“I only have a few minutes, Mia.I am hungry.”
Mia blinked.“Oh.Right.Well, have a conventional snack and some juice, and then you can go find a donor.”
Akervel asked, “Donor?”
Kazuya smiled.“She’s part pixie.You know what they consume.”
“Oh.Do you need a donation, miss?”
Meeda froze.“What?”
“I am offering a donation so that you don’t need to find someone in town.”
She cocked her head.“Any conditions?”
“Where do you draw from?”
“Forearm.”
“Do you stand or sit?”
“I usually sit on the lap of the donor facing out and bring his arm across my body.”
He grinned.“Payment enough.Take what you need.”
She walked over to him, settled against him, pulled his arm to where she could access it, and pulled him in to bite.She felt him shudder as her teeth sank into his forearm and sucked seriously to get the four ounces she currently needed.
Akervel shuddered under her as she drank, but when she had had enough, she sent a coagulant through her teeth and kissed the vein that had fed her.He was breathing heavily behind her, and she said, “Am I too heavy?Did I take too much?”
He pressed a kiss to her neck.“You were unexpected.”
She turned and looked at him.“Okay, thanks for your help.”She got up and left his lap.
Mia held her hand out, and Meeda sat next to her.The side hug was immediate.“Too close?”
“Too interested.”
Vine’s eyes flared wide.“Oh, hell.”
“Yeah.”
Akervel said softly, “At least I did not run this time.”
Meeda looked at him and nodded.“Thank you for that.I do love closure.”
Mia smiled and squeezed her hand.“She really does.”
Vine opened her mouth to explain things to Akervel’s confused features.She paused and glanced at Meeda, and Meeda sipped a glass of juice while she gestured for Vine to explain.
Meeda knew the story from her own perspective.Her parents murdered, the boat sunk, and teen Meeda in an air bubble when the air filled with shadows.That was the last peaceful moment that she had for what was three years, maybe four.The time in that place was designed for pain.
She got some more fruit and nibbled as Vine explained the horrors of what she had seen and heard from Meeda.
The listeners had matching expressions of horror, and Akervel looked ill.
Vine explained their escape and how Meeda was starving when she returned to the sinking boat.
Meeda smiled.“That is when my tail came in.I shifted, the water rushed into my lungs, and my hunger faded for a while when I was swimming, but I ran out of energy and ended up floating in the open ocean when Mia came to get me.She and her team collected me and then found my parents’ bodies.After that, she brought me into the company and registered to be my legal guardian, and we spent half our time here at her mother’s home and half in the city.”
