HAPPY HALLOWEEN, BENCHES! :D
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, BENCHES! :D
Title: With The Moon I Run
Authors: hatemetoday_xx (initial idea), writinchica2k (additional plot and execution)
Genre: Alternate Universe. With vampires. YEAHHHHHH BOIIIIII. Little bit of True Blood, little bit of Masquerade, little bit of The Last Vampire little bit of Twilight KIDDING ON THAT LAST PART! Plznotomatoestheygivemethehives ):
Pairs: vamp!Gary M/human!Drew with vamp!Jesse/human!Mookie. Mmm, visual aids...
Word count: 2760
Rating: I'll say PG13, mostly for what's at the end. Nothing too graphic.
Disclaimer: If you think this is real...well, I guess I'll write my next fic about myself as a billionaire heiress and see what happens there ;) Title and cut text lyric from Kings of Leon's "Closer."
Red and black. The two colors that pulsated from timed intervals from the neon lights, and the two colors that will never get old to Gary. Watching the dancers on the floor, he elegantly raised the goblet to his lips and swallowed the concoction before him. The coppery tang was missing from the taste he'd once been used to, but whatever satisfied his hunger enough to prevent the bloodlust frenzies of the uncontrolled...
Perched on the other end of the club's sofa and huddled into a ball, his current (and most favorite) human pet Drew was content with his glass of water. His one try of the concoction had left him sick throughout the next day, and he didn't trust this establishment's other denizens enough to allow himself to be drunk. Whatever made him comfortable.
Gary smiled and licked his lips as he did whenever his pet came to mind. If anyone was better than the average creature at keeping a double identity it was certainly Drew- capable businessman by day, willing vampire lover by night. He played both roles so well even a mind-reader as excellent as Gary could barely tell which personality was really his.
Not that was being tricked at all. It had literally been decades since he was able to trust a lover, and finally finding that trust was a relief.
He beckoned. Drew didn't need to be asked twice. With a tiny smile he scooted to the other end of the sofa and let himself be taken in by an embrace that seemed to cast shadows over him. Darkness meant anonymity.
"Did I ever tell you," Gary began, "that you remind me of a boyfriend I took in London? He didn't look anything like you, of course, but such a sweet soul."
"Just as long as I don't have to be jealous," Drew said before taking another sip.
The creature chuckled sadly. "That needn't be an issue, my pet. He died in World War One."
Drew just shook his head, unaware of how he was being lovingly gazed over.
The part about his soul wasn't mere flattery on Gary's part. Reincarnation, if not necessarily of a person's memory but their soul was not as rare as some of the so-called "experts" wished people to believe. (Given these were the same experts who invented the blood substitute so vampires could go without feeding, the hypocrisy was not lost on anyone.) Gary had never encountered such a phenomenon until the first night Drew had slinked into the club, trying to look as anonymous as possible. No, he didn't look the same as dear Edward at all, but a glance in his deep blue eyes had left Gary as dizzy and powerless as he imagined he'd left anyone in his old days of killing.
Being one of the few vampires left to remember life before the substitute's creation meant occasionally dealing with urges. Nasty urges that fogged his mind with red and black and wouldn't allow him to look at a human's neck- even his own pet's- without mental images of tearing it to shreds. In those instances, it was the best strategy to isolate oneself until the urges passed, and Drew understood. That was part of what made him such a sweet soul.
Now Drew set down his water and said, "I'll be right back," heading for the heavily-guarded humans-only washrooms. Gary didn't even have to crane his neck. It was about trust.
Drew wasn't gone long before he felt the presence of a shadow in front of him. Gary looked up from his goblet to see a trim figure decked in a style that hadn't been in style for a few decades. (Tackiest era in human history, Gary had decided. To make his own private pun, he wouldn't be caught *dead* in those clothes.) Just behind him, held on a leash, was a reed-thin kid with his head bowed, certainly taller than the first figure but exuded no power whatsoever.
