The Heart of Jade

Ash's Blood

            “Now you’re just plain creeping me out.  Look, there’s Ash.  Maybe he’ll let you drink his tangy blood.”

            “Hey!  That’s not funny.”

            “What’s not funny,” Ash asked.

            Maggie said, “I said, ‘Look, there’s Ash.  Maybe he’ll let you drink his tangy blood.’”

            “Tangy blood?”

             "She said male blood had a tangy, distinct taste females had…  What taste?”

            “Females have sweet blood.  That’s how it was with Midnight and Ginger.  I’ve only fed once.”

            “Maggie made a joke out of what?”

            “I prefer tangy blood over sweet blood.  Do you want to watch me feed this evening?”

            “Sure, as long as you don’t turn on me.”

            Maggie said, “She won’t.  She said she’d only drink a human’s if they said she could.  She also said human blood was probably the best tasting thing in the entire universe.”

            “Jade, every time you talk to us, the more of a vampire you sound.”

            I said, “I don’t know if that was a compliment, but I’m taking it as one.  Maggie, are coming over or not?”

            “Not.  I’m just not ready to see that.”

            “Okay, it’s just you and me, Ash.  Mom has to work double shift tonight.”

            “I don’t want to hear of you two making out.”

            “Don’t worry.  I’m just going to feed and then I don’t know what we’ll do.  I promise we won’t make out.  You know us better than that. Actually, we’ve never made out and we’ve been together for a year and a half.”

            That’s when the bell rang.  We went to class, back to the regular routine of school.  When I got home I fixed supper for when Mom got home.  I even fixed some for Ash.

            Ash arrived about twenty minutes later since I ran.  We walked out to the barn.  I didn’t know who to choose from.  I could smell all the different aromas that a human would find impossible to smell.

            I said, “I want you to pick one.  They all smell so good.  I don’t know who to pick.”

            He said, “Me.”

            “What?”

            “Me.  You said for me to pick and I pick me.  You said you liked tangy blood of stallions, and, unless I got this whole biology thing messed up, I’m a guy, too.”

            “Ash, I don’t know if I can control myself enough to stop.  It is only my second time feeding.”

            “I know you can.  I trust your judgment and I think you don’t put enough faith into yourself.  Let’s do this, you feed on a horse and then me, then you won’t be as thirsty.  I pick Rosaline.”

            I walked up to the strawberry roan.  I bit into the thick, muscular neck of a Clydesdale.  The sweet blood drained down my throat.  It was like rain pouring down on the Sahara.  I was able to stop before I could do any damage.