.I’m a vampire.”He met Maxim’s eyes.“I need to know…what I have to do.”
Maxim straightened.“The bureaucratic aspect is minimal, and once he sobers up, Heath will be happy enough to handle that for you.Typically, one informs their family.That is certainly your choice.Again, your schooling is also easily enough managed, and we can make arrangements that suit you there.”
Raven shook his head.“I don’t know if that’s for me anymore.School.I just…I don’t know if I can go back.”
Maxim tilted his head.“General advice for new vampires is to let the blood settle and to not make big decisions in the first year.”
Raven looked back out the window, his gaze drifting, drifting.They sat there in silence for long minutes, whatever turmoil was roaring inside of Raven barely showing on his face.
“You said something about an internship?”
“Yes.We can find something that might strike your fancy.”
Raven’s jaw muscles worked, even as his gaze remained fixed on the outside, some distant point near the horizon.“Can I do…just something where I… Quiet.Something that’s quiet.Maybe some secretarial work or… I don’t really know.Stocking shelves?”
Maxim kept his face still.“I’m sure we can arrange something to your taste.”
“Are you going to tell my mother?”
“That you’re a vampire?No.This is something you may do in your own time.If and when you’re ready.”
Raven nodded and picked up his mug, his attention coming back from the horizon.“If I… Can I have some more of this?I think I like it.”
What a blessed relief.Maxim pulled out his phone.“Absolutely.Let’s see if we can get two.I’m feeling just a tad thirsty myself this night.”
Raven watched as Maxim placed the order through his phone.It wasn’t incisive, inquisitive attention, but it was Raven taking part in what was happening around him, and Maxim was almost as grateful for that as he’d been for his son’s first breath.
Chapter 12
Ravenwasinadaze after the blood, feeling like a passenger in his own life, though he was aware of what was going on.They went back up to the penthouse and found Jason and Heath still in front of the screen, not watching some documentary about castles and instead giggling and stuffing their faces with blood cake.
“Should we join them?”Maxim asked.
Raven wasn’t sure what the right answer was, but they were loud.Well, not really, not objectively, but Raven wasn’t sure he could handle it.They were having fun.He understood that, he just didn’t know what to do with it.It was foreign, seeing them have a good time while none of it broke through the haze he was in.
He shook his head and pointed toward the guest room, maybe said something silly or rude or both.He wasn’t sure.The world was dull.
Regardless, Maxim put on an understanding expression and wished him a good night.
So Raven closed the door behind him and lay down on the guest bed without turning on the light.He didn’t undress.He didn’t get under the covers.The room was quiet, though unfamiliar, and he could barely close his eyes.He stayed like that for a long time, listening and aware.
He thought back to his childhood for some stupid reason or another.I was supposed to do religious coloring books at eleven.I think there was one image in there where they broke a werewolf on the wheel.That’s not fucking normal.And then the one with the vampire that was trying to get into some girl’s bedroom at night, that wasn’t normal either.Can’t have been age appropriate.
He couldn’t keep himself from drifting back all those years to almost-forgotten interactions; interactions he’d tried to bury.The way the other kids had looked at him when he finally did make it to school.The things they’d said about him behind his back.
