Lavender

"would you like some tea or juice?" Luca asks as I follow him through his mansion. He leads me to a kitchen that is probably as big as my dad's whole house.

He gestures to a seat at an island in the kitchen and I sit down nervously. "Do you have coffee?" I ask. I've grown dependent on the dang stuff since I started attending college, and a cup of it may calm me down.

"I do." Luca says as he leans his hands on the island and looks at me, "But I'm not going to give you any."

I stare at him. ~Is this another one of his weird jokes? I can never tell when he's joking.~ "Why not?"

He takes a step closer to me, and my foot starts shaking nervously in the bar chair I'm sitting on. "I could hear your heart beating from upstairs." He says.

"What?" I put my hand over my chest, and feel the pitter-patter of my heart, but it doesn't seem that loud.

"Well," he elaborates, "I can hear your blood pumping." he steps away from me again and I release a breath, "and it's pumping too quickly." he goes on, as he walks over to a tea kettle and flips it on. "You'll need to calm down a bit before I can drink from you, and I don't think coffee will help with that."

I swallow and it feels like my tongue is sandpaper.

~How can he talk about it so casually?~

"Oh." I try to sound calm.

"See," he looks over his shoulder at me, "it started beating faster just now."

My hand flies up to the pulse on my neck as if I can silence the sound of the pumping blood and I see a small smile grace Luca's lips. Vampires have stronger senses than human beings when it comes to blood. They can see it, smell it, and hear it from miles away.

~He's bluffing, Tia.~ I try to remind myself, ~It's all just a bluff. As soon as he's about to drink from you, he'll admit that it was all a ploy to keep you on the team.~

The water kettle makes a whistling sound when the water is hot and Luca pours a cup of some kind of looseleaf tea. Then he saunters back across the room and sets the steaming cup in front of me. The smell of it wafts into my nose and it makes my heart slow down a little.

"It's lavender." He explains, "It should help to calm you down."

I pick up the mug but don't bring it to my lips, instead I just let the smell fill my nostrils. I love lavender, but I'm not telling him that.

"Do you do this often?" I ask, and the bravery to ask the question sends my knee bouncing up and down again with nerves.

"Do what?" Luca asks, and I see his eyes flicker to my bouncing knee.

"Well, it seems like you're very experienced in drinking from nervous mortals, if you know giving us lavender tea will calm us down." I say and watch him as he slowly walks behind my back then takes a seat in the bar chair beside mine. He pulls the chair an inch closer to mine before sitting in it. His legs are long enough that his feet still touch the floor when he sits, while mine are hanging nearly a foot away from the floor.

"I don't do this often." He says and reaches a hand out to place on my bouncing knee. Immediately, the knee stops moving but the rest of me feels like its bouncing with nerves now. "I gave you lavender tea, because I know you like it." He removes his hand as soon as my knee stops bouncing, but I feel even more on-edge now that he's touched me.

"h- How do you know I like lavender?" I challenge, but I probably don't sound brave at all.

He smiles and I can't tell if it's because he finds me cute or pathetic. Maybe a little of both. "You always smell like lavender, so I just assumed." he says.

"Oh." I look away from him, and down at the lavender tea again. I probably do always smell like it, I put lavender essential oils on my wrists whenever I feel anxious, which is often, and the shampoo I use is lavender scented too. "I guess I didn't realize you've been sniffing me." I say, trying to make a joke. hopefully, it will calm me down a bit if we can both laugh.

"You have a very distinct smell." Luca admits, but doesn't laugh at my joke. "But I've never been able to get a good smell of it, because it's always masked by the lavender."

I bink.

~Does that mean he's actually been sniffing me?~

My stomach does a weird flip.

~No he's bluffing, remember! BLUFFING.~

"Oh, haha," I laugh awkwardly, "I didn't realize I put so much on. I use it cause it helps me calm down."

Luca's eyes watch me carefully as I speak. I see them flicker to my eyes, my shoulders, my hair, my twiddling fingers, and then to my lips. When his eyes rest on my lips, I feel a nervous punch in my stomach and pinch them together. "You are nervous often." he remarks.

I laugh uncomfortably again, "I mean, I'm the only mortal in a school full of vampires." I say, "Of course I'm nervous often."

Luca leans closer to me when I say this, and his icy blue eyes lock with mine. "Has anyone ever drank from you before?"

I try to swallow but I can't, "n- no" I shake my head.

I small smile pulls on his lips and I see the sharp edge of his canine teeth. "Do you know anything about feeding?"

"I do." I answer, although I don't know much. I was tempted to ask Anna about it in more detail last night, but I was afraid she might ask why I was curious all of a sudden. And it's not like I could ask my dad or just go google it.

Luca bites his bottom lip and both of his sharp teeth become extremely visible. I stare at them, and nearly jump when I feel his hand lightly touch my fingers that are resting on the bar. I quickly pull my hand away and put it in my lap.

"Tell me what you know about it." he says.

A blush runs over my whole face at this request. I don't know much, but what I do know, is that it's basically sexual... but the reason that it's sexual is the reason I know Luca is bluffing. Because I know someone like HIM would never want to do something like THAT, with me. "I- I-" I start to stutter.

He chuckles at my response, "It seems like you know enough."

I gulp again, and watch his eyes as they flick over my mouth and the bit of my visible neck again.

~He's bluffing!~ I try to remind myself again. But it's getting harder and harder to believe.

Luca stands slowly, "How about we move to my room." He suggests.