Page 14 of I Dated a Golden Vampire (Blind Date Corporation #21)

“I know where your heart is. I know where heat centres are. I know where ovaries are, and yours just went off. So, since sperm can stay alive for five days, congratulations.” She chuckled. Bleeding to death was funny. “Seriously, you will make an excellent mom.”

Riro came back in with a dark-haired man who cursed and took a look at her. He knelt at her side, slapped some coagulation patches on her and said, “Bring her to the station. The lighting here sucks.”

Riro carefully lifted her and said, “You have lost a lot of blood.”

She sing-songed, “I know. There was a conga line of sharks following me. I was tired, and then I got hungry.”

Riro said, “I understand now. When you suffer blood loss, the shark comes out.”

“Does it? Huh. Yeah, every time I lose a lot of blood, I get teethy... toothy... pointy face?”

“Are you tired?”

“Yeah. Disappointing day all around. Oh, I need my tablet.”

“Cabree has it.”

“She’s here, too? Aw, I didn’t want to fuck up date night.”

Cabree snorted. “You just made me aware that I am not on any kind of population control, and Denog has no reason to be, so now we wait.”

“Well, you can keep having sex. You can’t get more pregnant, and I get the inkling that he’s a flooder.”

Riro laughed. “Where did you learn that?”

“I am a faster learner. The audio is still playing from the tablet.”

Cabree paused and then chuckled. “Yeah, he is.”

Denog snorted.

Pria whispered, “Damn. I caused a parade.”

She didn’t know what happened after that because she fainted.

The lights were bright, there was a bag of blood hanging above her, but the blood was a strange colour. Cabree was holding her hand. “Seriously? How in the name of all the gods can we be the same blood type?”

Cabree lifted her head and smiled. “I am a match when I need to be. They got two pints out of me, so you should be fine.”

“Aww. I didn’t want you perforated.”

“Honey, you did that enough for the both of us. What really happened?”

“Hm?”

“That was a ryokon stinger. It’s a speargun mark.”

“Wow. That was precise.”

“I used to snorkel with my family before the gold thing.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It was. Did you do fun stuff with your family?”

“I was learning to cook with my grandma when I cut myself, and then the eye and teeth thing, and then I used water as a bandage, but it is a bad bandage. Grandma called me a demon, and then we just waited until I was old enough to be sold to the capitol.”

Cabree said softly, “What do you mean?”

“The program was looking for elemental-based actives, so they paid my parents for me. So, I was sold.” She chuckled. “When the program learned I couldn’t breathe water, they tried to get their money back, but the old king told them to fuck off.”

Cabree stroked her hand.

“They tried to get Hyreno to take me, but they said they don’t take air breathers, and so I went into the guardian program, and we know how that turned out.”

The hand clutched hers.

Pria smiled. “So, when you get pregnant, are you going to fork from Denog’s island or are you going to buy someplace just for you?”

Cabree chuckled. “I will get my own place. I have the funds to do it, and that is why I have worked so hard. So, I can be comfortable.”

“Do you need a bodyguard who’s somewhat cranky?”

Cabree grinned. “We will talk about it once you are better. Now, who shot you?”

“Some guy. Black ship, red trim, silver skin.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?”

“Uh, the guy who shot me is dead. Very dead. Extremely dead. Feeding the fishes dead. His vessel is out there empty.”

Cabree asked, “What did you do?”

“Did you know you can use a water jet to give a guy an enema that comes out of his mouth? If you do it fast, it goes in a straight line.” Pria sighed. “I scrambled his innards.”

Cabree winced. “Ouch. Why?”

“Because there is a black market in actives, and I was in the middle of the ocean on my own. Normally, they go fishing for Hyreno, but he got excited when he saw me dancing in the sunset. He caught me by the waist and pulled me in. So, I killed him, pulled the spear free, and headed back to the ship, holding my wound closed. I lost my shoes.” She frowned.

“Well, that explains the sedative in the wound and how a single person can capture so many Hyreno.”

“Wait. What?”

