Chapter Text
“Would you like a drink?”
Levi leaned in close when he asked the question, fighting to be heard over the loud pound of bass from the club speakers. His lips brushed against the delicate skin of the neck so close—pulse beating alive and rhythmic, blood dancing through veins.
The body in front of him pressed close, confident and flirtatious with the music. With Levi’s height, the girl in platform heels had no issue pushing her voluptuous bust right up into his face. He let her. It was all part of the game; he had her right under his thumb.
Girls are so easy.
He ran his hands over her curvy figure, fingers dragging over the thin spandex fabric clinging to her hips. Looking up at her through his dark eyelashes, he kissed the soft flesh of her bare cleavage and bared his teeth in a sly grin. For the quickest fraction of a second, his eyes flashed black and caught the chestnut-brown above him in a momentary haze.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, nipping at a freckle on her left breast. Levi closed his eyes. He wanted to bite more, bite harder—but he couldn’t yet. He couldn’t cause a scene. He had to stay in the shadows.
Levi looked back up at her, eyes dark and expectant. She laughed, and he watched her hungrily as she jiggled gently with the sound. He gave her another soft kiss on the chest, squeezing her hips in his hands. His eyes darkened in her direction once more.
That’s a yes.
The girl bit her lip and nodded.
“Make it a Sex on the Beach,” she said, moving Levi’s hands from her hips and sliding them further back. He gave her a little squeeze and got another giggle. She really was cute...sexy and a tease. It was a damn shame Levi was gay—she might’ve made a satisfying one night stand.
But he was after her for a different purpose.
“I’ll be right back,” he assured her, reluctant to leave her on the edge of the dance floor because of the nagging worry that he might lose her. Levi rose up onto his toes to speak into her ear again. “You’ll be here when I get back, right?”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Levi liked her voice—deep for a girl’s, and raspy in a way that teased his skin into goosebumps. Fuck, he wished guys were easier to pick up; he hadn’t gotten laid in what felt like years. Thinking about it, it probably had been years.
He left his conquest with the mass of writhing bodies on the dance floor, intoxicated by the music—sailors led to the siren’s shore. She waited for him, dancing and swaying in the strobing lights as he made his way to the bar.
He met the eyes of a man with a brunet mullet, someone familiar. He knew all of the staff at the club well. They were not friends, but they were just like him.
“Sex on the Beach,” he said. “And a room.”
“Something for you?” Nile asked him with disinterest. He was cleaning a glass with a white rag, rubbing away every spot and blemish and giving Levi that same aggravating look he always gave him when he came to this place. With the way they aged, Nile still looked about twenty-five, tired and lively all at once as most of the college-aged kids in the city appeared. Levi knew better, though, that he was probably somewhere in his sixties.
“I said ‘and a room,’ didn’t I?”
“You’re going to draw too much attention to yourself if you never order a damn drink, you know,” Nile countered. He set the clean glass down in front of Levi and filled it with tonic water from the bar, following it up with a healthy splash of gin.
“Maybe I wouldn’t have to come here at all if your fucking shipments got to me on time,” Levi hissed at him. “I’m not paying for that,” he added with a grunt when the drink was pushed into his hand.
“It’s on the house, jackass,” came Nile’s reply, accompanied by a sweetly sarcastic smile. He started on the girl’s drink, working quickly. “And your shipments aren’t exactly standard post—regulations are becoming more of a hassle than I would like. You’re lucky I like you enough to keep your business.”
Nile glanced up and met the eyes of Levi’s girl, nodding her over when he saw that her patience was starting to wear thin. “You’re also lucky I’m willing to take your sloppy seconds and clean up your mess. Nice choice tonight, by the way. Tasty drink for a tasty girl.”
He smiled at the girl when she took a seat at the bar next to her scowling “date.”
“Sorry about that, Miss. Didn’t mean to keep a pretty thing like yourself waiting out there all alone,” Nile schmoozed. Levi resisted his urge to gag and sucked down half of his drink in one gulp.
She grinned at Nile’s words, glad to know she hadn’t been abandoned on purpose. “That’s quite alright,” she said, batting her long, fake eyelashes at Nile. “You have my drink, though, right?”
Levi clenched his jaw; it wasn’t as fun to have this girl flirt with Nile when he hadn’t even had a go at her yet. He was thirsty...and getting more impatient by the second. It would become dangerous if he let this go on.
“Just another minute, Sweetheart,” Nile promised, smiling when she pouted cutely at him. “Now tell me,” he prompted, “where are the friends you came with? They still around?”
She shifted around on her bar stool, flashing Levi a nice shot of the red, lacy panties beneath her tight leopard-print dress. “I came with my classmate Marie,” she said, pouting again. Levi didn’t miss the little smirk from Nile at the mention of Marie’s name. He realized then that he didn’t even know what this girl’s name was.
As she looked around the bustling, sweating crowd, Nile encouraged her to look harder. “She has to be somewhere,” Nile assured her as he set her drink in front of Levi. Levi took it and discreetly turned away from the crowd. He scraped his teeth against the inside of his lip, a warm sweetness filling his mouth.
