Blood and Tea

The liquor brewed up a deep red.

I love the color. Red has always been my favorite, and to combine it with black tea? Delicious. As I smell the leaves in my diffuser, I catch the notes of dark earth and smoke, so similar but so different from the scents wafting up from the riverside. “What is this?” I ask my beloved.

My beloved grins, all sharp teeth and bright eyes. “A wonderful blend I found through that subscription box I told you about. It’s from the Simpson and Vail Company. Their Edgar Allen Poe Black Tea Blend.”

I smile. I take another deep breath, admiring both the scent and the china. My beloved had chosen a cheeky set for this evening to go with the cheeky spread. The blue and white porcelain was decorated with scenes of destruction by aliens and kaiju through a city. I love this set, though the set that is decorated in gilt spider webs is still my favorite. “I detect . . . is that Lapsang Souchong?”

“And shou puerh. They’ve also added dried beet root to give it that wonderful red color. I know how much you love red.”

I sip, the mellow taste coating my tongue. I reach for the honey, adding just a bit of sweetness. I chuckle at the honey pot - a little caldron. “I take it Simpson and Vail has a catalog that we will be working through?”

My beloved nods. “I have yet to order other offerings, but the quality of this one speaks well of them. They have a variety of single origin teas that I am excited to sample.”

“I am as well.” I reach for a morsel from the table. The tea sandwiches are cut into little bones and skulls, and the cakes are decorated like slices of skin. The bonbons are chocolate eyeballs. My beloved loves the Halloween season. “And this?”

“You know my preferences,” my beloved murmurs, voice going low. “This one was a bit too fond of molesting the young fillies.” A series of tuts flows from sharp, white teeth. “Simply had to be put down.”

“I would say a shame, but he was the high school’s gym teacher was he not?”

“Yes, and I assure you that I am going to make sure they hire someone better qualified. He was a rancid human being. The youth of this town deserve much better than that.”

I pick up my wine glass, sipping the deep crimson liquid. The metallic taste chases the pleasantness of the tea away. I cock my head. “If only blood was suitable to brew tea with. I would much prefer it.”

My beloved chuckles as I look back out over the river. The river where I was baptized into this life years and years ago. I can still smell the smoke and damp earth from years before, hear the screaming of the master’s family. I had been shot in the fighting, the overseer cursing us as he fired blindly into the night. My beloved had always lingered here among the Spanish moss and rice fields, feeding off of the malaria stricken colonizers. I remember my head disappearing under the water, the pinch at my neck, the darkness coming over me.

I have never liked the taste of blood.

“I know, my love, I know.” My beloved hands me another morsel. “But this life requires blood.”

I sigh, popping the morsel into my mouth. “Life may require blood, but at least tea is there to help chase it down.”

My beloved laughs. “To tea and blood!”

I raise my cup, and our mirth floats across the humid sky.

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Author’s Note: The tea blend mentioned in this story is a real one, and one I highly recommend. You can get it from svtea.com. The tea set is also a real one and can be viewed at Calamityware.com. I am not affiliated with either, but I wanted to share them since I love them so much!