Celia

For the past week, I had been thinking about two things mainly: my girlfriend Hannah, and the upcoming dinner with her and her vampire girlfriend slash so-called Mistress Naomi.

Even though it was shocking and frightening, I couldn’t say that the true nature of Hannah’s other relationship came as a complete surprise. Hannah had been oddly cagey about certain aspects of her relationship with Naomi, but we hadn’t been dating too long, so I didn’t want to pry, and I chalked it up to self-consciousness and anxiety. I understood it; polyamory wasn’t always easy, and I was sure she’d trust me with whatever she was withholding eventually.

But I still thought it was a little weird that Naomi owned a whole hotel, even though she was supposedly only 26 years old. I thought that maybe Hannah wasn’t showing me any pictures of her and Naomi together because she was lying about Naomi’s age for some reason. So when I found out that Naomi wasn’t really a 26-year-old trans business owner exactly, but rather just controlling the whole facility from behind the scenes as a cover for her drinking patrons’ blood and insulating herself from the prying eyes of the public, it made a certain kind of sense. It didn’t seem like she actually did a lot of administrative work… I got the impression that she probably spent most of her nights jerking off her own fangs or whatever it was that vampires did in their free time.

Oh, and Naomi did look 26, but Hannah told me later that she was actually 246 years old, with her 247th birthday coming up later this month. That helped remind Hannah that she needed to figure out celebration details with the rest of Naomi’s partners, or as Hannah liked to say, her thralls. I wasn’t so comfortable hearing my girlfriend refer to herself that way.

But tonight was the night of a different kind of gathering. Even though I didn’t have a great first impression of Naomi, I really wanted to make this work if at all possible. There was a part of me that thought this was a terrible idea that was doomed to lead to my enthrallment, but I thought it was worth it to give it a shot for Hannah’s sake.

I did insist that Hannah arrive at the restaurant along with me, rather than her going with Naomi. Going in alone felt like a bad idea, like I was going to be led into some kind of trap. On the other hand, Hannah had gotten herself trapped on purpose before I knew her. She was so happy to be trapped… I never knew if it was a good idea to consider that real happiness. She was taken care of in a material sense and that was good — she had nutritious food on the table, clean water to drink, and a warm bed to sleep in. I did worry that she would betray me without a second thought if Naomi told her to. Hannah had made it pretty clear to me that she would never disobey a command from her “Mistress”, no matter how dire. In spite of that, she was confident that Naomi would never make her do anything self-destructive. I hoped against hope that her impression was accurate.

Well, in any case, it had been a little over a week since Hannah had explained everything to me in her suite, so I guess I had sort of gotten used to the idea of going to this dinner. Hannah had gotten dressed up for the occasion, so I had too. She was wearing a blue dress that went down to her knees and showed off her curves in a really cute way, while I myself was wearing a black turtleneck sweater, a black-and-white plaid skirt, and fishnet stockings. I also was wearing a necklace that I was pretty sure, but not certain, was made of silver… between that and the turtleneck, I thought I ought to have been decently protected, although Hannah had assured me I had no reason to worry. There was a big difference between her telling me not to worry and actually reassuring me that Naomi wouldn’t try and bite me, though.

And now I was driving up to some fancy-ass restaurant at 9:30 PM on a Saturday night, with Hannah in the passenger’s seat beside me. It was surprising to me that this dinner was actually happening at a restaurant that was open to the public. Naomi clearly valued her privacy quite a lot. It was difficult to imagine her showing up to a place like this. When I had said this to Hannah, she said that Naomi told her that she was planning a surprise that she saved only for special occasions, which was a little worrying, but I went along with it anyway. I had been informed that money was no object, and the thought of going to a really fancy restaurant with one of my girlfriends had its appeal, especially if I didn’t have to pay for it.

But the parking lot for Ellen’s Steakhouse in Amesbury, Massachusetts, located on the far side of a suburban strip mall from a supermarket, was weirdly empty for a Saturday night. The lights were on inside the place, but as we pulled up closer into a prime parking spot right in front of the entrance, I noticed that there was actually a “closed” sign next to the door.

“This is definitely the right place, yeah?” I said.

“It’s not a chain,” Hannah said, opening the door and stepping out with purse in hand. “So I’m pretty sure it’s the place, yeah. Mistress said She’s taken Her girls here before… and it looks just like the street view photo.” I had relented on the whole “Mistress” thing with Hannah. Calling her partner that seemed really important to her, and I decided to respect that despite the sinister overtones. I thought it would be unenforceable when we saw Naomi in person, if nothing else. And even when she used Naomi’s name, she spoke with such reverence that it was like I could hear the capital letters she used for “Her” pronouns in text.

“I guess so,” I said. Seeing that closed sign filled me with more dread than it had before. There was clearly something happening inside there and whatever it was, it probably had something to do with the seductive vampire dating my girlfriend. I really did wish that Naomi could’ve just been a regular trans girl who would even be interested in whatever food the restaurant had to offer.

I got out of the car and walked around the engine to take Hannah’s hand, squeezing it tight. She squeezed my own hand back. I wanted this to be good, I wanted this to be good, deep breaths, Celia…

Hannah pushed the door ahead of me, and it did open, so I guessed the place wasn’t closed entirely. Though we could see that the lights were on from the darkness of night outside, they were actually turned pretty dim, just bright enough to see but not much brighter. This place had soft brown carpet on the floors and big tables with white tablecloths and brown napkins wrapping up the silverware. All very fancy, but there was no one in sight except for a single waitress who was walking up to the stand now. Everything was quiet except for her footsteps, which was pretty eerie.

“Good evening, ladies. Hannah and Celia, I presume?” the waitress asked. God, she knew our names. That was fucked up — but normal for a restaurant reservation, now that I thought about it. Still, nothing else about this felt normal.

“Y-yeah, that’s us,” I muttered. Hannah looked at me and gave me a small smile.

“Welcome to Ellen’s Steakhouse,” the waitress said as though everything was completely normal. “I’ll take you back to your table.”

I followed her, holding tight onto Hannah’s hand.

“What, so did Naomi rent the whole place out or something?” I whispered. “This is so fucking ominous.”

“I assume so! She does a lot to make events like this the best they can be. It makes me feel so cared for,” Hannah whispered back. I guess I understood that. If I was right, then this was the kind of romantic gesture you only saw in movies. Those movies just usually didn’t involve queer couples or the presence of one of the girl’s poly girlfriends. Comparisons always got messy when girls like us were involved.

We were taken to a side room to the left of the entrance, full of big booths, and sitting in the back of a circular booth in the corner was a woman I had only seen briefly, and never in photos.

