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When Keith was little, he had no one to rely on. He had to fight for himself because on the streets, everyone looked out for themselves. He’d been there for as long as he can remember. Sleeping under cardboard, stealing fruit when vendors weren’t looking, and taking clothes that were hanging over a balcony to dry, hoping that the owner believed them to be gone with the wind rather than his dirty hands.
Keith had gotten pretty good at that by the time he turned twelve, and that gave him terrible ideas for bigger and better rewards. He learned it was easiest to take money from drunk people, especially the ones in club alleyways who frantically threw their clothes off and in turn threw whatever was in their pockets to the ground for Keith to run away with.
It was like any other night when Keith saw a couple outside a busy club, Keith was behind a large green garbage bin waiting for his moment to strike. One of the ladies shrugged off her expensive coat and Keith made his move. He was fast but quiet, years of stealing taught him how to be swift and steal without anyone noticing his presence. On any other day, he would’ve gotten away with it, but not that day.
Just as Keith reached out to grab the coat, the other woman turned around, her face covered in blood as she threw herself at Keith, wrapping her hands around his neck when she got him to the ground. In a panic, Keith twisted his body to the other lady, a plea for help on his lips until he noticed the slumped way she sat, and blood dripped down her neck. He turned back to golden glowing eyes staring at him or more noticeably his neck.
Was this what finally got him? Some crazed woman?
Keith squeezed his eyes closed and tried his best to push her away, and just when she was about to bite into him heavy footsteps were heard and then a shriek. The pressure around his neck vanished and Keith peeled his teary eyes open to see a man, shoving the woman off him with a bloody piece of wood.
“Y-you killed her?” Keith’s voice shook.
“Damn right I killed it,” he replied, checking the woman, confirming what he said was true.
“It? Wha-what was she?” Keith asked as he sat up, gently rubbing his neck.
“A damn sucker, that's what it is,” the man turned to Keith, “A vampire.”
That man was named Kolivan, he was a hunter. A monster hunter. He had saved Keith that night. Even checked his neck to make sure there were no wounds and once Kolivan was convinced Keith was alright, he had offered to take him home, “Don’t know why a kid like you is out at this hour anyways,” but his comment was answered when Keith told him he had no home to return to.
There were many mysteries to Kolivan but one thing about him that Keith quickly learned was that Kolivan was a giant softy no matter how much he attempted to hide it. He had taken one look at a small, thin and angry Keith and decided to give him a home.
That's how Keith became a hunter.
9 Years Later
Keith never knew when he’d receive a new assignment. Monsters could appear at any moment and needed to be eliminated immediately. No matter what Keith was doing he’d drop it if it meant being able to protect someone just like Kolivan once did for him.
Even if he was enjoying the quiet beach with the slow waves flowing forward just before his feet. It was dark out so Keith had the beach to himself, he loved it because the place became a quiet, calm spot he could go to when he wanted to relax. Of course, it was thanks to Lance that Keith had found this spot. The boy turned man that Keith never expected to fall for. That he met when Keith was able to start school where they went from academic rivals to tender friends and then something more that Keith couldn't find the words to describe.
His phone rang.
“Got a new mission for ya kid, newly turned sucker out by The Lagoon’s Club, think you can handle it?”
Keith grinned, “Not a kid Kolivan and ‘course I can.”
Keith stretched his arms over his head and tapped his shoes against some large stones to shake off the sand then made his way towards the night club.
It was no surprise to Keith that he ended up at a club. They were a hot spot for vampires, easy for them to slip out with a weakened drunk person who’d forget it all in the morning. When Keith had gone into the club, he beelined to the bar and grabbed himself a non-alcoholic drink, then leaned against a back wall. He watched for around half an hour before he spotted a familiar head of brown hair that made him freeze.
Lance?
What was he doing here?
Keith took a deep breath and exhaled; he felt a more intense desire to get rid of the vampire now. Anything to keep his sweet and kind-hearted Lance safe, Keith would never forgive himself if Lance got hurt.
So, for the next hour, Keith split his focus, he knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help it. He’d keep a lookout for the vampire, yes, but he’d also watch over Lance, after all, he was pretty and young, a perfect target for vampires.
