Page 7 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

Laith

“ Y ou need to stop,” Des warned, grabbing at my sleeve. “The blood bank is gonna blacklist you if you keep this up.”

“I know, but what if she’s the one?” I jerked my arm out of his grip and kept walking, heading across the street to the blood bank’s donor exit. “Hey there, sweetheart. Can I ask you something?”

The night was young with a full moon casting plenty of illumination, and the human woman still jumped, startled at my approach.

It always surprised me how dulled their senses were compared to ours.

I wasn’t trying to sneak up on her. Vampires just moved quietly.

Even so, I figured my head of pale blond hair would stand out in the darkness of night.

When the woman recovered, she gave me an assessing look. “Yes?”

“Did you happen to donate blood here two nights ago?”

“No. I donate about every two weeks, usually on Thursdays.” Her posture relaxed and she smoothed a hand over her hair. “If you’re wondering.”

My hope deflated as my gaze wandered over her fingers and arm. There was no sign of purple nail polish or a forearm tattoo.

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

I turned abruptly, returning to the bench across the street where Des waited for me, shaking his head at me yet again.

“Not her.” I dropped onto the hard surface with a sigh.

“Color me shocked,” he muttered.

We sat outside of a darakt shop, watching the busy night pass by. For me, that entailed staring at the donor exit at the blood bank and approaching every human female who walked out.

It had been the first and last place I’d tasted my blood mate.

My tongue ran over my teeth, seeking the memory of her rich, beautiful blood filling my mouth. I recalled how her scent filled the air, feminine and floral. Her quickening pulse in my ears and her ragged puffs of breath before she was ripped away from me.

Apparently I’d gotten too enthusiastic in my feeding.

I’d taken from her too quickly, became too aroused.

Too possessive of that sweet, soul-quenching blood.

Once her taste hit my tongue, I couldn’t get enough.

The moment someone tried to make me stop, I’d made threats. And then they’d separated us. For good.

Aside from how she tasted, her purple nail polish and the tattoo on her forearm were all I had to go off of. Needle, meet haystack.

And with the blood bank’s strict privacy rules, my best bet at finding out her identity was outside of the facility. Like, immediately outside the facility. For the past two nights, I’d been walking up to every human woman who came out of the donor exit.

Would such an approach be frowned upon? Absolutely. Was it illegal? Technically not. Did I care either way? Not really.

The blood bank could only maintain donor anonymity on their own grounds.

Once off their grounds, in public, anyone was fair game.

It was no different than walking up to someone and asking their name.

I’d even heard of some people being paired at the blood bank, having a connection at the feeding, and agreeing to meet each other formally after it was done.

If two people wanted to know each other, it wasn’t like the blood bank could prevent it.

The longer I thought about that, though, the more a certain question nagged at me. What if she doesn’t want me to know who she is?

My foot bounced on the ground, eyes glued to the exit door across the street.

How could someone not want to meet their blood mate?

For me, being without her sucked extra hard because now any other blood would taste foul and disgusting compared to hers.

Once my brain locked onto the perfect source, it would accept nothing less.

So, it would be great to not only find my life partner, but also not starve to death.

But for a human? I guessed she wasn’t suffering at all without me. Did she even know what this connection was? What it meant? The male staff member on her side had said she was new, so maybe she didn’t know.

“You need to chill the hell out. Here.” Des shoved his tin of darakt gummies in my face.

“No, thanks.” I waved his hand away and took out the fresh pack of cigarettes I’d just bought at the shop behind us.

Darakt was most comparable to tobacco for humans, but had some cannabis-like effects as well.

It was a mixture of powdered blood and herbs native only to Sanguine.

There were endless blends, flavors, potencies, and ways to consume it.

Humans didn’t care for it, but the stuff was a staple for vampires.

Just as essential as coffee for most people.

Now that I’d tasted my blood mate, I figured edible darakt was out for me. Smoking would be the only way to get my fix. Fortunately for vampires, we healed too quickly for any significant lung damage to take effect.

Unless you were Thorne, I imagined. The head of Blood ‘til Dawn smoked so damn much, he would probably be the first vampire on record to get emphysema.

I had just lit up when the blood bank’s exit door swung open. Like a strung puppet, I got to my feet and started walking, ignoring Des’s groans and his yelling for me to come back.

My reaction was so automatic, I didn’t take note of who had come through the door until I met Rebecca’s withering glare.

