Page 25 of The Human’s Heart

Apparently, the vampire blood really was working to my advantage.

After staring at my finger for another minute and deciding it was as boring as watching paint dry, I focused on the vial of vampire blood sitting on the counter again.

Okay. Okay, I could do this.

So far, I’d only drunk the blood in my wine or iced tea. I hadn’t tried it all by itself, but I kept wondering if it really tasted as good as it seemed to. Every time I drank some and got that chocolaty flavoring, I wanted to find out.

I couldn’t help it. I had to know exactly what it tasted like. Maybe that chocolaty flavor hadn’t been the blood at all. Maybe I’d just found some really good wine.

Although, how I’d tasted that specific flavor in my tea was another story.

Taking a fortifying breath, I opened the lid and gingerly moved it close to my nose. I took a sniff, preparing to gag, but when I breathed it in, I realized it actually smelled… good.

Fucking chocolaty.

Shit.

That meant the vampire blood really did taste good, didn’t it?

With a sigh and a lot less apprehension than I’d started with, I dipped my finger into the blood and immediately shoved it in my mouth, not allowing even a single drop to fall to the ground.

A moment later, I moaned around my finger.

Holy shit, it tasted even better by itself than it had in my drink.

I licked my finger clean, making sure I got all of it into my mouth. I moaned in pleasure again before sighing.

Fuck me, I wanted more.

I stared at the vial that was supposed to last me until the end of the week. Crapola. I couldn’t take more. Not without messing up my supply.

But daaaaaaamn did I want it.

“Finished licking yourself in there?”

Zaos’s voice made me jump so bad, I almost fumbled the vial. My heart leapt into my throat, then pounded away rapidly. With my hand on my chest, I turned to him. “What the fuck, Zay? You scared the shit out of me.”

He let out a chuckle and walked toward me, wrapped his arm around my waist, and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Hey, mezelie. I didn’t mean to scare you that badly. Sorry.”

“Bullshit. You totally meant to scare me.” I couldn’t keep myself from laughing a little.

He held up his finger and thumb, showing only an inch between them. “Just a little.”

“Uh-huh.” I rolled my eyes and gave his chest a small push.

He didn’t even move a centimeter and simply grabbed my hand, pressed a kiss to my fingers, and placed it flat on his chest over his heart. “What’re you up to in here? Running experiments?”

I sighed. I hadn’t expected him back from the store so soon—we needed groceries, so he’d run out before the sun even came out. The construction crew and Zay’s grandparents would be here soon. I should’ve tried this when he was in class later so he wouldn’t have caught me, but I hadn’t wanted to wait. The curiosity had been killing me. Oh well.

“Um, yeah. I was testing out the taste of vampire blood compared to human.”

He nodded. “Where’d you get the human blood?”

I winced. “Um… I cut my finger.”

He froze, then slowly turned his face to mine. “You cut yourself for this?”

“Uh… yeah. I did.”