Trash Panda

~Bonsoir~

Vail didn’t rise from his bed until around six o’ clock in the evening. Recovering from his injuries and coping with withdrawals, he found it more pleasant to be unconscious than to deal with the incessant discomfort his body was facing. He’d skipped both breakfast and dinner in favor of sleeping, but when he woke, his stomach begged him to get up for supper. So, not wanting to leave the manor on a completely empty belly, he forced himself to endure the ache as he climbed out of bed and got dressed to go downstairs.

Like the last time he’d woken up, his thoughts went straight to feeding, not on food but on human blood. It was hard for him to focus on anything else. The desire was consuming, and it made time feel sluggish as he longed for the sun to set so he could go hunting. Of course, he could leave earlier if he wished. The rumor that his kind was harmed by sunlight was just another lie spread by the Order. While he always felt stronger at night, he could just as easily travel about at noon as he could at dusk. He just couldn’t prey on anyone in broad daylight, since doing so was practically asking to be caught.

Trying to distract himself from his itch to feed, Vail headed down to join the rest of the Hygraces for a meal. There were quite a few of them who still lived in the main manor, mostly from his uncle’s side. While he was the only son of Peter and Katherine, Reginald had born plenty of children, and a few of them had even gone on to carry the line even further. Sometimes Vail wondered why his uncle had willed the estate to his brother instead of any of his own children, but it seemed to have been a wise decision, because Peter had handled the title gracefully since accepting it a century ago. None of Lord Reginald’s heirs had fought for it either. They all seemed to acknowledge his father as the rightful successor and new head of the family without any conflict.

As always, the long table in the dining room was packed from end to end with Hygraces and a few refugees who were still staying with them. Vail noticed some of them whisper amongst themselves as he joined the meal. Though he had tried not to draw attention to his wounds since he’d come home the night before, he guessed that word had still gotten out that he’d been attacked by the Order. His mother had probably said something. The woman couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. That along with the slight limp in his gait as he approached his seat at the table was enough to make him the center of attention that evening.

Almost as soon as he sat down, one of his cousins fired off the first question.

“So what happened last night?” Ada, one of his uncle’s youngest daughters—though even she was well over a century old—asked him curiously. “We heard you were shot by a Saint.”

“Then you heard most of the story already,” Vail shrugged as one of the family servants filled his plate. “I was out hunting last night, and one of the Saints shot me. That’s about all there is to it.” His eyes wandered over the girl standing beside him in a wolfish manner. Though Peter had forbidden them from feeding on the family servants, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling a little tempted. She smelled even more delicious than the food she had set down for his supper, and she wouldn’t expect a thing…

Suddenly, he girl seemed to notice the predatory look in his gaze and quickly scurried off to attend someone else. He sighed. It was probably for the best, since he and the rest of his family didn’t want the servants to be frightened of them. It was hard to come by humans who were willing to work for vampires in the first place. He turned back to his plate, focusing on eating as he answered intermittent questions about the Saint’s attack from his other cousins.

--

The rest of the evening dragged on slowly. Vail passed the time by reading a book in his bedchamber until night fell over the city and he was able to commence his next outing. As he headed out of the manor, he could already feel his pulse quicken with anticipation. The thrill of the hunt was heightened by his bloodlust, and his senses felt even sharper than usual. Every passing scent was amplified, especially those of the people who were out late for a drink at the tavern. He ran his tongue over his teeth, walking briskly to the nearest pub in search of a new target to prey on that night.

Though he was restless, he was also cautious. With the memory of the Saint’s attack still fresh in his mind, he was careful to watch his back a little more closely than he had the last time. Beneath his tailcoat, he harbored a pistol. The only deal the Hygraces had made with the hunters was to let the victims they fed on live. No one said he couldn’t shoot a Saint in self-defense. If any members of the Order tried to catch him off guard this time, they would be in for a surprise.

After a bit of walking, Vail came to the White Hart tavern. He didn’t even have to look through the window to know that there were a few women inside. The odor of their strong perfumes reached him through the door. Forcing his excitement into check, he smoothed down his clothes and stepped into the room, eager to finally satisfy the cravings that had become so unbearable inside of him.

