What the hell am I playing at? This isn’t like me at all. I’ve never been this sexually aggressive before in my life. It’s his blood, definitely his blood. With great effort I draw away from him and stand up.
“Too much for you, sugar?” he asks, a satisfied look on his face.
“Piss off, Ethan.”
I storm out of the bathroom and into the room I’m currently sharing with Amanda. She’s not around though; Noreen must have taken her out for a walk or something. I can hear Ethan chuckling as he goes back down the stairs to rejoin Rita.
I lay my body on top of the clean white sheets and enjoy the after effects of vampire blood consumption. My head is a swirling, multi-coloured mix of euphoric pleasure. My every pore tingles. The feeling radiates through me, and not one single worry pollutes my mind.
This is nice. It’s like when you hit that perfect balance of drunkenness, where you don’t remember why you were miserable enough to go and get drunk in the first place, but better. Way better.
I slip off my shoes and crawl further onto the bed, pushing my cheek against the soft fluffiness of the pillow and grinning like a maniac for no apparent reason at all. That’s the last thing I remember doing, before I’m woken up by the creak of a door opening.
I don’t want to leave this perfect slumber, but I open my eyes nonetheless to see who has just entered the room. It’s Amanda. Her vibrant pink hair is the first thing I see, although the colour is growing out a little bit now. You can see the dark brown roots at the top.
She’s been doing pretty well, considering the fact that Lucas has been sniffing around since he’s living just over the road with Ethan. Delilah has held true to her promise though, and is ensuring that he keeps his distance from my friend. Noreen has been giving her this special medicinal brew several times a day. It’s healing her addiction, as well as keeping a level head on her shoulders. There’s a bit of magic in it, too. Just enough to allow her to get better, because humans can’t recover naturally from the addiction to a vampire’s bite.
“Hey Mandy, where have you been?” I ask, rubbing my sleepy eyes.
“Out with Noreen and Alvie. We went shopping for like, magical stuff.”
She says those last two words with a certain level of awe. Amanda has only very recently had her eyes opened to what is really going on in this city. When she was Lucas’ blood donor she’d been too out of it to fully comprehend her situation. Now that she’s almost better she understands what had really been happening to her. It was a bit of a shock to her system in the beginning, and although the road was rocky, we’re getting there now. She’ll probably be well enough to go home in a couple of days. The thought makes me feel lonely. I’ve become accustomed to having her with me.
She lets out a long breath before she speaks. “So, I’ve been thinking that I might head home tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, isn’t that a little bit soon?” I ask.
“Not really, Tegan. I feel better, much better. Noreen says I’m well enough to go back to living at my old place.”
“Oh…well, I’ll miss you.”
She frowns a little, then smiles at me. “You have enough on your plate without having to worry about me. I feel healthier than I have in a long time, and I have no intention of going anywhere near “the fanged ones” ever again.”
She gestures bunny ears and puts on a Dracula voice when she says “fanged ones”. I suppose she really must be feeling better if she’s got a sense of humour about it all.
“Yeah well, be that as it may, you need to be careful when you go out at night. Vampires aren’t the only scary things in this city, you know.”
Amanda nods quietly. I hear somebody coming up the stairs and then there’s a knock on the bedroom door.
A second later Finn calls, “Hey Amanda, tell that lazy wagon to get up. We’re having a meeting in the living room in ten minutes. The vamps are on their way over.”
“I’m up Finn,” I say, and at the sound of my voice he marches on into the room.
“What’s the meeting about?” I ask him.
Finn folds his arms across his chest. “R
ita mentioned what happened to you today, about the riot and how you think it had something to do with Theodore. So, we’re having a meeting to discuss that possibility.”
“How very formal,” I reply. We haven’t had any meetings all together in one room since that first time we all decided to team up in Finn’s kitchen. I look over at Amanda. “You might want to make yourself scarce. Lucas will be coming over with the rest of the vamps and Delilah.”
“Sure, I’ll stay up here,” she says, sitting down on the bed and rooting a paperback that she’s been reading out of the wardrobe.
I run a hand through my hair to get rid of the bed head somewhat. Finn’s wry glance tells me that it doesn’t work much. I pay a quick visit to the bathroom, before heading downstairs in my jeans and t-shirt. I’m not going to bother getting dressed up for a bunch of vampires who will barely talk to me.
I’m hungry, so I have a look in the kitchen cupboard for something to munch on. I pull out a packet of tortilla chips and almost don’t notice Ira sitting over by the window. He’s staring out into the garden with a meditative look on his face.
He glances at me then, probably sensing my eyes on him, as you do. I give him a silent nod, because he’s still doing the whole mute thing. I wonder if he lost the ability to speak as a result of the curse that was placed on him or something. Who knows. Finn’s been doing a lot of work with him, although I have no idea what kind of work that is. Mostly he takes him out to get him used to the world as a man again, instead of a dog.