The lofty ceiling of the cafeteria in the science building arched over Juliet’s head. The snow had stopped and instead they were visited by dreary rain. It splattered on the glass like tiny pinpricks. This would probably be the last rainfall of the year.
She didn’t have classes for two hours, so she was waiting for Rylan to meet her for lunch. It was already Wednesday and she hadn’t seen much of him that week. He had sent her a few text messages apologizing that he didn’t visit or call. Apparently, he had a lot of work to do. Juliet didn’t mind. She needed time to think.
So far, her love affair with Rylan hadn’t been much of anything. She felt like that was the way a relationship should be, calm and steady, instead of suffering from a heart attack every time she thought about him. Rylan was safe, comfortable, and fathoms-deep in love with her, but he wasn’t a hundred percent perfect. There was still the man she dreamed of when Rylan kissed her, and he frightened her. Sure, she could avoid the faceless man by only receiving the briefest of kisses from Rylan, but what would happen when their relationship needed to move to the next level? That was where Juliet hit a wall. If there wasn’t a way for her to end the visions, then there wasn’t a way for them to be together. That was a fact.
Juliet put her cheek in her palm and strummed the table with her fingertips when she saw Rylan come in the side door. In the crowd of brown and black-haired heads, he looked like an angel. His hair was so light he made blondes look like brunettes. In such a crowded place, no one should have noticed him who wasn’t watching for him specifically, but Juliet saw heads turn. He didn’t notice. He was looking for her. The way he moved through the crowd was completely mellow. Yet Seth, and now Fiona and Halona, were convinced he wasn’t human.
Juliet put a welcoming smile on her face as she watched him, but he continued to miss her as he circled his way around the room.
A sudden glint of sunlight broke through the clouds and through the glass ceiling. It lit up Rylan’s face and his eyes shone bright red. For a split second it looked like they were bleeding.
She jumped in her chair and Rylan finally noticed her.
He walked over immediately and took a seat. “Hello Juliet. You look gorgeous.” He bent and kissed her cheek, then her ear, and then her neck. “Thanks for waiting for me. It’s been a hard week.”
She gazed at him curiously and asked slyly, “What have you been doing? I find it hard to believe that you need to study. You predicted my mark on that one paper so accurately. Aren’t you super smart?”
His head cocked to the side strangely. “I don’t like to draw attention to that.”
“So, what have you been doing?” Juliet asked logically.
“Taylor needs my tutoring. I promised I’d help her get good marks. Wait. You’re not mad, are you?”
“No. I saw at the party how important your relationship with her is. I’m cool with it.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Okay then. Thanks.”
“Oh, did Fiona tell you? The meeting for this week has been canceled.”
Rylan snorted. “Yeah, she told me.”
“Well, we were going to meet at the campus bar, but then Paulo decided that he wanted to go to some private lounge downtown, so we’re going there instead. Are you coming along or am I going solo?”
He groaned, his face painfully contorted. “Do you have to go? Can’t you just come over to my hotel that night? We could watch a movie and over room service and... and…”
“And?”
“And,” he said, putting his hands over Juliet’s while looking in her eyes. “And I could keep you away from the biggest lounge lizard this town has ever seen.”
Juliet laughed. She gripped Rylan’s hands and leaned forward. “Not a chance. I want to meet this guy. From Halona’s description, I would be missing out big time if I stayed away. You’ve met him, right?”
“A couple times a really long time ago. I saw him across a bar once last year and that was all I needed. If I’m like the moon, then he’s the sun; he drowns me out.”
“I still plan to go. After neglecting me this whole week, you can’t be mad if I make my own plans when it comes to the weekend.”
“I guess not,” Rylan said at last. “Okay, I’ll come. Even if it’s only to pick you up and make sure you get back to the dorms safely. I wouldn’t want you to have to take a bus back to campus and then have to call for a Safewalk, now would I?”
“Do you really want to keep me away from Seth? You know, I wouldn’t stay away from you when he asked me to.”
“Really?” Rylan said, looking honestly moved.
“Really. So don’t you be as dumb as him and get all fidgety if I happen to say hello to him, kay? It wouldn’t be cool.”
Rylan reached across the table and placed the shortest of kisses on her mouth. “I adore you. You go ahead and be as cool as you want to be.”
Juliet looked into Rylan’s face with regret. He was asking her what she wanted to eat, but she could hardly focus. If she couldn’t get control of her feelings and focus them one way or another, everyone was going to get hurt, and it would be all her fault.