"Garrison," the figure finally said, flashing a toothy smile.
"Jesse," Gary nodded, keeping his voice in check.
"Saw your little toy with you just now," Jesse lilted. "He sure is pretty. Sure you still don't wanna swap?" He tugged on the kid's leash, making him cough and squirm in discomfort.
Gary frowned. Jesse had been one of the last few vampires sired legally (if there ever was such a thing, even by laws of the undead) before the blood substitute had been created, and thus still old enough to remember when humans were merely blood-banks with sex drives. No doubt a waking life of cheap horror movies had instilled this mentality he'd likely never mature out of.
"I'm afraid the answer is still no," Gary said with a careful gaze as Jesse perched on the sofa's arm.
"Sit down, for Christ's sake!" Jesse rudely yanked on the leash and the kid collapsed to the floor with a cry of pain.
"It's no wonder you change your pets like humans change socks," the older creature raised his voice. "We're supposed to treat them with respect!"
Jesse scoffed. "You honestly can't believe these fleshpots are equal to us. 'Least I change mine before they wear out, unlike your doll that's gettin' older by the day and still doesn't want to be turned."
"You know the ramifications of that," Gary slit his eyes and curled his fingers into the cushion so he wouldn't get up and beat some sense into this punk right on the club floor.
"Listen," the younger creature tossed the leash away from him, but the kid still lay curled on the floor. "I didn't come here to be insulted by your foppish dandy ass. I wanted to give you a heads-up."
Gary was going to pretend he didn't hear the first part of that and took another sip. "About what?"
"About a staking outside Our Lady of Grace last night. A girl."
The creature drew a heavy sigh and set his goblet down. The Leopold Society. Who else? Gary would've thought they'd developed the sense to desist their antics, or at least not be so...flamboyant about their beliefs. That didn't appear to be the case. He had been on the run from country to continent during his time to escape all manners of vampire hunter, and the fundamentalist Leopolds were among the most frightening- and he was the one who was supposed to scare the wits out of people.
"You've been on their hitlist a lonnng time, Garrison. 'Specially after bustin' up that fake serum ring they thought they'd weaken us with. Wouldn't want you or your doll caught in a sticky situation." Jesse licked his lips again.
Now he had moved from sleazy to plain sickening. Gary rose to his feet, not quite towering over the younger creature but appearing intimidating nonetheless. Meanwhile the kid on the floor stayed huddled in fear.
"If you are thinking of implicating Drew or I into whatever you have planned with the Leopold Society-" he made a very distinct point of saying "with" instead of "against"- "I would think again. I'm older and more powerful than you could ever dream to be, and certainly more mature. You will always be a brat with little regard for your kind- or anyone else's." Gary shifted his gaze to the kid on the floor, not sitting up straighter but at least had uncovered his eyes.
Jesse stood, crossed his arms, and shook his head. "I'm on your side more than you realize. You've just forgotten what humans can get up, since it's been a gazillion years since you've been one of these meatbags," he finished with a defiant jab at the older creature's chest.
Gary stood his ground and didn't dare flinch, even as he felt the presence of a returning Drew behind him. "You couldn't be any more wrong, Jesse. I've witnessed 300 years of human atrocity, had lovers die in my arms, and done everything I could to survive and keep my dignity. You disgust me, and that's saying plenty."
Jesse clenched his fists and curled his lips in a snarl. "You can't hold on to what you have forever," was his parting shot as he turned on his heels and walked off, not even bothering to grab at his pet on the floor.
Gary turned, gently wrapped an arm around Drew, and sat them back down. "Almost thought you left me there, dear one."
"I don't like him," was all he explained before he looked down to the kid. "Hey...you wanna sit wth us?"
Slowly the kidd pulled himself to sitting position and looked the creature in the eye. Gary nodded, and he carefully gathered himself to perch on a cushion.
