6 Double standard

"Haha. That tickles!"

"Stop wiggling! I'm trying to focus here!"

…

"Ow! That hurts!"

"Mmph! Sorry, did I do it too hard?"

…

"I think I'm bleeding!"

"You're not! Stop being such a drama queen!"

…

After we got some of the "distractions" out of the way, Chloe and I began practicing in earnest. However, "practicing" involved me kneeling down and she bending down to bite on my shoulder. All the while we were both naked, so it was... pretty hard to concentrate. We messed around for the better part of two hours.

The last 4 days have been crazy. We were both busy with our own thing (me with practicing, and Chloe had to do some super-secret thing that she refused to disclose), and didn't have any time for each other. It felt good to let the pent-up frustrations out of our system.

After deciding we had made decent progress, we took a bath together. Chloe's bedroom had a moderate-sized bathroom of its own, and by moderate I mean it was half as large as my apartment. After cleaning the fake blood off ourselves, we relaxed on her bed.

"I can't believe you've known for 3 years." She said, slightly pinching my arm. "I keep agonizing over how to tell you."

"I know. There was so many time you almost did, and then didn't."

"Then why didn't you tell me that you knew?" She threw me an adorably sulky glare. Unable to resist, I held her tight and kissed her on the lips.

"Oh. I don't know. Maybe because that would sound weird? 'Hey hon, I know you're a vampire, surprise!'," I said, wincing as she pinched me harder this time. "But seriously, I don't know if that's supposed to be a secret, and I didn't want you to run away because you've been found out. Also, you look super cute when you struggled to make new excuses to avoid revealing your condition."

"Hmph!" Chloe harrumphed and turned away with a pouty face. I hugged her from behind and nibbled her ear, prompting a giggle.

"I bet you're really curious about a lot of things, huh?" She finally said.

"Oh, you have no idea! There are a ton of things I want to ask you!" I replied, thinking of all the questions swimming in my mind for the last three years.

"I can guess the question you want to ask the most, you know."

"Really? What is it then?"

"You want to know how old I am, don't you?"

"Well, not really," I said unconvincingly. "Age doesn't matter."

"Haha, I can tell when you're being insincere. That question is almost burning its way out of your skull."

"Is it rude to ask that?"

"Hmph! Of course, it's rude to ask a lady how old she is!" Chloe said teasingly. I did my best impression of a puppy begging for food. After a few moments, she relented with a giggle.

"Alright, but you said my age doesn't matter, right?"

"That I did."

"I'm 118 years old."

…

…

"One eight-teen," she said again, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

…

"… You're messing with me, right?" I asked after I was done being shocked.

"Haha, you should've seen the look on your face!" She said, laughing hysterically. "I'm kidding, I'm 25. We age slower than human, but not by much."

"Oh" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Then, I thought about it for a moment and commented: "Come to think of it, though, it doesn't bother me that much if you're really 118 years old."

"Ha! You're just saying that now because you know my real age," Chloe scoffed.

"No, really. I mean, a 100-year-old woman that looks 18 is still pretty hot. I'd still date her."

"Hmm. What about a 100-year-old man courting a 27-year-old woman. Is that still hot?"

"Ugh. Nope. That's disgusting." I shuddered.

"Hey! That's double standard!"

"I know. But still… yuck!"

"So what else do you want to know?"

For the next half hour, Chloe gave me a cliff note version of the vampire 'race,' a term she used with distaste, like Mr. Drake. From what she said, vampires tend to live from 100 to 200 years, although some can live up to 300 years. Patriarch Petyr is something of an anomaly, as he would turn 313 years old soon. The family reunion is actually held to celebrate his birthday.

She was about to discuss the main factions within the vampire society of America when a knock sounded on the door. A servant let us know that it was time for lunch.