***
The next day, Fiona invited Juliet for lunch at the campus pub. Juliet was surprised because Fiona had not sought her out like this before, but since dinner on Sunday, Fiona had phoned Juliet twice just to ask if she’d seen Seth. She was disappointed when Juliet admitted that she hadn’t seen hide, nor hair, nor text, nor email from him.
Juliet gazed outside at the grim expanse of gray buildings that made up the campus in November. But no matter how overcast it was, Fiona wore gold hoop earrings and the rose of her cheeks made her look like a spring sunrise.
“Are you all set for tomorrow?” she asked Juliet with a grin. “Do you have a dress to wear to the lounge? It’s a pretty quiet place, but you’ll regret it if you don’t wear the right thing.”
“I’ve got it covered. I bought a couple new dresses this fall.”
“Good. Then there won’t be any last minute costume struggles.” Fiona stopped and looked at Juliet expectantly. “Actually, there’s one more thing I wanted to mention to you.”
“Which is?”
“Chas called me last night. He has a bit of a problem. One of his clients quit. I told him before that if he ever had a vacancy I’d fill it, so he’s asking me to come in just this one extra time. Do you want to come too?”
Juliet shrunk in her chair. “Oh, I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“I told you. The fact that you’re with Rylan doesn’t matter. We can do the whole thing with a needle and a tube if you want.”
“Do they really drink blood?”
Fiona nodded. “You bet they do.”
Juliet fumbled with her napkin. “Can I watch Seth drink it?”
“I’m sure that could be arranged. Does that mean you’ll come?”
Juliet rubbed the inside of her left elbow with her thumb. She guessed that was where there were going to draw the blood from. “I guess a pinprick is a small price to pay to get some answers. But I’m not cheating on Rylan. I want my deal to be with Chas instead of Seth.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I want to hear Chas sing and I want to watch Seth drink my blood,” Juliet said, gaining confidence.
“Okay. Great. I’ll call Chas and let him know what you want. I’m sure he won’t mind. He’s very liberal as long as what’s requested of him doesn’t infringe upon his treaty with Nixie, and this won’t. I’ll come by and pick you up at about two tomorrow afternoon. You don’t have class, do you?”
“I have a study group,” Juliet admitted.
“Skip it.”
***
On Friday, Juliet stood waiting in front of Chas’ apartment building. It was cold out, but from the smile on Fiona’s face, it was clear that she didn’t feel a thing. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, clutching the edges of her fluffy orange scarf like she was fifteen again and ringing the doorbell of her crush.
“Excited much?” Juliet asked.
“Well, you know. I haven’t seen him in a while. I’m a bit of a strain on his home life.”
“Why?”
“Because, I’m the solution to all his problems,” Fiona said with a wink. “If I could be his girlfriend, he wouldn’t need any other donors. He could be faithful to only one woman—me! Right now, he’s not allowed to treat me too much differently than any of his other donors or Nixie would spazz. He really loves his daughter. It would be heartwarming if she didn’t despise him.”
“Yeah, I sort of got that impression from Seth,” Juliet admitted.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, I sympathize with her. I don’t know how I’d react to having a father like Chas. The father Halona and I grew up with isn’t my dad or hers. He’s our step-dad. He married our mother when we were four, so I actually remember a little about life before he entered the scene. The point is, he’s a middle-aged father figure who isn’t remotely attractive in a sexual kind of way. I love him, but if he was stuck in time and didn’t age at the same rate as my mother… Not to mention the way Nixie’s friends drool over Chas like he’s eye-candy when they visit. She’s so annoyed by him, she lives with her mother and sees him only occasionally.”
“That sounds very lonely for Chas.”
“Well, after you hear him sing, you’re going to forget about everything I just said. It’s hard to imagine that someone so talented could have trouble with his daughter.”
The buzzer sounded and Fiona tugged on the door. They went into the foyer.
“Let’s just wait here until they come down,” Fiona suggested.
Looking up the staircase, Juliet saw Seth and Chas descending the stairs. Seth was dressed in an extremely fitted black T-shirt with long sleeves and dark blue jeans that were partially torn. His hair spiked up a little in the front and Juliet’s breath caught in her throat. Why did he always have to look so damn perfect? True, he wasn’t wearing Armani, but with Seth, it really didn’t matter what he wore.
Chas was wearing a white lab coat, a white collared shirt underneath, and a pair of light gray trousers. Chas looked great in white. It matched his hair and made him look like a doctor who was about to sprout angel wings.
Suddenly, Juliet felt lucky just to be there.