He spat in her drink.
The girl sighed heavily and turned back around. Levi gave her a small smile and handed her the drink. He toasted her with a clink of glass and she sucked down a long, thirsty sip from the short black straw. Levi watched her a little too intently, impatient. His fingers fidgeted anxiously against the cold stone of the bar counter.
His girl set the drink back down with a loud, satisfied “ahhh,” and let out a giggle. She closed her eyes after a moment, eyelids scrunched hard as her world spun on its head. She was suddenly intoxicated, though it had nothing to do with the alcohol. When her eyes opened again, they were heavy. Entranced.
Levi’s pupils dilated so far the silvery-grey of his irises was lost in the black abyss. He could hear her heartbeat now, the rush of her blood. Pumping. Pumping. Beat after beat. He was high off the sound.
His lips parted and he could feel his canines grow, his fangs extending in his excitement. He leaned toward her—that beat, more energizing than the music he now could no longer hear. His thirst was deafening. His prey smiled at him as he drew closer to her, and he smiled distractedly back.
Suddenly he was looking at his feet, the back of his head throbbing where Nile had hit him. He whipped back up, his eyes feral and a short hiss escaping his lips before Nile slapped the same offending hand over his mouth. He almost bit at Nile’s fingers, but then the hand was grabbing his chin. Nile already knew how Levi got when he was famished; he’d been bit before.
“Keep it in your mouth...or you’re going to screw us all over.” Levi looked away petulantly, but Nile squeezed his face and made him look back, pinching Levi’s fangs against the inside of his mouth with the hard pressure. Nile lowered his voice, glancing around to see if he was drawing any eyes to himself. “We haven’t had an incident in four years. I’m not about to let you be the one to break that streak just because you can’t wait two fucking minutes.” He nearly threw Levi’s jaw back at him when he released him, making him scowl and rub at his sore cheeks.
They looked at the girl sitting quietly next to Levi. She smiled lazily at them, completely oblivious to the situation. Nile pushed her drink toward her again.
“Drink up, Sweetheart,” he urged her with his own dark flash of his eyes, and she robotically obeyed. The way she followed Nile so easily angered Levi, and he gripped his glass hard enough to shatter.
“I’m coming with you,” Nile directed at Levi next.
“She’s mine!” Levi hissed, suddenly agitated and territorial. Nile just rolled his eyes to the ceiling, silently requesting the Lord’s assistance to smite him.
“I’ll let you have your fill. But I’m not letting you drink the bitch to death.” He set down his apron on the back counter and grabbed the attention of a young, silvery-blond bartender at the other end of the bar. The dark-skinned boy must have been a new addition to Nile’s family; Levi had never seen his face before.
He turned an irritated pair of eyes over to Nile, having been so rudely interrupted from chatting up another young guy with the nicest pair of arms Levi had ever seen. The way he focused his gaze on Levi for a long moment made it clear to Levi that the others had told him about what an intruder he was.
“Man the bar while I’m gone, would ya?”
The other bartender flicked his eyes back to Nile and sent him a half-assed salute and a “Sure thing, boss.” Levi glared jealously at the way the boy at the counter leaned in and smiled at the blond when he turned back around. It was a wry sort of smile, flirtatious and asking for a kiss; he leaned in and got one. Levi bared his teeth when he sneered at them.
“You ready, Sweetie?” Nile asked the girl. She nodded, and Levi was surprised when she reached down and took his hand in hers. She smiled at him again, a little dumbly, but actually looking a little eager. Levi would’ve felt a little sorry for her if he wasn’t so thirsty.
She would be fine, though. Nile would be there, mostly for her sake rather than his. He would make sure Levi didn’t go overboard and make her pass out—which had happened more times than Levi would ever willingly admit. He would be there to patch her up afterwards, since Levi couldn’t.
He didn’t know why. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t reel himself in, couldn’t step back, couldn’t stop once he got a taste. He couldn’t control himself though he should’ve been able to; everyone else of his kind could.
Levi wondered now and then if it was from those first years—when he was a child, living on the streets and feeding like a wild animal. He had been a wild animal. But not anymore. He had grown up.
But apparently his stunted youth had made him a stunted adult. That sweetness that mixed with his saliva...his was so faint, so weak. It was a wonder he could maintain a trance for five minutes as it was. It was why he didn’t hunt humans unless he absolutely had to, why he came to this awful place when he’d rather be holed up in his den. He didn’t want to end up taking a life.
He didn’t want to end up taking more than he already had.
Levi suddenly felt sick, but the girl was tugging him off his stool, pulling him along after her as they followed Nile through a door and down a dimly-lit hallway. Nile sauntered as he walked—confident, always confident—but Levi’s own sureness was waning fast. He didn’t want this anymore despite his thirst. He didn’t want this curse.
“What’s with that face?” Nile asked him when they entered a room, the plain wooden door painted with a garishly-colored number four. “Can’t get it up now?” he joked.
