And that’s how he knew.
He knew he had found the one.
The virus in his body had recognized Katheryn’s DNA the moment he’d touched her. It had marked her as his, as the one he was to be matched with for the rest of his life.
Soul Mate.
The realization of it struck his heart, had him gasping for breath and staring at her, inhaling every detail. Hair that was red and orange and golden and as steady as a flame. Eyes that were dark blue, the color of midnight and twinkled brightly like stars. A face dotted with hundreds of orange and brown freckles across a small, round and prominent nose.
Realizing he was staring with his mouth agape and that she still waited for his answer, he cleared his throat. But what would he say? ”Yeah, I am”? Judging by the expression on her face, she would run for the hills. But could he lie? Could he stare his Soul Mate in the eyes and lie to her about his origin? He didn’t like dishonesty. His mother had drilled honesty into him as an important virtue since childhood, and he wouldn’t turn from that path now.
He found himself in a dilemma, so he decided to change the subject. As if laughing off what she’d said, he leaned forward on his forearms. “So, where all have you traveled?”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Ignacio spread his hands against the surface of the table and tapped his fingers. He observed her, really observed her. Her whole body was wound tight and ready to spring at the first sign of trouble. He didn’t want to lie to her but he knew if he was honest, she would run screaming.
“Katheryn.” He leaned forward, his face pulled in concern. “Is everything okay? You seem… off.” He knew it was low of him to avoid answering and to use his charm to distract her. And vampires? They oozed charm in spades.
She let out a sigh that made a shudder crawl through her whole body then relaxed. “Sorry, it’s just been a long day. Anyway, to answer your question, I took a cruise around the Caribbean once, and last summer I went to Paris, but it was more like business, so I didn’t really get to see anything besides museums.”
Ignacio raised his eyebrows. “Art museums?” he asked.
She nodded.
“So what type of art do you like?” he asked. She’d said she was an artist, but there were many types of art. There were painters and sculptors, but, beyond that, his knowledge was limited.
“Well, there are all sorts -- ceramics, sculptures, watercolors, acrylics, mixed media, et cetera. But my favorites tend toward oil paintings.”
She said it as if she were reciting a list from memory. There was no real passion in the depth of her voice. Her expression appeared to be blank as she spouted off nonsense about Van Gogh cutting off his ear to make a statement. Or had it been Picasso? He couldn’t tell. She talked so fast, he couldn’t grasp what she said. He felt as though her words were weighing her down.
He reached out and gripped her hand across the table.
The static between them made her stutter then go completely silent.
“What is it, exactly, that you do in these art museums?” he asked.
“I...uh...” She blinked down at their joined hands as if that made it hard for her to concentrate. “I sell art in museums and organize events...um...I promote...the...uh...” Her face flushed, practically mirroring the color of her hair.
The heat between them built until it felt as if their fingers were being scorched, branding each other.
Katheryn pulled her hand away, shaking her head as if to clear it.
“Why all of the questions?” she asked, scrunching her eyebrows.
Ignacio tucked his hand away, almost sorry she’d let go.
“You don’t seem to enjoy your work,” he replied. “You speak about it as if you’re reciting an essay, not with passion.”
Her flush was all he needed to know that he was right. “Why do you work at something you hate?”
“Because it pays well,” she practically snapped.
He frowned. “But is the money worth the unhappiness?”
She lowered her eyes, staring at her hands. He swore he saw tears glistening in her eyes. It hurt his heart to see and not understand what was wrong, knowing he couldn’t help her or say the right words to comfort her. He was about to reach out to stroke her fingers in reassurance, when she spoke in barely a whisper.
“My family was nearly homeless when I was growing up. We lived in a cheap, one-bedroom apartment in a bad neighborhood. When I was in high school, things got a little better. We weren’t completely poor, but we weren’t rich, either. I worked in order to help with the bills, because my parents would have died if we had to go back to the way things were before.”
She paused as if remembering those days, but Ignacio didn’t interrupt. He waited.
“Pretty soon, I went off to college. It was difficult. I still worked, helping my parents pay bills, as well as paying for my schooling. I was in debt up to my neck, but I tried not to let that get me down. I graduated top of my class, got a job in a laboratory as soon as I got out of school, and I loved it.
“The stress didn’t weigh me down as heavily anymore because I loved my job. It didn’t pay extremely well, but I was ready to work my way up to the top, to win more, to do something meaningful for science and win a Nobel Prize.” She chuckled and looked up at him, her blue gaze burning fire into his heart.
Good God, he thought.
“Ambitious, I know. But I didn’t care. I wanted to make my family proud; take care of them the way they took care of me. Help get them out of poverty and give them the life they deserved.”
He felt her ferocity swallow him whole. It made his nerves tingle, his heartbeat accelerate. Her passion, her loyalty and determination to care for her family spoke worlds about her. Katheryn had honor, and that was something he found fascinating, damn amazing, really. He felt himself even more attracted to her than before.
