I felt more emotions than I could handle all at once. While I was happy that that awful woman was finally dead, I was scared about Leo being hurt. On top of that I was embarrassed about hugging him so suddenly, and growing anxious from the smell of his blood in the air.

As I stepped backward, he kept one hand on my shoulder. I could smell the blood before, but seeing it this close up was making me tense up. My whole head turned toward it before I even knew it, and Leo had to shout my name to get my attention back.

“H-Huh? Sorry, I was... distracted.” I answered him, trying to play it off as a joke.

“Right, I was worried about that. If we head upstairs at all, they’re going to be able to smell me coming easily. We’re already at a disadvantage if they can hear my heartbeat, and I don’t want to make it any easier.” He paused, clearly thinking hard about what to say next. “Now I can stop the bleeding in my nose with some cuts of cloth, but there’s nothing here to rinse off the blood I’ve already got on me. Do you think you could... take care of it in any way?”

“...you want me to lick it off?”

“Not that exactly! I just thought, you know, you might have some experience in removing blood.”

I hardly ever wore clothes, and I haven’t had a proper bath in a few years. Even still, we could probably just wait for it to dry and use one of the weapons to scrape them off of him. There might be a lingering scent, but I doubt it would be strong enough to notice outside the range his heart could be heard. I thought to myself, staring at the blood while I held his arm in both hands. Then again, maybe licking it off is really believable? His blood is probably really sweet...

“Would you mind if I did?” I asked nervously, refusing to look away from the crimson stain.

“As long as you’re not biting me, it’s alright. Don’t you drain things through your fangs though?”

I couldn’t really answer appropriately, since I didn’t fully understand it myself. With a calm grip, I raised his arm up to my mouth and gave the blood a tentative lick. Almost instantly, a switch flipped in my brain and my legs felt week. Feeding on animal blood was nothing compared to the joy of even tasting human blood. It made sense how someone could avoid draining a human dry, this would definitely be too rich.

“Senna? Senna! Are you alright?!” Leo asked, grabbing my shoulder with his other hand.

“H-Huh?” I pulled back, stumbling and leaning against him. “Sorry, I just... it’s so warm and incredible! It’s been decades since I’ve taste human blood. Do... d-do you think I could...”

“You’re salivating, Senna.” He said, wiping my mouth with part of his shirt. “Sorry if I made you jump or anything, but you were stumbling around and your eyes were rolling back in your head.”

I want to bite him. His right arm has three good places to sink my teeth in. His neck isn’t hairy or anything, and I could reach it comfortably if I jumped a little. He’s right here in front of me and his heart is beating like a drum. Come on, he’s just a human, you know you’re stronger than him, JUST BITE HIS NECK AND GET IT OVER WITH.

My head slammed against the counter hard enough to send a crack through the center of it. As I pulled it back up, blood seeped from my own head onto my mouth and Leo was jostling me side to side.

“Hey! What the hell happened? You flung yourself into that thing like you were trying to dive in!” He shouted. “Dammit, your head is nearly split open. If it weren’t for that regeneration you’d unconscious or worse.”

He lowered me down to the ground and pulled my sword away from me. I understood why, but my hand still lazily reached for it anyway. When he gripped my hands with his own, and massaged my palm with his thumb, I realized how warm his skin was compared to mine.

There’s no way I can stay close to him now. I had to go so far as to smash my head open just to not tear into him. He must see me as a monster now, and it makes me sick to my stomach just thinking that. I just want to run towards the sun and burn to ashes.

“Senna, listen to me.” Leo said, shaking me from the horrors inside my head. “I need you to stay with me if both of us are going to get out of here. You’re obviously not okay, so tell me what’s wrong!”

I hesitated for second, scared to make things worse. “...I-I want to bite you at least once. Sorry, I know you trusted me and everything, but I can hardly think right now because of it, and I really want more...” I trailed off into miserable silence.

Leo look worried, but less than I thought he would. He took a seat next to me and put a hand on my head, gingerly avoid the parts still healing on my skull. Neither of us spoke, but I knew I wouldn’t say anything until he did. I wanted to hold him down as desperately as ever, and my fingers were digging into my legs to keep from hurting him.

“Well... if it’ll make you more relaxed, then I will. From Anna, I got the impression she saw me as a kind of annoying prey. Something that she wanted to eat, but at the same time wanted to hate.” He said, before he held his wrist up to me. “You at least showed restraint from trying to feed from me. I need you to be here for me, so we can do what we came here to do.”

I opened my mouth, but looked to him one last time before biting down. He gave me a nod and closed his eyes. My fangs sunk down into his wrist, breaking the skin and letting the blood flow into my body. Leo flinched from the first bite, but relaxed as I started to feed. The second the blood flowed into me, I melted into my seat. As I felt more and more sated, I felt my wounds heal faster than ever, and my body grew lighter.

