Blooming

"I need to eat."

Iris slowly got up from bed. She folded her blanket neatly and put it on top of her pillow after she pluffs it. She grabbed her hairbrush from the dresses and combed her hair.

As she walked toward Calixto, she unzipped her hoodie and took it off, and threw it on her bed. Standing right in front of Calixto in her armchair, she removed her slippers and turned her back to Calixto, and then slowly lowered herself on his lap.

She had been doing it for a while now and she was somehow getting used to it. Her body had already memorized the feeling of Calixto's fangs tearing her skin and how he would suck her blood and swirl his tongue after he fed, not wasting any droplets of blood that he might have missed.

What she could not get used to was this sitting on his lap. She could not shake off the awkward feeling of being cradled by him. He would gently part her hair to the sides, he preferred her right shoulder. He would snake his right hand on her waist as he used his left to tilt her head back, resting on his shoulder.

The position was too intimate. She never had a boyfriend and the way Calixto held her in his arms was the closest to being held by a man and it created havoc in her brain and her heart.

Every time she had to feed him, her heart would race in her chest as though it was being chased by thousand hounds. Her skin would get balmy and she would hold her breath until the process was over.

It felt like an eternity, Iris thought as she closed her eyes and let her body go limp inside his arms. She no longer fights Calixto's feeding. Unlike at the beginning when her body would freeze in fear.

The way Calixto sunk his fangs under her skin never hurt. Except for the steady throbbing that she got from the way he sucked her blood and her blood rushing in her veins, she felt nothing of pain.

But now there are some other reactions in her body that she cannot explain. One of them was the tingling in the lower part of her body. The way her knees quiver and lose their strength every time Calixto's warm breath fanned her skin.

She heaved a deep breath and kept her eyes tightly shut. She listened to the beating of her heart as Calixto continued to feed. Thousands of thoughts crossed her mind, questions about her family and those family members of Calixto that she had met and how they were connected to her and why her blood was the only kind that Calixto could consume.

She still has her eyes closed so she didn't notice that Calixto had finished feeding and gave her an odd look as he watched her face.

Calixto took the last gulp of Iris's sweet intoxicating blood, licking the drops that were on her skin when he glanced at Iris who had her eyes closed the whole time he was feeding, he saw a hint of a smile at the corner of her lips and he felt his heart thud in his chest. It was a surprise for he never had his heart skip a beat. He was undead. What is the business of his heart beating? He creased his eyebrows and in his confusion, stood up quickly, startling Iris.

"W-what?!" She almost tripped on her slippers that were lying on the floor when Calixto pushed her off his life without warning.

"Sorry," he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "I have to go somewhere. Don't leave the basement for whatever reason. It's not safe outside," he said as he climbed the basement stairs.

Iris was left with her mouth hanging open. She could not understand what had happened. In all those times that Calixto fed on her. He never acted rudely or like the way he acted a while ago. He had always been careful with her—gentle even after every feed. It was his choice also to control himself from drinking her blood.

He had told her before that he had to take her blood every day but when he saw that it had taken a toll on her body—she could not do the usual things that she does, he had chosen to take her blood every other day and then gave her a drop of his blood to 'heal' her.

Nowadays, he no longer gives her his blood because he only takes her blood only thrice a week. Her body was able to adjust to his feeding schedule, not to mention that he had asked Elmer's wife to serve her a healthy and balanced diet.

However, the attitude that he showed her today was something that she didn't expect from him. Calixto had always been cold and indifferent to all the residents of his mansion but he was never like that.

She could not put her finger on it but the way he acted was as though he was scared. She never saw him scared. He was in control of his emotions even during the time that they faced his scary father.

And what really worried her was that he acted that way after he drank her blood. She was wondering if he smelled Talon's presence on her. She was so tired from last night that she didn't wash up before she went to bed.

She just changed her clothes but even, she could smell the faint scent of alcohol emitting from her body. She grimaced in disgust and hurried to the bathroom to take a shower.

When she entered the bathroom, she was shocked by her reflection. Her face was flushed and she seemed to be glowing.

What the hell, she thought to herself as she walked slowly to the sink. She cocked her head from side to side and carefully examined her face. She could not see any visible changes in her face except that her cheeks were pinkish and looked so dewy.