A Few Sips Ch. 06

Domino couldn't sleep all day while the great big vampire slumbered away peacefully beside her on the large bed, no matter how comfortable she felt nestled up against him. Shi had been in and out throughout the day, offering her food and making sure she was constantly infused with the blood that was supposed to help keep her alive. A few hours after lunch, a doctor had arrived and Mr. Hughes had had her taken into a room on the second floor, a simple, scarcely decorated bedroom, and she'd allowed herself to be examined. Apparently, this doctor had already talked to the obstetrician that she'd seen while in Duluth with Anya. He spoke at length with Mr. Hughes about her treatment, and then using the equipment that he had brought with him, he had inserted a PICC line, a central line to the heart threaded through a peripheral vein. The procedure had been pretty painless, as he'd used local anesthetic, and she was happy that she wouldn't have to be given countless repeated IVs. He assured her that, if necessary, she could go a year with a PICC line.

It didn't make her feel very sexy, having tubes sticking out of her skin, but if this kept her human long enough to have her baby, then far be it for her to complain about the inconvenience of having plastic attached to her for a while. She was sure that the contraption would end up bothering Alexandru way more than it bothered her, but Domino figured that he would get over that quickly, he was very attracted to her, and he let her know it with his body well into the early morning hours. She'd almost been grateful when his body had forced him to sleep with the rising of the sun. Almost.

Mr. Hughes had told her that, in general, the first floor of the mansion was used for clientele, so it would be better for her to stay in the room he'd had her seen in, or in the basement, where, besides several bedrooms, was a large living space complete with television, pool table, and a small kitchenette that was well stocked. He'd given her leave to go outside, though the IV pole that she had to lug with her everywhere she went made that a little more difficult. He had asked her to remain somewhat near the house, not to go swimming in the lake in the back, and not to try to explore the other buildings or areas of the mansion.

"There are a great many nonhumans here right now, and most of them are very dominant when they see a human female. I do not want you to accidentally find yourself in a situation you can't quite get out of." He had said by way of warning, and she'd just looked at him with wide eyes and nodded.

Domino almost wished she hadn't told her workplace she was taking a vacation, by dinner time, she was bored stiff and would have liked to wile away for a few hours on her computer doing something mundane and focused. Instead, she found herself in the kitchenette, a chicken breast in a pan on the stove, sizzling as it cooked. She hadn't had too much morning sickness with her pregnancy, just a few trips to the bathroom here and there early in the day, but now, the smell of the meat cooking on the stovetop made her stomach turn and Domino was trying to stand a good distance from the pan as she used tongs to turn it from side to side to cook it evenly.

She was holding a dishtowel in front of her face and trying to cook the meat still when she heard a deep chuckle behind her and turned to see a man of an average height, maybe 5'11" or so, standing facing her, his hands folded in front of him and a friendly smile on his face as he watched her cooking so awkwardly. She lowered the towel and gave him a sheepish smile and then nodded to the chicken.

"I don't know why, but the smell of it is just killing me right now." She told him, feeling a blush creep up her neck as he took a step forward and took the tongs from her, his scent hit her and it made another part of her body stir just a little, which she blamed on Alexandru for keeping her so aroused the night before and that morning.

"I'm Samir. Mr. Hughes sent me down to check on you since I wasn't busy. The smell of meat doesn't just affect pregnant girls, you know. I've seen plenty of people gag over it throughout the years. For me, lamb is the worst, or maybe venison. Yeah, venison does me in pretty good." He gave her a wide open grin and Domino felt a little lost in his handsome face, it was the face of that guy that you loved in college who dated the sorority president and played soccer or something, his hair was blond, his jaw was not soft at all, but it was very nicely shaped. Definitely hot popular guy, but the kind that was secretly smart, also, and maybe kind of liked the more nerdy girls.

Domino gulped down a rush of desire, Alexandru would be up soon and he was not prone to being ok with her getting turned on by other men. Her vampire was a little of the jealous variety.

"I'm Domino." She told him simply, stepping back from the smell in the kitchenette and watching as he took to cooking the meat himself.

"Do you want me to season this at all?" Samir asked over his shoulder as he pulled open a cabinet door and started looking through it.

