Chapter 4

As Nikola woke up, he stretched and patted the space next to him in bed. What had he expected, really? That the vampire was going to just stay by him while he was asleep? If what he read in the wikis and the book was correct, then it was a miracle he was still alive after the man had taken what he wanted.

A little sore, he slowly got up from the bed and covered himself with a tallow as he headed towards the bathroom. Once finished cleaning up, he went to his own room and collected the now dirty sheets. He couldn’t carry them over to dry cleaning, so his own washing machine would have to do. Now if only he could remember the program for silk and where he put his stronger products.

He was just about to exit his room when he sniffed it. It smelled of sex and sweat. And there was something else there, but it probably was something weird like vampire pheromones. Deciding he felt it would be better not to come home to that, he, still holding the sheets, went and opened a window.

Satisfied as the fresh air hit his face, he put the curtains over it just in case Dimitri decided to rummage in his room. Which was something he wouldn’t put past him at this point.

Going downstairs, he smelled waffles, but he made a beeline for the washing machine first. After a little searching, he found the softener he was searching for, and he fixed the machine and turned it on. He guessed he would just get the sheets in the dryer when he got back from work.

Once this was done, he finally headed towards the kitchen area. And then his morning horror begun. There, behind the counter, packing what appeared to be his lunch, was the very naked backside of Dimitri. Nikola gaped openly at this. The man had an apron on, true, but his back, his very sculpted back, was turned to the mortal, and it was bare. Nikola didn’t dare a look down and true enough the man was not wearing any boxers.

Did he cause this? He vaguely remembered teasing the vampire something about cooking for him in an apron, but it was merely a moment of madness! He didn’t expect for Dimitri to go ahead and do it! Nikola gulped and moved towards his breakfast, careful with the vampire not to notice him. Although, something told him the humming menace was merely not paying him any attention.

His waffles, as soft and appetizing as they smelled, were piled high with cream and strawberries. Just where had the vampire even found strawberries at this time of the year? It was November, for Pete’s sake!

Not wanting to ruin the good mood the deranged psychopath was in, he dug in his breakfast and finished it as fast as possible. Then he reached out for his coffee and found out it too was piled with cream and had something white and syrupy over the cream mountain. A sniff made him calm down as his coffee smelled of herbs and sugar and thankfully nothing else.  The syrup turning out to be white chocolate.

He drank his coffee but the whipped cream, and this must have been the intention, left some marks on his face. He had no other choice but to approach the sink, where a very naked Dimitri was now facing him and smiling like the cat that got the canary.

Mentally stealing himself to being molested again, he collected his things and brought them to the sink. As he was about to put them down he felt a finger brush away the cream from his lips and then the finger tapped them expectantly.

“You left some cream. You weren’t going to just wash it away after I went to all the effort to beat it by hand, will you, Niki? Open up.”

Nikola was just about to say something to try and get out of the situation when the finger was shoved past his lips and into his mouth. He just stood there, resisting the urge to bite the offending digit. He had read somewhere that a person’s teeth were strong enough to bite through fingers like a carrot.

Well, the vampire finger carrot in his mouth was still covered in cream. Deciding it was not worth it to be late for work over Dimitri’s perversions, he reached out his tongue and gave the finger a few licks until the menace was satisfied with him and pulled it out.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it, Niki? Why don’t you leave these things in the sink, I’ll do them? Come here, there is still half an hour before you need to get to work. I feel like a slow breakfast today.”

Nikola put both of his hands on Dimitri’s apron covered chest and pushed him away. Then he offered his wrist to his lips.

“I can’t get to work with a hard-on. You’re getting your normal breakfast, you pervert.”

Dimitri chuckled at that and just like yesterday he kissed Nikola’s wrist before he sunk his fangs into it. He played with Nikola’s wrist and stopped his feeding to pepper the abused space with kisses between gulping. Figures he would still get his way even when I say no, thought Nikola to himself.

After about 10 minutes, the vampire was finally done. He sighed and gave the wrist one last kiss before he let go of it.

