Page 8 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

If my mate was cut from the same cloth as Tavia and Amy, she could possibly be from Sapien. But those two seemed to be the exception, not the norm.

“I don’t know,” I said to Des. “My gut doesn’t really feel like she’s one of them.”

“The only thing your gut knows is wine and cherry danishes.”

“Hey, I’m picky about my wine!” He was right about the danishes, though. I was one of the few vampires with a sweet tooth.

“Everyone loves Tavia’s wine, doesn’t mean you’re picky.”

“Well I can definitely tell when one isn’t made by her.” My foot started bouncing again, so I stood from the bench. “Come on. Let’s leave before Thorne makes good on his threat to peel my skin off with the road.”

“Never thought I’d see the day.” Des hopped up and followed me down the sidewalk. “Now where we going? Gonna stalk women at the market?”

I chewed on that thought and let it go just as quickly. “Nah. I don’t think she buys food there.”

Des guffawed. “How in Temkra’s name would you know that? You don’t know a single thing about her.”

“It just doesn’t feel right to me.” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s her blood telling me. I’ve fed from a few humans from around here and she doesn’t taste like any of them. She tastes?—“

“Like night-blooming flowers, cherry danishes, and an orgasm in your mouth. Yeah, I know. You’ve only gone on and on about how she tastes nonstop for the past two days.”

I smirked. “Can perfection ever be adequately described with simple metaphors?”

“Well, hold on, Shakespeare. That poses another question.” Des popped another darakt gummy in his mouth. “If she doesn’t shop at the market, is she not from around here? Maybe Shadowburn or the human world?”

I considered the human world, but the chances were slim.

It was rare that a human stumbled into the supernatural world with zero previous contact.

Most of them weren’t sensitive to the magic that kept our world hidden, having never been exposed to it before.

The majority of humans in Sanguine had been here for generations and chose to stay.

“More likely Sapien, where they grow their own food,” I conceded. “Or one of the forbidden territories. Maybe she got sick of angels and werewolves, or she’s escaping them.”

“Great, just what we need. Werewolves on our asses for sniffing out one of their humans.”

“I really don’t know, though.” I ran a hand through my hair, tugging the short strands at the base of my skull. “The blood bank was the only place I knew where to start looking. Beyond that, I’m fucking clueless.”

Forget finding a needle in a haystack. I was trying to find a needle among needles. It just needed to be my needle.

“Wait a second.” Des grabbed my shoulder, pivoting around to stand in front of me. His eyes were dilated, probably as a result of the darakt gummies. “We’ve been doing this all wrong. We’ve got to Cinderella this shit.”

I stared at him for a beat. “I don’t follow.”

“Cinderella!” he repeated. “You know, the whole deal with the glass shoe? She had to run off before midnight because she’d turn into a banana tree or something, but she left one glass shoe behind.”

“Okay?”

He slapped my chest. “The prince didn’t get her name, and I think it was a masquerade ball or something because they danced all night and he didn’t know what she looked like. The glass shoe was the only thing he had of hers.”

“So?”

“So! Only his dream woman would fit into that shoe, right?”

“Unless another woman was the same size.”

“Not the point. Just go with me here. Everyone wants to marry a prince, right?”

I shrugged. “Can’t say it’s my thing, and I don’t want to speak for anyone else?—“

“ Anyway, they put it out to the entire kingdom that the prince was looking for the owner of this shoe. And the women flocked in droves to try it on because they wanted their chance at becoming a princess. You see where I’m going with this?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “Seems dishonest. Those women had to know the shoe wasn’t theirs.”

“Dude!” Dez slapped my shoulder, then poked me with his index finger. “You’re the prince in this scenario. Part of Blood ‘til Dawn, the ruling clan of Sanguine. You’re a catch. Lots of women would love to be your mate.”

“Aw, thanks buddy. But I only want one person.”

“Obviously,” he snorted. “Bringing the women to us is just an easier process of elimination. We don’t have to go all over the territory. We put the word out and let them come to us instead. And, hopefully, your mate is among them.”

I nodded, scratching my chin. “That would make it easier. But what’s my glass shoe?”

“The taste of her blood. And the window of time she was at the blood bank.” Des gave me a sympathetic look. “But to make sure, you’ll probably have to feed from some women who are definitely not her.”

The thought made me shudder, but he had a point. If my blood mate changed her nail polish or her strange tattoo wasn’t visible, the taste of her blood would be the only way of knowing.

“That’s fine. I’ll do whatever it takes to find her. So how do we do this? The text alert system?”

“Yeah, and word of mouth. We’ll be very specific about the criteria.”

“Good.” I nodded, feeling optimistic for the first time since her flavor danced over my tongue. “The blood bank has, what, a dozen donors at any given time? There aren’t that many people it could possibly be.”

“Huh, famous last words.”

“Why do you say that?”

Des pointed at me again. “ You may not want to marry a prince. But do not underestimate the amount of human women who do.”