"I can drive if you want," Brittany offered, bouncing on her heels.
Santana huffed, following Brittany to her car. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."
"Are you this romantic with all your meals?" Brittany asked, clicking the locks open.
"Shut up and take me wherever you're taking me," Santana muttered, putting on her seatbelt and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Okay," Brittany smiled. "We'll go to my parents' house, since I don't think dorms are your style."
Santana sneered at the reminder of how young Brittany was.
"My parents' house is nice," Brittany said, suddenly calm and quiet as she pulled out onto the road. "You'll like it. My friends always say it looks like a vampire house."
"Interesting," Santana said, her tone indicating she meant anything but. She preferred her modern home of glass and steel and wood to anything garish and overstated.
Brittany drove them to her house. The whole time Santana was overwhelmed by her smell. Not just her blood, but her skin and hair and sex. The combination of scents in such close quarters was intoxicating, and Santana wasn't sure she trusted herself not to suck Brittany dry the moment the car stopped. Santana was relieved when Brittany chirped, "Here we are!" and drove through the hedge-flanked gate. The car crept up a gravel driveway that encircled a lawn with a fountain.
"Is your dad a surgeon or something?" Santana asked, taking in the lush surroundings.
"No," Brittany giggled. "But my mom is."
Brittany parked in a carport and led Santana through the garage. In the dark, Santana spotted a Rolls Royce, its silver angel figurehead gleaming, mocking her.
Brittany must have noticed Santana's attention had snagged. "That was a gift to my dad," she said. She studied Santana's face for a minute. "You like it, don't you?"
Santana tried to shrug in indifference. More than anything, she was curious. She'd never seen such a nice car up close. But as her eyes roamed the contours of the car, her stomach and throat tightened, reminding her how hungry she was.
"We can fuck inside, if you want," Brittany said with a devilish grin.
If Santana had had a pulse, it would have started racing at Brittany's suggestion. It was as if she knew Santana was using every once of self-control not to pounce on her, and was deliberately baiting her. But having sex in Brittany's father's car seemed dangerous in a way that her vampire sensibilities knew better than to ignore. She didn't want to piss off someone powerful, even if they were human.
"Not all vampires have a thing for cars, you know," Santana said through her teeth, swallowing the saliva pooling in her mouth. She tried to sound offended, but it didn't work.
"Okay." Brittany shrugged with an amused grin, continuing into the house. "There are plenty of other places we can fuck."
Brittany's casual mockery angered Santana. Quick as a flash, she caught up to her. "Who said anything about fucking?" she growled, grabbing Brittany by the wrist and holding her so tight Santana's nails made marks on her skin. "Quinn ordered me to come here, but she didn't say I had to fuck you."
Brittany tried to move out of Santana's grasp, but she wasn't strong enough. So instead, she reached up with her free hand and started to untie her scarf, as if she weren't in death's clutches.
"Okay," she mused. "Maybe I'll just get myself off while you feed. Would that be okay?"
Santana wanted to scream at her. Why didn't Brittany react to anything the way she was supposed to? Why wasn't Brittany afraid of her? Santana flushed angry crimson from head to foot and her fangs released. "You'll do what I tell you to," she hissed.
"Okay." Brittany turned out of Santana's grasp towards the kitchen counter. She hoisted herself up and perched on the ledge, legs crossed. "Is this okay?" she asked as she continued untying her scarf.
Santana said nothing, swallowing as Brittany dropped the scarf on the ground, never taking her eyes off Santana. Brittany was the boldest, most confident, most foolish human Santana had ever met.
After Brittany's scarf fluttered to the ground, Brittany slowly uncrossed her legs. Her smile drifting to one side in a smirk, she hiked up her skirt and parted her legs.
Fuck.
Brittany wasn't wearing any panties. And from the looks of it, teasing a vampire had gotten her worked up. No wonder Santana had been able to smell her so intensely the whole night.
Santana launched forward, jolting Brittany back on the counter. She had had enough of Brittany's game. "This will teach you to tease a vampire," she snarled before biting into the flesh on Brittany's inner thigh. Brittany shrieked in pain and delight, falling back onto the marble as her legs shifted and wrapped around Santana's neck. She squirmed and reeled and Santana had to grip her hips to keep her in place against Santana's open, hungry mouth.
