To Love in the Darkness

Alden looked around the empty club, feeling disoriented. The music was still on, the bartender was still behind the bar, but all the patrons were gone. He turned to look at the woman sitting across from him, it was Julie. She must have waited behind for him. “What happened?” He asked her, his words slurring together. She looked back at him absentmindedly and smiled a stupid drunken smile. “Julie! Did you hear me? What happened?” Again, no response.

“Okay well we need to leave.” He demanded, reaching down to take her hand from the table. As he did so, it transformed into black, blood soaked talons. His heart skipped a beat. Hardly willing, he looked up and was face to face with a red eyed creature. Time stopped. He was paralyzed. The creature lunged.

Alden awoke with a sharp gasp, quickly bringing his hand up to feel the wound in his chest. He was not quick enough. Another hand, larger and stronger than his own took hold of his wrist, forcing it back down to his side.

“Stay still. Save your strength.” Commanded a deep voice with a European accent. Alden looked at the hand and traced it back up to the face of its owner. The tall man stood leaning over him, it was the same man that had dispatched the terrible monster from the street. Even in his weakened state, Alden stared intently up at him. This man was the most handsome being he had ever laid eyes on. Thick black hair cascaded around a face fit for an ancient roman god. He had intriguing golden eyes, outlined by thick dark lashes. Alden let his eyes wander lower, drifting over the man’s bare muscular chest and defined abdomen. On the right side of his chest was a barely visible cut mark, other than that, the man’s skin was flawless, even radiant. He spent a few minutes simply surveying the amazingly delicious body next to him before looking back up to the man’s face. Brown eyes met gold and locked in place. Alden could not look away, instead he felt drawn into the golden orbs and to the man they belonged to. A small smile curved the lips of the other man before he finally broke the connection. “You are still healing, don’t touch the wound.”

Alden wafted back into reality. He really did get attacked by something. Not just a something, a terrifying monster man with sharp teeth and claws. It had latched onto his chest and was drinking his blood. Some kind of horror movie vampire? Alden laughed at himself in his head. No way, there was no such thing. Someone probably just slipped something into one of his drinks that made him hallucinate a creature when it was really just a rabid dog. Then who was this gorgeous man? A failed model who had taken a job with animal control? It was more likely than vampires being a real thing. “I need the hospital.” He rasped, his voice painfully swollen after the attack.

“No.” The man replied shortly.

No? Alden began to worry. Was this man also a psychopath of some kind? A very handsome psychopath? “I got bit by that dog. I need a doctor. Could have rabies.” Talking was very exhausting.

“Dog?” The man repeated with a slight almost-laugh. “There was no dog, just Vertillius.”

Vertillius. Alden recognized the name from the night before. It was what the man had called the creature before setting it on fire. He had called it his friend. Everything was all too unreal for him to comprehend. He still had no idea what had actually happened the night before, or if it was even the night before. “He was your friend?” It was probably the least important question he could have asked, still, he could not stop it from leaving his mouth.

The man looked away from him and walked a foot or two towards the center of the room. “Yes, a long time ago.” There was a whisper of sadness in his voice, hardly noticeable. Instantly, Alden felt a strong desire to comfort the man, reaching out his hand to the others. The large man startled at the unexpected contact, but he did not remove his hand from Alden’s grasp. “Sleep now.” It was more than a command; it was an impulse. His head fell deeper into the soft pillow and his mind drifted into a peaceful and undisturbed slumber.

***

A warm and delicious nectar filled his mouth, awakening him once more. Greedily, he mindlessly lapped at the fragment liquid. It was unlike anything he had ever tasted before, just the right combination of sweet, spice, and umami. He could drink the nectar and never have enough, not in a hundred years, not in a thousand. As he drank, his body was surrounded in a warm cocoon of another man’s chest and arms. He could not remember the last time he felt so cared for, so comforted. It all made sense. The exchange of the nectar was a positive, beautiful experience, not at all objectionable. He was at peace.