When Keith pulled himself from his Lance-filled thoughts he looked for where he last saw the man and he froze. Lance was gone. In a fearful frenzy, Keith stumbled up from the wall and pushed through dancing bodies, scanning for Lance, and just barely catching him being tugged through an exit door that led to an alleyway.
That had to be it. The worst possible thing had happened. Lance had accidentally found the vampire and now Keith had to save him.
Once he exited the club, Keith saw two shadowy figures hidden further down the left side of the alleyway. Keith began to move quickly as the vampire leaned down to bite. He didn’t hesitate to reach into his jacket and pull out his knife as he yelled, “Get away from him!”
Keith jumped forward to surprise the sucker by gripping its shoulder and with all of Keith’s might he yanked it back, pinning the vampire to the ground. He clutched his knife and pressed against the vampire’s neck, forming a small cut on the tan skin.
Keith turned to make sure Lance was okay, being cornered by a vampire could be pretty traumatising, especially if you got a ravenous one, but when Keith looked to where he expected Lance to be he only saw an unfamiliar face.
“Wait what-”
But before Keith could finish his thought his wrist was grasped, and he was thrown off. His knife fell from his hand and slid across the alley, but Keith didn’t notice how far it went because the only thing going through his mind was the vampire before him who had a face full of freckles that Keith would daydream about.
“You,” Keith gasped.
“Don’t say it. Don’t look at me.”
The vampire, no, Lance, had said as he wrung his fingers through those soft curls Keith had come to love as they bounced and shined in the beach’s sunlight.
“You’re a- Lance. You’re a vampire?” Keith whispered.
Keith had never hesitated before but at that moment, he couldn’t find it in himself to kill Lance.
***
Instead of killing him, Keith did the worst possible thing.
He brought Lance home with him.
Keith had no clue what else to do but he knew he had to keep Lance away from other humans. If he was just feeding it meant he was still hungry, and Keith couldn’t risk Lance going all bloodlust on someone who couldn’t protect themselves.
When they returned home, the rest of the Blades were suspicious of the newcomer. Keith had never brought home a boy before, (and that was all they had seemed to question, thankfully). He had introduced Lance as a friend and a guy he went to school with. He said they had bumped into each other at the club and got to talking. The Blades had accepted his answer and once they had sufficiently studied Lance, Keith had quickly guided him to the stairs when Kolivan asked a discreet question, although considering Lance was the vampire in question it wasn’t all that discreet.
“Were you successful?”
Lance tensed under Keith’s fingers and his nerves seemed to affect Keith as instead of a quick nod, he hesitated.
“...Yup,” Keith turned to nod at the men, “Was quick ‘n’ easy.”
“Alright, good job kid,” Kolivan grinned, “Now keep the door open, will you?”
Keith blushed, “Shut upp, and I’m not a kid anymore!”
They made it to Keith’s room.
Lance walked into his room first, Keith followed behind him and closed the door. He turned to Lance with many questions on his mind but all vanished when Lance stumbled over nothing, throwing his hands out to catch himself against the bottom of Keith’s bed.
“Shoot!”
Keith hurried to Lance’s side and propped him against the bed. His hands floated for a moment unsure of what he could do. Lance was pale and his eyes fluttered. Of course, Keith thought, he had interrupted Lance’s feeding but not just that, he had interrupted a newly turned vampire’s feeding. They were much more unstable when they first turn and couldn’t go long without feeding for the first few weeks.
Many ideas floated through Keith's mind, some okay some bad but then one hit him. There was probably a different route he could’ve taken but in his defence, it had made sense in his mind in that moment.
Keith was the safest thing for Lance. If he ran from Keith’s room and bumped into and attacked another Blade, they wouldn’t show Lance any mercy. So, Keith offered his wrist which Lance, to Keith’s surprise, rejected it, knocking it away with a weak shove.
“What if- what if I turn you too?” Lance teared up, “I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”
Keith smiled and huffed. His finger slowly moved to wipe the tears away without thinking.
