Page 31 of Taste of Fate

“Oh boy.” I took a gravity reading and winced at the number. “I sure overpitched you, didn’t I?” The batch would need more sugar and a secondary fermentation, otherwise it would taste entirely too dry.

My two other batches thankfully had normal readings, which meant they were ready to bottle and taste. I was dying to try them and see if I still had my touch, but first, I wanted to buy fresh grapes for the first batch.

I looked at the door heading out to the garage, feeling hesitant. It was two in the afternoon, which meant the vast majority of Sanguine was asleep. The market was open twenty-four hours to accommodate humans on all schedules, but I had never gone there myself before.

Come to think of it, I had never stepped foot outside of this compound without Bea at my side.

Come on, I pep-talked myself. They’ve made it clear you’re not a prisoner. It’s a short walk and all you need are some grapes. Sanguine was still a foreign territory to me, but the walk to the market was an easy, straight shot. There was no way I’d get lost.

Fighting the nervous flutters in my stomach, I put shoes on and headed outside. The moment I stepped into the sun, I had to stand and just let my skin soak up the golden light like bathwater.

It was so warm and felt heavenly on my face. I’d never been much of a sunshine addict like some people, but after three weeks of barely seeing it, I’d forgotten how much I missed those warm rays.

I started on my walk, feeling a little glum about my new life. Unless they took that drug, draitrium, vampires would never feel this energizing warmth. The sun was lethal to them, and I found that sad. I could definitely understand the temptation to try a drug to feel the sun for the first time. Or in the case of a brusang, the first time after years of darkness.

I wouldn’t take sunlight for granted anymore. Now that I lived among vampires, these midday walks would probably become few and far between. I’d savor them when I could.

While enjoying each sunlit step, I made it to the market and bought my grapes without incident. On a whim, I also bought a few avocados that weren’t quite ripe yet. I’d been craving guacamole for a while, which was also a luxury I rarely indulged in back in Sapien. But here, money seemed to be no object for the ruling vampire clan.

My mind was on the wine I’d be bottling soon, and the guacamole I’d be eating in a few days, when I left the market and turned the corner, nearly running straight into a man who came out of nowhere.

I shrieked and nearly dropped my shopping bag, which drew his attention from the sky toward me. The sight of his face sent my heart hammering and I backed up a step, thinking I should run back inside.

His eyes and skin had a sickly yellow appearance. There looked to be tear tracks down his cheeks but instead of water, it was a thicker, gooier substance. His skin and lips were also incredibly dry and blistered like he’d been sunburned. The man’s mouth hung open and I saw the tips of fangs.

A vampire out in broad daylight could only mean one thing. This man was high out of his mind on drae.

He looked truly out of it, and so much worse than the guy trying to push on me and Bea at the restaurant. That vampire barely had a yellow tinge in his eyes compared to this man. He had control of speech and seemed cognizant of his surroundings. This poor vampire looked extremely sick and I couldn’t begin to imagine what his state of mind was like.

I took another step back, trying to gauge him from a safer distance.

“Are you okay, sir?” I asked, against my better judgment.

His head cocked at the sound of my voice. He was already facing my direction, but his eyes couldn’t seem to focus on me.

“Beautiful sunny day,” he mumbled, more to himself than me. “So beautiful, the sun.”

I began side-stepping, making a wide circle around him. He followed the sound slowly, looking extremely unsteady on his feet. If it came to it, I could maybe outrun him.

“Blood,” he said, his voice a dry rasp as he wiped the gunky tears from his face. “When did I last have any blood?”

He lifted his nose to the air and sniffed, and I walked faster in my attempt to get around him, my heart hammering.

“Can I have some blood?” He seemed to forget about me, talking to someone he couldn’t see. “I need blood and…and drae. I’ll pay you back, I swear.”

His mutterings faded to nothing as I speedwalked back to the Blood ‘til Dawn compound, constantly checking over my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t following me. I didn’t relax until I crossed the garage full of motorcycles, entered the great room and shut the door behind me.

I leaned against the door for a moment, catching my breath with my eyes closed. When I opened them, my heart sped up again for an entirely different reason.

Cyan sat on the central island, shirtless and in sweatpants, his bare feet swinging slightly as he sipped from a coffee mug.

“What are you doing up?”

“What happened to you?”

Our questions burst out at the same time, but he was quicker to act. Hopping down from the counter with feline grace, he strode over to me, took the shopping bag from my shoulder, and gently pulled me to a barstool with a hand wrapped around my arm.

“Are you hurt? You look like you saw a ghost.” His nostrils flared, probably scenting me for a bleeding wound, as his fingertips ran from my shoulders to my wrists.

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