𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔬 𝔬𝔩𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔢𝔯

Zareen smiled at the reassurance that her mistake would be kept secret, but it wasn’t until the man said something that she felt a sting on the tip of her finger. She looked at it and noticed the blood that began to drip from it and instantly wrapped the end of her apron around her finger. “Oh my, yes it seems so,” she blushed. “I hadn’t even noticed, I was so worried about the glass. I’m sorry, I must be making a terrible impression at the moment,” she admitted, embarrassed by the state of her at the moment. She tried to keep her injured finger wrapped in her apron while holding it loosely enough to fill it with broken glass at the same time. “It will just have to wait until I take care of this mess I’ve made,” she sighed, not noticing how the man was reacting to the blood, only taking it as concern. She wasn’t used to people taking concern on her behalf.

          They clearly knew of the existence of vampires and that they had been asked to be here to protect the royal family, and how could they not - after all there was war, so there must be spies, it was inevitable. They were determined to get rid of vampires, starting with Theo. It was unfortunate, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he had gotten captured and somehow weakened to the point where he could barely stand. Were they a vrajiit? Or were there some kind of substance they gave to weaken him? He couldn’t remember, his mind was hazy and cloudy. Lucian. His only thoughts were about him and how he wasn’t afraid to die, but his heart yearned to see Lucian again. He didn’t want to die and leave Luc, but he couldn’t fight either, he knew his fate as he was looking at his captor from the tip of their sword.

          Suddenly there was a loud crash and doors of the room Theo was dragged in, flew open, nearly out of their hinges. He lifted his eyes to see Lucian standing there, terrified, but soon that look turned into anger, pure rage even. Theo knew right then and there that Lucian wasn’t thinking rationally anymore, he probably wasn’t thinking at all. “Luc, no,” he barely breathed out, but it was too late. Lucian was already standing next to the man, his hands were on either side of their head and with an audible crack he sharply turned it, making the body go limp and fall to the ground.

          “Oh no,” Theo whispered seeing Lucian’s features change. Where there was pure anger before, there was now the realization of what he had just done. He had acted on impulse and taken this man’s life to save Theo’s. He knew the last and only time he had killed anyone, was right after Theo turned him, and this was about to hit Lucian hard any second now.

Theo might have had a point there, a smirk crossing Lucian’s features. “Yes, well, you can hardly blame me. You are rather tempting.” It is whispered against Theo’s skin, and when his fiancé turns, Lucian all too happy to be pulled closer, a hand resting on the table behind Theo as he listens, a brow arching. He was being rude was he? Here Lucian thought he was being rather charming. Expecting a kiss only for Theo to turn away prompts an annoyed huff from him, eyes narrowing. Well, now who was being rude? But when he opens his mouth to complain, those fingers are in his hair, the slightest of pulls enough to swiftly cause him to go quiet, fingers gripping the wood of the table. There’s a sharp inhale as his head tilts back, his mind going blank as soon as Theo’s lips press against his neck. “Oh, is that what you were doing? I hadn’t noticed.” He chuckles, a breathless sound that falls from slightly parted lips. “If you’re that busy, I should leave, shouldn’t I?”

[ FOREHEAD ]:          placing a hand on the back of the receiver’s neck, the sender guides them close and rests their foreheads together.

          it felt good to be back to his old self, no whispers in his head, only his own thoughts and a peaceful silence. he could finally breathe. and he could finally be near lucian without the fear of accidentally hurting him. oh, the poor boy though. draco was his name. now that theo’s mind was free, those powers went back to the boy. theo made a mental note to visit him as soon as possible, but at this moment he was tired. exhausted even.

some would think that a blessing was put upon draco. the sudden silence that filled his skull, only leaving behind a faint ringing, his fingers as pale as the rest of him…some would say that he was free. and true, in many ways, he was. but something that draco never thought he’d feel the moment that the beast was taken from him was that he’d find himself feeling…alone. it confused him, why did he care? surely he would love to finally have his thoughts to himself, to no longer hear the chittering of monsters chattering at the base of his skull but it was just…far too different from what he’d called reality for years. in some strange way, now that they were gone, there was an understanding. that they never…wanted to hurt him.

carrying a basket with the opiates he’d managed to procure on his own in an attempt to help one of his patients, all he could think of was where did they go? people seemed to be scared of themselves, of their new found abilities– but the only one that truly concerned him was where his own had landed. on the lookout for the familiar mark of the beast, his eyes found themselves darting from hand to hand of those newly gifted until–

CRASH.

“no, no, i-it’s my fault,”      he apologises from the ground he found himself knoked down onto, fingers picking up the flowers and placing them back into their basket until…he sees it. like soot clinging to the man’s flesh, he lets out a small gasp as he says a quick      “no, wait!”    it’s then, quick to his feet, the draco looks to him with sympathetic eyes.    “…you hear it, don’t you? and it gets louder when…you’re scared. right? — sorry, for being so forward. i’m– i-i’m draco, i think…you were given something that was taken from me.”

