Blood Thirsty

Ch. 16: Hydrangeas

"Those are two different questions," Anthony pointed out. "But I'll give you the same answer. Good. I'm good."

"You are good," Knox said, a little more under his breath and Anthony pushed him with his knee that Knox grabbed. His hand tightened around Anthony's thigh as he sat his leg back down and Anthony swallowed his tongue.

"I know you don't need me here," Knox explained. "But I was worried if something was wrong you wouldn't tell me."

Anthony hummed, wondering about that himself. "Is that all?"

"I'm also wondering if Beatrix had a cure. Would you still want me around?"

Anthony smiled, trying not to laugh at him. "What?"

"I mean, once you no longer need my blood, you won't need me at all," Knox said and actually pouted. He was obviously exaggerating, but that somehow made it cuter. In less than a minute, Knox made all of Anthony's anxiety disappear. "How else are we going to bond?"

"You can teach me about your clocks," Anthony said and fixed Knox's bangs out of his face, admiring him. "But I do like that you have your own hobby. It's good for married couples to have their own thing."

Knox exchanged his pout for a smile.

"What?"

Knox did a little shrug. "Married couple has a nice ring to it."

Anthony pushed him again, raising his voice to be louder than the red of his blush. "Don't you have work to do or something? Go get something done and stop flirting with me."

"You call this flirting? This is nothing," Knox said, creeping closer, leaning onto the table and grabbing Anthony's thigh again. A static shock ripped right through Anthony, instinctively Anthony tried to get away, but Knox just grabbed both of his legs.

"Oh, man, my fiancé is just so cute and he's ticklish, I think," Knox said, grinning wider than ever before and if Anthony wiggled out of his hold, Knox would just find somewhere else to grab. "He needs more attention."

"Stop, stop, stop," Anthony begged, pushing against Knox's chest, half screaming. All this man did was make him scream, internally and unfortunately externally, his voice bouncing against all this stone. Quickly, Knox stole a peck on Anthony's cheek while he was busy grinning and not paying attention. Looking up, he met Beatrix's knowing smile.

"You know what, Anthony? I think you're on your way to understanding me," Beatrix said, crossing her arms and judging them.

"What did you find?" Anthony asked, quickly changing the subject before Knox got too curious about their previous conversation. Knox stood out of the way, but stayed close, his arm ending up right behind Anthony like they were two high schoolers glued together.

This was getting really bad.

Anthony wanted to lean against him.

"The best thing to do is to let Anthony continue to drink from you, sir. It's not just the potion you've taken to reject the mutation, but what this mutation demands seems to be satisfied by your blood. Keep the magic pleased, as dark as it is, because I'm more worried about what will happen to you if you starve yourself."

Anthony nodded.

"What he really needs is the antidote, but I don't have the ingredients. Should I deliver the needed ingredient list to your team?"

"No, I'll handle it myself," Knox declared. "We're already thinned out as it is."

"No," Anthony spoke up. "I'll do it."

Knox smiled and nudged Anthony playfully. "We can do it together, you know."

Anthony met his look, thinking that didn't dawn on him for a single second. He fully expected to do it alone. He was already inconveniencing Knox too much. This was over the line. Anthony would never ask him to stay, not when he could be helpful to the coven here. If Anthony could just sneak away for a day, no one would probably notice.