Page 82 of Bite of Passage
She clapped a hand over her nose.“Forgot not to smell.Shit, I’ve got to…” She eyed the exit and pushed outside, running to empty her stomach only to discover that as a vampire, she was unable to vomit.She flashed him an even more panicked gaze.
The innkeeper shook his head as if coming out of a daze.“You two can stay in the room that’s around back.Number five.I’ll need payment up front.I assume you’ll be gone at nightfall?”
“We will take the room for two nights and be gone on the third.”Skarde removed far more coins than the room was worth and shoved them into the innkeeper’s hand.“No one enters.I don’t need it serviced.We don’t need food.”
“Stay out of sight.For your own good.”The man’s eyes sought out Gemma even though she leaned against the door frame with a green hue to her skin.
Skarde gave the innkeeper a glower of warning.He backed up a few steps until his back hit the shelves, hands held up at his sides.“Stay away from us.”
With haste, Skarde guided Gemma to their room and locked them inside.They only had minutes before dawn, and he needed to sun-proof the room.
“What happened?I felt like I wanted to vomit but I couldn’t.”
“We can’t vomit.”
“Why not?That’s weird.I thought only rabbits and small rodents couldn’t puke.All people can.”
“You’re not human.I don’t know why the reflex disappears.Maybe it’s assumed we won’t be eating contaminated food.Even if we do, it won’t poison us.”
“That’s weird,” she muttered as she wandered around the sparsely furnished room.It had one wobbly side table, a wooden bed, a wash stand, and a chamber pot.
“Not sure the bed has been washed…” With a lean forward, she sniffed.“Pretty sure that’s vomit and urine.”She pinched her nose.“Do you have bedbugs in your world?If so, we should stay out of that.”
“We’ll sleep under it.”
“Under?On the wood floor?”
“Those curtains aren’t enough protection.In about ninety seconds, you’ll want the sun blocked.Do you feel the prickle on your neck?”He yanked the shabby, pale green cover so it flew off the bed and draped it for an extra window covering.Then he pulled off the sheets and tucked them into the mattress to fall over the edge on the window side as added protection for beneath the bed.
“Not much time left.”He lifted Gemma into his arms and rolled both of them under the bed, him with his back to the window.The quarters were tight.Again.“Stay on this side, away from the window.I’ll be better able to tolerate any rays that may sneak through.”
“If I smell you burning, I’ll be pissed.”
A small laugh tumbled out of him as he buried his nose in her hair.She smelled fresh, almost lemony, in comparison to the human stench around them.He tucked her tight against him.
“I can sense the sun’s location even when I can’t see its glow.”She tried to peek over him, but he didn’t let her move.
“That’s a survival instinct.If I don’t return by dawn tomorrow, make sure to do this again.”
“I don’t want to stay here, cowering under a bed by myself.”
“It’s not safe.”
“I don’t feel safe here.”
“It’s a hell of a lot less safe when I face off with a necromancer.Please, stay here.Promise me.”
“Okay.One night.Beyond that I’m leaving.“I can’t believe how much humans stink.How can you stand to drink from them?”
“We do it to survive.”
Her hands curled into his forearms so tight he felt their pinch.“I understand why you only drink from the worst of the worst now.I’ll do that too if I have to feed from a human.Only kill the ones who don’t deserve life… But who’s to say we have the right to judge if that person should die?”
“God allows us to persist.”Or maybe not, given our relative inability to multiply.“We serve a purpose, we cull humans.What about the one who tried to kill you?”
“I still feel guilty about that, not that there was another way.I understand that.He would’ve killed me.No question.”She buried her face into his chest as if reminded of the stench around them.“Inns don’t need to be like this.There’s such a thing as cleaning, sanitizing, and changing linens.The check-in desk shouldn’t be in the bar.”So soft he almost missed it she asked, “Did I smell this bad?”
“No.You always smelled of something floral, maybe what you washed your hair with.”
