More than Magic: Semester Aboard (32 page)

"Jennifer, if you're...ready..." he said
softly, not looking at me.

"I am." I swallowed nervously. What had I
gotten myself into?

Thomas started for the living room and I
followed. He let me in first and I instinctively flicked on the
light as I went in. I stood awkwardly just inside the room and
looked at the couch. I wasn't sure if I should sit or lay down, or
what to expect at all for that matter.

"Tom," Dani called.

Thomas paused in the doorway and turned to
Dani. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that...well, I know it
won't, but if my blood would do any good..." Dani sighed and ran
his fingers through his hair nervously. "Well, let me know."

I couldn't see Thomas’ face, but his
shoulders stiffened. "Are you serious?" He sounded almost
shocked.

"You know that's not something I'd joke
about," Dani said quietly.

"I know. That...that means a lot to me. Thank
you."

Thomas started to close the door. Dani's
serious expression vanished and he grinned. "Hey, now. The door
stays open, kids. I don't want anything inappropriate to-" Thomas
slammed the door and I could hear Dani laughing on the other
side.

Thomas chuckled, but still looked surprised.
"Ok," he said to me. "Have a seat?"

I sat down on one side of the couch. "What
did Dani mean by that?" I asked as Thomas sat down next to me.

His eyes widened. "Nothing! He was joking!
I'm not going to-"

"I meant the first part!" This was getting
more awkward by the second. I thought of an embarrassing stack of
vampire-themed romance novels on my bookshelf and was struck by the
fact that drinking blood was supposed to be fairly intimate and
sensual. I reminded myself that they were just fiction. Thomas
drank TS’ blood and he'd been considering Crackhead Jim too. It
couldn't be like it was in books.

"Oh." Thomas flushed. The red in his cheeks
was a striking contrast to how pale he normally was. I hoped I
wasn't blushing too. "He's not human, so his blood wouldn't help
me."

"I know that." I felt a little stab of pride
being able to finally say that about something related to magic. "I
meant..." I wasn't entirely sure how to say it. There had obviously
been something in their short conversation that had gone over my
head.

Thomas was quiet for a moment. "Offering to
let me feed from him is...well, Danio's run into some bad luck with
vampires." He glanced at me and sighed. "He was almost killed by
one... a long time before I met him."

I frowned in confusion. Almost being killed
was
a big deal, but we'd all nearly been killed by a
vampire. Recently. "He was almost killed by the biter last week."
And he seemed to be handling it quite well. I figured brushes with
death were pretty common for MES agents.

I didn't think Thomas was going to answer me.
Finally, he whispered, "That vampire didn't torture him."

My breath caught and for a moment I couldn't
speak. "Oh my God," I managed to gasp. "What happened?"

Thomas shook his head. "Those are details we
aren't going into. I don't know them all anyway, it's not something
he talks about." He sighed. "I'm not even sure what possessed me to
tell you that much."

As I stared at Thomas in horror something
Charlie had said came back to me. "Charlie told me that you and
Dani are really close because you've both um, gone through a
lot."

"Yeah." Thomas looked at me curiously. "Why
did that come up?"

I felt my cheeks grow a bit warm. "I couldn't
tell if you and Dani were friends or not." Thomas looked
incredulous. "I mean, he's always messing with you and you always
seem annoyed."

Thomas laughed. "I see. No, he's one of the
best friends you could ask for." His expression turned thoughtful
and he paused for a few seconds. "As much of a social butterfly as
he is, Danio's real friendship is hard to get and his trust is even
harder to earn. His list of people he truly considers friends is
nearly as small as mine. And I'm...flattered I guess, that I'm on
it. In spite of what he's been through he's never once judged me
for being a vampire. That alone means more than I can say." Thomas
smiled. "He's also the only one who teases me about it and...I
don't know. Somehow coming from him that's ok." Suddenly he
groaned. "Ugh. Look at me babbling like an idiot. I think I'm
stalling."

"What do I do?"

Thomas moved a little closer to me. "Here,
tilt your head like this." He put a hand on my chin and gently
guided my head so my neck was exposed. He brushed my hair back and
tucked some behind my ear. Then he pulled the collar of my shirt a
little further down my shoulder.

