Page 16 of Taste of Fate

“Nope.” I spoke out loud to myself, heading into the living room. “No, actually. I don’t wonder that at all.”

My note to Tavi and the silver key were gone from the side table, so she and Bea must have gone out. That was good, I had a feeling those two would get along. Bea had been turned for twenty years at this point, but she still knew human needs and customs better than any of us born vampires. And as the only brusang in the clan, I got the sense that she still felt like a bit of an outsider. I hoped she and Tavi could connect and help my new platonic blood pet settle in.

I rummaged through cabinets in my small kitchen, looking for rolling papers and a canister of darakt to make some cigarettes. Instead, I found boxes of dried human goods. Curiosity got the better of me, and I picked one up to inspect.

“Goldfish crackers, huh?” I mused at the foil-lined bag. Did humans enjoy eating goldfish that much?

After a few minutes of poking at the new items in my kitchen, I jumped in the shower and found myself enjoying Tavi’s scent a little too much. The thick, humid air enhanced her flavor, making it an almost tangible taste on my tongue. And the air wasn’t the only thing thickening in that room. The fresh scars on my chest still itched a little, and I absently ran my fingers over her name in my skin.

I needed to get a fucking grip, and not on my cock, which I pointedly ignored as I scrubbed myself clean. Tavi lived here now. It was just a matter of time before her scent covered the whole apartment.

Eventually I would get used to it. Become nose-blind and stop noticing it. The same with her blood. Every living creature had blood. That didn’t mean I was distracted by thousands of heartbeats every single time I walked outside.

Tavi was just new. And new things often piqued my curiosity. That was all this was.

As I dried off and got dressed, my thoughts turned to how she was faring. She had been in shock, guarded and a little defensive last night, but seemed to be taking things in stride. That had been nearly a full day ago, and reality must have sunken in by now.

Tasting and fucking her were off the table, but she was still my responsibility.

Once decent, I left the apartment and headed up to the great room. The moment I hit the landing and opened the door, Tavi’s scent immediately hit my nose. It was fresh and bold this time, not the faint lingering hours after a shower.

I clenched my teeth, stopping all thoughts of piercing through a vein, despite the gnawing ache in my fangs. I had just been to the blood bank, for fuck’s sake. I wasn’t hungry, despite the overwhelming urge to find out what Tavi tasted like.

It’s curiosity, nothing more, I told myself. One that if I indulged in would surely lead to disappointment. She was just a human, after all. Chances were she’d taste like the thousands of others I’d had. If only my damn fangs would get the memo.

“How long you plan to keep standing in the way, Cy?” Someone shoved at my back, making me stumble forward into the room. Rhain came out from behind me, muttering like a curmudgeonly old man.

“Aw, woke up on the wrong side of the coffin again, Rhain?” I teased, taking my sweet time making room for him to pass through.

“Fuck off.” The grumpy bastard hated all jokes, but the vampire stereotypes were his least favorites.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

A few other clan members, the early risers, were milling about. In a few hours, some of them would ride out on patrols to make sure all was well in our little kingdom of Sanguine. Since becoming the ruling clan, we had more territory to cover than ever before. Our compound here was in a central location, the Heart of Sanguine, and our tenure had been an overall peaceful one. Even so, there were clans on the fringes, such as in the Crown and the Ribs, that were less agreeable with our position. Even with outposts and allied smaller clans, we had to ride out far and wide to constantly put out fires.

Fortunately for me, it was a night off.

Tavi and Bea sat at the large island counter on the kitchen side of the great room with a few bottles lined up between them, like they were doing a tasting of some kind. Laith sat on the stool next to Tavi, leaning in close to her in a way that made me want to bare my fangs at him.

“Hey.” I came up to the adjacent side of the island. “What kind of party we got over here?”

“For what it’s worth, I told her not to.” Laith smirked and I suppressed a growl.

“We’re tasting blood chillers,” Bea supplied. “Someone got curious.”

“These are awful.” Tavi made a face as she set a bottle down. “These are really supposed to mimic what blood tastes like to vampires? It’s like someone dumped a bunch of sugar into cough syrup.”

“I told you it was a total gimmick.” Bea laughed and pushed forward another bottle. “You sure you don’t want to try—” she paused to read the label “—Tastes Just Like Real Angel?”

“No way.” I picked up another one of the bottles to examine. “Who would make this?”

“Someone with the brilliant idea of trying to market vampire things to humans.” Bea shot a teasing look at Tavi. “Targeting those suckers who go, ‘Ooh, what’s this?’”

“I was just curious,” Tavi moaned, lowering her face to her palm.

Something we have in common, I thought, watching the delicate pulse flutter in her neck.

I took a tentative sip from the bottle and nearly spat it back out the moment it hit my tongue, much to Laith’s cackling amusement. “Oh fucking Temkra, that is awful.”

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