Levi punched him hard in the chest and shut the door. The girl sat down on the curved sofa, bouncing with the heavy drop. Levi didn’t wish anymore that she was a guy. It would make this so much worse for him if he was even somewhat into her, when he’d rather just get it over with.
He could’ve just gone for the bite right off the bat, but that sometimes made his meal—his victim—flicker out of their trance. He didn’t want that. Nobody wanted that. If everything went according to plan, she’d be fine. And more importantly, she wouldn’t remember the finer details of what was about to happen.
Levi hated preying upon women like that. It made him feel like a dirty scumbag for taking advantage of someone when he didn’t exactly have their consent. But who in their right mind would willingly let this happen to them, unless they were some kind of freak like him?
“You kiss her,” Levi told Nile, a hint of acrid bile creeping up his throat the more he thought about how wrong this was. How much of a monster it made him. Nile scoffed at him.
“You worked up all that charm at the beginning of the night—all dark and mysterious—only to have me kiss her? This happens every time, man. Are you really that gay?”
Levi snarled at him. “I don’t kiss on the lips, it’s too...I don’t want—!” He grimaced at himself and barely resisted the urge to punch Nile again. They’d had this stupid conversation before. “I’ve told you I don’t want it that personal,” he said, attempting to appear calm.
It was hard to be composed when he hadn’t fed in at least a week and a meal was sitting right there, waiting patiently for him to come to her. The itch to go to her only became stronger by the second.
“So, what? You just gonna keep spitting in their mouths? Real suave,” Nile droned, waving Levi off to go sit down on the sofa next to the girl. He kissed her easily and she kissed back, leaning into him and dragging her perfectly manicured hands over his chest. Levi felt like a third-wheel, though he should’ve been the one dictating this encounter. He knew Nile was putting her into a deeper, more stable trance than he ever could, each swipe of his tongue against hers sure and confident in the way Levi always envied in moments like these. He took a seat on her other side.
Nile pulled away from her mouth to kiss down her neck. He flicked his gaze over to Levi and urged him silently to join in on the other side. The girl sighed and bit her lip, her hands sliding down Nile’s body to rest a palm on both of her admirers’ thighs. She squeezed Levi’s leg when he nipped at her. His thirst for her came back with a vengeance—so close, delicate skin the only barrier between him and his prize.
She smelled so good under the mask of her expensive perfume, and she was so comfortably warm. Levi wanted a taste. He needed it.
Nile slid a hand over her neck and reached behind her, pulling her hair out of the way like the slow drag of a curtain revealing the silver screen. Levi groaned at the bare column of her neck. He could see the excited pulse moving against her skin, the deliciously blue veins fanning out in branches.
He picked a spot closer to the back of her neck, somewhere where the marks he would temporarily leave wouldn’t be so obvious, hidden beneath the shield of her long, blond tresses. Levi kissed the spot wet and open-mouthed, his saliva laced with the same venomous sweetness that she had already drank with her cranberry juice and schnapps.
He let the points of his fangs drag over the wet skin and the girl beneath his touch let out a pleasured little moan. She cried out when he bit down, tensing and threatening to puncture holes in Nile’s uniform vest with her acrylic nails. She sagged and groaned when Levi pulled his fangs from her flesh, petting Nile’s hair as he lavished her cleavage with apologetic attention.
The hunger that consumed Levi was unbearable when the scent of her fresh blood hit his nose. He latched his lips to her neck and at the first taste of her sweet, coppery warmth, he blacked out.
Levi came to when Nile slapped him hard across the face, the resounding noise ringing in Levi’s ears. He lurched forward, and was shoved back down by a firm hand. His lips curled into a predatory snarl at the older man in front of him, eyes black and menacing.
“Don’t give me that!” Nile barked at him. “I knew I needed to come with you! You fucking lost it again.”
“I did not!” Levi defended angrily. He looked around frantically; the girl wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Fury rose in his chest, his eyes becoming wild again as he searched for what wasn’t there.
Nile pinched the side of Levi’s neck, snapping him out of his ravenous search for his missing prey with a sharp hiss of pain. Levi smacked Nile’s hand away, bringing his own hand up to his gently fluttering pulse. His fingers came away slick with blood.
“Fucker, did you bite me?” he growled. His face twitched with disgust at the implication of such an action, but Nile gave him an equally disgusted look.
“Don’t think anything of it. I had to get you away from her somehow.”
Levi shifted his offended eyes to the door. “What did you do with her? Where is she?”
Nile actually laughed at him. “I had to get Gunther to take her out of the room this time because you wouldn’t snap out of it,” he said. He smacked Levi’s cheek a couple times, knocking him further out of his feral daze. “You’re really fucking dangerous, aren’t you, Baby Bat?”
Levi shoved him away again. “Don’t call me that.”
“What? Baby Bat or dangerous?”
He scoffed and dismissed Nile with his middle finger. Finally, he felt his senses coming back to him—his memory sharper, his thoughts clearer—and he didn’t know if he liked being so lucid either. He didn’t like realizing how he had yet again lost himself, yet again brought someone to a place close to death. His head met his hands, cradling his face against his legs, his body tense.
