Page 37 of The Awakening
Now, Jae is sporting his normal sincere grin. His perfectly straight white teeth are shining. He lifts from the stool and leans forward, tilting his head slightly as he presses his lips to mine.
It’s a sweet, slow kiss, and it feels like we already have our own rhythm. We’re learning each other. His mouth tastes like peaches and cinnamon to me, even though I know he couldn’t possibly have even brushed his teeth and humans typically have terrible morning breath.
* * *
Later in the week,Haruka sends me a text message asking me to come to the estate. This is weird.
Haruka never texts me. Or anyone. Nino says he only textshimback (sometimes) because he’s spent over a year fussing at him about it. The purebred simply doesn’t like smartphones. Something about the light of it bothers his eyes. It’s not an official summons with his family’s seal delivered and written in Asao’s voice, but knowing Haruka, something is up.
It’s Friday when I finally have time to stop by the estate. Being in Europe for two weeks is fantastic, but it creates a backlog of appointments and requests for me at home. I told Jae I would try to come to Himeji for dinner sometime during the week, but I haven’t had time. Maybe I’ll go tonight for a little while? Sundays are just better for both of us because he’s off and usually I am too.
Today’s visit to Haruka and Nino’s home is absolutely different, because when I walk in, Asao tells me Haruka is in his office. “Where the hell is his office?” I ask. “We conduct all our business in the kitchen.”
Asao laughs at this as he guides me down the hallway opposite the kitchen. “Your doctor boyfriend has created a spark of life in Haruka. He’s going to Hong Kong next week.”
I draw back, surprised. “Hong Kong? He’s not my boyfriend.” I’m a hundred and thirty years old and Jae is over thirty. Nobody in this situation is a fucking “boy.”
Asao stops, raising his eyebrow. “Are you sleeping with anyone else right now?”
I lift my chin, indignant. “How do you know I’m sleeping with him?”
“You’re sleeping with him.At home.That in and of itself is telling.”
“Alright, old man. Keep walking.”
Asao laughs and moves forward. I tell him too much. If I’m honest, Asao is a little like the father I never had. Well, the father IwishI had. He tells me what I need to hear, but he’s kind. Thoughtful, in a gruff way. I asked Haruka how it felt being raised by Asao after his own father died. He said he greatly respects Asao and values the role he’s played in his upbringing, but that no vampire could replace his biological father.
I’ve heard that Haruka’s father, Hayato Hirano, was an incredible male—both publicly and privately. Very sharp and notoriously affectionate. Mischievous. Vampires in Okayama are hard-core loyalists to the Hirano Clan in part because of him.
Haruka once told me that when he was little, his father used to hide in the house. When Haruka went looking for him, he’d jump out from somewhere and sweep him up, hugging and kissing him. Haruka said it was both exciting and terrifying.
That story and the image of it stuck with me. I can’t think of one time my father ever played with me like that—or inanyway. Haruka’s situation was the exception. Mine was more the norm. Old-school purebred fathers… They’re not playful and affectionate. They don’t typically do hide-and-seek.
Asao slides the door open for me and I walk inside. Haruka’s office is his father’s old office. It’s traditional, with tatami floors, paper doors decorated with elegant sumi-e artwork and a wall of glass windows on the opposite side that show a view of the back garden and koi pond. There are also rows of bookshelves lining the back wall, and Haruka himself is sitting at a low table on a cushion. He’s wearing a casual black robe that I designed for him.
Aside from his clothing, it all feels a little too formal, so when I’m standing in front of him, I lift my palms. “Um, what the hell?”
He’s writing something. He briefly flicks his sangria-colored eyes up at me before looking back down at his journal. “Your lover is a vampire.”
I sit down across from him, folding my legs against the tatami. I quickly decide I’m more comfortable with “lover” over “boyfriend.” I don’t argue it. “He doesn’t feed, so how can he be a vampire?”
Haruka sighs and puts his pen down. He pulls his long fingers up to the center of his forehead and massages. “I’m still figuring that part out. However, he is indisputably vampiric in nature—and ranked.Notlow level. It is likely that his mother was vampiric in nature as well, and because she denied her body the resources it needed, she perished.”
Folding my arms, I let that sink in. “These are big assumptions to make. And I don’t think they hold water, given the fact that Jae doesn’tfeed. Doesn’t want to.”
Haruka leans forward on his elbow, lifting his hand and holding up a single finger. “One, Jae registers as attractive to our natures. Two, he carries a unique scent. Three, he said lower-level vampires find him displeasing to taste. What he does not realize is that lower-level vampires findallranked vampires displeasing to taste.”
At this, I sigh. Jae had told me this before. When he reiterated it at dinner, I remember thinking it didn’t help his case. Lower-level vampires find our blood to be too strong, too potent. Like having vodka straight. No ice, nothing. There’s this misconception—more like a fantasy—among some younger low-level vampires that drinking ranked-vampire blood would be this euphoric and life-changing experience. They’re wrong. They would gag.
Haruka has all four fingers up and only his thumb tucked into his palm. “Four, he has never been ill—which is extremely unusual for a human. Five, he said that his body has felt uncomfortable since he’s moved to Japan. ‘Twisty and weird’ is exactly what happens with our natures when we are drawn toward other ranked vampires. Instinctively, he probably moved here because of the pull of his kin. Six—”
“Alright, Haruka, I hear you.” When he pulls his other hand up to count, I’m over it. I get it. “You think Jae is a secret ranked vampire.”
“My theory is that he is repressed.” Haruka folds his arms, sitting up straight.
“You can only repress your nature as a low-leveler. Vampires whose bloodlines are so far removed that they are predominantly human, so they can ignore the remnants of their natures, right?”
“Yes, typically, but… what if a ranked vampire figured out how to suppress his or her bloodline?”
