James and Brynne arrived at Sabatani’s and were personally escorted to the same corner booth by the owner, Kristof Algar. He was jovial as he led James and Brynne to the booth, talking of the day and listing the specials on the night’s menu.
“… Of course, we can prepare anything you’d like us to make but I’d like to bring you a small plate of our excellent fresh fried calamari. It is our specialty but only when we can get the squid in fresh from the boat. A shipment came in tonight, and it promises to be spectacular,” Kristof said.
“That would be fine, Kristof,” Brynne said. “Thank you.”
She smiled at James as she sat down and the Djinn left to place the order. “He seems very excited tonight. Did you go and plan something special?”
“Perhaps,” James said. “I hope you like surprises.”
“It depends,” She said. “What did you have in mind? Is there anything I should do to prepare for this evening?”
“If you were prepared, it would hardly be a surprise,” James said laughing. “I told you on the phone a night of dinner and clubbing, and that is what we will have. I want this evening to be perfect.”
“Sounds like you’re putting a little pressure on yourself, James. Perhaps you should fill me in and take some of the pressure off. I promise to be suitably impressed.”
“I assure you, it’s just dinner and clubbing,” James said. “Any surprises will be limited by that description, I promise.” He looked away to a waitress as she approached the table.
“I’m Kathryn. I’ll be your server this evening. Can I get either of you anything from the bar or a soft drink?” Her slight hint of a Scottish accent showed. She looked to Brynne first.
“I’ll have a glass of Shiraz. Do you have Cat Amongst the Pigeons?” Brynne asked.
“I believe we do. One glass of Shiraz, and you, sir?” She turned to James.
He decided to take a chance on ordering something for himself of the Unusual side of things. It was a test of Brynne’s acceptance of him. This waitress was a Seelie, a Scottish fairy type. “What blood type do you have on tap?”
Without missing a beat, she answered, “O negative, B positive, and we just got in a rare AB negative.”
“I’ll take that then. The AB negative,” James said. He watched her walk away to fetch their drinks, waiting for the question he could feel bubbling on the edges of Brynne’s mind.
“Uh, by ‘on tap’ do they mean …?” Brynne asked in a whisper.
“Yes, it’s freshly drawn blood. It’s nothing sinister I assure you. There are a few volunteers on the staff who are willing to donate a small amount of blood for the patrons,” James explained. “They change periodically so no one gives more than is healthy, and they are paid quite a gratuity when they are selected. I don’t know who they are, but the AB negative donor here is exceptional. They must be a health nut. The blood is very clean of toxins and low in cholesterol.”
He watched Brynne’s face for signs of distaste, shock or disapproval, but she seemed merely curious. “You have a question?” He asked. “Please, I want you to ask me. How else are we to get to know each other?”
“I don’t know,” She stammered a bit before continuing. “Uh, you talked as if you were an expert wine taster. Can you truly detect differences in the blood of different people, their cholesterol, and other things?”
“Oh certainly,” James answered. “Everyone is very different. It’s one of the pleasures of being a vampire. The blood types, the nationality, the age of the person, even their diet in recent weeks, all these things lend to the flavor of their blood. If you’d like, I’m sure we could get a tasting sample in some shot glasses out here, and I could coach you to detect some of the differences.”
“I don’t think so,” She said with a laugh, holding up her hands in protest. “I was just curious, that’s all. I’m surprised that so many humans seem to know of your existence when I had never heard anything about you and the other Unusuals before I was transferred into the Station U program at work.”
“Even in a population of millions, there are always a small percentage who are aware or who become aware of us either through a chance encounter, or perhaps because of a relationship with an Unusual. In some cases, the lore is passed down in families like a religion. That is mostly in the old country where families have been serving Unusual communities for centuries in secret.”
“But it all seems so open,” Brynne said, amazed. “I mean, I’ve eaten here before I knew of Unusuals, and I never had any inkling.”
“People see what they want to see within their own belief system and knowledge,” James said. “While you knew of mythical creatures before, you thought of them as just that, myths. When you came here before and looked around at other patrons, what would you have seen? What do people who look at us see?”
“I guess people at a restaurant, eating dinner,” She answered. She looked up at him across the table, “On a date.”
“Exactly,” he said. “They will see me drinking from a cup and talking with my date. As long as I do nothing to draw attention to my powers and abilities, I’m just another hot guy on a date.”
“Hot guy, huh,” she said with a laugh.
“You disagree?” He asked, smiling as he tried to get a glimpse at the edges of her mind of her true response.
“We’ll see, James,” she said, returning his smile. “I’ll let you know at the end of the evening. ‘Hot guy’ has a much more complicated definition for a woman than a man.”
“Fair enough,” He said. “But you get my point, right?”
She nodded. Kathryn returned to their table with a wine glass filled with her choice of the Shiraz and a plain white ceramic mug she set down in front of James.
