The Hunt

14


Andreji had barricaded himself in the bathroom, taking a blanket and some pillows with him. With one of those he had blocked the ventilation slots in the door. After placing the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door outside, River dived into the comforts of the king-sized bed.

Some time later, he awoke in a bath of sunlight. A smile crept over his face. He breathed in the warm air that carried the fresh smell from the bedding. He managed to decipher the time on his watch – 10:30. Did the hotel still have breakfast now? River stretched comfortably.

Slowly, he climbed out of bed and walked over to the window to look down on the crowded street. To take a walk alone in the fresh air, buying a hot dog somewhere, reading a newspaper… Yet, he stopped his train of thoughts, was he allowed to? Granted, Andreji did not need him for any grand schemes anymore, perhaps he would not even hold River back if he just left for good. However, River did not intend to leave, so it was better to care about his Master’s concept of their living together.

River knocked meekly on the bathroom door. “Andreji?” He did not mean to wake the man.

“Yes?”

“I was wondering if I could go down for breakfast and perhaps take a walk afterwards?” River felt his heart beat nervously.

“Do as you wish.”

River’s heart skipped a beat in joy. A second later, another thought crossed his mind. “Could I have a bit of money?”

“In my coat.”

River searched the pockets until he found one on the inside with a thick bundle of paper in it. He raised his eyebrows. That summed up to at least five hundred pounds! He extracted two twenty pounds notes. “Is forty pounds okay?” In fact, he would have had the right to take it all. He still did not know what Andreji had done with all his belongings. Yet River did not want to start a fight over such things, now. It was better to let the past be.

“Sure,” his Master answered curtly.

River put on some fresh clothes and left. He spend the first hour of his day in a nearby café, eating ham and eggs and watching the business people hurry past him. The next thing he got was a decent haircut. River loved long hair and thought it suited him best, but he did not like those men who equated long hair with an untended appearance – and he had not seen a hairdresser in months.

In a kiosk, he bought a newspaper and a large bag of sweets (grinning at his own childish impulse), and then he sat down on a bench. Since it was early in the year, it was still a little chilly, but River did not mind.

When he set off again an hour later after catching up on the latest news, he passed by a travel agency. Several city trips were advertised in the shop window. River’s attention was drawn to the sign reading ‘Vienna’. His parents had met there; his mother had often spoken about that encounter.

At around three o’clock in the afternoon, River returned to the hotel. He asked the man at the reception to research the fastest train connection to Vienna, saying they would prefer travelling at night, and went to bed afterwards. He needed to find a way to both be able to keep up with Andreji’s nightly life style and still enjoy the sun-filled days that remained for him.

Early in the evening, the sun shone still, a soft knock at the hotel room door woke River. As he opened the door drowsily, he found himself face to face with someone from the service staff that handed him a list of train connections. “Unfortunately,” the staff member said politely, “it seems impossible to undertake this journey at night time. The next train to London departs tomorrow morning. From there you could take a train to Bruxelles. In Bruxelles you would change trains again and head to Frankfurt in Germany, and from there you could take a train to Vienna. We have also researched flight connections; they are listed below.”

The flights also took off at daytime. River moved a hand through his newly cut, yet untidy hair as he gazed down on the print-out with a frown upon his face. “Thank you,” he said with disappointment in his voice and closed the door.

What now? River had looked forward so much to the trip… He perused the sheet of paper for an as yet undetected solution, but of course it held none. The strangest ideas shot through his head, something like putting Andreji in a coffin to transport him the way a dead body was returned to its home country, but of course he did not truly consider that option. In fact, it scared him. Coffins… Andreji seemed so alive. Were vampires un-dead? Did you die and then re-awake when you transformed into a vampire? It had not sounded like that when he had spoken with Andreji about the process.

River switched on the TV, but his mind trod other paths.

One and a half hours later, the bathroom door was opened cautiously. Seeing that the sun had sunk below the horizon, Andreji stepped out.

“Could I still refuse to become a vampire?” River confronted Andreji with the question that burned in him without any greeting.

Andreji leaned leisurely against the door frame, his arms crossed. “No.” Amusement displayed in his face.

“Why not?” River had expected the answer, but he did not want to give in this easily.

“Because leaving me at this point would drive you crazy,” Andreji answered matter-of-factly.

River snorted. “Yeah, in your dreams.” Yet, somehow, the laughter died on his lips as he looked into Andreji’s calm face. “Why?”

