First Bite

Pomegranate Seeds

Santana awoke to a soft tapping on the door of the root cellar.

"Santana?" Brittany whispered. "Are you awake?"

Santana lifted her head and looked at her watch, seeing that it was exactly 7:56. "Yeah," she whispered. "I'm awake."

"Can I come in?" Brittany asked.

Santana surveyed her surroundings, seeing the spiders and worms and other creatures who had crawled to the corners of the cellar out of fear. "Um... it's kind of messy."

"It's also dark, so I won't be able to see."

Right. Brittany couldn't see in the dark. "I'll just come out," Santana said, sitting up and combing her fingers through her hair. She tried to stand, but the room was too short, so she stooped enough that she could brush off her clothes and comb through her hair a few more times. As she stepped out of the root cellar and saw Brittany, dazzling and giddy before her, she realized how hungry she was. She knew this was a recipe for disaster.

"I need to eat," Santana blurted right away, her gaze fixating on Brittany's neck that pulsed so delectably.

Brittany giggled, tilting her head. "Go ahead."

Santana felt herself lurch toward Brittany, but stopped herself. "No... No, I don't want to deplete you. I want to..." she paused, swallowing as she figured out what she wanted to do, besides drink from Brittany. "I want to go out to dinner."

Brittany's smile spread. "Really?"

Santana nodded, steeling herself against feeding from Brittany. She decided once every three days was all Brittany's body could handle at this stage of their arrangement.

"That sounds perfect."

Twenty minutes later they were seated in a booth across from each other, Brittany pouring over her menu as Santana watched her eyes dance, adoring everything about her.

"Are you really allergic to garlic?" Brittany asked, leaning in a little bit as if she were embarrassed to ask.

"Not allergic, really," Santana said with a little giggle. "It irritates my eyes and my skin. That's why I don't want you eating it, because then kissing you won't be as fun. But I won't burst into flames or break out in hives."

"Oh. Okay," Brittany chirped, looking back at her menu. "No garlic, then."

Santana watched as Brittany's eyes roamed over the menu, fascinatingly blue and wondrous about every little thing in the world.

"I'd probably kiss you anyway," Santana blurted before she realized she was thinking it.

Brittany looked up from her menu with a enamored grin, biting her smile down as she met Santana's eyes. "There's lots of good things to eat here that have no garlic," she said. Brittany looked at the menu again, then up at Santana. "Do you know what you're getting?"

"I was thinking of mixing things up and going for an O negative."

Brittany shook her head, embarrassed. "Wow, I totally forgot you don't eat food."

Santana thought that was the sweetest thing Brittany had ever said. Brittany had actually forgotten Santana was a vampire. And to be honest, sometimes when Santana was around Brittany, she forgot too.

"Don't you always drink AB negative?" Brittany asked.

Santana shrugged. "Do you always drink red wine?"

Brittany tilted her head and gave Santana a curious smile. "So you get tired of it?"

"Never of yours," Santana said, dropping her voice.