“Are you ready to place your order? I know from Kristof that you want the calamari. It will be right out for you.”
“I think I’ll have the cannelloni di mare, the pasta stuffed with shrimp, scallops and crab meat?”
“Excellent choice,” Kathryn said. “House vinaigrette on your salad ok?” Brynne nodded.
“And you, sir?” She asked James.
He took a sip of his mug of fresh blood, closing his eyes as he tasted the rich fluid. “I think I’ll have another serving of this when you bring her entree,” James said.
“Ok, that's cannelloni di mare for the lady, and another cup of the AB negative brought with the meal,” Kathryn repeated. “I’ll put that order in, and I’ll be right back with some fresh rolls and your calamari.” She left the table at a brisk walk, leaving the pair alone again.
“How does it stay fresh,” Brynne asked.
“What?” James asked for clarification.
“The blood,” she asked, nodding to the cup. “How does it stay fresh to drink? Usually, blood starts to clot as soon as it's out of the body and stops moving. How does it stay fresh?”
“They add a few drops of anticoagulant, similar to what’s in the bottom of some of your blood draw tubes that you use on the ambulance,” James said. He looked at his mug as he held it up. “The blood stays liquid, and the mug is heated in hot water before they fill it. That helps keep it warm. The additive adds a bit of an aftertaste but not too bad. It’s not the same as drinking it fresh but it’s surprisingly good.”
“Fresh?” Brynne asked him, leaning forward, towards him and whispering. “Fresh from a person?”
James sensed a tinge of horror at the surface of her mind. “I’m not a monster, Brynne.” At least not anymore, he thought. “I only drink from a willing, well-paid donor. And I never take more than is safe in one sitting.”
“From women, or men?”
“Only women,” He clarified. “I think you know that I prefer women, but there is nothing romantic about it. It is merely a meal.” Most of the time, he added to himself.
She was silent for a while, taking a sip of her wine and staring into the depths of the liquid as she swirled it around. He waited patiently for her to process her thoughts. It was important for her to come to gr
ips with this or their possibility of a relationship would never work. He was a blood drinker. He could drink blood, or he could die. There was no alternative. After a few minutes of silence, during which Kathryn came and left with the fried calamari, Brynne looked over at him again.
“I’m not sure how I feel about that, James,” She said. “I know you have to drink blood to survive, but I hadn’t really matched that to you still feeding directly from other people, women. It seems so intimate despite what you say.”
“I won’t lie to you, Brynne,” He said. “It can be quite intimate between willing participants but in the case of most individuals, it is just a source of food.”
“I suppose that it is good that you don’t make a big deal of that part of what you do, even to those of us who know about you,” Brynne said. “People could get very upset about it. I mean, if they don’t understand it.”
“Brynne, you have no idea,” James said. “You remember how I said that there are families out there who pass down the knowledge of us to their children like a religion.” He waited for her to nod in the affirmative. “Some of those are families who have dedicated themselves to eradicating the Unusuals living among humans. They have been responsible for enormous purges over the years and some of the most infamous events in history. The Salem Witch Trials, the Spanish Inquisition, the Armenian Genocide, all of those were historical covers for attacks on our communities in those areas.”
“But,” she said, pausing. “Those things don’t happen anymore. Not now.”
“Humans have a huge capacity for two things, Brynne. They can love almost endlessly. But, they can also harbor deep hatred that defies all rational explanation. It is both your greatest strength and your deepest weakness.” James waited for that to sink in for a moment. “There are still communities here in America, mostly underground fringe elements, who work to rid their free, God-given society, of the satanic monsters among them.”
“What, groups like the KKK?” Brynne asked
“Exactly like the KKK,” James said. “They were formed to get rid of the powerful African shamans and spirits who led the ex-slaves to freedom in their new lives. They were sold into slavery right alongside the African humans, and they worked within that community to get their human and Unusual brethren freed. The white Ku Klux Klan groups hunted the leaders of these communities because they were usually Unusuals.”
“But that was a long time ago,” She said. “It happens still today?”
“You watch the news, Brynne,” James said. “Of course it does. The FBI and other human agencies work to control it and break up hate groups when they can. We have people in those agencies working right alongside them to stop it. They know that we are integrated and valuable members of their communities, but hate crimes against us can and do still happen.”
“I had no idea,” Brynne said. “I’m sorry that we’re like that.”
“It’s not your fault,” James said. “For every person who knows about us and hates us there are a hundred who don’t and who like having us living among humans. It’s much better now than it used to be, even a few hundred years ago, we were much more secretive and far fewer humans knew of us outside of myth and legend. We had to hide and live apart completely lest we were discovered and eradicated from a community.”
He looked at her deep brown eyes. “Let’s change the subject to a more pleasant one,” He said. “Tell me something I don’t know about you. Why did you agree to go out this evening with me if you knew so little about me and the rest of us?”
