Archive of Our Own

Alhaitham heard about the building Kaveh just finished.

The Palace of Alcazarzaray, owned by Lord Sangemah Bay, designed by the Light of Kshahrewar. His magnum opus, Alhaitham heard people calling it. While he didn’t know a lot about architecture and aesthetics, he wasn’t blind to beauty, and he could see how deserving it was of the praises—and maybe more.

This was the first time he heard of Kaveh after years. Even though bitterness was rising in him, getting reminded of their last interaction, there was also this sense of pride he didn’t expect he’d feel.

Is this it, then? Alhaitham couldn’t help but wonder, Is this your ideal? Have you found it?

For the next few days, Alhaitham heard more praises about Kaveh, and he didn’t even have to try. He heard gossip about how much Lord Sangemah Bay paid Kaveh, and he heard the kids fantasizing about what they would do if they had that much money.

“I heard Senior Kaveh is still taking commissions,” one of the students said, “After making something that great, he’s still taking commissions… Senior Kaveh is really a hardworking person.”

“I know right?” The other one chimed in, “If it were me, I’d take a hiatus and enjoy the money from Lord Sangemah Bay. Maybe taking a vacation to Fontaine for a whole month.”

“That’s the difference between you and Senior Kaveh, that’s why he created the magnum opus and you’re still stuck with your thesis.”

They laughed, not even realizing that the scribe was listening to their chattering quietly. Their question made sense. If Lord Sangemah Bay really paid him so much, why still taking commissions? Why not take a break for a moment? Alhaitham, out of all people, knew how much of a hardworking person Kaveh was, but this was too much, even for Kaveh.

Maybe you just don’t know him anymore, a voice inside of his mind said.

To which Alhaitham replied to, Shut up.

He heard more about Kaveh. Some of them were ridiculous, some of them were interesting, and some of them—

“I met Senior Kaveh in the tavern last night,” he heard someone saying.

“No way! I met him too in the tavern three days ago.”

“Oh, he’s just spending his money in the tavern?”

“He said he’s searching for inspiration… well, we don’t know how geniuses think, maybe it’s just his way…”

Alhaitham raised an eyebrow as he tried to not think too much about it. He grabbed the book he was looking for and left the House of Daena as soon as he could.

…and the next thing he knew, he found himself in the tavern.

Alhaitham sat down on the table, eyes wandering around. Still, he didn’t find the blond man whom he would recognize immediately, even if he was blind. He would recognize his voice, he’d recognize the way he talked, laughed, breathed. And yet for almost two hours he sat there, he found nothing at all.

What are you doing? The voice inside of his head questioned, Why are you looking for him?

He really wanted to say, I’m not looking for him. but that would be a dirty lie. Not even a good one. Maybe he just wanted to see him. They didn’t have to meet, Alhaitham knew that much, but he just… wanted to see him. Kaveh, the Light of Kshahrewar, the renowned architect, the man who just created his magnum opus.

But then nothing happened, and Alhaitham let out a quiet sigh. He was getting up from his seat, ready to leave as he heard someone entering the tavern.

“Don’t go to the woods!” The person said, “Someone saw a vampire! The matras are on their way to take care of it, but please just stay away from it for now!”

Vampire, huh?

Not what Alhaitham expected he would hear about here, but at the same time, also none of his business.

“Oh no,” someone else said, “Didn’t Sir Kaveh say he was going to the woods earlier?”

…

Alhaitham could feel his heart dropping.

“He could be in danger,” Lambad walked toward them, “We need someone to look for him—”

“I’ll go,”

With just those words, eyes were directed at Alhaitham.

…Alhaitham didn’t even realize he was saying that.

“I have a vision. I’ll be fine.”

So quickly, he left the tavern.

It was uncharacteristic for Alhaitham to do something impulsively without giving it thought, but he did it anyway. On his way to the woods, he thought about what to do when he finally met Kaveh. What would he say to him? Should he just say that he was just around by chance? He gave it more thought, but then he hated himself for it. Why on earth were thoughts about meeting Kaveh made him feel more nervous than the fact that he could be encountering a deadly vampire?

Usually, it took a lot for Alhaitham to feel nervous.

And Kaveh alone was enough, apparently.

