Rare was a bistro located not too far from Sienna’s apartment. She’d browsed the website and saw how nice of a place it looked and how it was far from her kind of atmosphere. She recalled Maria mentioning it in a rant one time. The only thing she remembered was that it was a popular date spot for couples. Sienna threw herself onto her bed, trying to figure out what to wear. She didn’t have any fancy dresses, or dresses in general. All that was in her closet were some nice skirts and blouses. Surely that would suffice? She imagined Oliver in a full black tux pulling up to the bistro in a limo. While it was unrealistic, she still considered it a possibility. There was no time to go shopping or anything. As worries continued to pile on, she slowly felt herself grow tired before eventually succumbing to it and falling asleep.

Soon, it became the scheduled meeting time. Sienna had ended up sleeping until just thirty minutes before the agreed time. She threw on the skirt and blouse and prayed he wouldn’t judge. She had just realized that if she was late she didn’t actually have a way to contact him outside his email. He was waiting outside the bistro on his phone, dressed in a white shirt and maroon tie. It looked like he had just shaved, though there was still some stubble.

Upon seeing her, he put the phone away. “Thank you for meeting me, I know this is kind of last minute.”

“It’s fine.” she lied, thankful he didn’t comment on her appearance.

He escorted her inside and the two immediately sat down. Being the middle of the week sure helped with the speed of everything. She picked up a menu and almost frowned upon seeing the prices. Though, it’s not like she could actually enjoy the food.

“Order whatever you like, I’m paying.”

That was one of her worries gone. In the end, she ordered a salad with extra tomatoes while he ordered a steak. Once the waiter was gone, an awkward silence fell between them. She didn’t know how to speak to him, let alone why he asked her here.

“Ms. Parker,” he started.

“You can just call me Sienna, sir.” she interrupted, disliking being called so formally.

“Then, you can just call me Oliver. Sienna, Maria has told me about how you’ve been recently.” She gulped, fearing this would happen. “I just wanted to check in and make sure you’re doing well.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I’m doing fine. It’s just been a few bad nights of sleep lately.”

Even in the darker lighting he noticed how pale she looked. A pale she hadn’t looked before. “If I’m giving you too much work or it’s another issue you can tell me about it.”

Her eyes started darting around, wanting to move away from the subject. “It has nothing to do with work, honestly.”

He leaned back in the chair composing himself like what he would say next carried a lot of weight. “Sienna, do you hate me?”

The question came out of nowhere and caught her off guard.

“You seem rather avoidant of me. Plus all the lying isn’t easing my mind. Am I the problem?”

“Of course not!” She nearly jumped out of the chair, but lowered her voice. “You’ve never been the problem. It’s a personal matter…”

“I see… If it’s affecting your health I think you should consult someone. Perhaps you should take a few days off work to let yourself rest.”

He was far too nice, but what he suggested would never work. She didn’t know if anything could help her. Before she could come up with a response, their food arrived. They both quieted themselves as they ate. The salad wasn’t anything to write home about and frankly wasn’t worth the price, at least to a vampire. However, her nose perked up as something delicious wafted into it. Her attention was drawn to the steak in front of Oliver. The meat was gleaming red inside with a dark red substance covering it. After a bite Oliver lightly licked his lips of that runny substance. Sienna felt her mouth start to water and her stomach start rumbling. She couldn’t take her eyes off the meat and Oliver took notice.

“Has the steak caught your attention?” he asked, pointing the fork at her.

She nodded, not wanting any saliva to spill out.

“Would you like a taste?”

He slid the plate forward. She picked up her fork and cut off a piece, slowly bringing it to her mouth. The whole thing entered her mouth and she could feel her taste buds scream with joy. It was tender and juicy, but what surprised her was that it actually tasted good. Of all the food she had eaten in the past two weeks, nothing had come close to tasting good. She savored it, slowly chewing and sucking out the juice before swallowing and letting the fork linger a little longer as the remaining sauce was cleaned off it. She wanted more.

“What is that?” She was fighting the urge to snatch the entire plate and devour the rest of it.

“Call it a Rare specialty.” Oliver answered, cutting off a small piece. “At patrons' requests, they add cow blood to the steak while it cooks to enhance the flavor. What a wonderful idea.”

“This has cow blood…?” That explained why Sienna could taste it. Now that she had tried it, she could have an actual way of properly eating. The price was still a problem though. “Can I get this anywhere else?”

“Unfortunately, it’s Rare exclusive. No other restaurant around here seems to be interested. Though, they do sell jars of cow blood rather cheaply for those who are interested. I cook with it myself.”

She had hit the jackpot. This was it, she’d finally found a way to sustain herself while not using disgusting methods. The rest of dinner went by fast as she and Oliver shared the steak. It’d been scary at first, but now she thought everything would be fine. When they finished, Oliver paid and walked her to the front where the jars of blood were. While they were plentiful and decently priced, she didn’t think they’d last long if she drank them straight. If they were mixed in with something else she could prolong them. There was also the issue that she didn’t know the first thing about cooking with blood. Luckily, there was someone who did.

“Oliver,” she said, just as they were about to go their separate ways, “Can you teach me how to cook using blood sometime?”

He was surprised she was interested. “Sure, when would you like to?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Then would tomorrow evening work?”

She nodded enthusiastically like a bobblehead.

“Then here,” He handed her a slip of paper. She scanned it and realized it was his phone number. “See you tomorrow.” He waved, walking off into the expanse of the city.