“Why do you think I have you go through all that shit to get the shipments?” Levi forced out. He clenched his fists in his hair and licked his lips. They tasted like blood. His vision blurred. “I need more, you’re starving me. If I wasn’t hungry all the time this wouldn’t fucking happen!”
“Hey, man. I’m doing what I can, alright?” Nile retorted angrily. “You’re pretty much the only Vamp I know that feeds from a bag and I’m doing this for you out of the goodness of my goddamn black heart. Honestly, I should be rewarded for my civic efforts to keep you from killing half the goddamn county!”
Levi’s throat tightened, stinging with the uncomfortable sensation of holding back tears he wouldn’t dare let loose.
“If you don’t like how much donor blood I can get you, fine. Don’t take the shipments!” Nile said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
“No...” Levi retorted quietly, his voice strained.
“No? Well either take what I can get you—and I will try to get you more, no guarantees—or learn how to fucking control yourself!” Nile shouted. He took a breath, trying to calm himself with the bridge of his nose pinched between his fingertips. “How old are you? Thirty-five? Forty?”
Levi lifted his head from his hands, fingers steepled in front of his filthy mouth. “Twenty-six.”
“Sheesh. You really are a Baby Bat. And your juice is still weak as shit? See the Doc for cryin’ out loud.”
“I heard the Doctor’s a human,” Levi said with a deprecating laugh. “What the fuck good is that gonna do?”
“I don’t know. Nobody knows what’s wrong with you. But it might be worth a shot. Maybe he’ll hook you up with blood so I won’t have to.”
He flicked a business card at Levi, who stared down at his lap where it had landed. He’d do anything just so he wouldn’t have to go to this person; he’d heard they were a lunatic and he didn’t know if anyone could even help him at all anyways. He couldn’t be cured. He couldn’t be healed.
All Levi wanted to do now was be at home to waste away in his solitude. If he could feed more frequently, he could’ve been more gentle. He wouldn’t lose it so easily, wouldn’t become so ravenous, wouldn’t bite so deep. But that meant he’d have to hunt far more often.
He didn’t want to hunt at all.
“Get up. You’re hogging the room and I have to get back to work.”
Levi didn’t look at Nile when he stood up, body sagging under the weight of his failure. He should’ve felt content now that he had fed, but he just felt nauseated. He’d rather feed from those shitty bags, even if they weren’t strictly fresh from the source.
The bags didn’t have feelings. The bags didn’t hurt.
The bags didn’t die.
“And clean your damn face before you leave,” Nile ordered as he left Levi standing there in the middle of the room.
Levi didn’t move at first. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what to think of himself. These feelings came back every single time.
He trudged to the small bathroom on the other side of the room, eyes heavy and sullen where he met his own dull gaze in the mirror. The rosy flush in his cheeks and the sticky, fresh blood all over his mouth and chin stood out like stains on his pale skin.
The sight of the bite mark on his neck made his lip twitch at the intimacy of such a gesture—though the actual intention was far from it. His blood oozed from the mark, a slow trickle as his body continued to heal itself.
He dragged the back of his finger over the bite, not even flinching from the sting of it.
He looked at it for a long minute. It was darker than a human’s, a deeper red than any wine. His blood—his inhuman blood—was the only reminder that he was still alive. Or perhaps somewhere between life and death...he didn’t quite know for sure.
He felt more indifferent the longer he looked at the blood on his finger, maybe even found that he resented it a little.
Maybe more than a little.
He sucked it off his finger anyways.
Ping.
Levi rolled over, tugging his blanket over his head to keep himself in a warm, dark space.
Ping.
A deep growl rumbled out of the lump of blankets on Levi’s bed. The electronic sound was agitating and he instantly regretted not leaving his phone on silent before he had gotten into bed the night before.
Ping. Ping.
“Auugh!” Levi shouted, throwing his blanket away from himself. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand, highly tempted to just snap the damn thing in half.
He groaned again when he saw that they were all emails from uni—grades being posted from the last quarter. Another email pinged into his inbox, bearing the foreboding title of “Do Not Ignore—Last Warning.”
He wanted to ignore it, he really did, but he knew he’d regret it if he trashed it without looking at it first.
‘Mr. Ackerman,’ the email formally began. ‘As of this last quarter (Summer Session B of the school year) you are failing Math 150 with a grade D (65.4%), Chem 101 with a grade D (65.8%) and English 101 with a grade F (42.7%), which has brought your GPA down significantly.’
Levi sneered at his phone and continued on reading.
‘All courses listed are requirements for graduation, so it is suggested that you file the Course Retake form as soon as possible before the end of the academic school year if your grades do not improve. Only final grades of a D or an F can be retaken up to two (2) times. If your final grades for the next year(s) improve, the failing grades from the previous year(s) will be expunged from your record. We advise you to take action to improve your grades and to utilize the service of our Counseling Department in the Student Services building to arrange a plan for your academic future.