It was Naomi, obviously. She stood well over six feet tall and had deathly pale skin and long wavy red hair with bangs that framed her face. Her eyes were blood-red, and even from this distance had a certain shine to them that I immediately realized made them dangerous to look at for any length of time, so I tried to pull myself away and largely succeeded. She was dressed up too, in a silky gray blouse, caramel-colored A-line midi skirt with a matching jacket, and brown flats. All of her clothing looked custom made… and it definitely fit her very well. She was pretty, pretty, pretty, sitting at a candlelit table… and she was standing up now, walking towards us to greet us with a fanged smile on her beautiful face.

The feeling of seeing her again immediately reminded me of the feeling I had had seeing Valerie in the hallway last week, able to put me under her spell so effortlessly. Naomi had been a vampire for much longer. She had probably had a ridiculously huge number of sexual and romantic partners, and really knew how to make a girl fall for her, even without her supernatural allure. And the way her hair swished, the way her hips swayed, my god… even just that was completely intoxicating. OK, that was definitely supernatural. Fuck, I felt dizzy…

Uh… she was standing right in front of me and reaching for my hand. I took it and fuck, that was ice cold, enough to snap me back to reality at least for a moment! She hadn’t even said anything! I really needed to get my shit together if I wanted to last through the night. The goal was to not let her enthrall me, I reminded myself.

“Good evening, dear,” Naomi said, wrapping her cold, pale hand around mine, not shaking my hand but rather feeling it so, so, gently. It was so soft, probably well-manicured and certainly eternally youthful, and her fingernails were painted blood-red. I couldn’t say that that wasn’t fitting. The way she was touching me was kind of uncannily intimate, a bit beyond my comfort level, especially given what I was worried she was going to do, and the strength that I knew was concealed by her light touch.

“Hi…” I said, blushing and pretty bewildered. “I know we met that one time, but I’m Celia Amethyst Moon.”

“That’s a beautiful name,” Naomi said, leaning down to give my hand a soft kiss. This was so unreal… I felt paralyzed, but I couldn’t bring myself to dislike it on any level. Hannah surely wasn’t lying when she emphasized Naomi’s gentleness… this was a pretty dated gesture, but she still managed to make it feel sweet. I’m sure her supernatural allure was helping, but so was the fact that she had lived through decades where it had been fashionable.

“Thanks… I picked it out myself,” I said, feeling lightheaded.

“I’m Naomi Rennt,” she continued, looking up at me with her crimson eyes. I was careful to look away before they caught my focus, which she thankfully didn’t seem to be too bothered by.

Hannah grabbed Naomi into a hug and held her tight while Naomi pulled herself back away from my hand, then hugged her back and kissed her on the forehead. Seeing Hannah show affection for her helped me ground myself back in reality. She hugged Naomi in more or less the way she liked to hug me, and that was sweet to see. It made Naomi look more like Hannah’s partner, with whom she shared mutual love and care, rather than simply being her domineering Mistress. I really wanted to believe that they were girlfriends, or at least that Hannah was safe living with her.

“So, what exactly is going on here? Is it just us here tonight?” I asked, looking around. The waitress who had brought us in here was putting menus on the table that Naomi had been sitting at, and was now walking back into the restaurant’s back room, out of sight.

“Oh, well… I rented the place out for us,” Naomi said as casually as could be, still hugging Hannah tight. “Ellen Damascus, the girl who opened this restaurant, has blood that’s as delicious as I presume her steak to be. And Annie, that waitress? She’s too hypnotized to notice the difference between me and any ordinary rich lady who might rent out a restaurant for a dinner date. Going to a busy restaurant under ordinary circumstances might risk the kind of exposure that I prefer to avoid.”

Hearing all that made me feel dizzy for different reasons altogether. She made it all sound so ordinary.

“So you have the kind of money to just rent out restaurants whenever?” I asked. As I said it, I barely realized that I had missed the point by a mile.

“Well, renting may have been an inexact term. I have assets here and there, but money does far less for me than favors,” Naomi explained. She took Hannah’s hand and walked back toward the table, peering back at me as she continued to speak. “The food will be free tonight not because I’m going to hand Annie my credit card, but because Ellen is a very good girl and will allow the two of you to eat for free because I will it.”

God, she was terrifying. What was I supposed to do in this situation, just sit down and wait to have my order taken? Well, that’s what I was doing. This didn’t feel ethical by any standard that I knew of, but Naomi clearly lived her life very differently from anyone I had ever known. The whole point of tonight was to try and understand this woman and her relationship with my girlfriend better, so I didn’t want to make any really definitive statements just yet. But I was keeping my eye on her. In fact, it was difficult to look away.

“Can I sit with Hannah between the two of us?” I asked as we reached the booth. “I’d feel a lot safer that way.”

“Of course,” Naomi said, looking a bit disappointed. “Please.”

Hannah slid into the booth first and I slid in to her right, while Naomi slid in to her left. She took off her jacket and laid it on the corner of the booth behind her. The way her blouse was partially unbuttoned showed off a lot of cleavage, huh, wow she was pretty… a part of me wanted to kneel down and worship her tits. But I was at a restaurant in sort-of public right then, plus it wouldn’t be practical to kneel from this position in the booth, so I figured I should hold off on those feelings for the time being.

“This is so romantic, Mistress,” Hannah said, holding my arm tight and looking at Naomi with awe. “Thank You so much for making this all possible.”

“Of course, darling,” Naomi said, sliding up close to Hannah and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Hannah looked so happy…

“Well, Celia… I’ve heard that you have a certain reluctance to become my thrall, is that right?” Naomi continued, fixing her gaze on me again. I looked down toward the table away from her eyes, quickly realizing that that looked like an act of submission. That was scary, but it felt good…

“Y-yeah, I don’t want that,” I said meekly. Oh boy, I was really knocking it out of the park already.

“I can’t say I’m not a little disappointed that a cutie like you wouldn’t want to serve a pretty girl like me, but we can get into that a little later,” she said, each word a beautiful piece of music all its own. She definitely wasn’t beating the allegations that every trans woman had an incredibly pretty voice.

“For now,” she continued, “I was hoping we could simply learn a little bit about one another.” She sat back, taking Hannah’s hand in her own, and I let out a relieved sigh.

“I… I’d like that too,” I said.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Naomi said. “So where are you from, Celia? Have you lived in the area for long?”

“Well, I lived in Lawrence as a kid, but my folks moved to Dallas, Texas when I was in high school for a work thing. I only got back here for college, and now for my own adult life,” I explained. “I’m very glad to be out of there.” I laughed a bit nervously. My parents and I did not get along well since I had come out in my freshman year. There was more than one good reason to get as far away as possible from that place for a girl like me.

“What about you, Naomi? What was your childhood like, in, what, the 1700s?” I asked. Jesus fucking Christ, that was bizarre to imagine. It must have been a horrible time to be alive on so many different levels.