"Whatever it is that Jesse has told you...don't take it personally," Gary explained. "That's his pattern: he takes a human, degrades them, makes them feel like nothing without him, then gets bored and looks for another conquest. He won't have a hold on you much longer."
The kid looked to his hands that were fiddling with the leash and said in a low, rasped voice: "He took me in when no one else would. Kinda owe him something."
Drew visibly flinched.
The creature sighed, took an associate's card from his jacket pocket, and slid it in the kid's hands. "If Jesse doesn't isolate you from making a phone call or e-mail, use this. I met him when I was hiding in Alberta during Vietnam, he lives here now. He's a kind soul, he'd be much better for you- if that's what you want."
The kid took the card in his fingers, shrugged, and tucked it in a pocket. "I gotta get back," he mumbled and stood to follow Jesse back to wherever he was on the dance floor. It took much will for Gary to pretend he didn't see the collar shift to expose a shallow puncture mark.
"And I thought it was just humans who could be callous and abusive," Drew said softly as he watched the kid's retreating form.
"It's the same all over the world, pet," the creature said, gently rubbing at Drew's shoulder and kissed his forehead with affection. "Care for one more dance before we call it a night?" The music had shifted slightly to a minor key, not that it stopped many a party-goer from their frenzied movements.
Drew nodded and they stood, finding a free spot on the floor to wrap their arms around each other and become lost in the middling bass and each other's loving gaze.
"You're very light on your feet," Drew complimented as he pressed his body close, not that he'd feel a heartbeat, but the contact was loving all the same.
Gary allowed himself another chuckle. "I didn't spend my time in Vienna as a top ballroom instructor for nothing," he said, giving his pet an old-fashioned twirl to demonstrate. The glee on the man's face was the most he'd experienced all evening.
"I've always wanted to see Italy."
"It wouldn't be the same," Gary said simply, instead giving Drew another tender kiss. Whoever said vampires weren't meant to feel human emotions (likely those same "experts" again) were frankly, missing a few emotions themselves. Drew sighed, but in bliss, as shut his eyes as the music continued, while Gary gazed at him with same continued adoration he hadn't felt in such a long while.
A bizarre crack sounded, and for a split-second Gary thought it to be part of the music, but the ear-splitting scream and instant panic of bodies proved that wrong.
"Shit!" He grabbed a wide-eyed Drew by the hands and pulled him towards a fire exit while most everyone else trampled for the main doors.
"What- what- Gary, what's going on?!"
"I don't know, might be hunters. Just pipe down and follow me!" He ducked them low as two more cracks sounded that were likely bullets. Gary only turned his head back once, not to see any bodies hit the floor, but for his eyesight to catch the kid slip out the main door in time. At least he'd be safe. Jesse was nowhere to be spotted, not that the creature could bring himself to care.
The two dashed out the fire exit, setting off the alarm, and ran a few breathless blocks before ducking into an alley littered with cardboard boxes and brightly colored snack wrappers (hadn't litter before always seemed gray?). Gary leaned against a wall while Drew all but collapsed to the ground, panting- no supernatural stamina for him.
"Oh god...oh god...ohhhh god," Drew murmured over and over before he was able to stand up. He leaned against Gary, fingers curled to grab at the lapels of his suit. Even in the darkness, the creature could see the fear and weariness on his face.
"It's all right, pet," he whispered and laid a comforting hand on the back of his head. "Whoever it was in there couldn't have been going after us specifically, or they would've gotten us right away." Jesse's comment about the Leopold Society came back to him and he briefly shivered. "Either way, we're not going back to that club again, if security's going to slack like that," he added.
The man slowly shook his head. "How can you put up with all this?" he wavered. "You said it yourself, you've lived a long time, and all that time humans..." His voice cracked on the word as if he resented his own species.
"I've accepted it, dear one," was all Gary said and rubbed his hand around soothingly. But he didn't get to do it long; as quickly as it always struck, the fog of hunger clouded behind his eyes and he drew away with a cry of pain. The man stepped back.
