we all have a hunger;;

Hakan was never surprised by Gael's willingness to give his blood away. They had met at Just A Bite, so he could not say that he should have expected any less. The human was a thrall that got off on the pleasure of vampires sinking their fangs into any part of his body. The Count had decided a long time ago that he did so crave this one human's blood. Normally, he was more interested in blood of the druidic nature, but he had changed his mind several times before. Now it felt like he could only ever think about Gael's blood. Which probably said more than he ever cared to admit, but it was a true fact that he did not mind saying aloud in front of the human. If anyone else asked him, he probably would have lied right to their face. Still, his finger drifted across that vein that was partially hidden beneath the diamond collar around the other's neck.

He really was trying to change. Gael wanted to value his life more, for no one's sake than his own. His life was to be cherished and lived, not teetering on the brink of death for the benefit of the creatures he worshiped. These things he knew, yet lofty ideals had no chance of surviving the test of presence. Hakan wasn't just another vampire, he was like a planet pulling Gael in with his gravity day in and day out. How was he supposed to feel significant against such majesty? How else was he to matter if he wasn't providing sustenance? Gael knew Zeke wanted him to stop thinking that way about himself, but Hakan's quiet power was like a drug. The thrall remembered what it was to endure life without Hakan's fangs, and though he survived he could never live that way.

It should have been no surprise to him that Gael would actually listen to him. Hakan was still not sure what he wanted from the human, but he only knew for sure that he did not want him to go. That thought alone confused him enough for him to have kicked the other out in the first place. In his grief, he had made a choice to push anyone and everyone as far away as possible. That included the small amount of people that he had known for much longer than he had known Gael. Still, he was unsure of the human's place in his life right now. Gael had kept on coming by and kept on sitting there as Hakan stared into nothing and it was just...it was the most peculiar thing to think about. Again, why was he here? Why had he bothered to come to him of all people? There were plenty of other vampires in Rome. And, if Hakan knew anything about his thrall, it was that the man was willing to be a thrall to anyone that gave him fang. As he so eloquently put it several times before.

In a way, Gael had his own sense of clarity. He had time to reflect in the years wiped away on his life as a thrall. When the world ended, it was pretty much all he had. Now that he got a second chance, some might consider it a waste for him to want to return to a normal that was so taboo, to begin with, but Gael knew what he needed. The world lost its color when he wasn't giving his all to a vampire. So long as he remembered that wasn't just a source of nourishment, he could continue his life in a way that didn't spit on everything Zeke had wanted for him. He'd mourn properly, in his own time, but for now, Gael wanted to do his part to heal Hakan's suffering.

Hakan was not sure how long it had been since he had seen the light of day or even stepped foot outside of his castle. It felt lonely, desolate. People had been wise enough not to show up considering everything that had happened. He had not taken it well in the slightest and he was not the type to lie about emotion. It was mostly because he rarely ever had any to express in the first place. Now it felt like that was all he had. After a while, it had seemed like there was nothing left for him to give. There were still plenty of others in the Pluto line, but the one he wished was still around was no longer here. Brows furrowed, he sat upon a grand chair that he had owned for nearly as long as he had been alive. It had been silent until Gael showed up. The human always showed up. The count had kicked the other out of his cage and he had half expected Gael to find someone else to occupy his time and never show up again. Contrary to what he had thought would happen, here the other stood again. He had not stopped visiting and Hakan wished he could muster up asking the question of 'why?'.

There were things he had to accept now, for the sake of what was lost. It didn't matter how badly he wanted all power and agency he had to be the property of a vampire, Gael had to be able to listen to his own heart. That's why he was back to dedicating himself to Hakan. He had been compelled to forget, enthralled by shadow queens who preferred him as a monster, and given every opportunity to move on in the time now forgotten. Gael needed to return to him and help him through his grief, for however long it took because his love and devotion for Hakan ran deep.