He entered the woods, holding his sword tightly. Preparing himself for any sudden attack. He didn’t see the matras, and he wished he’d encountered Kaveh first before they saw the architect. That would save everyone from the trouble.

As he kept going, the smallest noises made him even more alert.

…and then he heard a whimper.

Quickly, he turned around. Is somebody hurt? He thought, and then his head decided to add another question that made his head feel like spinning, Is Kaveh hurt?

So he went to the source of the sound,

and he saw him.

Kaveh.

Even though it had been years since the last time Alhaitham saw him, he couldn’t have been mistaken. He would recognize that golden hair anywhere. Kaveh was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, breathing quickly. He could see that Kaveh was shaking, with both hands covering his face.

Alhaitham felt sick when he saw red on Kaveh’s white shirt.

Slowly, he approached him. Trying not to scare him. But Kaveh apparently heard the footsteps, and he shouted with a hoarse voice, “STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

So, Alhaitham stopped.

His eyes widened as he stared at the man in front of him, but still, he tried to speak in a quiet tone, “…Kaveh?”

And hearing him talk made Kaveh even more tense.

He pressed his face against his palms even more, as if he was trying to hide. He was shaking even more.

“Kaveh, I know I’m the last person you want to see,” Alhaitham said, “But it’s dangerous in here, and you’re hurt. Let me take you out of here.”

Alhaitham knew how stubborn Kaveh was. He knew it a bit too well. But still, he couldn’t find a reason why instead of lowering down his hands, Kaveh was pressing his back against the tree even more. Especially when Alhaitham took another step.

“Kaveh,” Alhaitham spoke again, this time in a more urgent tone, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Leave me alone,” Kaveh finally answered.

Still not moving.

Kaveh was being unreasonable, Alhaitham knew this. He was going to say something, but he couldn’t find his voice. For a moment, it felt like they were children again. And Kaveh was doing something highly unreasonable, and it ended up with them never seeing each other again.

…and for some reason, Alhaitham couldn’t find it in him to say something like that again.

Why? The voice inside of him was back, You can’t break what’s already broken.

He knew that.

And yet—

“Kaveh, please,” Alhaitham urged once again, “We don’t have to say anything—”

“Just leave me alone, Alhaitham,” Kaveh interrupted, and he sounded like he was in pain, “Not you… I can’t…”

“Kaveh, there’s a vampire in this forest. We need to leave.”

“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t… why do you have to be… why does it have to be you— ”

Kaveh sounded like he was rambling, so Alhaitham took another step and grabbed Kaveh’s wrist. But Kaveh’s arm was like an iron, refusing to show his face.

“No, no, no, no, get away from me—”

“Kaveh—”

“Please, no, no— ”

“KAVEH!”

Alhaitham finally managed to pull Kaveh’s hand, and he saw the familiar face. But he couldn’t really focus on nostalgia.

Not when there was red around Kaveh’s mouth.

And fangs between his lips.

Alhaitham froze.

“Kaveh—”

Traces of tears were obvious on Kaveh’s face, some were still falling, and Alhaitham could see veins on his neck so clearly as if they were popping out.

“Alhaitham,” Kaveh said, sobbing, “Go away. I can’t hold myself back. Please leave me. Please, please, please— ”

To be frank, Alhaitham couldn’t really remember what happened after that.

One thing he could be sure of though, however: he obviously didn’t go away.

While he never saw one until that night, Alhaitham knew about vampires. The most common story was about how children were warned not to leave after dark, or else the vampires would eat them. His grandmother never scared him like that though, but instead, she read him a book about vampires. She told him about a creature who lived by feeding off human’s blood, and that it was best to avoid it if he ever saw one.

“They exist alongside us, but they’re different from us,” she told him, “If you don’t bother them, chances are they won’t bother you too.”

“...like a fungus?” Alhaitham asked.

His grandmother chuckled softly, “Exactly like a fungus if they drink human’s blood to survive.”

She told him more about how vampires didn’t show themselves too often because if someone saw them, the matras would take care of them. So Alhaitham did what a curious child did: he asked her how the matras would take care of vampires.

This time, though, she didn’t answer. She just smiled at him and put her hand gently on the top of his head ruffling his hair.

