Picky Eater

Ch 3: Can vampires have aneurysms?

Ben gawked. He couldn't reel the words back before they leapt out of his mouth. "You're engaged?" The nurse made a surprise and yet, impressed sound. Usually, you'd have to pay to witness this level of drama.

Nino jumped and covered the receiver. "I'm not."

"Break-up!" Dante shouted through the phone.

Nino snapped at him. "Mind your own business!"

But Dante had already hung up the phone. Nino tried calling back, but the call went straight to voicemail. When he turned around, his brow was so scrunched, they formed a unibrow. He stared off to the side, his mind racing. It was so quiet. Ben didn't know what to say. There was more and that shouldn't have surprised him and yet, Ben still felt kicked while he was down.

Ben looked up at him.

Nino sighed. Pocketing his phone, he bent down and looked at Ben's hand, at the nurse finishing up every stitch. "Does it hurt?" He asked.

"Are you kidding?" Ben gawked. "I really wish they'd just chop it off. I'm dying here."

The side of Nino's lips pinched. That sideways smile made Ben's heart do a belly-flop in his stomach acids. Nino asked the nurse, "Is he dying? Can we possibly save his hand?"

She chuckled. "Just make sure he keeps the sutures clean and dry for the first 24 hours and he'll be fine."

"See?"

He didn't want to joke around anymore. Ben couldn't make himself smile or laugh. The day had barely begun, and he already felt knocked out and done. He shook his head. "Have you ever told me anything real about you?"

Nino's smile dropped. Eyes coated over in regret, Nino edged closer. He took to his knees and rested his hands on either side of the bed, looking up at Ben like he was the only person who existed. "This isn't a separation of you and my world. It's been about me wanting to get away from my family's business and affairs. I stopped involving myself with them a long time ago. You don't like pain... and I don't enjoy administering it."

He rubbed a thumb up and down and it was like Ben was sitting. "Oh. Did I... did I mess that up for you?"

Nino's grip tightened just slightly. "No. Unfortunately, as the older brother, Dante has the habit of usually being right. I couldn't hide from them forever. It seems like neither of us is going to get out of this, so listen to me. I'm not going to say it twice."

Ben nodded, a bit too eagerly.

"I am the middle child in my family and the second oldest son. I have two younger brothers, Anthony and Mathew. Being Dante is the King of our coven...." He talked as if the nurse wasn't there and a nervousness squirmed inside Ben's stomach. He eyed the nurse, who was making a face like they were nuts. Nino only looked at Ben. He said, "... he expects us all to help with family affairs. That includes an arranged marriage that I have already declined."

Ben let out a relieved breath that Nino noticed. His smirk returned and edge just closer. "I am 84 years old and the Nino you know is closer to who I am than what my family thinks of me. Does that clear everything up?"

"84...?" The nurse echoed, the cogs spinning in her brain.

"Earlier... you said you weren't very good at watching Mathew." As the words left Ben's mouth, the more he regretted even asking. All of Nino's sweetness soured and curdled inside of Ben's stomach. He unfortunately asked, "What did you mean by that?"

"It's... it's not a good story."

That was all he said and the moments of silence passed by slower than Ben's ability to catch social cues. Sighing, Ben's shoulders slumped. "So, we will be keeping some secrets?"

Nino nodded and looked down. A moment of silence breezed between them, chillier than a winter wind. Ben glanced to the side, when the quiet stuck out to him again. He snapped his head up and his stomach dropped to his toes. "Evie's gone."

"What?" Nino whirled around to see Ben was unfortunately right. She wasn't messing with the curtains anymore. Wasn't standing in the corner like a creepy statue. He glanced at the nurse. "Can vampires have aneurysms?"

"Excuse me?" She blinked.

Sighing, Nino waved his hand over her face, and her expression changed into someone dull and lifeless. Eyes flashing red, Nino told her with fangs sticking out of his mouth, "You never attended to Ben Robinson. You never saw me, Ben, or the girl. You walked into this partition looking for your pager. You found it and plan to return to the nurse's station."

The light returned to the nurse's eyes, blinking the fog away. She stood, checking her pockets and when her hand touched her pager, she nodded and left the partition. Ben's stomach twisted. That power intimidated Ben the most. For all Ben knew, Nino had used it before on him. To get something he wanted. It was faith that kept Ben from believing it.

"Let's go," Nino said, and Ben scrambled up, chasing Nino's ankles as they joined the rest of the emergency room floor. Nino glanced back and forth, checking the beds. "There's too many smells going on."

Ben walked up to the nurses' station. "Hi. We came here with his niece, a small blonde girl."

"The one wearing Gucci?"

"That one." Ben nodded.

"She went towards the bathrooms," the nurse said, and pointed down the hall.

"Thank you!" Ben ran for the hall with Nino appearing by his side. Without asking or warning, Nino slipped his hand into Ben's, entangling their hands. It was official. Ben was so outside the realm of being a romantic being to Nino, Nino could just hold his hand without worry or care. Or maybe he was sick and liked to hear the way Ben's heart skipped a beat... and yet, it was natural for all the wrong reasons.

"Oh, shit," Nino said and pulled on Ben's arm. They hurried and Nino slipped past the sliding door. He broke the handle off a door, forcing his way inside. He barged right into a patient's room and cursed.

Evie was on her tiptoes, biting the arm of a woman passed out in her hospital bed. They caught her just as the woman's heart monitor flatlined and the alarms went off. Evie snapped her head up, whipping around with a face covered in blood.