“I kind of miss sipping on virgin blood, Niki. But I have to say my pheromones have mixed well with your blood’s scent from yesterday. When you come back tonight, I might just tackle you at the door. Have a nice day at work, darling.”

Dimitri moved away from him and out of the kitchen before heading upstairs, but it wasn’t before he undid the apron and took it off on the stairs. Nikola just stared after him, and that was until he caught himself staring after the vampire’s nice backside wistfully. This was bad, he reasoned to himself as he noticed his now dry throat and how painfully tight his pants were getting. Terrible indeed.

Once at work, he was incredibly distracted. It didn’t hinder his job, as today they were making simpler candy, just a braid of mint and cherry hard candy for the early stoking of malls for Christmas. No one noticed a thing, and after he turned down an invitation from one of his colleagues to get drinks at a local bar together with some others, the day had ended. His mind was relaxed from making all the braids, and he was even humming to himself. He blamed all the dopamine that got released yesterday during his activities with Dimitri.

He was originally going to swing by the gym but he as he looked at his watch he noticed it was getting late and ever since he found that Dimitri existed, and read that others like him hunted in the night, he was weary of walking alone in the dark.

Once he got home, he noticed something strange. The lamps weren’t turned on, but there was a soft light emitting from his closed curtain windows anyway. His door was still unlocked, something he really should get to fixing by giving Dimitri his own key.

He gulped a couple of breaths of air to get some of his bearings and then opened the door. Then he got his answer, how it was darker than usual. Dimitri had had placed scented candles practically everywhere. Nikola didn’t remember owning any candles, let alone this many, so Dimitri must have gotten them himself.

A canvas was positioned right in his field of vision, and he approached it quietly. It was that drawing Dimitri made him model for. He had remembered that he was scared back when he sat for it, and yet his expression was a calm one in the canvas. He had a faraway, dreamy look. Dimitri must have sketched the expression he had made while sleepy.

All in all, the drawing was beautiful and Nikola couldn’t help but admit that Dimitri had talent. He passed by it and went to the kitchen. What greeted him were mashed potatoes with chicken covered once again in some kind of herbal sauce. And some freshly squeezed orange juice with a chocolate soufflé for dessert.

He liked his lips as he dug in. The food was just as good as it looked, and before he knew it, he was cleaning up the dishes. Dimitri wasn’t downstairs to bother him, and Nikola figured he must have gotten out.

Nikola went upstairs and saw that the apron from this morning was folded up on his desk chair. He blushed at the sight of it and muttered “pervert” under his breath. Then he went to his wardrobe but found something strange with it. It was rearranged. And his things were gone!

In their space, there were new clothes that looked less work related and more like they were made for clubbing. He moved them around vigorously but couldn’t find his clothes even in the back. Instead, he was left with black silk shirts and tight-fitting pants and black jeans.

He moved to his pajama’s compartment to find that even his pajamas hadn’t escaped the purge. Instead of his nice warm cotton ones, there were silk blood-red ones in their places. He moved to take them out and a note fell out of them. He bent down and picked it up and begun to read.

“Niki! I had my ghouls go shopping for you. Don’t worry, everything will fit. I binned your boring clothes in the trash. I’ll be going hunting tonight as I have the craving for some junk food. I’ll come by tonight to our bed, don’t worry. Catch on some sleep before I come for you, will you, you’ll need it.”

There was a drawing of a smiley face emoji on the note, but it had vampire fangs, and they were bloody. It would have been almost funny if the vampire hadn’t written about how he was going to hunt someone down like an animal. Now, how was he to stop this? He flipped his phone and he frantically searched in his contacts for any recently added ones.

Dimitri didn’t respect privacy, so putting his number in Nikola’s phone wasn’t out of the question. His search was fruitful, and he quickly dialed the number. He just hoped that it wasn’t too late for some poor person.

A bit later, his call was answered, and he heard the cheerful voice of Dimitri on the other end.