"I guess not everything in Dracula is
fiction," I said. It was a pathetic attempt to hide how nervous I
was.

Either Thomas couldn't tell or he was playing
along. "How so?"

"Well, you're using my neck."

He chuckled. "I could use your wrist if you
prefer, but this is easier."

I swallowed nervously. "This is fine." It was
as fine as letting a vampire bite you could be. I tried to focus on
something in the room to distract me and spotted Dani's suitcase in
the corner. I thought of how easily the biter had tossed him around
and suppressed a shudder. If Thomas hadn't been exaggerating then I
couldn't begin to imagine what being tortured by a vampire would be
like. It was the last thing I wanted to think about while being fed
from. Then something clicked into place. I thought of the look on
Dani's face when he had offered to let Thomas bite him. Even though
Dani's blood wasn't human it didn't mean a vampire couldn't drink
his blood if one wanted to. I didn't need to know the details of
what Dani had gone though, but I was sure I had an idea of some of
it now. "It hurts, doesn't it?" I asked.

Thomas smiled reassuringly. "Not if I don't
want it to. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing."

"But if you did want it to?"

He looked surprised that I'd ask, then
nodded. I wondered if he'd figured out where I'd gotten the idea.
"It can be extremely painful. But, like I said, you won't even
notice."

I took a deep breath as he leaned toward my
neck. This was it. The memory of the biter hissing at me came back.
His fangs had looked huge and I realized I had never seen Thomas’.
"Wait." Thomas leaned back immediately.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. I was wondering...can I see your fangs
first?"

"
What
? Really?"

I nodded and Thomas stared at me in disbelief
for a moment. Finally, he shrugged and opened his mouth. He curled
his upper lip back. At first his teeth looked normal. Then I
noticed that there were bumps in his gums right above his canine
teeth. As I watched those same teeth started to slide down! When
they stopped they looked a good inch longer than the rest of his
teeth. I didn't think the shape had changed, but they looked a lot
sharper than they had when they were retracted. In fact, they were
really sharp. For a second I thought of the biter again, but this
was somehow different. His fangs had been horrifying. But I didn't
feel scared looking at Thomas’ fangs. Maybe it was because I had
known he was a vampire, but somehow the fangs suited him. They
almost looked cool.

"Neat," I breathed.

"What?" Thomas cried.

I shrugged.

He looked shocked. His jaw had dropped and
his fangs made him look almost comical as he gaped at me. At last
he smiled. "I really don't know what to make of you." As he spoke
his fangs slid back up into his gums.

He kept staring at me. My eyes moved from his
teeth to his eyes and I wished that I hadn't turned the light on.
Thomas was almost too close for comfort. His eyes looked almost
cloudy and I still couldn't decide on gray or green. I wondered if
it was a side effect of being a vampire. I felt like an idiot. I
was practically gazing into the eyes of a guy who was about to
drink my blood. I would've been better off developing a crush on
Dani. At least he would have called me out on it. Being made fun of
would have been better than this. Thomas was just inches away and
his expression was unreadable.

"Right," he said suddenly. "Let's get this
over with."

I angled my head so that he could reach my
neck and braced myself. He rested a hand on my shoulder and the
other on the back of my head. I felt his breath on my neck and
squeezed my eyes shut. It was nothing like the fictional intimacy
that I had been worried about, but the room suddenly felt too hot
and too cramped.
He's a vampire,
I mouthed to myself. Dani
had been right though, that didn't bother me. Thomas was about to
sink his fangs into my neck and I was feeling awkward because I had
a crush on him. I was insane. There had to be more important things
to worry about. I thought of one and immediately regretted it.

"Thomas?"

"Yeah?"

"Um..." I hesitated. "Are...you aren't going
to...I mean..."

He leaned back and looked at me in concern.
"We don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"No, I do. I was just wondering..." I took a
deep breath and blurted.
"Is-there-a-chance-you'll-loose-control-and-drink-
all
-my-blood?"
I quickly added, "Not that I don't trust you!"