She rolled her eyes. “Everyone always wants to know about my human life, how I was turned… it only has limited relevance to the woman I am now, you know.” She seemed exasperated and I felt a little bad for asking. Hannah and I had trouble talking about certain aspects of our own childhoods, too. We hadn’t been the same women back then, either, and it often gave those conversations a pretty unpleasant undertone.

“Uh, sorry,” I said, cowering a bit. It was hard not to in front of someone like her. “I guess I was really asking where you grew up and stuff. Was it around here?”

“My apologies, dear,” Naomi said, a bit more composed as she looked at me from across the table. “As a human, I called Derryfield, New Hampshire my home. You’d recognize it as Manchester, but it was renamed years after I had already joined the ranks of the undead. And if you must know, I was studying as a carpenter’s apprentice in my young adulthood. Trying to make a living for my sister and I. Not a very glamorous profession, nor a feminine one, especially in those times…”

There was a bitterness in her expression as Naomi stared off toward the restaurant’s entrance vacantly. It was very strange watching her. She didn’t breathe when she wasn’t speaking, giving her an uncanny stillness, and she was so pale, and she had no visible blood vessels beneath her skin. The more I looked at her, the less human she seemed, but it didn’t detract from her attractiveness even a tiny bit.

“It doesn’t have to be unfeminine, Mistress,” Hannah said, gripping onto her girlfriend’s arm and seeming to make her snap back to reality. “I think that whatever You do is feminine because You’re doing it and You’re a woman. Not that I have any trouble understanding the feeling…”

Naomi squeezed Hannah back and chuckled to herself sadly. I knew the look on her face all too well, the one that signaled that she wanted so desperately to believe in her own femininity more than she was able to muster deep down in herself. I had felt the same way more times than I could count. It felt kind of refreshing to see that a woman who had transitioned something like two centuries ago still had to deal with imposter syndrome once in a while.

“So you’ve lived in New England for your whole life?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I should be trying to validate her or what… actually, she was very much an independent person. If Naomi needed support from someone like me, someone she wasn’t close with, she could ask for it outright. I didn’t need to give into that inclination despite how much I felt pulled toward it.

“Well, most of that time hasn’t been life, dear, not exactly, but yes, I’ve spent my undeath in the general vicinity for the last two centuries, with only short breaks. Home always calls out to me, I suppose,” Naomi said wistfully. “Most of my early undeath was spent in Boston… I do enjoy cities quite a lot, but it became overwhelming as it was built up more and more. Seeing buildings become taller and taller, reaching up to the sky… I suppose it engendered a sense that I could always be being watched, so I retreated outward as the decades passed more and more. Still, it was truly incredible to set foot on the observation deck of the Empire State Building when it opened in the 30s… I remember it as though it were yesterday.”

“I’d love to go back sometime with You, Mistress,” Hannah said excitedly, taking my hand as well. “Maybe even with both of you? Have you been, Cece?”

I was happy to be acknowledged. The way that Hannah worshiped Naomi, as she was eager to describe it, was making me feel a little bit like a third wheel. Hannah never made me feel like that when it was just her and I alone, so this was a bit jarring… she seemed to realize it now, though, and her smile brought me some reassurance.

“No… you know, I’ve lived in Mass since I was a kid, but I’ve never actually been to New York. Could be fun to go with you sometime!” I said. During the day, I secretly hoped, just so it could be the two of us. It was a little selfish, but then again… I looked back at Naomi and saw one of her fangs and allowed myself to think about what it would be like to have it in my neck for a moment… and I lost my train of thought.

“Would you like anything to drink? You can find our wine list on the back of the menu,” said the waitress — Annie, Naomi had mentioned. I realized that I had gotten distracted thinking about Naomi’s fangs for a second while she had been nuzzling up to Hannah, not realizing that the waitress was walking up to the table. And I hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.

“Nothing for me,” Naomi said, putting a pale hand up, then returning to running her fingers through Hannah’s long brown hair.

“Just a cranberry juice for me,” Hannah said. She was pretty uncomfortable around alcohol due to experiences with her family members, and never ordered any herself. I wouldn’t either, for her sake.

“I’ll have one of those too,” I said.

“Great. I’ll be back for those shortly.” The waitress smiled at all of us, not giving Naomi a second look, and retreated toward the kitchen.

“You’re not gonna get a wine glass full of blood or something, Naomi?” I asked, wanting to keep the mood light.

She looked at me with a coy, devilish smile that sent a shiver down my spine.

“Blood is much better fresh and warm right out of the vein,” she said, letting out a little feminine giggle. “And yours is B negative. Not one of the more common types. I’m sure it’ll go wonderfully with Hannah’s O positive.”

She was practically drooling as she said that, and between that and the way Hannah was looking at me now with absolute excitement, terror had started aching in my gut. Is that all Naomi saw me as, my blood type that I didn’t even personally know? And Hannah would just go along with that? What the hell had I gotten myself into? Besides coming here to begin with, asking that question about blood in a wine glass had probably been a mistake. I should’ve gotten back to the Empire State Building or whatever rather than raising the topic of blood to a vampire who I knew wanted to drink it.

“S-so you can detect blood types, or something?” I said, desperately trying to distract from her actually trying to get her fangs in me.

“Of course I can, dear,” she said, licking her right fang in a subtle but upsettingly seductive display. “My sense of smell is very, very sensitive to details such as that. And your blood, Celia, smells delicious. Mmm, rebellious, spicy. I think it’d taste bitter at first but give way to a very sweet aftertaste. But I’d love to know for certain with your help.”

God. What the hell had I been expecting, coming here? I felt like I had already been seduced without having been in her presence for the most part. Going to dinner together with Hannah and Naomi had been my idea originally, but that was when I had assumed that Naomi was a regular human being and that she wouldn’t be renting out an entire restaurant in an elaborate, romantic, and slightly predatory gesture. Every move she made felt like a power play, and I wasn’t immune to that… but I had to try to be. I knew tonight would be tough, but I had to stick up for my own needs as best I could. I wasn’t sure if Hannah would.

“Uh, heh heh, can we not, though?” was the best I could manage, sliding myself back against the smooth seat of the booth. I kept hold of Hannah’s hand, very tight in fact, but tried to distance myself from Naomi within that limitation.

“Why not, dear?” Naomi replied, maintaining a small smile and a horribly soft tone of voice. “There’s little to worry about, you know. My fangs will feel lovely in your neck, and I’ll keep you safe in my arms with not a single thing to worry about except my beautiful eyes. You’ll enjoy my fangs as much as I’ll enjoy your blood.”