“Niki, dear, miss me already? Or are you calling to thank me for fixing your fashion sense?”

“What is this about you going on a hunt? Why do you need to hurt someone when you…have me?”

“Niki, you are, and that is mostly due to your healthy lifestyle, a gourmet dish. But its normal for one to want to smoke a cigarette or grab a burger after sex. Sure, it’s not good for them, but it adds to the aftertaste of the pleasure.”

“Your “cigarette” has a family! Friends!”

“Niki, I either do kinky stuff to some stupid bimbo and I break a couple of her bones, or I’ll come home and do it to you. I rather take out my frustration on having to restrain myself on someone that I don’t hold in such a high regard as you.”

“Why do you have to resort to violence all the time? Just come home and take what you want from me. I’m not getting out of this anyway, so there is no need…”

A dark chuckle came from the other side of the line. Followed by laughter.

“Morsel, you won’t like what I am in the mood for tonight. But fine. I’m coming home. I want you on the new silk sheets in your new pajamas, and I want you relaxed. Not that if you are nervous, it will stop me, but you stopped my hunt. I’ll punish you for it.”

The next morning, Nikola woke up sore all over. He felt violated. Dimitri wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to pound someone into a mattress when he entered his, well, their, room. He hadn’t been gentle in any way, but thankfully hadn’t broken any of his bones like he said over the phone.

Slowly getting up, he touched his bruised shoulder that was covered in bites. Dimitri had fed from him while he fucked him. It had been both arousing and so painful, Nikola had bitten the pillow his face was pressed against to muffle his screams.

He hadn’t given the vampire the satisfaction of crying from the intense pain he had been in, but it was a close thing. Especially when Dimitri began to scratch lines in his back with his nails and lap up the blood from them.

Sure, he felt like shit and used, but it was better this than for some ignorant girl to have lost her life last night because she fell for Dimitri’s false tricks. He sent a mental thank you to poor dead Gilbert that he pissed off Dimitri so much, Nikola never got to experience said tricks from the start. Had Dimitri actually taken the time to seduce him from the beginning, then maybe Nikola would be his latest ghoul right now.

He got up and collected the least club like clothes in his wardrobe, glad that Dimitri’s ghoul had picked in some jeans too to go with the close-fitting pants. Then he headed towards the bathroom and got under the shower. The hot water did much to sooth his aches, and he washed the scratches carefully. They were going to sting, but it was just something he will have to get used to.

He went downstairs and sat down on the table, eating whatever it was that Dimitri had put together to make his blood the way he liked it. Collecting his packed lunch, he made slowly towards the door, but he was stopped by the sight of Dimitri leaning against it. How hadn’t he noticed him there?

“Niki, we need to talk about what you did last night.”

Gripping the box and checking the clock, he found out he had plenty of time before he needed to be at the factory. He sat down on the couch and waited for the vampire to sit by him. The man kissed his neck when he did and hugged him, putting pressure on Nikola’s abused back. Bastard.

“You see, morsel, I like hunting. And you are already coughed and practically domesticated. And if you don’t want me to hunt either do what you did, call me back, get me angry at you and take your punishment, or,” and he leaned in so that he could kiss Nikola gently on his forehead. “you provide more of a challenge for me. Granted, that could mean I’ll find you interesting enough not to leave you anytime soon, but it would mean less pain for you in the future. I don’t peg you for a masochist and I don’t think you want to be interesting to me either, so how about you don’t stop me from hunting ever again, and I’ll forget your little rebellion from yesterday? Deal?”

“No! Its bad enough that I let you have your way with me, I don’t want you killing innocent people just because I…couldn’t handle you.”

“Innocent? I’ll have you know that the bind I was stalking knifed her boyfriend just yesterday and was on the run from the police. This is the type of person you suffered for. I don’t usually go for innocent when I hunt, you are the exception to the rule, Niki.”

“It doesn’t matter what she did. She could have had her reasons. Maybe he was abusive towards her and deserved it.”

