Page 47 of The Star's Sword

“So, why won’t you let me feed on you?” Simon asked, batting his admittedly pretty eyelashes at me.

Simon was small for a vampire, at only five-foot-eleven, and his large, red irises were a deeper, more blood-like color than Sam’s.

His face was almost angelically beautiful, except from the slightly dead coloring he had.

“So, what are you suggesting?” I blinked, unsure.

Simon laughed. “Probably not what you’re thinking. I’m not sexual like humans are.”

“What does that mean?”

Simon exhaled. “What do you think it means? I don’t have the desire to have sex, personally.”

“But you’re a vampire,” I said. “Don’t you feed that way?”

“I can,” Simon said. “Doesn’t mean I care particularly for it.”

“You said Sam fucked immaculately,” I said.

Simon laughed. “So you thought we fucked?” He shook his head. “Look, I sometimes participate in revelries or visit shows, because with the right people, it could be interesting. But my main drive is to hunger for blood, not lust for flesh.” He wrinkled his nose. “Not sure why humans are so crazy about it.”

“So you don’t feel sexual desire?” I asked. “But you’re like an expert on it.”

He shook his head. “Sex means a lot of things to a lot of people. I will do it when it suits me, especially to feed, or fit in, or please humans or demons I need to impress. But I don’t see it the way others do. It means very little in my life.”

“But your best friend is an incubus,” I said. “And you’ve seen Sam—”

“Again, would I really be able to describe his fucking as ‘immaculate’ if I were seeing it from a normal perspective?” Simon asked. “No. I find sexuality between different creatures interesting, and I have lived long enough to see almost anything that could be done. But Cayne works well as a friend for me because where he cares about fucking, I care about blood. And he gathers a lot with his blood magic.” Simon sighed, getting a wistful look. “It’s nice.”

I looked around the room, noting the sheets were also mussed still, and a window was open to the right of us, looking out at the idyllic life within the dome. “So, if you don’t have sex, what was Vasara doing here?”

“I didn’t say I don’t have sex, Cleo.” He sighed. “How do I explain this? I just don’t care about sex. It seems to be the end of everything to everyone. But I do love the way people use it to bond, and get closer, and how much it drives them to act certain ways.”

I think I was getting it. “Is it because you’re all vampire?” I asked. “Like, where humans seek to reproduce and fall in love, you seek to take blood?”

Simon nodded. “I suspect so. Unlike other vampires, who I’m jealous of, I was never human, so I retain no human traits. I didn’t choose to become a vampire, so I don’t even remember what empathy was like. Or love. Or closeness.”

“I’m sorry, Simon,” I said softly.

He shook his head. “We all have our lot in life. But don’t worry about me sexually, is all. Things don’t mean the same to me.”

“So are you fucking Vasara then?” I asked, knowing Cayne was going to ask me. “Because it’s a little weird you hanging out with her, given that she’s my rival.”

“Psh,” Simon said. “Rival? More like mortal enemy.”

“Right?” I said. “She’s awful.”

“We aren’t fucking,” Simon said. “Yet.”

I put a hand to my face, covering it. “Simon, you can’t.”

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, Cleo.”

“Don’t fuck someone you call my mortal enemy.”

“Even if it would help you?” Simon asked, cocking his head at me.

I thought about it for a moment. How would something like that help?

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