Page 29 of Zodiac Monsters

Chapter 10

Baby Doll:So how does um… feeding work.

The first words to grace my tired, dried out eyes in the morning were the kind that gave me life. Literally, but also… emotionally.

Me:You couldn’t have had better timing with that question. I was just about to set up an appointment at the blood bank. Don’t feel obligated to follow through with this if you’re having second thoughts. I can manage.

Baby Doll:No, I want to do this. It’s important to me. I just… obviously I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know what it normally looks like. Do I go to a donation center and give you a bag?

Sweetheart, I am not remotely interested in any arrangement that doesn’t end with my lips on your skin.

Me:Direct is much safer for the both of us. I can heal you or return blood to your system if it proves to be too much for you, and cutting out packaging and transport assures that no outside contaminants can infect the fluid.

Baby Doll:That makes sense. So… we just have to meet up and you can bite me, and everything is good. Would today work? It’s the only day I don’t have work or classes.

Mmmm, I was absolutely not going to turn that offer down. Maybe eventually I’d be able to figure out her species by her taste, but more than that, this was a good way to start showing this innocent dove a bit more of my real, honest face. No plan in the world was worth being called a Beta to Adrian’s Alpha, and the more I knew about her, the more confident I was that she wasn’t looking for sweet and docile anyway.

Me:Today is more perfect than you know. I’m not sure I could wait until tomorrow.

Baby Doll:Where do you want to meet up?

Me:I’d suggest doing it in a quiet, secure, and comfortable place where you can lay down after. I won’t drain you dangerously, but until I know how your body handles blood loss, it would be best to have a comfortable bed in easy proximity.

It was several minutes with no response, and I could just feel the way she was reeling at the implication. Not wanting to give her too much of a chance to build nerves and reservations, I added a simple:

Me:Your place or mine?

And an additional:

Me:I want you to feel as safe as possible.

Safe. I snorted at the word as soon as I’d hit send. She wasn’t signing up for safe, and she knew that. She would learn exactly how many ways I was the most dangerous person she’d encountered. This was a good test, in a way. Her response would tell me if she liked that risk or if it was scaring her away. I’d lost my read on her lately, to the point I wasn’t confident which side she was looking for.

I stared idly at my messaging app, waiting for those three dots to turn into a response. Then it pinged, five minutes later, for one, single word.

Baby Doll:Yours.

Perfection. The grin across my face was of pure, unapologetic wickedness, and once again, I’d known for sure I’d chosen correctly with her.

Me:I’ll pick you up in twenty.

I exhaled sharply, relieved she was starting to talk to me more again. Though she’d been flighty and a bit off during our date, I had to remember how overwhelmed she must be lately. Her whole world just got rocked, so of course she was struggling to process and understand her friendships. She didn’t understand my motivations as much as I didn’t understand her entire existence. To go from a virgin who had never been kissed, to a woman who’d had two violent and monstrous one-night-stands was a lot to take in.

Empathy. I needed to start showing her more of that if I wasn’t going to lose her. This was her trusting me, placing her guard on the floor and making no attempt to keep it in arm’s reach. This was my chance to synch this relationship and get us back into a good, safe place.

Then maybe I’d be able to convince her to spend a night gazing at the full moon with me again.

I grabbed my helmet and riding gear, and I headed toward the garage to warm up my bike.

Graves was only a ten minute ride from my two bedroom condo in the suburbs. Technically, it was only a one minute commute with my natural vampire speed, but riding the motorcycle felt better, and I wanted to share that sense of freedom with her. It was hard to explain the way the buzz of the high revving engine and the roar of the exhaust was more exhilarating than near teleportation level speed, but those added elements were everything. The fact that she looked adorable in leather, while squeezing my waist for dear life, was a bonus.

I picked her up, and she’d gotten much more confident when mounting the pillion seat. She clung to me like the gorgeous little backpack she was, and I rode us briskly back to my simple condo.

I dismounted in my attached garage, then unlocked the door to the living quarters.

She glanced around my small and humble condo with wide eyes.

“This is so nice.” And so adult, she thought silently to herself. It’s not fair that he’s always so cool. I hid my chuckle at her idle thoughts, while also appreciating the fact that I could see in her head so clearly. The more defensive and standoffish she’d gotten, the harder it was to sink into her mind. Today, she was being vulnerable again, and I liked that version of her.