“There were five Hyreno in the hold. All with similar wounds but hooked up to sedation.” Cabree smiled. “There were also three dead pirates on the vessel, all in various states of decomposition. All with the same distinctive wound.”

“I said it once during basic training, and everyone was horrified, so I kept that in mind in a life-and-death situation. Today was that day.”

“Monday was that day. Today is Friday.”

“Oh. We aren’t on the boat, are we?”

“No. Our stuff is here, but we are in the city on Riro’s island. Denog had to go do something, so it is just you, me, and Caifo.”

“The medic?”

“The medic. Also, Riro’s cousin.”

“Of course.”

The man came in in a sleeveless shirt and shorts. “It’s an island. We have big families because there isn’t a lot else to do. In the case of Riro’s mom, she was on the shore when a Hyreno in rut arrived. Riro was the result, and Ysell got a hefty trust fund for him.”

“Ysell is his mother? Ouch. Well, they do have the same skin tone. I am guessing she has fewer tattoos.”

Cabree chuckled. “And you are back.”

Caifo checked her vitals. “My cousin is head over heels for you.”

“Until he isn’t.” She sighed. “I am difficult. People often lose interest when the novelty wears off.”

The medic looked at her. “Have you met Riro?”

“No. I met Master Roil. He was different.”

Caifo frowned. “How so?”

“He helped me learn.”

Cabree blinked. “No fucking way. Your problem was that you were confused, and he wouldn’t explain.”

“Yes, and I was frustrated, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I know now . You kept the tutorial going while I slept.”

“It seemed like a good thing. And it didn’t do any harm.” Cabree smiled.

“How do I sit up?”

Caifo touched the controls, and the bed hummed as she started sitting up. Her side burned a little, and she huffed.

“Riro says you have vestigial gills, and he wasn’t wrong. A friend of yours sent a drone with something, but I have no idea what we are supposed to do with it.”

She chuckled and checked her messages. Khytten’s voice came to her. “The purple is to heal the hole, and the three green ones are to open your gills. Take the green ones a few days apart, or it could be a little sudden.”

She looked at Caifo. “So, where is the purple one?”

He blinked. “I will get it. I have got to see this.”

He left the room and came back with the purple vial. “So, this is a health enhancer?”

“Yes and no.” Cabree said, “It is a healing accelerator tailored to Pria.”

Pria used shaking hands to open the vial, and she sipped. “And she flavoured it with lemon.” She slugged back the last of it and then lifted her medical gown, peeling back the bandages that showed cauterization had been needed.

She and Caifo watched as the skin smoothed and evened out, leaving the stitches on the surface.

“Is she a healing talent?”

“She can be. She can also make her sexual partners healthier, taller, and better endowed.” She chuckled. “According to her primary partner.”

“What about the gills? Do you think that will work?”

“Oh, yes. She healed my spinal injury, so there is no reason that my gills can’t open.”

Caifo’s eye widened. “I would love to meet her.”

“You are as pretty as your cousin, so I am sure she would love to meet you. If Khytten likes you, there is nothing she wouldn’t do for you, but if she doesn’t like you, she’s Ikir. So, you will know when the holes in your body start appearing.”

He blinked. “She’s a healer, but she kills.”

“Teeny bit of a sex-crazed sociopath, but she and Salat are a lovely match.”

He grinned then paused. “You aren’t kidding.”

“Nope.” She glared at Cabree. “When she saw recordings of me dancing, she nearly climbed into her flyer and came down here to show me her appreciation.”

Cabree grinned. “Oops. She really liked the video. Zera is looking at using it as your profile video. They just need audio of you having an orgasm, and the public-facing portion of your file will be done.”

Caifo paused. “You are becoming a Blind Date escort?”

Pria nodded. “I want to know I can trust the people I let touch me.”

Caifo said, “But... I thought you and Riro...”

Pria looked at the blood bag, and it was nearly empty. “The difference between thought and action can be nothing or everything. You choose.”

Caifo nodded. “Excuse me.”

