Judging from his expression, I’d just committed one.
“I suppose you could compare the two,” he replied carefully as he placed the folded clothes on the coffee table. “Do you wish to continue drawing tonight?”
“Definitely.” I motioned for him to sit on the couch in the same spot he had last time, a genuine smile creeping back across my lips. I’d been looking forward to this all week. “Did you bring some blood for dinner? Want a glass?”
“I ate before I left,” he said. “It’s easier to be around you when…”
“When you’re not hungry?” I said with an easy grin as I plopped down on the sofa next to him and grabbed my drawing kit off the coffee table. “Does that mean I smell like dinner, then?”
His head snapped in my direction, blue eyes staring at me with incredulity.
“I mean, since you said the clothes smell like me,” I said, nodding at the small pile of fabric on the table. “Is hanging out with me a bit like chatting to a hamburger?”
I was perhaps entirely too calm about comparing myself to a hamburger around a vampire, but despite having seen Warin’s hunger up close and personal before, I couldn’t bring myself to fear him. Something about his aura felt too calm, too safe to allow my brain to see him as a threat.
Warin shook his head at me. “I… don’t think it’s comparable.”
I raised my eyebrows encouragingly
He sighed, perhaps not entirely keen on discussing his eating habits with one of his main food groups, but humored me nonetheless. “There are many nuances to a human’s scent. Only a part of it is the blood.”
“So what do I smell like?” I asked, intrigued.
I only got an arched eyebrow in response.
“Right,” I mumbled. Maybe there were lines you shouldn’t cross with your vampire buddy, after all.
I began to sketch out Warin’s face again, but despite his hesitance at discussing his food, I was still curious. “So… remember when you told me you mainly drink donor blood?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“How come? Is it more hygienic, or…? And where do you get it from? Hospitals?” I knew there’d been a major clamp-down on blood security across the country. Once humans had realized that vampires could and would steal their blood supplies, they’d been vamp-proofed. I wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed, but the spokesperson for the Department of Defense had seemed quite confident when he was interviewed about it.
“We Compel humans to donate. They believe they have given blood to the medical industry.” He sighed. “And I primarily feed this way to avoid… certain side effects of live feeding. This way, the human will go about their business with minimal interference.”
I really wanted to know what side effects he meant, but something in his tone kept me from asking. He’d been very patient with being carpet-bombed for information so far, and I didn’t want to push it too much. Who knew how much pestering he could take before he decided not to come back for another visit?
“So you’re kind of a vegetarian, in vampire terms?” I said, giving him a wry smile. “Or a free-range farmer?”
“You are remarkably calm, discussing such things with a vampire,” Warin noted, both eyebrows raised.
I shrugged. “I know you won’t hurt me. You kind of had the chance plenty of times already, you know? And it’s fascinating to learn more about your kind—it’s not exactly something you can just Wikipedia.”
He shook his head at me. “My kind is not fascinating, Liv. We’re dangerous.”
I shrugged as I drew the frown of his brows. “So are lions, crocodiles… sharks. Doesn’t mean they aren’t fascinating.”
“You’re—“
“And odd human?” I interrupted him with a grin. “So you keep saying. But you’re the one who’s patiently answering all my dumb questions. And letting humans donate blood rather than drink from them. I dare say, you’re an odd vampire too.”
He chuckled, a rumbling sound that seemed to vibrated through the room and seemed to warm the air and even my skin. “Perhaps that’s why I enjoy your company so much.”
“Yeah,” I said, unable to hide my happy smile as the warmth in my skin sank in deeper.
We sat in pleasant silence for a little while as I sketched the vampire on my couch, until the quietude was interrupted by a demanding growl from my stomach.
Warin shot my midsection a look. “Have you not eaten?”
I grimaced. “No.” I hadn’t been able to eat since the slaughterhouse.
“I don’t mind if you eat while I visit,” he said. “You should not go hungry for too long—humans need regular feedings, correct?”
I snorted at his phrasing. “No, I’m good. Don’t think I’ll be eating anything but veggies anytime soon, anyway.” I glanced at him and sighed. I’d been dragging my feed at bringing up what I’d spent my day doing, because judging from how stern he’d been about his whole “thou shall not investigate the local butcher” thing, I was reasonably certain he wouldn’t much appreciate me going to the slaughterhouse. But, I’d gone there to help with his investigation, so keeping what little I’d learned from him wouldn’t get me anywhere.
“Uh, so… remember the whole blood incident?”
He arched his eyebrows in question. “I do.” There was just the slightest note of warning in his tone.
“Yeah, so… I went and talked to my butcher, who confirmed that their supplier uses a different technique to harvest the blood now, due to vampires breaking into several butcher shops lately.”
“After I specifically told you not to get involved?” There was no mistaking the clipped disapproval in his voice this time.
“Yeah, well, free will and all.” I gave him a half-smile that ended more in a grimace at the sight of his narrowed eyes. Okay, so I wasn’t afraid of him, as such, but he could still project and awfully effective “don’t mess with me, human” aura when he wanted to.
“Anyway, the butcher gave me the number for their supplier, and today I went to speak with the people at the slaughterhouse,” I continued.
“You did what?” he growled. “Liv, do you not understand how dangerous this is? If you are suspected of being a vampire sympathizer, they will target you. Does your life mean that little to you? You experienced firsthand how easy it is for these people to hurt anyone they suspect of being on our side.”
“I didn’t think there’d be any harm in it. Though the PR dude made it quite clear that they definitely are using dead blood to weed out what he believes to be the weaker vampires.”
Warin muttered what sounded distinctly like a curse, even if I didn’t catch the words. “You do realize that this is exactly the same information I have managed to procure? There was zero reason for you to risk your life in interacting with them.”
My shoulders slumped. “Oh. How…? I mean, you can’t exactly go there during the day, and they are quite on edge about vampires coming around.”