Part I -- Part III
He was stretched out on the king size bed in the large basement room they’d converted into their bedroom. All cool darks and lights, pale skin and dark brown hair, against the deep red comforter. Lucas was a couple inches taller than Cal, thin almost to the point of bony. She have described him as willowy if he didn’t exude such a sense of strength, not surprising considering the fact she’s seen him throw a guy twice his size a good thirty feet. Cal always thought he looked different when he slept though, even with the complete stillness he looked more human to her. It oddly felt wrong to think of his like that, he was far from human and she wouldn’t want that to change.
Sitting next to his motionless body Cal ran her wounded fingertip across his lips. He didn’t open his eyes or make any move other than smiling and gently lick the trace of blood away with his pale pink tongue. Cal pulled her hand away and replaced it with her own lips.
“Mmm... I like waking up like that. You always taste lovely.” His rich English baritone was practically a purr. He looked up at her with pale gray eyes. “How long have you been up?”
“A few hours. I just finished a finding spell from Emily MacTire. One of her students has sticky fingers.”
Lucas was stroking her neck. No subtlety at all tonight. Cal thought, closing her eyes for a moment. Her neck was a weakness of hers and he knew it. The vampire started laying soft kisses along her throat, when she felt him lick over the pulse in her neck she pulled back.
“Emily also brought over some fresh lamb’s blood for you.” Cal bent down to the mini fridge next to the bed and pulled out a pint jar of blood.
“Tease.” He whispered.
“Yep, now drink your blood.” He scowled but took the jar from her anyway. She really did enjoy tormenting him like that.
Animal blood isn’t a perfect substitute for human but it still has power. Vampires don’t drink blood for the nutritional value, if that was all that it was they’d never take the risk of acquiring human blood at all. There is power in blood, in life, in emotions and it’s this power that sustains them. Animal blood doesn’t have nearly the power that human blood has. It’s the difference between eating proper balanced meals and ramen every day, both keep you alive but only one is healthy diet.
Lucas sat on the edge of the bed and drained the jar in a few big gulps, an expression of mild distaste on his face. Blood doesn’t reheat well and he much preferred it warm or at least room temperature. It was too soon to feed from Cal again, he just enjoyed the reaction he got from her as much as she enjoyed teasing him.
There had been a time in their relationship that he would have pushed her a bit but that had changed six months ago after the banshee. Since then he’d been far more cautious, drinking more animal blood and occasionally feeding on humans other than Cal. She knew of course but wouldn’t ask questions. He didn’t take enough to hurt anyone, he doesn’t need that much, not much more than a donation to the Red Cross. Even if he didn’t know it would end their relationship—or worse—as he’d put it once ‘leaving bodies lying around attracts the wrong kind of attention’. Enjoying danger and having a death wish are very different things.
Lucas shifted on the bed to sit behind he. Cal could smell the lambs blood, cold and coppery, as he leaned close to wrap his arms around her and softly nuzzled her neck. Even after two years together the smell of blood on her lover’s breath was disconcerting, the taste of it in his kiss even more so. Blood in general didn’t bother her, she was a blood mage after all and used her own in spells all the time. She even enjoyed being fed from. It didn’t make sense that she had this reaction to it still but she did. At least it was only animal blood, early in their relationship she’d had to insist he not kiss her after drinking human blood, Cal’s own excepted, after he’s done exactly that. Nearly three hundred year old vampires don’t always understand concepts like blood born diseases or boundaries.
Cal squirmed out of his arms. “I should get something to eat too.”
Escaping his embrace she bounced upstairs. Lucas followed after a minute, now dressed in a t-shirt and soft faded jeans. He flopped down on the couch and opened up his laptop to check his email while Cal rummaged around in the kitchen. She settled on making a ham sandwich and joined him on the couch.
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Part I -- Part III
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