It doesn't hurt as much anymore.
You let out a quiet sigh and lean your head further back. As always, Xavier is holding you close while he drinks your blood. You can feel his lips gently sucking on the surface of your skin, and there's the dull discomfort of his fangs being lodged in your neck, but the pain is unmistakably less intense than before. You're not sure if it's because you're starting to become a bit more accustomed to this whole thing, or if Xavier really is making an effort to be as gentle as possible, but either way, it's far more manageable now.
He even pulls away from time to time, just to make sure that you're doing alright.
"Still okay?" he affirms.
You nod. "I'm fine, thank you. You can keep going until you've taken the usual amount."
Xavier pauses for a moment, and he doesn't smile, not quite, but there's a subtle warmth that fills his gaze, and for some reason, it puts you at ease.
Yeah. This is what vampires should be like. That asshole Felix could really take a page out of Xavier's book.
You sit there for a while longer, waiting for Xavier to be done. You haven't been feeling too lightheaded these days, so you figure the supplements you've been taking must have helped somewhat. So long as you don't run into any other clients like Felix, who drink far more blood than the allotted amount, you'll probably be fine.
Xavier eventually pulls back for good, making sure to wipe his blood-stained lips with a napkin. You can appreciate how put-together he is, because seeing someone with your blood smeared across their face will never be a pretty sight. Although you suppose that's another thing you're slowly getting used to.
"How are you feeling?" Xavier asks.
"I'm good," you reassure. "Don't worry. If something was off, or if I was feeling unwell, I would make sure to let you know. I'm not reckless with my health."
Ha. Okay, that was a bit of a lie, considering you just landed yourself in the hospital not long ago, but in your defense, that wasn't entirely your fault.
Xavier seems relieved to know that you're feeling alright, and normally, this is the part where he would get up to leave, but today, he opts to stay seated for longer.
After a few moments of silent deliberation, he works up the nerve to ask:
"Do you have any other clients besides me?"
The question catches you off guard. For one thing, he doesn't normally engage you in conversation, other than occasionally checking in to make sure you're not feeling sick. Unless you're mistaken, it's the first time he's asked you anything remotely resembling a personal question, even if it was simple intrigue on his part.
Before you can respond, Xavier scrunches his brows together. "Um. Actually, forget what I just said. You don't need to answer that. Now that I've stopped to think about it, it's not really any of my business, and it was perhaps a bit inappropriate to ask."
He looks rather flustered all of a sudden, which amuses you, because he's normally stoic and poised—almost to a fault.
Well. In any case, you suppose you have nothing to hide.
"I did have another client," you admit. "But I had to drop him because he was making me uncomfortable. So, right now, you're the only one I'm meeting with."
Xavier frowns. "I'm sorry to hear that. This arrangement only works if the client and donor respect one another, so it's unfortunate that you had to have such an unpleasant experience." After a brief pause, his eyes widen in concern. "I'm... not making you feel the same way, am I? Because if so, I urge you to be honest with me. The last thing I want is to upset you."
"That isn't the case at all," you assure him. "I enjoy meeting with you, Xavier. You've even gone to the trouble to make sure it doesn't hurt me so much anymore, and I really appreciate it."
Unless you're imagining it, he looks a bit pleased all of a sudden. Then again, it's a bit hard to tell with him, since his expression reverts to a neutral state almost immediately.
With your session having come to an end, he finally stands up to leave, but once again, he doesn't walk out of the room right away.
Instead, he glances back at you, looking a touch hesitant.
"Have... a nice day," he eventually settles upon. It comes out sounding a bit awkward, because quite frankly, he's a bit awkward, but it's the thought that counts, and you can't help but smile.
"Thanks!" you beam. "I hope you have a nice day as well."
This time, he actually leaves, swapping places with the doctor that comes in to examine you after every session. The doctor pulls the door shut to conduct the examination in private, but right before it closes, Xavier steals one last glance your way.
You don't see it, but there's a smile on his lips.
...
"Thanks for agreeing to come with me, [Name]! I'm so glad we finally have the chance to hang out like this."
You're walking down the street with Caleb, having just finished washing dishes for several hours straight. He invited you to go someplace with him after your shifts were over, and usually, you're so tired that you head straight home, or you book it to your other part-time job depending on what your schedule's like, but for once, you finally have some free time.
You wouldn't normally have taken him up on his offer. Quite frankly, you're usually way too fucking tired, and you don't often have the time to spare. But ever since Caleb called you his friend, you've been trying to open up to him more. Life is one hell of a shitshow, at least for you, but friends are supposed to make it a bit more bearable. They're supposed to help you smile and laugh, and find joy in the little things.