…and immediately, Alhaitham understood the answer.

When he talked about vampires with his grandmother, it felt like talking about gods and demons, something that probably wouldn’t affect his life too much. A theory. A story.

So now, when he was faced with the fact that Kaveh, of all people, was a vampire… he didn’t know what to do. He never even realized this when they were students—when they were still close. Vampires were dangerous, he got that, but Kaveh wasn’t. No, not Kaveh. Kaveh who would overwork himself just to get an insincere smile from people he helped, Kaveh who would throw himself to any danger for people—

Kaveh who bit him in that forest when he tried to help him.

When you lived your whole life as one thing, suddenly getting turned into another thing wouldn’t exactly be easy. That was what happened to Alhaitham. Lived his whole life as an ordinary human being, avoiding conflicts that might disturb his peace, and suddenly, boom—

he wasn’t a human anymore.

Kaveh didn’t mean it. Alhaitham knew that much. It was an accident. Alhaitham understood. Still, his life was changed forever. One day he was a human, living his life as he normally did, and the next day, he was… well, not.

After a night Alhaitham couldn’t recall that moment, he woke up with a dry throat and a twist in his stomach, only one thought was in his mind that morning: he had never felt so starving in his entire life. Both hunger and thirst mixed together, swirling inside of him, causing dizziness that made it hard for him to get out of the bed but he felt like he was going to die if he didn’t eat and drink something.

So after struggling just to get to his feet, Alhaitham made it to the kitchen. It took him several tries and a few more frustrated groans just to open the fridge, and when he finally did, there was a clash inside of his mind as he was struck with the difficulty to decide if he needed food or drink more.

The twist inside of his stomach snapped him back to reality, and he snatched the bottle of milk inside of the fridge and in just a few seconds chugged the whole bottle up. And yet even until there was nothing left in the bottle, it didn’t fix the hunger and thirst that he was feeling. Drowned in distraught, Alhaitham grabbed the carton of juice. Still nothing. Peaches? Nothing. Leftover from two days ago? Nothing. He even tried eating frozen meat in the freezer, and it did nothing but caused him to throw up.

He ate, and he ate, and he ate—

and it did nothing.

His body was trembling as he fell to the floor, could do nothing but lay on his own vomit. Hands holding his stomach, hoping to make it more bearable somehow. He didn’t know. He couldn’t think. He heard a sound of something falling, and maybe he heard someone calling his name, but he couldn’t register any of it. The hunger inside of him growled even more when he felt something touching his face.

…and it was delicious.

Gods, it smelled delicious.

It smelled so delicious, he needed that to be in his mouth now. And so, he took it. He felt warm liquid filling his mouth, and for the first time after what felt like his whole life, he felt content. Both of his thirst and hunger were satiated as he drank more, and more, and more.

He heard another sound, but he was too far gone to care.

He didn’t know when he started chewing. He didn’t know what he was chewing. But it was good. He didn’t throw up. It was so good.

Needless to say, he didn’t even realize that Kaveh was kneeling right in front of him. Hugging him close, fingers gently stroking the gray strands. Whispering to him, “It’s okay. Ssh. Take more, it’s alright,” while wincing in pain, as Alhaitham was taking another bite of his shoulder—ripping it off the bones, spilling blood.

The next time Alhaitham woke up, his head felt a lot clearer, but he could still feel it aching. In the middle of delirious daze, he thought he just had the weirdest dream, so he took a few more minutes before trying to get up from the bed.

But before he could do so, he heard a voice.

“You’re awake,”

…a very familiar voice.

So Alhaitham turned his head to see Kaveh. It seemed like he dragged a chair and put it beside Alhaitham’s bed and sat there, waiting for Alhaitham to wake up. Alhaitham stared at him, eyes widened almost as if he didn’t believe that Kaveh was actually there.

Years after their fight, Kaveh was finally beside him again.

“Kaveh—”

“I’m sorry,” Kaveh said, “Alhaitham, I’m so sorry. ”

Kaveh told him about what happened that night.

He started with the fact they both already knew at that point: he was a vampire, followed by another apology that he hid it from him all these times. That he put him in danger just by being near him. Followed by more explanation that vampires had to drink blood at least once every month, and at that moment, Kaveh hadn’t had blood on his tongue for three months.

