Room & Board

Part 5

Hours pass and Tabaeus is enthralled with the computer and the Internet. After you provided some supplemental lessons - such as some key sites they may find interesting, how to open documents and save files, and helping them set up a free e-mail account - you left Tabaeus to their own devices. On the promise the vampire would ask you if they had questions or if something - ahem - unseemly popped up.

You've managed to reply to your manager and even taken a nap in your room, before deciding to rouse Tabaeus from their Internet fugue.

As you wander into the kitchen, retrieving a soda from the fridge, you call over to Tabaeus over the short distance, "How's it going?"

"Fine," they mumble, their shoulders hunched as they lean over the desk, staring a bit too intensely at the screen.

You make a curious sound as you, with your soda in hand, peer over Tabaeus's shoulder. On the screen, an article about vampires is displayed. It's from an old site, with a pure black background and obnoxiously ornate font.

"Ah, researching your roots," you comment with soft amusement as you pop the soda tab open and take a sip. You lay your hand on the back of the chair, fingers just grazing Tabaeus's shoulder.

Your small touch seems to break through the digital daze. Tabaeus blinks, their eyes shifting from the screen to your hand. You can see reality resetting itself in their brain as they offer you an awkward smile. But the attention is short, as they're soon turning quickly back to the screen.

"Yes, but seeing these images is making me hungry," Tabaeus uses the mouse to wave the pointer over the accumulated gallery. You can't help but notice that much of the depictions involve people clad in nearly translucent gowns, feasting or being feasted upon, in quasi-erotic poses. The bite marks on your throat throb and you recall a hazy memory of how the blood tickled as it dribbled down your skin. You shove the thought away before it can settle and warm your cheeks.

From the way Tabaeus is avoiding your eye, you're fairly certain their hunger is two-fold. Blood and lust. You try to ignore that realization by grinning at Tabaeus and snarkily asking, "Want a bowl of cereal?"

Their lips press into an unamused line as their red gaze tilts up at you. You merely grin back, delighting in the mild annoyance emanating from them. It's only when they move to slowly stand that you begin to worry you overstepped some line between you two. Or maybe that's what you wanted, you realize, as you fumble backward. Even though your heart is thrumming, you can't seem to find an iota of fear as Tabaeus closes the distance.

Something solid bumps into your back. With a start, you realize Tabaeus has backed you across the small living room, against the far wall. A quick calculation tells you that the vampire is too close for you to slink away and, within a breath of being cornered, Tabaeus is stooped over you.

One of their long-fingered hands plants against the wall, right beside your head. The light scrape of their nails, now longer and darker and curved, hisses against the wall and right into your year. They bring their free hand to your chin, barely touching you. But you still tip your head back, tilting your gaze toward their face.

"You know what I want, little sango sako," Tabaeus purrs, their clawed fingers delicately trailing along your jaw before coasting down your throat. Somewhere, in a totally separate pocket of your brain, you wonder where their timidness has gone.

"Wh-what does that mean?" Tabaeus's eyes lazily flick from your neck, back to your face as you speak. You try to clear the stutter from your throat before clarifying, "Sango sako?"

"You do not know esperanto?" A slow smile spreads over Tabaeus's lips, showing off those fearsome rows of sharp points, as you shake your head.

The smug grin crossing the vampire's lips makes you balk a little. "Should I?"