Maxim smiled, forcing his own breathing to slow, to calm.“It’s fine, but you’re cold.Here.”He moved his free hand in such a way that Raven followed the gesture and would see the clothes.“Change into these.It’s not right that you’re feeling cold.”
Raven didn’t move right away, just tightened his grip.
“If you’d like, we could go out.Out of the house.If you’d like to move?”
Raven’s head came back up, and he met Maxim’s eyes and nodded.Adrenaline, the need to run from shadows.
“Let’s do that.A little adventure.You really need dry clothes for that.I’ll stay right here.I won’t leave, but I’ll turn around so you have privacy.You take your time.”
Raven didn’t let go when Maxim turned.Maxim wasn’t sure whether the young vampire was even fully aware that he was clinging to him, so he brushed over Raven’s hands with his own, gently nudging him toward letting go.
He did, after a few moments.The fear was palpable, even when Maxim wasn’t looking.He remained perfectly still as Raven dropped his damp pants and just stood there, maybe hugging himself.Maxim felt the eyes boring into the back of his head, but he did nothing, counting to five before he spoke.
“Get changed, Raven.You need to warm up.And you need to be wearing clothes if you want to go out.Let’s not make the nightlife in New Amsterdam any more sensational than it already is, hmm?”
Raven took the clothes off the shelf; Maxim saw it from the corner of his eye, but it was slow going.It feels slow to me.For him, time’s racing probably, and everything is neon.
“Done… Done.”Raven’s voice was the smallest thing.Like a soap bubble, the kind you went to the park to enjoy with sunshine and laughter.Breakable, yet shimmery, the colors promising something magical.
Maxim turned.“Good.That’s much better, right?”
Raven kept his head down, avoiding eye contact.Maxim didn’t think he was going to say much.He was hugging himself.Lo and behold, thus I find myself wishing for a hoodie to hide him in.No, a hoodie so that he may feel safe.
“Still want to go outside?”
Raven nodded.
Fresh air might do him good.Maybe it’ll be easier for him to breathe.
“We’ll have to find shoes.And socks.Come on.”
Maxim motioned for Raven to follow him, making sure to do everything slowly, making sure to stay close to the shelves so the door was always right there for Raven.
They made their way all the way to the door of Maxim’s room.It was when he opened it, when he stepped out and waited for Raven to follow that something else happened.
“I’m so sorry.I’m really sorry.I can… I thought… I was just trying to be…to be…”
Raven hugged himself tighter as some kind of fear squeezed his heart.Maxim wanted to do something—anything—to make it stop.Rationally, he knew he couldn’t.I should have found him sooner.I should’ve saved him.I should’ve… Doesn’t matter.I didn’t.He suffers for my failure.
Maxim forced himself to smile, smile like he meant it.“Ah, do you think you’ve offended me?Raven, you’d have to do far worse.For instance, I was once in a tavern—that’s what they called pubs before there were pubs in the UK.I’m speaking of a time before the country was united or a kingdom.
“In any case, I was having…ale probably.Everyone drank ale back then.I was having that, sitting at the bar and minding my own business, when this gentleman walked in.He—well, we talked, and he, being scholarly, saw fit to correct my French while at the same time complimenting me for speaking so well, near perfect with a few adjustments such as he was suggesting.I was somewhat irritated by that.”
Raven was caught somewhere between squirming and having his shivering trembles pick up again, but he was listening.He raised his head a fraction, but not enough to meet Maxim’s eye.
“Why?”he asked in that shimmery bubble voice.
“Well, Raven, I was born in what was once Gaul.Oh, such a long time ago, certainly, and I did not speak French as the scholar had learned it, but at least I didn’t speak it with a Cockney accent.”
“Oh.”
“And since you didn’t offend my old French heart, there is nothing I can possibly hold against you.Let’s sit there and put on our shoes.”
Maxim pointed at his reading couch, and Raven’s eyes darted that way.His nod was jerky.They went over there together, Raven like a specter of himself that didn’t know he still lived in a body of flesh and blood.
“Raven, if you’d be amenable, how about I run downstairs?Vampire speed has its uses for such nightly excursions.”
“They’re sleeping.Down there.”