Dimitri traced one of the scratched marks on Nikola’s back and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“I’m abusive towards you, Niki. Do I deserve to die?”

“You do, actually. But since I’m not strong enough to kill you, I’m not going to even try. I don’t want to get torn to shreds.”

“But you still got torn up. Your back at least did. You’re hurting me, saying such mean things like how I deserve to die and so on, Niki. What if I decide to go hunting to vend my frustration on someone else rather than abuse you further? Because your back can’t take any more shredding. And your neck can’t take any more bites. I even did a number on your wrists and nearly tore open your arteries last night. Tell me, how are you going to feed me today, my dear morsel? Or are you ready to bleed out for my hunger?”

“What do you mean bleed out? Surely, my neck…”

“I said it and I meant it. If I take from you this morning after getting carried away last night, I’ll tear your fragile neck to ribbons. You simply don’t have enough blood in your veins to sustain us both, morsel. That’s the problem with putting a gourmet dish in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Sooner rather than later, the plate is empty. So, now that you know I have to go hunting or kill you, what will you choose? And before you answer, know I’ll take your answer very seriously and go right ahead and apply it.”

“You…I…surely you can wait for tonight and skip breakfast just this one time? Please.”

“No can do, Niki. I’ll have to leave you be for about a week for your wounds and blood pressure to get better. You are showing beginning signs of anemia. And I’m a glutton that has a taste for fine cuisine. Is this morning to be my last taste of you? Because I won’t leave even a drop behind if so.”

Nikola exhaled, shaken. Did he want to die to prolong someone else’s life? He didn’t know. The noble thing would be to let the vampire suck him dry and safe someone even for one more day. But as he began to shake, he realized he wanted, no needed, to keep being alive.

There were so many things he hadn’t done. He wanted to do bungee jumping. He wanted to date someone normal and have a happy life with them. He wanted the vampire out of his life, but he wanted to avoid being dead for it to happen. He hated himself for what he selfishly decided, but he voiced it anyway.

“No, go hunting if you want to so much. I won’t get in your way.”

“Good morsel!” With that, the vampire kissed him on the lips and before Nikola had the chance to open them and kiss back, he was released from the man’s arms. He got up and just like that there was a life on his conscious.

He did his work with a heavy heart this day. The knife with which he cut the candy circles came down softly on the hard sugar syrup, and Nikola couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he were to use it against Dimitri. Probably find it in his gut.

The whole day he didn’t speak to anyone, and he must have looked so gloomy that no one approached him. Once the day was over he went, collected his things and tried to find anything positive about his situation. Finding nothing, he just hoped that the vampire wouldn’t be home when he got back.

No such luck as the door was once again unlocked. He found Dimitri with his back turned to him sketching away on a canvas. It wasn’t until he saw what the man was sketching that he took in a horrified breath.

On his couch was lying a woman, much in the same position as Nikola had laid not too long ago. She looked too pale to be still alive. Her face was contorted in horror and one of her arms had its bone picking out of the flesh.

Nikola swayed dangerously on his feet and when he couldn’t take the sight in front of him any further, he fell down on the floor and started sobbing. He knew someone was going to die today. Painfully too. But he hadn’t expected for the deranged bastard to bring his victim here.

“Niki, come look at my painting. I think I captured my prey’s expression perfectly, but I need a second opinion. And do stop sobbing. I don’t like it when your pretty face is covered in snot and tears.”

On shaky legs, Nikola got up and approached the canvas. Suddenly, he remembered the daydream he had about knifing Dimitri. Had the woman tried to do the same? He really hoped she had gotten in at least one good cut.

In front of him on the canvas was a lifelike replica of the dead woman on his couch. It was beautifully drawn. Every detail was put on the canvas. Nikola paled when he saw that the vampire had even drawled bone marrow coming out of his victim’s mangled arm.

Nikola took a look at the woman and found that none was dripping from the bone that was coming from her arm. Then he looked down on the floor and saw that it had fallen and was at some point even stepped in. Nikola was going to be sick thinking how he would have to clean freaking bone morrow from his carpet tonight.

