Raul took the opportunity for a quick visual examination. Other than the bite, he didn’t appear to have any other bruises or wounds on him. But Ji-Su was unnaturally pale. Cedric had almost certainly taken more blood than he should have when he’d fed. And leaving the bite open to lose even more blood hadn’t helped. He didn’t sense that Ji-Su was near death or in need of a transfusion. He hadn’t lost that much blood. But he’d lost enough to cause the disorientation that he’d experienced. That never should have happened.
Gloria returned, carrying the items Raul had requested, plus a few additional supplies, on a wood serving tray.
“Here you are, Mr. Raul.”
Raul took the tray from her and set it on the end table next to the sofa. “Thank you, Gloria.”
She nodded and left the room.
“Here.” He picked up the water glass and handed it to Ji-Su. “Drink this first. You’re dehydrated.”
“Thank you.”
Ji-Su accepted the glass and started to drink. After the first sip, he began gulping the water down.
“Slowly, sweetheart,” Raul cautioned. He didn’t want him to choke.
Ji-Su slowed down, drinking in smaller sips until he’d finished the entire glass. After he passed the empty glass back, Raul took one of the provided medicated wipes and reached up to clean his neck. But Ji-Su flinched away, his shoulders stiffening and eyes wide with fear.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Raul gently soothed him. “I’m only going to clean the blood off. See?” He showed him the little square pad. Then, he waited patiently, wipe in hand, for Ji-Su to relax and nod.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
Raul shook his head and started smoothing the wipe over the trails of dried blood. “Don’t be sorry. I understand that you’re nervous right now.”
Once all of the flaky blood was removed from his skin, Raul applied a bandage to the twin punctures. He could have licked them to speed up the healing, but that wouldn’t have been appropriate to do without permission. And he doubted Ji-Su wanted a strange vampire’s fangs near his throat at the moment. Especially after his reaction a few seconds ago. They would haveto heal on their own. The hoodie he wore was stained with blood, there was nothing he could do about that.
“Okay, let’s get some food in you.” The kitchen had prepared a mini meat, cheese, and fruit platter. He held the plate up in front of Ji-Su.
Ji-Su reached out for the plate with a trembling hand.
“I can do it.”
“No, you’re shaky. I’ve got it. Just take what you want from it.”
Accepting that Raul wasn’t going to let him hold the plate, Ji-Su selected a square of honeydew instead. After that followed several deep purple grapes. When he bit down on the third grape, juice trickled onto his chin.
“Oops. Do you have a napkin?” Ji-Su softly asked.
Raul smiled. He took the napkin from the tray and wiped at the spill for him. “There you go.”
“Thank you.”
Ji-Su went back to eating. Once most of the fruit was gone, Raul set the plate on the couch to free his hands. He spread a dab of creamy cheese on a cracker and topped it with a square of smoked ham. “Try this,” he said holding it up.
Ji-Su took the cracker and bit into it. He made a little noise of appreciation as he chewed then immediately ate the other half.
“It’s good,” he said after finishing.
Since Ji-Su liked it, Raul topped three more crackers with the cheese and ham and passed them over one by one for him to eat. By now the color had returned to Ji-Su’s face and the dazed, glassy expression was gone from his eyes. Still, Raul wanted to get a little more food in him. “Can you do one more?”
Ji-Su nodded so Raul prepared another cracker. Their fingertips brushed as Ji-Su took the snack from him. For the first time, it hit him that the lovely human that he’d been instantly and intensely attracted to was there in his home. He couldn’tthink on that attraction now however. Right now, he needed to aid Ji-Su in recovering from Cedric’s cruel treatment. He was about to move on to taking care of his feet but a question from Ji-Su stopped him.
“Maybe one more?” he asked with a hopeful expression.
Raul smiled again, glad that Ji-Su had a healthy appetite after his ordeal. “Of course.” He prepared a last stack of cracker, ham, and cheese and handed it to him.
Ji-Su took it, chewing with a happy, content air. “That was good. Thank you.” He sighed and relaxed back on the couch.