As she spoke, I felt my breaths start to synchronize with the singsong of her beautiful words, and I began to relax, her voice washing all of my worries away. But… but I just wasn’t sure this would really be good at all… I clutched the faux leather of the booth beneath me with my free hand, trying to ground myself in its texture and the texture and warmth of Hannah’s soft hand, her fingernails, her little twitches and idiosyncrasies, anything to distract me…
“Hannah’s had bloodstains on her sheets both times I’ve stayed there, is the thing,” I spoke, straining to maintain any composure. “It’s been jarring to me, and kind of upsetting. I don’t want blood on my clothes, or body, or on my bedsheets.” It was a small thing, but it felt worth holding on to, at least in the moment. Losing my blood was probably a bad thing! I thought it was something that I should try to avoid!

“Well, it’s difficult to avoid a tiny bit of spillage, I admit, but I always make sure my thralls are cleaned up. That particular stain was left by Valerie anyway, if I recall what you’re speaking of. She’s not as experienced with managing this…” Naomi said.

“I… I don’t want to be your thrall,” I said, shaking as I kept gripping Hannah. Now she was looking at me with a lot of worry. “You being overly forward and flirty can’t change that fact.”

A cool and confident smile remained on the vampire’s face as she started, “you’d be surprised at what I can—”

“Mistress!” Hannah interjected. I was surprised to see her interrupt Naomi, not to mention relieved. I didn’t want to know how Naomi meant to finish that sentence. And now she was looking at Hannah expectantly, clearly not used to ever being interrupted.

“Mistress,” she repeated more calmly. “I’m sorry to interrupt You. I promised Celia I would advocate for them, even in a situation like this. Please listen to them… they’ve told me again and again that they don’t want to become Yours.”

Oh my gosh! She had actually come through for me and done what I asked her to do! The love and trust I felt spilling out from that gesture brought me back to my senses, and I slid closer to Hannah — closer to Naomi — without being afraid, knowing that my girlfriend had my back.

Now I just had to hope that Naomi would actually listen to reason. Or maybe I moreso had to hope that she would even care whether I wanted this or not.

She did look kind of… sobered, in any case. Appropriate, because Annie the waitress was arriving back at the table now with two glasses of cranberry juice. Naomi was weirdly still as the glasses were set down on the table, looking much more like a corpse than she did normally. I almost had to wonder if she had just suddenly died for some reason, but Hannah didn’t seem worried, so I must’ve been wrong.

“This is, admittedly, an unusual claim to be presented with, at least in this context,” Naomi said, coming back to life. Yeah—I was pretty sure it was life. Even though she might have superficially resembled a corpse, Naomi was obviously alive. I always thought that “undead” was a bit of a silly term, ever since I did a research project on paranormal studies when I was in high school and learned a few things about vampires. I guessed I shouldn’t take that away from her when she had clearly identified with it for so long, though…

“But you’re going to take it seriously?” I asked hopefully. “I just don’t want this whole dinner to be all about my blood. I want to get to know you, Naomi. I want to understand your likes and dislikes and relationships and stuff, like I would with any of my metamours.”

My other girlfriend, Jade, had three other partners besides me, and I had become pretty good friends with two of them. The third one I didn’t have as much in common with, but we had mutual respect for each other. I figured that that was probably where Naomi and I were gonna end up, at least if this didn’t go completely off the rails in the way Naomi wanted it to.

“I think I understand that,” Naomi said, still seeming like she was barely with us. I preferred that to her acting actively predatory. “I’ve felt as though for the last six months that something is eating me from the inside out. That every time I make a move, I’m forced to question it in a way I never have before. Hannah told you about the hunters who imprisoned me, didn’t she? There was a woman earlier, too, a friend of Valerie’s, who I felt compelled not to enthrall. She wasn’t unlike you, but you, Celia, you’re closer to me… you’re my Hannah’s girlfriend. I just don’t let girls like you go, I suppose… not typically, not ever.”

“Does that mean you can’t let me go? Stop thinking about my blood? Not even just for a moment, just so we can keep talking?” I said. I was basically in the bargaining stage of the five stages of grief for my free will or whatever, but I had to hold out hope. If she could let that vampire hunter go and Valerie’s friend too, then I had to believe she maybe could do the same for me. I wanted very badly to believe that Naomi was more than a predator, for my sake and Hannah’s.

“Well, you can’t smell it, dear, but I truly can’t stop thinking about your blood entirely,” Naomi said with a slight frown. “Why, I can’t even stop thinking about Annie’s blood, even as she’s back in the kitchen now… ah, she’s coming our way again. The smell suffuses the air, beyond my control. But I will… stop propositioning you for the moment, if I must. We can return to the subject later.”

That provided some comfort, although it was clear that her mind had hardly been changed entirely. I guess she lived an existence where she really didn’t need to worry about other people’s consent. Even though it was deeply unethical, there was an appeal to living that way that needed no explanation. It explained why she seemed so goddamn confident in herself all the time. She never had to worry about anyone calling her out on her bullshit. At least until recently, I guessed. As cruel as it was, maybe that was part of what those hunters had done to her.

“Have you all finished deciding?” Annie the waitress said, walking back up to the table. Well, Naomi knew what she was talking about at least. I had seen Hannah peeking at the menu, but I hadn’t gotten around to it myself, being so absorbed in the conversation with Naomi. I was finding it pretty difficult to think about anything but her. But not wanting to slow things down, I finally opened up my menu and skimmed through it, finding something I liked.

“Nothing for me, thank you,” Naomi said, leaning close and licking Hannah’s neck. Yeah, yeah, Hannah was her dinner, I got the picture. I definitely shuddered from the raw viscerality of it, but I wanted to roll my eyes. The waitress blinked, but didn’t react at all. I guessed she was only seeing what Naomi wanted her to see. There was something really hot about that.

“I’ll have the beef ragu,” Hannah said, handing Annie her menu along with Naomi’s and giggling with sapphic glee as Naomi pulled away. I was happy that she got to have that, I thought… if there was one thing I appreciated about Naomi so far, it was how she made Hannah smile.

“I’ll have the French dip,” I said, also handing Annie my menu. It sounded good, but I was concerned I’d be too stressed out in the moment to really enjoy it.

“Great, I’ll be right back with your orders,” Annie said, nodding sweetly and heading back to the kitchen with the menus in hand.

I sighed, staring at the white tablecloth in front of me. Was it going to be stained with my blood by the end of the night?

“I guess, Naomi,” I said, looking back up at her reluctantly. “I’m not the kind of girl who wants to have sex with someone I don’t know, first and foremost. That’s not even getting into enthrallment. So if you really want to taste my blood, can we please get to know each other a little more? Like, um, I hope this isn’t an upsetting question, but you transitioned a long time ago, right? In the 19th century? How did you manage that? Did you have any kind of meds? As far as I know, hormone therapy was only invented in the 1920s or so.” I gulped. I didn’t want to piss her off with all this, but I had been interested ever since I found out she was centuries old.

Naomi giggled, not bothered at all. That made me feel a little safer.