“Hi Fiona,” Chas said pleasantly, as he took her gloved hand. “And thank you for coming, Juliet. Unfortunately, Nixie isn’t here today. She usually takes care of the medical side of our exchange, so you’ll have to deal with me instead, but don’t worry. I’m talented with needles. You won’t feel a thing.”
Seth ground his teeth and grumbled.
“Come along,” he said, taking them up the stairs to the first floor.
He led them into what really looked like the entrance to the theater. There was a coat rack on one side and a bar on the other. Then there was a set of large double doors on the other side, which she supposed led into the theater. Were any of the floors in the building ordinary?
Chas took Fiona’s coat while Seth helped Juliet with hers.
“What’s the matter, Seth? You don’t look happy,” Juliet said quietly while he hefted her coat off her shoulders.
“Oh, I’m fine,” he said caustically.
Juliet gave him a puzzled look before Chas opened the double doors and took them into a theater.
“Okay. First, we need to get Juliet on the machine,” Chas said as he opened another door leading away from the seating.
Inside this room, there was a reclining chair with blue vinyl covering it and a stand housing a collection of medical supplies next to it.
“Are you right handed?” Chas asked, indicating for Juliet to sit down.
“Yeah,” Juliet said, getting on the chair.
“Then, do you want me to puncture your left arm?”
Juliet nodded.
Chas went to the sink and washed his hands and then put on a pair of latex gloves. He sat on a stool in front of Juliet’s chair and gave her a stress ball. Then he strapped her arm to the arm rest and got out a plastic bag and put it on a white machine.
“What’s that for?” she asked, pointing to the machine.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It just sloshes the blood back and forth and stops it from clotting. Okay, I’m just about ready,” he said as he meddled with a couple of plastic tubes. “You’ve never given blood before. Am I right?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you nervous?” he asked, looking tenderly into her eyes.
“A little,” she admitted.
“Are you cold?”
“U-huh,” she mumbled.
“Please get her a blanket, Seth,” he instructed calmly. Then he swiveled slightly on his stool and continued, “I would have let you leave your coat on, except that I need your arm bare. Sorry.”
Seth brought her a purple knit blanket and gently covered her. She thanked him while Chas swabbed her inner arm.
“Okay. Are you ready?” Chas asked.
Juliet nodded.
“Wait,” Chas exclaimed. “I forgot the permission forms. That’s why Nixie usually does this. I can’t keep my mind on waivers when I’m about to sing. Seth, can you get them?”
Seth brought Juliet a paper on a clipboard.
“What am I agreeing to?” she asked, scanning the page.
“You’re just agreeing to allow Chas to draw your blood and he promises to use entirely new sterilized equipment and to follow all accepted medical practices. It’s simple.”
Juliet signed her name and had a curious feeling like she was signing a deal with the devil. Yet even though she felt a little spiral of fear curl itself around her spinal cord, she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to see where this road ended.
“Now that that’s done, we can get started. You should look away while I do this,” Chas advised, needle in hand.
Juliet turned to look at Seth, while Chas inserted the needle.
“All finished,” Chas announced as he finished taping her arm.
He was right, she didn’t feel a thing.
Then he stood up and took off his gloves. “Now, you’ll need to move your arm a little from time to time, so gently squeeze the stress ball and roll it around with your fingers.”
“Okay.”
“Good job, Juliet. You didn’t even lose your color,” Fiona praised as she stood beside Seth.
Juliet looked at her arm and saw the tube fill with blood and empty into the bag that was now rocking back and forth.
Chas sat in a chair on the other side of the room and picked up a magazine, but as soon as he was no longer busy, Fiona was eyeing him. She gave Juliet a wink and took the seat next to him.
Once she was gone, Seth leaned forward and said quietly, “So, that’s why you’re here? Because Fiona asked you to come?”
“No. But having her come with me certainly helped give me the courage. Except, she thinks I’m making a mistake not letting you bite me the first time.”
“Maybe she’s not as wretched as I thought she was,” Seth said dryly.
“Now why would you have a problem with Fiona?” Juliet wanted to know.
“It’s nothing... much,” Seth shrugged.
Juliet guessed that it probably had something to do with Nixie, but decided not to say anything. It wasn’t her problem.
“So, this whole apartment building is built just to house your special needs?” Juliet asked, by way of changing the subject.
“Well, yeah. The basement has a pool. The first floor is the theater. The second and third floors are apartments and the fourth floor is Chas' private apartment.”
“So, there are apartments in this place?” Juliet asked, a little surprised.
