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17. Katie Dines with a Vampire (But Doesn't Know It)

Sergio came over a few nights later to meet Katie properly. I made stir fry (my comfort food), and Katie set the table with our best dishes, which were our only dishes.

The doorbell rang precisely on time. "I'll get it!" I yelled. I opened the door.

Sergio stood there, dressed in a blue button-down rolled up at the sleeves.

"Please come in," I said intentionally.

He smiled. "Thank you." He stepped across the threshold, and I closed the door.

Katie put the finishing touches on the place settings, then greeted our guest. "I'm so glad we're doing this," she told him after shaking his hand. "I want to hear all about you to make sure you're good enough for my best friend."

"Katie," I cautioned, but she took no notice.

Sergio smoothly replied, "I would expect nothing less. And I am anxious to hear about you. Inari has told me much."

I set the last dish on the table. "Everything's ready," I announced, double-checking in my head. Salad: check. Stir fry: check. Drinks...wait. "What do you guys want to drink?"

"Water is fine for me," Sergio said.

"Me too," said Katie. She and I poured ourselves glasses of water, and I got one for Sergio. Then we all sat down.

For a minute, we ate in silence. Then Katie spoke up. "So, Sergio, what do you do for a living?"

"I am a middleman for several prominent individuals and companies. I set up meetings and earn a commission if a deal goes through. And what do you do?"

"I'm a freelance photographer," she replied. "Have you ever dealt in art?"

"A little," he said. "I met some interesting people while doing it."

They talked about artists and art dealers for a while, and I thought they were both having a good time. Perfect.

"And where do your parents live?" Katie asked Sergio. Oh, no. Not perfect.

"My parents are no longer with us," he replied with a tightening of his features.

"I'm sorry," she said, aghast. "I had no idea."

I jumped in to save the conversation from an awkward or sad turn. "But his family is from Italy, hence the sexy accent."

Sergio tried and failed to stifle a smile. "You think my accent is sexy?"

"As sexy as Tom Hiddleston talking Shakespeare. As sexy as thigh-highs and garters. A sexy as an incubus on a good hair day."

"Hmm. Now I have the image of you in garters stuck in my head," he joked.

"Do I look sexy?" I asked.

"Not really," he said. I smacked his arm. "I tease! You always look ravishing." He lifted my hand while he spoke, then kissed it.

Katie watched this exchange intently. I knew she was trying to gauge my ease in Sergio's presence, our attraction, his respectability as my date mate. I hoped he passed her judgment—her approval would go a long way toward convincing me I'd made the right decision in returning to him.

After dinner, Sergio helped clean up the kitchen and put the dishes away. Then I gave him a brief tour of the apartment: brief because there wasn't a lot to see. We ended in my room.

My room was a stylistic mess—a cross between cute, antique, and edgy. The bedspread and curtains were pink and gray; a pillow featured a skull adorned with flowers. There was a stuffed bookshelf in one corner and a cluttered desk in the other, both made of rich brown wood. A modern record player sat on a side table.

Sergio wandered through, pausing to inspect individual items like my succulents and a pastel polaroid camera. "I like this space exceedingly well," he told me. "It suits you." He picked up the camera. "I thought these were outdated."

Right. He was alive when polaroids first came out. "They're coming back into style," I said. "I think that nowadays, with hundreds of pictures on our phones, polaroid cameras make us stop and focus on what we are looking at. I don't know."

"No, that makes sense," he said.

Why was I so nervous? Maybe because my room was a personal space and showing it to Sergio was like handing him a snapshot of my life. Or perhaps I was worried because this was the first time I'd been alone with him since learning he was a vampire.

"Dinner was delicious, by the way," he said. "You are an excellent cook."

"Thank you. I can make about three good meals."

"What are the others?"

I sat on the bed, then regretted it because now I was way shorter than him. "My mother taught me to make stir fry, but I also make a smashing pizza from scratch. And sushi. There are all kinds of tutorial videos on the internet with ideas and techniques."

"I should love to try those meals sometime."

Katie wasn't with us, and the door was closed, so I asked what had been on my mind at dinner. "I thought vampires ate—drank, whatever—blood, so how can you eat human food?"

Sergio sat next to me on the bed. He smelled nice, and it was distracting. "You are correct that we need to drink blood," he said, "but we can still taste and appreciate human food. It just isn't sustaining. And alcohol has no inebriating effect."

"Ah." I twisted my hands in my lap. "So does the blood have to be, like, human blood?"

"You look distressed, Inari," he said gently. "It's all right. You are in no danger from me."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing my tensed muscles as I went. "Thank you."

"No, human blood is not the only type we can drink. Animal blood and the blood of other vampires are also nourishing. Though they taste different."

"What's best?"

"Vampire blood is if you can get your hands on it. But that is rare. Human blood is also delicious, and animal blood satisfactory."

Now we got to the part about which I was most concerned. "Do you have to kill humans for their blood?"

He was honest, for which I was grateful, but he kept his voice soothing and low so as not to frighten me. "Some vamps do kill humans. But there are ways to acquire blood without killing. Some humans that are aware of vampires' existence—we call them Enlightened—sell liters of blood and make good money for it. There are also small vampire sects that have sworn off drinking human blood, similar to your vegetarians perhaps, because they see it as a moral issue to consume another being of free will."

"I guess that makes me feel better," I said. "Also, did you say 'vamps?'"

"Yes. 'Vampire' gets tedious to repeat."

I thought it was hilarious, but I wouldn't make fun of him for it. We all had our linguistic quirks.

"Will you come over to my house on Friday, Inari?" Sergio asked.

"I'd love to. What time?"

"Whenever you wish. I'd invite you to stay the night, but I am afraid of pushing you too quickly."

I wanted to spend another night with him like the ones in Milan, but I shared his reservation. It would probably be best to take things slow for now. "Yeah, maybe some other time. But soon," I added to show that I was on my way to accepting what he was.