Hexus: Neo

)4( Static

[8:52PM, December 13, UTC +02:00]

ECRU forced his fangs to recede into his gums and sighed in satisfaction as he licked the blood off his lips. He instinctively pulled back to look at Adam's expression, but the younger man simply turned away, swiped at the area of his neck to clean off any spillage and walked quietly back to his study table to continue reading from one of his tomes, barely sparing a glance at him. Ecru scowled and gritted his teeth. It had been this way for the last three days. Neither of them had really spoken, and the only time they made any sort of contact had been for his feeding, which was done in silence like a dull clinical routine.

At this point, he was getting really pissed off.

He couldn't understand why he was getting the cold treatment. If anything, Adam was supposed to apologize for putting him through the most agonizing and horrifying experience of his entire life. Until that, the worst he had suffered was the time he had been starved for close to a week as punishment by the leader of his old coven. He could still remember the anguish, like a thousand little razors coursing through his system, the slicing and stabbing sensations radiating from around his heart and beneath his skin as his muscles wasted and his bones ached and he fed from himself until his blood ran dry.

Compared to what happened three days ago, that was like a spa treatment.

In retrospect, he should have immediately known something was off. He had been surprised that when Adam had given him the order to find and take out Ivan's men, he had also been given permission to drink as much as he wanted from his victims. Even his conscience had pricked him, a reminder that Adam was never pleased when he fed from other people, but he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. At first, it felt wonderful; the ache of his bloodlust waned, and by his seventh kill it was almost nonexistent. And then it came back with a vengeance. Even more confusing was that he could feel the fullness of his stomach, yet the hunger was more intense than ever. And then the agony of the curse came, like ants biting through his veins and heat searing his skin like a shower of boiling oil. The only instinct in his maddened mind was to feed more, but it got worse with every additional victim until the blood made him nauseous. He vomited more times than he could care to count, and the pain was so excruciating that he wished for a thousand deaths.

Adam had not said anything about it since, and Ecru knew he was intentionally avoiding the subject. Even now, while he was doing his best to make his presence known, Adam's attention was fixed on whatever he was reading, his eyes never leaving the pages.

"Adam, we need to talk."

Adam replied with a sound that was something between a groan and a sigh, his tone entirely dismissive. Ecru considered saying something else, but thought better of it and left the room, fighting off mixed feelings of annoyance and trepidation. He knew better than to try to force Adam into a conversation — it rarely ended well. He planned to bring it up again it when he returned, but at the moment, he didn't want to think too much about it. He was already trying to psyche himself up to deal the annoying and impulsive seventeen-year-old that had been fitted into his timetable.

"Why the long face?"

The voice snapped him back to reality. He had absent-mindedly wandered into the lounge, where Paula was watching something on her laptop. Though she had earphones on, he could make out the conversation between two people and some background laughter. It sounded like a sitcom.

"Have to get to Perth."

"Oh, yeah," she said, pausing the video. "For the mosquito eh?"

"Mosquito?"

"He's a whiny little bloodsucker. It fits."

Ecru snorted and gave her a questioning stare. She raised an eyebrow.