Seth waited for Anri outside of Kintsugi, feeling a little like a stalker. Okay, a lot like a stalker, but he didn’t want Anri to run away again, not tonight. He was quite certain that, if given a chance, Anri would run from him.

So Seth waited outside the bar, like a stalker, for Anri’s shift to end. A stalker in a car, because it was too cold to be stalking around properly in the great arctic outdoors.

He must have nodded off at some point. The harsh eee-eee-eee of his alarm, his insurance against the potential reality of him falling asleep and missing Anri, jarred him from his dreams. He had been dreaming of a huge tree surrounded by death.

It was two in the morning and his car was freezing. Seth rubbed his eyes sleepily and watched the door to Kintsugi. He willed Anri to step out, but nothing happened. He thought about getting out of his car to go stand next to the door, but it was really cold outside. Instead, he coaxed his beat up Toyota to start, blasting the heat and trying to get warm enough that his nose didn’t feel like an icicle.

After another twenty restless minutes the door finally opened, Anri and Red stepped outside. Seth shut his car off and pulled the keys from the ignition, tucking them into his pocket. Anri pulled out his keys and locked the door behind them. Red started walking while Anri fiddled with the door. He called out to her and she turned and gave a slight nod before she turned the corner and headed to her car in the main lot.

Anri put his keys away, testing the locked door, then turned and walked the other way, away from the main parking lot. Seth jumped out and chased after him.

“Anri!” He called as he got closer. Anri flinched but didn’t turn around. Instead he walked even faster, nearly running to the alley behind the building. Seth ran after him. He wasn’t getting away, not now.

They nearly collided, Anri sidestepping just before he ran him over. He grabbed Anri’s arm. Touching Anri, even through his layers of clothing, sent a thrill up his spine. It was quickly replaced with frustration as he studied Anri’s face, an unreadable mask in the dark.

“Anri, why are you running away from me? I know you heard me!” he panted between breaths. The frigid air hurt his lungs and made it hard to catch his breath.

Anri tried to pull away from him, but he held tight, forcing Anri to look him in the eyes. “Seth, you..shouldn’t be here. You should stay away from me,” Anri finally mumbled.

“Oh, no you don’t! You promised me answers.” Seth’s frustration was quickly turning to anger. He had known this would happen.

“I know. I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I mean, you shouldn’t be around me. It’s not safe for you to be involved with me,” Anri pleaded. “I’m serious. I think you’ve romanticized this whole thing in your head, but whatever you think this is, it isn’t that. I’m just a regular old, boring guy. A regular old, boring guy who is also bad for you. So, please, just go. Go and forget that we ever met.”

“Which is it, Anri? Are you a regular old boring guy or are you a danger to me?” he snapped.

“Both!” Anri defended pathetically, looking anywhere but at him.

“You jerk!” he hissed, hitting Anri’s arm through his coat. “You were relieved when I didn’t come tonight, were you? You were happy that I didn’t show up! Wow. Just, wow. I thought…I guess nevermind what I thought.” The words felt like ice as they left him, a cold spot growing inside him. “Maybe, maybe I should talk to Simone instead. I bet she would-”

“NO!” Anri barked. It echoed in the dark, quiet alley. He flinched and Anri pulled his arm away. Seth dropped his hands down to his side, deflating at the intensity of Anri’s reaction.

“Okay. Okay, I get it. I’ll…I’ll just leave. I’m sorry, Anri. I promise I won’t come back, and I won’t tell anyone about you. But…I really wanted to be friends with you.Whatever. I’m sorry I bothered you,” he said sullenly. He wanted to be angry, but he just couldn’t. His heart clenched with the rejection, and now he was regretting even having had come.

He felt so stupid. What had he thought was going to happen? What had he been expecting? He turned to leave, but something had him hesitating. He turned back to Anri.

Anri’s mask fell. Emotions crossed over his face but it was too dark to figure them out. Hope flared and died in his chest in a manner of seconds. He turned to leave for real this time, but Anri’s hand shot out, grabbing the sleeve of his coat in a firm grip.

