Only Human: Angels and Demons

Chapter 62: June Jackson

            Dinner was... uneventful. I was awkwardly stabbing at my pasta with my only available hand. Katherine and Eliza were chatting quietly about the best Italian food they've ever eaten and where they ate it. Hendrix was silent if not brooding. His black hair was combed back and he was wearing a nice pinstripe suit with a golden watch flashing on his wrist. He was also stabbing at his pasta, but more out of contemplation than frustration. His deep blue eyes focused. There was the smallest tint of red ringing his pupils, and I knew why. He hadn't fed from me since he took my virginity a few days back and he was slowly but surely becoming hungry.

It was strange how Hendrix had been avoiding me ever since that morning. I had always thought that once he had claimed me that it would lead to endless torment with him pushing the boundary farther and farther. Now that he had basked in the victory of taking my first time, he could have quickies or careless sex that could be interrupted without much fuss. But no. He had barely spoken to me since the ordeal outside of the incident with my arm and our meeting with Destin. At first his lack of interest was a relief, but now I was beginning to see the truth of his absence. He was no longer interested in me sexually.

I gripped my fork and stabbed at the elusive pasta while gritting my teeth. I didn't know what brought about this change in Hendrix, but it pissed me off. Was it like I always thought? Was my virginity all that he was after? Or maybe sex with me was as bad as I always feared. I winced and quickly tucked my feet behind the front legs of my chair. I didn't know what I was doing. I was just laying there and taking it, or course it would be bad. It wasn't like I wanted him to enjoy having his way with me, but I couldn't shake this clenching I felt in my chest.

I placed my fork down losing whatever was left of my appetite and surveyed the dining hall once more. The room was large and heavily adorned with tapestries and golden frill. There was even a golden chandelier the size of a whale hanging above us and the incredibly long dining table. We were all seated in the middle section of the table that could easily fit twenty guests. The four of us eating like posh royalty on a regular week night. I grabbed the stem of my glass and gulped down its pink contents. The burn in my throat reminded me that this wasn't simple juice, but in fact an alcoholic beverage of some kind. I coughed in my hand trying to suppress the sound, but everyone at the table quickly glanced at me.

"I'm sorry," I said embarrassed. I had to get ahold of myself. I didn't care what that pompous silver-spoon-slurping, blood-sucker thought of me.

Hendrix suddenly smiled and shook his head slightly. "Another drink for my human, please," he said. A vampire dressed like a waiter suddenly appeared and gracefully filled my glass back up to the top.

"You do have good taste, June. This was from an outstanding year, and it is amazingly sweet and nutty," Katherine said with a raise of her glass. Katherine was right. The drink was delicate and sweet with only the slightest dry burn at the end. I normally didn't care for alcohol as I couldn't understand why I should force myself to develop a taste for it when it was only going to kill my liver, but this drink was almost a juice with a spicy zing to it.

I took another sip as I leveled my gaze at Hendrix who had abandoned his dish and was nursing his own glass while staring out into the void. I didn't understand why I was so bothered by his sudden disinterest in me. I just felt... used. He was so intent on the chase and now that what he wanted was in his grasp, I was quickly abandoned—Left to pick up the pieces of my pride and struggle with the weight of what had come to pass. Yet here he was sipping his wine, eating his pasta, and looking like the rich douche-bag that he was. I didn't know what I wanted him to act like after our coupling of necessity, but it wasn't this.