The blood that gushed from Brittany's thigh was more heavenly than Santana remembered. It had a faint floral hint to it, as though Brittany had absorbed the blooms she saw and transferred them to her blood. It was sweet and fresh and alive. It was the most quenching meal Santana had ever had.
Brittany was enjoying herself thoroughly, talking to Santana in fragments, drink me, yes, oh fuck, feels good. Santana saw her hand drift between her legs and start rubbing circles. Although she had previously been angry enough to deny Brittany any pleasure, now that Brittany's delicious blood was pooling in her stomach, she had calmed. She rather enjoyed watching Brittany pleasure herself as she slurped up the blood that flowed from her leg, pairing with her arousal as though they were never to be separated. Watching Brittany smear her own wetness into herself made Santana hungrier, and at the same time calmer. Something inside her released she surrendered to the joy Brittany was feeling. She was in the moment, no longer caught up in the rules or hierarchy or the fact that Brittany was human and she was vampire. They were both giving and receiving, and the mechanics didn't matter. It felt as natural as drinking water had once felt. And because she wanted to enhance the experience, she stilled Brittany's hand and started rubbing circles herself, her strong, quick hands vaulting Brittany higher.
Brittany grew louder and her blood gushed quicker, until Santana almost couldn't drink it as fast as it flowed. Finally Brittany arched and cried out louder than before, legs trapping Santana's head as she screamed Santana's name. Santana licked up what blood she could and tried to steady Brittany, knowing Brittany could exhaust herself in ecstasy. She wasn't sure Brittany could handle vampire sex for any extended amount of time. But when Brittany came down, she was grinning from ear to ear, eyes closed as a faint flush spread throughout her body.
"So good..." she murmured, head rolling to the side as her chest heaved. "I'm so glad you came home with me, Santana..."
It didn't escape Santana that Brittany used her name. For a second, she wondered how Brittany had known, but then she remembered Quinn had used it intentionally. She should have been angry with both of them, but she wasn't. Her name sounded peaceful on Brittany's lips. Beautiful and almost alive.
There was something about Brittany that gentled Santana. The humans she had slept with previously had been frantic and desperate while they fucked. But Brittany was open and smiling. To her, sex felt as natural as breathing had once felt to Santana. And because she didn't want anything to feel uncomfortable to Brittany, she picked her up and carried her upstairs into the room that smelled most like her. Santana lay Brittany down on the bed and watched as Brittany's body molded into the sheets like water into a creek bed. Her mouth held traces of a smile, though she was looking paler than before. There was still some blood dripping down her thigh, and Santana wiped it up with her finger, licking it off before reaching down to caress the skin again with no intention other than to feel how soft and warm it was. Brittany's warmth was different than fire or alcohol or smoke. Brittany was warm like a breeze on a hot summer night, like sunshine had once felt on Santana's skin.
Brittany's breath was still ragged, given that she was recovering at human pace. Santana watched her as she drifted further towards sleep and realized she was depleted. She lifted her own wrist to her mouth again, wanting Brittany's warmth stay with her without the slightest waver in its flame. But as she pricked her teeth out, Brittany breathed, "Don't."
Santana paused and looked down to see Brittany opening her eyes. Brittany gave her a tired, breathless smile.
"I told you I wasn't using you for your blood. You're not helping me prove it by doing that."
Santana looked at the ashy color of Brittany's skin and then at her wrist again, the wrist that would look the same no matter what anyone did to it, barring sun and silver exposure. Brittany was a rose petal in comparison to her marble. "I just don't want you to..."
Brittany smiled again. "I know. But I'm okay. Just let me rest for a minute and I'll return the favor."
Santana was stunned when she realized she hadn't even thought about her own orgasm. Usually that was at the forefront of her mind. But watching Brittany gave her a sense of peace no afterglow could. "Oh... That's okay," she mumbled, lying beside Brittany with her head on the pillow. "I'm okay."
