Savor, a Paranormal Romace (Warm Delicacy Series, Book 1)

Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

          My interest perked as Robin started to whisper as if someone were listening in on our conversation.  We exited my closest and sat atop my bed with Louie curled up nearby.  “What sort of customs?” I asked.

            “Blood Mates,” Robin said mechanically.

            “What are Blood Mates?”  I had never heard of such a thing and wasn’t quite sure if I liked the sound of it.

            “It is a highly secretive practice followed by very old or very important vampires.  I honestly think many only do it as a status symbol, but obviously my opinion doesn’t matter.”

            “Robin, what is it?”  I could feel myself thirsting for the information as if knowledge of vampire secrets were as delicious as warm blood trickling down my throat. 

            At the thought of blood, I could feel my mouth watering and I slid my tongue across my fangs and then over my lips.  Robin paused and stared at my fangs in almost perfectly frozen shock.  “I still can’t believe how long your fangs are, Claire.”

            “Please don’t look at me like some kind of science experiment.  It’s probably just because… well I don’t know why it is, but is it really that big of a deal?”

            Robin shook her head and I felt a little guilty for snapping at her and realized that I probably sounded a lot like Ana.  So, I quickly changed the subject to the most prominent thought in my mind.  “Are you hungry?”

            “A little,” Robin admitted and her smiled returned.  “I know you must be.  I was hungry all the time when I first turned.”

            “Great.  So, how do we get something to eat around here?  Just go to the kitchen and ask Bruno to whip us up a couple blood smoothies O Negative style?” I joked with her to lighten the mood again.

            “I see you haven’t lost your sense of humor,” Dmitry said from the doorway to my room as he leaned against the frame looking as swoon-worthy as I could have ever imagined, but that wasn’t what took my breath away.

            It was the sight of Luka standing beside him.  He had the same permanently irritated look frozen onto his face as I had always seen him wear and he looked at Robin and I like we were insects.

            I imagined we both looked quite casual, each of us dressed in sweat pants and tank tops, but I always thought guys were attracted to non-high maintenance types.  However, when it came to Luka, I was obviously wrong especially when I recalled Ana.  She had probably never even seen a pair of sweat pants or even worn a t-shirt for that matter.

            “I see you haven’t stopped your habit of sneaking up on people?” I replied back to Dmitry and he smiled as he strolled into the room.

            “Like I told you before Claire, I don’t sneak.  Luka and I just heard the news that you had quite an interesting transformation and we wanted to see it for ourselves.”

            “Oh great, show and tell,” I complained but Dmitry ignored it as he always did and walked toward me with unwavering confidence.  Luka followed but kept his distance, like someone who was trying to avoid catching the flu from a sick person.

            I watched as Dmitry looked me over with expert precision.  Normally having a person analyzing my body would make me feel self-conscious but when Dmitry did it I felt important.  Like every inch of me was fascinating to him.