Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

Valentine's Day: Part Three

"We don't have to stay if you don't like it," Ludovic said.

"I want to support Ysanne," Roux said. "And I do actually want to be here."

A young waitress came over to their table, carrying two champagne flutes filled with blood.

Roux's lips twitched. At previous Belle Morte events, donors had been given flutes of champagne, while vampires took quick sips from their necks. She'd never imagined those two worlds overlapping like this.

She sipped from her glass. The blood was warm and sweet, better than any champagne she'd ever had.

"This is a little different to our first date, isn't it?" she said.

"When did we have a first date?" Ludovic asked.

"Back when I was human, remember? We went to that pub to track down Delia Sanders? I ordered fish and chips, and then we danced together."

"That wasn't a date," Ludovic said.

"It kind of was."

"We were pretending to be on a date."

"Yeah, but it felt real, didn't it?"

Ludovic smiled. "I suppose it did." He swirled the blood in his champagne flute. "Do you mind that we can't do normal human dates?"

"If I wanted normal and human, then I wouldn't be with you, would I?" Roux said, gently clinking her glass with his.

"What was the best date you ever went on?" Ludovic asked.

Roux twined her fingers with his. "I'm on it."

"Are you trying to flatter me?"

"I'm actually not. The best dates I had as a human can't compare to a date with you, and that's the honest truth," Roux said.

"Your worst date, then."

"Oh, God," Roux said, biting her lip. "There are two that I'll never forget."

"I'm listening."

"So one time, I went to dinner with this guy, and he seriously started chatting up the waitress in front of me. I thought I was being paranoid at first, but nope. He kept finding excuses to call her over and talk to her, even if it meant interrupting me mid-sentence. The fifth time he did it, I quietly texted my mum to tell her he was a douchebag, and then he started lecturing me about being rude. Apparently it was totally okay for him to hit on another woman in front of me, but not okay for me to tear my attention away from him for two minutes. Unsurprisingly I didn't see him again."

Ludovic looked disgusted. "What an idiot. He was lucky enough to have the most beautiful woman in the world at his table."

"Now who's the flatterer?" Roux teased.

Ludovic reached out and cupped her cheek. His fingers were gentle. "It's not flattery, it's the truth."

Roux melted inside.

"What was the other worst date?" Ludovic asked.

Roux grimaced. "Believe it or not, that one was even worse. We went for a couple of drinks in the evening, and at one point he disappeared to the bathroom. Nothing wrong with that, obviously, but he texted me while he was in there."

"Saying what?"

"I'm sorry, babe, but I'm still stuck at work. Don't wait up, I think it's going to be a late one."

Ludovic frowned. "I don't understand."

"He didn't mean to text me. That message was meant for the girlfriend I didn't know he had, and the fact that he was warning her not to wait up suggested that he thought he'd be late home because he was going to get into my pants. I was gone before he got out of the bathroom, and I never spoke to him again."