“I would love to get to know you better as well,” she said, leaning over the table closer to me. “It is, admittedly, a rare opportunity I get. So often, I’m put in a position where I must enthrall a girl immediately or risk exposure. This is nice.

“As for hormones? Well, I can’t say I understood what a hormone even was at that time, but I got my estrogen back then the very same way I do now — directly out of my thralls’ blood. I always knew there was a special something that made women’s blood more delicious. Over time, I realized that I could absorb that feminine essence into myself. It’s not as fast-acting as it is for humans, but very little is for my kind. My immortal form is slow to change.

“It took me a couple of decades, but I grew my own tits, my torso became a little slimmer, my thighs thicker. As I became more myself, I displeased my begetter. He regarded it as a mockery of Lilith, the ancestor of my kind, to make myself a woman, but I was so overjoyed to finally feel embodied, and I knew that no human could ever stop me from expressing my true self. Him ordering me to stop was the first real break between us, though there was always a deep, buried part of myself that hated belonging to him. Once he was gone, I was free to become the woman I had always been. And I personally think that Lilith would be proud.”

Hearing her story, there was suddenly a part of myself that wanted to let Naomi have some of my estrogen-rich blood. Trans girls like Hannah and I tended to have more than the average cis woman when we had been on hormones for long enough. Helping other trans girls transition was always a good prospect, although Naomi seemed to have that more than handled.

Uhhh… what the hell was I saying? I had just been listening to her and nodding along. Long-winded answers could do that, I figured, given how seductive her voice was. I needed to pull myself together.

Meanwhile, Naomi looked a bit wistful getting into the stuff about her begetter. Right, he had been a guy, and a transphobic asshole or whatever. That sounded like it would’ve been pretty miserable.

“Mistress made Herself such a beautiful woman,” Hannah said, holding onto Naomi for dear life, and I couldn’t disagree. I was happy that she got to have that for herself. It was way more than any human in the 19th century got to have.

I was frustrated that the conversation had once again come around to the subject of blood with her, though. It seemed like it always did. But I guessed that was just how her body worked.

Before I could think of anything to say, Naomi let out a long sigh, pressing her face into Hannah.

“I love you, Hannah,” she said, kissing my girlfriend’s shoulder. “Well, there I go again, bringing my begetter into this despite all that I said about not wanting to discuss my turning. I can resist many forms of harm, but not the harm of letting myself get locked into a cycle. May I ask you then, Celia, what is your own history with womanhood? I’m confident you have your own stories to tell.”

She was looking at me so expectantly that I couldn’t help but hesitate and make a fool of myself. I liked to think I had my shit together, but it was hard to keep it so when I was being stared at like that by her blood-red eyes that I couldn’t safely look back at.

“W-well, uh… well… mm, well, I knew I was trans since my junior year of high school, but I wasn’t in a safe place to transition till I started college,” I said, practically mumbling under my breath. I must’ve looked like a weird little baby queer next to this two and a half century-old embodiment of lesbian bloodlust. How could she take me seriously? It felt like I shouldn’t consider her a peer, but in spite of that I could see something of herself in me, like even though she was almost ten times my age we somehow all seemed to be in our 20s at this table. It made me queasy to think about.

“God, it was always so weird going back to my folks’ for the summer,” I continued, looking at Hannah, hoping to ground myself in reality. She had heard all of this before and looked back knowingly. “Having to pretend to be a guy while I was figuring out my own identity. I decided I was a they while I was back there for winter break in my sophomore year, but there was nobody to call me that until I got back with my college friends… with my partner Jade, who was the first person I told. We eventually started dating, and we’ve been together for five years now.” That sounded impressive to me, of course, but that was a fifth of my entire life. It must’ve seemed like nothing to Naomi.

“Jade’s really cool, Mistress,” Hannah said, her eyes practically sparkling. The three of us had hung out at Jade and my apartment a few times, and I could tell that Hannah had a crush. It was cute.

But I didn’t know if it was a good thing for Hannah to be telling Naomi about Jade… in fact, bringing her up myself might have been a mistake, but I couldn’t stop myself from spilling important information to an alluring vampire, I guessed. I really didn’t want her to end up caught in the crossfire in the same way that I now was.

It was gonna be tricky however this went, with Jade and I living together… I really needed to come clean with her about the whole vampire business at some point, but Hannah had sworn me to secrecy and I didn’t want to get on Naomi’s bad side. I hated being in this position and had done my best to ignore it, but that wasn’t responsible either. I’d probably have to tell Jade tonight, no matter the consequences, but now I was worried that Naomi would stop me from doing that, one way or another.

“I’ll have to become acquainted with her at some point,” Naomi said, and my heart sank. Why the hell did it have to be this way? What had I done?

I sat in silence for a few minutes, not knowing what to say, and Annie arrived with the food. It had been awfully quick for a fancy place like this, which made sense since we were the only people eating here tonight. As predicted, I didn’t have too much of an appetite for the roast beef sandwich that was now in front of me, though.

“Even if you’re interested in my blood,” I mumbled, barely able to bring myself to say anything, “leave Jade out of this. Please.”

Naomi looked confused, almost innocent, as she replied. “But you both clearly like her a lot. Perhaps I would as well. And, I should be clear, it’s better for my privacy that I not leave any stones unturned. As long as you’re dating her, Celia, dear, my nature can only be hidden for so long.”

“Could she, and I for that matter, just know about you without becoming your thralls? Why does it have to be either-or?” I asked. I touched my sandwich, but just didn’t feel up to putting it in my mouth. I couldn’t stomach putting Jade in danger.

“Hannah, you understand how cruel this is, don’t you?” I continued, looking at my girlfriend in disbelief before Naomi could respond. In the back of my mind, I knew I shouldn’t get my hopes up. I was just setting myself up for disappointment if I wanted Hannah to go against her so-called Mistress.

“I—I—” Hannah started, panicking like a deer in headlights. “I think—I think I care for you and Jade, Cece! And I want you to both be OK!”

Yep, a non-committal answer like that was about the best I was gonna get. This was so hopeless.

“I will not be cruel to either you or Jade under any circumstances, dear,” Naomi said, completely missing the point. I wondered if she even realized that. “I find enthrallment to be a necessity as an informational security measure. Even delaying your enthrallment for over a week was not my preference, but Valerie’s needs came first. I wish we could have resolved this earlier, actually, but I’ve been quite preoccupied…”

I still hadn’t been able to get Valerie out of my head since she attacked me. I had acted distant when she had texted me because I knew I shouldn’t get too attached to a woman who had violated my autonomy and attempted to drink my blood the moment she saw me, but I found it hard to bear any real resentment. I had done my research afterward, if reluctantly, and what Hannah said was true: fledgling vampires were well documented as being pretty much unable to control themselves. There was a logic to it: the fledgling’s begetter seemed to serve the role of keeping them in check.

