Why I'm giving up—V

Luke glanced at the vampiric solstice calendar on his phone while ambling down the stairs in relaxed short strides. He yawned loudly and cursed under his breath. The accursed solstice that makes them super bloodthirsty was the next day.

He used his tongue to touch around the tip of his canines. It had been a while since he had drained the liquid life force from a breathing organism.

"Where am I supposed to—"

He caught a glimpse of Kika at the far end of the exquisite dining table. His lips upturned swiftly as he made his way to the table.

Kika flinched when he pulled the seat beside her and relaxed into it. Rhea was out in a minute to serve him breakfast.

"Rory!"

A young Titan materialized and bowed in reverence to the suspended prince and princess consort.

"I'll be heading into town today so prepare my Jeep and..."

He returned his gaze to Kika and she swallowed whilst trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible. Why did he sit beside her today? He's never done that.

"...Get me the blood sugar metre."

Kika's eyes grew wide in their sockets as Rory vanished and appeared with what he was ordered to bring. Without so much as an 'excuse me', Luke yanked her hand away from her plate and pricked it with the small, sharp needle.

After several unsuccessful attempts of drawing out blood, he hissed and grabbed the index finger of her other hand. Kika flinched when he stubbed the lancet into the skin harder than he needed to. Eventually, a drop of blood came out and stained the test strip. He put the test strip into the metre and a lopsided smile kicked up at the ends of his lips after fifteen seconds.

"Seems like you've been taking good care of yourself. That's good."

He handed Rory the device and he dematerialized until the next time he's summoned. Kika ate quietly. She loved yoghurt with fresh blueberries in it while eating pizza toast. It was a must breakfast for her. But today they tasted like tears and skimmed milk.

What made her feel worse was Luke's constant gaze hovering from her face downwards. Kika lowered her eyes, timid beneath the licentious vampire's scrutiny.

"You still seem shaken up about last night. Did I hurt you?"

Kika finally looked up at her grizzled husband. He greeted her eyes with a wink and a mischievous grin. Like that of a Cheshire cat.

Kika's mouth ran dry. How dare he ask her that to her face? But to be frank, she was bleeding quite a bit even till this morning. She didn't plan on telling him that though.

"No reply, huh? Are you still mad?... Hahaha, why? It's not like it's the first time... And it was just a warning anyway, you know very well that I can't resist anything in blonde hair and blue eyes..."

His eyes kept darting between the protruding vein on the side of her neck and the blue contacts covering her soft brown eyes.

"...The next time you decide to act up I'll do worse so learn your damn lesson, okay?... The only reason I haven't ended your pitiful life yet is because you have my father's backing."

Kika winced involuntarily as he muttered the last statement. He stood up. He eats quickly and so does Kika but today she couldn't even chew properly.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

Luke crowed gleefully while covering the remaining distance between their faces. He chucked Kika's chin and stroked her cheek. Kika stiffened, and Luke thought she was still angry.

Kika wished Luke would leave her alone, but he kept stroking her cheek. She wanted to get as far away as she could from this awful man with his short black beard, dark eyes and mean grin.

He laughed.

"You're going to be my little blood bag for the next two weeks so keep taking care of yourself, okay?"

He pushed his cup of yoghurt he hadn't touched to her. They didn't eat together often but he had been just close enough to know she loved dairy products or alcohol. He didn't know which she craved more.

"Drink up!"

Luke's smile was half-mast, his eyes gleaming. He flashed to the front door barely muttering a 'that sh*t gives blood, right?' to Rhea who had prepared breakfast whilst on his way out. He was out of sight before he could even get a response.

The shaking eventually became evident and the tears she was holding back came tumbling down all at once.

"Mummy?"

Bloom crawled out from behind the curtains that covered the sliding glass doors to the outdoor playground. Kika quickly reset the sight function on her internal circuit board and the tears dried up in an instant. Even her red-rimmed eyes brightened a bit.

She took in a deep breath before turning to face her daughter. Her heart sank when she saw the tears streaming down Bloom's face. Sometimes her cleverness made Kika scared. As she grew older, it got harder to lie to her and she'll believe without any qualms.

"H-How long have you been hiding there sweetie?... What did you hear?"

The constant sniffing and no reply only meant she heard everything. Although she won't understand much, she would be able to tell that daddy had been maltreating mummy.

Kika consoled her and out her to sleep after a stuffing lunch. She walked into her room and strolled straight into the bathroom. She was never going to wear blue contacts or temporarily bleach her hair blonde again.