“Well, what do you say? Did I manage to make her dead like?” Dimitri chuckled at his joke and got up to hug Nikola, who just stood frozen and let himself be held. “What is wrong, my dear morsel? Vampire got your tongue?”

Whispered Dimitri and gave Nikola’s earlobe a gentle bite. This got the Bulgarian out of his stupor.

“You sick bastard. You put her here for me to see on purpose. Even death is a game for you, isn’t it?”

“Death is an art form, as my sire Arikel likes to say. I took all the blood from this woman. By the way, don’t drink the red liquid filled glass bottles from the fridge. And you know I enjoyed the fight she provided me with. This woman,” The vampire moved them, so they were now both facing the corpse, and he pointed an elegant finger at the still form. “is the one you suffered for yesterday. So, I was mad at her that I had to hurt you for her. I got carried away. Do you know how I got her to come here? I didn’t seduce her or anything. I span a tale how you, my dear lover, was beating me like a rag doll every night, and she offered quickly to get rid of your body for me if I hide her from the police. She didn’t show you even half of the consideration you did her. Do you still pity her?”

“There is freaking bone morrow on my carpet! You mangled her so much that there is freaking bone morrow on my carpet, and now you are trying to make her out as the bad person? Of course, I still pity her!”

“Then sit by her and close her eyes!” Yelled Dimitri at him and pushed him towards the corpse. Nikola lost his footing and fell on top of the woman. She felt cold to the touch, and her still opened eyes stared accusingly at him. If he had agreed to be sucked dry this morning, maybe she would have escaped Dimitri’s notice. He killed her as much as Dimitri had. He made to stand up and flee to the bedroom upstairs when Dimitri was behind him and pushing the corpse forcibly on the floor. The woman’s face made an impact with the bone morrow splattered on the floor, and some of it got in her still opened eyes. Nikola began to shake but was too horrified to scream.

“Why can’t you just agree with me for once, Niki? Why can’t your self-preservation instinct kick in? The painting is beautiful! It was all you needed to say, would it have been hard? NOW SAY IT!”

“The painting is beautifully painted. Please, Dimitri, stop this. I don’t know what I did to anger you this time, but I’m sorry. Please leave me be. Please don’t touch me.”

“Not the proper wording but fine, I guess I scared you enough for one night. Now eat your dinner, drink your juice and go to bed. Once I’m finished painting, I’ll call a ghoul to clean up and join you, Niki.”

Nikola got up, shaken, and went towards the kitchen table. He barely managed to hold down his dinner when he saw that Dimitri was back to painting and had left the corpse on the floor. He would never look at the carpet the same way, and something told him that the now crushed bone morrow was going to leave a stain. He needed to buy a new carpet. He needed to get a new apartment. Maybe run off for the day and start a new life in a new state.

But then would Dimitri hunt down his family? His friends? Just the thought of seeing his mother on a couch much like his own, unmoving and with bone morrow dripping from her arm, made him sick. No, the nightmare was his and the monster slept in his bed rather than beneath it.

The next morning, Dimitri was still in bed with him. He was playing with his hair and commenting on how soft it was. He was also not looking at him, but at something from the corner of Nikola’s eye. Nikola looked in the same direction and saw the complete canvas, painted and set to dry. The woman must have already been sketched when Dimitri got her off the couch, so that got him thinking.

“Did you at least close her eyes?” He blurted out without really meaning to.

“No, I had a ghoul plant her in a dumpster with a needle in her veins instead. The police will have a field trip with her. Now, what do you think of the painting? I need your opinion before I sell it.”

“You’ll be selling it even though you already killed the poor woman? Haven’t you had enough fun with her? Why can’t you let her rest?”

“Are you going to preach to me about morality to me, morsel? I’ll have you know I sell all my paintings. I already sold yours and got your new things with the money. I’ll get you a present with the money from this one too. Would that cheer you up?”