"You read too much," he said with a weak
smile, then shook his head. "Don't worry, that doesn't happen."

"Ok. I'm sorry." I could tell he'd been
insulted, if not hurt, by the question. "I'm just nervous."

"It's fine. Ready?"

"Yeah."

I put my head back into position and he
leaned down. I braced myself for the feeling of his fangs piercing
my skin and felt something entirely different. I jerked away in
shock. "Did you just
lick
me?" I demanded.

"Er...yes." Thomas looked slightly
embarrassed. "I should probably explain..."

"Please do." I reached up and sure enough my
neck was slightly wet where he had licked me.

"Well, I was numbing your neck so that it
won't hurt when I...and I was also sanitizing the site because,
well, puncture wounds and all."

"By licking me?" It sounded cool, but I still
didn't quite get the licking part.

He blushed a little. "Vampire saliva has
anesthetic and antiseptic properties. Licking is pretty much the
only way to apply it I'm afraid."

"Oh. That is neat though." It seemed like
magic would ever cease to amaze me. I wondered what else there was
about vampires that I didn't know.

If anything Thomas blushed more at that. He
cleared his throat. "Well...if you don't mind..." He gestured to my
neck.

"Yeah. Uh...lick away."

"I also uh...well, my saliva increases
healing speed too. So, when I'm done..."

"Ok," I said. I was glad he seemed to think
this was as awkward as I did. Then again, most people probably knew
it already. I doubted he had to stop and explain this stuff every
time he fed.

Thomas resumed licking my neck. It was
incredibly awkward for a few seconds, then I realized that my neck
was starting to tingle. Moments later I was pretty sure he was
still licking me, but I couldn't feel it.

"Ok, that should be good," Thomas said. I
started to reach up to feel my neck and he caught my hand. "Don't
touch," he chuckled. "It's sanitized." He released my hand and
angled my head a little more. "Let me know if you start to feel
light-headed. And stay still, no pulling away like you did. Not a
good idea."

I took a deep breath and watched him out of
the corner of my eye. His light-headed comment had me worried. I
thought of Laurie and how the fight with the biter hadn't even
woken her. Hadn't Dani said something about a sedative?
"Thomas?"

"What?" he practically snapped. It was only a
single word but it sounded strained.

"Uh..." I hesitated, his reaction had thrown
me off. It occurred to me that I had, literally really, just
stopped him several times in a row from taking a big bite from a
juicy steak. Even if he wasn't going to go nuts and drink all of my
blood, he was probably annoyed. I quickly asked my question. "I'm
not going to pass out, am I?"

"No."

"Sorry, I...go ahead." I gathered my hair and
held it further away from my neck.

"Don't move."

I felt a gentle pushing, like fingertips, on
my neck. Then nothing. I didn't want to interrupt again, but after
several long seconds curiosity got the better of me. "Are you
drinking now?" I asked.

"Mm-hmm."

Weird. It was so strange knowing that he was
sitting there drinking my blood. I nearly laughed. How on earth had
I ended up here? A few seconds later Thomas moved and I could feel
his chest pressing against my side. His hand tightened on my
shoulder and pulled me even closer to him. I heard him let out a
shaky sounding breath and I became acutely aware of just how close
he was. I swallowed nervously. I wasn't sure how long Thomas fed,
but it couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes when I felt
him shift his weight again. Much to my relief, his new position
moved him further away from me, and a few seconds later he sat
back.

"All done," he said softly.

I looked at him in surprise. That was it? I
really hadn't felt a thing. I wasn't sure what I had expected, but
it certainly hadn't been sitting painlessly on the couch for a
minute or two. Of course, I hadn't imagined it being awkward
either. I wondered if it had been awkward for Thomas too and
immediately felt like an idiot. I had no idea if he liked me back
and felt silly for even considering it.

"So, how do I taste?" I asked. It wasn't a
great question, but it was the first thing I could think of and I
was desperate to stop my current thought process.

"No idea. Fangs are just hollow teeth. I
wouldn't taste the blood unless it was actually in my mouth...which
I try to avoid."