Page 22 of 'Til All the Seas Run Dry

“He’s a growing boy,” Callum said, lowering his big body into the chair across from Robbie.

Magda snorted again and took a bite of stew. Callum took another sip from his bottle. It was different. And yet not. There was a heartiness that he had never experienced from human blood. The difference between soup and stew.

“This is good,” he said, lifting the bottle in Magda’s direction.

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” she said with a chuckle.

“You said it’s from Nat Jasper?”

“Yep,” Magda said, chewing. “He’s a ranger at the big park and hunts to keep the populations managed.”

“Isnae hunting illegal in state and federal parks?”

“Well, he’s not exactly marching up to declare his kills at Fish and Wildlife, is he?”

“Wouldnae someone notice discarded animal carcasses all over the park?” Callum asked, the bottle poised at his lips.

“Nat would never be so wasteful. No. He drains them for his purposes, and then he has a guy who processes the animals and distributes the meat to shelters and among those in the community who need the protein. And I know sometimes he doesn’t kill the animal at all.”

A deep respect settled within Callum’s chest.

“There’s a market for this,” he said after another sip.

“Oh?” Magda asked.

“Aye.”

“You replacing me, boss?” Robbie asked.

Callum looked at Robbie, at the two black spaces in between the tattooed petals on Robbie’s neck.

“I wouldnae replace you as a—” The word “friend” stuck in Callum’s throat. It was entirely possible that Robbie didn’t see Callum in the same way, that he viewed their relationship as being strictly professional. But he couldn’t bring himself to say “employee.”

“I wouldnae replace ye,” he said with a cough. “But if I didnae have tohurtye…” He trailed off.

Robbie shrugged. “You don’t hurt me.”

Callum cleared his throat. “I try my best.”

“Nat Jasper is only on animals, you know,” Magda said.

Callum hadn’t known. He knew of Nat from Robbie’s reconnaissance and had seen him last night in Hank’s kitchen, but they hadn’t been formally introduced.

“Aye?”

“Yeah. He told me that he’s been off of humans for a few centuries now. Ever since he came this far west. Said he couldn’t risk it. It’s why he took that job at the national park.”

Callum had heard rumors about vampires doing it, living off of animals instead of people. Everyone had heard rumors. But he’d never seen it with his own eyes. Never tasted an alternative. It was… good. More than good. It made him feel hopeful.

Marjory had clearly despised what he’d become.“You hurt people. Youkillpeople,”she had snarled.

There was no way that she could know the great lengths to which he’d gone over the years for that to not be true, how his entire empire had been built upon not killing or hurting humans, but rather the opposite. But he hadn’t had a chance to explain. He’d been too shocked to string two sentences together at all.

But if he could live this way, if Nat Jasper could teach him how, he could leave that behind. He could find a way to actually be Robbie’s friend, instead of… whatever they were now. He could?—

“Careful, boy-o. You think too much harder, and your brain’s gonna start smoking,” Magda said.

Robbie was leaning back in his chair, his hand resting on a slightly distended belly, a sleepy, satisfied look on his face. Magda was sipping wine from a stemless glass. He didn’t remember her having wine before.