"Gary...you didn't finish your goblet, did you?" he asked hoarsely.
The creature shook his head and crouched, keeping his gaze to the ground. "Run back to the house without me...take a taxi if you have to...I'll need to break into a blood bank and...you've witnessed enough tonight..." He clamped a hand over his face as another flash of pain struck, or maybe it was in reaction to the sirens heading in the direction of the club.
There was a long moment of silence and scuffling of feet, which briefly sounded like Drew was going home. But Gary couldn't have expected instead for the man to kneel down to eye level, his expression as solemn as it had been all evening before the fiasco, with an arm upturned. There were a few faint scars on his wrist he had seen before but never pushed to question about, figuring Drew would be honest when the time was right.
The implication of this action left the creature to shudder. "Please, pet...it's not necessary..."
"Yes it is, Gary, if those Leopolds or whoever they were are out right now, do you think you'll be able to sneak in anyplace? You know how much to take, and didn't I promise when I agreed to be yours that I'd help you when you needed it?"
He didn't say anything, because he knew all of that was true. He would know how much to take, and a tiny drop of his own blood later could seal any cut he made. But was this worth the risk of a bloodlust frenzy, of destroying the decency and dignity he had built for himself after overcoming years of being less than human?
"Gary, please."
He reached for the wrist. He never was able to resist when his pet begged like that, even if he was usually asking for something more orthodox.
Ever so carefully, the edge of one fang slid along the man's skin away from a vein, slicing a line barely a few millimeters deep. The line of crimson almost appeared black in the night. Drew winced, but didn't give any indication to stop.
Gary laid his lips over the wound and lightly began sucking. There was the coppery tang to the taste he had to admit he'd missed after decades of synthetics. There was the rush of the thrill of the feed, not only for survival but the satisfaction of catching a fine feast.
He briefly moved his gaze upwards to see Drew's expression, eyes closed, lips parted, skin not yet paled from too much blood loss...and there was the shudder of pleasure he'd heard many a time, not just during a feeding.
Pleasure through the red and the black.
Title: With The Moon I Run
Authors: hatemetoday_xx (initial idea), writinchica2k (additional plot and execution)
Genre: Alternate Universe. With vampires. YEAHHHHHH BOIIIIII. Little bit of True Blood, little bit of Masquerade, little bit of The Last Vampire little bit of Twilight KIDDING ON THAT LAST PART! Plznotomatoestheygivemethehives ):
Pairs: vamp!Gary M/human!Drew with vamp!Jesse/human!Mookie. Mmm, visual aids...
Word count: 2760
Rating: I'll say PG13, mostly for what's at the end. Nothing too graphic.
Disclaimer: If you think this is real...well, I guess I'll write my next fic about myself as a billionaire heiress and see what happens there ;) Title and cut text lyric from Kings of Leon's "Closer."
Red and black. The two colors that pulsated from timed intervals from the neon lights, and the two colors that will never get old to Gary. Watching the dancers on the floor, he elegantly raised the goblet to his lips and swallowed the concoction before him. The coppery tang was missing from the taste he'd once been used to, but whatever satisfied his hunger enough to prevent the bloodlust frenzies of the uncontrolled...
Perched on the other end of the club's sofa and huddled into a ball, his current (and most favorite) human pet Drew was content with his glass of water. His one try of the concoction had left him sick throughout the next day, and he didn't trust this establishment's other denizens enough to allow himself to be drunk. Whatever made him comfortable.
Gary smiled and licked his lips as he did whenever his pet came to mind. If anyone was better than the average creature at keeping a double identity it was certainly Drew- capable businessman by day, willing vampire lover by night. He played both roles so well even a mind-reader as excellent as Gary could barely tell which personality was really his.
Not that was being tricked at all. It had literally been decades since he was able to trust a lover, and finally finding that trust was a relief.
He beckoned. Drew didn't need to be asked twice. With a tiny smile he scooted to the other end of the sofa and let himself be taken in by an embrace that seemed to cast shadows over him. Darkness meant anonymity.