This guy should be dead. There was really no logical reason for how Gael could have made it this far, acting the way he did, and risking his life this often. It might have been better to just let Gael run at these creatures, but Ezekiel had a soft spot for him: they were friends, and it was hard for the vampire to look at Gael and not be reminded of his sire. Hakan was gone, but his thrall and his progeny were still here. That had to count for something.

"No." Ezekiel said as he pulled the other back and into the alley, "How many times do I have to tell you those things aren't going to fuck you, they're going to fucking kill you or turn you into one of their... Meat puppet things." They'd stitched Sanem's device into Gael's clothes without telling him, Ezekiel had just said the little apparatus was just so that he was gang, little did the man know that it was keeping him off the illithids radar.

Gael didn't know why, maybe it was some residual impulse from his time with Monster. Who knows, but he couldn't see those strange creatures without feeling that tickle in his guts. "I'm sorry Zeke, I didn't mean to worry you. It was an accident, I don't know what's wrong with me."

The extraction was a nuisance, but it was well within the Architect's scope, the drow's tactics were things that he was intimately familiar with. This parasite had taken hold of the mortal entirely, but once Felandaris removed it from the point of entry, then he should recover fully. Shadows wrenched at the root of the beast as the dark incantation took hold and heaved until the squealing beast was pulled from Gael and then promptly cut down. In quiet and solitude, Felandaris worked to free those that had been enthralled, liberating those that he could; it wasn't for any reason related to benevolence, no, at his rotted core the drow still held nothing but contempt for these surfacers. But this war had taken the only person in the world that truly mattered, and he was willing to do just about anything to see him returned.

"Put some clothes on." That was one filthy jockstrap, Felandaris tossed clothes at the man on the floor. He was hoping for a warrior but... Whatever this was, he would have to do. "We have places to go."

Gael and Monster had understood one another. Even though Monster was in control and he had no input whatsoever, the first thing Gael noticed when his eyes blinked open was how empty he felt without his friend inside of him. Oh well... The only remnants of the creature that remained was this nagging feeling that it was a good idea to follow this guy. "Yeah, sure," he said in a monotone voice as he tried not to cry when he started pulling his tattered strap down his thighs. Hakan was gone, he felt it now and could properly process the loss, but only because Wolfgang was gone too. Years of compulsion unraveled because of Monster and still Gael lamented about not getting any fang. Even though this guy didn't have any, there were feelings that remained from his time with his friend. Feelings that made the tight joggers and crop top he pulled on feel extra warm.

In a matter of seconds he was at what had once been the Domus Aurea but the building had been leveled and was reduced to nothing but rubble, the portal there gone too. Monsters descended on him and Prometheus' mind went blank of anything but Nettelia and Epimetheus, grief and rage unlike anything that he had ever known in his life. The seraph blade went through everything living indiscriminately, no strategy or sense in the killing and they just kept returning. He didn't care. For a moment, he needed this. Cries of rage and frustration became breathless gasps as the avariel expelled every bit of his energy into the decimation of these creatures until the exhaustion gave him some insight back into sense.

Prometheus collapsed by the rubble, leaning against the seraph blade as tears collected in his eyes but he didn't notice the tears nor the blood that coated nearly every inch of him. He felt nothing but the hammering of his heart and the burn in his lungs. How long had he been attacking like this? Prometheus stood up in slightly shaky legs, flinging the seraph blade down to the ground to let it disappear. There had to be someway back, someway to find Nettelia. Epimetheus had died without forgiving him. But his brother's lack of forgiveness would have been worse if he didn't try what he could to get Nettelia back at the very least. That was fine - Prometheus would never forgive himself either. He tried to gather back his senses as another creature came forward. It roared out and Prometheus only looked up at it as it spat and extended its tentacles and claws, the avariel's long hair being blown back with the force of the monster's roar. "Can we please take five?," he muttered up at it. If it came too close, the avariel would simply reappear behind it.