Page 68 of Love Bleeds
Chapter Twenty-Three
Luke's blood called out to Crimson. Every time they were close, it was as if he could smell the red liquid running through his friend's veins--and it smelled absolutely delicious. It would taste sweet, Crimson was sure of that. Sweet and rich and wonderful.
But Crimson couldn't have Luke's blood.
It was kind of ironic, really. He'd had to turn into a vampire to get everything he ever wanted from Luke. Only now that he was a vampire, there was a new item on his list of things that he wanted. Almost as if there was a higher power in the universe that wanted to keep him yearning for things he wasn't supposed to yearn for. First it had been Luke's body, now it was his blood.
Not that he didn't still desire Luke's body, but at least it wasn't a secret anymore. And, if the night before had been any indication, it wasn't something Luke was opposed to sharing. The memory made Crimson smile--which probably looked a little out of place, because he was supposed to be listening to Luke instead of entertaining thoughts of running his hands all over his naked body.
He definitely wasn't supposed to be entertaining thoughts of sinking his teeth into Luke's neck.
They sat at the dining room table. Luke's siblings were there too, and the other vampires. One of them, Talon, was holding the infant. Crimson had only gotten a short glimpse of the baby once before. It had been odd, seeing a baby with fangs, drinking liquid that was undoubtedly blood. Then again, Crimson's definitions of what counted as 'odd' had shifted quite a bit over the past weeks.
Luke spread a map on the table. It showed a part of the city. He circled a building with a red pen. "So, this law firm is the vampire headquarters?" he asked, looking across the table at Aldrich.
Crimson recognized the address too. It was definitely where he'd been kept.
"That's the place," Aldrich said. "I wouldn't really call it an HQ. It's only one coven's base. There's more across the city."
Luke nodded. "I thought that might be the case, but it doesn't really matter. Nicolai's going to be here, right?"
"Yes," Aldrich confirmed. "What exactly is it that you plan to do, nerdling?"
"I need a building plan," Luke said instead of responding to the question.
"Where would we get something like that?" Talon asked.
"I wonder if anyone within WAFFER might have the right connections," Collin mused.
"In the meantime, I’ll take any information Aldrich and Talon can give me. Like, what’s the layout of the building?” Luke asked.
Talon started giving him a brief overview of the number of rooms and how they were arranged. Every now and then, Aldrich chimed in with a detail or two his partner was forgetting.
Luke pulled out a notebook and wrote it all down. Even though Crimson sat right next to him, he couldn’t decipher his writing. Luke's penmanship had always been horrible. He wasn't sure how he remembered that random fact when there was so much else still lost to him, but it seemed that memories concerning Luke were easiest to access.
Every now and then, he'd look at Luke, and something would come back to him. It was mostly small stuff. Like how Luke's favorite toy as a kid had been his remote-controlled racing car, or how his favorite subject in elementary school had been English because Mrs. Penny used to put stickers on their homework assignments.
And again, Crimson had lost himself in thoughts of Luke instead of following the conversation.
He couldn't help it, though. He loved it when Luke got like this, all serious about working out a complex problem. There was just something about the way he chewed his lower lip in thought while filling his notebook. It was endearing, until Crimson remembered that the complex problem Luke was trying to figure out at the time was him.
Because neither of them knew how much longer Crimson could go without needing to feed.
His teeth itched at the thought of blood, his fangs wanting to extend. Crimson pressed his lips together and hoped that nobody noticed the way he shifted in his chair to gain a little more distance from Luke.
If only his blood didn't smell so sweet.
Everything would be easier then.
Nicolai had starved him for periods of time longer than this.
But back when he'd been under Nicolai's thumb, he hadn't been surrounded by food. He'd been alone in his little room, for the most part. He hadn't been tempted by the smell of blood. Especially not Luke's blood.
Luke's blood was a difficult thing to resist.
Crimson licked his teeth, hoping to scratch the itch. He had to stop thinking about blood, so he forced his attention back to the conversation at hand.
Collin was speaking. "Promise that you'll wait until we hear back from WAFFER before you rush into anything.”