She smiled and took another sip of her wine, popping a piece of the fried calamari into her mouth and chewing slowly. He could tell she was mulling over her answer in light of his recent revelations about Unusual-Human history.
“I suppose I was flattered, first of all,” She answered. “You’ve always treated me with respect. You've never shown me any sign that you’re dangerous in any way, so I suppose when you asked me out for tonight I was just happy you wanted to take me out. I’m pretty ordinary after all.”
“Oh, Brynne,” James interrupted her. “You are anything but ordinary. In fact, you are unlike any woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking on a date like this. You’re strong, independent, and possess a self-assurance and confidence that few men or women have. I’m not sure you’re my type at all based on my past experiences, except that you intrigue me in a way that no woman has before.”
“Well,” Brynne said. “I’m not sure what to say to that. If you’re trying to flatter me, you succeeded.” She looked around the restaurant. “Am I blushing?”
“Not much,” James said, smiling at her. “I’m serious, though. What drew you to go out with me this evening? You knew it wasn’t a professional outing as our other travels have been.”
“Well,” She said after a few more moments. “I haven’t been out on a date in a while. You’re easy on the eyes, rich, and well respected. A girl could do worse for a night out on the town.”
“Yes, I suppose so.” He took a sip of his drink, savoring the life-giving fluid as he swallowed. “What about your co-workers? Did you tell them you were going out with a vampire?”
“I told Tammy, my partner on the ambulance. And I told my supervisor, Mike,” Brynne said. “Mike didn’t say much, just to be careful. He’s the one who gave me this pendant, though, so I wasn’t surprised. He almost seemed a little disappointed in me. Tammy was a little excited. I think she would love to have a forbidden boyfriend of her own, if she weren’t already married. She said she’d just have to live vicariously through me.”
“I hope you have something positive to share with her,” James chuckled. He looked past her shoulder and saw Kathryn coming with a plate in one hand and a fresh mug in the other. “I think our dinner is here.”
Brynne looked over her shoulder and sat up straight to make room for the waitress to put the plate down in front of her. Kathryn leaned across the table, setting down a fresh mug of the AB negative blood and taking the nearly empty and now cool mug from in front of him. Brynne started eating her pasta and sauce, and he took the opportunity to look around the room at the other patrons. All were deeply involved in their meals and conversations except for one tall gentleman with short blonde hair. He was sitting at the bar along the far wall but had turned on his stool to face the restaurant seating area. He met James’ eyes, and when James reached out with his mind, he pulled back after sensing a sudden burst of anger and hatred. There was also something else that James noticed before he had pulled back from his probe - an image of Brynne’s face in the man’s mind. James held the man’s gaze until he looked away. The man quickly pulled a few bills from his pocket, leaving them on the bar. He got up and, without looking their way again, left the restaurant. James watched him go, wondering who he was, but then Brynne distracted him back to their table and date.
“This is delicious,” She said. “I wish you could taste it.”
“I can,” James replied. “I can eat small amounts of regular food without any upset to my stomach.”
“Well, in that case, try some of this.” She slid her plate over to him, and he took his fork and stabbed a piece of pasta, swirling it a bit to pick up some sauce and placing it in his mouth. He had not tried human food in some time, and he had to admit, the pasta was cooked perfectly. It was al dente, and the sauce was superb. He’d have to say something to Kristof about it.
“Good, right?” She asked, taking another bite herself. “I could finish this whole plate in one sitting, but I’d never be able to go out dancing if I did. Can I get a box for the rest?”
“I’m sure you can,” James said. “Are you ready to go? No dessert?”
“Not right now,” She said. “Maybe we can get something for dessert later.”
James raised his hand and got Kathryn’s attention. She came right over, raising an eyebrow in question as she approached. “My companion would like a box for the rest of her food, and we’d like the check when you get a chance.”
“
No problem,” the waitress said. She took the plate from in front of Brynne. “I’ll be right back.”
James and Brynne waited patiently for her to return, finishing their drinks. Brynne excused herself to go to the ladies’ room, and James took the opportunity to tap a reminder into his phone. He'd get Celeste to have Kristof pull the video surveillance from the restaurant so he could pull up the picture of the blonde gentleman at the bar. Maybe one of his colleagues would recognize him.
Kathryn returned and transferred the remainder of Brynne’s plate to a Styrofoam container. She handed James the check and a pen. He looked it over and jotted down a note with the tip amount and handed the receipt slip and pen back to the waitress. She nodded a thanks and left.
Brynne had returned and watched the exchange. “You didn’t give her a credit card or anything.”
“I have an account with Kristof for me and my employees. He’ll send Celeste a bill at the end of the month and she’ll settle everything,” He said. “It’s much easier that way.”
He slid around the table and out of the booth. “Shall we go?” He asked. “I think I promised you some dancing.”
“Yes you did,” Brynne said with a smile taking his proffered hand as they left the restaurant. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Well, then, my dear, let’s be off.”
CHAPTER TWELVE