“Why?” Alhaitham asked.

Kaveh turned his head away from Alhaitham, “...I didn’t have time to hunt because… the Palace of Alcazarzaray collapsed…”

And Alhaitham realized that Kaveh was looking away out of shame.

While still not looking at him, Kaveh explained more about how the withering appeared out of nowhere in the site, and how he insisted on keeping going despite Dori telling him to leave—selling his own house to pay for the damage, even. Alhaitham listened intently as Kaveh explained, silently observing his body language.

“I had to supervise the building. I could not let anything happen to it again, Alhaitham, not a thing— ” Kaveh gritted his teeth, and Alhaitham noticed how he grew tense.

Kaveh paused, cleared his throat to calm himself down.

“And so, once it’s finished, I… have nowhere to go. Master Lambad was kind enough to let me stay in the tavern. I helped him to design the second floor as a thank you, but last night I really had to leave… I could smell everyone’s blood. I knew I couldn’t last longer, so I left to the forest to… hunt, ” Alhaitham raised a brow at how Kaveh spoke the word ‘hunt’, it was obvious that he hated the word, “I found a rabbit but I… couldn’t…”

Another pause,

and Kaveh laughed.

A bitter laugh, laughing so self-deprecatingly. He finally raised his head to look at Alhaitham in front of him.

“And then there you were, insisting to go near me no matter what I told you. Why did you have to do that, Alhaitham? Why didn’t you listen to me? I couldn’t control myself, and you were close to me, and you smelled delicious, so I… I…” Kaveh once again gritted his teeth as he pinched his own thigh, “I’m sorry, Alhaitham. I’m sorry. I’m sorry— ”

The main danger about vampires was that they could drain blood from someone’s body, and it could easily lead to death. Many had died because of this, sure, but what most people didn’t know was that there was another way to save the human from death of blood loss when got bitten by a vampire.

Turning into a vampire themselves.

Once Kaveh realized what he had done, he panicked. Desperation filled him as he watched Alhaitham unconscious in his hands, his skin was even paler under the moonlight. So, Kaveh did what he had to do. The selfish, selfish thing because he couldn’t handle the thoughts of losing Alhaitham.

He tore his own skin, took the blood with his own mouth,

and pressed his lips on Alhaitham’s, as blood slipped between Alhaitham’s lips, and down to his throat.

That night, Kaveh mentioned that he had nowhere to go home to.

So naturally, Alhaitham offered him to live in his house— their house, if Kaveh didn’t forfeit his rights for the house. He saw the change on Kaveh’s face, panicking as he tried to reject the offer.

“I can’t possibly do that,” Kaveh said, “You’re… you’re like this because of me. I don’t think I should—”

“Oh?” Alhaitham interrupted, staring at Kaveh’s eyes as if he was trying to trap him into looking at him back—surprisingly, it worked, “I didn’t know you’re the type to abandon your new pet like that.”

Kaveh’s lips parted, as if he was going to speak. Yet no words came from his mouth. Then he pressed his lips together, and Alhaitham noticed how much Kaveh wanted to break eye contact—crimson irises filled with guilt, even more as he heard what Alhaitham just said.

…he didn’t.

“Why do you even want me to live with you?”

Alhaitham considered.

“Because I need you,”

There was this sick part of him that wanted to leave the sentence just like that.

And yet, because he was a coward, he continued, “...to show me the ropes. I imagine it’s not going to be easy for me from now on. You won’t be living here for free, of course. You’ll need to help me figure this out.”

Kaveh fell silent, and Alhaitham observed his expression.

He knew for a long time that a lot of decisions that Kaveh took were heavily affected by his guilt, and right now, he was using it for his leverage. He knew this was a shitty thing to do, and yet he found himself unable to feel bad for doing it.

And he could only barely his smile of victory when Kaveh finally spoke,

“You’re right,” Kaveh said, “...I’ll live here, if that’s okay with you.”

A few years passed since they lived together, and things weren’t as awkward anymore. They never actually talked about what happened between them before the whole vampirism thing, sure, but everything was going just fine, and there was not a single thing that needed to be changed.

