Warsinger James Baldwin (read this if TXT) 📖

But then Suri froze, the skin of her neck trembling. “Hector? What is that?”

The sound of my name shook me out of the sudden trance. I looked up to see Suri's eyes wide with confusion and fear. She was staring at me. Specifically, she was staring at my hand. Since becoming a Nasaku half-blood, my fingers and nails had turned dark and metallic, like I'd dipped them into fine powdered iron. The finger resting against her racing pulse had distended into a hypodermic needle point, the tip dimpling the skin just enough to draw a single drop of blood. It welled around the tip, and then ran down the side of her neck in a fine rivulet.

“Umm.” I blinked, and swallowed. “Well. This is awkward.”

I was really grateful for that Willpower bonus as I pulled my hand away, took a couple of big steps back, and turned around to hide the intense, sudden, stomach-cramping hunger that wracked through my belly.

Behind me, Suri rose to her feet. She leaned in, but I warded her back with a hand and pulled away.

“Sorry,” I croaked. “I just realized today is potion day. Dragon’s Blood Potion. I… uhh…”

“Was that...?” She seemed to be seeing me - really seeing me - for the first time since Al-Asad. “But you said that the Demon didn't turn you?”

“He didn’t.” I was panting, torn between hunger, lust, and horror at myself. “I'm a half-blood. A Nasaku halfblood. The N-Nasaku eat flesh the old-fashioned way, but draw blood with their... with whatever these are. The sub-type description warned me I'd still have to have some blood, and I've been putting it off, because we had a lot to do, and, uhh-”

“Hey. Hey, it's okay.” Suri held her hands up. She advanced a step, and I took one back. “Hector, it's okay.”

I shook my head, struggling against the sudden urge I had to turn and bite her.

“Hey.”

I looked up to see her nose barely a foot from mine.

“You need blood?” she asked, huskily. “Because you know… I got about six liters of the stuff.”

I groaned. “Suri... don’t do this.”

She gently caught me by the wrist and squeezed. And kept squeezing, until I felt something pop painlessly inside the joint and my fingers seized. I winced, and she let the pressure off with a smile.

“Remember what I told you last time we were here?” she asked softly. “Anything I don't want, I'm strong enough to stop you from doing.”

The line of blood was still on her neck, winding down in a drying line toward her collarbone. I couldn't stop staring at it. “Look at my teeth, Suri. It's not like it was before. I could really hurt you.”

Her eyes hooded to glowing golden slits. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it. You know what’s great at making me forget about Al-Asad? Sexy fun pain.”

“Seriously, though. These do flesh-ripping kind of pain. Not the sexy fun kind.”

She let go of my wrist, and gently stroked my lips. They parted with a shuddering breath.

“There you go, telling me what I want and need again,” she whispered, leaning in. “ I love it when you bite me. I REALLY love it. The, umm, surprise finger shiv took me by surprise, I admit. But honestly, I look at you and those teeth of yours and I get wet to the knees thinking about how it'd feel if you just bit me on the shoulder and-”

“I'm not ready yet,” I blurted. “I'm sorry.”

Suri licked her lips and leaned back, putting a little distance between us.

“Sorry. It's... I can't. It's too intense right now.” I reached out and stroked her face, her arms, trying to reassure her. “I can still count the number of times I've had sex on two hands and one foot, okay? I'm into it - believe me, I'm REALLY into it - but I'm so into it I don't feel like it's safe. I need to go get to Karalti and get this potion made up, and I can’t do anything until then, alright? Not… not at least until you’ve got a spawn point. So hey, look: Ibrought you something.”

I disgorged the book from my Inventory to the bed. Suri blinked at it a few times.

“It’s a book on the history of Dakhdir,” I said quickly, desperate to talk about anything other than the various hungers gnawing at my body. “I couldn’t get really far into it, but it’s got some stuff about the Old Kingdom Dynasty you were talking about. It was pretty interesting, actually…”

Suri’s mouth flashed in a brief, tired smile. She looked down for a moment, and then flicked her gaze back up to my face. “Are we... are we okay?”

“We're more than okay.” I drew a deep breath, meeting her gaze with mine. “So… you coming to Myszno, or do you want to go take care of Big Trouble in Little Dalim first?”

“I'll go back with you. I can help you sort out those quests and then... yeah. I dunno. We'll think about Dakhdir after that.”

“You have Karalti and me at your back, if you’ll have us,” I said.

She looked down again: bashfully, this time. Then she caught my hand, stroking her thumbs over the Mark of Matir. It blazed through the iron-tinged skin like a spiny black hole. “I wouldn’t choose anyone else. You sure you can’t stay the night? We could just sleep, you know.”

“I used to get up and sleep eat when I was alive. One time, I woke up in the kitchen and found myself shoveling gummi bears covered in hot sauce into my face.” I shrugged and feigned a smile. “Karalti knows what to do. She’s been donating blood to me since she was a hatchling. Felt weird at first, but we’re Bonded, so when she says it’s okay, I know it’s really okay with her.”

“I’d donate if I could.” Suri looked up at me from under her crimson eyebrows. “Pity I’m not a dragon, hey?”

She was startlingly beautiful by lamplight, the golden light