The front door of the Loft clicked open at Renaissance’s return. As if a porter were on the other side, the door swung open and the ancient vampire returned to her lair. The incense had long since stopped burning, but that oud fragrance greeted her with open arms. The logs on the fire had dulled to glowing embers. But before she barely took a breath, Ren’s eyes searched for Lyselle. Despite knowing the Huntress would be perfectly safe in the Loft, she had to be sure. 

There she was.

Ren was again met with the astonishment that there was a human, a [u]Huntress[/u], in her home. And it felt completely and utterly unnaturally natural. A whole concoction of contractions; Comfortable but unconventional. Lyselle’s understated beautiful smile greeted her and the Ancient Vampire gently kicked the door shut behind her. 

The bond vibrated with tension, that golden warm feeling coursing down the thread like liquid gold. Their eyes locked and Renaissance let out a bracing sigh. She rolled her shoulders, readying to be reinitiated into the bottomless pool of emotion that the two of them dived into when in each others company. 

The vampire stayed at the door for a moment, allowing the sofa to act as a physical barrier between them. A feeble attempt to somewhat dilute the bonds power, the sofa did nothing to put a break in the energy flowing between them. 

Freshly fed and now operating at her peak, Ren mentally took hold of the bond and tried to slow the fusing power. It hummed like a live electric current, trying to push imagery into Ren’s minds eye. Curious, she allowed the current to flow once again, and was presented with Lyselle’s thoughts whilst she’d been out hunting. Lyselle had been asleep, but whilst she was sleeping the bond had granted her access to Ren’s viewpoint. How was that even possible? Neither of them had clairvoyance or anything similar… The only explanation could be the bond itself. At the realisation that Lyselle may have witnessed Ren feeding, part of her twinged with something similar to shame. 

[i]‘How had that made Lys feel, witnessing Ren feeding on a human? On her own kind?’
‘Did this change the way she felt? Had it dawned on her that perhaps it was safer for her to leave?’
‘Did she know the human was still alive? That Ren had obeyed her wishes?’
‘Had her Hunter instinct kicked in? Had she decided to put an end to the Ancient Vampire?’[/i]

The bond went quiet, ironically unanswering when faced with Ren’s questions. She turned her gaze back to Lyselle, fixing her face with a welcoming smile. 

[i]“Huntress,”[/i] Ren greeted, bowing mockingly with a mischievous smile. [i]”You’re still here…”[/i]
She reached up a hand and untied her hair, letting it fall freely around her shoulders. Massaging her head, enjoying the sensation of her hair being out of a bun, Ren realised now that she had fed… All she wanted to do was consume Lyselle.

No, not in [u]that[/u] way. Not actually. [u]Emotionally[/u].

She wanted to pick her brains, tell her to lay her life out on the floor of the Loft and let them rifle through it all together. She wanted to know about her most embarrassing moment, the last time she’d cried, her opinion on capitalism… All of it. How long would it take Renaissance to devour all of Lyselle’s very being, inside out? Would it be days? Weeks? Months? She didn’t care. The vampire had time… Plenty of it. For all the years Ren had wasted not knowing this feeling, all the time she’d lived without someone bonded to her… It all felt half-lived, half-imagined. What had love been all this time if it wasn’t this? Because surely there could be no feeling more powerful than love? Ren had felt love before. A version of it pale in comparison to what she shared with Lyselle, but love nonetheless! Could that even be possible if this is what it was supposed to be like?

Compelled by her thoughts, Ren sped across the room to face her Huntress. Thanks to her recent feed, her movement speed was back to its normal rate. Vampires moved quickly, swiftly. Lyselle would’ve seen a blur for a brief moment before being faced, closely, by her Ancient Vampire. The bond sung at their proximity, but Renaissance kept a hold of it like the reigns of a stallion. With a little more control over it, she stopped it consuming them both as it had earlier. Turns out it can be handled, somewhat, if Ren’s at her usual strength. Her chest was rising and falling at a quickened pace, her breaths narrow and short. Standing around a head or so taller than Lyselle, Ren angled her head downward to bring their noses almost tip to tip. 

Ren was so close to Lyselle, their breath became one. Once again, she marvelled at the Huntress’ beauty. She couldn’t believe how meticulously the human had been put together. So much so, she wanted to thank the parents. Ren’s thick, feathered lashes fluttered as she blinked slowly, her lids lowered slightly in a smouldering look that said exactly what Ren wished to do. The bond pulsed again and she let it, let it fill them both with the feelings ignited by their reunion. 

[i]“Did you dream of me whilst I was gone?”[/i] Ren whispered with an edge of mischief, her voice thick with desire as she arched an eyebrow knowingly. She clicked her tongue, shaking her head flirtatiously. [i]“I can’t decide if this bond is the best thing to happen to us or the worst exposure of all our supposedly private thoughts…”[/i] The sudden appearance of an image took Ren by surprise. It was a mental image of the two of them, bodies intertwined, locked in a passionate embrace. The image lit up in Ren’s mind like a beacon, engulfing every thought around it. That image flew down the bond and the Vampire ran her tongue over her bottom lip, whetting the surface. This was her, metaphorically, buckling in.