“I had been working in the lab for about a year and a half. By then, my mother had a job as a secretary for some architects. It was her first big job. She’d gotten it by calling in favors from friends. Granted, she wasn’t an executive secretary with the big bosses. All she did was answer phones, make appointments, and run out for coffee for her bosses. Basically, she did what she was told.”
There was a small pause. “Then one day, there was a Christmas party for employees at her company. She went and mingled with her bosses. Of course, she had to suck up to the big boss. He was with his son, the CEO and heir of many other companies their family owned.”
Her breath hitched as she mentioned them, but she said nothing else of it, making Ignacio wonder.
“I guess they saw something in her,” she continued, “because from that moment on, they started inviting us to their parties. Mother dragged me along, probably hoping to bid me off to a rich bachelor, but I wasn’t interested. Fortunately, neither were they. Not until her boss started taking an interest in me.
“He told my mother he’d groom me, teach me the ways of society and help her family up the social ladder. He said he wanted me to work for him. Mother was ecstatic. I wasn’t. I didn’t want to give up my dream job, my passion, what I’d worked my ass off trying to get, to work for an architect. It made my mother angry. She told me I was selfish. How could I do this to them? She said my birth was the reason they had gotten knocked down into poverty in the first place, and I couldn’t even do that one little thing for them, to help them.”
There were tears in her eyes again. Ignacio clenched his fists. What kind of a mother would do such a thing to her daughter? She had guilt-tripped Katheryn into giving up what she loved, so she could take care of her parents, so they could be “rich”. The mere thought of it was appalling. He knew his mother would never do such a thing to him. If anything, she had bent over backward to help him achieve his career. She would never take it away from him.
“Mother harangued me every day for weeks until I couldn’t take it anymore. I quit my job and, for the next few m
onths, was drilled on social etiquette, while being trained at my new job—working at one of their art museums—until I was good enough. Eventually, after a few years and a ridiculously high salary, I paid off our debts. My parents quit their jobs, joined the country club and live in a house I bought them, enjoying life to its fullest.”
She shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“It sounds like you were the parent,” he whispered as compassion for her filled him. How he longed to lean across the table and brush away her tears. But he suspected she wouldn’t welcome the gesture.
“I am sorry you’ve had to deal with waking up every morning, knowing you gave up what you love.” He sincerely meant it.
She opened her mouth to reply but didn’t get to do so because a waitress appeared at their side, her pen and notepad poised for writing.
“¿Puedo tomar su orden?”
When Katheryn stared at her, obviously not understanding, Ignacio translated.
“Oh, I forgot.” Katheryn picked up the menu in front of her and scanned it. She looked up at Ignacio. “To be honest, I don’t know anything about Spanish foods. What’s good here?”
He swallowed the rising lump in his throat and took the menu from her hands to scan it himself. Of course, he had no idea what any of the dishes were considering he didn’t eat food. But he couldn’t tell her that. Not yet, anyway. But what would he tell her? What if he picked something at random, and she hated it?
He read through the menu and recognized very few foods on the list. Some of the food his human mother ate and made and had even sold on the street on occasion for fun. He looked to the prices and gaped. Holy hell, human food was so expensive! At least it was in this fancy restaurant.
He was sure it would be less expensive if they bought the same foods from the street vendors. And he didn’t think that because they were friends with his mother or because he couldn’t spend the money on Katheryn—he was no slouch in that area. He just knew the money she would pay to the restaurant would go to a big corporation when it really should have gone somewhere else.
He put the menu down abruptly and smiled at Katheryn. “I would recommend we go somewhere else. Come with me.”
He stood and held out his hand for her to take. When she did so without reluctance, he smiled and pulled her to his side then walked toward the street vendors.
There were many stands lined up, the merchants hustling and bustling to get food out to the hungry customers, who gathered around their carts. There were shouts and laughter, people hurrying about their business, sitting in plastic chairs eating and talking to each other.
The ambience was obviously more relaxed and less snotty than in the restaurant. A variety of smells assaulted Ignacio’s nostrils, nearly overwhelming him. Sweat and garbage, but the most overpowering was the scent of human foods that wafted out in steamy swirls. The enormity of them churned his stomach into near nausea.
But one look at Katheryn told him that he had brought her to the right place. She inhaled the aromas and licked her lips. He could practically hear her stomach rumble over the noise.
“Anything in particular you wish to try?” he asked, gesturing at the stands.
She looked them over.
“I don’t know a lot about these foods.” She shrugged. “But I’m willing to try it all.”
That made him smile. A girl who wasn’t afraid to try new things. He liked that.
Ignacio placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her to the first stand. They had to wait in line for a mere moment before the man behind it asked in Spanish what they wanted. Ignacio eyed the selections before them. Steam rose above the slabs of meat that rested on the pans and on wooden cutting boards. The meat was browned to perfection. In bowls were chopped cilantro, onion, lime and salsa of all different colors and textures. Ignacio read the sign above the stand. “Tacos de Carnitas.”
He turned to Katheryn.
“Maybe I should order you just one taco to see if you like it. If not, we can go to another stand. Unless you wanted a whole order of six?”
She eyed the food thoughtfully. “Get me a whole order.”