"Sure," Domino said, shrugging her shoulders despite the fact that he couldn't see it as his back was to her, "I usually buy the pre-seasoned packs because I'm a lazy cook, so I don't really know what I'm doing with a plain piece of meat." That sounded dirty, she was sure of it.

"You should have Alexandru cook for you. I've heard that he is actually a really good chef." Bottles and bottles were being pulled out onto the counter and she watched as he poured in a little of this and a touch of that to the sizzling chicken.

"Really? That's weird. He doesn't eat regular food, does he?"

Samir shook his head, "No, but he cooks, I guess. Some of the girls-some of the other employees here have talked about it."

She heard the pause, but didn't linger on it, Alexandru had to eat somehow, and even if he had fucked other women at this spa, she didn't care. He had worked here, it had been his job to please women. Domino was sure that he had left them all very very pleased.

"So you're an employee, too?" She asked, the smell was starting to change to a more fragrant odor and Domino found herself taking a slow step forward so that she could see what he was doing, her stomach growled as she did.

"I am. I've been here a little over a year now, I think. I can't remember. It's a good place for people like myself. A safe place." He eyed her sideways for a moment as he worked on the food he was making.

"This isn't a four star pantry, what in the world did you do to my chicken?" She asked, chuckling, the meat had been torn to pieces and he'd added all sort of ingredients to it, making it completely unrecognizable to what she'd been doing just a short time ago.

"I'm making what is probably going to be a very poor excuse for a fatteh djaj." He smiled, stirring the contents of the pan.

"A what?"

"Fatteh djaj. The last place I lived was Syria, I dabbled a little in the local cuisine. A girlfriend of mine liked to cook for me, too." He winked at her.

Domino nodded softly, no wonder he'd mentioned feeling safe here, what with all that had been happening in Syria the last few years. It was a little odd, though, when she thought about it. He was a caucasian blond, with super intense blue eyes named 'Samir.' She was sure that there was a story there, but she obviously didn't know this man anywhere near well enough to ask. He was a non-human, too, but she couldn't tell in what way. He looked totally 'normal' to her eyes. He was awake during the day, so she could cross vampire off the list. She also didn't think he was a werewolf, they had a tendency to growl and rumble laughter from low in their throats, and he wasn't doing any of that.

"The cheese isn't right and I don't have all the right herbs, but this shouldn't taste terrible. At least I don't think your baby will be too mad." He pulled a container of milk out of the fridge and poured two glasses and set them aside.

"You know I'm pregnant?" She asked, eyes wide.

Samir nodded at her, "News like that travels fast through Vorhees. Deep down, we're all a bunch of gossips here."

Domino chuckled now, she could just imagine this man standing over a water cooler somewhere talking it up with other non-humans. The picture in her mind was ridiculous. She sat down at the small table in the room as he pulled down a package of minute rice from the cabinet and yoghurt from the fridge and continued cooking.

"What are people saying about me?" She asked nervously.

"Oh, nothing terrible. I promise. They all know Alexandru, and everyone is happy that he is happy. They're worried for you, and for Alexandru if something should happen to you, but they're also proud of you." He didn't look back at her as he spoke, his hands were whipping stuff up left and right on the small counter and cookstove in front of him.

"Proud of me? For getting knocked up by a vampire?" Domino furrowed a brow at him and heard him chuckle.

"For standing your ground and doing everything you can to save the life of a non-human. These days life...seems so expendable. It's nice to see that you, as a human, are willing to risk so very much for one of our kind." The rice was steaming now and he was switching to whisking the yoghurt with who knew what in a saucepan. She hadn't even realized that there was enough in the kitchenette to do this sort of thing.

"And what is your kind, Samir? I feel extremely rude asking, but you call yourself a non-human, but I can't tell from just looking at you. I apologize if I offend you." Domino felt like an ass for asking, but she was oh so curious.

"No, don't feel offended. I don't mind answering. I'm a colossus." He was looking through a breadbox, frowning, "There's no pita bread here...I don't even. Ah, let's try a bagel, it'll probably be rubbish, but it's something."

"What is a colossus?" That sounded...colossal, and this guy didn't even hit six feet, and he was pretty trim.

