Scents
Naomi had known Samael was in the area. They had made her aware of their current presence in her town as soon as they had come, telling her they were staying there for a while as they investigated a lead. The two of them didn’t often cross paths, though. Naomi was grateful for that fact, every interaction between the two had felt awkward ever since she had her unsavory revelation about her own feelings.
Despite the incessant flirting, Naomi knew Samael didn’t feel the same. She was just a tool to them, their weapon that they used to get the job done. They were immortal, they had lived over ten billion years. She was nothing in their eyes. Yet, she could not stop herself from pining. She couldn’t stop herself from watching them anytime she was in their vicinity, couldn’t stop herself from thinking about how cold their skin was the few times she has felt it. It stung to the touch, but she couldn’t bring herself to dislike the feeling.
So she was grateful that they didn’t come by often, and she could continue ignoring the burning in her stomach anytime they were near. She was surprised, however, when they came barreling through her front door.
She had been cooking, something she admittedly wasn’t very good at. As good as she was with knives in battle, they always seemed to disobey her when it came to vegetables. Of course, this led to a few cuts each time she attempted to chop vegetables. This time was no exception. It was a small cut, nothing compared to the many times she had been stabbed in her life, but it still bled. She quickly went to bandage it so to not contaminate her food. About halfway to her bathroom, her front door flew off its hinges, flying through her house until it hit the wall and landed on the floor. She went to jump into a defensive stance, but stopped as a blur flashed through the doorway and stopped in front of her. It was Samael. They looked very wired and alert, as if ready for a fight. Naomi just stood, shocked at the murder of her door and the appearance of Samael.
Eventually, she gained enough composure to speak. “What the fuck?” she said, “What the fuck was that?”
“Are you okay?” Samael asked, a frantic tone to their voice.
“Yes, but my door isn’t! What the hell!” “You’re bleeding?”
“Yeah? I accidentally cut myself.”
Samael looked down, suddenly looking sheepish. They fiddled with the pins on their jacket and kicked at the floor.
“Is that why you kicked down my door?” asked Naomi.
“Maybe…”
“How did you even know?”
Samael blushed, the iridescent color spreading across their cheeks. “I could smell it,” they said.
“My blood. You could smell my blood.” They nodded.
“How? You were a mile away from my house.”
“Well, you have a very distinct smell. And I’ve smelt your blood enough times that I can recognize it.”
“A mile away. You can recognize it from a mile away.”
Samael still looked sheepish, but they nodded anyway. “Yeah.”
“Well. How… does it smell?”
They thought for a bit before answering. “Obviously it has the usual blood smell, iron and salt and all that. But… lavender, I think, is the most prominent smell besides those other smells. And pine. Very strong pine. Some cedar. Rose… and a little vanilla.”
“God,” Naomi snorted, but she couldn’t cover the blush that was spreading across her cheeks, “You sound like a wine taster.”
“That is kind of what it’s like. Each person's blood is different. It tastes different, smells different. It changes depending on what they eat and what their personality is like,” they paused for a moment, then went on. “I’ve smelt most of those scents on other humans before, but I’ve only ever smelt lavender on other Azurians. Never rose though. I’ve never smelt rose before.”
They stayed silent, standing there in an awkward silence for a few minutes before Samael spoke. “I’ll, um, fix your door.”
“No, I can do it myself. I’ve got a few practical skills up my sleeve,” Naomi said.
“You shouldn’t have to though, I broke it, I'll fix it. It’ll be quicker anyways.”
“But I can do it.”
“I know you can, but you don’t always have to do everything yourself. Besides, you have a wound to attend to. You’ve been bleeding out this entire time.”
Naomi looked down at her hand and quickly realized she had completely forgotten about bandaging her cut. The floor beneath her was riddled with drops of blood. “Oh shit,” she whispered, and quickly ran to stop the blood that was still flowing. When she returned with a freshly bandaged hand, her door was back on its hinges and Samael was gone. The only evidence that the interaction had even happened was the scuffs from the door hitting the wall opposite of it.