When I wake up at midday, he’s colder, and my worry returns a thousandfold.It’s fine. It’s normal. It’s part of vamp life. You’ve researched this. I repeat to myself, as I peel myself from him and get our mess cleaned up.
I get a short reprieve from my swirling feelings when I realise just how bad I fucked up leaving the mess for later. Cum is bad enough, butvampirecum has trace elements of blood making the clean up extra difficult. Especially trying to change the pillow cases without disrupting him. Which is silly, because technically speaking, he’s dead.
And I get another one when I rearrange the LED candles on his dresser around the freshly cleaned toys, like a little shrine. Because they really were a lot of fun—not that I’d get them tattooed on me like he did. I snicker a little laugh at young-Nikolo’s absurdity and then I’m right back to dithering about, delaying my leaving again.
It’s silly to be so anxious about leaving him—he’s survived how many years perfectly without me fussing over him?
Eventually I have to face reality. Well, two realities. The first is that my anxiety is just because I’m finding excuses because I just don’t want to leave him. The other is that with a class to teach in a couple of hours, I don’t really have a choice.
And so with one last look at his disturbingly peaceful face, I slip from his room into the pitch dark hallway and leave.
NIKOLO
Work isbusy for it being just after 1 a.m. in the middle of the week. It’s been like this for the past two weeks, and with the local uni campus on holidays,andthe city’s tourist season kicking off, it's not going to let up anytime soon.
Not that it’s my problem as of… now. I watch the clock tick over on the till and let out an obnoxiouswhoop!
“I’m outta here guys, see you in four nights.” I taunt Lifo and Kai who are still stuck behind the bar.
They give me a middle finger salute goodbye and I tear outta the bar before I can get caught by any thirsty customers. I’d feel guilty about leaving them when the place is nearing capacity, but I’ve been working back-to-back opens till close for the past week and a half, so I’ve earned the break. And Mia, Stacey, and Colby are all out in the crowd tonight.
Because of the absolutely insane shifts I’ve been pulling, I haven’t been able to get anything done. And with Kai working just as hard as I’ve been, our place is trashed, our fridge is dangerously dry, and the laundry is getting out of control. But that’s not how I’m going to be spending my upcoming nights off.
Nope, my plans involve me, Willan, and seeing what kinda magic we can come up with. The literal kindandthe euphemistic.
After weeks of seeing him nearly every day, I’ve only managed to see him twice—once for Finn’s three-month celebration at Hearts Gate and once when he came in with Finn and Bedeer for some drinks. It’s the first time our clashing work and sleep schedules have become an issue and the lack of Willan in my life is starting to make me antsy.
Thoughts of Willan have me hightailing it to the staff room even faster, my freedom from work opening the floodgates to a rush of giddy anticipation of getting my hands on my phone where I have zero doubt that I’ll have messages from Willan waiting for me.
Sure enough, my phone starts buzzing when it turns back on. Ignoring everything else, I jump straight to opening our message thread. There’s already half a dozen messages from the five hours I’ve been at work.
Daily Vampire Update. [Vamp emoji] In the 12th century there was a ruler who gave up their crown and their kingdom for their secret vampire lover. Emperor Piotrith of the Auzaheron Realm in Grezia fell in love with Gli, a vampire from Hedrana. Grezia had virulent anti-vampire laws, and Gli was there as a peace envoy. Piotrith abdicated their claim to the throne, denounced the country's laws and the pair fled the Realm. It’s said that the Emperor turned but ended up living alone in the mountains of the neighbouring realm in poverty as penance.
Well. That’s fucking depressing. I scroll on to the next message.
These pants are positively indecent, Nikolo.
A screenshot is attached, taken from a video he’s found online. I’d blame it on the angle, but yeah, those pants really are indecent considering they are actually just sheer black lace with a tiny pair of briefs underneath.
You should wear them next time we hang out [winky face emoji].
I bark out a laugh and quickly roll my lips over my teeth to smother my smile, quickly peeking over my shoulder to make sure no one has come into the staff room while I’ve been mooning over my phone.
I wait to reply till I get to the end of the messages, but make a mental note about the pants, and maybe think about what other fun things I could dress up in for Willan.
I have class in 10. It’s intermediates. [Eye roll emoji] The class is at that really annoying phase where they have enough skill to have confidence, but not enough experience to have caution. It’s a pain in the ass mix. Light a candle for me or something.
That was about an hour after I started my shift, so I’m surprised to see a message come through half an hour later. Usually his classes run for forty-five minutes at a minimum.
I knew it. I fucking knew it. The wind blew funny today, and I knew it was bringing something dodgy. One of the idiots brought in a decayance charm and it broke. In the middle of class. Tried to clean it up the best that I could, but they were useless to help and I didn’t want to risk Egbert getting infected so I was on my own. Make that candle a sacrificial animal or something.
The smile drops from my face so fast my guts feel like they’ve dropped out of my feet. Decayance charms are no joke. Made by beings for humans, they collect human illnesses. Not only are they not terribly effective, they are also incredibly unstable—which is why they are rarely used. The magic and the illness can also fuse, becoming a super infection that can affect humans and beings alike.
The next message was two hours ago.
Gods, it’s already starting. I can actually feel myself getting sick. Uuuuuuuuuuugh.
And then the last message isn’t a text at all. It’s a voice message.