          Everything was completely wrong lately - he couldn’t focus, he couldn’t sleep, his own vampire abilities seemed to fail him just because of all that whispering in his head. This was a cruel joke that the life had played. And now this poor boy got accidentally tackled to the ground by Aristeo, just because he couldn’t get his shit together.

          As he helped the young man get up, the whispers got louder and erratic even, as if they desperately wanted something and they wanted it now. He didn’t know what it was, he couldn’t distinguish words anymore, it was getting too much for him to handle. Aristeo tilted his head and winced, hoping it would shut them up or at least calm them down, but it did nothing, and despair slowly started to take over him.

When Theo’s gaze turns to his hands, Lucian’s eyes followed, brows furrowed. For a moment, he wonders if it is ash of some kind. But it’s too dark–pitch black against pale skin. And it does not rest atop, but it appeared to be permanently inked against his hands. Lucian had never seen anything like it. 

But it is Theo’s words that bring him back to now, confusion quickly giving way to steely determination as he strides over to Theo, taking his hands in his. All prior fear he felt thrown to the side, replaced with concern. “Fuck that. Better or worse, right?” He leans down, eyes meeting Theo’s. “I’m not letting you deal with this alone. I’m with you. No matter what. If your stubborn ass doesn’t get to run from this hell of a keep when I tell you to, you don’t get to run now.” Although he can’t help but be reminded that if Theo had taken Li Na and left when he told him to…but now isn’t the time for ‘I told you so’s’. Given the circumstances, this would be the one time when Lucian wouldn’t rub it in Theo’s face that he had been right. 

“You aren’t scaring me off that easy, you stubborn bastard.”

          Just as Lucian walked forward, Aristeo took quick steps back. His back hit the wall and Lucian cornered him. If Theo could walk through walls, he would. He looked up at his lover, terrified to accidentally hurt him.

          L̷̩̥̗͇̟̘̯͇͍͕͈̉͐́̆͛̓́͂̏̈͐͆͆̈́̌͠ę̴̩̪̤̘̬̘͋̽̅́͂͛̈́̇̇́͋̿̕t̷̹̦͎̞̣̄̂͒͑́̓͊̉̑͛͗̎̈́̂̾͒͜ ̷̝͕̪̠͍͆̈͂̔̊̎́̊͐́̅͊̋̾͗̕̚o̶̻̦̙̤̬͚̯̩͂͆̃̀̎̎̉̍̓̾̊́͝͠͝͝u̵̘̦̪̙̯̜̇͂̊̈́̈́͛̈́̇͐̈́̔͐̃̚̕͝t̷̡̢̺̬̖̥̪͔̰̙̤̖͈͗̄.̸͚̪̠̘̼̞̳͉̰͚̮̠̋͘͜͜

          “Lucian, please...” he breathed trying to step back even more as if trying to make himself one with the wall, which was not possible.

          N̸̛̳̟͕̮̤͖̦͇͙͎̘̣̗̼̑͂̾̿̄̈̒̀͗͑̚̕͝͝ͅͅȍ̵̧̢̯͎͍̥̞̙̱̻̥̲̞͇̾̀́̽͂͋̈͆̃̐̈́̏̑́̚͘͜ẅ̸̗̟͓̮̗͚͓̩̱́̽̉̈̚ͅ!̵̢̳̗̙͈̪̹͔͕͖̹̫̊̇̐̐̏͆̎̈̀̅̍͑͒́̿̀͂͜͜

          His breathing quickened, hushed whispers became louder, Aristeo couldn’t even hear his own thoughts, it was scaring him so much, and the voices were getting louder, persistent, he could even distinguish words. They wanted out, but he couldn’t let them go. Only gods knew what would happen if he let them go. He wanted to get those voices out, make them shut up, he wanted to even punch his head in the last attempt to get them out, maybe they could fall out, which was, of course, impossible, he knew that, but at this point he was ready to try anything. But just as Lucian took Aristeo’s hand in his, he waited for something bad to happen, but it didn’t. Instead he felt Lucian’s soft, gentle touch, and looking up he saw Lucian’s undying love in his eyes. And just like that the whispers stopped. They were barely there. Did they... recognize their love and that was why they backed off? Or was there something else?

          Whispers. Whispers turning into voices, then back to whispers. Constant mumbling, and nobody else could hear it except for him. What kind of trickery was this? He felt it inside him. No. Them. Darkness. Horror. Aristeo was starting to think he was going mad. He quickly realized - the more terrified and panicked he was, the louder the voices were. He could even distinguish some words. Out. Let out.

          Fearing for Lucian and everyone else’s safety, Aristeo fled the dungeons. The sun was gone, he could freely wander the city streets. He had no idea where he was going, he wanted to get as far from the voices as possible, but like that was going to happen.