The one thing Alhaitham noticed the most about Kaveh was how sensitive his skin was when touched by the sunlight. Suddenly it all made sense, about how Kaveh always avoided sunlight even when they were still students in the Akademiya. He watched as Kaveh entered the house with the exposed part of his skin burned.

Alhaitham’s eyes widened, “Kaveh, your back—”

“Oh?” Kaveh tried to look behind him, but then he chuckled, “Ohhh. It’ll be alright. I heal really quickly.”

And Alhaitham learned that very second just how quickly Kaveh healed. He witnessed the red on his skin turning back into his normal skin color in the matter of seconds, and Kaveh just grinned looking at the confusion on Alhaitham’s face.

“Is that a vampire… thing…”

A chuckle escaped Kaveh’s lips hearing that—it wasn’t often to see Alhaitham this surprised, “I’m not sure, but I don’t think so? I don’t meet a lot of vampires.”

The next thing he noticed was how easily it was for Kaveh to get hurt. Kaveh never really told him how, every time Alhaitham tried to ask, Kaveh just brushed it off because it really wasn’t important—something Alhaitham could agree with because, yes, Kaveh healed at the end rapidly, and it wasn’t threatening or anything. So he couldn’t really press the question.

Well, everything seemed to be fine.

Nothing had to change between them.

Kaveh provided Alhaitham with blood every month so that he wouldn’t have to hunt. And by provide, it went like this:

Kaveh could be doing anything. He could be reading, he could be drawing, he could be working. He could be in the middle of a tight deadline, and Alhaitham would approach him. 

Sometimes he would tell him, “I’m thirsty,”

Sometimes he wouldn’t even have to say anything; he’d have his arms wrapped around Kaveh’s waist, face buried in his neck as he took a deep inhale.

And Kaveh would understand.

He would laugh and drop anything he was doing, gently stroking Alhaitham’s hair as he tilted his head to let Alhaitham get an easier access to his neck.

“Go ahead,” Kaveh would say in a soft tone, clearing any doubt that might exist in Alhaitham’s mind, “Take a bite.”

***

From what Kaveh knew, vampires didn’t usually feed off another vampire.

He never brought it up to Alhaitham, and fortunately, he was the only vampire Alhaitham ever met, and Alhaitham never asked. So Alhaitham wouldn’t know more about it than him to notice that this was an unusual case. 

Kaveh wasn’t sure about this either.

The first time Alhaitham had to eat, Kaveh brought him bagged blood—a textbook “ How to Care for New Vampires 101 ”.

Alhaitham looked at it with hesitation.

“It smells weird,”

Kaveh frowned, so he took a sniff on the bagged blood, “It’s not? Maybe it smells bad because you’re… well, new. Just take a big gulp like a medicine,”

So, trusting Kaveh’s words, Alhaitham bit onto the bag and took a gulp—

and yet the moment the blood touched his tongue, Alhaitham coughed violently.

The blood that was in his mouth was thrown up, spilling to chin, to his clothes, and then to the floor.

“It’s disgusting,” Alhaitham said, wiping off the blood from his mouth.

“Huh?!” Kaveh looked at him—just as confused, “It shouldn’t be? You are a vampire, you’re not supposed to be repulsed by blood!”

Kaveh was saying that while his hands were gently tugging on Alhaitham’s now pointy ears, which caused Alhaitham to click his tongue in protest but otherwise didn’t do anything to stop him. Then Kaveh also slipped his finger between his teeth, making Alhaitham open his mouth and showing the sharp fangs.

…in that moment, though, Alhaitham felt a sudden pang of hunger. Though, it immediately disappeared as Kaveh pulled out his hand.

“Maybe the blood is already bad?”

Kaveh sniffed the blood, “...no? It’s still good, I swear… hmm…”

Alhaitham watched as Kaveh got lost in thoughts.

“I have another method,” Kaveh said, “Do you… want to try it?”

“Sure.”

“I—” Kaveh cleared his throat, “You’re agreeing with me without knowing what it is?”

“What, is it something bad?”

“Well… not exactly?”

“Then go on with it.”