~Bonsoir~

The process of removing any piece of silver from one’s body was never a pleasant thing. Vail ground his teeth as his father fished the bullet out of his shoulder while his mother looked on with a worried expression. He was grateful that Peter was as skilled as he was when it came to dealing with such serious injuries, otherwise the procedure might have been even more painful. As it was, the elder Hygrace was efficient in his work and dislodged the silver in no time at all before moving on to treat the now freely bleeding wound.

Vail endured the sterilization without complaint. Even though it was arduous, he knew any leftover bits of the metal would just poison him slowly over time. If he was to recover properly, the injury needed to be fully cleansed of silver.

“There.” He was relieved to hear Peter’s confident voice announce that the worst was over. His father used a rag to mop up the blood that had trailed down his chest and arm during the process. “That should be all of it. Let me know if you start to feel ill though, just in case I missed anything.”

“I will,” Vail assured him, taking his father’s hand to sit up from where he had been laying on the bed.

“I’m just glad you got away before that Saint killed you,” his mother shook her head while her husband went on to bandage his shoulder. “If you didn’t come home last night, I don’t know what I would do.”

“The Order shouldn’t even be targeting our family in the first place,” Peter muttered with an edge of bitterness. “We stopped killing humans centuries ago. They know that, and yet they continue to treat us like we’re just as much of a threat as someone from any other clan. It’s absurd.”

Vail just shrugged his good shoulder in response. In truth, he was just as frustrated with the situation as Peter and Katherine were. The Hygraces went out of their way to compromise with the Order, even foregoing full meals by letting their victims live rather than bleeding them dry. In return, the Saints attacked them anyway. Of course, there were some members who did respect his family’s efforts to make peace, such as Alexander Crest. Hunters like him were the reason why the Hygraces still bothered to hold up their end of the deal. They might not have been able to convince every Saint to leave them be, but there were still enough who turned a blind eye that it was worth the effort.

However, there was no point in discussing the issue since complaining wouldn’t solve anything, so he didn’t say anything more about it.

“Thank you for treating me,” Vail said to his father as he rose from the bed. He picked up the clothes he’d discarded in order for Peter to clean his shoulder effectively, though he had a feeling he was just going to throw them away tomorrow. Everything he’d been wearing on his upper body was stained with his blood. It was probably unsalvageable. Still, tossing out a few articles of clothing was a minor loss considering he’d been shot with a gun, so he wasn’t upset about it.

“You’re welcome,” Lord Hygrace nodded, collecting the rags he’d used that were just as bloody as his son’s shirt.

“Please don’t forget to let either of us know if you don’t feel right in the morning,” his mother added with a frown.

“Of course,” Vail promised, ignoring her concern. He knew he wasn’t in any danger now that the worst of his injury had been taken care of. Even if Peter had missed a flake or two of silver, the miniscule amount wasn’t enough to do him serious harm very fast. As long as he caught it within a few days, he was sure he would be fine.

“Goodnight,” he tipped his head courteously to his parents before retiring to his bedchamber for the night.

--

The previous morning had been unpleasant, but it was nothing compared to the discomfort Vail felt when he woke up today. He groaned as consciousness brought along with it a series of aches throughout his body. The fresh wounds in his shoulder and leg refused to be forgotten, paining him as he shifted on his bed. Though they had both been cleaned and bandaged the night before, he had a feeling they were going to take some time to heal. Injuries inflicted by silver had a nasty habit of lingering longer than they were welcome that way.

Even worse than the pangs from his wounds, however, were the withdrawal symptoms. After going another night without feeding, his jaw was incessantly sore and he was beginning to feel generally uncomfortable. He couldn’t even think about anything other than going out to hunt, which put his wounds at the back of his mind. It was a survival instinct, he was sure, since it would allow him to take a victim without being held back by his injuries; but at the moment, he would have rather suffered physical pain than deal with the agonizing lust for blood that had replaced it.

