Lost in Blood

9 It's so nice to meet you

Lazarus pov:

There's a loud knock on the door and Amar finishes getting dressed before he winks at me and I smile. I walk out to the front door to hear another set of knocks before I turn around to rush to the door, slowly.

I open the door to see my best friend with his fist positioned towards knocking against my door once more. He laughs before putting his hand back down. He smiles at me and Chaim greets me behind him before Raulen pulls me into a hug.

"It's so good to see you again!" He says almost sarcastically and I roll my eyes dramatically before offering him a space inside. Amar quickly follows me to the door while adjusting his suit jacket.

Amar nods politely and shakes both of their hands before speaking kindly to the both of our guests. "It's pleasure to meet you both. Lazarus has shared so much about you Raulen." Raulen surprisingly lets out a slight giggle and I laugh.

"It's such a blessing to be meeting you Amar. You are our dear vampire's incubus mate after all." Raulen's grip on the bottle of blood wine he has brought tightens. He watches Amar with lust and I smile slightly to myself. That will all come later, much much later.

"The vampire in me seems to come out more these days," I nearly choke before relaxing and showing everyone to the dining room.

Once we are all settled I begin to set out the dishes and fill glasses with the wine that Raulen managed to bring. I sat next to my fiance and across my best friend as we both took the time to speak and address our mates separately.

"Bread?" I whisper to Amar and he nods with a slight laugh. I pull apart the homemade bread in the middle of the table and spread some butter across it before giving it to Amar, who nods at me in thank you. I swear if strangers were to watch us they would assume he is much more serious than he is.

When I have watched him I often assume he is more serious than he is, but he's been a great surprise so far. I pull apart my own piece of bread but refrain from the butter so I can dip it into my blood wine. Raulen has undoubtedly created the best blood wine I've ever had and I am so grateful every time he brings it to me. I pull the bread apart and then dab it into the wine glass. This part of my life may seem Gothic to any other but, truthfully, I enjoy it.

"I can't believe you still do that. You act so much older than you are." Raulen laughs at me and I just smirk. Chaim laughs too but Amar just watches with a gentle look of curiosity.

"Is it a spiritual thing for you?" He pulls off some of his bred and eats it gently before digging into his beautifully seasoned cucumber noodles, I need to learn how to make that for him but it's okay, we have time to learn each other's favorite recipes, but mine is pretty simple. Maybe we'll be able to create new recipes of our own... "Laz?"

"Oh. No, not like the churches or anything I don't believe in human religion, well I guess it's not just humans but based around a human? A god that was human but was the greatest human? No. Please refute my ignorance. It's just delicious. If you wanted to try it without the blood I would understand..."

"I would love to try it at a different time." He uses his knife and fork to cut one of the pieces of long cucumber and smiles before bringing his forkful to his mouth. His smile reaches his eyes but seems to stay there aside from his lips. He winks and I feel my canine catch on my lip as I smile in response to his own. My blood seeps from my bottom lip before he groans, nearly silent. Over all this short time I have never been so attracted to anyone in my life. Not that he is the most attractive person, although I do not doubt that he is, but that I am incredibly attracted to him.

"Hopefully you can handle the lust until your mating, no?" Raulen rudely interrupts my long string of thoughts and my eyes slide to his. He just smirks while Chaim fake coughs into his napkin. Amar smiles and continues to eat his food.

"He's just speaking from his own... Lack of self control," Chaim pulls the napkin from his mouth and smiles at his mate. Chaim takes another look at Amar before he raises his eyebrows. "Or maybe he has it all figured out. Saving it until you're mated isn't quite as hard as getting out of the honeymoon. Everyone's bloodlust or in Amar's case, both blood and soul lust the connection that you both will share will be more significant than any other sexual connection you've ever experienced or could experience." Chaim pauses shortly and sits up straighter before continuing, "As a historian, throughout our past as a species, different sects and communitues throughout many generations would have ceremonies that lasted days and in our case, it was incredibly difficult to seperate ourselves from one another... As I'm sure you have heard." Chaim makes eye contact with me and I nod simply. Amar raises an eyebrow at Chaim's statement before he reaches for his glass.

"Lust in any form can be extremely complicated but we trust that the both of you will give yourself the time necessary to accommodate your relationship and new... Experiences." Raulen finished Chaim's statement for him and Chaim looks at Raulen lovingly before we all go back to our meal. "Hopefully longer time than we had the chance to share" Raulen reaches towards Chaim's hand and seemingly squeezes his mate's hand. I know it was very difficult for them after their mating and emotional for Raulen to leave him so soon. Maybe it was timing and Amar and I should have more freedom in that thought, but it is something to continue to be mindful of.

"Moving past that predicament.." an hour passes on and we continue more delicate conversations about ourselves and our relationships.

"Thank for your consideration to our relationship. Especially your dedication to a true and fulfilling friendship to Lazarus." Amar takes a gentle pause. I watch my mate interact with one of my best friends and his partner. I hope to have more nights like this in the future. "I trust that we can determine or define what is best for our relationship and along the way I'm sure that we will lean on and come to the both of you for advice and guidance. Thank you for this dinner." How did he know just what to say? He seems to be so confident but he shares that he isn't. He's the most intriguing mate I could ask for.

"Of course. We would both be glad to," Chaim gives Amar a hug and shakes my hand before I hug and say goodbye to Raulen. This dinner has gone so much better than I would have ever expected.

Once we had said our full goodbyes and had been left to ourselves we begin clearing the table. "Did you mean what you said? About our mating?" Of course he did why would I doubt him? Why am I doubting him? Should I doubt him more?

"Yes. And stop your thoughts before they consume you. You're so dominant and assured in your control of others...." There's quite a long pause. "here is where you exercise control. I've trusted you physically, trust yourself for trusting me. You're allowed to be unsure but I wouldn't be here if I did not mean what I said." He kisses me and I let myself be lost in a new feeling.

February 28th, 2024