Had no one ever tried to find out why? Were there no vampire scientists? Hell, Eric had been in med school. Shouldn’t he be interested in finding out why?
“So, you don’t completely drain people?”
Eric tilted his head. “I don’t kill people, no. Vampires usually don’t. It’s against the rules.”
“There are rules?” I asked.
Fascinating.
Were they written rules? Or more like common sense? Were there vampire laws? As in law books? And where did one get a copy? Was every new vampire handed a book of dos and don’ts?
“Yes,” Eric said with a nod, giving me a tired smile. Oh, hey, the redness on his cheeks was slowly fading, and the blisters were starting to look better too.
I risked a short look at his lap, and yep, his hands had started looking less gruesome. Awesomesauce.
“I gather you have a lot of questions?” he asked.
I nodded. “All the questions. But they can wait.”
Because Eric looked like he was ready to crash, he was literally swaying on the fucking toilet. Apparently, healing was draining. Or he was having an adrenaline crash.
Wait… did vampires have adrenaline crashes?
Eric certainly was having a crash of some sort. He looked like he might keel over any second now.
“Uhm…” I said, placing a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to lie down for a bit?”
He laughed, but it sounded pretty exhausted. More like a huff of breath. “I can’t leave the bathroom.”
Nope, he sure as shit couldn’t. Not for at least two more hours.
“I can get you a pillow and a blanket?”
Eric seemed to think about it for a while, but in the end, he gave me a quick nod. “And call Bennie, please. He’s probably freaking out with worry. My phone’s in my pocket.”
“Sure, no problem.”
I went out of the bathroom to grab stuff to get Eric more comfortable, including my tablet so he could watch a show or whatever, but when I came back, he was already sitting on the ground, slumped against the wall, his eyes closed. His chest was rising and falling evenly as if he were breathing.
But he didn’t need to, did he?
Weird.
Oh well, more things to ask about later.
For now, I’d get him more comfortable.
I placed the pillow on the bathroom floor next to him and carefully moved him until his head was resting on it. Then I covered him with the throw blanket I’d grabbed off the sofa and took his sleeping form in for a while.
He didn’t look like a vampire right now.
Just like… my Eric.
And in the end, that was what he was, right?
He was my Eric.
My boyfriend.
