Iron & Wine

Chapter Twenty Five - Bonds

I slid over next to him and rested my head on his bare chest and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"It's okay," I told him. "I want to, just not yet."

We sat in front of the fireplace on his black leather couch, enjoying the warm touch of the flames. Neither one of us bothered to get dressed; instead we grabbed the huge comforter from the bed and wrapped it around us.

"Jack?"

"Yes?" he replied. "More questions, I assume?" He turned to face me and smiled. I loved his smile now. It was hard to believe that, once upon a time, I considered it smug and annoying. The way Jack's dark lashes framed his brilliant eyes gave a mysterious, and almost creepy, impression. But, when he smiled, with his soft, pale pink lips, it revealed the vulnerable and sweet man behind the face.

"Yes, if you don't mind answering them," I replied.

"Not at all, ask away." He leaned back, spread his arms on the back of the couch and faced me.

"Okay. Well, I guess I could start with diet," I suggested.

"Are you implying that I need to lose weight?" he joked.

"No! God, no, you're perfect, better than perfect."

"Of course I am."

I laughed and slapped his arm. "Seriously though, what do you eat? Or, well, drink for that matter? You're a vampire, but I never heard you or Celadine talk about it. And I've seen you guys drink coffee, but no food."

"We drink caffeine because it helps our blood flow faster, it's like a little high, and alcohol does the same trick. We drink blood because...we have to. A vampire's blood runs through its veins and carries oxygen throughout the body, just like a normal human being. The difference is that our bodies cannot maintain the oxygen, it gets used up, I guess you could say. So we require new blood every so often to survive."

"Wow, I've never heard of that one in the fairy tales before," I spoke to myself. "So, how often do you need to have blood? What would happen if you went too long?"

"Every vampire is a little different. The older you are, the longer you can go without it. I require it every few days, maybe once a week. If we go too long without it, well, the only way I can describe it is that we kind of smother or suffocate. Much the same way it would be if you were deprived of air."

"Oh," I whispered. This was fascinating, but I was at a loss for words. I tried to imagine it, but cringed as I could only recall the memory of myself drowning. "Do you crave it? Like all of the time, even when you don't need it?"

"Yes and no. The craving is always there, like an overweight person craving cake when they just ate a bucket of chicken. But, it's not the way it's portrayed in the movies. I'm not some bloodthirsty monster ripping the throats out of every unsuspecting person who walks by," Jack explained.