Page 64 of Sweeter than Honey

But now that my focus is broken, the full weight of the morning hits me. I feel extremely heavy, like there’s a thick fog in my head. I blink several times, trying to regain concentration.

“Come on,” Lily says, gently. She takes my arm and pulls me out of my chair. “Let’s get you down to your crypt.”

“I’m perfectly fine, I…” but my words sound slightly slurred, and it’s hard to find my balance. I must have kept myself up longer than I intended to. Lily puts her arm around me, and helps me down the office hallway. I’m a little embarrassed that I have to lean on her, and I try to pull away, but she holds my arm firmly. She presses the “down” button on the service elevator.

“I…I’m sorry, Lily,” I say, as we get onto the elevator. I use my fingerprint on the button of the service elevator, which tells it to go down directly to my crypt. Unable to continue standing on my own, I sit down on the bench.

“It’s all right, Renata,” she says. “You’ll feel better once you get underground.”

She’s correct. As the elevator lowers, I start to feel slightly revived, although my head is still foggy. I don’t know how much of it is the daytime, and how much is the lack of blood in my veins. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I drank. To my dismay, I discover that my hands are shaking slightly.

The elevator doors chime open on the floor that houses my crypt. My sisters and I all have an individualized floor, designed to our own personal tastes. I’m quite proud of mine. It’s modern and sleek, like the office floor, but has a more homey feel. The ceilings are high and arched. I couldn’t have real plants down here, as there’s no sunlight at all, but I had leafy, realistic fake ones made. They stand in pots throughout the space. I don’t spend much time here, so the couches and side tables are all bare and clean.

“Wow,” Lily says, her eyes wandering over the crypt. “This is beautiful, Renata. Where’s your bedroom…I mean, your…coffin room?”

I pause, trying to think although my mind is still a bit hazy. I don’tknow if I want to show her the crypt where my coffin is. It’s the most precious secret a vampire has, and it feels too…intimate. But I also don’t want her to leave. Not just yet. It’s not that I want to have sex with her again. It’s just her company. Now that the buzz of my hyper-focus is wearing off, I’m left with a sense of emptiness. I don’t want to be alone with it.

“Let me…let me just sit for a moment,” I tell her. She helps me over to a wide chaise, and lets me recline upon it.

I sink into the plush, soft leather, my bones heavy.

“Renata, you should drink,” Lily says gently. She puts her hand on my arm, stroking my skin. Her touch is soothing. Nobody has touched me like that in a long time.

I shake my head. “No, I’ll be…”

“Don’t say, ‘fine,’” she responds. “I know you’re not fine, Renata. You’re working yourself into…well, not into an early grave, I guess, but you’re working yourself too hard.”

“I have to,” I say, but my voice trembles. Even I can tell that I’ve lost my strength. “I have to keep working. That’s what I’m good at, Lily. That’s what I do.”

“I know you’re good at it, Renata. You’re the best.” Her eyes shine proudly. It brings a small smile to my face. “But that’s not all that you are. You need to take care of yourself, too.”

She moves closer to me, on the bench. She takes her hair and pulls it back from her neck, exposing her tender skin.

“I’ve been taking iron pills,” she tells me. “One every night.”

“Are you sure?” I whisper. “Lily, I…I don’t want to take advantage of you…”

“You’re not.” She shakes her head. “I know it’s complicated, but we can figure it out. All that I care about isyou, Renata.”

My heart feels as heavy as my head. It’s an unfamiliar feeling, the idea that someone else could want to care for me. But it’s not unwelcome. The weight of the day has knocked down my usual defenses, and her sweet offering is too much for me to resist.

I pull her into a glamour. It takes a second to work, because I’m weaker than I was last time. But she accepts it eagerly, and the spell takes form behind her eyes.

The sweet, honeyed smell of her blood immediately tempts myfangs to appear. I sit up on the chaise, and take her shoulders in my hands as I pierce her supple flesh with my fangs. Her blood runs quickly, and I drink, her warmth filling me up, body and soul.

It feels different, this time. As her blood fills me, I feel so deeply connected to her, like her own thrumming heart is mine. Like the blood that sustains us both also binds us together. By the time I’m satiated, I’ve almost forgotten where my body ends and her’s begins.

I pull away, and lick her neck to seal the bite. She makes a sweet sound of pleasure at the touch of my tongue. Then we both lie down together on the wide leather chaise. She nestles into me, her face upon my shoulder. I pull her closer, my hand on her waist. It’s the first time we’ve laid down next to each other.

We lie there for several minutes, in each other’s arms. I could spend the whole day like this.

If I had Lily…if I had her in my arms, perhaps I wouldn’t want to work so much. It’s an odd thought, and it makes me a little uncomfortable.

Lily, as always, senses the shift in my mood and blinks up at me. “Would you…would you like me to go?”

“No,” I whisper to her, pushing a tendril of ash-blond hair behind her ear.

She smiles, a dimple forming in her cheek. “I like being here, with you.”