Finn shrugged, a faint rosiness tinting his cheeks. “Honestly? My friends were ribbing me because I hadn’t gone out with them in months—I was busy working on my master’s thesis, you know—but their ribbing eventually got to me, so I agreed to join them tonight. And well, here I am.” He raised his hands, wavingthem both at me, but his face showed nothing but surprise. “And now I’m here, and they went off to… I don’t know, fuck in the bathrooms, probably. Oh wow, I didn’t mean to tell you that.”
“I don’t mind.” I certainly didn’t. However, I did mind his friends dragging him out late at night when he looked like a stiff breeze might make him keel over. If they were real friends, they’d have taken one look at him and turned their plans for an evening out into an evening in, ordering pizza and watching movies or whatever. Way more relaxing, and a lot safer too.
“Good. What about you? Are you here to dance?”
I scrunched up my nose in distaste. No, I certainly did not want to dance in the midst of a crowd of drunk humans.
“I…” I wanted to tell him another little white lie, but found myself unable to. Again. What the fuck was going on? I’d never had this problem before. I lied all the fucking time. “I was meeting a friend.”
There, no lie detected. “But this club isn’t really my scene.”
It was distasteful, but a necessary evil. I couldn’t always jump people in dark alleys to feed on them. I’d tried in the beginning, but most of the time I’d found that junkies and their blood tasted awful. Alcohol I could tolerate, weed was okay, even the occasional MDMA was nothing to write home about but nothing I absolutely despised either. But hardcore heroin or fentanyl users? I could practically taste them rotting away from the inside.
“Mine either.” Finn grinned, his pointed canines glistening in the blue and purple lighting. He’d make a cute vampire—for Halloween, I added quickly. In a costume. “I’m more a fan of pubs, you know?”
I did know. I’d spent plenty of nights watching him with his friends, drinking beer and participating in pub quizzes. It was hard to believe that those friends were the ones who had dragged him here, but then again, I hadn’t seen any of them yet.
“Me too.” Which was not a lie, because apparently, I couldn’t lie to him. I was a fan of pubs because that was where I’d caught glimpses of him prior to the end of my life.
Afterward… let’s just say my moral standards were a bit different.
Finn’s eyes lit up, his smile widening on his face. He downed almost half of his Coke in one go before excitedly asking about an Irish pub downtown. Yes, I’d been there a couple of times. Mostly for their monthly quiz nights, because I’d hoped I’d get to see him there. However, I didn’t say the last part out loud.
Finn’s expression turned thoughtful at that. Cocking his head, he furrowed his brow and pulled his bottom lip in with his left canine. “Have we met before?”
Oh, how to answer that one?
“Uhm…” I opened my mouth, then closed it again. “I think I’ve seen you from afar?”
Finn nodded. “Yeah, that must be it. You know, when you approached, you seemed familiar. That’s why I didn’t question your butting in with that sleazeball.”
A satisfied smile spread all over my face at that.
“Thank you for your trust.”
Finn blushed, then opened his mouth to answer, only for a yawn to escape.
“Sorry,” he said. “I’m a bit tired.” He downed the rest of his Coke and blinked owlishly. “I was hoping the caffeine would help.”
With the level of exhaustion he appeared to be at, I really doubted a mere glass of Coke would help. He needed a bed ASAP. And I’d get him into one, just not in the way I really wanted.
“Maybe you should go home, then?” I carefully suggested, not wanting him to refuse out of principle.
Finn shrugged and started blinking more rapidly. “Maybe… I… I don’t think I feel so good.”
He didn’t look so good either. He was swaying on his stool, his eyes having trouble focusing.
What thefuck?
This was not from exhaustion.
I reached out, steadying him on his stool as my eyes zeroed in on his pupils. They were blown wide, the brown almost completely gone.
Fuck.
He’d beendrugged.Under my watch.
A rage I’d never ever felt before flooded me. My teeth lengthened, my grip on the small metal backrest tightened until I felt it denting.
