Page 21 of Ego's Guide To Love Bites & Vampires
I couldn’t help it. I cackled. “Pity you? Are you serious right now? Ego, you’re a motherfucking vampire! That’s so badass!”
Lysandro grinned happily at me, but Ego pulled the blanket over his face, completely blocking our view of his face. Since he obviously needed a minute, I focused back on Lysandro.
“I think I’m mad at you. Why did you let me keep bringing you dinner?”
His grin morphed into the same fond smile I was used to from him. “I’m sorry, dear boy. It really hadn’t occurred to me until recently that you didn’t know. I assumed that the High Priestess had told you that vampires still enjoy the taste of food. Like our other senses are enhanced, so are our taste buds. The creature comforts I enjoyed, or detested as a man, have only been amplified.”
Wanting to believe him so that I didn’t feel like such an idiot, I asked, “But where does it go? The food, I mean?”
“It burns up inside of us. Our bodies are like mini-furnaces now. Any food or drink that isn’t essential just poofs into ash once we swallow it.”
“Wow. That’s so cool.”
“Is that why you were mad Delaney was mixing the blood from the bags with sangria?” Ego asked from his hiding spot.
“Yes. Not that those were providing you all the sustenance you needed anyway, but having parts of it incinerating inside of you as you swallowed wasn’t ideal since it meant you probably lost bits of the blood, as well.”
“That’s so cool,” I said again. I couldn’t help it. I had a real-life vampire sitting in front of me, letting me in on the mechanics of his kind.
I opened my mouth with my next question, but Ego sat up, letting the blanket pool around him, beating me to it. Apparently, we had the same concern. “But where does the ash go? I haven’t had to pee or”—he side-eyed me—“or, you know, since I…”
I bit back a laugh. We were discussing his consumption of blood a second ago, and he was worried about saying poop in front of me.
“Since you were turned? No, you wouldn’t. I generally belch it out—privately—or forcing a deep cough will do it. All that pesky ash flies right out of the mouth.” He grinned.
Ego swallowed audibly. “That sounds…weird.” He cleared his throat, shook his head a little like he was annoyed with himself, and finally focused on me. “Um. How did you know I was here? Does Sky know?”
“I knew you were here because I recognized that pillar.” I pointed at the one behind him, separating this room from the next. “Dead Air,” I added.
His eyes widened. “How did…”
“How I knew isn’t really the question. What I’ve been asking myself since I realized is how did I not know sooner?”
Lysandro leaned forward, curiosity playing across his face. “What is dead air? Recognize what sooner?”
“Whois Dead Air,” I corrected, then pointed at Ego. “Apparently, Mr. Popstar here can’t stay away fromYouTube, but didn’t want to appear as Ego anymore.”
He scoffed. “It’s not a matter of not wanting to. I can’t. Look at me.”
So I did. Taking my time, I appraised him from head to toe. The messy hair, the pale skin, the pained expression in his green orbs, the red t-shirt with a rip in the collar, his long, elegant fingers—that I’d watch stroke lovingly on his guitar more times than I’d ever admit—the faded teal and purple shorts that didn’t match his shirt at all, down to his bare feet—where unsurprisingly, his toes were as long and elegant as his fingers.
I took it all in and bit back a scream. Of course, he’d only be hotter to me like this than he’d been all glammed up.
“Well?” Ego said.
“Well, what?” I asked. “You look like yourself to me. Actually, as much as it pains me to admit, you look better than before. I hate all that stage make-up you normally have on.”
Ego gaped, and Lysandro snickered.
“That’s all irrelevant, though. Why haven’t you told Skylar you’re home? Why are you online as Dead Air, hiding in the dark? What’s the deal, Ego?”
One minute he was sitting, and the next, he was up, looming over me, the tendons straining in his throat—which was oddly…hot—roaring, “Because I’m a vampire!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a scowling Lysandro stand, likely to push the fledgling vampire back from me, but I wasn’t scared of the popstar. I held my arm out, keeping Lysandro back, and I glared at Ego.
“Yes, that’s been established. And Sky’s a tether and a natural earth witch, and Chance is green witch and a psychic medium, and King is a Dreamwalker, and?—”
“King’s the new Lorewarden, too,” Lysandro cut in.
