“What’s your name?” I asked.

The stranger looked down at me and smiled. “Xipe Totec.”

I balled my hand into a fist on his chest, and it rose sharply under my cheek.

I had never seen anyone with that colour of skin. His colour. It was brown like leather. It was so beautiful. He looked every inch of a deity he claimed to be.

I dared to look up at him again. His eyes were closed and his breath even. Was he asleep?

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked gruffly without opening his eyes.

“I’ve never seen anyone like you before...”

Now his eyes opened, and he snorted. “You don’t know how true that is, Fakkel.”

“Fakkel? Did you just call me fakkel? Are you mocking me?” Did he make fun of my red hair? I didn’t even have any hair on my body right now!

“No.” He moved fast, pushing me on my back, hovering over me. “I worship your hair colour.”

I was sure the colour of my cheeks resembled my missing hair. “Will it grow back?” I whispered.

He lowered himself and kissed my forehead. “Yes,” he murmured against the tender skin.

“What kind of deity are you?”

He kissed my cheek. “The good kind.” He moved on to kiss the tip of my nose.

“I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he chuckled and kissed me on the lips. “You need to feed, lover.”

My heart skipped a beat when he called me ‘lover’. But I didn’t know what he meant with ‘feed’. Why not just say eat? It was such an odd phrasing.

“Open your mouth,” he murmured.

I did as he said, hesitantly. He brought his wrist to his mouth and then he bit down on it. I was so confused by it all, but I kept my mouth open for him. He hovered his wrist over my mouth and let the black blood drop into it. When the first drop hit my tongue, my hands shot up and curled around his arm, bringing it down to my mouth.

It filled me with warmth. With everything good in the world and I just wanted more of it.

There was a stinging sensation in my teeth and I bit down on his skin. He winced but didn’t pull his arm away from me. Rather, he ran his hand over my head, softly, and then kissed my forehead again. I loosened up on my grip and tipped my head up, running my tongue over my teeth. They were more pointy now than before.

He exhaled loudly and kissed me, making me forget all about pointy teeth. I circled my arms around him and pulled him down to me. I just wanted him close. His body was so warm and I wanted to feel his skin against mine.

He moved down to my throat and then I felt a slight stinging sensation, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was actually nice. Warmth spread through my veins and it was as if he was already making love to me. But it still felt like more than that. I lacked the words to describe it, but it was the best thing I had ever felt.

“Xipe,” I whispered and he pulled up. It had just slipped out of my mouth. I hadn’t meant to say it. I had just become so overwhelmed I had to call out his name.

He smiled very widely and then dipped down to kiss me again, making all of my insecurities wash away.