Page 19 of Thirsty

“Hmm,” Charlie said. He eyed Lorenzo, a hum of excitement beneath his contemplative stare. “But you do...also...”

He hesitated. Lorenzo waited him out. After a moment, Charlie looked back up at Lorenzo and asked, “You drink people blood?”

Lorenzo’s throat prickled uncomfortably. “Not for a while.”

“Why not?”

“This way is easier,” he said. “You can buy it in a shop, and there’s no risk of hurting anyone.”

Holding Lorenzo’s eye, Charlie asked, “Which one tastes better?”

Lorenzo swallowed a bite of extremely bland pig’s blood, and did not look at the fluttering of Charlie’s jugular. “I should think,” he said, “that would be obvious.”

“Hmm,” Charlie said. He didn’t write anything down, and when Lorenzo looked back after busying himself with his food for a moment, Charlie was still studying him.

“Two questions left,” Lorenzo prodded him.

Charlie blinked. “Wait, what? A bunch of those were follow-ups, that doesn’t count.” He glanced down at his notebook and flipped through the pages, muttering, “We’re still on the general topic of food, I have so many more...”

Lorenzo shrugged unrepentantly.

“Okay, give me—three more questions,” Charlie said.

He sighed. “Fine.”

“Thank you,” Charlie said, and then paused as he tried to narrow down his ideas. “Um...okay, well...Okay. When it comes to dating, do you mostly date vampires or humans? Or—werewolves or leprechauns or, y’know”—he gestured, likeyadda yadda yadda—“whoever.”

“Mostly humans. But, most people are human, so.”

“So it doesn’t matter to you?” Charlie said. “You don’t have a supernatural type?”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said. “You’re not looking to date only humans or only vampires? And—these are follow-ups, to be clear,notnew questions.”

“No.”

“No, they’re not follow-ups?”

“No,” Lorenzo said, “it doesn’t matter to me what species someone is.”

“Really,” Charlie said.

“It is as David Rose has said,” Lorenzo said. “I enjoy the wine, not the bottle.”

Charlie’s lips quirked in a small, surprised smile. “You watchedSchitt’s Creek.”

“We’re not all stuck in the past, you know,” Lorenzo said with just a touch of irritation. “I have a televisionanda computer.”

Charlie dropped his notebook on the counter as he leaned closer to Lorenzo, looking lost in thought. “Is it so weird having those things—watching streaming video and prestige TV with your roommates—when you grew up with like...likeyou were saying, shepherds and conquerors and being a literal pirate?”

“I wasn’t a pirate,” Lorenzo muttered.

“I mean, sometimes I think about the fact that I used to watch DVDs when I was a kid and I’m like, whoa, I’mold,” Charlie continued. “But you—I mean, the world must have changed so much in your lifetime. Is that...what is that like?” He laughed a little. “Can you even explain it to a dumb human like me?”

“It is...odd sometimes,” Lorenzo said. “But also...”

Charlie leaned toward him, his eyes wide. “What?”