He stretched his jaw, attempting to ease the ache. This was all her fault, that nosey Crest heiress, Victoria. If she had just walked away at the tavern, he could have fed on the woman he’d been targeting and gone back to the Hygrace manor without any trouble. Instead, she just had to taunt him with that potent blood of hers, fragrant, tantalizing… irresistible. In spite of himself, his mind wandered back to the moment when she had waved her cut beneath his nose. Even though it had been the cause of his frenzy and something he knew he should be mad about, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Perhaps it was just because he was ravenously hungry, but he found it difficult not to be drawn to seeking her out again. He’d been stopped the last time, but maybe, if he tried again, he could get just a taste of that piquant blood…

A knock at the door drew Vail from his thoughts. Glancing up, he saw his father enter the room with a clinical look on his face. “How are you feeling?” he asked, straight to the point.

“Awful,” Vail admitted with another groan.

“Should I check your shoulder for more silver?”

“What? No,” Vail blinked, realizing that Peter had been asking about his injuries. “I’m healing fine. It’s just the cravings. I can’t get them off my mind.” He sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes. “It’s getting unbearable. I need to hunt.”

Peter studied him with a frown, “I don’t think you’re in any condition to go out, Vail. If a member of the Order catches you as you are, you’ll die.”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice,” he shook his head, which felt a bit foggy from the lack of blood. “If I wait much longer, I’m going to lose my senses. I’d rather go out while I still have some reason left, especially while there are Saints around.”

The older Hygrace hesitated for a moment before he sighed, “I suppose you’re right. It wasn’t your fault that you were stopped before you could feed last time… Just be careful. You’re next in line to lead this family, Vail. I need you to take care of yourself, so you can succeed me when it comes time for you to take over.”

“I know,” Vail averted his gaze. The thought of stepping up to be the next leader of the Hygraces had always overwhelmed him, so he chose not to think about it often. “I slipped up once. I won’t let it happen again.”

“I’m sure you won’t,” Peter nodded. He turned to leave, but then paused. “Oh, and Vail.” He tapped the corner of his own mouth with his index finger.

Vail stared at him for a moment before the gesture clicked in his head. Hurriedly, he dragged the back of his hand across his mouth, where a thin trail of saliva had collected beneath his lower lip. With some embarrassment, he realized he must have been drooling when he’d been thinking about feeding earlier. He really needed to hunt.

Exhaling irritably, he laid back down on his bed, deciding to get some more sleep as his father left the room. If he was going out, he was going to need all the strength he could get.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

He's trying one last ditch effort xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

When the old woman said she didn’t remember meeting him before, Crow gave a wordless shrug. He supposed it wouldn’t be too difficult to say that he was a recent friend of Penelope’s. However, as she went on to mention that his face looked familiar, he averted his gaze. It wasn’t a longshot to guess that her memory of him had come from his old wanted posters around the kingdom. If she happened to remember where she had seen him before, there wasn’t much he could do to convince her she was wrong. He just hoped she wouldn’t go running to the guards as soon as she figured him out.

As the servant suddenly mentioned something about a “mystery man,” the viceroy blinked confusedly, casting Penelope a sideways glance. It sounded like she had already told the woman something about him. He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or concerned, as the news brought him a mixture of both emotions. While he thought it was endearing that she talked about their relationship with the other people in her life, it also made it quite a bit harder for them to tell the servant that he wasn’t who she thought he was.

Apparently, the knight was going to try anyway. He shifted his weight slightly as she tried to dissuade the old woman from the notion that he was her lover. Of course, her efforts didn’t do much to help their case. In fact, the more she tried to argue, the more the servant seemed more convinced that she was right about him. He doubted there was much, if anything, either of them could say to stop her from believing he was the one she had spoken of before.

Even when Penelope tried to change the subject completely, the woman remained steadfast. As she turned to him again, obviously prying for a name by introducing herself, he hesitated. Part of him was tempted to give her a fake name, just to avoid the discomfort of revealing who he was. However, he knew he couldn’t do that. This woman—Letitia, he corrected himself—sounded like she was heavily involved in Penelope’s life. That meant they were probably going to cross paths again in the future. Lying to her now would only put him on bad terms with her, and he didn’t want to start off that way.

Additionally, he supposed there was one out that might still work: He didn’t have to give her a surname. Perhaps if he merely told her his first name, she wouldn’t make the connection that he was the thief-turned-noble who had moved into the castle recently. It wasn’t like his name was that uncommon, after all. As long as she didn’t ask too many questions, he was sure he could play it off.

