The Worth of a Coin (BxB)

Chapter 7

-Quan Leung-

I shook my head at the ridiculous vampire in front of me. I had let off a lot of steam when I ranted to Fewesi about how the previous two days had been. She showed zero sympathy and just told me to suck it up. She had also informed me that she knew Ruarc relatively well. She wouldn't tell me any of his secrets, or anything which could potentially be used against him, a fact which disappointed me greatly.

"Alcohol and blood?" I asked, even though he had already told me he didn't know what was in it. "A lot of alcohol and some blood."

Ruarc shrugged his shoulders before nodding like a child. "Yup, you gotta dilute it with alcohol so that it's thin and goes further. In the end, it doesn't really matter how much of it we drink. The quality and the little icky chemicals inside are what matters."

I had the feeling he didn't know what on earth was leaving his lips. The thought filled me with amusement and pity. I didn't like alcohol in the slightest, but sometimes it was just what I needed in order to calm down.

I sipped at my lemonade, and hummed. He was still rabbiting on about why blood was so nice. It was starting to creep me out. "Did you follow me here?" I asked calmly. I didn't know if he had, and I wasn't about to touch him to make sure.

"Nope, are you really that self-centred?" he asked casually, but a fire came into his eyes. It felt like I had crossed some sort of line, but it was invisible to me. His tone didn't at all match his intimidating posture or glare. "I've got to come here anyway; I wouldn't follow you here if my life depended on it."

"What about my life?" I hummed again after I asked. I wanted to say that I didn't find his behaviour immensely interesting, but then I'd be lying.

"Not even then, Candice would have my head, but I'd still not be here. So, I take that as a win." He lifted his glass and propped it on his knee, taking a drink. It was only then that I noticed that his knees were nearly reaching his chin.

I laughed at the sight. I had to. It was as though an adult had decided to use their child's chair. It didn't help the fact that Ruarc's drink looked like a Bloody Mary cocktail.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked. The confusion in his voice only made me laugh harder. "You have a wonderful laugh."

That made any noise I was making completely stop. I stared at him with as little emotion as I could allow on my face. "No."

"You do though," he whined, just like Cappi does, childishly. "You should laugh more often." He tried to cross his arms, but his straw hit him in the face, so it became his next target.

I finished my lemonade and put my glass down. I reached to pick up my gloves, but my hand was smacked away.

I glared at Ruarc, who now seemed to resemble a cat, even more so than Clover does. He had swiped at my hand as I reached for the only objects which bring me some sense of comfort.

"Why do you wear them?" he asked, his bottom lip jutting out. "It's not cold."

"Speak for yourself." I tried to grab my gloves again, but my hand was swatted away. "Brennan."

"Leung."

We stared at each other for a moment. My mint eyes reflected in his sapphire ones; they made my eyes look almost white. I suppose that's what my eyes usually looked like to others throughout the day, I saw, to some degree, my face every time I used my powers. Yet sometimes I looked absolutely horrific, a pale monster with jagged teeth and no emotions. Now, seeing myself in the reflection of Ruarc's eyes, I saw myself.

"Why won't you let me put my gloves on?" I sat back in my seat. The mental debate about whether I was going to let him hold me up, lost.

"Because I want answers, and I don't want you to leave." He sipped his drink. "It's dangerous around here. I don't trust anyone. You didn't answer my question." His words weren't like a list, as there were extremely long gaps between each statement.