But then… why hadn’t Naomi? I felt like I needed to put her on the back foot. It wasn’t my fucking fault, and certainly not Jade’s, that I had gotten into this situation.

“Yeah, Valerie?” I asked, feeling energized. “If her needs came first, why weren’t you there for her, Naomi? Why didn’t you stop her from attacking me? Was that always just one of your mind games? What were you doing downstairs?”

I took a bite of my sandwich impulsively, wanting to stay energized. Letting myself go hungry wouldn’t help anyone.

“Celia, She was—” Hannah started, but Naomi raised a hand over Hannah’s cheek.

“That’s my question to answer, dear,” the vampire said, frazzled by the question just like I had hoped. She turned her attention and her hauntingly beautiful crimson gaze back to me. “It was a complete abdication of responsibility on my part, Celia. I will not attempt to give you an excuse, because there is none. But it was no trick, just a combination of irresponsibility and unfortunate timing. It takes time to be turned into one of my kind, and at the moment when Valerie finally returned from the dead—the moment that you happened to be walking the halls of my home—I was convinced that she was not coming back, and I was off mourning her with another thrall’s help. I consider myself fully responsible for what happened between you two. I am very sorry that it happened.”

Oh… at least she was willing to accept that responsibility. I let out a little giggle, feeling vindicated. Naomi had said it wouldn’t happen again. I’d be in good hands with her, much better than with Valerie…

“Hehe, and how’s Valerie doing now? Are you taking better care of her?” I sighed, obsessed with the bits of exposed skin around Naomi’s neckline and her arms and hands. She was sooooooo pretty, and had such capacity to care for everyone…

“I’d like to think so,” Naomi said, performing another beautiful song out of her lovely red lips. “She took her first thrall on her own a week ago today, a girl named Cassie. She was able to keep control of herself with few problems, even without me present, I’m happy to report. Actually, well… I accompanied the two of them and my Gail to the emergency room the next night when it became clear that Valerie had taken slightly too much when she had enthralled her. It’s a learning experience, but I believe in her.”

Hehehe, believing in her, taking care of her, the emergency room…

The emergency room? That was bad!

“She put someone in the hospital?” I shouted, yet again tearing myself away from the rhythm I had been letting myself fall into. If I wasn’t careful, Naomi was gonna put me in the hospital.

“It’s a learning experience, as I said,” Naomi said. I detected a hint of impatience in her voice. “You must understand, dear, it is a terribly difficult thing to stop myself from draining every pretty girl I see dry. That includes you, of course. I manage those feelings through the care I hold in my heart for my girls. Valerie will get there, but it will take her time. I pray to Lilith that she will not severely hurt anyone before that, and I will do everything I can to prevent that from happening.”

“Then why aren’t you with her now?” I asked. I grabbed my sandwich again and took another bite, savoring the meaty flavor. I needed something to distract me and keep me on a good track here. I hated that just being in the same room as this woman felt like a battle of wits that I was always on the verge of losing.

“Because I trust her,” Naomi said insistently, looking straight at me. I averted my eyes before she could look into them. “The girl wasn’t in shock or anything. She just came close to fainting… Honestly, I doubt she even needed medical attention. A hearty meal and a bit of bedrest would have been enough for her. But I agreed that it would be a good idea to bring her there to ease Valerie’s mind. She was panicking. And Cassie’s A positive blood could support a transfusion of Gail’s A negative. It’s useful to be able to recognize these things from a distance.”

“And how did you manage to get into a busy fucking hospital?” I said, munching on my sandwich, finishing off the first half. “Did you mind control someone into letting you do it or whatever?” Hannah was almost done with the pasta she had ordered too… all the thoughts of food actually gave me an idea for another question I wanted to ask, but that could wait for a moment.

Naomi rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, dear, I hope you can understand that I cannot be seen in public. What’s a girl to do but march in a side door and hypnotize a pretty doctor into helping my fledgling’s thrall? Oh yes, Dr. Yessa was a delight. I decided to keep her, mm, on retainer for any future occurrences. Not a full-time thrall, mind you, but someone I can call on when the need arises, though I hope the need does not arise again any time soon.”

“You said her need wasn’t urgent, right?” I asked, starting on the second sandwich. “What… what about the other people in the hospital that night? People who were having heart attacks or whatever? People who needed that doctor more than this Cassie girl.”

“This is my fledgling’s thrall we’re talking about, Celia,” Naomi said, dead serious. “Don’t misunderstand me when I say I’d do anything for my girls. You cannot fathom how deep my love for them goes. How deep my love for you could go.”

“I love You so much, Mistress.” Hannah said. “I feel Your love for me all the time and it makes me feel so warm and honored.” She had just finished off her bowl of pasta, and had clearly really enjoyed it. I kind of envied what she had with Naomi. Dating her seemed to bring Hannah a lot of fulfillment and self-actualization, in her own way. I didn’t want to take that from her, but I didn’t think I could stand existing in that state all the time. I needed to pay more attention to her, though… she was my partner. I had been focused on Naomi all night because I had to be. But it didn’t seem like Hannah felt neglected, at least, as I grabbed her hand again and she nuzzled against her vampire girlfriend’s right arm.

I had no idea what to think about what Naomi had just said. She seemed very protective and that was kind of sweet, but there was a strong possessive undercurrent to the whole thing, not to mention how irresponsible it was. That seemed to be exactly what Hannah liked about her, though.

“Do you actually feel physically warm nuzzling up against her, Hannah?” I asked. “When Valerie touched me, when Naomi shook my hand, their hands and lips were so cold, their breath…”

“Oh, well, Mistress is cold, sure,” Hannah said. “I just feel emotionally warm being near Her. She’s… hehehe… She’s so good and soft. I could never mind Her being a little cold.” Hannah pressed up against Naomi’s body, rapidly kissing her arm and cheek and neck in a similar way to how she had with me sometimes when she got really excited.

“As I appreciate your warmth, my darling,” Naomi said, scratching Hannah on the head and making her eyes roll back as she was overcome with pleasure. “From any other source, such warmth would bother me, actually, but the warmth provided by a human full of fresh blood is altogether different somehow. There’s a kind of symbiosis we provide to each other that way.”

“That’s, um, sweet,” I said, blushing a little. For once since I had come here, I was pretty sure I thought that without it being something that Naomi was causing me to think. It did make me think of cuddling up with Naomi myself though, feeling her smooth, cold skin bare against mine, safe in her embrace…

Well, if nothing else, I felt like I finally intellectually understood why Hannah had made the choices she had. There was a real appeal to being hers, something that felt worth trying even, just not permanently. I had to find a way for it to not be permanent.

And if I wanted to make that work, I probably needed to get Naomi’s mind off of the topic of blood. It was something I had wanted to ask anyway.