"Did I ever tell you," Gary began, "that you remind me of a boyfriend I took in London? He didn't look anything like you, of course, but such a sweet soul."
"Just as long as I don't have to be jealous," Drew said before taking another sip.
The creature chuckled sadly. "That needn't be an issue, my pet. He died in World War One."
Drew just shook his head, unaware of how he was being lovingly gazed over.
The part about his soul wasn't mere flattery on Gary's part. Reincarnation, if not necessarily of a person's memory but their soul was not as rare as some of the so-called "experts" wished people to believe. (Given these were the same experts who invented the blood substitute so vampires could go without feeding, the hypocrisy was not lost on anyone.) Gary had never encountered such a phenomenon until the first night Drew had slinked into the club, trying to look as anonymous as possible. No, he didn't look the same as dear Edward at all, but a glance in his deep blue eyes had left Gary as dizzy and powerless as he imagined he'd left anyone in his old days of killing.
Being one of the few vampires left to remember life before the substitute's creation meant occasionally dealing with urges. Nasty urges that fogged his mind with red and black and wouldn't allow him to look at a human's neck- even his own pet's- without mental images of tearing it to shreds. In those instances, it was the best strategy to isolate oneself until the urges passed, and Drew understood. That was part of what made him such a sweet soul.
Now Drew set down his water and said, "I'll be right back," heading for the heavily-guarded humans-only washrooms. Gary didn't even have to crane his neck. It was about trust.
Drew wasn't gone long before he felt the presence of a shadow in front of him. Gary looked up from his goblet to see a trim figure decked in a style that hadn't been in style for a few decades. (Tackiest era in human history, Gary had decided. To make his own private pun, he wouldn't be caught *dead* in those clothes.) Just behind him, held on a leash, was a reed-thin kid with his head bowed, certainly taller than the first figure but exuded no power whatsoever.
"Garrison," the figure finally said, flashing a toothy smile.
"Jesse," Gary nodded, keeping his voice in check.
"Saw your little toy with you just now," Jesse lilted. "He sure is pretty. Sure you still don't wanna swap?" He tugged on the kid's leash, making him cough and squirm in discomfort.
Gary frowned. Jesse had been one of the last few vampires sired legally (if there ever was such a thing, even by laws of the undead) before the blood substitute had been created, and thus still old enough to remember when humans were merely blood-banks with sex drives. No doubt a waking life of cheap horror movies had instilled this mentality he'd likely never mature out of.
"I'm afraid the answer is still no," Gary said with a careful gaze as Jesse perched on the sofa's arm.
"Sit down, for Christ's sake!" Jesse rudely yanked on the leash and the kid collapsed to the floor with a cry of pain.
"It's no wonder you change your pets like humans change socks," the older creature raised his voice. "We're supposed to treat them with respect!"
Jesse scoffed. "You honestly can't believe these fleshpots are equal to us. 'Least I change mine before they wear out, unlike your doll that's gettin' older by the day and still doesn't want to be turned."
"You know the ramifications of that," Gary slit his eyes and curled his fingers into the cushion so he wouldn't get up and beat some sense into this punk right on the club floor.
"Listen," the younger creature tossed the leash away from him, but the kid still lay curled on the floor. "I didn't come here to be insulted by your foppish dandy ass. I wanted to give you a heads-up."
Gary was going to pretend he didn't hear the first part of that and took another sip. "About what?"
"About a staking outside Our Lady of Grace last night. A girl."
The creature drew a heavy sigh and set his goblet down. The Leopold Society. Who else? Gary would've thought they'd developed the sense to desist their antics, or at least not be so...flamboyant about their beliefs. That didn't appear to be the case. He had been on the run from country to continent during his time to escape all manners of vampire hunter, and the fundamentalist Leopolds were among the most frightening- and he was the one who was supposed to scare the wits out of people.