“Wait. Seth, you’re right. I’m sorry. I owe you, I know I do. I, um-” There was a click and an unfamiliar twanging noise, and then Anri’s voice cut off with grunt. Anri gasped wetly, then made a very unhealthy wheezing sound. Seth was nearly pulled down when Anri, still holding him by the arm of his coat, suddenly fell forward. He dropped to his knees, then collapsed to the pavement.

“Anri!” Seth gasped. He surged forward too late to catch him as he fell. He grabbed Anri, forcing him back up. Something in the back of his head screamed at him that this was not how first aid was performed. Anri’s body was stiff as Seth pulled him off the ground. He wobbled heavily and Seth braced him against his chest.

“Anri, what’s wrong?” he begged in a panic. Anri was hurt, something had hurt him.

Anri moaned, his hands moving to the feather covered wooden shaft that was somehow impossibly lodged in Anri’s coat. No, not just his coat, a strange panicked voice in his head said, but inside his chest. There was an arrow sprouting from Anri’s chest just below his left collarbone.

Seth jerked around, scanning the entrance to the small alleyway for signs of danger. A hooded figure stood alone in the mouth of the alley with some type of weapon, maybe a bow. It was hard to see any details clearly in the dark. There weren’t any streetlights in the narrow alley, the only light spilling in from the main road and the half moon above them. The figure was close, only ten yards from where they stood. If he hadn’t been so absorbed in their argument he might have heard the assailant approach.

The figure at the mouth of the alley reminded him of a stocky cosplayer, dressed as the Green Arrow, from the TV show, not the comics. from the TV show, not the comics. It was too dark to see any details other than the long, hooded cloak and the bow.

Anri’s wet gasping, wheezing breaths drew Seth’s attention back to him and dread coiled in his chest.

It looked impossibly fake, like a cheesy halloween costume, the arrow that pierced Anri’s chest. Four inches of a wooden shaft jutted from Anri’s coat, the dayglo green and yellow fletching so brightly colored he could see it clearly in the dim moonlight. Shouldn’t it be longer? How long were these things supposed to be?

He shifted so he could see Anri’s back, fear rising like bile in this throat. Another four or so inches stuck out, ending with a metal edged tip, horribly wet and shiny, protruding from Anri’s back. His mind reeled, and a cold, detached part of him realized the arrow must have grazed Anri’s ribs, number two or three maybe, and somehow angled around his scapula, in order to have pierced his entire body. It was a one in a thousand kind of shot. There was no way Anri hadn’t punctured a lung.

Seth was in shock, he knew he was. His hand moved to touch the slickness on the arrowhead, somehow needing to confirm it was blood and not something else. His hand hovered mere centimeters from the shaft and then Anri was somehow, impossibly, pulling himself into a kneeling position, grunting with pain. Sweat beaded on his face despite the wintry conditions. Had he somehow missed having his lung punctured?

Anri was staring at the bolt sticking out of his chest in disbelief, his hand instinctively touching the foreign body. Seth jerked his attention back to the hooded figure.

“Oh my god, what just happened?! You just shot him, you crazy bastard! Why?!” His hands shook violently as he struggled to pull his cell phone out of his jeans and support Anri’s body as well. More quietly he turned to Anri and whispered, “I’m calling 911, shh, Anri, it’s gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.” He forced him to rest back against his body and Anri stiffly relented.

Anri opened his mouth to say something but Seth couldn’t hear if he did.  

“Oh, god…oh my god. I shot him. Oh, Jesus, God, I didn’t think I’d actually…” the hooded figure cried frantically, his voice high pitched with panic.

“Who the hell are you?!” Seth yelled at him. “Shit, Anri, shit. Anri, are you okay? You’re gonna be okay. Oh no, no, you’re not okay, because some LUNATIC shot you with a goddamn crossbow!” He freed the cell phone from his pocket only to watch it tumble to the concrete through his frozen fingers.

“I, oh jesus, I didn’t mean, I wasn’t…and…it’s…it’s a compound bow!” the hooded figure corrected him, his voice changing into a deeper, over the top masculine voice. Seth bent down to pick up his cell phone without looking away from the cloaked man. “Not a crossbow, a compound bow,” the man continued to clarify in his false baritone.

“You shot him with an ARROW you LUNATIC!” Seth screamed.