Besides, Caleb is clearly a nice guy. He's the kind of guy anyone would want as their friend. He's one of the few good things that ever happened to you, and you've decided you'll do everything you can to keep him around.
"Thanks for inviting me," you say, offering a brief smile. "I'm probably not that fun to be around since I just work all the time, but I'll do my best not to bore you."
Caleb blinks repeatedly. "What? There's no way you could ever bore me! I always have fun when I'm with you. Whenever I find out we have a shift together, I always get super pumped!"
He flashes you a huge grin for added emphasis, and you giggle, very much amused by his golden retriever-type personality.
As it turns out, the place Caleb wanted to bring you to is an arcade. You've never been anywhere like this before. Even as a child, your parents never took you. Well, you grew up poor, after all, and they were usually either gambling away whatever money they had or spending it on drugs and alcohol. Taking care of their daughter wasn't exactly at the top of their priority list.
You suppose there's no point in lamenting the past, though. There's no need to waste your time thinking about the selfish assholes who abandoned you, and besides, all that matters is that Caleb brought you here. You'd like to try enjoying the moment as best you can.
Caleb leads you inside and buys enough tokens for the both of you. He insists that it's the least he can do, since he's the one that invited you out, and he reassures you that it isn't that expensive either. Part of you feels guilty about not contributing, but the other part of you is secretly relieved that he offered to pay.
He gives you a quick run-down of the place and shows you some of his favorite machines. He must come here pretty often, by the sounds of it. You can sort of understand why, though. The arcade is loud, equipped with colorful, vibrant lights, and everyone is clearly having a great time. You spot friends laughing as they beat each other at the games, parents that are cheering their children on, and even some people that have come alone, but are still enjoying themselves.
"Look!" Caleb beams. "They have Mario Kart. Do you like Mario Kart?"
"I've never played it before," you admit.
"What?! Seriously?"
His eyes bulge out of his head, as if the very notion of such a thing is beyond his comprehension. You chuckle softly in response. Again, you grew up in poverty and had a remarkably shitty childhood, so... yeah. Video games weren't really your biggest concern.
"I'll teach you how to play," Caleb offers. He gently grabs your hand and leads you towards the machine. "It's really simple, but it's fun. Well, for the most part. It can also get kind of frustrating when people keep spamming shells at you."
You bite back a grin. You never expected him to be so passionate about video games. It's kind of cute.
To no one's surprise, you're not very good at Mario Kart. Or any of the other arcade games, for that matter. Your lack of experience is woefully apparent, and you may as well be an overgrown toddler, with how you keep clumsily mashing buttons all over the place.
"I kind of suck at this," you remark aloud.
Caleb laughs. "It's okay. People come here to play for fun. No one's keeping track of how well you're doing."
"But you've been winning so many more tickets than me."
"Well, that's because I don't suck," he muses, winking at you.
You huff. What a little show-off. Fine, then. You'll take him up on his challenge. Practice makes perfect, after all. Besides, with all these different machines, you're bound to find at least one game that you're better than him at. Right?
Wrong.
"Oh my god!" you fume. "I'm tired of losing! Can't you go a bit easier on me?"
Caleb clamps a palm over his mouth, clearly stifling the urge to laugh, although he's not doing a very good job of it. "Th-That wouldn't be fair to you," he chuckles. "Would you be satisfied with a win if I just hand it to you?"
"At this point, yes!"
He fully laughs out loud this time. Meanwhile, you roll your eyes in frustration. Arcades are fun. They are fun, but still. You never imagined you would suck this bad.
"Come on," Caleb gestures. He's composed himself and is back to smiling gently. "There are still a few machines we haven't tried yet. Don't give up hope. I've got a good feeling you'll pull through in the end."
You cross your arms and stick up your nose, pretending to snub him. He doesn't seem to mind. If anything, it just makes his smile widen, and his cheeks flush a beautifully pink shade. He doesn't say it so that you don't think he's making fun of you, but you're ridiculously adorable right now.
You stop in front of a new machine. It's some type of arcade fighting game, the kind where you have to pull off combos to win. You highly doubt you'll stand a chance against someone as skilled as Caleb, but maybe you'll get lucky by button-mashing enough. Or at the very least, you'll be satisfied with not having him wipe the floor with you.
But you suppose you'll never find out, because someone decides to rudely cut in.
"Move," a deep, impatient voice mutters. "I was here first."
There's a young man leaning against the side of the machine. You didn't notice him at first because he was so quiet, but it looks like he also wants to play this game.
"Oh. Sorry," you mumble. "Go ahead. We'll wait until you're done."
