After Solitude

Chapter 9

Zoey's POV

Jett returns with bags of food.

I help him unpack it all on the unnecessary large dining room table.

I like this dining room, the feeling it gives is vintage and beautiful.

Two chandeliers hand beautifully over the dark wooden table with a pristine white tablecloth. Chairs line around the table, at least thirty chairs surround the table. The walls are an off white, adding to the vintage feeling and the few artsy paintings on the walls make it seem like it belongs in a museum.

Jett got a whole menu of food laid out on the table.

Meaty bolognese, burgers, fries wings that are red and wings that are regularly fried, onion rings, rice that has green vegetables in it, pizza that has pepperoni and sausage with another pizza that has nothing but cheese, a cheesy spiral pasta, fresh baked cookies, baked potatoes, broccoli, chicken sandwiches, fried pickles, plain cheesecake, green beans, spaghetti and meatballs, vegetable wraps with a dipping sauce, steak, and spinach artichoke dip with tortilla chips.

"Why did you get a whole buffet?" I laugh.

A smile appears on his face, "I didn't know what you liked, so I got a little of everything."

My heart flutters at his thought process.

I forgive you for not getting grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Okay," Wyatt claps, "we ready?" He asks, sitting at the table and digging into a slice of cheese pizza.

Nik enters the room with plates and shoves one at Wyatt with a look that says 'stop being a pig'.

"Here, love." He hands one to me.

I gently take it and load my plate with the cheesy pasta, onion rings, fries, and a vegetable wrap with the brown dipping sauce.

At first we don't speak, we just eat.

"You can start whenever you're ready, love." Nik says, sipping his drink.

I scan my thoughts, what do I want to ask first?

"Why're you eating food? Don't vampires only drink blood?"

Jett smiles, "we survive off of blood, like humans do with vitamins in their food. But cookies and cakes don't hold nutritional value, but it's still eaten because it tastes good."

I nod, knowing that makes perfect sense.

"W-will you drink my blood?" I ask, slightly worried about the answer.

"Is that an offer?" Jett jokes, which earns him an elbow in the arm from Nik.

"Only if you give us consent. We'd never force you to do anything." Nik confirms.

Air leaves enters my lungs rapidly, as if I were holding my breath.

The cheesy pasta bursts flavor onto my pallet. I love cheese.

"How do you obtain your blood?"

Nik chuckles, "we have a chilled room filled with blood bags. Once our supply is low, we hold a fake blood drive and people donate it to us thinking they're donating it to car crash victims or something."

A whole room filled with blood. Creepy.

I look at the cup in Nik's hand, wondering what the contents inside of it hold.