The fire crackled at the center of the cave as the rabbit was being grilled, and Sol observed Katherine with an intrigued look on his face.
While skinning the rabbit, Katherine first extracted its blood and filled up her water sack.
Maybe blood sack should be the appropriate name.
"You know, you can always ask whatever question is in your mind," Katherine said in an irritated tone.
Sol's unflinching gaze had been hounding her down for the past thirty minutes. It had become too much for her to bear.
"What does it taste like?" Sol asked.
His question sent a jolt down Katherine's spine, and she sat up with a stunned look on her face. Since no one had ever asked her this question, she had never thought of it.
All she knew was that blood was the tastiest meal she had come across. She pondered for a few seconds in silence before giving a response.
"It tastes like an exotic thousand-year-old wine you can never get used to," Katherine responded thoughtfully. "It also has this intoxicating effect which makes it more addictive,"
Observing her facial expression while she spoke, Sol was reminded of junkies on earth when asked why they smoke weed. He suppressed his thoughts and restrained himself from telling Katherine what he really thought.
"Does it taste different depending on who you drink from?" Sol asked with a raised eyebrow.
Hearing this, Katherine looked confused and then turned red with embarrassment. Sol could only sit in silence and watch the train of emotions reflecting on her face.
"Well, the thing is. All animal blood tastes the same." She said shyly. "I have never tasted human blood," Katherine added with a reddened face, which averted Sol's eyes.
What?!
Sol was taken aback, but he understood why things were made this way. Human blood was the best delicacy in the universe for vampires and should they have a taste of it there was a possibility that they would be unable to suppress their thirst and start killing people from other alpha families.
This would lead to a war and the vampire race would most likely end up getting wiped out.
"I read a book in my father's library, and I found out that we can gain strength by drinking human blood. However, it increases our bloodlust tenfold." Katherine said with her head lowered.
"The few people that broke the laws of the family grew in strength, but they were hunted down by the entire alpha family and got put down." She said, "I guess the law is there to protect us,"
Sol listened in silence and nodded in understanding. Just as he had expected, his suspicions were right. But then again, power does not exist to be avoided but controlled.
"When you rescued me. I was in a bad condition." Sol said with an intrigued look on his face. "Were you tempted?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Hearing this, Katherine's face turned red again as scenes of that night flashed through her eyes. She remembered inching close to Sol to the point she could feel his breath. Since there was blood on his lips, and it was little, she was tempted to ignore the other parts of his bleeding body and kiss his lips just to have a taste of it.
Ultimately, she was able to restrain herself, mostly because she felt embarrassed.
"I… I didn't do anything!" She said, with her head still lowered.
Her response was weird and Sol didn't know what was going on in her head. He only assumed she was tempted to and that's why she felt embarrassed.
In the end, he chose not to dwell on this thought and remained silent. The rest of the time spent in the cave was done in silence as they both ate.
Sol felt thirsty, but she brought only one water sack with her, and it was constantly filled with blood. While observing her drink from it, Sol noticed some glowing runes on the sack, and he realized this was not a normal water sack.
If it was normal, it wouldn't be able to store blood and keep it in perfect conditions for long, but strangely it could. He didn't ask about it, since he already knew the vampires and witches must have made a deal to have them produce this.
Regardless, it was none of his business.
After they were done eating, Katherine proposed they leave the cave, saying they had been there for too long and their chances of getting caught were rising with each passing second.
In response to this, Sol said he wouldn't be able to leave now. The reason was that his weakened state left him in a bad condition which made moving difficult for him, however, he had no intention of telling her this.
When Katherine asked why, Sol simply said that Luke had transformed into a basilisk during their fight, and he ended up inhaling a staggering amount of poison. While he was able to remain alive due to his demonic bloodline and regenerative abilities, it would take some time before he could fully expel the poison from his body.
Katherine bought this story and since she was unwilling to move without Sol, especially now he had reached the tier-one rank, she decided to stay.
They put out the campfire to avoid attracting unwanted attention and sat in the darkness in silence. Katherine had not gathered any resources to aid her cultivation, so she could only stay there and watch Sol meditate.
He was still at what was referred to as the first sky of the first tier. Rising from that level to a higher level needed more than just world energy. It was from the first tier that cultivation became tricky and difficult. That's why many ends up staying at the first tier all their life.
Right now, what Sol needed to do was to solidify his foundation and truly enter the first sky of the first tier. While he was already at that position, it was only in name.
If he wished to truly become a bona fide tier-one practitioner, he would need to consolidate his power in his sea of consciousness.