“I don’t want anything from you!” Nikola tried to struggle free of the man’s arms. Just to whom had the deranged thing sold his image to? Was a vampire now killing a living being in front of his painting? While he laid there on the couch and smiled his sleepy smile? He just couldn’t take this anymore!

With a great push, he was out of Dimitri’s arms and down the stairs. Dimitri growled something after him, but Nikola ignored him. He needed to clean that stain from his carpet! He needed a mechanical task. He suddenly had the idea to call in sick in work, but that would leave him alone with the vampire for the day. It would be better if he made candy all day. Good old sugary delights. Candy never killed anyone. Well, maybe if someone overate with them. No, he needed to stop thinking about death.

Once he was downstairs, the first thing he noticed was the new carpet. So maybe the ghoul had given up on trying to clean it and managed to get a new one. It was a nice carpet. Beige and no bone morrow on it. That was nice.

The next thing he noticed was that the pillows on the couch were replaced with new ones. They had teddy bears on them with little cloud prints. Now, why would the ghoul replace his pillows with these? Then he remembered that the corpse had been laid on his pillows, and some mess must have soaked up in them. Yes, he definitely didn’t want his pillows anymore.

As he was just staring at the couch area, Dimitri had stepped behind him and loosely embraced him from behind. On instinct, Nikola relaxed in his arms. That must have been the appropriate thing to do as Dimitri began to murmur sweet nothing's in his ear. He gently leads him back upstairs and a brief look at the clock showed it was 2 am still.

The lamp was turned on, and he could clearly see the canvas. The woman was staring at him as Dimitri was undressing him. She was accusing him as Dimitri’s hands roomed his body in a gentler fashion than what she had received. His bravado from the day he had lost his virginity was lost now.

He didn’t dare to speak. He didn’t dare to moan. He kissed Dimitri back when kissed. Rocked his hips together with him and ran his fingers gently through soft blonde locks. All the while he stared at the canvas. Whore, the woman’s eyes were screaming at him. Ready to do anything to survive, came the accusation. Something in him numbed at the realization.

Once he woke up, Dimitri was nowhere to be found, but he had left him a note he was going for some early hunting. Nikola didn’t call him this time. Instead, he ate his breakfast and drank his blood-free coffee and went to work.

Once he got home, there was another corpse being painted on a canvas. But if the woman’s remains had made him full of pity, then this new body made his heart broke. It was that of a small child. Its neck was ripped to ribbons and was soaking the pillows below it. Now Nikola understood the idea of the prints on the pillows. And he had deluded himself that it was some sarcastic attempt on affection.

Tears slowly trickled down his face, and he moved towards the boy and gently closed his eyes. He didn’t care that Dimitri might not have finished sketching the face, this poor boy deserved at least this much.

Behind him, Dimitri clapped his hands and whistled.

“Brilliant, Niki, simply brilliant! If you could simply see yourself right now! You have to stay right like this and, ah, that’s a nice touch taking the brat’s hands like this. You almost look like a grieving father! I must capture this! Stay right where you are and don’t move a muscle!”

As Dimitri sketched enthusiastically, Nikola looked at the face of the child and noticed that his tears were falling down his face. Another thing Dimitri noticed and enthusiastically added to the painting. When the vampire was finally done painting him in the picture, he let him go to have his dinner.

At first, Nikola didn’t move from his spot, but after Dimitri forcibly separated him from the child and sat him on the table, he began to eat what was in front of him. After he finished, he just stood there and stared at the child from his chair. It wasn’t long after he finished his meal that Dimitri finished his work and proudly presented it to him.

Nikola looked first at the child, again an exact replica of the corpse on the couch, then he noticed the boy’s tear streaked face, and it made him look at his own image. He looked like a wretch, felt like one, too. Yet, he couldn’t find it in himself to plead with the vampire to stop hunting and just drink from him, no matter the risk. Instead, barely audible, he managed to say:

“Please don’t bring this into the bedroom. I’ll do anything you want me to. Just please.”