Turning briefly to Penelope, he offered her a helpless shrug before looking back to answer Letita’s question. “My name is Collin,” he said with a sheepish half-smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

He might be just a little disappointed xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow studied Penelope curiously when she seemed to hesitate at his suggestion. After everything she had just told him about her home, he would have thought she’d jump at the chance to go there with him. Instead, she almost looked nervous. He wondered if it was because of the “unpleasant” family members she had mentioned to him before. Did her fear of running into them outweigh her desire to show him her house? It seemed strange, but then again, he didn’t know her aunt or cousin at all. Perhaps they were terrible enough to be concerned about.

He didn’t dwell on the thought for long before she seemed to brighten again and agreed to pay her home a visit. Content that she was in a good mood once more, he let his questions drop in favor of focusing on the present moment as she led the way to the small house. Like his other queries, it wasn’t worth asking about if it meant dampening the pleasantness of the day. Besides, if any of his curiosities were important enough, he could always talk to her about them at a different time.

Walking alongside the knight, Crow let his gaze wander over the grounds of the estate. To his former peasant eyes, the place nearly seemed like a miniature version of the castle. There were impressive buildings, manicured gardens, stables with horses, and even a few servants milling about as they performed various tasks for their masters. He wondered if all nobles lived the same way, regardless of where they were located in the inner kingdom. In the outer villages, every town was different in its own unique way, but here, it almost seemed as if there was a mold that everyone was trying to fit into. He wasn’t sure what to think about that.

When they reached the front door, the viceroy turned back to Penelope as she explained that they shouldn’t have to worry about running into anyone in her house. That only meant one thing to him: privacy. He grinned as he followed her inside. Though he had wanted to spend some quality time with her that day, he’d been hoping they would find someplace to escape to where they could be alone. If what she said was true, this was probably the best opportunity they were going to have.

Stepping into the den with her, Crow’s eyes roved over the small space. It looked quite cozy with cushioned furniture and some shelving for storage. Although not as grand as the other spaces he had seen inhabited by nobles in the past, he found it to be quaint. “Well, I think it’s just as good as a room in the castle,” he argued, casting her a fond smile. “All that decorative stuff is unnecessary anyway. I call this functional.”

He was just about to reach for her hand again, but then flinched when he heard a tentative voice call out Penelope’s name. Turning toward the source of the sound, he was surprised to see an older woman in servant clothes appear from the adjoining room. Having expected the house to be empty, he was caught off guard by her sudden appearance and glanced subtly to the knight in the hopes that she would know what was going on.

As the woman faced him and asked who he was, Crow shifted his weight, finding himself in a rather strange dilemma. For the first time, he couldn’t give either of his names. Collin Lockton was now known as the king’s viceroy throughout Brerra. For the sake of keeping his closeness with Penelope a secret, he couldn’t tell her that was who he was. However, on the other hand, Crow Lockton was an infamous thief. If he introduced himself by that title, he would risk frightening the woman and sending her running to the nearest guards. Instead, he opted for something simpler.

“I’m a friend of Penelope’s,” he said, offering the servant a polite smile before turning to the knight. “I was just accompanying her on an errand she wanted to run in Bellmare.”

~Bonsoir~

Just as Vail was about to sink his teeth into Victoria’s neck, he felt a sharp wave of pain explode outward from his shoulder. He sucked in his breath, losing his grip on his victim as the shock of the impact snapped him out of his frenzy. A new instinct to flee reared up inside him, replacing his predatory urge as he became aware of the danger he was in. One of the Saints had found him, and judging by the burning sensation in his wounded shoulder, the hunter was shooting to kill.

Before he had a chance to react to the situation, his face contorted into a snarl as he felt another stinging pain in his leg. In his distraction, it seemed Victoria had taken the opportunity to attack him as well. He recoiled from her, suddenly realizing he had stepped into a trap. She must have lured him away from the tavern intentionally, and he had fallen for it without a second thought. He cursed himself silently. How foolish he had been to trust her. He should have known that a member of the Crest family would never have volunteered to let him feed on her without an ulterior motive. Instead, he had been too blinded by his desire to taste her blood to realize what he was walking into.

