The Warm Taste by Julia Leijon

Author:Julia Leijon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: vampires, gay, lgbt, paranormal, erotic romance, coffee shop, blog, loner
Publisher: NineStar Press

Chapter Seven

Robin

In Robin’s opinion, hospitals were pretty much the crappiest locations in the entire universe.

He knew objectively that hospitals had a huge number of positive purposes. They were where people healed from injury, and were treated for illnesses. It was where suffering was minimized. New lives started in hospitals every day, even if those births weren’t without their own unique traumas.

Even so, Robin loathed them. He hated the scents of fevered wounds and medicines, of reheated food and harsh cleaning products that never fully hid the smells of ailing human bodies. He associated that symphony of elements on the air with a unique strain of brutality that he couldn’t put a name to; he would have blamed this association on the hospital he’d been in during the war, but felt quite certain that he would have felt it regardless of his own experiences.

It was the first time in many years that he’d set foot inside a hospital, and in the decades since the last occasion a new note had joined the familiar ones in the bouquet: machinery. Robin could hardly fathom the amount of electronic equipment in the rooms and floors around him. Humans would only be able to hear and smell a fraction of what Robin could but, even so, he couldn’t help but imagine that all those alarms and beeps and whirrs and all the other metallic and digital noises were grating even on dulled, living ears.

The efficiency of the nurses as they went about their work reminded Robin of Sarah. They had her same friendly professionalism; a natural kindness toward everyone they dealt with. A desire to do good work, teamed with a self-preservation that allowed emotional distance.

It was evening, well past official visiting hours, but Martin had assured Robin that it wouldn’t be a problem. “Nobody stops you when you’re walking down a hospital corridor with a bunch of flowers, trust me. I’ve visited Polly at all hours over the years and never had an issue.”

“And he knows we’re coming?” Robin reconfirmed. “It’s not going to be a surprise visit out of the blue?”

“He knows we’re coming. It’s fine. Are you okay? You seem like you’re freaking out.”

Robin managed to give Martin a tight smile. “It’s no big deal. Just not a big fan of hospitals.”

The explanation was standard enough that Martin took it at face value.

Ben had his own room, small enough that Robin felt as if they were crowding it by entering. He guessed, from the moldings on the window and the proportions of the space, that it was at least eighty years old, perhaps ninety. No amount of clever designing and arranging could make the room large enough to comfortably fit all the modern equipment that needed to be around the bed, and so the overall effect was of a room with more furniture than air. There weren’t any flowers visible, or “best wishes” cards left out on display.

Ben himself was lying in the bed, his arm encircled above the elbow with a

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