☾ 25: Taste ☾

"Hey! You made it. Where's Katherine?" Toby asked bringing me out of my thoughts.

He was covered in paint from head to toe.

"Yeah, she's somewhere around here."

He nodded simply. "This is some party, huh?"

"Yeah, it's... something."

"I'm surprised you haven't been ambushed yet."

"Excuse me?" I asked very confused.

He let out a small laugh. "You don't have any paint on you."

I looked at my clothes "Oh right. Yeah, I guess not."

"I'll be back in a second."

"Where are you-." Before I could finish my sentence he disappeared into the crowd.

A minute later and he was back.

"You ready?" He smirked.

"For what?" I asked growing nervous.

"Now!" He yelled.

Before my brain could even process it, multiple people began pouring or squirting paint all over me. It was cold, to say the least. It covered most parts of my clothes, face, and arms.

"Thanks for that," I said still processing my current situation as I cleared the paint from my eyes.

"No problem! Now that my job is done here you have fun!"

I looked around for Katherine and saw her on the dance floor. She was dancing without a care in the world. She looked kinda drunk and believe it or not but the way the lights reflected off her she looked amazing even with the paint that covered her.

She caught my eye making me quickly turn away. Great now she's going to start poking fun at me because I was staring at her.

"Can I get a shot please?" I asked the guy at the minibar.

If I was going to be at a party might as well live a little.

"I'll need to see your ID."

Well, now is as good of a time as any to see if I can make compulsion work.

I looked him in the eye focusing intently on what I was about to say. "I'm pretty sure I'm the correct age."

He blinked a few times.

"One shot coming up."

I smiled to myself. I'm like a Jedi minus the whole waving my hand and the lightsabers.

"Here you go." He said as he set it in front of me.

As I was about to grab it another hand took it first.

"Hey!" I yelled.

I looked over and as I thought it was Katherine. She had blood dripping down her mouth. The scent was amazing.

"This isn't what you are craving, but you can have it back if you want it..." She said as she pushed the glass toward me.

"Or..." She then wiped her mouth with her finger and held it out in front of me.

I felt my eyes canines come out. The alcohol was looking less appealing by the second.

"Hey, you come here," Katherine called some girl over and grabbed her hand.

"She's compelled to forget tonight, along with everyone else here." Katherine bit into the girl's arm causing blood to flow out.

Suddenly all I could hear was the girl's pulse racing. Katherine looked up at me with a smirk and shrugged.

"You're choice though, remember?"

I had already made up my mind before Katherine even came over. It just took one more look at the girl's arm for me to sink my teeth into her soft skin.

It was more amazing than I could have ever imagined. I didn't want to stop. I wanted more. I wanted it all.

"Alright, that's enough. Don't drain her. There are plenty of people here." Katherine said.

I wanted to stop but I didn't. I couldn't.

Katherine put her hand on my shoulder, squeezing it. That simple motion brought me back to my sound mind. Having regained control of myself, I lifted my head and Katherine sent the girl away.

"I told you I would help you. I did half expect to need to tackle you off though." She winked "So how was it?"

"Let's go," I said with a smile as I dragged her further into the party.

I was beaming with a sudden adrenaline rush.

A few minutes passed, and Katherine and I were dancing on the dance floor. We drank from half the people at the party and I was ecstatic. I had never felt so free before it was the best feeling ever.

We danced with fresh blood on our mouths from our latest drink. I couldn't help but still feel a bit thirsty. I stared at Katherine's mouth and the music seemed to fade away. It seemed so tempting, practically beckoning me closer.

Getting caught up in the moment I leaned in. I licked the blood trail from Katherine's chin to her bottom lip savoring the taste.

She seemed very surprised. Suddenly, I pushed Katherine to a wall pinning her in place. My heart was pounding at this point and I wanted nothing more than to kiss her at this moment. As that thought came to mind I froze becoming aware of the temptation and implications.

Katherine raised a brow and smirked. "What's going on with you?"

"I-I don't know," I said, slowly letting my hands drop.

As soon as I did Katherine then pinned me to the wall instead. Instead of the muffled music now all I heard was my rapid heartbeat.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked in a soft whisper, willing my eyes anywhere but her lips.

"Consider this your late birthday party." She said with a bite of her lip.

My eyes betrayed me and ended up following the action. I noticed we were getting closer and closer. As her breath hit my face I held my breath in anticipation...

Then, I felt a buzz in my pocket.

Being brought back to reality, I took out the phone that I rarely used. Looking at the screen I had two messages from Laine. One was sent at eight in the morning and the other right now at ten forty-five.

"So, what? Now she's worried about you? You didn't hear from her all day yesterday." Katherine said with slight annoyance.

"I should at least let her know what's going on," I replied.

"Yeah. After she ditched you for that other girl... I've seen situations like this before. You're wasting your time if you answer."

I looked at my phone once again, contemplating.

"At least wait until tomorrow. Today is your day to have fun."

"Okay." I nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go back. I could use another drink."

—————————————————————

"This is a thousand times better than getting drunk," I said after I finished drinking from yet another person.

Katherine lifted her head from a random guy's neck at my comment. Her fangs were still showing but her eyes went back to their normal, beautiful, hazel-brown selves.

"Right? You're telling me." She paused for a moment. "I actually got you something."

"R-Really? You didn't have to you."

"Yeah... but I wanted to." She said with a shy smile.

I had honestly never seen such an expression from her, it was cute.

Katherine then went right back to her human drink leaving me puzzled.

"Um... So, what is it?" I asked.

She lifted her head and smirked. There's the Katherine I've grown to know.

"You'll have to wait until we get back to the motel. Do you want to go now?"

I smiled, nodding my head and trying not to seem too eager.

"Then, let's go. I'll race you there." She winked and ran off at lightning speed.

I trailed behind not even a second later. Being a non-human is the best thing ever.