The Vampire's Requiem [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six (Xed)

I had no idea what to say.

Or do.

So I only stood there dumbly as Newell looked at me in complete and utter horror. He didn't say a word, just leapt off the bench and took off running out of the courtyard, slamming the door shut behind him and leaving me to stand there, dumbfounded.

I had only come in to wake him up as he could get frostbite sleeping outside in this weather. He wasn't waking up, but he seemed breathless. I leaned down to further to make sure it was him breathing so quickly when he grabbed my face and kissed me.

My body roared to life the moment his lips touched mine. My blood felt like lava flowing through my veins as his little tongue turned into my mouth, tasting every inch of it. He cut his tongue on my teeth, but I made sure he didn't repeat the mistake, although, he didn't seem to notice. It took me a moment to realize he was still asleep until something shook him awake and he opened his eyes to stare at me.

The blood had drained from his face and he shoved me away.

He regretted it to the core of his soul and my body went limp, heart clenching in my chest as I watched him depart from the courtyard. I looked down at the mug he'd left behind that'd been drained of blood. I picked it up, moving like a robot as I started to carry it back to the kitchen, only to pull up short to see Vladimir leaning against one of the cherry blossom trees. I went still.

Had he seen what happened? Did he know?

The smug look on his face told me he did. I simply stood there staring at him as he stared back before pushing off the tree with a sigh.

"Well, I figured there was something going on between you two," He said after a while, coming over and taking the mug from me to run his finger along the inside, scooping out less than a teaspoon of leftover blood, which he sucked off his finger, licking his lips, "Newell wouldn't have let you stay this long if he didn't feel something. Naturally I assumed he just saw you as someone to replace his father. Obviously I was wrong." I frowned at that.

Vladimir scooped out another teaspoon of blood, sucking it off his finger before looking down into the mug, then up at me with a sharp glint in his eyes.

"But I assure you that that is one romance you do not want to involve yourself in," He stated, making me glare at him now before he continued, "I'm not saying this to protect your feelings, but Newell's as well." I gave him a puzzled and suspicious stare and he chuckled in response.

"Believe it or not, Newell wasn't always an obnoxious little brat. There was a time he was just like everyone else, hoping and talkative. He would always come up to me during our Sabbat celebrations so enthusiastically," He smiled as if the memory amused him before his smile wilted into a frown, "But all childhoods end and his ended quite abruptly when his father found out he wasn't aging. Newell may have kept you around, and yes, he probably does care about you, but there's a different between caring and trusting. Newell won't trust you. He never will. He won't love you either. Newell became incapable of love the moment everyone turned their backs on him. There is no love without trust, and no trust without love. And Newell will never have either of those."

I didn't like what he was saying. How could he give up on Newell so quickly? If they were so close at some time, why would he say such things? Surely Newell's wound wasn't deep enough to completely impair his natural abilities to love, to care, to feel.

Vladimir quickly caught onto my thoughts in a way that made me uncomfortable.

"I'm only telling you the truth," He responded, "I gave up on Newell when he stopped coming up to me at celebrations. I gave up on him when his smiles turned into sneers. I gave up on him when he slapped the world in the face for slapping him. Newell is the perfect example of eye for an eye, until you're blind. Newell is blind. The world beat him, he beat it back, and now the world's retaliating again."