Nikolo forcing me to wake up. Nikolo coaxing me to drink more of his tea. Nikolo having rushed, whispered, anxious conversations on the phone, where I hear my name a lot.
Then there are other things that are just as comforting as when he holds me close and kisses my head. Like hearing him stretching. Or the vibrating hum of something, somewhere in my apartment. The sounds of someone existing in my space intersperse my awakenings.
When sunrise nears, he holds me at ransom—only agreeing to go to the ritual room to rest if I agree to not take the tea. We compromise onhimmaking the tea, to Egbert’s specifications.
Which is probably why by the time he wakes up on the third night, I’m feeling well enough to be semifunctional.
We both pretend I’m not.
Nikolo insists on fussing over me and I let him. Because not only have I figured out that I don’t mind getting to be a bit of a princess, I am still pretty pathetic. Iamfeeding myself now, though. And I even manage to walk to the toilet on my own without needing to have a rest in the hallway on the way back.
“I feel a little guilty,” I sigh, using his shoulders to balance as I step into my underwear after our shower. Nikolo frowns up at me from the floor and that’s how IknowI’m still horribly unwell—he’sright thereand not even a twitch. Too sick to even get even a little hard for him. Deplorable.
“Why?” Nikolo sounds grouchy as he slides my underwear up, letting the elastic snap on my waist, and smoothing over my ass with a satisfied smile.
“Because I’m taking up all your nights off. You’ve been working so hard, and now you’re taking care of me and all I’m doing is sleeping.” I rest against the basin while he pulls my sleep pants up over his bare ass and enjoy the view when he does a little jump—I’m sick, not dead.
He has his own clothes; I know he does, but he commandeered my pyjamas by silent agreement.
When he’s dressed enough, he steps up to me at the counter, standing so his legs bracket mine with his hands on my hips, thumbs stroking my hip bones.
“Please.” He scoffs, tugging my hips into his, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. “Like I’d wanna be anywhere else. Plus, I’ve got my sewing machine here, and I can catch up on some outfitswhile you’re zonked out. Your dining table is the perfect size for a work table.”
I wrap my arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer. “Ah, I see,that’swhy you’re here. My work tables.” Unable to resist, I lean in for another kiss. How he wants to kiss me when I look like death warmed up, I’ll never know. “I have more, you know. Downstairs in the classrooms. All the space you need.”
Nikolo chuckles softly, coasting his hands up my sides and back down to squeeze my hips again. Goosebumps erupt over my bare skin. Grey eyes rimmed in red stare into mine. “Almost sounds like you’re trying to bribe me to stay, Teach.”
I shrug and lick my lips, my virus-riddled brain too fogged up to think of a flirty reply. It doesn’t matter, because Nikolo’s hand travels up the length of my spine to cup my nape and draw me in for another gentle spirit shattering kiss.
Make out sessions in the bathroom are all well and good, but there is a definite issue with Nikolo being here I realise later when we’re tucked back in bed together.
A stack of papers beneath the tower of books next to the bed catches my eye. He’s walked past them I have no idea how many times, but the man must have the integrity of only the most devoted servants to the Gods because he obviously hasn’t looked at them.
Which is good, because they would only raise questions I’m not entirely certain I have answers to yet.
I only printed them a couple of days before I got sick, after a deep dive I fell into whilst scrolling throughCrumbles. Originally I was looking for vamp fact ideas to send to Nikolo when I found an old thread asking if you could be turned by swallowing too much vampire cum.
Considering I’m swallowing the stuff on a semiregular basis, I clicked the link.
Most of the comments called the OP ridiculous, until another poster pointed out that all vampire fluids contain traces of their blood.
Then someone did the maths.
It turns out that I would have to swallow a phenomenal amount of vampire cum to be accidentally turned. More than one being could reasonably consume in any viable amount of time. Though there was one case, where a small prey shifter did experience medical complications fromhalfturning because of it. The details on what they’d done to get that far were murky but it wasn’t hard to put together the picture. It wasn’t pretty.
Knowing that the chances of me half-turning are slim to none was reassuring. But throughout the day I found myself going back to the thread again and again until I faced the fact there’s a part of me—small as it is— sad that there’s no way for me to be accidentally turned.
Finding Nikolo sparked something within me. The fantasies from my early days lightly stalking him, and all the vampire research I’ve been doing have obviously been marinating in my mind. All the little questions of what it’s like to turn, what it wouldbelike to turn lurking in the back of my mind, evolved into something more—and now there are Ulydessia Government Vampire Turning papers on my nightstand, along with a stack of information I printed on the process. It’s not as though I haveplansto turn, but as the days have gone on, and I’ve gone back to them again and again, I’ve realised I don’t have plans tonotturn either.
It’s… complicated. And I don’t want to complicate it further by Nikolo finding out when I’m too out of it to explain why they’re there. So I need to get the papers out of the way.
“Nikolo.” I sing-song, my fingers walking along his belly. I’m sprawled over the top of him again. One day, I’ll go back to being the big spoon, but not today. He pauses massaging the nape ofmy neck, and then squeezes me twice in acknowledgment. “Can you please make me another tea?” I make sure I sound extra pathetic, but draw the line at adding a cough.
“Of course, whatever you need.” Another squeeze and a kiss on the head and he’s closing the book he’s been reading, putting it right back on top of the pile on top of my papers. The second he’s out of the room I hide them in the bottom drawer, summoning the dregs of my magic to ward the drawer. Just for a little while longer.
NIKOLO
“Fuck!Finn! Someone’s broken into the apartment! Call the cops!” Kai’s screeching scares the shit out of me. Considering I’m balanced on my hands, with my back curved and legs bent so my pointed toes are almost touching my head, I end up in a painful heap on the floor.