‘As we have received no response to the last several warnings, your professors for Math 150, Chem 101, and English 101 have agreed that it would be beneficial for a single tutor to meet with you several times a week. They have made tutoring a required part of your grade for the next quarter, to ensure that if you do not pass and choose to retake the courses in the following year(s), they will result in passing final grades.
‘We understand that you are part of our Disabled Students Program and you cannot appear on campus consistently or frequently, and we believe that homeschooling with a tutor will be beneficial to your success as a student with us.
‘If you have any questions, please email your professors individually or make an appointment with the Counseling Department.’
The sneer turned into an outright snarl. There was no way in hell that Levi would ever get a tutor. He wasn’t stupid. Just because he didn’t give a shit about homework and turning in assignments, that didn’t make him an idiot. Half the class didn’t even show up to the evening classes anyways, so it wasn’t like he was the only one who wasn’t “giving his best.”
‘The email provided below is for you to contact the tutor. He will email you within the week to arrange times to meet, and a response is to be expected in a timely manner. If no action is taken, you will be put on Academic Suspension until the failing grades listed above have been improved.’
Levi exited out of the email with a violent jab of his finger. He deleted three of the emails that had come in—his grades that he didn’t need to open now to know how bad they were, thanks to the shitty warning he had just received.
Tutor. What kind of bullshit was that?
He noticed the newest email in his inbox and his scowl deepened. It was from the tutor, seemingly having jumped the gun to contact him. The email had said he would contact him “within the week,” and it had been all of fifteen seconds.
Levi hated this guy already.
‘Hello, Levi. I have been assigned to be your tutor by your professors for English, Chemistry, and Calculus. Please let me know what days and times you are available to meet. I am usually available in the morning and for a few hours in the afternoon on weekdays, and in the evening on weekends. If all of those times don’t work for you, please let me know and I will try to be flexible and work something out with you.
—E’
“Well at least this email is short and to the fucking point,” Levi growled to himself. He tapped a response into his phone and curled back up in bed, forgetting his responsibilities in favor of sleeping his life away.
‘Hey “E”,
Who’s dick do I have to suck to get out of this bull shit?’
Levi stared at the guy in front of him, eyes dead and judgemental.
He had expected some old man to show up at his table, or maybe a nervously sweaty undergrad. What he got instead was a tall, confident blond in a tidy cardigan-and-slacks ensemble, who looked maybe five years older than him at the least—but maybe that was just his style. The horn-rimmed glasses perched on his face and his hair perfectly coiffed to the side would’ve made any twenty-something-year-old look like a middle-aged dad. Levi noticed how clean and trimmed his fingernails were where they rested around his steaming cup of herbal tea.
By comparison, he made Levi look like a dumpy NEET in his worn jeans and hoodie. Levi shifted his feet in his decrepit canvas shoes and could feel one of his toes peek out a hole that had been weakened into the fabric from too many years of wear. The paleness of his skin and the dark shadows under his eyes only made him look like the undead compared to the bright glow of life glaring out of the man in front of him.
He’d been staring at this guy for the whole time he’d been sitting across from him, trying to intimidate him with hot glares and a closed demeanor, however the blond seemed unshaken by his efforts. This guy—Erwin, as he had revealed—was annoyingly dead-set on getting Levi to cooperate with him. Their email exchange the other night resulted in their current meeting at a coffee shop in the middle of the night despite Levi’s terse words and blatant insults.
“So you can’t meet during any morning or afternoon?” Erwin asked him again, sipping his drink calmly as he met Levi’s seething eyes.
“I already told you that twice, did you not hear me?” Levi snapped loudly at him. The few people in the coffee shop—mostly students pulling all-nighters to work on projects—turned to look at him after his outburst. They looked away when Levi flashed a dark warning glare around the shop, the blackness of his eyes threatening to overtake his sclera for just a moment in his quick snap of anger.
“Well, I’m asking because I have been informed that all of your classes are online and you turn in the assignments during the evening classes. And you’ve told me yourself that you are currently unemployed, so I’m not quite sure if you are truly unavailable or if you’re giving me excuses again.”
Levi ground his back teeth, a dull pain shooting through his jaw. ‘Excuses’? Couldn’t this guy just read the atmosphere and fuck off already?
“Ah...” Erwin looked away from Levi, an almost embarrassed flush creeping up on his cheeks. Already the gesture seemed uncharacteristic and left Levi confused. “I’m sorry for not considering it. It slipped my mind, I apologize...but does it have to do with your illness?”
“‘Illness’?” Levi repeated back at him. Oh, right. That Disabled Student bullshit. Levi had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be “chronically ill and unable to attend school on campus.”
“Aren’t you fucking nosy?” he sneered back at Erwin, who clenched his jaw in response. Levi took pleasure in Erwin’s discomfort and he aimed to prod at it even more—exacerbate the cut until it was a bleeding wound. “Yeah, it’s because of my illness. The sun gives my delicate, porcelain skin nasty, blistery hives,” Levi explained, heavily sarcastic in the way he caressed his clothed arms and chest, and the gentle way he stroked the back of his hand over his own cheek with a demure sigh.