"I'm a giant, Domino." He looked over at her with another wink.

"You don't look like a giant."

"I'd show you, but Mr. Hughes has strictly forbidden me from shifting in the spa. I've done a bit of damage in the past." He was stirring everything again and bits from one pan were being tossed into another.

"I guess it's a good thing that you can shift like that, seeing as how some super tall guy would totally be noticeable walking through a local market." She said softly, resting her head on her hand as she watched him start to dish food onto two plates.

"Yeah, it is. But then there is a side of me that I constantly feel the need to hide away from the world." He tilted his head sideways slightly for a moment and then walked over to where she sat and put down the two plates of food. One in front of her, and the other at the chair across from her.

"I know how that feels." Domino sighed as she accepted the fork that he handed her. The food before her smelled absolutely delicious and her stomach must be loud enough by now to wake her sleeping lover.

"Oh?" Samir prodded as he sat in the chair across from her after putting a glass of milk behind each plate.

"I spent the last few years kind of hiding out myself. My therapist called it agoraphobia and all the sessions I had never seemed to kick it. I stayed in my house most of the time, worked from home and stuff. I know all about keeping who you are away from others." Domino scooped up some of the food on the plate with her fork and took a bite.

Her eyes closed and she smiled as she chewed, "If this is a poor version, I can't even imagine how good the real stuff would be."

Samir smiled and tried some himself, "The flavors aren't quite right, but what I did use played off each other well. This isn't rubbish after all."

Domino nodded and continued eating, Samir did as well, "Sounds like a lonely life, Domino."

She shrugged, "It wasn't completely lonely, I have a few friends who kept hanging out with me even when I wanted to push them away. My friend Jenna was amazingly persistent at trying to get me out."

"How did you meet Alexandru?" He asked before taking a drink of his milk.

"I had worked up the courage, though that seems ridiculous to call it that, to go to the store, and he was in there. He invited me to dinner nearby and I found myself accepting. He is extremely attractive." She smiled, her blush creeping up her neck.

"Vampires are sort of engineered to be that way, makes it easier for them to find a meal. But yes, Alexandru is very attractive. I hear it from pretty much every female that even catches a glimpse of him in this place." He chuckled as he spoke.

"So...you work here, do you do what Alexandru did, or in some other capacity?" Domino asked after they had sat in silence for a little bit eating the food.

"I work here in the same way that Alexandru did. I've never done this sort of thing before so it's taken some getting used to for me. Sex is...it can be...it should be something very intimate and special. But here, here, I fuck. For the most part, it's enjoyable, don't get me wrong, I am happy to do it, but it's sometimes mechanical on my part. Not that I'm not grateful for my job here, it keeps me safe and I don't have to worry about getting tangled up in anything too romantic. I'm not really ready for that right now."

"You'd said you had a girlfriend." Domino nodded softly, figuring maybe that was why.

He nodded back at her, "I did. But I don't anymore."

She caught the drift that he didn't want to talk about that, so she smiled and changed course, "So do you think this insta-pipeline of blood they're shooting into me is going to do the trick?"

Samir looked relieved and he peered at the tubes coming from her arm. "I suppose so. Mr. Hughes is extremely knowledgeable about this sort of thing, he's sort of 'been there/done that' with most everything."

"He looks like he's a very unhappy man." Domino took another drink of her milk.

"I am not sure if I've ever seen him happy, but you're right, he definitely seems a little...unhappy these days." He shrugged, he had already eaten most of the food on his plate. Looking down at hers, Domino realized that she wasn't far behind him.

"Because of Anya."

"I heard you met her. How is she?" He smiled, really? He knew Anya too? Did that woman know everybody?

"She's good. She's happy. I guess she just had her first litter. Seven babies."

Samir smiled a wide, toothy grin, "Good for her. I'm glad she is happy."

"Did you know her here?" Domino waved around them a little.

He grinned at her with a spark in his too handsome eyes, "Yes, I knew Anya here. She was a guest."

"Oh." Domino bit her lower lip and looked down at her plate.

"We write each other every once in a while. She's a friend." He emphasized that last word and Domino looked back up at him.

"Do you befriend all the girls?" She asked, he totally could, he was totally that guy.