“Seth, c-c-calm d-d-down” Anri coughed wetly behind him. The sound of fluid in his voice had him sure that Anri’s left lung was punctured. Groping, he finally found his phone and picked it up from the asphalt, clumsily trying to unlock the screen without looking at it.

“I’m calling the cops, man, stay right there, you crazy lunatic,” Seth growled. He fumbled one handed with his phone, his other hand bracing Anri, who was swaying dangerously. “Anri, it’s gonna be okay. Hang in there,” he said more softly, trying to sound assuring.

The hooded assailant turned and ran from the alley. “I’m sorry! He’s supposed to be a monster! I didn’t…I’m sorry!” he yelled over his shoulder as he disappeared around the corner.

Seth nearly sprung up to pursue him, but Anri’s body leaned dangerously heavy, stopping him cold. A pool of wet darkness was growing on the pavement around his feet and he could smell the scent of blood in the cold air.

“Seth…don’t….don’t call anyone. Don’t c-c-c-call the po-” Anri coughed, blood bubbling around his lips. “Don’t call the police. Take me home….two blocks…help me home. My sister……” Anri began to cough again, wheezing and gasping. Seth could see his body rack with pain each time he coughed.

Tension coiled in his stomach as he forced himself not to do anything but kneel down next to Anri. His hands on Anri’s shoulders, bracing him to keep him from falling down to the pavement again. “Anri, I need to get you to the hospital. Who shoots people with arrows? Your lung, I’m pretty sure that arrow punctured it. You need professional help. If I find that lunatic…I’m calling an ambulance.”

He tried to shift Anri’s body gently but he could tell he was hurting him. He wrapped one arm around him, and with his hand freed he tried to swipe across his phone to unlock it. Just as he the main screen glowed to life, Anri clumsily slapped the phone away. It skidded across the pavement, landing a few feet away, miles away.

“Seth. You…” Anri wheezed. “You don’t…understand. You know what…I am. I can’t go…to a hospital. My sister. Please. I’m begging you. Take me home.” He coughed wetly. Seth opened his mouth to say something but Anri continued, the pain in his voice making Seth cringe. “Please, please, no calls, no ambulance. They can’t help me. Please.” Anri looked up at him, pain and pleading in his eyes.

Seth watched as Anri’s eyes seeped from their normal greyish green color to a deep red. Indecision froze him as he debated internally. Anri had a punctured lung at best. That was bad. But…if Anri really was a vampire, then he couldn’t just go to the hospital. Not if. Anri was a vampire. So “no” to a normal hospital. Did vampires have their own secret medical system? Maybe? There was so much he didn’t know. Simone. He had to get Anri home. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was something.

“Okay. Okay,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. He was unsure if he was talking to himself or Anri, and it really didn’t matter. “Let’s get up. Anri, I’m going to count to three and then we are going to stand up. Careful now, be careful of your, um, arrow. Yup…one…two…and upsy daisy…uff. You are heavy. Okay. Okay. Which way? Stay with me Anri, which way?” He shook Anri gently, trying to keep him conscious.

“Hurtssss…sorry Seth….hurts. Down…two streets on…the left,” he said weakly, his voice thick and wet. Seth’s stomach dropped. Anri was hurt bad, really bad. This was bad. He would drown in his own blood at this rate. He had to stay focused, had to keep going.

“It’s okay, Anri, I know it hurts. Don’t talk. Lean on me. I’ll get you home.” He half supported, half dragged Anri down the street. How was he going to get Anri home without him talking? He felt helpless, naive and stupid. Everything was happening too fast. Concentrate. He had to concentrate on getting Anri home, that was all. He had to get Anri home. Simone would fix this. She would know what to do.

Peering cautiously around the corner, he scouted for the hooded figure or anyone else, but the street was completely empty. Anri choked wetly as his lungs continued to fill with blood. Seth had to distract himself, or he was going to shut down. Talk, he could talk. He babbled about the exams he graded for Lance, about his brothers and older sister when they were kids, about his work on his masters project, on anything he could think of to fill the silence.

Anri was getting heavier by the minute, and his breathing more ragged and bubbly with each step. Seth struggled to continue distracting them, his worry for Anri growing larger by the second.