The wound in his shoulder smarted abruptly, and Vail winced, lifting his hand to press down on the open bullet hole. Outnumbered two to one and injured twice to boot, he knew he needed to get away, but the odds of outrunning a gun were slim. All the Saint had to do was pull the trigger and he was done for. Feeling cornered, he backed away from the hunter with his fangs still bared and his heart pounding in his chest. It was too late for him to save himself, but he could at least demonstrate that he wasn’t going down without a fight.

However, before the man had a chance to finish him off, Vail was surprised to hear Victoria cry out and shove his arm aside. He wavered, suddenly unsure what was going on. After she’d slashed his leg with her dagger, he’d thought she and the Saint were on the same side. Why didn’t she let the man kill him? He didn’t have time to ponder over it as she screamed at him to run.

Realizing she had given him the opportunity he needed, he spun on his heel and sprinted away from them both without looking back. It was hard for him to keep up his pace with the wounds he’d sustained, but he managed not to slow down until he’d turned enough corners that he felt certain he’d lost them.

Panting lightly from the adrenaline during his escape, Vail took a moment to inspect his injuries while he walked the rest of the way back to the Hygrace manor. The laceration from Victoria’s dagger wasn’t very deep, luckily. Though it stung, he was sure he would be able to tend to it properly on his own.

The bullet hole in his shoulder was another story though.

He disliked the idea of letting either of his parents know what had happened to him, since they were both paranoid enough as it was. Ever since the Wynters had attacked their family, Lord Peter and Lady Katherine seemed to think there was danger around every corner. Unfortunately, the silver bullet was still lodged in his flesh, and he was going to need someone else’s help to get it out. His mother and father were the only ones with the medicinal experience needed to do the job.

Vail sighed, his breath leaving him in a wisp of a cloud. He could already tell it was going to be a long night.

--

When he eventually made it back to the manor, Vail made a point to slip through the front door as quietly as he could. There were always vampires from other families seeking asylum with the Hygraces, and he didn’t want to cause them any panic by showing up in bloodstained clothing. Most of them were terrified enough of the Order, and he had no intention of frightening them more than they already were.

Painstakingly, he made his way up the stairs that led to the wing where his relatives lived and knocked on the door to his parents’ bedchamber. After a pause, he heard a muffled noise on the inside of the wooden panel, and his father appeared on the other side. Peter knitted his brow confusedly as his gaze landed on his son, “Vail? What do you need at this hour?”

In answer, the younger Hygrace removed his hand from his shoulder, revealing the bleeding wound underneath with a slight wince. “I need to get this treated.”

His father’s eyes widened at the sight. “You were shot?”

Vail shrugged his good shoulder, “I think the Order is getting better at doing its job. I didn’t get a single drop before that Saint fired his gun.”

“So you were shot and you haven’t fed yet?” Peter shook his head. “This isn’t good, Vail. Not good at all.”

“I know,” he frowned, growing impatient as his wound pained him again. “We can talk about it later. Right now, I’d like it if you would get this damn bullet out of me so I can get some sleep.”

“Right,” his father blinked, seeming to have forgotten about the more pressing issue for a moment. He took a step back from the door, gesturing for the younger Hygrace to come inside. “I’ll take care of that for you now.”

“Thank you,” Vail said with some relief, following Peter into the bedchamber to get his injury treated.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow has no idea there might be people in the house xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Penelope continued to lead the way through the city, Crow fell in step beside her. He tried to look around the area as much as he could, curious to see the places that would have been familiar to her, but it was a bit difficult with so many other people around. He found that he frequently had to duck his head just enough that his hood covered his eyes whenever they got too close to anyone else. It was hard to say whether any of the nobles here would recognize him, since he hadn’t left the castle after taking on the title of viceroy, but he didn’t want to take any chances. At the very least, someone might remember his face from his old wanted posters and put two and two together when they remembered that the once-infamous thief of Brerra had been made the king’s ambassador.

