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Relief flooded over her and her tense shoulders noticeably relaxed. Maleah's face brightened as he lightened the mood and a warm giggle filled her chest. The worry that she had felt about their relationship suddenly disappeared, joy filling her heart at the idea he wasn't afraid or disappointed in her. Throwing herself forward, the small girl wrapped her arms around his neck and practically put herself in his lap as she hugged him, perhaps a little too tightly. "You have no idea how happy it makes me that you're not scared of me!" Maleah paused for a moment and chewed on her bottom lip. "So... Can I? I don't hurt..." she asked, a sheepish look covering her features. "Please?" She added, batting her eyelashes.
~~~
"Ack, Princess, I - I c-can't... breathe..." Frankie gasped, then rubbed his throat as her grip loosened. "I'm more scared I'll die from your affection than from your fangs..." he grumbled sarcastically. The moment she asked him the inevitable question, the pace of his heart doubled.
"Well, I... no?"
Wait, wasn't obeying their employer's every demand part of the rules of working here? Why was she asking him as if he had a choice in the matter? And even if he did - curse her long lashes and puppy dog eyes! How was he supposed to say no to that?! There was some vampire magic afoot here, he just knew it!
"Agh, whatever!" He burst out loudly and rocked himself forward to sit up completely straight, tucking his legs in to cross them. "You're the first one to ever ask, let alone say please." He sighed and unraveled his shabby red scarf. "S'long as I'm being paid..." he reminded her, brushing the hair on his neck away to expose the goosebumps riddling his bared flesh.
~~~
"Oops. Sorry!" Maleah quickly sat back on her heels, a light blush covering her cheeks. "I forget sometimes." Her hands balled up into little fists and she held them in front of her mouth, using them to hide her anxiously excited smile.
"No?" She repeated, her hands falling disappointed in her lap, her soft lips down turning in a small frown. She wasn't used to being turned down and had no experience in hiding her disappointment. The young vampire made no move to force herself on him, simply sitting beside him with a pout on her porcelain face. The way his heart raced in his chest was far too taunting and the girl began to get up to leave. She may not have been famished, but Maleah could have little control saying no when it came to blood. When he changed his mind, the excitement immediately returned to her and she clasped her hands together in front of her, attempting her best to patiently wait for him to remove his scarf.
Maleah easily and innocently climbed atop of him, sitting comfortably in his lap while her arms snaked around his shoulders. The vampire moved right in before he could change his mind, her nose brushing along his jaw to stop below his ear. It wasn't long before she allowed his scent to completely invade her head, her fingers lacing through his silky blonde locks at the back of his neck. It was too late to turn back now as she quickly and easily sunk her fangs into his flesh. Maleah used the gentle bite, the one where her mark would have to heal on its own. She was claiming him, putting it out there that if anything happens to Franklin, she would be the one to deal with it.
~~~
It felt like Franklin was drowning... in many different ways. As Maleah climbed on top, his hands switched between frisking the ground and hovering over her hips. He had no clue where it was appropriate to put them in this situation. Was anything appropriate about this situation? He sucked in a deep breath, cheeks comically puffed out in an attempt to make light out of this very intimate moment. Chills of this ran up his spine as she touched his hair and her nails trailed over his scalp. She opened her mouth and he tensed, face scrunching up.
"Ow!" He accidentally let slip. Then he started giggling. "Ah... ahaha! Why didn't you say it tic-" That was the moment that something in him began to stir. "-kled..."
He trailed off, his eyelids flickering shut and body beginning to quiver from pleasure. His heart was going into overdrive. A blush began to tint his cheeks until it reached the tips of his ears, dying them a glowing pink. Since when has being eaten alive not been excruciatingly painful?! What the heck is... this... One daring hand moved and stroked her hair after some hesitation. It was soft and light, like how a cloud looked like it was supposed to feel.
The euphoria finally sapped the strength keeping him upright and he flopped onto his back, his gaze blank and face painted red. "What have you done to me," he said bluntly, eyes staring right past her to the sky.