He doesn't say anything. He doesn't even nod in response. He just positions himself in front of the machine, then reaches down to load a few tokens in.
But then, Caleb steps in front of him.
"Come on, man," he frowns. "We clearly got here before you. You're just trying to cut ahead. We won't be long, so can you just let us have this?"
The man's eyes narrow. "What the fuck? I was the one who got here first. You were just too blind to notice me."
"I don't think so. It kind of sounds like you're making things up."
"Caleb, it's fine," you insist, grabbing him by the hand and trying to pull him away. He's probably right about the fact that the two of you beat the other guy to it, but arguing with him doesn't seem worth the hassle.
Caleb smiles reassuringly. "It's okay. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I just think people need to respect others and wait their turn. I promise we won't take too long. I'll probably beat [Name] right away."
"Hey!" you protest.
He chuckles and pats your head, to which you ball up your fists and shake them in his face. You're too immersed in your banter to realize that the other man is dead silent now, and his expression is darkening faster by the second.
"I'm using this machine," he mutters. "So, fuck off and get out of my way."
Caleb stops patting your head, and just like that, his smile drops.
He's glaring now.
"Dude," he scowls. "I was trying to be polite here. I don't know why you're getting so hostile, but we're all grown-ups here. Let's not do this. It's clear that you're not going to budge, so fine, you can use the machine first. But for the record, talking to people like that really isn't cool—"
He doesn't get to finish his sentence. You can't even process what's happening in time. It all happens so fast.
One second, Caleb is perfectly fine, but when you blink, he's lying on the ground with a bloody nose.
The man towers over Caleb's fallen body. There's blood on his knuckles, but instead of wiping it off, he brings it to his lips and swipes his tongue over the crimson fluid. You shrink back in horror, and suddenly, it makes sense why he was able to knock Caleb out so easily.
"Tastes like ass," the vampire grimaces. "Probably 'cause of your shit personality. This is the problem with this fucking city. Dumbass humans think they can get away with disrespecting us."
The arcade is deathly silent now. Everyone has turned towards the source of the commotion, and rather than calling him out for his act of violence, they all shrink away out of fear. They're clearly worried that if they so much as breathe wrong, he'll come after them next.
And honestly? You can't blame them.
Because you're scared shitless too.
"Ruined my fucking night," the vampire hisses. He kicks the machine, and if it wasn't screwed into the ground, you get the sense that it would have flown backwards and shattered into pieces.
He shoves his hands in his pockets and walks off. Everyone steps aside in a hurry, desperate to stay out of his way. That was a public assault, and the police will probably have to be called, but the vampire doesn't seem the slightest bit concerned. Almost as if he's used to getting away with this kind of thing.
Your muscles don't unclench until you've affirmed that he's left the arcade, and the moment he does, you drop to your knees and cry out.
"Caleb! Are you alright?!"
It's rather ironic. Not long ago, he was the one in this position, fretting over your unconscious body when you blacked out at work. It doesn't look like he's unconscious, thankfully, but his nose is almost certainly broken, and you can only imagine how much pain he's in—on top of being incredibly scared.
"I-I'm fine," he winces, slowly sitting up. "Shit... I wasn't expecting... him to hit me."
You wrap your arm around his shoulders and swallow nervously. He wouldn't have gotten hurt if you hadn't come to the arcade with him. The one time you decide to let loose and do something fun, and it ends like this.
"Someone needs to call the police," you insist, addressing the crowd. "What just happened is a serious crime. He broke my friend's nose!"
Caleb keeps trying to reassure you that he's going to be okay, but you're not having it. Vampires are naturally stronger than humans, which means it's their responsibility to hold back and exert restraint. They can't just go around doing shit like this. It's beyond fucked up.
And yet, the longer you stare at the crowd, the more you start to realize that something's not right.
A man clears his throat. "Uh... you don't know who that is, do you?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"That vampire. He comes here pretty often, and a lot of us regulars know to keep our distance and avoid him."
So? What are they trying to say? Just because he's known for being an asshole doesn't mean that they should let this slide. If anything, it's all the more reason to make him own up for what he's done.
"He attacked my friend," you grimace. "For no reason."
"Yeah. I know, and it sucks. A lot of my friends have stopped coming to this arcade because of him. Because he's such a loose cannon. But unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about it. He's untouchable."
You narrow your eyes, still not understanding what the fuck he's on about.
"That's Kai," the man finally says. "And... he's the Police Commissioner's adopted son."
Oh.
You blink repeatedly.
Oh.
"Well, shit," you mutter.
...
Character appearances:
Kai