“Hey, Becks.” I tossed the blood bank employee a casual smile, acting like I had every right to be there. “Out for a smoke break?”

“You know you can’t be doing this, Laith,” she said. “You’re making our donors feel unsafe, hovering outside their exit like this.”

“I’m not harassing anyone, I swear.” I held up both hands placatingly. “I’m just trying to find her, that’s all.”

“She obviously didn’t want to be found by you.

You need to drop it, or we’re…” Rebecca hesitated, like she didn’t want to follow through on that thought.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to, since you’re part of Blood ‘til Dawn, but protecting our donors is of utmost importance. If you don’t stop this, we’ll have to blacklist you from our services. ”

I shrugged. “Blacklist me, then.”

She blinked, staring at me dumbfounded. “You can’t mean that.”

“I fed from my blood mate, Becks.” My arms spread wide. “I’m ruined for all other blood sources. I can’t take from anyone else ever again.”

“We do have ways around that,” she said hesitantly. “We can give you blood through an IV so you won’t have to taste it. But you have to respect our rules, Laith.”

“Nah, I’ll take my chances.” I finished my cigarette on a long drag and crushed the butt under my boot. “She’s out there and I’m not giving up on finding her.”

Rebecca sighed. “I didn’t want to do this, but calling Thorne is my last resort and I will take it.”

I frowned. “You’d really do that? Tell my dad on me?” Thorne wasn’t my actual dad, but as head of the ruling clan, he was basically everyone’s dad.

“Unless you go somewhere else and leave our donors alone.”

“No can do, Becks. This is fate. Temkra’s chosen someone for me, and has challenged me to find her.” I brought a hand to my chest. “I’m on a quest from the goddess. You wouldn’t deny me fulfilling my destiny, would you?”

“God, I hope your mate teaches you something about ego.” Rebecca turned with a huff, heading for the door. “I’m calling Thorne.”

“Fine. But just remember, tattlers get…rattlers!”

She slammed the door closed before my rhyming skills could really land.

I returned to the bench with a bemused Des staring at me.

“Tattlers get rattlers, huh?”

“Yeah, you know. Rattlesnakes. They’re all over Shadowburn.” The dragon shifter territory was essentially one big desert, which I avoided going to whenever possible. Too much damn sunlight, thank you.

“I believe the original saying is snitches get stitches,” Des informed me.

“I know but she’s just a human. I didn’t want to come off too threatening.”

“A rattlesnake bite is less threatening than a wound that needs stitches?”

“Not a bite necessarily, just the presence of the snake itself. Doing its hissing, rattling thing. Scary, but not life-threatening.”

“Does your little rhyme differentiate between the two?”

“Sure it does. It’s not tattler-mites get rattler-bites.”

“Ah. Well I’m sure Rebecca interpreted that as you intended it.”

“She totally did.”

My phone rang just then and Des chuckled when he saw Thorne’s name across my screen. “You’re in trouble.”

“No way. I’m his favorite.” I answered the call. “Hi, Dad.”

“Get away from the blood bank or I’ll post you at Sapien for a week straight,” Thorne drawled. “If you want to stare at humans so badly, I can certainly arrange that.”

“Dad, come on,” I protested. “I have to find my blood mate. You know how important this is.”

“Stop calling me Dad. This isn’t a human sitcom,” he groused. “You’ll find her again if it’s meant to be. But the blood bank provides an important service and you’re stressing them out.”

“But what if I miss her?”

“You’ll live another day. But right now you’re fucking with the balance of Sanguine. You’re hampering other vampires from getting the blood they need. So quit camping out, or I will drag you away behind my motorcycle. Am I clear, Laith?”

Such a Dad thing to say.

“Yes, Da—Thorne.”

“You really are a child,” he groaned. “No wonder she split right after you fed from her.” With that final heartwarming sentiment, he hung up.

“Hey.” Des smacked my arm as I put my phone away. “What if she’s from Sapien, like Amy and Tavia? She might’ve snuck away to get a taste of the real Sanguine and had to hurry back before she got caught.”

I considered that, but it didn’t feel right.

The all-human community on the fringes of vampire territory was, frankly put, weird as hell.

Cultish, even. They shunned any kind of integration with vampire society, despite the many other humans living well among us.

Tavia and Amy had been lucky to get out.

They had both found their mates and now seemed extremely content with their lives.

I could make someone content too. Even happy.