Asao exhales yet another audible sigh, then focuses on Nino again as he turns to leave the room. “Am I okay to leave you with him? You’re in your right mind?”
“I’m alright,” Nino promises. “It just smells nice… in here.”
Asao firmly pats his shoulder before leaving the room. Nino takes a deep breath. The wonderful scent flooding his nostrils is slowly dissipating, as if Haruka is drawing his energy back into himself. Nino focuses his thoughts and rolls his shoulders. It takes a few seconds of jumping and wiggling his body, but soon, his eyes have burned out.
When he’s finished and glances down at Haruka on the floor, his friend is looking up at Nino as if he’s insane. “No more glowing eyes.” Nino smiles, his palms up in submission. “May I sit with you?”
Haruka presses his long fingers into his forehead and closes his eyes. “Yes.”
Stepping over Gael’s bulky, unmoving body, Nino rests on his knees directly in front of Haruka. “Rough night?”
“To say the least,” Haruka grumbles, his eyes still closed with his fingers massaging his forehead.
“You have real power.” Nino stares, awestruck at the memory of what he’s just seen. “I’ve heard of vampires in the past having supernatural abilities, but I’ve never seen anyone physically manipulate their aura like that. It’s incredible.”
With his eyes still closed, the corner of Haruka’s mouth twists up in a bitter smirk. “Do not be so impressed by my sheer desperation to survive. I am a disgrace to my bloodline.”
Old blood. Nino stifles the urge to roll his eyes at the dramatic statement. But he firmly comes to a decision. “Don’t feed from Elsie. You don’t even want to and you can’t trust her.”
Haruka opens his eyes. Instead of their usual deep brown, they’re milky and washed out. He looks so tired, gray and miserable that Nino’s heart breaks.
“I cannot survive like this,” Haruka breathes, his voice brittle. “I have no choice.”
“Would you… feel comfortable feeding from me?” Nino asks.
Haruka stares with his translucent eyes, unblinking for a long moment before he answers. “What do you want in return?”
Nino shakes his head. “Nothing. I don’t want anything from you. Well, maybe I would want you to be healthy and not sitting here looking miserable.”
Haruka’s gaze is searching. Disbelieving. Like if he looks hard enough, he’ll find the answer to his question. “And you truly require nothing of me as recompence?”
“Nothing,” Nino repeats.
Haruka shifts his eyes away, considering something. It feels like several seconds before he meets Nino’s gaze again. “May I have your hand?”
“My hand?” Nino tilts his head.
“Yes… please,” Haruka says, his gaunt expression finally softening. Nino holds his open palm in between them and Haruka gently takes hold of his wrist. His fingertips are cool as he pulls Nino’s palm toward his mouth. The innocent contact sends warm tingles up Nino’s arm.
Haruka hesitates briefly. He keeps his eyes on Nino as he softly licks then bites into the base of his palm near his thumb. He feels Haruka’s incisors elongate to pierce his skin. Slowly, Haruka’s eyes alight, burning bright crimson as he feeds.
He doesn’t feed long. Nor does he pull deeply. When he finishes, he lifts his head from Nino’s palm, neatly licking the quickly healing puncture marks before sitting up straight. He intentionally breathes in, then out. Nino can physically feel the subtle shift in Haruka’s innate energy, as if something hidden is gradually swelling. Cool and strong.
When Haruka looks at him, the apprehension in his eyes is obvious. “Thank you, Nino,” he says, his irises slowly burning out.
“You’re welcome. How do you feel? Much less miserable?”
It’s quiet—barely perceptible—but Haruka breathes a soft laugh through his nose. “Yes… much less.”
Late the next morning, Nino paces the room with his smartphone, desperately searching for service. The dramatic, old stone castle set in the sweeping English countryside isn’t exactly cellular friendly.
When he finds a promising spot in his bedroom beside a full-sized medieval suit of armor, he quickly hits speed dial for his best friend. After three rings she picks up.
“Ciao ciao,” she says warmly, making Nino smile.
“She answers,” he teases. “It’s a miracle.”
“You always call me when I’m in the museum working. Don’t be a brat. How’s Sussex? I hear it’s pretty shitty this time of year?”
“English weather.” Nino shrugs, relaxing back against the faded red-gold tapestry hanging from the wall. “Things are okay. The ceremony was as awkward as I thought it would be.”
“No kidding. Yuck. Well, actually… I guess it could be hot, depending on the couple?”
“It wasn’t. And one of the grooms-to-be attacked Haruka in the middle of the night.”
Nino pauses for reaction and Cellina delivers. Her typically sultry voice is practically a shriek.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“It’s been crazy here, Lina. You know I get the occasional weirdo in my bar, but the stuff Haruka goes through is next level.”
“No wonder he hides in his house all the time,” Cellina says. “Poor guy.”
Nino rubs the back of his neck, a small grin forming on his lips. “I… offered myself to him. Last night.”
He pauses again, but instead of the anticipated reaction, the silence goes on a little too long. “Lina?”