“You won’t turn me; it doesn’t work like that.”
“It-it doesn’t?”
“Nope, you gotta drink them dry for it to work.”
“Oh,” Lance said with wide eyes that Keith couldn’t help but find adorable.
Lance paused for a second before replying.
“Then, if you don’t mind,” he tucked a curl behind his ear. “Could we… I… y’know?”
“Drink my blood?” Keith said.
“Yeah, that,” Lance glanced away and whispered, “I’m still not used to this, okay?”
“Well, that makes the two of us.”
Keith stood up and held a hand out for Lance which the vampire accepted, with a small tired toothy smile.
They moved onto the bed and leaned against the headboard next to each other. Lance on the right side and Keith on the left. They sat shoulder to shoulder in silence for a minute. It was odd, the silence. Whenever Keith saw Lance, the boy always had something to say.
Seconds later as if Lance read Keith’s mind, which he knew Lance couldn’t possibly do since mind reading wasn’t a vampiric power, but the thought still fluttered through his mind.
“So is it okay if I…?” Lance pointed to Keith's wrist, with a slightly shaky finger.
“Yeah,” Keith nodded and slipped off his fingerless glove from his left hand.
Lance’s hands were cold when they curled around his wrist. He leaned forward so Keith could only see the back of his head and he jumped when he felt the tingle of breath against his skin, a silent laugh.
“Can’t believe you still wear those gloves.”’
“Yeah and?” Keith flushed.
“Nothing. It’s nice to see some things are still the same.”
Keith went silent again, watching as Lance’s head moved closer. It would’ve been easy for Keith to slip his other hand under his pillow for his knife, and slice Lance’s neck and yet the thought never crossed his mind.
“I’m going to do it now, okay?”
Lance’s breath fanned against Keith’s wrist as he spoke.
“Okay,” Keith nodded.
Keith expected to feel a burst of pain as the fangs pierced his skin, but instead, it was like a small prick of a needle. Unlike the past vampires Keith had dealt with, Lance’s bites were surprisingly sweet. Gentle. Keith wasn’t sure if Lance was doing it on purpose but one of his thumbs was softly rubbing his pulse point, making the experience all the more comforting and painless.
The seconds ticked by, and the only sounds in the room were Keith’s quiet breaths and Lance’s not-so-quiet slurping.
Keith slumped to the side which he quickly attempted to recover from but failed to as his vision went fuzzy. He weakly tried to pull his arm out of Lance’s grip but was unsuccessful. It wasn’t until Keith slipped again and slammed into Lance’s side that Lance noticed something had changed.
“Keith?”
Lance had blood sticking to his lips and chin when he turned to Keith, however, his hands were spotless as they held Keith’s shoulders and guided him to his side.
Keith was definitely lightheaded from blood loss and lack of sleep. He only managed to pick up on small bits and pieces of what Lance was saying to him but what Keith did know was Lance was gently tucking him under the covers, tucking the blanket right up to his chin. He delicately pushed Keith's hair out of his face and slipped it behind his ear.
Vampires don’t need to sleep was another fleeting thought Keith had in that moment, and he knew he should feel on edge, maybe it was because he was just too tired to care or maybe Keith just trusted Lance too darn much, vampire be damned.
He slept peacefully that night.
***
The next morning Keith had woken up surprisingly well rested for someone who was up late hunting. His eyes fluttered open and he sluggishly sat up. His fist appeared to rub the sleep from his eyes and as Keith did this, he saw white, a bandage, wrapped around his wrist.
Keith let out a small huff noise and smiled.
“Oh, hey, you’re awake,” Lance smiled. He was still beside Keith, resting on top of the bed rather than under the covers. In his hands was one of the many books Keith had in his bookshelf in the corner of his room. Lance followed Keith’s eyes and blushed a little.
“I had a lot of time to kill.”
“Right,” Keith nodded and scratched his head with a yawn.
“I gotta go shower,” Keith threw his blankets off himself and stood up. Then he quickly turned and pointed a finger at Lance, “Stay in here, okay? I won’t be long.”
