child of the n i g h t

“Are you judging me?” she asked the other with an amused smile on her lips noticing them watching her just after she had downed yet another drink. “Tonight is about celebrating true love and free booze, right?” 

Lorcan spun a girl in his arms as they danced; the atmosphere in the room was contagious — everyone laughing, dancing, drinking in celebration of love, and he was more than happy to indulge himself within them, however temporary it might end up being. As much as he tried to fully allow himself to join them though, and as he danced from girl to girl, his eyes would get distracted anytime he saw Jasmin across the room. He hadn’t talked to her since their argument when she called him out about the things they were doing while he was with Mary, and at the time he couldn’t explain to her that his relationship with Mary wasn’t real, that he hadn’t been just using her for her blood and other human pleasures. It been too long since he had seen her now, he had an itch, his thirst never feeling fully quenched now that he was without her blood. He hated to admit it, but he had developed a need for her blood and it was driving him crazy to no longer have it.

Perhaps it was the alcohol that made him approach her tonight, or the fact that they were in public or that this event brought them in the same room together, but he finally decided to go to her, to try to reconcile whatever was between them now. “I suppose there is no better way of celebrating love than a wedding,” he said, not feeling bad for interrupting her conversation with the other person, though the other got the hint when they saw him and left them to their conversation. “You... look good. Great, I mean.”

|| @finestra-starters​

Laughter left Mary’s lips as she sipped her drink, eyes roaming the festivities around her. Her thumb mindlessly playing with the ring now on her finger, the smile wide on her features. Ever since they’d decided to get married, the smile had never left Mary’s lips and she was the happiest she’d been.

She’d been watching her husband as he talked to someone, smiling fondly. It was only until she vaguely heard someone say something that she turned to see someone standing besides her. “Oh, sorry, I— yeah I have no excuse, I was too busy staring at Sirius.” She admitted with a grin.

“Any time I stare at him, I swear his eyes are throwing daggers back at me,” Lorcan said before throwing a smirk at her. “Or when I stare at you for that matter. But I can’t help it, you are absolutely beautiful.” He would have normally placed an affectionate kiss on her forehead or hand, but he restraint himself as he didn’t want to face any wrath from Sirius — especially today, he would be extra nice for him. He had been invited by Mary, but he was sure her new husband wasn’t fond of him being here at their wedding celebration. So he was on his best behaviour — staying three feet away Mary as he talked to her.

Anna gasped gently as he moved to wipe his mouth with her hair, but a bright smile curled up at the corner of her lips. “Lorcan D’eath, my hair is not a napkin.” She shook her head, moving to finish her shot quickly. “Though, I will say, even if it was a napkin, it’d be a shite one. Just try for one of our shirts next time, babes.” She wrapped her arms around his middle, pulling herself closer to him. “Thank you so much, Lorc. I promise I’ll pay you back eventually.” She held onto him with one arm as she moved to stack their empty shot glasses together in some vain attempt to make it easier on the poor bartender. “We should dance, after this. Or would your girlfriend think that wasn’t cool?” Mary was, quite possibly, the coolest person Anna had admired from afar, so she didn’t want to upset her.

“Well it did the job,” he laughed when he told her his hair wasn’t a napkin. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders when she did so around his middle, leaning over to place an affecitonate peck on the top of her curls. “Nonesense, this is part of your birthday present, you don’t pay back presents,” he told her. He slide her shot in front of her when the next round came and let out another laugh. “You are now looking at a free man,” well he had always been one, since his and Mary’s relationship wasn’t real, but their ‘fake’ dating was over. “I am free to dance with whatever man or woman I wish to, and if this is your birthday wish, I shall fulfill it.”

“No.” Hugo said angrily. “No, you do not get to make this about prejudice. How would you know I’d have changed if you told me yourself? You hid it from me all through the time we were together when you promised me you’ll be honest with me, and now you are making it look like – I am –” His anger was starting to grow which was making his fear more subdued. His lips trembled as he tried to form the words he wanted to say except he couldn’t. “How would I know that, Lorc?” Hugo finally whispered. “How can I trust that you never wanted to hurt me? I know I would have freaked out if you told me, I would have been scared, but I still don’t know if I would have left – I loved you. Didn’t you think even for one second that I deserved to know?”

“Because I didn’t want to get hurt!” Lorcan finally admitted, his emotions finally boiling over as angry tears began to form in his eyes. While his earlier words were still true, this response held the most truth. He pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal a scar on his chest. It was something that Hugo might have seen before, the mark there but faint, though he would not have revealed the reason. “This is what happened the last time I told someone, Hugo! They took a stake and tried to plunge it through my heart!” It was something he had never told anyone before, the only person who knew was his father - it was the reason they left Romania. “I wanted to tell you so bad, but I couldn’t. Because I —” his words got stuck in his throat a moment “— because I knew you loved me and I didn’t deserve it. I wanted to be loved by someone, by you, but it’s not possible for anyone to love someone like me.”

Alecto scoffs as her fingers wrap around her wand, silently revising all the curses she knows, preparing herself for the inevitable. “If you’re so naive to think that then you truly have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

His eyes flickered briefly downs her hand when he saw her wrap his fingers around it, smirking at the challenge. “Maybe I want to find out. See who you really are,” he told her truthly, curious to see what she would do. He knew he was provocing her, but she didn’t care. “Shall we find out?” he asked her, leaning closer to her, inhaling her scent as a devilish smirk formed on his face.

“–Oh, sorry, mate,” Anna chuckled, without an ounce of sincerity in her tone. Her smile was a little too wide for that. It was her birthday, and for once, she was feeling pretty good about herself. “I promise the next one won’t end up all over your face. Swear on Merlin’s grave.”

