Page 19 of Blades and Bone

“That was the plan.” He sat opposite him and pulled the cover off the plate on the other tray. “Do you want to know what you’re eating?”

“Five-star food?”

“This is handmade tortellini.” There was a side salad and garlic bread, though the salad was lacking tomatoes, as breaking out in lesions caused by vitamin C wasn’t something either of them wanted.

There were days when he missed the taste of fresh oranges. As a child, he’d played rugby and had half-time oranges with the rest of the kids. As an adult, he’d eaten them, and strawberries and mango, because he’d known when he was blooded they’d be snatched away.

“Food you miss most?” Brodie asked as he helped himself to some pasta, then passed it to Hamish.

“Capsicum and Brussels sprouts. I know that’s weird—everyone else I talk to seems to miss fruits like guava and such. But Brussels sprouts are so good when they’re sautéed with butter and salt and walnuts…and capsicum is sweet and crunchy. Sometimes, I wonder if it’s worth the fallout just to enjoy them again.” His eyes took on a wistful look.

“You probably wouldn’t crave them again after that.” And some things were best remembered fondly. He didn’t want to destroy the good memories he had just because he missed them.

“True, but maybe I’d stop wanting them.”

“Since you didn’t ask, all of this food is safe.”

“I figured…after all, poisoning me is not a good look while my family is still here. You should wait until after they’ve left.” He ate another bite of the beef.

“I’m not going to poison you with vitamin C or anything else.”

“Technically, loads of foods have vitamin C. You just need to eat an awful lot for it to have an impact. I did a project on nutrition, specifically looking at vitamin C and scurvy to make it acceptable for humans, but really, I was interested in finding out what safe levels for vampires were.”

“And did you find out?”

“No, because for that I need vampires to eat a strict diet with a controlled amount of vitamin C until they are impacted. But it needs to be done carefully because it might also be cumulative.”

“If you ate one Brussels sprout every day, day five may be too much?”

“Exactly, also when they’re salty, and the leaves are crispy and buttery, it’s very hard to stop at one.” His tongue traced his lower lip. “What about you?”

“I’m very boring. Just oranges, orange juice…mango.” Brodie shrugged. He really hadn’t expected to miss them that much. “As a kid, you’re forced to eat fruit and vegetables.”

“I never asked my mother, but I wonder if it was hard for her to cook for her kids and encourage them to eat it knowing she couldn’t. She always said she was allergic until I was old enough to be taught the truth.”

Brodie smiled. “I think that’s what they all say. So when did you find out the truth?”

“Around the time I started high school. I thought I was about to get the birds and the bees talk, even though I was pretty confident I knew all about that. Instead, she explained about our family—all of it. I guess you can’t tell kids too early in case they talk at school. What about you?” Hamish helped himself to the pasta.

“I don’t remember not knowing the truth, so I guess I was in primary school. I remember being excited to grow fangs, constantly checking my teeth and being disappointed when they didn’t grow on their own, but I wasn’t told about blooding until I was a teenager. I believe your family is much like mine in that you’re given a choice?”

“Correct. Though I was encouraged to make the correct choice, given my position in the family.”

Brodie frowned. “Was that actually a choice then?”

“Yes…and I chose money and fangs over a dull human life at the fringes of the family. I would’ve been excluded from a lot of things.” Hamish stabbed some pasta and popped it into his mouth.

“That doesn’t sound like much of a choice.” At least in his family, it didn’t matter if you had fangs or not.

“The unblooded don’t get involved in the family business. If you’re blooded, you’re expected to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty sometimes. That means looking after those who chose not to get blooded too. My mother said, ‘If you want the privileges, you have to accept the responsibility’.” He stabbed another piece of pasta. “I did not expect this to happen.”

“It’s a little archaic, though there really aren’t that many options for joining two families together.”

Hamish grinned. “No family is going to offer a woman, and a male vampire is never going to produce heirs.”

“It’s symbolic.”

“I know what it is. It’s keeping the enemy very close and calling them friend.” Hamish paused with his fork in the air. “I wonder how many ended in disaster because the husbands started fighting?”