“I know that you mainly drink blood, Naomi,” I said, trying to get that out of the way before she made it the focus again. “So can you, like, not eat normal food? Or does it just not interest you, or what?”

“Human food is totally unappetizing,” Naomi said, leaning over the table again with a fanged smile on her face. “I might as well ask you to eat that greasy paper bit underneath your sandwich. I can eat such things, but I don’t enjoy them, and they cannot sustain my undeath. And they force me to rely on certain bodily functions that are typically unused by my deathless body. I am very unaccustomed to producing bodily waste.”

Fucking hell. I had IBS and wished that was me pretty hard, honestly. Blood obviously tasted yummy to Naomi, but it was hard to imagine stomaching it. Then again, if drinking blood was such an intimate thing…

I took the last bite out of my sandwich and wiped my hands clean with my napkin. I needed to be as clear-headed and honest as possible with what I was about to say.

“I’m glad you get to have that, Naomi,” I said honestly. “I’m gonna be honest with you: I see that Hannah is happy. I appreciate that. I can see you care for her and it’s, um, heartwarming. And on top of that… I mean, look. It’s always great to get intimate with my partners’ partners. I’m not all in on this thrall stuff, but if we could find a way to work around that, in a controlled environment, I think I could be interested in letting you drink my blood.”

Naomi was nodding along as I said this, as though she had expected every word I said in advance, and that frustrated me. This request had not been a foregone conclusion. For her part, Hannah was practically bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement, her eyes darting between Naomi and I.

“Celia, dear,” Naomi said in her sickeningly sweet way, “I would be overjoyed to drink your blood. But as I said, enthrallment is an important informational security measure. I can assure you that it would be a delightful experience, though.”

“I’d love it so much if we were both Mistress’ thralls,” Hannah said eagerly. Her expression was suddenly menacing, crazed even, or at least I couldn’t see it any other way. This was so pointless — I could see why Naomi thought of it as necessary, but it was clearly born of stubbornness and a distrust that she didn’t need to have toward me. When Hannah and I had spoken, I had considered calling a hunter, sure, but what was that gonna do? Hannah was right that it wouldn’t be good for her or anyone else, probably. Maybe it’d save myself. God, I didn’t know.

I cleared my throat. I needed to state my case carefully here before Naomi’s charms overcame me again.

“It’s hot to imagine, Hannah, but, like, just for a night!” I said. “I don’t want this to be a permanent thing. I have a whole life to live outside of you, Naomi. I don’t want to get stuck being your thrall. And I get what you’re saying about security measures and all, but I swear to you I’m not gonna leak that you’re a vampire. Obviously you care about that a lot, considering we’re here at this five star restaurant all alone. I get it. Frankly, if I really wanted to put you at risk, you waited a whole week like I said earlier. I could’ve sicced five different vampire hunters on you in that time. But I didn’t, because you’re my metamour and I want Hannah to be happy. And I don’t think you deserve to die, Naomi. Nobody does. I’m not gonna stigmatize you because you’re a vampire, I’m not gonna treat you as a stereotype. That’d be shitty.”

I had said my whole piece looking down at my empty plate, not wanting my words to be twisted before they came out of my mouth by Naomi’s looks. She needed to hear this loud and clear.

And when I looked back up, Naomi seemed very flustered, and she was looking at the table herself. That was probably a good thing.

“You… you don’t get it, Celia,” Naomi muttered, squinting her eyes like she was experiencing some kind of inner turmoil. “You’ll be happier this way. The way Hannah is.”

“You’re right that I’d be happy,” I said, nodding my head. “But what would make me even happier is to get to keep my relationship with Hannah. And maybe even build a relationship with you, Naomi. As friends with benefits, partners, or just metamours who talk sometimes, I don’t know. But I think that if you really care about my happiness or Hannah’s, you could stand to give it a shot.”

“Dear, this isn’t just about you,” Naomi said, strained. “There’s Jade. There’s whatever other friends you may have…”

“I can keep the vampire stuff on the down low with my local friends,” I said. “But Jade, I trust. She’s not gonna out you for the same reason as me, I’m certain of it. Especially not if you don’t threaten to brainwash her.”

Naomi was frowning, tapping her foot beneath the table and looking more out of her element than she had all night.

“You don’t understand. Not enthralling someone is not so easy as it sounds,” she said.

“Hannah said the same thing,” I said. “But you’re making it sound like it is possible.”

Naomi sighed, putting her head down onto the table in front of her and covering it with her hands. She seemed defeated.

“Maybe,” she groaned, peering up at me. “But I cannot deal with another disruption to the routine of my undeath. Not after everything that’s happened recently. I’ll drink from you, Celia, and you’ll be happy. I will save you from the world you live in as I have for so many others like you. I will free you from the patriarchy and ensure that no man ever gets his hands on you.”

She sounded so sure of herself, so caring in her own way, but I could barely stop myself from bursting out laughing.

“Naomi, I’m a non-binary trans lesbian with two girlfriends,” I said gravely. “I haven’t given a man a second thought in the last six years. It’s a sweet offer, but I’m gonna be fine. I swear to you.”

I had honestly worried that she was gonna lunge at me for me saying something that might’ve resembled mockery, but instead she looked utterly shocked by what I had said, paralyzed, deathly still again, her crimson eyes wide with what looked like fear or realization.

“Mistress, are You OK?” Hannah asked after Naomi had remained like that for a few moments. I had been too nervous to speak, shuffling around in my seat in the meantime.

She came back to life and embraced Hannah, closing her eyes as she hugged our girlfriend tight.

“I would like to think that I’m pretty good at reading people,” Naomi said, peering at me over Hannah’s shoulder. “I’ve had a long time to brush up on that skill. When you say that you and Jade would not expose me, you really mean it, don’t you?”

“Yes!” I said emphatically. “I mean, I get the impression that all of your partners, thralls, whatever, they’re mostly a bunch of queers like us, right? Valerie, too. I mean, I don’t know her well, but I’m guessing she didn’t go after you just for being a vampire. Not that in and of itself. It probably had more to do with how you act…”

Fucking hell, there was no way that part of what I said there hadn’t been an overstep. Naomi was so possessive, so intimidating, so stuck in her ways, I basically just needed to brace myself for the worst, the end of my free will…

She let Hannah go and sat back up, straightening herself out and brushing a few strands of red hair out of her face.

“Celia, look me in the eyes,” she commanded. Fuck, that was it, just as I had dreaded! The pull to obey a direct command like that was so strong, but I just about managed to hold myself together and grit my teeth and shut my eyes and shake my head. If she was gonna have me for dinner after all, I didn’t want to make it trivial for her.

“N-n-n-no!” I squealed.