Once Keith showered, being mindful to avoid wetting the bandage, Lance went to shower after him. This let Keith quickly change into a clean shirt, an old band tee, and some plain trousers. Then he practically emptied his closet trying to find some clothes for Lance to change into.
The bathroom door creaked open, and Lance appeared with a towel around his waist.
“Uh,” Keith stared, pink slowly forming on his cheeks.
“Sorry, I forgot to ask if you had any spare clothes I could borrow,” Lance said, looking away and fidgeting with the towel.
“Right yeah, here try these. The jeans might be on the shorter side, but they should fit well enough, and the shirts are a size bigger than what I am so they should fit you fine,” Keith rambled as he placed the clothes in Lance’s free hand.
Vampires must’ve had some beauty amplifiers built into them because the clothes Keith gave to Lance were okay but on Lance, they went from 'okay' to 'supermodel'. The shirt was a basic white tee, but the blue unbuttoned flannel made it anything but that and made Keith’s knees weak especially when Lance sent a now familiar toothy smile his way.
“Not too bad mullet, I didn’t know you had a fashion sense,” Lance grinned.
“Mullet?” Keith raised an eyebrow, reaching a hand to his hair. It was kind of like a mullet he supposed, not that he’d ever say that out loud.
“It’s nothing,” Lance spluttered. “Just something from when we went to high school together.”
Lance clasped his hands on Keith’s shoulders and pushed him towards his bedroom door.
“Let’s go, I’m sure you’re hungry right? Let’s go make you some food.”
The pair left Keith’s room and headed downstairs. So far they hadn’t bumped into any Blades which Keith was thankful for but when they entered the living room Ulaz and another Blade were sitting there, talking away until they spotted Keith and Lance.
“Morning kid,” Ulaz raised a hand to wave, which Keith returned.
“Morning! Makin’ breakfast,” Keith said as he tried to rush his way towards and into the kitchen. The less time around the rest of the Blades, the less likely they are to discover Lance’s secret, but Ulaz caught Keith on his way past, holding his hand in his own.
“Are you okay? Was this from the vampire last night?”
Worry laced his eyes which made sense as it had been a while since Keith last gotten hurt on a hunt, and the last time he did was because he was sick.
Idiot, Keith should’ve grabbed his jacket on the way downstairs.
“Mhm fine just a scratch,” he muttered.
Keith pulled out of Ulaz's grip and gave the man a flash of a smile before he entered the thankfully empty kitchen with Lance on his heels. Lance made his way to a table and chair, whilst Keith beelined for the fridge and pulled out a container filled with dough. He rested his head in his hand and watched as Keith danced around the kitchen. When he was washing his hands, Lance decided to ask him.
“What are you making?”
“Garlic knots,” Keith answered, drying his hands off with a red dishtowel.
“Oh,” Lance faltered.
“What?” Keith turned with a frown and asked, “They’re your favourite, aren’t they?”
“I mean yes, but Keith in case you're forgotten, I have these fangs now.”
Lance opened his mouth to exaggerate his point to which Keith moved across the room in a flash and appeared in front of Lance to slap his hand over Lance’s mouth.
“Stop that!” Keith whisper-yelled, eyes darting to the closed door.
“Just because you have these-” Keith moved his hand to point at where his fangs were, “-Doesn’t mean you can’t have human food, they just don’t sustain you like it does for humans.”
“Oh. What about the garlic?”
“Just a myth,” Keith smirked, returning to the counter and kneading the dough.
“Wow, maybe I should’ve read those vampire books you had up there,” Lance murmured as he moved to stand beside Keith, helping whenever he could.
A few hours passed as Lance and Keith worked together. They were only interrupted twice, one of them being Kolivan who made sure to tease Keith about how Lance was wearing his clothes.
When they were almost done, Keith shooed Lance away to his chair. The vampire didn't mind as it allowed him to eagerly watch Keith add the last finishing touches to their meal.
A few quiet but comfortable minutes went by and then Keith was placing the plate in front of Lance as he munched on a garlic knot himself. Lance was hesitant at first but still took a small bite and then another one and another one until he finished the garlic knot in his hand.
