IX

The next day, it was all extremely awkward. Going to the same classes was almost painful. Every single time they even made eye contact from across the room, very inappropriate images of the previous night, and a bit more, would pop into Ellis's head, and she'd find herself fanning her burning face furiously.

"Something's wrong with you." Serena stated flatly after first period.

Of course, Ellis told Serena about the kiss. And of course, it made things worse. In addition to spending the next forty minutes with her face in a textbook to hide her blush, she had to endure Serena's muffled giggles. Once, she glanced up to see how Dreyon was faring, and to her satisfaction, he wasn't doing much better either. Two bright spots of red decorated his cheeks, and a blond boy who must have been Sam was chuckling way too loudly.

After school, Serena headed into her apartment, but as Ellis headed into hers, she had a surprise.

Dreyon was sprawled on the couch, somehow managing to look like a male model instead of a frat boy trying to look cool.

"Hey," Ellis said, placing her bag down on a chair. "What are you doing here?"

Dreyon shrugged casually. "Well, the last hunt didn't go so well. So I was wondering, do you want to go on another one?"

Ellis made a face. Then, she raised her eyebrows and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I have another idea."

She headed to the kitchen and got out a blood bag, tossing it to Dreyon. Instead of letting it splatter all over the floor, he actually caught it.

"I went on a hunt with you, so you go on a hunt with me," Ellis said. "My definition of hunting is a blood bag. So to be fair, you have to eat it."

"Ew…" Dreyon said sourly. For a moment, Ellis thought that he'd just chuck it out the window, call her a few names, and leave. But this time, Dreyon nicked it open and drank.

His eyes were closed as he chugged it down. Ellis watched as the amount of blood drained from the container, until it was nothing but a chunk of bloodstained plastic. The second it was done, Dreyon chucked it into the trash with so much force the bin skidded across the room and smashed into the wall before toppling over.

"This tastes like shit!" Dreyon announced, coughing and hacking into a tissue. "How do you… For nearly one hundred freaking years, you managed to eat this crap… how you survived…"

Ellis suddenly felt very self-conscious. "I know I said this a thousand times by now, but it's definitely better than sucking blood off some innocent little girls off the streets."

Dreyon heaved one last time into the poor tissue before throwing that away too. He stood up. "Tonight, I'm taking you out for a real hunt. I promise that I'm not going to screw up again like the last time. And I'm not taking no for an answer."

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Ten minutes later, they broke into the town's local jail, prowling along the barbed fences. Ellis had no idea why she agreed. But now that she was in, she was in. It was too late to get out.

They flung themselves over the tall fences and landed silently on their feet, sprinting towards the prison buildings, moving too fast for the cameras to catch them. Dreyon pried open a barred window and they slipped inside.

They were in a cell. Or more accurately, a small concrete box with a tiny cot tucked into a corner. A burly man lay there, his feet dangling off the mattress as he snored quietly. The neon orange jumpsuit seemed to glow in the darkness.

Dreyon placed his fingers on the man's neck and snapped it.

"You know that they're going to perform an autopsy on this dude, right?" Ellis said. "They'll notice that he miraculously snapped his neck with nothing and somehow managed to drain all of the blood in his body at the same time."

"You worry too much," Dreyon said dismissively. "I'll just edit the autopsy report tonight. No one has to know anything."

"All right, then." Ellis shrugged. She kept her face bored, impassive. But in reality, her stomach was churning with nervousness.

"Well," Dreyon gestured towards the lifeless body. "Eat it up while it's still warm."

Ellis folded her arms. Dreyon must have known that she was hesitating, but didn't comment on it.

"Fine," Ellis said at last. She headed over and picked up the body. She bit the neck. And drank.

Human blood, fresh from the vein, was like nothing she had ever tasted. Blood bags had a faint metallic or plastic taste to it. Animal blood was very thick, the taste and texture clinging to her tongue and mouth even hours after feeding. It was really more like eating onions and garlic, but with no breath mints to clean your breath afterwards. But human blood… human blood was just right. It was warm and rich, flowing down her throat like a mug of hot chocolate on a snowy evening. Warmth spread through her body, all the way to her toes. It left a pleasant aftertaste, which left her taste buds screaming for more.

She drank and drank. She simply couldn't stop. Once she was nearly bursting with fullness, she finally dropped the body down with a wet thud on the cement.

"Good?" Dreyon smirked as he started drinking.

"Good," Ellis agreed.

Dreyon finished the body off. "How many times did you drink human blood?"

Ellis smiled ruefully. "This is my first."

Dreyon's only seemed mildly surprised. "Your first?"

"Yeah, so what?" Ellis said defensively.

"But… you were born around… the 1600s, right? No way blood bags were invented at that time," Dreyon said, still stunned.

"I drank animal blood until I got access to blood bags." Ellis explained.

"Oh…" Dreyon nodded, but his surprised expression didn't fade.

There was a moment of silence.

"We should probably get back," Ellis said, simply to break the awkward silence. Dreyon hummed in agreement.

So together, they raced back.

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Dreyon accompanied her back to her apartment. They chatted a bit more there, until Dreyon had to get back home to get his homework done. Ellis was almost sad to see him go. It was very funny, how the two of them had hated each other with so much passion before. Now, they could almost be… they were friends.

"Good night," Ellis said, as she stood at the doorway. "Thanks for the hunt. I really enjoyed it. Honest truth."

Dreyon smiled, genuinely for once. "Good night too."

Ellis began to close the door, but suddenly, Dreyon leaned forward and kissed her.

Their lips brushed gently, almost delicately together, full of care and concern instead of the rough and frantic one from the park. Ellis leaned forward as well, looping her arms around Dreyon's neck. His hands hesitated.

Much too soon, Dreyon stepped back. Ellis didn't get a chance to see his face as he strode way too quickly down the hall and into the elevator.

Ellis stood there for a bit longer, trying to reminisce what had just happened. She smiled fondly before heading back in.

She knew for sure now that they weren't just friends. They were universes more than that.

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