Naomi sighed and began speaking as seductively as she had all night. “My darling, it’s a big ask on your part that I might trust you and Jade both in this way. I will need to be afforded a similar amount of trust in return. I was not planning to simply entrance you and bite you on the neck. I need a question answered honestly, is all.”

“H-h-how can I trust that?” I grumbled.

“The same way that I have trusted you for the past week, I suppose,” Naomi said.

Yeah, I guessed there was sort of a point there, and anything could send me over the edge… I might as well look the pretty lady in the eyes.

They were sooooo pretty, shiny, blood-red and full of wisdom, and everything went hazy after that. She asked me something, and I listened, and answered, and obeyed. It was easy and relaxing and I didn’t worry for a single moment about any of the details of what she was saying or what I was saying or the fact that Hannah was tugging on her arm for a moment after she had gotten out of the booth and gotten back in on my right side, arm wrapped around my back, holding me tight now just as she had been holding Hannah all night…

I woke up at her command and found myself wanting to shiver at Naomi’s icy cold touch, but I found it comforting in spite of that. That was the symbiosis she had mentioned earlier, I guessed. Really, what I should have been worried about was the fact that I was boxed in between her and Hannah now, trapped, my maybe-silver necklace taken off and placed on the table in front of me, but I couldn’t bring myself to complain.

“H-hey,” I said. “What did you do to me?”

Naomi had a small smile on her face and Hannah a huge one, both looking at me lovingly. Hannah was holding my left hand, too.

“I told you, I needed a question answered honestly,” Naomi said. “I am surprised that you truly believe that neither Jade nor yourself would out me. But that was no lie.”

“It never was,” I said, instinctively leaning on Naomi’s shoulder, almost down onto her left tit. She didn’t seem to mind at all, and she began running her fingernails through my purple dyed hair, making me feel relaxed and content.

“That said, dear, you’re looking oh-so-adorable here, and you were even cuter in trance, I must say,” she continued. “You wouldn’t truly mind being my thrall, would you? Imagine how perfect it would be to feel like you do now at all hours…”

Uh-oh… the red flags were coming right back up, but I could barely see them over the horizon of drowsiness and submissiveness that was overtaking me. I couldn’t help but snuggle all the way down onto her lap, looking up at her and Hannah in admiration.

“Hehe… nooooo, I would mind…” was all I could say, not all too convincingly, getting comfy against the fabric of Naomi’s skirt. I would. I would! I would mind if she took my free will away, but I was already losing it and that didn’t feel so bad so was it really honest? I couldn’t trust my own thoughts at all and I began to wonder why I was denying this to myself.

“Oh dear, it’s not so easy to put up such a resistance after all, is it? Not in the face of beauty and allure like mine,” Naomi said. “Won’t things be so much better when you both belong to me? It just wouldn’t feel right otherwise.”

“Nooooooo…” I moaned, barely able to keep my thoughts together, or even to figure out what exactly I was saying “no” to. This was bad, this was bad, this was bad! It was the situation I’d been trying to avoid all night!

But the impossible happened, something that should have been possible and expected but which I had been forced to doubt for the last week and a half.

“Um, Mistress,” Hannah said, practically poking her fingers together, looking super-cute and a little shy as she often did. “Before You do anything permanent to them, something just came to mind. With dating Celia, I’ve been thinking more about poly stuff, You know?”

Naomi seemed almost annoyed, but she nodded. She seemed to have so much patience for Hannah in particular. It was well deserved by such a sweet girl.

“Are You saying that You’d, um, be jealous of me, Mistress, if Celia wasn’t Yours?” Hannah continued in a small voice. “Or jealous of Celia themself or something? Because if so, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to indulge that right now? Up to You, of course, Mistress, but—”

Naomi inhaled through her nose and closed her eyes tight for several seconds, then looked back at Hannah, gravely serious. She wasn’t paying as close attention to me any more.

“Hannah, you—” she started, then cut herself off, looking down at me and scratching my cheek a little. “They’re so adorable, Hannah. I want them for myself. Just like you.”

“I’d never oppose that, Mistress,” Hannah said, her devotion palpable. “Especially if Celia’s on board. But maybe it can wait until a few more nights for now? It’s just, I was thinking, if Celia’s not gonna out You… it just seems like You don’t get a lot of experience in this position, right? Where Celia’s my girlfriend, but not Yours? Maybe it could be valuable to reflect on first? For Your sake, of course, Mistress!”

Naomi’s fangs were gritted as she looked between Hannah and I. Then she sighed again, seeming deflated.

“You’re right, Hannah,” she said. “You understand me so well. I suppose I’m not accustomed to jealousy, to not getting everything I want.”

Hannah might’ve considered Naomi a Goddess, but this was a true miracle coming right from my girlfriend herself.

“You’re, uh… not going to bite me?” I asked, unable to convince myself that I should be either disappointed or relieved.

Naomi giggled in response. “Not tonight, I’m afraid. Hannah will be my dinner after all.”

Hannah already looked excited in response to that, her face red as usual.

“Can I still lie in your lap, or is that too much?” I asked. It was playing with fire, but a huge weight had just been lifted off of my chest, at least for the next couple days.

“Hmhm, good girl,” Naomi said, scratching me on the head again. “But I’m afraid not. You two had your sandwich and your noodles. It’s dinner time for me now.”

She pulled back out of the booth to the right, going back around to get next to Hannah again while I slowly, reluctantly, pulled myself back up onto my ass and put my necklace back on. I felt like I was losing so much… I had never been the kind of person to rate such things, but Naomi somehow had the best lap in the world.

Oh, and Annie the waitress was walking back up to the table now, oblivious smile on her face.

“Are you ladies interested in dessert tonight?” she asked. I was about to say yes, thinking a little more food in my body might help me feel more alert again, and besides, I wasn’t gonna turn down free food.

But Naomi hadn’t lied about it being dinner time. Paying the waitress no mind, she was already sinking her fangs into Hannah’s neck, as Hannah’s eyes went wide and she cried out in some combination of pain and pleasure, held tight in place by the vampire’s strong grip.

The waitress didn’t raise an eyebrow, oblivious to what was happening right in front of her. Naomi holding that much power over her perception was intense to behold, and it made me wonder if my perceptions were somehow being altered too. Since she had looked me in the eyes, she could’ve done anything she wanted to me, in theory. But considering that she was drinking Hannah’s blood and not mine, I wasn’t too worried.

Watching Hannah have the life sucked out of her and enjoying the hell out of it, though, almost filled me with a sense of jealousy. No, I didn’t really want it, not then at least — my head had cleared up enough to avoid thinking that. I was very relieved that I had received some kind of concession from Naomi, even if it amounted to a mere delay of the end of my free will. But I could be happy for Hannah, at least, glad to see her right in her element, in her girlfriend’s arms, having the time of her life. That was one of the sweetest outcomes I could hope for.