Brittany's smile grew curious. "My blood is better than an orgasm?"
Santana felt herself grow warm with embarrassment. "Kind of. It's different."
"Shit," Brittany said, her grin growing smug. "Why doesn't it taste like that to me?" She ran a finger over the inside of her thigh, collecting a trace of blood and bringing it to her lips. Santana licked her lips at the sight. "Nope, still salty metal," Brittany said, sighing in disappointment. "Do you think there's a human equivalent?" she mused.
Santana shook her head. Blood was the best thing about being a vampire. "Maybe if you ate your favorite food while having the best sex of your life."
"So if I ate my favorite food off you?"
Santana quirked her eyebrow. "How do you plan to get me to lie still long enough for that to happen?"
Rallying her strength, Brittany turned on her side, looking at Santana next to her on the bed. "By asking nicely."
"How often has asking a vampire for something nicely gone well?" Santana asked. But despite her effort, there was no bite in her voice. It sounded sweet, like Brittany's warmth had soaked into it.
Brittany gave a loose shrug. "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."
Santana studied the roots of Brittany's hair to where it flowed over her shoulder, draped over her clavicle, and pooled on the white sheet. "Too bad I eat neither," she murmured, even less reproachful than before.
"Too bad," Brittany whispered in response. "But I think you're sweet either way."
Santana let out a quiet noise that was half laugh, half scoff as she fought to look everywhere but at Brittany. "You don't know me."
There was quiet for a moment as Santana tried to think of something to say.
"I'm sorry Quinn made you come here," Brittany murmured.
Santana was surprised. She'd forgotten about Quinn's order. She tried to shrug it off. "Whatever. It happens."
"She's your maker, right?"
Santana nodded, wiping the blood from the corners of her mouth. "Pretty much. She has all the power of one."
"She's not like regular makers?"
Santana shook her head. "She was my friend in college, back before vampires came out. She worked at the campus bar. She was the one who found me. She gave me some of her blood and put me in the ground with her for a night."
Brittany studied Santana's face, her gaze tracing over the lines of her face as Santana frowned.
"What happened before she found you?" Brittany asked.
Santana tried not to recoil at the question. She hated answering, but she didn't want to hide the truth from Brittany. Brittany wouldn't judge her.
She took a deep breath and said the words she'd rehearsed for occasions when she had to tell the truth. It was one sentence, and once it was out, she wouldn't have to say any more. "I was jogging on the wrong trail at dusk and a vampire jumped out and attacked me."
Brittany's face fell in sadness as she watched Santana try to block out the images of her own death replaying in her head. Santana never liked telling her story, but with Brittany, it was easier than any time before.
"I don't tell people that part though," Santana said. "I just say Quinn is my maker. Keeps it simple and Quinn likes it because it boosts her reputation."
Brittany nodded, understanding Santana didn't want to talk about how she'd come to be a vampire. "Has she made others?"
"One," Santana said. "She got staked last year though. That's why Quinn's been such a terror lately, chasing fangbangers and making me clean up after her."
"What, like washing her sheets?"
"No," Santana said, smiling in relief at the change of subject. "Just glamouring humans so they don't talk crap about vampires. Quinn cares a lot about that."
Brittany nodded, looking deeper into Santana's eyes. "I'm sorry Quinn does that to you," she said. "It's not fair to make you do her work. And I'm sorry I was so smug about her ordering you to come here tonight. You don't have to come here anymore."
Santana startled. Did Brittany not want to see her anymore?
This was why she should have kept her bloody mouth shut. The minute she opened up to someone, she got pushed away. Why did she think Brittany was any different?
Just as she was about to roll off the bed and run out of the house, Brittany reached forward, fingering a lock of Santana's hair. "I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do."
Relief flooded through Santana as Brittany studied the lock of hair between her thumb and middle finger, noticing the sheen eternal death couldn't take away. After a minute, Brittany looked up at her, shy for the first time since they'd met. "Can I kiss you?" she whispered.