So, focused on keeping his head down for most of the walk, he was relieved that it didn’t take very long to reach her family manor. When the knight announced that they had arrived at her home, he looked up to see that they had come to a large estate made up of four separate buildings. He raised a brow in surprise. Though she had told him plenty of times that her family was wealthy, he hadn’t expected this. The Vermillions really must have been a powerful family to own so much land. After all, from the little he knew of the noble hierarchy, land was supposed to be one of the most important assets. He casted her a sideways glance, wondering just how luxurious of a background she had come from.

As Penelope went on to explain that she hadn’t lived in the largest house, Crow turned back to look over the estate again. He supposed it made sense, considering what she had told him about her rocky relationship with the rest of her family. Offhandedly, he wondered if it had ever bothered her to live in one of the smaller houses, knowing she had been ostracized from the main manor because of something her parents had done. Unsure if it was a sore subject for her, he decided not to ask though. He didn’t want to bring down the mood when it was their first full day alone in weeks.

When the knight pointed out the building she had actually lived in, Crow followed her gaze. All things considered, she was still quite fortunate in his opinion. Though it was practically a hovel compared with the huge manor her family members had inhabited, the small house was still much bigger than anything the peasants in the outer villages could ever dream to own. He wondered what it looked like on the inside.

“I think it’s nice,” he said, returning her smile. It made him happy to see her face light up when she talked about her past. He gave her hand a tug. “You’re here now. Why don’t we go in?”

~Bonsoir~

As Victoria rebutted that she hadn’t been following him, Vail casted her a brief glance before focusing on the woman he had targeted again. As long as she wasn’t shouting to everyone in London that he was a Hygrace, he didn’t care what she was doing either. Perhaps it really had just been a coincidence that they had found each other at two different pubs. Whatever the case, he wasn’t going to let her appearance distract him from his goal. She was untouchable. The other Lady was not. If he didn’t feed tonight, his cravings would only grow worse too. For his own sake, he had to satisfy them so he wouldn’t have to leave his family’s manor again.

For a moment, it nearly seemed like Victoria was going to leave him alone. As she turned to walk away from him, he was able to put all his attention into luring the dark-haired woman away from the tavern. Since she was drunk, it wouldn’t be difficult. All he had to do was make an excuse to interrupt the group’s conversation and remain close to her long enough that she would go with him willingly when he invited her to accompany him outside. He was just about to make his move when Victoria spoke up again.

This time, she caught his attention.

Vail turned toward the Lady when she offered him “a small taste,” eyeing her with new interest. Despite everything he had told himself before, he couldn’t deny that he was tempted. He wondered why she would make such a sudden gesture though. She obviously knew who and what he was. Why wasn’t she afraid? His feral gaze swept over her. As Alexander’s daughter, she surely must have been fed the lies of the Order: that vampires were demons who bled their victims to death in a cruel and sadistic manner. It surprised him that she was facing him so calmly as she made her proposal.

However, he didn’t get a chance to question her before she reached out to wave her fresh cut beneath his nose. The alluring fragrance of her unique blood made his heartbeat quicken and his pupils dilate with envy. Already hungry and sensitive to his carnal instincts, it was simply too much for him to withstand this time. All sense went out the window as she hurried out the door, further exciting his inner predator with the prospect of a chase. What did it matter if she was a Crest? She had volunteered to be his prey tonight, and he had every intention to accept.

Without giving it another thought, Vail took off after her, walking briskly through the pub until he reached the street. As soon as the Lady was back in his sight, he broke into a sprint, easily closing a large portion of the distance between them as he pursued her. In the back of his head, he knew he should be more careful about chasing her so obviously—if a member of the Order saw him now, it would be clear what he was doing—but at the moment, the impulse to feed was too consuming to listen to reason. He hastened his pace.

At one point, he noticed absently that he passed someone else on the street when he rounded a corner to follow Victoria into an alley. However, he didn’t pay the man any mind. His target was right in front of him now. He almost had her.

As soon as she was close enough for him to touch, Vail caught her by the arm and pulled her roughly against himself. His usual gentleness had fled, replaced with a frenzied urge to have his fill of her rich blood. He pinned her effortlessly and curled his lip, baring a sinister set of fangs just before he leaned in to bite the soft skin of her neck.