“Well, this building isn’t exactly brand new, but the pool was added fifteen years ago. That was the most recent renovation. I’m sure you noticed that the theater isn’t in the best condition. It was last done in the late seventies, before I was born, but Chas didn’t exactly have the same needs back then. He had a different set-up.”
“What was it like back then?”
“Well, his donors used to live here in their own private apartments and he’d put on a performance for an hour or so every night for all of them.”
“There sure are a lot of seats,” Juliet commented, thinking the place housed at least fifty people. “How many suites are there?”
“Only about twenty, but they didn’t like to sit beside each other, so he had to build the theater so they wouldn’t have to rub elbows. I understand that he had quite a bit of trouble with rivalry between his girls before Melanie got pregnant with Nixie. It was all over after that. He tossed out everyone and the rooms have pretty much been empty since then.”
“How did he survive after they all left? Didn’t he still need blood?” Juliet wondered.
“Well, he knew his little setup couldn’t last forever and he learned to satiate his thirst by drinking grenadine and eating pomegranates. It wasn’t the end of the world and eventually he got the system he has now. And he got Nixie.”
Juliet nodded slowly.
“Keep moving your fingers,” Seth instructed.
“I’m wiggling them!” she retorted. “Hey, I was wondering. Can you take me down to the pool sometime? I’d really like to go for a swim there if it isn’t against the rules.” She wanted to feel how the water would feel to her skin since it was intended for sirens. She wondered if she was one, too.
“What are you talking about? You’re a donor now, which pretty much means we’ll let you walk all over us the day you give blood. Especially since this is your first time and your blood is for me. Giving me my first donation means a lot. You’ve given me a ‘get out of jail free card’ with my mother. Sure, you can take a dip in the pool if you want to.”
“If you’re so happy I’m doing this, why are you acting so sour?”
“I’m not acting sour!”
“You are.”
He rolled his eyes and huffed gloomily. “Sue me. I’m disappointed that you asked especially for Chas to sing to you this afternoon and not me. Would you mind telling me why you decided something like that?”
“Well,” she said, wetting her bottom lip. “I thought it would be better for my relationship with Rylan to do it that way, because you implied that even listening to a siren singing would be considered cheating. I just decided to treat the whole thing like a massage. See, if Rylan went to his old girlfriend for a massage, I’d feel like he was cheating, but if he went to someone he didn’t know to get one, I wouldn’t mind.”
Seth stared at her with his mouth slightly open. “Okay, weird girl,” he said finally. “I guess if you want to look at it that way.”
“But, I’m not really here to listen to anything. I really want to watch you drink my blood. That’s what I’m here for.”
“Well, we could unhook it from the bag and I could drink directly from the tube like it’s a straw.”
“Don’t joke,” Chas interjected, coming up behind Seth and having a look at Juliet. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Juliet said, purposefully flexing her fingers around the stress ball.
“Good. Don’t let what he said worry you. We’ll keep our end of the contract and drain your blood professionally. It looks like you’re about half done, so just hang in there.”
“You know, I think you’d make a really good doctor,” Juliet said suddenly to Chas. His manner was so gentle and soothing, he could make anyone feel confident in him.
Chas' lips almost turned white when Juliet said that. “No. I wouldn’t, and neither would Seth. It would be too much of a temptation to resist.” Then he turned and walked back to Fiona.
Juliet gawked after him open-mouthed.
“He doesn’t mean what you think he means,” Seth said as soon as Chas' back was turned. “Neither of us would be tempted to bite anyone. We’re the same as you. Even if you were starving, you would still have the willpower to resist food even if it was right in front of you, right?”
“I think so.”
“He means that he would be tempted to sing to ease someone’s pain with song. The only problem is that we’re so loud, everyone in the hospital would hear and nothing would get done.” Seth exhaled heavily and then he said, “I wanted to ask you something about Rylan.”
“You can ask, but I might not answer you.”
“Right,” Seth said without worry. “I just wondered if he’d asked you to marry him or anything like that.”
“I’m eighteen! Who would want to marry an eighteen-year-old?”
“I would,” Seth sighed, “if the eighteen-year-old was you.”
“What about the woman who is supposed to show up somewhere in your future?” Juliet asked breathlessly.
“Hmm... I have given a lot of thought to what I’m going to do about her. I’ll deal with her when she shows up, but don’t let her bother you. I won’t be unfaithful.”
“And what about your blood drinking, cheating ways? You need at least eight regular donors to survive, don’t you?”
“With you, I’m hope I won’t need any,” he said quietly.
Then it hit her. Juliet put a hand to her mouth. She was shivering. It was clear that Seth thought she was immortal like Fiona.