Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(28)
Something about his presence in my small home seemed to ease all the tension that’d accumulated in my shoulders after the day’s excursion, his aura of calm projecting out in almost tangible waves.
“Oh! Wait here a sec, while I still remember it this time!” I hurried into my bedroom and grabbed the small pile of neatly folded clothes I’d borrowed from him in August.
“I’ve got the clothes you lent me this summer,” I said when I re-entered the living room.
“Oh. Thank you.” Warin turned from his study of the sunset, mild surprise clear on his face, and I realized he’d forgotten about the shirt and boxers completely. I supposed someone who lived in a mansion the size of Warin’s home wouldn’t care much about a couple of items of clothing, even if they were expensive pieces. I was pretty sure the cost of the shirt alone would have paid a month’s rent for me.
He accepted the items from me with a polite smile.
And then he bent his head to sniff them.
I froze, insulted. “I have washed them.”
He raised his head to shoot me a quizzical look, potentially at my frosty tone. “They smell of you.”
“They’re clean. But I can have them dry-cleaned for you, if you prefer.” I folded my arms across my chest, lips pinched in what was undoubtedly a decent imitation of my grandmother.
Warin blinked a single time as he took in my displeased expression, and then comprehension seemed to dawn across his beautiful features.
“Oh, I am sorry, Liv. It was not… That they smell of you is not a negative observation. I am truly sorry… I forgot humans don’t…”
“Sniff things?” My tone was still a tad curt, but it seemed he’d just had a “vampire moment.” I was pretty sure I’d done a lot of things that would be considered a faux pas in his eyes too. “Is it kind of like when dogs say hello to each other?”
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.”