“It’s ok, morsel, I’m not so cruel as to make you look at this painting as I take you. Why don’t you head upstairs as I call the ghoul to take care of things? You see, I’m planning to…”

Dimitri was stopped mid-sentence as Nikola captured his lips and kissed him in resignation.

“I don’t want to know, please don’t tell me anything about your hunts. I can’t bear knowing what you do with the corpses.”

“Fine, Niki, but I’ll still keep bringing them here every time. I need a nice place to paint. Now go upstairs and don’t bother with pajamas. I’ll be right behind you.”

And so, Nikola didn’t and instead waited naked underneath the silk sheets. His mind staying by the little boy.

The next day when he got back from work an old woman was placed in a sitting position on the couch, knitting needles and yarn were set in her still unmoving hands. Her head was lulled backwards and her left ear was missing.

Nikola was about to head towards the kitchen when Dimitri gently embraced him and kissed his neck.

“Niki! Welcome back, dear! You won’t believe what uproar the last painting caused among the Kindred at the auction today! A Malkavian paid 20 million for it! Now before you say anything, I know you said you don’t want my money, and I don’t want you running off if I start depositing money in your bank, so instead I got you something small. But it’s from the heart! Get it? Because your compassion made an ordinary painting into a masterpiece? Oh, art is truly lost on you! Now open your present.”

Dimitri put a small box into Nikola’s hands and stared expectantly at him. Nikola slowly unwrapped the intricate ribbon and found a ring inside. He mechanically flipped it around to review it and saw a strange sentence written on the inside of it. Seeing his confusion, Dimitri added excitedly.

“It means: Mine forever. It’s written in Romanian, my native language! Romantic, no? Anyway,” He continued as he put the intricate golden ring on Nikola’s finger. “The Malkavian wanted another painting from me, and for the same price too! But he wants you in it. Something about reading your emotions and admiring honesty. So, are you game? Of course, you are! Sit down by Granny and get comfortable. Did you know I was going to have you model with someone younger, but then this Granny tracked me down? You see, the kid from yesterday was her grandson. She thought I’ve simply kidnapped him. And Niki! This dead look on your face is priceless! Sit down and get comfortable.”

And so, Nikola did. Once again he closed the eyes of the victim and just as he had done for the boy he gently held her hand. He couldn’t muster the courage to look at her face. Instead, he used his free hand to grab one of the many pillows on the bed and hide his face in it as the deranged vampire pilled him with the prize from his place by the canvas.

On Thursday, he was once again made to model. This time it was a man who looked not that much older than him. He looked a little like Dimitri, actually, and for once, the expression on his face was that of bliss. It turned out it was a ghoul he was posing with. A 26-year-old accountant who had started asking questions. He was staked in the heart. Dimitri made him embrace the dead blonde. Nikola didn’t even muster up the tears for the corpse this time. Instead, he stared at the golden ring on his finger. His golden chain.

Friday came and with it another child. This time a 5-year-old little girl with cute strawberry-blonde pigtails. Nikola didn’t even need prompting as he placed the child’s head on his lap and put an arm over the still form. The little girl had green eyes, just like him. He wanted to close them, but Dimitri forbade it as he needed to paint the likeness in the eyes, and he couldn’t do that if the girl was at rest. Nikola begun crying again. Huh, and he had thought he had gone past that.

Saturday, Dimitri pronounced Nikola well enough to feed him again and told him he wasn’t going to be hunting. But that wasn’t before he snapped at him.

“Now, do you see what happens when I don’t get my junk food? One bimbo would have died, and instead I ended up killing 5 people, two of them children. Niki, I promise not to take you on my hunts. But do you promise not to place yourself in their path ever again? And maybe pose for me some more. That Malkavian is crazy for your emotional face. Get it? Malkavian-crazy? Ah, I’ll need to do something to cheer you up this weekend, won’t I? I have the perfect thing planned! But its for tonight, it can’t be a date without me! But I’ve gotten carried away. Answer my previous question, Niki.”

“Do as you will.” Came the defeated reply.