Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 53

Coming around a tasty snack without being allowed to feed on it, is not fun.

Still, I exert utmost control not to let my predatory instincts take over. This time, I will be the one in charge, not my bloodlust.

If I am being honest with myself, I am starting to realize that this might be it, that Eliot could be my way to happiness.

Bleeding his dear sister dry would put a damper on our budding relationship.

"What are you thinking about? Is it my brother?" Olivia's voice suddenly breaks my thoughts.

"What? No, of course not. Why would you say that?" I spit out a flurry of words.

"You are grinning and it's creeping me out." Olivia says.

Am I?

I didn't notice any change in my facial expressions but having in mind what I was thinking about, I am guessing that she is telling the truth.

"I was just thinking how much more I will enjoy my existence when all this is over." I say which is partly true.

"With my brother?" the perceptive little Healer asks.

"I don't think your brother and I would be a good match. After all, a relationship works much better if one person isn't always on the edge of bleeding their partner dry." I say shivering internally.

I am not sure if I was trying to convince her or myself that it was a bad idea. Yet, as the words leave my mouth I remember the story Seymour told me about how he murdered his partner. Admittedly,  it was a different kind of partner but it still holds true, hanging out with vampires could prove deadly.

"I don't know, you two seem to be working things out." Olivia says suggestively.

"For the time being. It might be because I am not thinking rationally. It would be better for both of us if I could just leave when all this is over." I say.

"But can you?" Olivia asks.

Her question catches me off guard and make me wonder if I truly could leave him.

When I left with Olivia, it was to protect him, to protect all of them.

However, could I leave him if the only danger we were facing was my bloodlust?

Luckily, I am saved having to answer Olivia's question by our arrival at the feeding place and by Olivia jumping out of my arms.

"I'll go talk to the few people from the tribe, warn them not to come here while you check out the blood saturation levels." Olivia says.

"Wait a minute. What if there isn't enough blood to mask our scents?" I ask.

"We make some more of course." Olivia says cheerfully.

The fact that a Healer would suggest something like that shocks me and it must show in my eyes since she hurries to explain.

"We kill animals from time to time when we need meat so we could just kill a few more, give you the blood and use the rest for our nourishment." Olivia says rationally.

I am not sure why but I assumed that the Healer were what people called vegetarians, that they refused to take any life. The new revelation makes sense but it is still making me realize how little I know about the Healers and their way of life.

If we survive all this and I manage to stay with Eliot, I will have to learn more about his world. Perhaps, I will need to stop killing humans as well which doesn't make me feel good. I love the thrill of the hunt. 

On the other hand, I might help him hunt the animals and drink bagged blood. That sounds like a reasonable compromise.

"What will you tell them? This must be an odd request for them." I say, snapping myself out of thoughts of  a future that might never come to be.

"The truth. More or less. We've been closer with this tribe than any other humans.

"I guess you could say that we share some of the same values. We have a lot of respect for each other.

"So, if I tell them that staying out of here wouldn't harm them in any way and would help us, they will do it." Olivia says.

"Okay, but hurry back. I don't want you out there unprotected. Who knows when the Vampire Council might pop up." I say.

"Yes, mom," Olivia says sarcastically and proceeds to run off.

I take a look around the place that is to be our battle ground. It's such a quiet, peaceful place and I almost feel guilty brining our problems to it. Almost.

However, instead of admiring it's beauty, I close my eyes and focus only on my sense of smell. 

Though I usually do my best to restrain my heightened senses, this time, I allow my sense of smell to gather all the different scents that permeate the place.

I breathe in deeply so as not to allow any scent to escape my senses.

There is the smell of two day old blood and a smaller amount of fresh one. However, far more enticing is the smell of blood freshly pumped out in the still beating hearts of the creatures that are hiding all over the place, some better than others.

Now, as enticing as the animal blood is, the taste is utterly disgusting and barely satiates my hunger.

In the past, Cecilia and Tobias have tried living off only animal blood but even they had to admit defeat. It simply wasn't as nutritious to us as human blood.

As I am doing my best to distinguish between small nuances of flavors of the blood that I can detect the familiar spicy smell.

Well, that answers that question. 

As I open my eyes, I see Seymour standing in front of me, fury lapping out of his eyes.

"How could you just leave?" he barely managed to say.

"I did what I thought was best at the time. I was wrong and here we are now." I say.

The moment I say that, his anger seems to fade away slightly as I am rarely the one to admit my mistakes.

"Geez. Overreacting much." Alarcos says joining his boyfriend.

He acts as if he wasn't the one who almost ripped my head off in his exaggeration but I choose not to say anything. 

"You two will be the death of me." Seymour says, utterly exasperated. 

"Neither one of you is allowed to run away like that ever again." Seymour adds firmly.

"Yes, mom." Alarcos and I say at the same time.

Then we burst out laughing which Seymour doesn't find amusing in the least.

"Where are the others?" I ask eager to change the subject.

"They'll be here soon. They are just making additional arrangements, at least Eliot is. Cecilia and Tobias are just slower than us." Seymour says.

"That's because someone ran like a lunatic." Alarcos says teasingly.

"Good because this is about to get bloody." I say.