“I’m practically forced to be nocturnal, and if I don’t eat a fistful of vitamin D to combat the lack of sun, I’m so weak I can hardly wipe my own ass. I’m ill most days and stay holed up at home with my lonely existence—no visitors, no family, no friends. And I’m apparently too dumb for college that I have to have a tutor to tell me just as fucking much. Is that what you wanted to hear from me?”
“No… Levi, I didn’t mean—” Erwin fumbled over his words, and Levi smirked derisively at him.
“Shut up,” Levi scoffed at him. He rolled his eyes to look away from the blond as he took a sip of his own tea that was prepared far too sweet for his liking. “I’m just fucking with you...” he muttered into the the thick paper cup.
How much of what he said was true, though?
The sun did give him blisters—that was the truth. It was true of most vampires, though they usually didn’t have it as bad as Levi did; they could manage it. It was also true that he was ill and weak much of the time, a result of how little he fed on the blood that gave him true sustenance.
He looked to the untouched bagel smeared with cream cheese, sitting on the plastic tray in front of him. Food only did so much to ease his hunger.
He lived alone—that was the worst truth. Vampires lived in covens—shared a den, a community, their lives. Levi had been abandoned from a tender, young age, and hadn’t been able to find a coven of his own since. The only family he had was an uncle that would rather not be personally involved with him, only sending him some money to live off of now and then, and avoiding any sort of emotional connection they might have formed.
So he lived by himself in his shitty little house on the edge of town. It was lonely, and he’d miss the company if he ever remembered having any. But he found he didn’t even want the company anymore when he knew how out of control he could get.
He had to force himself to go to Nile’s den for the help he didn’t ever want to ask for. He had to deal with the looks from the others at the boisterous club that knew about him. He had to listen to Nile’s mate’s jealous questions as to why Levi got treated so special when he wasn’t even a part of the “family.” They didn’t make it a secret that they wanted to shun him, but for some reason, Nile hadn’t abandoned him yet. Maybe sometime he should actually thank him for that.
Levi crushed his cup in his fist at the thought, dropping it carelessly back onto the table when the hot liquid inside sloshed over the backs of his fingers.
He didn’t want to see this blond asshole once a week for the rest of the school year. What was he supposed to do if he got thirsty and Erwin came over to discuss polynomials or whatever the fuck?
How long could he keep up the charade when he’d be forced to spend time with a human he should be hunting?
“Well...” Erwin started, clearing his throat and taking an awkwardly calm sip of his drink. “If it’s only evenings you’re available, I could work with that. However, it’d only be for an hour or two at a time, so we might have to meet more often if we want to get through all the material we need to cover.”
No. No, no, no. ‘More often’ was definitely not what needed to happen.
“Why don’t we just try it for the first couple of weeks,” Erwin suggested, adjusting his glasses further up his beak of a nose. He leaned back in the booth seat and let out a tired sigh. “Would you rather it be Monday-Wednesday-Friday, or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday?”
“I could drop out and then you don’t have to meet up with me at all,” Levi replied with a sarcastic smile.
Erwin sighed again—obviously tired of having to deal with such a child—and took his glasses off. He folded them neatly and tucked them into the front edge of his shirt, the weight of them pulling the hem down to expose just that much more of his chest. Levi looked at Erwin’s eyes unobstructed and couldn’t force himself to look away for a long moment. This guy might’ve been handsome if he wasn’t so fucking persistent and annoying in regards to Levi’s schooling.
“Look, Levi. I know how this probably feels for you. I see this more often that not, being a tutor. You don’t want help because you don’t want to feel powerless or inadequate or below everyone else. A lot of people who need the help don’t even bother to ask for it and force themselves to struggle the entire time they’re in school. Having a little help isn’t so bad, you know.”
Levi rolled his eyes again, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need some rich, preppy, smart asshole telling him how stupid and plain he was.
“It’s not,” Erwin repeated. “I’m not here to do your work for you, I’m not here to force you to do anything, and I’m not here to babysit you.” He paused for Levi’s sneer, cleared his throat, and continued on. “I’m here to help you learn in a one-on-one way that most college professors and online courses don’t provide. If you don’t want my help, that’s fine. You can talk to the Tutoring Department and get someone else to help you. But you do need someone to help you if you want to at least finish your general ed requirements.”
At Levi’s lack of response, Erwin took another long and silent sip of his drink. “I’m just here to help you learn,” he repeated, more to himself than to Levi at that point.
Levi clenched his jaw, resisting the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes childishly again. For how much he hated being patronized, he didn’t help his own case much by acting like a stubborn brat.
“Whatever,” he muttered, lifting his bagel for an unnecessarily large bite; maybe if he stuffed his mouth enough, this guy wouldn’t expect much of a response out of him. He chewed purposefully slow and turned his body from him. In the corner by the window, he was about as far from Erwin as he could possibly be in the cramped booth.
Erwin didn’t quite seem to take the hint.
