Page 51 of Wonder
We ate in front of the TV. Davi made me watchVamp, a telenovela he’d recorded on his VCR. It was a musical comedy about a rock star who’d been turned into a vampire. I didn’tfind it as amusing as he did, but I thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of sharing an evening with someone just for fun.
When we finished eating, Davi seemed tired, so I took the plates to the kitchen and washed them. He was asleep on the couch by the time I was done. I considered putting him to bed and going to find a hotel, but I didn’t want him to think I’d left for good. I let him sleep and I watched the next episode ofVamp, which was equally as dreadful as the first, but I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to watch something else.
Davi stirred a couple of hours later. “You’re still here.”
“I am. I didn’t want to wake you.”
He looked at his watch. “Fuck, it’s not even that late. I get so goddamn exhausted all the time.” He got up and shuffled into the bathroom. When he came out, he sat next to me on the couch again. “Um.” He fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. He glanced at me, then down at his lap. “Were you serious about the blood thing? Do you need to, like, feed?”
“I do, but I won’t if you’re not comfortable with it, or if you aren’t feeling well. I can find someone else.”
He glanced up again but kept meeting my eyes this time. “If I say yes, can you... would you fuck me? Too?” Before I could respond, he held up a hand. “Only if you want to. It’s not a requirement. You can have the blood anyway. I?—”
I grasped his hand, then I leaned in and kissed him, hard. He whimpered as I pulled back. “I’d love to fuck you.”
His eyes glistened, and his lips trembled. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. But you don’t need to let me feed from you. I’ll have sex with you either way.”
A tear spilled, and he brushed it impatiently away. “Sorry, I—it’s been so long, and I thought I’d never get to be with another person like that before I died.” His face crumpled and I pulled him into a hug.
“Trust me, it’ll be my pleasure.”
He took one shaky breath, then sat back and smiled. “So, uh, are the stories about vampires drinking your blood true?” He popped his eyebrows up and down a couple of times.
I grinned. “If you mean, will you find it arousing? Yes, if you want it to be.”
“Hell, yes. But let’s move to the bed, okay?”
When we got to the bedroom, Davi was shy about getting undressed, so I took over, peeling off his clothes. Under his shirt he was wearing a silver necklace with a pendant carved into a snarling jaguar head. The eyes appeared to be emeralds. I left that alone and bent to licking him and scraping my fangs gently over his skin. He was dotted with other lesions, and the smell of the illnesses wracking his body was noticeable. He probably only had a few months left to live, if that. I pushed those thoughts away. I couldn’t heal him. Hell, without the Portal open, no one could. All I could do was distract him and give him what he needed.
When he was a panting mess, I pulled off my own clothes. “How do you want it?”
“Um.” He looked away and toyed with his necklace. “Whatever you like is fine.”
Oh, no. That wouldn’t do. I leaned up on one elbow. “Nuh uh. You’ve got something in mind, I can tell. What is it?” I held up a hand. “If I don’t want to do it, I won’t.”
His face did that complicated almost-crying expression again, then he closed his eyes. “I want to be held. I want gentle, tender. I want to be able to pretend that you care about me.”
My heart twisted, but I put on a smile in case he opened his eyes. “I can do that.” I kissed him softly but insistently, and when he finally relaxed and responded, I did my best to give him the experience of making love, not just fucking. When he was close to orgasm, he groaned my name and said, “Bite me.” He tilted his head so I could get to his neck. I made sure to choose a spot as low as I could, so he could cover the mark with a collar if he wanted to.
He tensed when I made the cut, but as I started to suck, I flooded him with all the arousal I was feeling. He gasped and came, and I was right behind him. When he collapsed to the mattress, I retracted my fangs and licked the wound so it would close. I hoped my tiny bit of healing magic wouldn’t be affected by his immune system being offline.
I rolled to my side and pulled him against me. “Can I stay the night?”
He chuckled. “If you keep that up, you can stay as long as you like.”
I didn’t sleep much. My thoughts were full of Davi, and how little time he had left. How he couldn’t easily buy groceries, and who would take care of him when he couldn’t take care of himself anymore. I knew there were clinics and hospices, but when I pictured Davi there all alone, it tore me up inside.
But then there were the Wonders who were getting kidnapped and fed on by theluchd-òl fola. As much as I wanted to stay with Davi, could I really justify putting his needs over all the Wonders in danger?
When I woke in the morning, he was already up, working at one of the computers in the living room. The knitted blanket, which had a wavy blue and green pattern, was draped over his lap. He pointed at the kitchen. “There’s coffee and bread for toast, but not much else. I’ll have to try again to buy groceries today.” His voice was carefully neutral.
Damn it.
I fixed my coffee and brought it into the living room, where I leaned against the corner of his desk. He appeared to be reading a series of short messages. “What’s that?”
He grinned. “It’s a chat room for the campaign in one of the states to the north of us. The District Monitor is having trouble with some of the Wonder children revealing their true forms to the locals. It’s hilarious.”
