Vampires and Slaves (Enter This Realm To Die)

Fidelis

I heard a scream and the hairs on my neck rose. "Allan." I went back to the apartment. A vampire was feeding from Allan, especially without my permission first. I took a skewer from the cupboard and growled. "Hey. Get your fangs off him. I had him first."

Allan

Minutes pass and my eyelids droop, my body growing cold and exhausted. I hear Fidelis, his voice sounding far off, and feel the being attached to my neck as it's ripped away. I swallow and blink, desperately but weakly looking for Fidelis. My voice doesn't carry.

Fidelis

I jammed the skewer through the invading vampire's heart, killing him instantly. Once the vampire was turned to ashes, I held Allan in my arms. He was near dead. I could tell because I could barely hear his heart. "Allan, speak to me. Please speak to me."

Allan

Fidelis comes and takes me in his arms, begging me to speak to him. My head rolls to set against his shoulder. My eyes close, my body trying to regain some sense of control enough to comply.

"I-I'm sorry," I whisper.

Fidelis

I set him down in my bed. I was losing him. The invading vampire took so much of Allan's blood, he was dying. I couldn't let him die. I had to save him. I took the skewer and used it to slit my wrist. Careful not to spill a drop of blood, I set my wounded wrist to his lips. "Take my blood, Allan. I can't let you die. Take my blood. You have to take my blood. It's the only way to save you."

Allan

I'm picked up and then set down again somewhere else. Fidelis slits his wrist and brings his wound to my lips, instructing me to take it.

"Take my blood, Allan. I can't let you die. Take my blood. You have to take my blood. It's the only way to save you." He says.

I part my lips, allowing the blood to drip into my mouth, and close my eyes again. My body feels as though a steamroller pummeled it into the ground, everything sore and distant. I swallow the bittersweet liquid and feel it burn as it makes its way down my throat.

Fidelis

I pressed my wounded wrist past his parted lips. "Take it until I tell you to stop. I can save you, but you have to trust me on this. Take until I tell you no more." I lifted his head, sitting on my knees at his side.

Allan

His voice passes by but his words stick. I swallow back Fidelis' blood as he says, somehow retaining the strength to perform such an action.

Fidelis

I let him drink as much as he could. After a while, I grew sick. "That's enough. I can't give more." I took my wrist from his lips and covered my wound with my other hand. I looked at Allan, not bothering to watch my wrist heal. "Forgive me, Allan. I had to turn you. It was the only way I could save you. Forgive me."

Allan

After a while, he tells me to stop and withdraws his wrist. My body drifts off into a half conscious state, where the last thing I hear from him is him begging me to forgive him. I vow that, when I wake, I'll make sure he knows he's forgiven. There was no other option. I should have said yes...

Fidelis

The clock said dawn was fast approaching. I covered us under my bedsheets and held him in my arms, silently praying to the gods that I made it to him in time. My heart ached so badly, I was shedding blood from my eyes. "Don't leave me, Allan. Please, don't leave me. I don't want to wait another century for someone like you. Dear gods, don't take Allan from me." I continued to shed blood from my eyes in my sleep, holding him close to me and hoping against the Fates that he didn't die because of my neglegence. I didn't want to wait another century to get a replacement. Allan was my sacred treasure and I'd rather burn to death than replace him with someone else.

Allan

I hear him beg for me to not to leave him, him pray for me to not be taken from him, as I drift through conscious sleep. Liquid falls from his face, warmer and thicker than tears, and I ache at the thought of him crying. He holds me close, continuing to cry in his sleep.

When I wake, my body remains weakened and my throat burns with some horrid thirst or hunger. I open my eyes and find my sight sharpened and my hearing intensified. His heart doesn't beat, nor does mine, but I hear both our breaths like wind in a storm. Looking at him, a strange fear overwhelms me. Was I changed now? Did he think I was dead? How will he feed? How will I feed? I try and forget them as I curl into his embrace, awaiting his awakening.

Fidelis

As I slept, I tried to listen to his heart so I could calm down. The lullaby of his heartbeat was fading more and more until the final note was played. His heart was no longer beating, which meant either he was fully turned or I was too late to save him. I silently prayed that he didn't die. I couldn't bear losing my sacred treasure. If I lost him, then I would give up my fortune to those who needed it most and leap into a bonfire to join Allan in the afterlife. I woke from my rather fitful sleep and found Allan curled up in my arms. I sat up and held him with his head on my shoulder. He was fully turned, which relieved me to know I saved him. "Forgive me, Allan. I had no choice but to turn you so I could save you. I didn't want to lose you. I'd throw myself in a bonfire if I lost you."

Allan

I flash a smile at him as he sits up and holds me against him, my head on his shoulder.

"You did what you had to do," I whisper, exhausted, "I-I'm hungry, Fidelis...I'm thirsty."

Fidelis

I released him from my embrace. "I know. I'm hungry too. As promised, I shall teach you how to hunt. Come, my apprentice. The night is our element and the hunt is upon us." I led him outside. "Even when newly reborn, the senses of a vampire are heightened and become more accurate than a mortal. Like most hunters, we rely on instinct to find prey. Older hunters like myself use different means of hunting. I myself rely on the senses to locate my prey and the ability to read thoughts to identify prey. The latter ability I haven't used in decades because of the innocent people around me." I snuck around until I found a couple murderers. I pushed a pressure point on them so they wouldn't escape and gave one of them to Allan. "Feed, my apprentice. Take his blood to sustain yourself." I waited for Allan to feed. Knowing him being a newborn vampire, instinct would force him to feed out of hunger.