Ignoring Titan, she patted Arthur’s cheek again, this time with a little more force. “Arthur, are you diabetic? Do you have a testing kit?”
She was about to tell Titan to call for an ambulance when Arthur finally opened his eyes. She gasped at the sight of his beautiful navy-blue eyes now covered in a layer of white as if he’d developed cataracts overnight.
“Beatrix?” Arthur whispered. His voice sounded like he was on the verge of dying. Oh god, what was going on?
“It’s okay, I’m going to get you help!” Beatrix said. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but you're not alone. We’re right here with you, and we’ll be with you at the hospital."
Instead of looking scared at her frantic words, Arthur raised his gaze to where Titan stood behind her.
“Explain,” he whispered, then pulled in a deep breath and closed his eyes as if the small interaction had exhausted him.
Beatrix scrambled to her feet and started hunting for her purse and clothes. She needed her phone to call for help, and she needed to get dressed to go to the hospital with Arthur.
“Beatrix, stop. Please,” Titan begged, getting in front of her.
She pulled on her pants. She hated not having her underwear, but she seemed to remember someone ripping them off her last night. She realized Titan was still naked. She pulled off his shirt and tossed it to him, then tugged on her blouse.
He caught it but didn’t put it on. Why wasn’t he doing anything?
“Titan, you need to help me.”
“You can’t take Arthur out of here,” Titan said, his voice quiet but firm.
She went still and stared up at Titan. “What do you mean?”
“Um, I have something to tell you that's going to freak you out,” he said, looking uncomfortable. “But I promise, we’d never hurt you.”
“Titan, you’re not making any sense!” she exclaimed. She held up her phone. “You have two minutes to explain and then I’m calling for help. I’m not risking Arthur’s life for no reason.”
“Right, well, I guess I might as well feed him to show you,” Titan said, going back to the couch. With almost no effort, Titan picked Arthur up, then sat back down with the smaller man settled in his lap.
It was touching to watch Titan hold Arthur’s mostly limp body in his arms with such tender care. He cupped the back of Arthur’s head and pressed the smaller man’s mouth to the side of his head.
“What are you doing?” she asked, stepping closer. “Arthur needs professional help, not wherever this is.”
“Trust me, please,” Titan said, looking up at her with pleading eyes. Then he rolled his gaze to Arthur. “Drink from me. I know you don't want to, but your flock needs you, and my blood will give you strength against the daylight. Do this before we lose Beatrix. Please, Arthur.”
As Titan said those last words, he pressed Arthur’s mouth hard against the side of his neck.
Beatrix was about to call a halt to whatever strange thing Titan thought he was doing, only to see long fangs emerge from Arthur’s mouth and sink into Titan’s skin.
“Oh my god!” Beatrix exclaimed, frozen in place. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Vampires didn’t really exist, did they?
Titan moaned as Arthur pierced his skin and started sucking.
“Take all you need,” Titan murmured, his face flushing with pleasure. “I’m a big guy, you can’t hurt me.”
“This is insane,” Beatrix whispered, horrified.
No, that was a lie. She wanted to be horrified, but she felt intrigued and confused. The combination of Titan gently cradling Arthur along with his expression of pleasure was uncomfortably arousing.
Beatrix shook her head. “This is wrong.”
“We’re part of a world you don’t know about,” Titan said, his voice a little unsteady as if someone was giving him a hand job under a table. Except it wasn’t something that simple, it was two adult men living out a weird vampire fantasy.
She couldn’t pull her eyes away and was shocked to see color return to Arthur’s body. It wasn’t long before he was able to support his head and pulled away from Titan.
“Thank you,” he whispered, licking his tongue across the two puncture wounds in Titan’s neck. Along with his skin, his eyes were back to normal.
