Ready Or Not

You Don't Taste Like a Human

**Theo**

I stood looking at Hannah’s sleeping form, unsure what to do.

“She has to stay awhile,” Anna said, matter-of-factly, “It was a decent amount of blood loss. She won’t be doing well.”

She was right, and I knew it, but I didn’t want to look at her just then. Every time I did, I saw my best friend in chains and my blood boiled.

Daniel dragged me away from her to the kitchen table, where I could at least put my back to her.

“Come on, let’s just think over our next step, Theo.”

Anna nodded, agreeing with this course of action.

I sighed, shaking off the image of Lydia in a jumpsuit and restraints. “Can you call Sam? See where he’s at?”

Anna sat herself in Daniel’s lap, her big brown eyes wide, waiting for my fiance’s answer.

“I could. But I don’t expect he’s gotten far. It hasn’t been that long. I think we should let him work a bit longer.”

I stood quickly, the chair I had been sitting on falling over. “I feel so useless!” I was practically yelling. Hannah stirred, mumbling.

Anna stood and wrapped her arms around me, pinning my own to my sides. It helped calm my restless energy some.

“I could go to the library. You could take a nap. We could take Duke for a walk. We could talk about why we can’t smell Daniel and why you weren’t hungry…” her list of suggestions had some hits and misses.

I had no idea what she thought she’d do at the library that would be useful to us at this point. I was tired, but too wound up to sleep. I didn’t care at all about getting the dog his exercise and wasn’t eager to leave Hannah unattended in Lydia and Anna’s home again. And I had no earthly idea why I couldn’t smell Daniel or how he’d filled me up but that was both intriguing and concerning…

“You said you fed one another,” Anna began speaking again when I didn't respond, letting her arms drop away from me. “That’s...interesting. None of us have ever had vampire blood before.”

“Not actually true, Angel,” Daniel pointed out. “We’ve all had it, or we would have died rather than turning.”

I went to him and sat on the lap Anna had abandoned. Now that she had me thinking about it again, I needed contact with my love. It was deeply unsettling that his scent still hadn’t returned and I had to do something to reassure myself he was still there with more than one sense. I couldn’t quite trust my eyes alone when I was so used to knowing he was there through other means as well.

“Well, yeah,” my sister agreed, “but we did die, and you know what I mean. And it was the blood that turned us into what we are...I’m just wondering what it does to us once we’re already changed.”

Well.  I lifted my eyes to my sister.  “I’ve had vampire blood before,” I said casting my eyes behind to Daniel, who, predictably, blushed.  “Sometimes I make Daniel bite himself… you know. During the main event.” Anna raised an eyebrow at me.

I hunched my shoulders, defensively.  “What? I missed the way he tastes.”

“Yeah,” she said.  “That’s not the part I was wondering about.  Since when do you do something different in bed and not force Lyds and me to hear every excruciating detail?”

I rolled my eyes.  Lydia never seemed to mind the details.

“I don’t know,” I rubbed my hand over my neck.  “It was right after we got engaged, the first time he fed me.  Lydia was acting all weird because of the shit she was going through… I kind of - mistakenly - thought that maybe she wouldn’t want to hear more about my, uh, love life.”  It sounded stupid, being said out loud. Just like it sounded stupid when Lydia and I had had that conversation.