@finestra-starters​

Lorcan burst out laughing, which only made the amount of liquid that he managed to get in his mouth spewing out, making a further mess. “What a waste of precious alcohol,” he said, though his laughter continued making it clear that he wasn’t upset at her trick. He leaned forward and use her mess of red curls to wipe his mouth. He knew it wouldn’t be an effective method, but that’s what she got for getting it all over him. “I know I said I would pay for all your alcohol tonight, but you’re burning through my wallet,” he teased as he waved the bartender for another shot.

She moved back against the wall as he pressed against her, melting into him as he kissed her. There was a slight chill seeping into her bones from the wall, which only drove her further into his arms. Daisy sighed against his lips as he gripped her, not all that confident that her legs could support her at the moment. “Don’t be shy,” she teased, pulling away slightly. “If someone sees us, who cares?”

“As much as I would love to ravish you right here and now,” he told her, taking her bottom lip in his mouth and suckling on it before he continued. “Perhaps we could go some place a bit more comfortable.” He didn’t mind doing things in public, but the weather was still cooler and he knew both of them would be much more comfortable some place warm.

A genuine smile slipped onto her lip at the forehead kiss, it was a nice gesture, even if she knew it was platonic. It was weird, she had actually grown rather fond of the other during this weird situation she’d gotten them into. “I- not great, if I’m being entirely honest.” She admitted, “I really love him, Lorc. I don’t wanna lose him,” She sighed softly, chewing on her lip.

Lorcan smiled sadly at her. “I know, but you’ll figure it out.” It didn’t take a genius to see how much Sirius and Mary cared for each other, they weren’t necessarily as discrete as they hoped to be - or maybe it was because he was good at reading people and hanging out with Mary gave him the opporunity to see that. “Now enough of that, want to pretend to make out? Might make you feel better,” he joked, laughing at as she rejected him - it wasn’t like he was being serious anyways, though he would probably have done it if she agreed.

“You’re a vampire, Lorcan. And I was – you were – you never told me! You had all the opportunities to tell me too, like you had to hurt me, and you didn’t!”  He only became more scared as the other got angry but he tried to understand what he was saying and tried to stand his ground at the same time. “You know how many of these people make a sport of hurting me, and I trusted you, but you hid this from me. And now you’re angry because I’m scared you are going to hurt me too?” 

“This is the exact reason I never told people,” Lorcan tried to defend himself. “Because of people like you who instantly changed how you saw me as soon as you knew what I was born as, not for who I actually am. I’m not going to apologize for trying to live a normal life free of prejudice.” He didn’t mention that he felt guilty doing it, befriending and being physical intimdate with someone, while hiding his true self. Perhaps that was the human in him. He could sense Hugo’s rising fright as his voice had gotten louder, trying to use that to calm himself down because it was his last intention to make Hugo feel that way, but his stomach dropped at his last words. Until now, he never realize how much he may have hurt Hugo - they hadn’t been together long, but whatever they had shared was enough to form a connection that left them before shattered in the end, for their own reasons. “I didn’t mean to — I didn’t want to hurt you. I just want...” he looked away, what did he want now? He wasn’t sure.

A blush crept up on her cheeks and she found herself feeling genuinely happy, it was not something he felt often these days. “You’re such a smooth talker.” she teasingly, she didn’t want to think about the effect the other seemed to have on her. And it wasn’t even just the venom. She looked up at him again when she luckily seemed to have stopped her embarrassing blushing before she held her wrist towards him. “Did you want?” she asked the other, she couldn’t think of why else he would be doing all this for her. 

“There is a reason they use vampires in those romantic novels,” he teased back, his hand moving to her cheek briefly to feel the rush of blood to her cheeks before withdrawing his hand to run his hair out of his face. When she held out her wrist to him, he took her hand, but instead of sinking his teeth, he pressed a kiss her skin. “I’m not hungry,” he told her, running his thumb against her skin there before flicking his eyes to hers. “Unless that is what you want?” Like her, he was also unsure of her motives - was it just his venom that she wanted? Or also his friendship? He didn’t know what to think of what was between them. It was still new, he had never experienced being a vampire in front of another human before.

She moved back against the wall as he pressed against her, melting into him as he kissed her. There was a slight chill seeping into her bones from the wall, which only drove her further into his arms. Daisy sighed against his lips as he gripped her, not all that confident that her legs could support her at the moment. “Don’t be shy,” she teased, pulling away slightly. “If someone sees us, who cares?”

“I hope they see,” he said cheekily, his words teasing as his hands slide betweeen the fabric of her shirt to trace his fingers across her bare skin. She was the exact distraction he need right now, and he was honest that he didn’t care if they were caugh, didn’t waste another minute, pressing his lips against hers once again, getting lost in the taste of her.

He winced as the other seemed to get angry, stepping back from him in fear. “I am sorry I didn’t mean to offend you, please don’t hurt me.” he whimpered.

Lorcan let out a frustrated groan. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he told him, though there was venom in his voice. He was tired of having to tell Hugo this, tired of seeing someone he used to be with react to him this way. He was trying not to get upset about, but it was clear he was. “Don’t you think if I wanted to, I would have already? How many times I would have had the opportunity to and I didn’t?”

“Never heard that one before. A first for everything, huh?” Stefan laughed before he raised a brow. “I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to show me what all this vamp venom hype is all about.” he said, a smirk playing on his lips. 

Lorcan raised a brow back, looking at him skeptically. His initial words were a jest, a tease, and he was surprised that he seemed to be going along. “I don’t just dig my fangs into anyone,” he told him, though he was intrigued by it. Since tasting Jasmin, he felt more aware and sensitive towards human blood. “What’s in it for me?”