It felt like hours as he dragged Anri, bleeding and withdrawn, down the street. Anri’s painful moans and grunts increased as his body moved but the arrow didn’t. His pain-filled sounds coiled inside Seth like desert snakes, winding and twisting and tightening dangerously into a venomous knot in his gut. If he ever met that lunatic again…

“Here, left here. That building with…the glass….doors.” Anri said in a watery voice, his mouth full of blood. He coughed, thick and wet . The wound in his chest had fully darkened his jacket and the shirt beneath. Seth could feel the warm wetness slowly soaking into his shirt, too. Anri was losing too much blood too quickly. He shivered violently in his arms.

“Okay, almost there now. You’re gonna be okay. This apartment building, right? Okay. Keys, Anri. Where are your keys?” Seth said. “Nevermind! Don’t say anything. I’m going to dig through your pockets. Just shake your head if they are not in your jacket.” Seth reached into Anri’s pockets and found a small key ring with three keys on it. “Okay, one of these will open this door, right?” he said more to himself. He fumbled with the keys with one hand, bracing Anri’s body with his other arm. Anri’s legs had long since stopped working right and he strained against the deadweight.

Seth spent too much time trying to shove a random key in the door, his hand slick yet sticky with blood. He was shaking so bad that they almost slipped out of his hands. After a few attempts to slip the key into the lock, he finally shoved the key in the right way and, miraculously, the first key he tried worked and the lock slid open. Seth silently thanked whoever was listening for small favors and he pulled the key from the open door.

Seth pulled the door open and half carried, half dragged Anri’s limp body inside. The door swung shut behind them with an echoing ca-clank. “Which one, Anri?”

“F….f…four,” Anri’s reply was weak. No steps. Another silent prayer for small favors.

“Okay. Hang in there. I know it hurts. I know you are tired. You’re almost there, you’re doing great,” Seth said soothingly. He was deeply regretting not calling for the ambulance. Perhaps he shouldn’t have let the severely injured person talk him out of calling for professional help. Anri sagged, becoming even heavier and less responsive in his arms. Too late for regrets now.

“Come on, Anri. Almost there.” He hoped he sounded more reassuring than he felt. Simone would know what to do. He just had to get them that last little bit. Almost there. His body screamed at the strain and he did his best to ignore it.

The hallway was narrow and dim, lit up with dim yellow scones on the walls at head level. The floor was some type of greenish-brown burbur, the color difficult to ascertain in the dim yellow light. He dragged Anri down the narrow hallway, leaning heavily on the yellowish walls, leaving a wake of dark streaks of blood along the wall and spotty drops over the greenish carpeting. He didn’t care.

Sweat dripped down his back, his muscles protested angrily and his lungs burned from the cold and exertion. He ignored the pain. Relief coursed through him as he stopped before a door with a golden raised number four just below a small peephole. Again he struggled one-handed with the keys, shifting to lean Anri against his left shoulder and hip as he fumbled to find the right key. He tried two of the three sticky, blood covered keys before he felt the lock slide open.

He pushed the door in and both he and Anri tumbled to the floor in a heap. Anri grunted in pain and Seth quickly shifted him so that he wasn’t laying on the arrow. The door casually swung shut behind them, casting them into darkness with a soft click.

“Si…mone…SIMONE!” Anri called, tried to yell, but it came out as more of a gurgling gasp. “Seth. Please.” Anri gasped. “Please…leave…I can’t control myself for much longer. I’ve lost too much blood. Simone isn’t here. She will…She’ll come…in time. She’ll help…”

“Anri, I can’t leave you like this,” he cried out in frustration “How can I help you? I’m calling for an ambulance. I should have called already!” He fumbled for his phone, patting his pockets fruitlessly as he remembered it abandoned in the alley.

“Anri, where’s your phone? I’m calling the-”

Anri cut him off with a bloody hand over his mouth, fingers clumsily slipping into his open mouth. Anri’s blood coated it immediately with a salty metallic tang. His hand, slick with blood, left a sticky trail where he touched him and filled his mouth with the taste of him.

Seth’s mouth closed around Anri’s fingers reflexively. He rolled his tongue around Anri’s fingers and sucked a little, his eyes rolling back in his head. Anri tried to pull his hand back but didn’t have the strength. His fingers slipped from Seth’s mouth clumsily, trailing down to rest heavily against his lips.

