Page 34 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

Laith

H eather ended up needing four pints of blood before she was considered in stable condition.

It was touch and go for a while. The blood bank staff weren’t emergency surgeons, so they had to call in a human doctor who’d driven across the territory, because he only served one of the more densely human populated areas of Sanguine.

They kept her all night and promised to monitor her during the following day. I refused to leave, naturally, so I spent the day sleeping fitfully in one of their tiny sun-proofed rooms.

By dusk the following night, Heather was cleared to leave. Thorne arranged for her to be transported in an ambulance, since she was still unconscious and we didn’t have vehicles that could move her safely.

I insisted on riding along, naturally.

Rebecca was giving me discharge instructions while other staff loaded Heather into the van, but I was so exhausted and wrung out, I was only half-listening.

“Heather needs rest and good nutrition, most of all,” she said. “I know it’s difficult, but I don’t recommend feeding from her for about a week. Nor any…strenuous physical activity,” she added with a lifted brow.

“What the fuck?” I stared at her, unblinking. “You’ve known me for how long, and you think I’d make demands of my blood mate while she’s recovering?”

“I just—I’m sorry,” she stammered. “Forget I said anything. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.”

“No, Becks. I’m sorry.” I scrubbed my face. “I’m running on fumes and not in a jokey mood. Sorry I snapped.”

Rebecca gave me a sympathetic look. “Here.” She handed me a couple sheets of paper stapled together. “In case you forget anything.”

“Thanks.” I scanned the discharge instructions and nearly went cross-eyed at the second page. It was a list of things, some of which I vaguely recognized as human foods. “Uh, what’s this?” I showed it to Rebecca.

“That’s a chicken noodle soup recipe. It will be excellent for Heather’s recovery.” She smirked. “Show it to Tavia. She’ll help you out.”

“She better.” The amounts next to each item didn’t make any sense to me. A cup of chopped carrots? What kind of cup, like a coffee mug? “Looks like witchcraft to me.”

“The best recipes always are.” Rebecca’s smiled softened. “I know you’ll take good care of her. Call us if you need anything.”

Even though the fist around my heart had loosened since Heather was deemed stable, I knew she wasn’t completely out of the woods yet. I wouldn’t be able to take a full breath until she was awake and talking. Her coloring looked better at least, and her heartbeat sounded much stronger.

I held her hand in the ambulance just so I could feel the delicate pulse in her wrist the whole time.

Once home, I carried her straight to my room, bypassing Amy and Tavia in the kitchen with a couple glasses of wine. The two of them immediately stopped talking and openly stared, mouths agape at Heather in my arms.

“Oh my God, is that—” Tavia started.

“Heather?!” Amy finished.

“Keep your voices down,” I groused. “Wait, you both know her?”

“She was in Sapien for a few days. She stumbled in from the human world.” Amy followed me first, with Tavia on her heels.

“When was this?” I pushed open the door with my shoulder, then Tavia darted around and slipped past us to hold it open. “Thanks.”

“Sure. And this was months ago.” She looked at her friend. “Before Amy became a brusang. Me and Cy weren’t even officially mated yet. I met her when he took me back to visit.”

“Huh.” I took each step down the stairs slowly, wishing for the first time that we had an elevator to the basement level. “I had no idea she was in Sapien.”

“She was totally in the dark about vampires existing,” Amy said, still behind me.

“’Til she saw Cy with her own eyes,” Tavia added wryly, a few steps ahead of me on the stairs. “Pretty hard to deny at that point.”

“Of course Cy would be the first vampire she encounters and not me,” I huffed.

Tavia whipped around once she hit the floor, her gray eyes wide. “Oh my God, it just hit me. Heather is the blood mate everyone’s talking about? The one you tasted before knowing anything about her?”

“Yes, Tav. It’s very exciting. Can you please keep your voice down?”

“Shit, sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just…wow. So uncanny that we’re all getting mated to you guys, right?”

“Straight out of a romance novel,” Amy teased in a singsong voice, skipping past me to join Tavia.

“Oh hush, you.” Tavia smacked her best friend playfully, then twirled around to face me. “Want me to get the door, Laith? So you don’t have to let go of her.”

“Yeah, thanks. Keys are in my left pocket.”

“Do you have stuff in your place for her?” Amy asked. “She’ll need water and juice for sure. Plus snacks and blankets.”

“Toiletries too,” added Tavia, maneuvering around Heather’s feet to fish my keys out of my jacket pocket.

“And spare clothes. Me and Bea will loan some of our stuff, but she’ll probably want some of her own soap, moisturizer, shampoo, and conditioner at very least. Oh, and a hairbrush, and scrunchies, just in case she wants her hair out of the way. And a toothbrush.”

My shoulders sagged, which had nothing to do with Heather’s slight weight in my arms. “I don’t have any of that stuff,” I admitted. “I didn’t expect to bring her home until…” Until she finally ditched her boyfriend and fell in love with me.

“Leave it to me,” Amy said. “I can get everything she needs right now. You good, Tav?”

“Yep.” Tavia unlocked my door and held it open, standing aside to let me and Heather through.

“Here we go, Science Barbie.” The lights turned on automatically as I entered my bedroom, thankfully staying low and dimmed.

“Here.” Tavia followed us in and pulled down my sheets and comforter, then fluffed up my pillows.

“Thanks.” I lowered Heather down carefully and pulled the covers up to her chest. Then and only then, did I step back and allow myself to take a huge sighing breath.

