Essence (Nectar 3)

Sam and Sasha sat. Sasha blew her hair out of her eyes, looking exasperated.

The vegetables were looking overcooked. The rice was Spanish style instant rice, since the rice noodles had been a bust, so it didn’t really go with the Asian theme. The chicken was apparently trying to be teriyaki but the amount of cinnamon scent in the air did not say good things.

Sam gave Kyla a horrified look as he started to pass the big bowl around, scooping a very tiny portion onto his plate. Kyla’s lips tipped up in a slight smirk but at sight of Sasha looking so completely frazzled Kyla managed to clear her expression.

“This is why I don’t cook,” she explained, “And I apologize for this in advance. Apparently I mistook the ginger for garlic and I also knocked a bunch of spices into my marinating bowl of chicken and one of them opened. You can likely guess which one by the smell in here. I wanted to just take something out of the freezer but lost track of time so figured I’d wing this.”

Kyla smiled and chuckled a little nervously, thinking that if the sautéed veggies, chicken and rice hadn’t been mixed together she could’ve tried the veggies and rice combo but as it stood, it was a one-dish disaster.

Tristan was stiff as a board, expressionless, but his impatience rolled through her as well as off him.

“Can I move to a chair beside you, babe?” Kyla tapped his hand. He released her, but he hadn’t released his jaw from the tight clench. She moved to sit between Tristan and Sasha but Tristan took her by both hips and swung around to redirect her to the empty chair on his other side, where she’d be beside no one. Sergey was across from Tristan and Sam was beside Sergey, diagonally across from Sasha.

Sasha, and Kyla served themselves. Sergey and Tristan had eyes on one another. Tristan looked impatient. Sergey looked absolutely composed. Sam was sitting, not eating.

“So, please, allow me to enlighten you as to what I think you should know and then if you have questions, you can ask them. Regarding your binding, of course. And then Tristan, whenever you want questions answered about my role here and my hopes with respect to an allegiance between us, we can discuss that. If that needs to wait, I’m fine with it.”

“Fine.”

Kyla moved the veggies around on her plate. Sasha took a bite and made a face and put her chopsticks down, got up and got her head into the freezer section of the fridge and pulled out a frozen boxed pizza and looked at Sam. He nodded enthusiastically. Sasha looked at Kyla, who smiled and shrugged.

“I’ll do it,” Sam mouthed.

“I can cook a frozen pizza, Samuel,” Sasha defended.

“That’s debatable,” Sam grumbled.

“Seriously guys? For fuck sakes. Would ya can the comedy show?” Tristan snapped.

Sasha winced and put the pizza on the counter and sat back down.

Sergey smiled and sipped from a bottle of beer. Tristan jerked his chin up and Sergey started to talk.

“In the last few hundred years the vampire lines got very diluted due to the advance in transportation modes, spreading round the world, breeding happening outside vampire circles, the sheer number of turned vamps increasing, and so forth. Because of that, many of the old ways and traditions are becoming a thing of lore or becoming less and less known. Some councils have popped up over recent years striving to ensure that our bloodlines don’t get so diluted that we eventually cease to exist as we do. I have more than 75% pure vampire in my family line, Tristan. About the same amount as you. But your family lines are stronger than mine, slightly. I feel it. I’m older than you but you’re already more powerful than I am. And this is astonishing considering the fact that I was born vampire, never turned. I might be more knowledgeable than you are but that’s the only advantage I have. We have some common strengths. You’ll develop more as the years go by. I can only imagine what you’ll have when you get to my age. That said, I mean you no harm; you’re not a threat to me and I’ll explain why. I think you and I can help one another achieve some common goals, at least I suspect they’re common. I can certainly help you understand what’s happened between you and Kyla. Her bloodline and your bloodline together were pure enough for this union. It’s not often an option nowadays and because you two didn’t know it was an option, I can see how this happened. Serendipitously.

My parents had the same relationship. They are still going strong.”

“They’re like us?” Kyla asked.

He nodded.

“Still alive?”

“And well.”

“Both of them?

“Yes.”

“Wow,” Kyla breathed She put her hand on Tristan’s thigh. He covered her hand with his and she could feel his mood shift. His face gave nothing away.