Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 116220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“Don’t you need it to survive?”
“No. I never said I did.”
That seems to catch Elias by surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. I can survive on human food, too.”
Elias makes a sound right then, something between a gasp and a laugh. “That sounds so fucking cool. ‘Human food’. You really call it that? ‘Human food’?”
Kyle rolls his eyes, annoyed, turning away.
“Alright,” says Elias to his back. “Maybe you don’t need the blood, but it obviously does something to you that human food doesn’t. You’re always so damned ravenous when we do it, like you can’t get enough.” Elias chuckles. “You could suck me dry and you don’t. Goddamn, it’s always so hot, when you bite me.”
Kyle has never had to face such complications before. He’s never told another soul, nor has anyone ever found out, in all these years. Secrecy has been his leading principle until the day he met Elias. He realizes now how tedious it must have felt to Tristan so long ago after coming clean in the graveyard, the question game, the interrogation, the mindless fascination.
But the last thing Kyle expected was to have his disposition seen as sexy.
“You know,” starts Elias, “you may think I’m just indulging you, being stupid, reckless, whatever … but the reality is, you’re giving me a purpose here.”
Kyle peers back at him over a shoulder. “A purpose?”
“No one in my life wants me.”
Kyle turns around fully. Elias is leaning against a nearby streetlamp, the light above pouring a halo over his head.
“What do you mean no one in your life wants you?” asks Kyle softly.
“I know I still haven’t told you much about me.” His voice is unusually soft, faraway. “But I swear … everyone in my life seems like they’d rather I just … go. I’m in everyone’s way. I’m too intense for friendships. Guys I dated think I’m just a fuck boy. All I do is irritate the hell out of my mother because I’m not the son she wanted. Do you know what that’s like? To have a mother for whom you will never, ever be enough? A constant disappointment? It’s crushing.”
Kyle takes a step toward him. “Elias …”
“Even got left off of my cousin’s wedding invitation. Still don’t know the real reason, but I can take a couple guesses. I’m not wanted around. I’m trouble. Heard they had an open bar, fortune teller, and even a damned caricature artist. I’m more pissed about missing out on the caricature artist, to be honest. Bet I would’ve made a fucking awesome caricature. Point is, I’m a problem, to everyone, in every definition of the word.” Elias looks at Kyle. “Until now. For the first time, I feel … useful.”
The way the light catches his dark eyes and every bit of emotion that swells in them.
Kyle could believe in love again, just from a look in Elias’s eyes. He trusts every word that comes out of his mouth. Is Kyle connected to Elias’s emotions right now, in that special way he is when they are intimate? Or is this just a normal gut feeling any human would have? Kyle can’t tell tonight. It’s frustrating.
“My blood’s yours,” says Elias. “I said so. We’re doing it.”
Kyle sighs. “Elias, I said—”
“I know what you said. ‘It’s not good’ or whatever. Why? Are you trying to suppress your nature? Was it a pact you made when you lost Mr. Pile of Ashes or something? To never taste it again? I see your eyes, Kyle, every time. The second you taste me, you look fucking alive.”
“You don’t understand.”
“That so? Well, I’ll tell you what I do understand,” Elias fires back. “Just a few weeks ago, you wanted to end your life. And whenever you taste me, I see a light in your eyes that could compete with the sun itself.”
“That doesn’t mean you should turn yourself into my own personal blood bank.”
“I’m not your blood bank. I’m more than that. You know it, too. I don’t just sit there and let you bite me. We have sex. We make love. Whatever you wanna call it. Okay, we’re maybe a little different compared to other couples, but I—”
“Couples?”
“I’m intense. Haven’t we had this talk before? I’m intense. I move fast. I dive into the deep end. Aren’t we something by now? You and me?” He takes a step back, lets out a breath, then makes a face. “Why does it turn me on when you called me that earlier? Your ‘blood bank’ …”
Kyle shakes his head and walks away. “Just when I thought I could take you seriously.”
“Hey, just kidding,” calls out Elias. “Well, kinda. I mean, it makes me feel important, which—Hey, stop walking away!” He grunts as he pushes himself off the streetlamp, following Kyle down the sidewalk. They pass by the electronics store. “Why’s it a big deal? It’s not like you’re gonna kill me.”