“Listen…to me, Seth. Please,” he begged in a hoarse whisper. His eyes were crimson jewels, beautiful and hypnotic. The darkness hid most things, but he could clearly see the scarlet of Anri’s eyes, just like in his dream. Anri wheezed and the shivering in his body amped up to full blown tremors. “Seth, I need to take this bolt out of my chest and then…I…NEED you to leave. You have to leave. I’m dangerous. I can’t control much longer. I need…blood.”

His hand cupped Anri’s face. “I can’t. Anri, I can’t. Don’t ask me to leave you. I can’t leave you like this! Would it help if I give you blood? I will, I can do that. I don’t know anything about how vampires work. You were supposed to tell me. If you need blood, I’ll give you as much as I can.” Seth pulled up his sleeve, exposing his wrist and held it in front of Anri’s face. “Can you bite it? Do I need to cut myself?”

Anri looked longingly at his wrist, then slowly, painfully, pushed it away. “You don’t understand, and I can’t explain it right now. I’m so close…to losing my control. I can’t drink you like this, I need too much. I can’t d-d-drink this much from you. Anyone but you. I c-c-c-an’t make you my Wren. Please leave me. Leave and never….never come back,” Anri cried out, then moaned in pain.

The rejection added to the coiled venom in Seth’s stomach. He had to do something. He wouldn’t leave Anri. His frustration turned to anger and he lashed out with it.

“Anyone but me?” he hissed, leaning in closer to Anri’s face. “Can’t you tell how I feel about you? Ever since I met you, I can’t stop myself. I think about you constantly. I’m obsessed. I’ve seriously, well, I’ve never felt like this before. I can’t just leave you like this. I can’t. Don’t ask that of me.”

Seth dug his keys out of his pocket, his hand finding the small pocket knife keychain by feel. Anri tensed in his arms but said nothing. His eyes had slipped closed and he looked to be concentrating hard.

It was a bad idea to remove the bolt, he knew it, but he didn’t know what else to do. “I’m sorry, this is probably going to hurt. I’m sorry…” he trailed off, opening the pocket knife clumsily. He began to cut away at the bolt, just below the fletching, trying hard not push or wiggle the bolt too much. Anri grimaced and grunted in pain, but the knife was sharp and the wood cut quickly. He said a silent thanks for a third time that night for small favors that it hadn’t been a metal shaft.

“Anri, I’m going to reach behind you and pull the bolt out through your back. I’m going to count to three again, get ready,” he said as he braced Anri against his chest, resting Anri’s head resting on his shoulder. Anri’s breath was ragged and Seth felt him tense up. “One….”

Without any other warning, Seth jerked the bolt, pulling it as as straight back with as much force as he could. “Two-three,” he said quickly as it popped out of Anri’s back with a wet sound. Blood splurted out, a warm wetness splashing Seth’s hands. He dropped the bolt and it fell to the floor. He pressed his hands over the wound, pulling Anri into a strange hug, trying to staunch the flow.

Anri’s whole body was tight with tension, shivers wracking his body. He grabbed roughly at Seth, pulling him close. Anri made a pained whine, his hands bunched up in Seth’s clothing. His left hand trailed up to Seth’s head and his fingers wound through his short locks. He moaned again, pulling his head back just a little off of Seth’s shoulder. Seth sighed and leaned his head into Anri’s hand, breathing deeply.

Anri’s hand closed tightly around Seth’s hair and he jerked Seth’s head to sharply to the side. The pain was sharp and acute as Anri bit down and tore at the flesh of Seth’s neck, the movements too fast for Seth to track.

Seth’s whole body tensed but Anri’s grip was firm. He couldn’t move his head even if he wanted to. The pain lasted only a second, though, and quickly became something else. Again he was reminded of his dream. It was something warm and comfortable and pleasant. The sensations rolled over him in waves that seemed to match the pace of Anri sucking the blood seeping out of Seth’s neck.

Seth relaxed, leaning back into the wall, pulling Anri with him, unconsciously shifting to a more comfortable position. Seth didn’t fight the tranquil feelings that overcame him. He stopped thinking as Anri drank, each pull of blood from his neck numbingly comfortable, every swallow of Anri’s throat sending strangely erotic sensations through his body. He shifted naturally as Anri moved to position himself into more of a straddling position across his lap. A moan escaped his mouth as he felt his cock begin to swell. Each swallow from Anri seemed to ignite nerves in erogenous zones across his body.

