Down below

Chapter 38.

   Loki had all sorts of fantastic images flowing through his mind and woke up suddenly to the doorbell. It stopped ringing after a while and he buried himself into the luxurious bedsheets, but couldn't fall back to sleep. The wall clock showed little past two in the afternoon. He felt incredibly thirsty, not knowing at first where he was, then he remembered. He sat up, looking around. He was in his bed, naked. He saw an almost empty bottle of water and he drank it. He touched his neck, but found no sign of bitemarks. He got up and walked to the kitchen. He saw a pack of mineral waters on the counter. He smiled. Lestat must have felt guilty. He opened one and drank almost all of it in one go. He ate everything he found, then he took a shower and went out for a run. He felt light and empty, the rapture of Lestat's teeth and lips still haunting his thoughts. He didn't fight the memories this time, he welcomed them, let them pass. There was something insanely alluring of staring death in the face...or in the mouth. He grinned and went to the gym to get his muscles working. He returned to the house shortly after sunset, hoping that he would run into the vampire, but he was already gone. He was a bit disappointed as he really wanted to pick his brain about the body switch and enchantment, or at least this was what he told himself, but deep down he wanted to put this new kind of thrill to the test. He wanted it, craved for it. It was incomparable to anything he ever experienced before. Lestat however seemed to disagree, because Loki did not see him in the next few days.

   Thursday came and Loki remembered the football game. Bored and a bit annoyed at Lestat's absence, he decided to go. Upon arrival, he realized that Tyler's team was playing. He wanted to leave at first, but his curiosity wouldn't let him and besides, he liked hanging out with Tyler and he was curious if he knew anything about him and Elianah.

'Leo! My man! How the hell are you?' Tyler yelled when he spotted him, pulling him into his strong, sweaty embrace. 'Did you see my touchdown? Ah, sorry! I'm just super stoked to see you. Heard about you and Ellie. She said you went back to the UK.'

'Dude, slow down.' Loki smiled at his only human friend. 'Breathe! I did see your touchdown. Great job. Where's Zac?'

'Well, we broke up. Caught him getting railed by this random guy. Wasn't a pretty sight.'

'What?' Loki asked and the memory of Hades fucking Elianah immediately flashed through his mind. 'That sucks, dude. Sorry!'

'Whatever, bro. Shit happens. What are you doing here in New Orleans?'

'Being a tourist, crashing at a friend's place.'

'You gotta come and celebrate our victory! Then we can sneak off and catch up.'

'Sure, why not.'

They spent the first half of the evening with Tyler's team mates getting hammered, then they left and went over to a club Loki knew his friend would like.

'Nice one!' Tyler grinned when they stepped inside and he spotted the cladly dressed men dancing on the counter. 'Just what I need. That fucker squeezed my heart dry then threw it aside like it was nothing. I need some distraction, man. Speaking of which, I have some in my pocket.'

They sat down in a dark corner with their drinks and popped the pills. Loki saw the hurt in Tyler's eyes and felt sorry for him. He knew exactly how he felt.

'Have you talked to him since?' he asked.

'No, man! I've got nothing to say to him. He did call and text, showed up at practice...I had to smack him in the face to leave.'

'No way!'

'Yes way. He wouldn't leave me alone. He was crying, making a scene, I don't need that shit. I needed him to be loyal, not harassing me with his apologies and excuses.'