“You—ugh, okay, I’ll explain it to you. Listen carefully and think about whether you’ll feel uncomfortable about this or not. So, uh…” Kaveh took the bagged blood from Alhaitham’s hand, “I’ll put the blood in my mouth and… uhh, feed you the blood?”

Alhaitham raised a brow, “...mouth to mouth?”

Kaveh groaned, “I know, it sounds stupid. Just, ugh, forget it—”

“Okay.”

“...” Kaveh blinked, “Huh?”

“Do it.”

Baffled, Kaveh tried again, “You do… understand what I’m going to do, right?”

Alhaitham shrugged, “You told me you kissed me when I was—”

“I was feeding you blood!”

“Exactly,” he crossed his arms in front of his chest, “What’s the difference?”

Kaveh groaned, “...ugh! Okay, okay, just… do you want to do it or not?”

“I already said yes.”

Another sigh escaped Kaveh’s lips, but then he tore off the bag, making a bigger hole from what Alhaitham made, and spilled the blood into his mouth. Then, he brought his face closer to Alhaitham’s—placing his hands on both sides of Alhaitham’s face, and closed his eyes as he pressed their lips together.

Alhaitham could feel the blood touching his tongue, but this time, his tongue no longer rejected the taste. The disgusting taste he felt earlier was no longer there. In fact, he felt the pang of hunger back, so Alhaitham swallowed the blood. Feeling content, at least—

then he felt the hunger got worse.

But after that, he blacked out.

Kaveh, however, witnessed what was happening.

When he pulled away from Alhaitham, he felt Alhaitham’s hands gripping his shoulders. Kaveh laughed at first, thinking that it was a daze from drinking blood for the first time—well, not exactly the first, but still—so he just asked, “Are you okay? I can get you water.”

But Alhaitham didn’t say anything.

Instead, the grip got tighter.

Kaveh winced, “Alhaitham? Hey, uh, it kinda hurts—”

And yet there was no reaction from the man in front of him.

“Alhaitham?” Kaveh tried again, “Alhaitham, can you hear—ah!”

He saw Alhaitham’s body shaking, and only then did he notice that Alhaitham’s looked… dim. As if he wasn’t conscious. Realization hit him of what was happening—he didn’t exactly know what was happening, but this happened before when he saw Alhaitham rummaging through the fridge, desperately looking for food he could eat.

So when Alhaitham pushed him against the wall, Kaveh didn’t even react,

And when Alhaitham buried his fangs on Kaveh’s neck, he let it be.

It happened a few more times.

Kaveh tried again the next month, to give Alhaitham bagged blood. Thinking, maybe there was something wrong with the blood? So he grabbed the freshest one, checking it over and over again to make sure it was good enough. But still, the same thing happened again.

So Kaveh thought: what if Alhaitham could only drink from a living creature? Alhaitham did drink from him after all—and took a chunk of his meat sometimes, which regenerated after a few days, thanks to his rapid healing. So he took Alhaitham to the forest one night and helped him to catch an animal.

The same thing happened again.

And again.

And again—

Kaveh gave up, at some point.

Alhaitham woke up after another blackout, and Kaveh was sitting on the edge of the bed as usual. Staring at Alhaitham’s sleepy face, smiling at him who was trying to open his eyes.

“...why are you always bleeding?” Alhaitham asked groggily.

“Good morning,” he said, ignoring the question, “How are you feeling?”

“Ngh,” Alhaitham groaned as he tried to get up, “Why did people keep telling me to be careful of vampires, but when I’m the vampire I get up every month feeling like my head’s trying to detach itself from my neck.”

A chuckle escaped Kaveh’s lips hearing that.

“You’ll be fine, come on,” Kaveh took the glass he already prepared on the bedside and gave it to Alhaitham, who immediately pulled away as he saw what was inside the glass— blood.

“I only need to drink that once a month,”

“Try it,” Kaveh said, “For me?”

Alhaitham squinted his eyes, but then reluctantly, he took the glass and sipped it—preparing himself to be disgusted by the taste,

…but it never came.

His tongue that always rejected the taste of blood to the point he blacked out every time suddenly only felt warmth and content as drank the blood. He didn’t know what was happening, the last time he felt like this was when Kaveh fed him the blood mouth to mouth—only, this one was far better.

Before he knew it, he already finished the glass.