“Mmm, just how mamá makes them,” Lance hummed and reached out for another one.
Keith grinned and picked up another one.
“So, since it’s not exactly the safest here for you, I’ll give you a ride home, 'kay?”
Lance licked his lips, “Okay, sounds good, we should hang out more by the way. I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“You have?”
“Yeah, wanted to for a while now.”
“Great,” Keith gulped, ignoring that his voice went higher a few octaves. It’s just that he never expected Lance to want to stick around after finding out Keith was living with a bunch of hunters and was one himself, but he can’t help but feel a giddiness deep inside himself at those words.
It was too soon that Lance finished his last bite of food and helped Keith wash their dishes.
***
As the two exited the kitchen, the living room was empty and so they headed out towards the front door. Next to the door, there was a small closet and Keith dug out two helmets from it. A blue and red one.
“Here catch,” Keith threw the blue helmet Lance’s way. When he did this Kolivan appeared and turned around the corner. His eyes followed the helmet with a playful glint to them.
“Going out?” Kolivan asked.
“Yep, just taking Lance home,” Keith replied, spinning his helmet in his hands, “Need anything before I go?”
“No, just be careful, heard many people are going missing.”
“Gotcha,” Keith turned to lift his motorbike keys out of the key basket. He heard mumbling behind him, he turned, and he saw Kolivan whispering to Lance. Lance’s eyes were wide and Kolivan looked satisfied with himself.
“Kolivan, leave him alone!”
Kolivan raised his hands in surrender, “Alright, alright, have fun and be-”
“Be careful, thanks.”
Keith and Lance placed their helmets on and headed outside to Keith’s motorbike. Lance was silent. Whatever Kolivan said must’ve really affected him, but Keith didn’t pry right away. Instead, Keith hopped onto his bike and held his hand out to help Lance on behind him.
Lance secured himself by wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist and holding tight as Keith instructed. Then he rattled off his address when Keith asked, and they were off.
It wasn’t a far drive which disappointed Keith, he had hoped to spend some more time with Lance if he were honest. Lance lived only about fifteen minutes away, maybe twenty minutes depending on traffic. Not even half an hour of Lance which Keith had hoped for.
“So,” Lance yelled over the noise of the engine, “Is it true that you don’t let people on your bike?”
“What?” Keith yelled back, glancing behind before returning back to the relatively busy road.
“Kolivan said you’d stab someone before letting them ride your bike and he was probably joking since he doesn’t know that I know but- yeah,” Lance paused, “Am I special then?”
Keith could hear the bashful smile in Lance’s voice.
He could only let out a barely audible, “Yeah.”
“Good, you’re pretty special to me too, Keith.”
***
The rest of the ride was filled with soft chatter until Lance interrupted himself mid-sentence to yell.
“Ah! It’s that house right there!”
Keith pulled over. He let Lance climb off first and then he followed him. They stood in front of each other staring, Lance made no move towards his house. In fact, it looked like he was about to move towards Keith instead and say something until Keith’s ringtone went off. He tugged his phone from his back pocket.
“Hold on, Kolivan is phoning me, it shouldn’t be long,” Keith said.
He pulled his helmet off whilst Lance only flipped the visor open on his own. Keith tried to ignore the way his hair was probably a mess, but Lance didn’t seem to care with the way his eyes crinkled in the same way they did whenever he smiled.
Keith held his helmet under his arm and leaned against his bike to answer the phone.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Kolivan wasted no time with greeting Keith and went straight into business.
“That boy you were with, Keith, I want you to get away from it.”
“It? Wait, what-”
“I had Thace look into the missing persons' cases and that vampire is connected, another sucker working for Zarkon.”
“Um,” Keith worried his bottom lip between his teeth, “Are you sure this isn’t some type of mistake? Lance isn’t like that.”
“Afraid not kid, I’m sorry I had to tell you this,” Kolivan sighed.
“Well, okay, bye.”
“Bye, stay safe.”
“I will.”
The call ended.
Keith turned to Lance.
No point in beating around the bush.
“Do you know a Zarkon?”
Lance froze, well then, there was Keith’s answer.