My tongue traced over the back of my teeth, stroking Leo’s skin as well to help seal the bite when I was done. Unlike with feeding on animals, my senses were sharpened about midway through the feeding. My ears were sharp enough to listen to his heartbeat, and I no longer had to suck on him at all. Instead, I let his heart send the blood into my body. Once I was done, I pulled my mouth free and licked the puncture wounds to help keep them from bleeding more.

Even as I pulled free, I let out a small whimper of pleasure. I pressed myself into his side and clung to him, wanting to feel his warmth. To my surprise, I didn’t really feel it anymore, and for a second I was worried I had killed him in my hunger. He touched his arm against mine while wrapping the bite mark in a makeshift bandage, proving he was still breathing.

“Strange... Senna, you’re warm now. I hadn’t really thought about it for a while, but your skin was always cold. I guess drinking human blood does more than just not kill the victim, huh?”

I stroked his bandage with one thumb and closed my eyes. “Yeah... it’s been years since I’d done this. The blood didn’t feel like it was just evaporating the second it entered my body, like it normally does. It’s like I’ve been surviving on steam until just now getting a drink of water...”

“That so? Anyway, we’ve got to go get Simon. Think you can move?”

“R-Right!” I answered, springing to my feet.

I bounced slightly, unused to my new freshly fed strength. As I landed, a second thump sounded behind me, from where Leo had fallen to the floor. He struggled up to his feet and I had to support him by the shoulder as he rose, but he waved off any further help.

“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t realize quite how much blood I lost, got a little lightheaded. Should probably get some sleep soon... no, no, we’ve got to get Simon before we leave. Try not to get too far ahead of me and let’s get moving.”

He pulled out his dagger and gave me a thumbs up with his free hand. I retrieved my sword and the both of us made our way back up into the house proper. As we moved down the long hallway, I had some time to reflect to myself. The whole time I did, there was an odd sensation passing over me. Time seemed to move slower the longer I ran on my own train of thought.

Something is obviously off about this family, or at least this house. A room that can kill vampire just by being inside it, and the bodies of men resting in it. Not only that, but the fact they separated Leo and attacked him as soon as possible. I thought, reaching the door to the house inside, and waiting for Leo. Wait a minute, if she could have killed him here, why didn’t she just feed on him and drain him dry? I was filled up from just the amount I took, so maybe she couldn’t do it. But that would mean she must have feed incredibly recently, maybe even right before we arrived.

“Leo... did anything strange happen when you two arrived? Did you see the vampires feeding on anyone?”

“No, nothing like that. I remember they appeared suddenly inside this strange courtyard they had. I didn’t even hear either of them walking up on me. Come to think of it... I could hear her when she was following me. Can vampires hide their footsteps like that?”

“I can’t see how, being a vampire has only really afforded me some physical benefits. There’s nothing completely impossible that we can do.” I said, and cracked open the door to see if anyone was nearby. “Looks like the coast is clear...”

We passed into the dark hallways and inched forward into the complex, looking out for any signs of other people or vampires. When we opened the doors in the halls, we found only dusty rooms with beds. As we got closer, there were a few locked doors. I pressed my face against one, and could occasionally hear something moving about, probably on a bed.

“Guess this is where the cattle are...” I muttered. “They probably took Simon to the head of the family to turn him. Either that or they... y’know, killed him outright.”

“We’ve got to hope he’s still alive. I feel like both of those options mean a lot of trouble for us, though. I don’t think we could take however many of them there are left on our own. Not that I’d be much help in the state I’m in...”

I placed my hand on his shoulder and we kept heading toward the courtyard again. Once we emerged out from the corridor, we found the court was completely empty, except for some garish metal ornaments everywhere. I looked around for another way in or out of the courtyard, and aside from the entrance, there was only one other major door.

When that thing opens, you’d definitely hear it. This doesn’t make any sense, they must’ve been waiting there for Leo and Simon, but that would mean they walked out of here at the crack of dawn? They’d be at risk of burning in the sun if they did that! Come on, there’s got to be another way! I drifted off in my thoughts. How could they get into the courtyard without being heard or seen, except for when they appeared? They had to have...

“Wait a minute... they appeared in the courtyard... one of these has got to be a secret hiding spot or something!”

“Clever rat!” Came a male voice from deeper in the courtyard. “Considering I don’t hear either of you gasping for breath or dying, I’m assuming Anna is trapped somewhere. After I get out of here, I’ll make sure to keep you two alive just long enough for her to get some revenge...”