Chapter 18: Blood Uses

Mia's POV Sol walked into the bathroom as I began to sit down beside the bathtub. I watched him as he surveyed the room around me. His eyes landed on the pile of bloodied clothes on the floor. To my surprise, Sol picked up the clothes from the floor and went before I could blink. He was back inside the bathroom the next moment without the bloodied clothes. I was shocked that he had done something like that. Maybe he knew it was making me uncomfortable to be in a room with the bloodied objects. He grabbed a smaller towel from the side of the bathroom and began wringing the water out from my hair. "You're going to get sick if you don't put on something warm," he told me softly. I shook my head. "Vampires don't get sick." I shot him a cheeky grin despite myself, but he shook his head in return. "Humans do." "Am I human?" I asked mockingly. "Humans don't drink blood from other people. They're really against that, you know? They created an entire category for it. Heard of cannibalism?" I closed my eyes as he towel dried my hair. "If you're not vampire," Sol questioned, "and you're not human, then what are you?" My reply was quick. "An abomination." The way he grabbed my chin and turned me toward him was quick. "You are not." "Aren't I?" I scoffed a laugh at him and pulled away from his hands. "That's what my father told me. Why did he lie?" A wicked smile crossed my face. I knew he didn't know how to move forward after that. "When was the last time you drank blood?" Sol's question made me try to figure the question out myself. I knew it had been years, but how long exactly had it been? I shrugged my shoulders. "I can't remember. Maybe several years or a decade. All I know is my father used to force me to drink it. After I escaped from him, I tried to stop, but… It was hard." I rolled my neck around and felt the tension release from it as it cracked. "The withdrawal, the weakened state, the loss of senses… I hated it all. I hated feeling weak." I sighed. "But I hated the way drinking blood made me feel even more." Due to some residue of blood still lingering in my system, I felt the rage pouring off Sol's body. His shoulders were square, and his eyes were hard-set in front of us. I could tell he was trying to control himself for my sake. I wondered if I should be glad for that or not. All I knew was I wanted to see him release his power and feel that raw power exuding from him. I couldn't forget the scene after I drank the blood. With the help of my enhanced vision at that time, he looked more attractive and gorgeous than usual. An aura named power and dominance circled him. Or that could be his real look. I realized I could get high from that alone. "It was hard at first to contain myself," I continued to explain. Sol turned to me. "What finally made you stop?" "Feeling like I was an addict, in some way, I guess. As opposed to purebloods who need the blood to survive, half-bloods don't. It felt like I was causing unnecessary harm to someone when there were alternatives. It seemed…" "Immoral?" Sol supplied. We both laughed at the answer as I nodded. Although human immorality far surpassed that of a vampire, I could say vampires were not familiar with humanity, no matter how powerful they were. I was half-human, half-blooded. I knew it. "I suppose so," I agreed. "I guess that's my human side kicking in. The leather bands I put on were half for protection and half for a reminder to myself." I continued, "They were to remind myself of what it felt like to be helpless. I never wanted to make someone feel like that ever." We both sat in silence for a moment until I posed the question that had been on my mind since before I took the vial from his hands. "How did you get the blood? Why did you choose to keep them in the fridge rather than... uh, fresh and living?" It sounded like I hoped he drank from living people. Actually, I didn't. I was just curious. Sol seemed surprised by my question and turned to me for a moment after thinking it over. "The same as you, morality. If you live as long as I have, you tend to end up with many regrets. I bought blood from healthy human donors. Serin and I have some regular and stable donors." "The blood is given willingly." I realized as he spoke, and he nodded. "Yes, as long as you set an attractive price, a human will do it. Serin and I are old enough to not need much blood daily. We have collected the blood in this way for many years. If someone donated twice a month, we would stop the cooperation. So far, no one has gotten hurt." A new sense of admiration swelled up in me as he explained. That was the power of money, plus a little humanization. I nodded along and said nothing. Another question popped up into my mind. I bit my lip in hesitation before I could ask it. I felt the curiosity eating up at my skin, but I didn't know whether it was my place to ask or not. "What?" Sol asked. "What, what?" I asked back, shocked to hear his voice after mulling inside of my head for so long. He let out a soft chuckle and turned to me." I can feel your restlessness. You know that, right?" I shuffled in my towel at his stare and turned away as I considered the question. "Have you… Ah, I mean do you… Not that it's any of my business but, I mean…" "Mia–" I blurted out my question. "Have you tried the blood from other pureblooded vampires? Because, well, you pureblooded seem to be giant moving blood bags." My face heated up at the look on his face. His eyes widened and an eyebrow raised. There was a slight crook to his mouth that told me he was amused at my question. I continued to stare at him, desperate to know the answer. "How would you feel if I said yes?" Automatically, I felt my eyebrows pull together. I was shocked at my reaction and turned away from him with a heated face. "I wouldn't feel anything," I eventually gritted out. "It's your decision. I'm just curious." I couldn't imagine the scene if he drank from the other powerful pureblooded vampires. Maybe Serin? Would he? His soft laugh echoed against the bathroom walls. I felt my body heating up again for a different reason. "You're a terrible liar," he whispered into my ear and pulled away before I could retort. "Unfortunately, I haven't. Well, I heard some vampires would feed their babies with their blood occasionally, but usually not. Our blood is static and full of poison. I heard some half-blooded and human-turned would like the taste of a pureblood. Would you? " He suddenly approached me with a smirk and whispered in a low voice, "I would be willing to give you my blood if you want me." I quickly shook my head as my face couldn't get any heater. "No, no, no, of course not. I know several pureblooded ones who would drink from each other when I was with my father. I saw his friends doing that." I admitted I was trying to switch his attention. "That's maybe blood exchange used for vows." Sol smiled and sat closer to me again. He stretched his legs out in front of him. I watched as the long, muscular limbs strained against his pants, My curiosity was peaked. I tilted my head and asked another question. "What sort of vows?" Sol turned his eyes to me as he looked at me from the side of his eye. I regretted the question as soon as I saw the smirk on his face. "Marriage vows." My face heated up. "Are you interested in experiencing it with me?" "Stop teasing me," I mumbled. "What else?" He looked disappointed. "Bloodletting when the vampire is dying." ###