~~~
The taste of his blood on her tongue allowed her to close her eyes in complete bliss, carefully riding out his giggles until he calmed. Was there anything better than this? Her senses began to tune out everything besides the man she currently clung to. The grass against her knees, the cool breeze on her bare shoulders - none of it registered anymore. Instead, the only thing she felt was the way the heat radiated off of his cheeks, the way his heart thudded against her chest and echoed in her ears. His hair was so soft where her fingers laced with it, and his skin salty where her tongue prodded. She was slow in her feeding, suckling the lightest bit and allowing his heart to do most of the work. It was like breaking off the squares of a Hershey bar rather than taking a whole bite out of it.
The sensation of his hand in her hair caused her to fully relax herself against his torso, only to find herself a moment later with her fangs pulled from his skin with a soft yelp, and them laying flat on his back, her hands now splayed across his chest. She couldn't help but to let out a little giggle as her own blush lightly tinted her cheeks. "I told you I don't hurt," she murmured and pulled herself forward, her lips latching on to the puncture wounds to clean any of the blood that was still escaping. Maleah took the time to inspect her bite, smiling with satisfaction at the hickey and clean marks she left behind. "Your taste is wonderful. Thank you for sharing," she purred happily, even when the only thing she wanted to do was latch right back onto him again. Surely he was only feeling the affects of her venom, and not of blood loss. Maybe just a little more?
~~~
"Thanks. And you're welcome," Franklin murmured, running his hand through his hair. His body was still slowly calming down from Maleah's strange poison and he felt embarrassingly sticky from the sweat. "So this is what my job's about, huh?" Actually, this is what my life's now about... forever... he corrected himself internally, very uncomfortable with that revelation, So I escaped the possibility of being in servitude to a vampire only to willingly be in servitude to a vampire. The luckiest person alive, huh? "Let's be clear on something. I'm not just good for a snack, you got that?" He scolded, waggling his finger in front of her nose. It sounded like a joke, but he was serious. This wasn't the line of work he had once seen himself falling into. There once was a very different plan.
The aromas of the cramped work space came back to him, the smell of smoke and the dyes he once stained his creations with. The cool breeze chilling his arms came from the barred windows, open to let the smoke from the smelter escape. He missed turning the heavy pole in his hands, tiring out his lungs from blowing into it and watching the red hot glass expand into a misshapen bulb to be fashioned into something seemly later. He even missed the way the furnace singed his eyelashes and the burns he received from its embers - heck, he even missed the beatings from his master when he messed up and the glass hardened into a lump, or laid shattered on the floor.
The luckiest person alive, Franklin's inner voice echoed and he drew out of his short daze. Wistfulness tainted his features and he didn't bother trying to plaster on a smile. He had thrown away that life for a reason, and he now found himself serving a vampire for the exact same one. His eyelids fluttered shut, the blush from his cheeks finally drawn out, along with the venom that was driving his heart crazy. He stifled a yawn against the back of his hand.
"Will the others be alright?" he asked, speaking for the first time in grave seriousness. He kept his eyes purposefully shut, not wishing to see Maleah's face as he let the next words slip, "They won't hurt them, will they?" The glaring green eyes of Bishop and the smashed glass flickered in his head. "Your brothers remind me of home..."
He went silent after that, his chest rising and falling at an easy pace. Soon it became clear that his mind was no longer there. The young man had fallen fast asleep.
~~~
"A snack?" She asked, pressing her hands against his chest to lift herself off of him, sliding to the grass beside him. "Not a snack Franklin. You're my life line. You're the person that I need to trust to be there when I need you. We're royals, and that means we are constantly in danger. There are a lot of things in this world, and a lot of secrets that we need to hide." She said, a small frown covering her features. "You're not just a snack," she repeated.
His questions threw her off and she looked over to him, watching him. Her immediate answer wanted to be no, that they wouldn't hurt those girls but she couldn't get the words past her lips. Instead, they sat in a ball at the base of her throat.The vampire reached forward and smoothed some of his hair away from his face, listening to the way his heart and breathing slowed.
"I don't know," she finally murmured to the sleeping boy. A soft sigh escaped her lips and she looked around at the darkening night sky. "I don't know," she repeated and took her gaze to him once more. Quietly, she leaned in and gently suckled on his wounded neck, cleaning away the last of the blood on his skin, like taking the last sip of your drink before you leave the table. It looked as if it had stopped so she stood up, brushed off her dress and then bent over to gather the boy in her arms. Carrying him bridal style, she took them back inside and headed for his room, where she would tuck him in and bandage his neck.