"You've been on their hitlist a lonnng time, Garrison. 'Specially after bustin' up that fake serum ring they thought they'd weaken us with. Wouldn't want you or your doll caught in a sticky situation." Jesse licked his lips again.
Now he had moved from sleazy to plain sickening. Gary rose to his feet, not quite towering over the younger creature but appearing intimidating nonetheless. Meanwhile the kid on the floor stayed huddled in fear.
"If you are thinking of implicating Drew or I into whatever you have planned with the Leopold Society-" he made a very distinct point of saying "with" instead of "against"- "I would think again. I'm older and more powerful than you could ever dream to be, and certainly more mature. You will always be a brat with little regard for your kind- or anyone else's." Gary shifted his gaze to the kid on the floor, not sitting up straighter but at least had uncovered his eyes.
Jesse stood, crossed his arms, and shook his head. "I'm on your side more than you realize. You've just forgotten what humans can get up, since it's been a gazillion years since you've been one of these meatbags," he finished with a defiant jab at the older creature's chest.
Gary stood his ground and didn't dare flinch, even as he felt the presence of a returning Drew behind him. "You couldn't be any more wrong, Jesse. I've witnessed 300 years of human atrocity, had lovers die in my arms, and done everything I could to survive and keep my dignity. You disgust me, and that's saying plenty."
Jesse clenched his fists and curled his lips in a snarl. "You can't hold on to what you have forever," was his parting shot as he turned on his heels and walked off, not even bothering to grab at his pet on the floor.
Gary turned, gently wrapped an arm around Drew, and sat them back down. "Almost thought you left me there, dear one."
"I don't like him," was all he explained before he looked down to the kid. "Hey...you wanna sit wth us?"
Slowly the kidd pulled himself to sitting position and looked the creature in the eye. Gary nodded, and he carefully gathered himself to perch on a cushion.
"Whatever it is that Jesse has told you...don't take it personally," Gary explained. "That's his pattern: he takes a human, degrades them, makes them feel like nothing without him, then gets bored and looks for another conquest. He won't have a hold on you much longer."
The kid looked to his hands that were fiddling with the leash and said in a low, rasped voice: "He took me in when no one else would. Kinda owe him something."
Drew visibly flinched.
The creature sighed, took an associate's card from his jacket pocket, and slid it in the kid's hands. "If Jesse doesn't isolate you from making a phone call or e-mail, use this. I met him when I was hiding in Alberta during Vietnam, he lives here now. He's a kind soul, he'd be much better for you- if that's what you want."
The kid took the card in his fingers, shrugged, and tucked it in a pocket. "I gotta get back," he mumbled and stood to follow Jesse back to wherever he was on the dance floor. It took much will for Gary to pretend he didn't see the collar shift to expose a shallow puncture mark.
"And I thought it was just humans who could be callous and abusive," Drew said softly as he watched the kid's retreating form.
"It's the same all over the world, pet," the creature said, gently rubbing at Drew's shoulder and kissed his forehead with affection. "Care for one more dance before we call it a night?" The music had shifted slightly to a minor key, not that it stopped many a party-goer from their frenzied movements.
Drew nodded and they stood, finding a free spot on the floor to wrap their arms around each other and become lost in the middling bass and each other's loving gaze.
"You're very light on your feet," Drew complimented as he pressed his body close, not that he'd feel a heartbeat, but the contact was loving all the same.
Gary allowed himself another chuckle. "I didn't spend my time in Vienna as a top ballroom instructor for nothing," he said, giving his pet an old-fashioned twirl to demonstrate. The glee on the man's face was the most he'd experienced all evening.
"I've always wanted to see Italy."
"It wouldn't be the same," Gary said simply, instead giving Drew another tender kiss. Whoever said vampires weren't meant to feel human emotions (likely those same "experts" again) were frankly, missing a few emotions themselves. Drew sighed, but in bliss, as shut his eyes as the music continued, while Gary gazed at him with same continued adoration he hadn't felt in such a long while.