Samir shook his head and gave a short laugh, "No. Most of the women I fuck here, I only see that one time, and then there is never any more contact. Anya is the only one that played on everyone's minds here. She is the only one...besides you now...that got romantically involved with a past employee."

"Oh, okay. So..." Domino felt her blush creep up her cheeks, she wanted to talk to him about his job, but doing so reminded her exactly what he did for a living, and that made her hot, "Do you have sex with all of the clients that come here?"

He grinned and shook his head, "Just women, and not all of them. People come here as either dominant in bed, or submissive. I have a tendency to have a better experience with submissive women."

That made her pussy sit up and take notice, he liked to be in charge, and she was sure he knew exactly what he was doing. It made her want the sun to go down, she was sort of getting a desperate need to get back to Alexandru.

"Are you attracted to the women you...fuck?" She asked.

"Some of them, yes, some, not so much. We all have our likes and dislikes. That's where the mechanical fucking comes in." He winked at her and she felt something melt a bit inside.

"Who decides all this, Mr. Hughes?"

He nodded, "He's the boss. He also decides the schedule. Usually, the women I fuck come to me near the end of their visit, when their bodies are most able and willing to accept what I do to them."

Domino frowned, "What do you do to them?"

"What did I tell you that I was, Domino?" He grinned like a schoolboy as he drank the rest of his milk and put it on top of his empty plate.

She watched him stand up as her mouth dropped open for a moment, "You fuck them as a giant?"

He chuckled warmly at her as he took both of their empty plates and glasses over to the sink in the kitchen and put them in. "I fuck them all sorts of ways, Domino. In both of my forms. I am a guy, I can think pretty well with my cock when I want to."

"You sure better not be thinking with it right now." A somewhat surly sounding deep voice came from the hall and Domino looked over to see Alexandru standing in the doorway, wearing only pants that hung low on his waist as his eyes took in the sight of both of them in the kitchen.

"Alex!" Domino cheered, her lover was awake. Grabbing hold of the pole of her IV, she got up and walked quickly over to him, wrapping her arms around his big body and breathing him in for a moment before looking up at him, "Samir made me dinner. And he didn't use his cock to do it." She whispered the last bit, but heard the man near the sink chuckle anyway.

"Are you ready for a walk outside, my little dove?" He asked, folding her more firmly into his embrace.

Domino nodded, "I would love that, but my pole..."

"Mr. Hughes said you can remove it for a little bit each day. It looks like that bag is about empty. By the time we find him, you should be ready to have it taken off long enough for a walk." Alexandru told her as he looked over at the blond man in the room.

"That sounds wonderful." Domino sighed, and looked over at Samir, as well, "Thank you so much for dinner. It really was good."

"You're welcome. Any time. Alexandru, you've got yourself a lovely woman there. You're a lucky man." Samir said honestly, smiling at the big frowning winged beast.

"Thank you." Alexandru nodded, deciding not to threaten the colossus until it was apparent the threat would need to be given. He knew that Domino would be lonely here with him being forced to sleep so long each day. A friendship or two wouldn't hurt her.

"I'll see you tomorrow maybe?" Domino asked.

Samir shrugged, "I have an appointment tonight, but I should be free tomorrow during the day, I'll check in on you then."

Domino nodded, squeezing the hand Alexandru slipped through hers. "Sounds good. We'll see you later, Samir."

Walking down the hallway, she could feel the heat coming off the vampire at her side and she cuddled closer against him. She could see his eyes moving to the PICC line, and knew she'd been right about how much he would hate it. Not only was it totally unsexy, but it kept her skin open, and she knew he could smell her blood, Anya's blood, and it did affect him even if he wouldn't ever admit it to her.

"Did you just wake up?" She asked instead of bringing it up.

"Yes, while Mr. Hughes disconnects you, I am going to need to feed really quickly, enough to sate myself, Domino. I do not want to upset you." He told her in a hoarse voice, her smell really was doing a number on his control.

"But he said you shouldn't-."

"I am not going to feed on you, my little dove. Nor will I feed in your vicinity, but I will not do anything more than feed." He was telling her that he was going to feed on someone else, she frowned, not liking the idea, but there was nothing she could do about it. He had to feed.