First Bite

Grounding

The following night, Santana arrived at Brittany's house as soon as it was dark. Although she was thirsty, she tried to focus her attention elsewhere. Brittany hadn't said anything about feeding or sex. She'd only said she wanted to see Santana again. Santana wanted to be content with another night of warmth and sunshine, so she swallowed her thirst. While of course she thirsted for Brittany's blood, another part of her, the human part, didn't want to hurt Brittany. She wanted Brittany to be as bright and warm and bubbly as she could, and depleting her blood supply would put a damper on her. She was determined not to feed, even if Brittany asked.

She wasn't sure if she should ring the doorbell or scale the wall to Brittany's room and climb through her window. She'd always wanted to do that, but she didn't want to scare Brittany. So she ran to the back yard and tossed pebbles up at Brittany's window. After two had hit, the window flew open and Brittany looked out. Her hair was curled, blowing in the gentle night breeze, and she wore a white cotton sundress. She looked even more beautiful than Santana remembered.

Brittany didn't say anything, but when her eyes found Santana in the dark, she beamed before disappearing back inside. Santana tuned her ear and heard Brittany running down the stairs. Brittany flung the back door open and ran barefoot across the lawn, jumping into Santana's arms. She gripped Santana's waist with her legs, arms wrapping around Santana's neck.

"You came back," she whispered, overjoyed.

Santana looked Brittany in the eye. "Of course. Vampires can keep promises."

"Better than humans, I think" Brittany said, her smile steady as she slipped back down to the ground.

"Of course," Santana said, thinking of the laws that forced her to keep her word and loyalties in line. "No offense," she added, wanting to make sure Brittany didn't think she was implying all humans were flaky or unreliable. Brittany was showing her a whole new side to humans.

Brittany shook the apology off because it wasn't necessary. "How are you?"

"Better" Santana said, not even realizing what she meant.

"Were you not feeling well?" Brittany asked, her face falling in concern.

Santana shook her head. "I'm fine. But better now."

Brittany's face returned to a grin. "Same."

There was a moment of quiet as they stood still in the grass.

Brittany took Santana's hand, studying it with her fingers as she looked into Santana's eyes. The touch made Santana melt. "My parents are still gone."

Santana wasn't sure what she was supposed to infer from that. She bit her lips and nodded.

"Do I have to invite you in every time?" Brittany asked, gesturing back toward the house.

"No," Santana said. "I can come in until someone who lives here rescinds my invitation."

Brittany nodded. "Okay. Well... do you want to come in?"

Santana nodded fervently and let herself be led into the house.

For the first time, she took in her surroundings. Brittany's house was enormous, with furniture that was older than Santana. Some of it was probably older than Quinn. The papered walls were a pretty robin's egg blue, almost like Brittany's eyes. Everything was careful and intentional and stately. And even though Santana's immortal nature rendered her graceful, she was afraid of breaking something. She kept her hands close to her sides, moving as little as possible.

As she was led further into the house, she saw the glow of candles flickering from down the hall. Brittany had substituted candles for lights in the living room, and their flames cast themselves over Brittany now, making her hair and skin and white dress glow golden. She looked warm and bright and promising, like morning had once been. And although Santana was hungry, she tried to keep herself from thinking of the blood that flowed inside Brittany.