“Yeah,” he breathed out, “He’s the one who turned me.”
Keith nodded and looked away.
“But Keith, please I swear, I never saw him again after he turned me.”
“It’s okay, I trust you. Would’ve taken you out ages ago Zarkon or not if I didn’t. Now, we have to get you out of here.”
“What why?”
“The Blades know you’re a vampire and they know I’m taking you home, this will be the first place they check, and they won’t show you any mercy.”
“Hold your hand out,” Keith said as he slipped his hand into his boot and pulled out a small dagger. He placed it into Lance’s hand and lightly squeezed Lance’s hand with his own.
“Those people are my family, okay, but there will be others who might try to hurt you, so use this only when you need to.”
“You got it,” Lance squeezed back with his free hand and with the other tucked the dagger away into his back pocket.
“Thanks, now, I have a bunker you can go to whilst I convince them you aren’t in ties with Zarkon.”
Keith placed his helmet back on.
“We can figure out the vampire stuff later,” He added.
They climbed back onto the motorbike and zoomed off. This time there was no light talking but a tense quiet instead. Keith had gone through many streets, going left and right, only slowing down when he saw a red light on a traffic light, and he forced his bike to a stop.
“It’ll be okay,” Keith said, waiting for the light to turn green.
No answer from Lance.
No answer at least until Keith drove off when the light became green.
“Wait, Keith! Watch out!”
It was like time slowed down in that moment, Lance’s hands tightened around Keith, and Keith whipped his head up to the right to see a van with a purple trim speeding past a red light. Keith tried to turn and avoid it, but the van clipped the back of his bike, and he and Lance went flying onto the pavement.
Keith could barely move. His head ached and made him screw his eyes in pain.
Then footsteps could be heard.
“Zarkon will be pleased, the youngest Blade Hunter is secured and I’m sure the rest will come to save him.”
Keith blacked out.
***
Regaining consciousness was slow, Keith’s whole body felt heavy. Even something as simple as attempting to open his eyes felt like an impossible task but Keith persevered and was able to crack his eyes open. It didn’t help all too much since the room he was in was dim. His arms ached and he tried moving them down only to hear the clink of metal instead. There was a chain, built into the wall keeping Keith’s hands away from anywhere that could help him escape.
“Ah, it seems our main meal has woken.”
Keith felt his blood run cold but tried to keep his calm. He scanned the dark room and found a shadowy figure a few meters away from him, sitting on what looked to be a large chair.
“You must be Zarkon,” Keith’s voice was thick and rough to the ears.
“Hmph, smart, just like I’d expect from a hunter.”
A loud crash came from above Keith but was ignored the moment Zarkon snapped his fingers. His snap echoed throughout the room and it lit many candles hanging within the room.
“There. That’s better, isn’t it?”
Keith glared and didn’t answer him.
“Where’s Lance?” He said instead.
“That fledgling? Off with some friends of mine,” He smirked, “I’m surprised you kept him around.”
“Don’t you dare hurt him.”
“A bit late for that, I’m afraid,” Zarkon then yelled, “Boys, bring him in!”
The door to Keith’s right slammed open and two vampires walked in, dragging Lance by his arms and threw him in front of Keith.
“Keith?” Lance mumbled, his eyes were unfocused. He needed help.
“Lance!” Keith jerked forward, forgetting about his bonds and grunting in pain as the chains cut into his wrists. However, whether it be Keith’s voice or the scent of fresh blood, Lance’s eyes cleared up and he weakly pushed himself up to look at Keith.
“Keith,” He croaked out, his hand shook as he reached out for him.
“What a sweet reunion, it’ll be a shame that your little vampire here will easily be taken out by your own hunters huh? They don’t know the difference. If he’s got fangs then he’s dead, eh?”
Zarkon smirked.
“Did you know that they are upstairs right now? Fighting to save you?”
Another crash from above but this time closer.
Two vampires ran into the room this time, and one hobbled in behind them with a limb and a gash on his thigh and following him were Thace and Ulaz.