He still stared at it, though, baffled with the lack of disgust.

“Liked it?”

Alhaitham looked at Kaveh, “...what blood is it?”

“Did you like it?”

“ Kaveh, ”

Kaveh grinned, “Yeah. It’s mine. Apparently you can drink my blood with no trouble, I figured it out a few months ago but I needed to make sure about something…”

Alhaitham fell silent, trying to make sense of it.

“Is it because… you’re the one who turned me?”

There was guilt on Kaveh’s face for a moment, but he said, “Honestly? I’m not really sure. But that clears the problem we had! Just come to me when you feel thirsty. I’ll take care of you.”

Months passed, and they really had no more problem about Alhaitham blacking out mid-feeding.

Though, Alhaitham still noticed that Kaveh often would show up bleeding.

The wound healed quickly, but still, Alhaitham couldn’t help but question.

Kaveh asked Alhaitham that morning, “Would you like a steak?”

…it had been months since the last time Alhaitham had real food. Every time he tried to eat, his stomach rejected it right away, so he didn’t bother to touch more food.

“What? Are you going to soak the meat in your blood?”

Kaveh rolled his eyes, “Ha, do you want it or not?”

Alhaitham considered, “...sure. I’m not sure if I can eat it, though. So if… I throw it up, don’t take it personally.”

“Mmhm,” then Kaveh left for the kitchen.

Kaveh was sitting in the corner of the kitchen. 

He had a piece of cloth between his teeth, prepared to muffle any sound that came from his mouth. Sweat fell down his forehead as he bit down on the cloth, holding back the pain as the sharp blade pierced his leg. Deeper, and deeper, until he felt the knife was touching something solid—

his bone.

Trying to breathe through the pain, Kaveh took a deep inhale. Preparing himself for the impact,

before forcing the knife to break the bone and sliced through his calf.

His screams were muffled as his hands kept pushing the knife until the last skin was separated from the other—cutting off his own leg.

He could feel his whole body shaking in pain, so he let himself lean against the wall for a moment. The blood on the floor could be cleaned. He made sure he locked the door so Alhaitham wouldn’t walk in and see him like this. Heavy breaths escaped his lungs, and he stayed like that until he felt the rapid regeneration kicked in.

It might take a few hours for his leg to regrow.

Well.

Enough time to clean the meat.

Alhaitham was sitting at the dining table, reading a book as he waited for Kaveh who was still in the kitchen.

When Kaveh dropped a plate of steak on the table in front of him, Alhaitham could see the satisfied smile on his face.

…or, to be exact, Alhaitham always saw a satisfied smile on Kaveh’s face every time he did this.

Kaveh was a man proud of his creations, so looking at him smiling like that wasn’t new. Ever since they were children, Kaveh had always been so proud of what he created, rightfully so. It was a familiar sight that Alhaitham had grown fond of over the years, knowing that the architect was feeling good.

Today was no different. Kaveh cooked, and the food was his creation. Of course, he’d smile proudly.

His smile only grew bigger when Alhaitham cut a slice of steak and put it into his mouth, chewing experimentally a few times before swallowing it. As if Kaveh was waiting for Alhaitham to say something.

Which he did, “It’s good,” he said, “...what meat is this?”

A chuckle escaped Kaveh’s lips, “As long as you can eat it, why wonder?”

“There’s no stopping a human's curiosity,” Alhaitham replied as he ate another slice of the steak, “...well, I’m not human anymore, but… semantics.”

This time, the smile on Kaveh’s face was still, but Alhaitham could see a hint of guilt in his expression. Before he could say anything, though, Kaveh already spoke again.

“Just eat it,” Kaveh said, “Trust your senior a bit, would you?”

Alhaitham scoffed, “One can talk in between eating.”

Kaveh rolled his eyes, but there was fondness in his eyes.

So Alhaitham continued eating. Unlike other food that felt repulsive on his tongue, he could actually chew and swallow the steak, and it didn’t feel like he had to throw it up every time. It felt… normal. Just like when he used to eat steaks before he turned into a vampire.

…which was nostalgic, at this point.

After taking the last bite, Alhaitham spoke again, “Oh, and I do trust you. It’s delicious. Thank you for the meal.”