Drowning in the deep blue Santana saw before her, she found herself nodding and leaning forward, as if she had been commanded to do so and agreed without a fight. And as their lips met, Santana realized it was the first time they had kissed. Honest, good, slow kisses that tasted like the honey Brittany spoke of and were filled with Brittany's warmth and a hint if her heavenly blood from when she'd tasted herself. Their kisses were slow, intentional, delicate, and deep. They were everything good about kissing Santana could remember from her human days.
But even as they kissed, Santana thirsted for Brittany's blood. Until recently, no blood had been better than others. Sustenance had been sustenance. Everything that moved needed sustenance, and it didn't matter if it was water or food or light or blood. But now, after almost fifty years of needing nothing but a few willing blood sources, Santana felt like she needed something in a way she couldn't control. Other blood wouldn't work anymore. She only wanted Brittany's. Everything else would taste watered-down in comparison.
She pulled away, suddenly in awe of the trust Brittany put in her. What had she done to deserve this?
Looking at Brittany's face - that beautiful, luminous, sunshine face – she was conflicted. She didn't want to take anything from her. She knew if she could shut off the remnants of human feeling, she would drain Brittany in a moment of lust and thirst, depriving herself of future feedings and the peace she felt around her. She could drain Brittany and thirst for more, or she could never see Brittany again and thirst for more. Or she could keep seeing Brittany and thirst for more. There was no way to win. Being a vampire wasn't eternal life or eternal death, it was eternal thirst. It was a sea of saltwater with no shore.
But Santana couldn't bring herself to say any of that. She didn't want Brittany to feel insufficient. Santana cupped Brittany's face and stared into her eyes with all the intensity of glamouring, but none of the intention. She didn't want to glamour Brittany. She knew what it felt like to be forced to do something against her will, and she never wanted Brittany to feel that way. So she simply stared deep into her eyes and tried to let Brittany hear her thoughts: that Brittany was enough, that no matter how limited her blood. And yet as Santana told her that, she realized Brittany never worried about being too much or too little. Brittany was content to be, and it was Santana who felt too little and too much. And with that thought, she started to cry.
As Santana felt a tear slide down her cheek, leaving a trail of blood in its wake, Brittany whispered, "Please don't cry."
"I'm not crying," Santana sniffled.
Brittany gave her a gentle nod. "Please don't bleed out of your eyes, then."
Santana sniffled again, nodding. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm getting like this. It's stupid."
"It's not stupid."
Santana shrugged, not knowing what to say. How could she tell Brittany that being around her made her realize how much she hated being a vampire? How she hated walking around dead, pretending to be superior to other life forms when all she did was weaken and hurt others? She couldn't say any of that, for fear Brittany would realize what a horrible thing she was. So instead she said, "Do you want to see me again?"
Brittany smiled at her, a tired, lazy smile that was half absorbed by the pillow. "So much."
And everything inside Santana settled. She was back in the soothing glow of Brittany's harmless sun. She wanted to ask Brittany why a human would ever like a lifeless, bloodthirsty creature like herself, but she couldn't bear to hear anything other than the warmth around her. So she stroked Brittany's arm and nodded. "Okay."
At that, Brittany hummed and closed her eyes. "I'm just gonna rest for a minute..." she mumbled. Within seconds, Santana felt Brittany sink into slumber, her breathing deepening as she did.
Santana was content to lie beside Brittany, basking in her warmth as she slept. It seemed only a minute had gone by when Santana realized it was almost morning.
"Shit," she whispered. "Britt, I gotta go."
Brittany hummed, still mostly asleep.
"I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Promise?" Brittany asked, opening her eyes.
"Yeah, I promise."
"And you won't make me come hunt you down?"
"No. I'll come to you."
"Where?"
"Here."
Brittany's smile shone like the sun. "Okay," she breathed. "Tomorrow?"
Santana paused. "Would you like that?"
Brittany smiled wider as she nodded.
"Okay then," Santana said, feeling Brittany's smile catch in her chest. "Tomorrow night."
"I can't wait," Brittany said, fingering a lock of Santana's hair again.
Leaving just enough time for her to run home and bury herself before the sun rose, Santana kissed Brittany, inking the promise into her lips.
Tomorrow night.