A bizarre crack sounded, and for a split-second Gary thought it to be part of the music, but the ear-splitting scream and instant panic of bodies proved that wrong.
"Shit!" He grabbed a wide-eyed Drew by the hands and pulled him towards a fire exit while most everyone else trampled for the main doors.
"What- what- Gary, what's going on?!"
"I don't know, might be hunters. Just pipe down and follow me!" He ducked them low as two more cracks sounded that were likely bullets. Gary only turned his head back once, not to see any bodies hit the floor, but for his eyesight to catch the kid slip out the main door in time. At least he'd be safe. Jesse was nowhere to be spotted, not that the creature could bring himself to care.
The two dashed out the fire exit, setting off the alarm, and ran a few breathless blocks before ducking into an alley littered with cardboard boxes and brightly colored snack wrappers (hadn't litter before always seemed gray?). Gary leaned against a wall while Drew all but collapsed to the ground, panting- no supernatural stamina for him.
"Oh god...oh god...ohhhh god," Drew murmured over and over before he was able to stand up. He leaned against Gary, fingers curled to grab at the lapels of his suit. Even in the darkness, the creature could see the fear and weariness on his face.
"It's all right, pet," he whispered and laid a comforting hand on the back of his head. "Whoever it was in there couldn't have been going after us specifically, or they would've gotten us right away." Jesse's comment about the Leopold Society came back to him and he briefly shivered. "Either way, we're not going back to that club again, if security's going to slack like that," he added.
The man slowly shook his head. "How can you put up with all this?" he wavered. "You said it yourself, you've lived a long time, and all that time humans..." His voice cracked on the word as if he resented his own species.
"I've accepted it, dear one," was all Gary said and rubbed his hand around soothingly. But he didn't get to do it long; as quickly as it always struck, the fog of hunger clouded behind his eyes and he drew away with a cry of pain. The man stepped back.
"Gary...you didn't finish your goblet, did you?" he asked hoarsely.
The creature shook his head and crouched, keeping his gaze to the ground. "Run back to the house without me...take a taxi if you have to...I'll need to break into a blood bank and...you've witnessed enough tonight..." He clamped a hand over his face as another flash of pain struck, or maybe it was in reaction to the sirens heading in the direction of the club.
There was a long moment of silence and scuffling of feet, which briefly sounded like Drew was going home. But Gary couldn't have expected instead for the man to kneel down to eye level, his expression as solemn as it had been all evening before the fiasco, with an arm upturned. There were a few faint scars on his wrist he had seen before but never pushed to question about, figuring Drew would be honest when the time was right.
The implication of this action left the creature to shudder. "Please, pet...it's not necessary..."
"Yes it is, Gary, if those Leopolds or whoever they were are out right now, do you think you'll be able to sneak in anyplace? You know how much to take, and didn't I promise when I agreed to be yours that I'd help you when you needed it?"
He didn't say anything, because he knew all of that was true. He would know how much to take, and a tiny drop of his own blood later could seal any cut he made. But was this worth the risk of a bloodlust frenzy, of destroying the decency and dignity he had built for himself after overcoming years of being less than human?
"Gary, please."
He reached for the wrist. He never was able to resist when his pet begged like that, even if he was usually asking for something more orthodox.
Ever so carefully, the edge of one fang slid along the man's skin away from a vein, slicing a line barely a few millimeters deep. The line of crimson almost appeared black in the night. Drew winced, but didn't give any indication to stop.
Gary laid his lips over the wound and lightly began sucking. There was the coppery tang to the taste he had to admit he'd missed after decades of synthetics. There was the rush of the thrill of the feed, not only for survival but the satisfaction of catching a fine feast.
He briefly moved his gaze upwards to see Drew's expression, eyes closed, lips parted, skin not yet paled from too much blood loss...and there was the shudder of pleasure he'd heard many a time, not just during a feeding.
Pleasure through the red and the black.