Page 40 of The Awakening
I snort in a laugh. “Me.”
“Your clothing has changed since the first few weeks we interacted. Are you making an effort for me?”
I pull my face from his grip. “Don’t point it out. It’s embarrassing.” It really is. He grabs my wrist and drags me back into him. When I’m close again, he wraps his arms around my waist.
“I love it,” he says. “It’s adorable.”
“I’m not a bloody bunny rabbit,” I say, snaking my fingers underneath his jumper at his waist. He has this short, silky-curly hair around his tight belly button, and suddenly I’m very determined to caress my fingertips against it. I’m distracted from my task when he slides his hands down to my arse and grips me against him.
“Are you sure?” He breathes a laugh, leaning into my ear and kissing me there.God…I might be a rabbit, because I could fuck him where we stand. I could fuck him on every surface in this room if he let me. No dinner. Just sex all over his studio, please, ta.
He shifts his face into me and does that thing with our noses that I love. It’s getting hot and heavy with his hands gripping and squeezing me against him, and he’s about to kiss me again, but the little wind chime at the front door rings out. He freezes and stretches his neck up like a giraffe that senses danger. “Dammit,” he breathes, then releases me and moves toward what looks like a very large walk-in wardrobe.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Takayama Junichi?”
A young person’s voice calls out from the front. Very proper. When the owner of the voice walks through the doorframe, they’re not quite what I was expecting. It’s a vampire, and his hair (Ithinkhe’s a “he”? They?) is like platinum, slicked back in a long thick ponytail. The vampire’s pale face is narrow and sharp, like a caricature of a half-moon, and their clothes look expensive but gaudy. Too many patterns.
The young vampire stares at me with blood-red eyes. Without warning, the creature opens their mouth and hisses at me, crouching slightly at the knees and bringing their hands up like claws. I take a step back because it feels like they’re about to morph into some sort of feline. I don’t think vampires can do that, but there are many things in this world that I don’t understand.
Junichi pokes his head out of the wardrobe, clearly angry. “D-did you justhissat him? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“What is this?” the gaudy cat-vampire says, circling me. I’m genuinely getting freaked out, so I take another step back. “Is he a human or a vampire? I can’t tell!”
Junichi hesitates for a moment, looking at me, and I catch his eye. It’s as if he’s considering the question, like he isn’t quite sure himself. He shakes his head. “Hisaki, stand up straight and stop acting like an asshole. You’re being fucking rude right now.”
Ah. This is Hisaki… He does as commanded and stands up straight, but points at me like we’re fighting while looking at Junichi. “Why does hesmelllike this? He reeks of ambiguity and confusion. I’m around humans all the time and they have a very distinct smell—but his smell is not quite human, not quite vampire either…”
Hisaki whips his head back, ponytail swinging and eyes narrowed on me. “It’s as if there’s a vampire hidden inside him… or he ate one.”
My eyes are wide, terrified, as if he isn’t talking about me. That soundshorrific. I swear I’ve never eaten a vampire. I’ve never even had venison or quail… not that those things are comparable.
Junichi swears again, ducking back into the wardrobe. When he comes out a few seconds later, he has one of those fancy garment bags in his hand. He thrusts it at Hisaki’s chest, and his face is furious. “Apologizeto him.Then take your fucking jacket and leave.”
Hisaki looks over at me like I’m a pile of stinky rubbish. “Why would I apolo—”
“APOLOGIZE NOW.”
Silence. The force and weight behind Junichi’s voice shock me, and I’m blinking at him as he stares at the pale little vampire. The latter turns to me and gives a curt bow. “My apologies.”
“Go home,” Junichi says, stalking back toward the wardrobe. Hisaki grips the garment and slinks toward the door. At the frame, he stops, turns back toward us and tilts his head.
“What about alterations?”
“Mejor lárgate de aquí!”
“Alright, I’m going… but I’ll be back next week.” He flips his ponytail and glides out of the room. Junichi takes a deep breath and apologizes to me. I tell him it’s not his fault, but he’s riled up.
He’s pretty miffed all the way through dinner and for the rest of the night, too. Complaining about ranked vampires and how utterly self-important and rude they can be. Hisaki-kun (theHisaki-kun) is the worst example of this.
Junichi also has a source named Ren that sounds pretty contentious. He only goes to see Ren once every nine or ten days. He told me heshouldfeed once a week to be in optimum health, but he can’t stand to see him that often. As a doctor of vampire health and medicine, this deeply concerns me.
After I’ve taken a gloriously hot shower and prepped myself (Jun did not want to join me and do the honors, oddly), we’re drinking beers on his lush, velvety sunflower sofa. I try to take his mind off what happened by sliding my fingers against his thigh to get things started, but he’s sweet in telling me he’s not in the mood. Apparently, Junichi doesn’t like having sex as an outlet to his frustration or when he’s angry. It’s not his thing, which I totally respect.
Instead, we end up talking about classic jazz and whether or notKind of Blueis indeed the greatest jazz album of all time (he says yes, I say no. I arguedSunday at the Village Vanguard, but then that generated a heated discussion about live albums versus studio-recorded ones).
Later he tells me about the merengue and bachata music he listened to growing up with his mother, as well as some of his favorite modern artists. I’m making a mental list to research these next time I’m on my phone. That is, until I fall asleep facing him as we lie on the sofa together.
