Chapter 3: Present from the Dangerous Prince of Deception
"Sebastian, now that you are here, I will be going," Gaius then turns around, but I still reach out to him.
"Wait, I didn't pay you," for some reason, Gaius is more immune to my charms, than anyone else I know.
"Pay me? For a ten-minute walk?" He scoffs at me, and shakes me off.
"Yes, it is only fair," I reach out, and take out my coin pouch. It is a bottomless one, with anti-theft runes. I pull out five gold coins, and then try to hand them over. Gaius doesn't take them.
"I know what you are," he murmurs, and then pushes my hand away. "And if it wasn't for the child, I wouldn't have anything to do with you."
"Wait," I reach out again, and this time, I don't play any tricks. No scent, no attempts to hypnotize him. "You will die if you stay in here. The ships bring the sickness."
"Something you won't do a thing about, eh, Hero of Ultimate Fate?" Gaius asks, and I take a step back.
"How?"
"Your hero aura is like a beacon," with these words, Gaius makes a step towards me. In the faint light of the street oil lamps, he looks like a giant. "But that is ok. I don't feel like doing anything about it, either."
"What are you?" My breath hitches. Little Nico hides behind me.
"Just someone that people will call names. None of them pleasant," he tilts his head to the side, and looks at Nico. "And you, little boy? Don't you know you are but a snack, for the vampire you hide behind?"
"Sebastian is not evil. He gave me a coin, so mama could be burned, and not thrown to the sharks," I admire Nico's loyalty, but I wonder, would I be able to protect him? None of my tricks seem to work on Gaius.
"If I am to come with you," he says, closing the distance between us. "What are you willing to offer? Know that the sickness won't so much as scratch me. Hm, you smell so tasty."
I bark a laugh, then. So, it will be an unholy union. Between a vampire, and what? I look around us, at the crowd, which doesn't seem to pay us any mind.
The merchants are harping their wares, the shoppers, still locked in their small lives, are moving from one stall to the next. Like little worker bees.
This will all change. I have seen it all in the East. Soon, these bees won't even manage to get rotten carrots out of these very stalls.
"I think I know what you are," I can recognize the sweet aroma. How could vampire charms work on someone who feeds off such things? Why, I must have given him a free meal earlier. "Let us run away together. Just the three of us."
"Why bring a child into this?" He touches my bottom lip, and runs his finger over its length. I poke out my tongue, and lick the digit. Making a promise, which has not been lost on the incubus.
"I like Nico. He has spirit," I say, and then turn around. "You can come with me, or have your meals from the dying. Something tells me it will bring you no joy, Gaius."
"Sebastian, I don't like him," Nico is shivering now. I wonder, just how much of his shivers are brought fort from the cold, and how much by the fact that he is hiding from one monster, behind another.
"You don't like me, little boy?" Gaius chuckles then, and looks at me with a "what can you do" kind of stare. "Well, vampire, I guess there is nothing to be done about that. I would never dream of making you choose between the child, and me."
"Wait," just why am I doing this? I could pick up a mortal. Just about anyone, off the streets. And then? Then what? Feed him my blood, make him into a puppet, play with him, until he expires? No, that already leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
"I think I need to explain a couple of things to you. It is true, that I am a Hero of Ultimate Fate, but I was turned into a vampire. I know precious little about the whole condition. Please, you have to believe me."
"And if I do not?"
My guts twist then, and I bite my lower lip.
"You will gain better sustenance out of me, than out of anyone else," the demon in human form barks a laugh.
"Thinking very highly of yourself, I, see?" He shakes his head, and then places a hand on Nico's head. "Have a nice life with your father, little boy. At least, you won't have to worry that he will die on you."
"Just what is it that you want," I snap at the man, and he pulls me closer to himself. I can smell his scent, sandalwood, and something stronger underneath. As if the sandalwood can ever hope to mask the scent of raw sex.
"I don't like the idea of being a food source," Gaius tells me, his lips against mine. "Just what can you do, to make it enticing?"
I wrap my arms around him, and then lean in on his muscular chest. Let him think he has driven me insane with want. This hard-to-get act must run its course.
"We will both starve, or maybe not? Can you feed off misery and desolation?" I smirk at him, he mirrors me, much to my annoyance.
"Can you feed off rats?" Blunt, but to the point. I scoff at him.
"Well, go, then," I nudge him away from myself, and he barks a laugh.
"Oh, so, you just quit?" Is this a game for him? A game he is insistent on never losing? Just how many people has he driven with want, before he took them? Just how many view him as a drug, to be taken when the shaking starts?
"I can feed off misery and desolation as well, incubus," all it would take is a trip to the red-light district. He tilts his head to the side, and looks at Nico.
"Pity for the boy," and with that, he is gone. I ball my fists, and go to the nearest clothing stall. With Nico, who is still clutching at my pant leg.