“Keith!” They both yelled in relief on seeing their young boy still breathing, but the relief was short-lived as a vampire swiped at Thace and their attention was taken elsewhere. Keith watched them go back and forth, a vampire swiped with their claws or lunched with their teeth and Thace and Ulaz hit back with their blades.
The noise of nails scraping on the ground brought Keith’s attention to Lance in front of him, who was slowly inching himself towards Keith.
“Lance, stop, you’re hurt.”
Lance brought a hand to his bleeding cheek and wiped it. He heaved himself up onto his feet but quickly stumbled half on and half off Keith. His mouth landed just under Keith’s ear.
“Just a- Just a scratch, don’t worry.”
He raised a hand and yanked the chain holding one of Keith’s hands above him. Despite being an old chain, covered in rust, neither Lance nor Keith had the strength to break it and free Keith from it.
“I have an idea,” Lance huffed, “But only if you’re strong enough.”
“Alright? Arms are pretty much jelly, could still hold a blade though.”
“Good,” Lance smiled, “But I don’t need you to.”
“Blood makes me stronger right? So, if you’d let me?”
“Yes, Lance, you can drink from me.”
Lance sent him a soft smile and his nose burrowed against Keith’s neck, drinking in his scent. Whilst Lance got comfortable Keith kept his head up, watching the fight before them, making sure that no one got too close to them, but they all seemed completely distracted as more Blades and Vampires entered the room. They were completely forgotten about.
A soft, cold hand cupped Keith’s cheek, tilting his head just a little more. Keith’s eyes fluttered closed as Lance sunk his fangs into his neck. This time around Lance was less messy and more careful. His other hand held onto Keith’s side, rubbing gentle circles against the warm skin. When Lance was satisfied, he pulled back to softly lick away any blood that he missed and pressed a kiss to the puncture wounds.
Lance’s thumb swept across Keith’s cheek.
“Keith?”
Keith’s eyes slowly opened, and he was met with Lance’s baby blues looking back at him tenderly.
“Lance.” Keith smiled.
Lance smiled back, his hand trailing from Keith’s cheek to his chin, his thumb resting on Keith’s bottom lip.
“I know we’re sorta in the middle of a battle right now, but can I?” His eyes flickered down to Keith’s lips and back to his eyes, “Just for good luck, of course.”
“Just good luck?”
“Mm maybe a bit more too,” Lance blushed, and it was easier to see now that he recently drank.
Lance tilted Keith’s chin forward and pressed their lips together for a swift innocent kiss. The kiss was not as sweet as Keith expected but he had his own blood to blame as it seemed to still cling to Lance’s lips. However Lance’s lips were full and soft, Keith could picture Lance applying lip balm with precision each and every morning.
“Keith!”
The two pulled apart and saw Kolivan by the door, glaring daggers at Lance.
If Keith were honest, he knew without a doubt that the man would’ve ran at Lance if not for Zarkon appearing in front of him and distracting Kolivan.
Keith turned back to Lance who looked understandably scared, “Hey Lance, do you think you have enough strength to get me out?”
“Mh? Um yeah should do,” he replied.
Lance stood, using the wall to support himself. His hand gripped the chain and yanked it as hard as he could until…
SNAP!
Keith’s arm flopped down to his side, and Lance massaged his arm, letting the blood flow down.
“There we go, one chain and one to go,” Lance said.
He went to reach for the other chain but had to quickly change plans as a vampire got smacked and flew towards them. Lance wrapped Keith’s free arm around his waist and pulled them both up and out of the way.
The vampire hit the wall hard and knocked himself out.
“You okay?” Lance looked down at Keith, who nodded and looked over their shoulders.
“Zarkon is open,” Keith said suddenly.
“What?” Lance whipped his head around.
“Yeah, but not for long,” Keith pulled on his chain, “Ugh stupid chain.”
“Here let me try,” Lance tugged but got the same results as Keith.
“Damn it!”
Lance frowned and was about to suggest something else until a scream rattled throughout the room.
“Kolivan? Hey Kolivan!” Keith cried out as he watched Kolivan stumble and fall to the ground, a wide cut across his abdomen. He frantically tugged his chain, but it was no use.
