Page 71 of Thicker than Water
“Sorry,” she says. “I shouldn’t bore you with it. I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your hands here, now that I’ve stolen Tudor from you.”
I smile at her politely. “We’re managing. How is the school going?”
“Well, you know. None of the magical groups are getting along,especiallythe shifters. They’re worse than the witches! But it’s important to find ways to integrate. Of course there are going to be some speed bumps along the way.”
“I’m sure you’ll smooth them over. You always do.”
“We’ll see, I guess.”
“Celine!”
Renata’s sharp voice cuts through the jovial party atmosphere like a cracking whip. She elbows through the throngs of vampires and performing humans toward us.
“Celine,” she says. “Have you seen Lexi? Hi, Rita.”
“Hello, Ren.” Amrita’s owl familiar hoots in greeting.
I turn to Renata. “She’s mingling with the guests.”
Renata sighs deeply, gripping her clipboard tightly to her chest. “Itoldher that we’ve got to get the second shipment of wine uncorkedand ready for midnight. The vampires are drinking far more than we had anticipated, and if we don’t get the decanters prepped-”
“Renata,relax,” I tell my sister. “It’s a party, everything will be fine. I’m sure Lexi and Lily have everything under control.”
Her eye twitches angrily. “If they had just stuck to my agenda, none of this would even be happening…”
“Nothing is happening,” I say firmly, taking a glass of wine from a nearby tower and handing it to her. “Here, take this. We’ll look like bad hosts if we’re not enjoying the product.”
This suggestion seems to tap into Renata’s anxiety, and she reluctantly accepts the glass of wine. Amrita and I each take one as well.
“What a bizarre concept,” Amrita says, swirling her glass and eying its contents with skepticism. “No offense to your sister, or anything. But why would you want to drink blood from anything other than the source?”
“I have no idea,” I concur, sniffing the thick liquid. “We’re all just humouring her, to be honest with you.”
“Amrita!”
From out of nowhere, Lexi swoops into the conversation, towering over the three of us in her ridiculously high platform shoes. She holds a glass in her hand that’s three times the size of a normal wine glass.
“Sogoodto see you made it!”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” says the vampire-witch, holding up her glass in greeting. “Great party, Alexandra!”
“Oh, thank you so much,” Lexi replies, batting her heavily-mascaraed eyes. “Event planning issomuch work, but I did everything myself.”
Renata huffs, and is about to retort, but I elbow her sharply in the ribs.
“Tell us more about this wonderfully…inventivedrink,” Amrita says.
“Well, we’ve developed this very scientific way to prevent blood from clotting so that it can be preserved and distilled into a wine. It will sustain a vampire, and it retains all of the properties of fresh blood, without needing to drink immediately from a live human.” Lexi beams with delight. “It’s calledSanguine.”
“Very impressive,” says Amrita, generously.
Lexi gives us all an expectant look, and we have no choice but to take hesitant sips from our glasses. Itisa bit stale, but not as bad as I had originally expected. Renata makes a face like she just drank a cup of vinegar.
“They’re all different types of blood,” Lexi explains. “Indicated by the charm on the glass.”
Each wine glass has a different coloured charm attached to its stem. Mine is a light blue, Renata’s is orange, and Amrita’s a shining purple.
Amrita takes another sip of hers. “Mm, this one is actually passable!”