“You have drunken from me – that leaves a mark upon your body. It binds you to me. You may spend a few days away from me without major difficulties, yet with time your demeanour will worsen, you will grow restless. There will build up a physical longing for your Master… If you do not seek my presence in that state, a depression will get hold of you that will render you passive and with time weak and weary of life. Nothing will make sense to you as long as I am not at your side… I guess it is some sort of hormonal reaction at the beginning of the transformation process; a natural means of binding fledgling and Master together to insure that the process is finished.”

River paled in horror. “You should have told me that before I drank your blood!”

Andreji smiled amusedly. “Why? You knew what drinking my blood meant. You knew that through this act you bound yourself to me, that it was the irrevocable decision to become a vampire. I never fooled you.”

River knew Andreji said the truth; still he wanted to contradict. “You should have pointed the dimension of that small act out to me once more. I wasn’t aware…”

Andreji laughed out silently. “Yes, exactly. I am certain, you always take those precautions! You never even took notice of the fact that I am not using condoms! What if I had not been a bad, bad vampire dwelling in the glory of fucking a man that is supposed to kill me but instead someone with a contagious disease, would you have put all the blame on me then as well?”

River looked aside, defeated.

Andreji approached River smiling and sat down beside him on the bed. His hand slipped under the thin fabric of River’s shirt that, together with the shorts that covered his loins, was the only garment he wore since he had idly lain in bed most of the evening.

River was surprised by Andreji’s actions and the way his body immediately responded to his Master’s touch. His nipples had hardened before the tips of Andreji’s fingers had reached them. Their eyes locked. River was fascinated and set at unease at the same time by the cold, somehow dangerous stare of his Master. He felt a warm hand slip beneath his shorts. It enveloped his erection. River’s hips bulged involuntarily. For a while, they remained like that – a warm hand stroking River’s arousal, so that every drop of blood in him was magnetically drawn to that small area between his legs, while Andreji’s cold eyes kept River from giving in to his need.

Andreji leaned forward and licked River behind the ear. His second hand caressed the nape of River’s neck. Eventually, River gave up his resistance and sunk back into the cushions, spreading his legs widely. He felt Andreji’s lips move over his body, started to explore the strong shoulders of the man who pleasured him with his own hands, and sunk deeper and deeper into the comfortable, warm feeling that spread in him. His climax came soon, yet gently, not like a passionate storm but like a warm spring breeze.

Gentle were also Andreji’s lips as they covered River’s in a tender kiss. The taller man was bent over him, his long white hair tickling River’s bare chest. Such an intimate moment… - the blond could not help but smile.

“See?” Andreji murmured. “You want this. It might scare you because there are still some uncertainties left, some things that you do not know about, but deep inside you want me…” He moved his hand once more over River’s bare skin, brushed his thighs lightly, and then pulled the slender man to him so he lay resting against his Master’s chest.

Yes, in those rare moments when Andreji treated him like this, there were hardly any doubts left…

River’s shorts were still askew, but he did not care. His Master’s hand rested warmly on the exposed skin. His other hand was placed on the back of River’s head. River vaguely noticed that he had been the only one at the receiving end of their intimacies, yet he did not dwell on that. Andreji was a man that took what he wanted; River saw no need to feel guilty.

“So, have you come to a decision?” Andreji asked with muted voice.

“Mh?” River was still enjoying their closeness. Seen from that point, it did not seem so bad at all that Master and fledgling were bound together the way Andreji had said they were.

“About the destination of our little ‘holiday’…”

“Oh. Yeah. Well… I thought we could go to Vienna. My mom used to enthuse about it. But the journey there seems to be a problem. It’s hardly possible at night. Didn’t think vampires were so constrained by their… dislike of sunlight,” River admitted.

“I would not say we are constrained. One just has to find different solutions for certain problems… As for the journey, I guess the best way is for you to take the train or flight – whatever you choose – while I make my way on my own. I have my means of travelling, but they are not made for taking along a human…”

River looked up in surprise. Andreji suggested travelling separately? Where did that sudden trust come from? Well, if what he said about the consequences of leaving his Master was true… Still, it was an unexpected move. Then again, he had already decided to expect the unexpected whenever something was connected to Andreji.

Travelling alone… Breathing the air of freedom… -And Andreji? What were the ‘special means’ he had talked about? The coffin, after all?

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