“Lance?” Keith could feel his breath come out in quick gasps.
Many plans whorled through Lance’s mind but none of them seemed to work until he felt a sharp object in his back pocket. He dipped his hand into his pocket and felt the cold steel, the dagger.
“Do you still have your knife?” Lance asked.
“What? Uh- Yeah, yeah. Still in my boot.”
Keith bent at an awkward angle to reach into his boot and pull out his knife.
“Alright, keep yourself safe,” Lance couldn’t help himself, filled with a newfound energy, he pressed a kiss to Keith’s cheek. “Keep yourself safe, I won’t be long.”
“What? Lance!”
Keith watched as Lance ran up behind Zarkon, ready to strike him only for another nobody vampire to get in his way. The vampire attempted to slash Lance with her claws and then barred her sharp fangs at him.
“You know, you should really watch out for yourself.”
Keith’s leg was grasped by the vampire that had passed out next to him and the vampire aimed for Keith’s thigh with his mouth like a snake going in for a kill. Yet he failed to realise Keith was faster than he expected, and Keith connected his boot to the vamp’s face and knocked him back against the wall, out cold again.
A loud grunt brought Keith back to Lance who was pinned against the back of a couch. The vampire pinning him had her sharp nails closing in on Lance’s neck and just when Keith thought it was over a blade appeared and sliced through the back of her neck.
“Ulaz?” Keith uttered in shock. He never thought he’d see one of the Blades protect a vampire but man he was glad he did. Now because of Ulaz, Lance could shrug the body off himself and leap into action. He grabbed his knife from the floor and raced behind Zarkon who was draining Kolivan of his blood. Lance lifted his blade and stabbed Zarkon through his neck.
Zarkon spluttered and choked on the blood that now escaped his throat, then he collapsed next to Kolivan. His body stopped moving.
The room went still except for Lance who turned to Keith with the biggest grin on his face.
“Hey, Keith! I did it! I actually did it.”
Ulaz and Thace went to Kolivan’s side and wrapped his stomach wound the best they could until they got back home, but that meant he was still breathing, and Keith felt his body sag in relief. Noticing, that Kolivan was being treated Lance swung over chairs and made it in front of Keith in seconds. He wrapped his arms around Keith and pulled him against his chest.
“You’re okay,” Lance nuzzled into Keith’s body, only to pull back seconds later. “Wait, you are okay right, because there’s a smell here but it’s not your smell.”
“Uhhh what?” Keith looked down at his body and noticed his shoe was stained with blood.
“Oh that,” Keith pointed to his boot, “I kicked a vamp in the face. Knocked him back out.”
“God, you are so cool.”
“Pfft, I’m not really,” Keith grinned but before Lance could rebuttal a voice interrupted them, albeit softer this time.
“Keith.”
It was Kolivan, being held up by Thace and Ulaz. He walked towards Keith and Lance, he raised his blade and struck it down. Keith flinched thinking the worst, only for the sound of rotten metal breaking to fill his ears as his other arm dropped to his side. Finally free from his shackles.
“You knew all along, didn’t you?” He asked.
“Yeah,” Keith replied in a whisper, “I did.”
“Well,” Kolivan coughed and glanced at Lance, “I can’t say I understand, but you saved my life.”
“So… You won’t hurt him?” Keith asked with a spark of hope in his voice.
“I won’t hurt him for being a vampire but don’t think I forgot about what I saw when I came in” he grumbled. “You hurt Keith, and I won’t hesitate to hurt you.”
“Yes, Sir.” Lance squeaked.
Ulaz reached out and touched Lance's shoulder, “I saw something in your eyes, here and back at our home, humanity. You don’t see that often anymore once someone is no longer a human. You have something special Lance.”
“T-thank you.”
“Now why don’t we all head home, some of us got seriously hurt,” Thace interjected as he poked Kolivan.
“Yeah, yeah, mission over. Let’s go.”
Keith reached out to take Lance’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze, just because the Blades won’t hunt Lance doesn’t mean he’d be protected from all hunters.
Lance squeezed Keith’s hand back as they followed behind the others.
But together they’ll figure it out.