Page 109 of Taming the Beasts

“No,” he said.

“What about a tolerance?”

“I really don’t like it at all.”

“Maybe you just need to try it again? To see if you enjoy it. After a couple of hundred years, tastes evolve, right?” She lifted her cup toward him.

“I promise my tastes haven’t evolved. What Itolerateis animal blood. Coffee and other human food?” He shook his head. “It’s like cardboard.”

“You’re sure? Cardboard?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. It’s disgusting.”

“I knew it!” she said. “This is great. I’m going to go to the bank real quick and talk to the guys again. We need another vote.”

For torturing Kebe? “Zoey, what the heck is going on?” I asked.

Zoey looked at Callum and then back at me. “Could we maybe talk in private?”

“Whatever you’re about to say, I think Callum should probably hear it too.”

“Okay. But Callum, you can’t be mad at me. Kebe is evil and I have so much proof.”

“I’m listening,” Callum said instead of immediately telling her she was wrong.

“I had Kebe over last night to taste test the food for your wedding.”

“Odd choice. She’s also a vampire so I wouldn’t trust her opinion on human food unless you were serving blood sausages.”

“But that’s the thing. She was really into it. And obviously it wasn’t blood sausages we were testing. Gross. She said she’s grown a tolerance for human food over the years. And she ate a lot of stuff. And apparently she really likes Greek food for some reason? I don’t know. But she ate everything like she was enjoying it. I even told her she didn’t need to. She dove right in though.” Zoey turned to me. “We’re doing the chicken and mashed potatoes by the way.”

I shook my head.

“I promise it’s good.”

“I’m not disagreeing with that,” I said. “The chicken will be fine. I’m just confused. Are you sure she really enjoyed it?”

“Positive.”

“Huh.” Callum folded his arms across his chest. “She’s been around a lot longer than me though. Maybe it is possible to stop wanting blood?”

“No, she kept saying she still liked blood. She made jokes about using blood instead of gravy. And she said she’d had a ton of blood for lunch already.”

Callum frowned. “Whose blood?”

“What?”

“Whose blood has she been drinking? I told her she couldn’t do that in this town.”

Zoey shrugged. “I have no idea. She didn’t say. But she has mentioned drinking animal blood before.”

“I should probably talk to her about this again,” Callum said. “The last thing we need is for someone togo missing. We’re making roots in this town. I don’t want to be forced to move.”

“That is all very concerning,” Zoey said. “But can we focus on the her eating human food and loving it? Because I think that means she’s not a vampire.”

“I agree,” I said. “That’s very suspicious.” I couldn’t help it. I was trying to be supportive of Callum, but this was odd behavior.

“We don’t know any other vampires though,” Callum said. “Maybe the thirst for blood really does fade over time, allowing us to enjoy normal food with only an occasional indulgence of blood. I had no idea it was possible.” He actually looked excited about the thought.