His eyes widened, but he relayed the message to their server who nodded and, lightning fast, heated the tortillas, slapped them on a plate and filled each one with meat. He handed the order of five tacos to Katheryn. She took it then glanced at Ignacio.
“Aren’t you going to eat? I’d feel bad eating with you just watch.”
Crap, he hadn’t predicted this. How could he tell her he didn’t eat? That his digestive system wouldn’t break down the food, and it would cause hours of heaving and hacking until he threw it up and sweated it out of his system?
He turned reluctantly to their server and ordered only one taco.
“That’s it?” She eyed his taco once it was handed to him. “Well, thanks for making me feel fat.” She narrowed her eyes.
Ignacio’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought of how it would make her feel to choose only one. But he couldn’t tell her if he ate more, it would make him very sick. Surely, one wouldn’t hurt him but...
Katheryn burst out laughing. “You should see your face!” she joked. “It’s priceless.”
Ignacio’s lip quirked to the side. She was just joking!
“You don’t mind my eating less than you?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Eat what you want and I’ll eat what I want.”
She turned to the table. “So, what am I supposed to put on this?” she asked, looking at the selections before her.
Ignacio turned to the selections. He wasn’t exactly sure about it himself. A quick glance at the other customers had him pouring a good amount of onion, cilantro and red salsa over his food. Katheryn saw and did the same, then they moved off to the side to eat in peace.
Katheryn took a bite of her taco and moaned pleasurably, savoring the food in her mouth. He watched her in fascination.
“Hmm. Oh, yeah, this is good,” Katheryn said, her mouth still full. He smiled then she gestured at his plate. “Aren’t you going to eat yours?”
“I’d rather watch you eat. The noises you make sound as if you’re making love to your taco.”
Katheryn sent him a glare that had him throwing back his head with laughter.
“Okay, Mister Sarcasm, you take a bite so that I can make fun of you, too.” She gestured animatedly at his taco. “Go on, then.”
Ignacio swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He had never eaten human food, but he knew if he did, it would make him sick. Surely one taste wouldn’t hurt? He could eat one bite of human food for the night, and if she tried to get him to eat more than that, he could claim he was diabetic or had some other silly human impediment.
He brought the taco to his lips and took a bite. There was no explosion of wonderful flavor on his tongue, not like what happened when he drank blood. He usually felt fireworks of flavors swirl through his mouth; a kaleidoscope of delicious sensations. Now, as he chewed this human food, well, he might as well have been eating dirt. He forced himself to swallow.
Katheryn suddenly laughed, loud and pleasant as a ringing bell. “You look like you’re eating dog shit!”
I might as well be. Ignacio thought as the food descended into his stomach, giving him automatic nausea.
“Very funny.” He glared at her, but she laughed again, and it transformed her face entirely, making her all the more beautiful.
“I know I am,” she humph-ed goodheartedly and continued eating. Ignacio did the same; he forced each bite into his mouth and down his throat until the very last of it was finished.
By the end of it, he was sweating as if he had run miles. He swiped at his temples. “Do you want more?” he asked Katheryn as soon as she finished.
“I want to try something else. Come on!”
She grabbed ahold of his arm and pulled him to another stand. This one was smaller than the last and had only a large woven basket on a table, the inside filled with colorful sweet bread.
/> “That looks good,” Katheryn commented.
“It is,” Ignacio said, and the lie tasted nasty on his lips. His mother ate the sweet bread every morning, and she loved it, but it didn’t look appetizing to him. “Choose the one you want.”
Ignacio paid while Katheryn chose two breads from the pile. She turned to hand one to him.
“Oh, no thank you.” He took a step back, his hands up in surrender.
She frowned. “Well, why not?”
She held her hand out, practically thrusting it onto him. He opened his mouth to tell her that he had diabetes and couldn’t eat too much, but she was already bounding up and down, so vibrant and full of energy.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to a large pitcher filled with milky white liquid on the same table.
“Agua de horchata,” their server, a woman, said.
“I would like to try that as well.” Katheryn turned her blue-eyed gaze up to him. “Can I?”
His heart nearly melted.
“Whatever you wish,” he choked out.
Her gaze was so passionate, so intense and innocent, it was hard to say no, which was why he found himself paying the woman for two foam cups of the stuff and walking away with Katheryn to a park bench.
The bread was harder to eat than the taco. It was dry and scraped the roof of his mouth. He found himself trying to down it with the milky water and nearly gagged. His stomach expanded unpleasantly. It felt as if it would burst. The food seemed to be trying to claw its way back out, but he forced it down and attempted to ignore how it made him feel, but Katheryn made it too damn hard.
She’d finish eating one thing, then she’d pull him off to another stand for something different. By the time they were finished, he was nearly heaving. Noting his discomfort, Katheryn placed a hand against his sweaty forehead.
“Are you okay? You’re running a fever, and you look pale.” Her palm rested on his cheek but the fire of her touch brought little comfort.
He swayed on his feet and leaned on her for support. “I’m fine,” he said. He forced a smile but was sure it didn’t reach his eyes. She noticed.
Love Bites Page 4