I want nothing more than to beg him to stay, but he’s right. It’s nearly three in the morning. Disappointment makes my feet heavy as I walk with him to the entry of the shop.
“Thanks for showing me around,” He says at the door, neither of us making a move to open it just yet. I have a good few inches on him, and we’re standing close enough that he has to tilt his head back to look up at me. There is a hint of gauntness around his eyes and I feel a little guilty that I’ve kept him so long without any blood.
“Any time.” I lean a shoulder against the windows next to the door and cross my arms over my chest, suddenly extremely aware again that I’m in my daggiest track pants and old hoodie.
It doesn’t mean anything, though, when Nikolo smiles at me. Not his flirty smile or smirk that I’ve seen what feels like a million times on my phone screen. A real smile. It creases up his cheeks and makes his eyes squint. It’s actually kind of dorky, if I’m honest, especially with the way his fangs poke through. And somehow, it’s still sexy.
“I, uh. I might take you up on that?” It’s a question. Again, I’ve heard the tone before from curious beings ready to begin studying with us here. It’s always an ego stroke to know you’ve sold them on it. The idea of teaching Nikolo, though? That stirs up ideas of all different kinds of stroking.
Shoving down the naughty student and stern teacher fantasies currently dancing their way through my head, I pray to the Gods that my hoodie is long enough to cover up the way my dick is stirring.
“Good. Because I meant it. Any time.” I can blame the husky dip in my voice on being tired, but I think Nikolo knows it’s not. His eyes bore into mine before flitting down to my mouth, watching intently when my tongue darts out and licks my suddenly dry lips.
A natural predator, his features sharpen with focus as hunger fills his eyes. It’s like liquid fire searing through me and by the Gods, do I love the fucking burn.
“I’ll see you. Soon.” Nikolo says roughly, tearing his eyes off me and turning for the door.
“Can’t wait.”
I watch him walk out the shop and disappear into the fog before I shut the door. On the way up to my apartment I swing by the library. My knowledge of vampires might be lax right now but that’s something I can change. One book at a time.
NIKOLO
Standingon the steps of The Magnifitestique Mage, I hesitate. From the street the shop's lights are all dark. Maybe it’s too late? I don’t want to wake anyone up by knocking, so I pull out my phone and open my message thread with Willan.
Since my impromptu visit last week I seem to have somehow subscribed to Willan’s personal Vamp Lore Updates.
Willan
Did you know that the earliest recorded legends of vampires have them turning because of a ritual gone wrong? The most common legend is that a being—no one can agree on which type—was trying to share their power with their lover and something went wrong.
‘Something went wrong’ feels like an understatement there Willanator. They created a whole new species
Did you know that in the Great Wars the prey shifters in a city in Hannway formed an alliance with a local vampire clan to protect them against the stronger shifter groups? It didn’t last long apparently.
What happened?
Bigotry won. Prey shifters treated the vamps like vamps and then the vamps took exception and left them to fend for themselves. Then the predator shifters went after the vamps after they took out the prey. It got… messy.
Well. That’s depressing.
Sorry!
Did you know that without vampires we wouldn’t have blood donation networks for hospitals? Like, the whole global system is because of them.
Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
No! This one’s a happy one! They basically funded the whole thing on the DL, so long as they got the ‘leftovers’
I have no ideawhyI’m getting sporadic updates of vampire history delivered to my phone at random, but I don’t hate it. Especially if it’s because Willan is learning about vampire history. Because of me.
Scrolling through the messages I find the ones where we agreed to come by tonight to double check that I haven’t gotten it wrong. Once I’m sure I haven’t cocked up the time I type out a quick message to let him know I’m here.
The knot in my stomach only tightens while I wait. It’s been there ever since I left home. I’ve flip flopped a thousand times abouteverything. About coming back, about cutting off Willan and the clan entirely. Every time I think about it, though, it only makes me feel worse.
It’s not just about going back on my promise to Laurence about ‘rolling with it’. There was that moment, too, at the door of the shop, just before I left.
It was just a couple of seconds, where it was more than just attraction to Willan. It was a pulling feeling in my gut and an overwhelming sense of…. Sense of knowing that I’ve picked the right door.
