The loud knocking on the front door rumbled through the foyer and straight into Veda's bedroom. She ignored it, focusing on warming up the bloodpak in her hands to room temperature. It was a precarious task, getting the liquid to thaw enough to be drinkable, but not so warm that the proteins inside it were denatured. It was a precise task, requiring careful turning ever fifteen seconds to ensure an even heating.
Nyssaline and Al thought she was being overly careful, but the two of them had thralls and therefore, invalid opinions. She was not about to take advice on how to consume frozen blood from vampires who had a steady supply of the fresh stuff. Especially Al, who had been with Ian for the better part of two decades.
Speaking of Al and Ian, one of them should have answered the door by now. They knew it was her monthly feeding time, and besides, their wing was closer to the front door anyway.
The knock came again, a little louder and longer this time.
Veda frowned and looked at her clock. It was almost noon. Even those two layabouts should be up now. Then she scowled at the back wall, as if the rage in her stare could somehow make the vampire and human on the other side get the damn door. She stared at it so intently that she forgot to turn the bloodpak over the Bunsen burner, only noticing when one side felt slightly squishier than the other.
Veda stifled a scream of frustration. She did not have time for this nonsense.
The knock sounded again, even more insistently, which prompted Veda to very firmly set down the partially-heated bloodpak and stalk angrily out into the hallway leading from the second wing into the atrium. She flipped up her middle finger as she walked through the atrium, past the west wing and into the main foyer.
She wrenched the front door open, greeting whatever was on the other side with a hiss that held enough suppressed anger to fuel the flames of hell for at least half a century.
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