Cabree sighed. “So, you are set against Riro?”

“Riro was there for himself. I was just a warm body.”

“So, what is your plan now?”

“Checking on the distance between islands. Taking the other milk and then going in and opening my gills and starting to swim for an island that will have me.” She sighed. “I just need to get away from here.”

“From him. Pria, why did it hurt so much?”

Pria rubbed her head. “You already know if you are asking it that way.”

“Yeah, but I think you need to say it out loud.”

“Fine. Because I had a crush on him. Because he was my hero. No matter how stupid my question, he explained how things worked calmly and patiently. I watched all of his mission vids. I watched how he moved and how the water behaved around him. I fell into the fangirl trap. I thought I knew him. I wanted to give him all my firsts, and he didn’t want that. ”

“I think he did. I think for that moment, he forgot that you lacked experience, and he wanted to take a step back before he lost control.”

“And he lost the ability to speak. Very unfortunate.” She asked, “Can I have my tablet?”

Cabree nodded. “Here you go.”

She took the tablet and started going through the testing. After half an hour, she sat up. “Okay, now I just need to find out if I pass or fail.”

Cabree asked, “How are you going to take your final exam?”

“I am pretty sure that they can find someone out here who will act as my invigilator or target for the test. I discussed it with Tirra. She said that there were more than half a dozen matching patrons out here.”

An alarm began to sound outside. Caifo said, “Hurricane season. Looks like there is one on the way.”

Cabree asked, “What do you do? Is there an evacuation?”

“No. We have a field projector around the living areas that takes most of the hit.” Caifo smiled. “We call the people who evacuate tourists.”

“Ah. I need those green vials, and I would like to be unhooked from the IV, please.”

Caifo nodded and shut off the feed before extracting the needle and saying. “Hold that down, please.”

She looked at Cabree. “Can you get me a non-slutty swimsuit?”

“It will be rough, but I am guessing a two-piece sportsuit that leaves your gills open?”

Pria smiled. “You get me. They probably have all kinds of actives here to manage any water, but I want to be ready just in case.”

Caifo chuckled. “You sound like a guardian.”

“Well, I was an apprentice, but I had a very bad day at work.”

Cabree said, “I have the honour of introducing Waterdance.”

“Roil’s Waterdance?”

“Well, obviously not.” Pria chuckled.

Cabree left to go in search of a suit.

He stared at her, and his eyes widened. “Oh, wow. Roil’s goddess, and she doesn’t want anything to do with him. His mother will be appalled.”

“Is he here?”

“No, he had to deliver the kidnapped folks back to Hyreno. They used Denog’s yacht.”

“Right. So, they are going to be a while.”

“They are at least a day out.”

She took her tablet, got the weather display, then went to look at currents and storm path. “Okay. I know where I am headed as soon as I have a suit.”

“Where? If Riro asks me, I need to know.”

She showed him the map. “If it gets through the shield, then I will divert it here. If I hit it right, it will skid along the shoreline to the left and right.”

“Can you hit it right?”

She grinned. “We will just have to wait and see.”

A few minutes later, there was another alarm, and Cabree brought in a suit, brandishing it in one hand. “Got something. Try it on.”

Pria nodded and pulled the suit on, buckling the top underneath her bust to keep it in place. “Yeah, that will do.”

Caifo came in with the vials. She popped one cap and drank it. “Oh, that feels weird.”

Cabree. “Weird bad?”

“Like, I guess your first kiss turning into a tongue kiss. Started out as one thing and turned into the rest.”

Cabree pressed a hand to her head. “He didn’t even kiss you?”

“Do I need to answer that?”

She flexed and smiled. “The suit is great. Where did you steal it? I will have to pay for it later.”

“I talked to the merchant, and if you actually have to do anything, it’s free.”

“Well, I hope it isn’t free.” She tucked the other two vials into her suit and nodded. “See you two after the storm.”

She walked barefoot out of the clinic, got her bearings, and ran for the coastline. Time to do what she was trained to do. Face the storm.