“How about Monday-Wednesday-Friday?” he asked again. “In the evening, if that is what you’d prefer. I can fiddle around with my schedule a bit to accommodate.”
Levi pursed his lips and continued to set his gaze away from Erwin. “I got shit to do on Friday nights.”
“Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, then.”
“Whatever. Since you aren’t going to release me otherwise.”
Then Erwin laughed, sudden and deep. The sound was so warm and genuine that it made Levi turn back toward him with his body feeling warm and liquified. “I’m not keeping you prisoner in a dragon-guarded tower,” he said around another soft chuckle. “We’re just going to review your lessons and correct your homework.”
The silence that stretched between them after his remark was long and awkward, devoid of any more laughter or congenial words. After Erwin finished his tea, got up to get a refill, and drank half of that, he cleared his throat for the fortieth time and tugged gently at the collar of his neatly-pressed shirt.
“So...” he started, remaining sure and calm despite being faced with one of Levi’s nastiest glares. “Tell me more about yourself.”
Levi set his bagel down, taking his time to wipe a smear of cream cheese off of his finger. “Nothing to tell,” he replied. “I live by myself. I don’t do anything ‘exciting’.”
I live in my mother’s shitty old house only because my uncle took pity on me once; if not I’d still be living on the streets. No one comes over. I don’t actually like bagels that much.
“Oh, come on,” Erwin chided. “Where are you from? What are your hobbies?”
I drank someone’s blood last night. Type B-positive. I could tell by the way it tasted that they were an alcoholic.
“Nothing...” Levi replied, deflecting the first question entirely. Erwin gave him that annoyingly-fatherly deploring look again. “...Watch movies, I guess? Listen to music?”
Erwin hummed and nodded, looking as though he was genuinely interested—but Levi couldn’t tell if he was genuinely faking or not. He turned his eyes back to the window, the street scarce of people at this time of night.
“Let me guess,” Levi continued, slowly drinking in Erwin’s yuppie-hipster appearance once again. “Trust fund? Scholarship? Play racquetball at the country club on the weekends?”
“I did have a few scholarships, yes,” he replied easily—infuriatingly so. “And no, no one in my family is rich—middle class at best. If your assumptions are referring to my appearance, I had a meeting with some of the board members earlier today and I thought some nicer clothes might make a good impression. However, I didn’t consider that they might make you despise me at first sight.”
Even with those words, Erwin still smiled as he spoke. Levi flushed what infinitesimal amount he could and looked away, a dismissive scoff pushing past his pursed lips.
“I like watching movies, too,” Erwin supplied without Levi asking. “Cooking’s pretty nice too. Especially Italian food.” He laughed quietly, as if to himself, and added as an afterthought, “Parmesan cheese is my weakness.”
Levi glanced back up at him from where he had been counting all the dings in the fake wood of the table they sat at. He watched Erwin tap his fingers lightly on the tabletop. He turned his smile up to Levi and Levi hated that he was starting to get used to his kindness, however slightly.
“What kinds of things do you like, Levi?” he asked, and Levi was reminded of an adult wheedling answers out of a petulant child.
Not being talked to. My couch waiting for me at home. Type O-negative.
“Bats,” Levi said.
“Bats?”
“Bats.”
Levi pulled his keyring from his pocket, the metal of each piece jangling loudly against the next, and slapped them on the table in front of Erwin. All he had was a key to his house, a bottle opener, and four keychains, all—
“Bats,” Levi repeated. Erwin nodded his head thoughtfully, looking over the different bats one by one with gentle fingers. His thumb dragged over the ridged edge of a wing, attached to Levi’s favorite one.
“Bats,” Erwin confirmed. “What is it you like about bats?”
Levi shrugged. He didn’t really know, himself. It had started with a standard goth phase in his early teens, and a few of the things seemed to have stuck around.
“They’re cool, I guess,” he mumbled. “They can fly and aren’t as loud or literally shitty as birds—don’t shit on your car or whatever… Some of them are kinda cute.” He took a sip from his crushed cup to wet his drying mouth. “Some of them are fuck-ugly though,” he added with a quiet scoff.
He paused—realizing how this guy had just weaseled his way into his head and got him to talk. Levi turned his eyes haughtily to the side, but turned to face just the slightest bit more towards Erwin.
“Bats are more interesting than watching movies, expensive dinners, and long walks on the beach.”
Erwin laughed, his smile just as blinding as sunshine. “I didn’t say anything about long walks on the beach.”
“You were sayin’ a buncha other cliche shit, so I figured you’d like something stupid like that too.”
“Long walks do sound kind of nice,” Erwin mused. “I think especially so at night. It’s a lot quieter, not much happening.” His smile was warm as he thought, a soft sort of expression that Levi wasn’t used to being around. He looked back at Levi. “The stars are beautiful.”
Levi blinked at him and felt the tips of his ears warm. Well, wasn’t this guy just a suave piece of shit? Levi watched his face carefully still as he drank again from his warm cup of tea; though his mouth was occupied, he still seemed like he was smiling with his eyes. The more he looked, the more he found that it looked good on Erwin’s face—that smile. It was quiet, easy, genuine. It didn’t look fake like most of the smiles he’d encountered in his lifetime—forced out of obligation, nervousness, and expectation.