He was already lost to the sensations when Anri bit him again. This time the sharp pain scraped down his neck to his collar bone. The pain was again followed by renewed waves of pleasure. Anri, licked up his neck in quick greedy movements, completely giving into animalist need. Before he could gather any coherent thoughts, Anri bit him again, pulling hard at his neck, the pain and pleasure sending Seth’s eyes back into his skull. He groaned and Anri moaned in response without removing his mouth from Seth’s neck. Seth shifted again, readjusting his cock, now completely hard and straining against the inside of his jeans.

He couldn’t even begin to think, each bite sending him spiraling into another feedback loop. Seth gave in to the absolutely overwhelming sensations of the biting and sucking and licking, looping over and over and over again. He lost track of time, lost track of how many times Anri had bitten him, lost track of everything else other than the feel of Anri on top of him and the pleasure pulsing through every nerve and fiber of his body. His veins were on fire.

His cock ached with need. He arched his back and he subtly began grind to his groin against Anri. Anri began to move in response, just a little, but it was all the invitation that Seth needed. He could feel his release close at hand. He continued to grind against Anri and felt his orgasm just on the horizon. “Anri….oh Anri. mmhhnnnn….”

Anri jerked back from his neck, trying to untangle his hands from Seth’s hair and clothing. Panic quickly shot through him. He was so close. “No! Anri!” Seth wrapped his arms around Anri’s head. Anri tensed and tried to resist but he held him close, pulled him back. “No, I’m so close. Finish it, Anri. I want you. I want this,” he whispered into Anri’s ear. Anri couldn’t stop now! He was so close. Just a little more…

Anri hesitated only for a moment. Then he replied with a primal growl, rumbling deep in his chest, and wound his hands back in Seth’s hair, pulling his shoulder into his face. His mouth found Seth’s neck again and bit down on the collar of Anri’s tee shirt, ripping it away with his teeth. Seth felt the cool air on his shoulder and then Anri’s warm tongue as he slowly licked a long line from his shoulder up to the base of his ear. Anri was hard, too, he could feel the rigidity pressed against his own member through his jeans.

Finally, finally, Anri bit down again, harder than before, and sucked hard at the base of Seth’s neck. Seth grabbed Anri’s shoulders and pulled him even closer, their bodies pressing together, every little shift sending delightful sensations throughout his body.

“Yes. Oh, Anri. Yes…” Seth moaned, rocking his hips.

Anri began to suck at his neck more slowly, grinding himself against Seth. Seth lost himself again into ecstasy. Just when he felt he couldn’t take any more, his mind exploded, his hard dick throbbing and pulsating with the force of his ejaculation as he gasped and writhed under Anri’s steel grip. Anri’s movements became more frantic and Seth felt the throbbing of his release, too. Anri collapsed on top of him, breathing heavy and lazily lapping Seth’s neck and shoulder.

In what could have been seconds or minutes or hours later, Seth felt Anri release his hold on his neck and hair. Seth slid down the wall, his body too weak and post-orgasm hazy to focus or pull himself up.

He felt the cold as Anri sat up quickly, removing his comfortable weight and body heat. Anri’s hand cupped his face, wet with blood and sweat and…tears? Seth was confused and disoriented and tired. He was really cold, too. So cold. Did he forget to close the door? Someone should close it. It was too cold. He tried to get up, to close the door, but his body wouldn’t respond. He was incredibly tired.

“Seth…” he heard Anri call his name. He sounded sad and scared and distant. “Oh, no, no, oh, no, no, no, Seth, Seth, I’m sorry, Seth. Seth? Please be okay, Seth. Please be okay…”

Seth couldn’t stop the blackness from clouding over him. He tried to say something about there being nothing to be sorry about, but his body wasn’t listening. Everything felt heavy and distant. Exhaustion weighed heavily and instead of fighting it, he gave in. Darkness consumed him, pulling him down into a pleasant, drifting oblivion.

Chapter 8: Where Do I Go From Here?

Chapter 10: Just Couldn’t Leave It Alone