“She’ll be alright.” Tavia pinned me with a hard look as she headed for the bedroom door. “Don’t pull a Cy and blame yourself for this. You didn’t hurt her, Laith.”

“I know, but I just…I don’t get why she would come here during the day. She even works the night shift. She’s nocturnal already.”

“She made a mistake, and she’s lucky that you found her.”

“If I had just warned her against?—“

“Nope, don’t go there.”

I could see why Tavia had no problem standing up to Amy’s bullies when they were growing up. She stared me down from the doorway and I knew she would not give me any room to argue.

“You need to sleep too,” she informed me. “Gonna get in next to your girl or should I make you a bed on the couch?”

“Neither.” I smoothed the covers over Heather one last time. “I’ll sleep on the floor in here.”

“The floor?”

“Yeah, but not yet. You’ve been amazing and I appreciate you, but I’ve got one more favor to ask.”

“Okay.” Tavia cocked her head, waiting.

I pulled the discharge instructions out of my pocket. “Will you help me make chicken noodle soup?”

“Cy, Cy! Come here, you’ve got to take a picture.” Des stuck his obnoxious finger in my face. “He’s crying! I see actual tears.”

“You want to lose that finger, Des?” I lifted the knife and waved it in his direction.

“Don’t! That’s dangerous.” Tavia grabbed my wrist and brought it back to the cutting board. “But yeah, that is a potent onion. Geez.” She sniffled and used her upper arm to wipe the tears from her own eyes.

“I don’t understand how humans can eat these things.” I blinked, trying to clear my eyes of the stinging. It felt like the air was biting me.

At least I didn’t wipe my eyes with my hands this time. I’d already made that mistake once.

“Well, we don’t usually eat them raw. Once they’re cooked, they don’t taste as strongly.” Tavia, to her credit, was making a valiant effort to teach me without making fun of me too harshly.

“Are the other ingredients like this?”

“No, this is the worst one. Everything else is easy.”

“Thank fuck.”

“You’re doing great, Laith.” Tavia’s smile and praise seemed genuine, but she was probably on the verge of bursting out laughing.

“Are you sure this is going to make Heather’s soup taste good?”

“Yes. Onions, carrots, celery.” Tavia counted them on her fingers. “Those three are the backbone and base of almost all great soup recipes. I’m not even much of a cook, but Amy’s a pro. She’ll vouch for me.”

“Okay.” I was skeptical, but continued my chopping as Tavia had shown me.

She claimed chicken noodle soup was a staple in many human households and was often made when someone was feeling ill, which backed up what Rebecca had said.

I just didn’t understand how a staple food could be so much work.

There were no less than twelve ingredients on the list and they all had to be added in a particular order.

The pot in which everything cooked also had to be at a certain temperature.

How had humans survived this long when they needed to eat so many different things? Vampires only needed blood. Sometimes we supplemented with bone marrow and raw or lightly cooked meat, but that was it.

“Okay, done with onions,” I announced.

“Carrots and celery are next. Same thing, just dice them up into roughly uniform pieces.” Tavia hovered at my elbow. “You sure you don’t want help with chopping?”

“No. I want to be the one to make this for her. I just need to make sure I’m not fucking it up.”

“I could start the chicken broth and save you some time. It’s just putting bouillon cubes in hot water.”

“Nope. Thank you, but I will do every step of this recipe myself.”

“All right, suit yourself.”

Amy returned not long after I finished dropping my first ingredients in the pot. Her arms were full of shopping bags and Tavia rushed over to help her unload.

“I got all of Heather’s essentials. Smells amazing in here. Whatcha cookin’, Tav?”

“Me, nothing.” Tavia grinned and angled her head toward me. “Laith is making soup for Heather.”

“Oh, really?” Amy’s black eyes, surrounding her blue irises, widened with interest. “What kind of soup?”

“Chicken noodle.” I peered into the pot on the stove with zero idea of what I should be looking for.

“Aw, one of the classics,” Amy cooed. “Have you made it before?”

“I’ve never cooked anything before.”

Amy made an odd little squeak of noise, then pressed her palms to her heart, looking at Tavia with an odd expression.

Tavia snorted. “Please don’t swoon.”

“I can’t help it. He’s being sooo sweet.”

“I just want her to feel better. How do I know when it’s ready for the next stuff?”

“Oh, let me help!” Amy ran to my side, standing on tiptoes to look inside the pot. “You’ve got the aromatics, good. Grab a spoon and give that a stir. Then we need to add some salt.”

Amy gave me no-nonsense instructions for the rest of the dish, which I appreciated. A half hour later, I dumped dry noodles into the pot and stirred them in.

“Let that simmer for about fifteen minutes, and you’ll be done.” She flicked a dishtowel over her shoulder and crossed her arms, beaming at me. The tips of her diminutive fangs showed through her smile. “Congratulations on cooking your first dish, Laith.”

“Will you taste it when it’s done?” I asked. “I’ve never had it so I won’t be able to judge if it’s good or not.”

“Sure, but I know it’ll taste great. Everything I told you to do was exactly how I’ve made soup in Sapien for years. It was always a hit.” Her expression shifted slightly. “You’re already taking great care of her, Laith. She’s lucky to have you.”

“Thanks for saying that, but it doesn’t feel like it.” I turned back to the soup, watching the condensation form on the pot lid. “She could have died. I know I wasn’t directly responsible for that, but I keep wondering what more I could have done to keep her safe.”

All the chicken noodle soup in the world couldn’t make up for what she had been through.