“Are we done here?” Levi asked after another minute of silence. Some students in the shop had finished and left, but just as many had arrived to replace them. Erwin turned his empty cup in his hand, thinking to himself, and nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “We are done.” He moved to get up and waited for Levi to do the same.
“It’s late,” Erwin reminded him—stating the obvious, as they had begun their awkward meeting when the sun had already touched the horizon. “You walked here?”
“Yes.”
“From Trost District? That’s an hour walk, isn’t it?”
“Eighty-seven minutes,” Levi corrected with disinterest. “Give or take.”
Erwin sighed, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder. He adjusted his shirt, patting it neat and tidy at his waist, and handed Levi his keychain back.
“Let me give you a ride home.”
“No thanks.” Levi looked away from the pitying concern in Erwin’s eyes. “You don’t have to go out of your way for me.”
“It’s alright, Levi. I really don’t mind. I’d hate to have anyone take such a long walk home this late at night.”
Levi stood as well, taking his keys and fingering the sharp edge of his favorite bat. The metal was still warm from Erwin’s fingers.
“Let me rephrase,” Levi countered blandly. He looked up at Erwin, so tall when he was standing right in front of him like that. Levi found himself subconsciously drawing up his chest, asserting his tenacity over his lack of height. “You don’t need to. Nothing’s gonna get me,” he droned. “I’m not gonna be kidnapped or mugged or eaten by a fuckin’ werewolf.”
The last part was a joke, but Levi shifted his eyes uneasily away from Erwin’s again. It’s not like there wasn’t another kind of monster that could get at him.
It’s not like he wasn’t one himself.
Erwin rubbed the back of his neck. “I know you can take care of yourself. You’re an adult. It’d just make me feel a little less ill at ease to know you got home safely.”
Levi looked up to Erwin’s eyes, meeting the deep pools of cool blue that seemed to go on forever, when an intense jolt of adrenaline slashed into his chest. Levi felt lost for a moment—a brief lapse of consciousness sending his mind reeling to find a specific name for the feeling. It reminded him vaguely of the trance, and when he realized this, panic set in.
Did Erwin know about him? Could he feel that too?
Erwin didn’t look any more or less concerned than before as Levi flicked his eyes over his face.
“Please let me give you a ride home?” Erwin asked again. His tone of voice had wilted like it’d be his last attempt to convince Levi before he gave up.
Levi stared, still dazed with his fingers idly jingling his house keys. He blinked a few times, clearing the fogginess from behind his eyes. His thin brows pulled together slightly.
Was it okay?
He never let anyone take him anywhere alone—never used a public bathroom, never rode the elevator, never took a taxi. All the logic his mind could muster said, “No, this is not okay. This is dangerous. Do not let yourself get trapped by anyone. You know what can happen.”
Even though his conscience was screaming “no, no, no,” he still felt the odd compulsion to go with Erwin. Levi didn’t know why he agreed, but he gave in and said, “Okay,” like he had never been whisked away by a stranger before and turned into the monster he was. The monster he hated.
Levi couldn’t wrap his head around the simple word of assent he had spoken. Was this what it felt like to be trusting? Was this what it felt like to assume for once that maybe he would be safe? Or was he making the second stupidest decision of his entire life?
Erwin smiled; he looked relieved. “Alright, let’s get going. I have a class in the morning.”
Levi followed him past all the tables, out the door, into the parking lot. The walk was short, quiet, tense. Erwin unlocked a black Nissan Maxima, opening the door and waiting for Levi to do the same before he took a seat. Levi got into the car. The door shut with such finality that it almost frightened him.
He buckled his seatbelt, the thick strip of fabric retracting into the frame of the car, holding him back against the seat cushion. It should’ve been something that made him feel safer, but right then it only felt like another obstacle to keep him from escaping. He leaned back and tried to force his nerves to relax just a little.
Erwin’s car smelled nice—but strong. He had one of those stupid little air fresheners clipped into the AC vent. The longer Levi sat in the confined space, the more it started to make his head ache. His heightened senses didn’t agree with the scent—something like what the candle companies liked to think fresh linen in the summertime breeze smelled like.
Levi stared through the windshield as Erwin drove, not noticing at first how he was leaning toward Erwin as he gave him short, simple directions. Their proximity became starkly obvious to Levi when his arm brushed against Erwin’s elbow that was propped against the center console as they came to rest at a stop light.
He pulled away, changing position in his seat and subtly shaking his arm to rid it of the feeling that itched like a bug crawling over his skin. It tingled, felt warm. Reminded him of curling close at night to the only ones he had ever considered to be friends, so long ago. It made his chest ache when he thought about it.
Why did he feel this way? Why with this person? Why now?
They did not know each other.
Erwin didn’t know anything about him. He didn’t know where he came from. He didn’t know how he had lived his life. He didn’t know what he had done.
He didn’t know he had a vampire in his passenger seat.