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The first time Ryouma saved him, he was an inconvenient disruption in his territory.
Unfortunately common these days, with the Nohrian vampire clan becoming more and more aggressive as time went by. It seemed every moment he was dragging another vampire out of his territory. It wouldn’t be any different this time. He’d follow the trail of their blood-tinged scent to their hiding spot and scare them off, and a few days later they’d be back.
They smelled like perfume and old paper, the type of person who spent most of their time around books. Boy, how bad were werewolf-vampire relations if librarians were joining the fray? No matter, he trailed them carefully, ensuring that they wouldn’t catch on until he’d caught them red-handed.
And… he did. Concerningly quickly, They didn’t try to run, or hide, and when he saw the state they were in, he understood.
Ah, hunters. Surely, this was a form of poetic justice, a vampire sneaking into werewolf territory only to be caught in a hunter’s trap, but unfortunately, the presence of such a thing tended to be bad news for everyone. The poor thing was all tangled up in magic, crumpled on the ground and unable to move in fear of hurting himself. There were multiple burns on his body already, presumably from the initial struggle.
Ryouma sauntered up to inspect the trap, the vampire visibly recoiling in fear as he sniffed him. He jerked away, hissing as he burned further. Ryouma huffed, and quickly returned to his human form, the vampire seeming even more horrified after recognizing him as the leader of the werewolves.
“Stay still for a moment,” Ryouma said. The vampire’s dark eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“D-don’t touch me!” he stuttered.
“Do you want out or not?” He reached out, feeling along the magic tendrils. All traps like these locked onto a specific signature to hold (in this case, Ryouma’s unfortunate friend here), and always had an emergency release should they lock to the wrong person. He found to weak point, snapping it quickly with his claws. The magic dissolved away.
The vampire curled into a sitting position, tenderly rubbing his burnt skin, then turned to Ryouma with a glare.
“I’m not going to thank you, if that’s what you’re waiting for,” he spat.
“How gracious,” Ryouma chuckled. “You’d be ash in a few hours if I hadn’t come along.”
The vampire looked back to his marred hands, trying and failing to look impassive.
“I’ll make it easier for you: you’re welcome,” he said, smirking for a moment, then face turning serious. “Now leave, immediately. And if I catch you here again, I’ll be the one turning you to ash.”
The vampire flinched, but only for an instant, sparing Ryouma one last glance before disappearing into the woods.
Ryouma sighed. He really needed to talk with Xander.
The second time Ryouma saved him, the vampire had come back, as many of the vampires Ryouma had tossed out were wont to do.
Though, perhaps this time, he could make an exception. After all, bleeding out while being chased by hunters was a rather extenuating circumstance. The vampire was lucky Ryouma and his pack had been out hunting that night; they swooped in and made quick work of their invaders right before he would’ve been caught.
Now, the vampire was propped against a tree, looking pale and squeezing his shoulder where he had been injured. Noticing the presence of the werewolves, he made an attempt to sneak away before anyone could confront him. He transformed himself into a bat, as vampires did, and tried to flutter away. He made it about a foot or so before collapsing again, too injured to continue.
Ryouma nudged to sad-looking pile of fur and wings with his nose, hoping for some kind of response.
‘I don’t think they’re worth your time,’ Hinoka told him. ‘They don’t look like they’re gonna make it.’
He ignored her, gingerly lifting the bat between his teeth.
‘Seriously? You are way too nice,’ she sighed. With a flick of her head, she ordered everyone back to the den, eyeing Ryouma silently. ‘I won’t say I told you so.’
The third time he saved the vampire wasn’t long after the second, barely the next day. But before that, he found himself dialing a somewhat familiar number out of curiosity. If his theory was correct, he would certainly still be awake, midday or no. The tone rang once… twice…
“Ryouma? Why are you calling me in the middle of the day?” Xander answered, sounding even more irritated than normal. “As much as I love discussing the benefits of screaming for stress relief, I don’t have time-”
“So you heard about the hunter attack last night, then?” Ryouma interrupted.
“Yes. I did.” he answered. “To be frank, you weren’t exactly quiet about it.”
“We all got out alive and unharmed, by the way,” Ryouma snipped. “Thanks for the concern.”
“Listen-” Xander sighed. “Sometime last night, my little brother, Leo, went missing while hunting, and no one’s seen him since. I’m busy-”
“He’s blond, right? Looks almost like you?” Ryouma asked.
“Yes, why-”
“Good news, he’s alive,” he said.
“You found him-!”
“Bad news, he was severely injured in that attack. We’ve taken custody of him until further notice.”
“Wait, what? Ryouma-”
“I don’t think we can safely bring him back to you until he recovers, I’m afraid,” Ryouma said. “Which shouldn’t be too long though, considering you vampires.”
Xander was silent for a moment.
“Ryouma, if anything happens to him...” he warned.
“I understand. I promise we won’t hurt him,” Ryouma said. He could feel Xander’s headache through the phone.
“Please return him as soon as possible.”
“I promise.” The line beeped, indicating the end of the call. He wasn’t sure if that call alleviated Xander’s stress or added to it. Sighing, he went to go check on the little brother in question.
Vampires were supposed to have legendary regeneration abilities. Keyword, “supposed to”. It had been hours after the initial attack, and Leo hadn’t healed the tiniest bit, only looking worse and worse as time went on. Sakura was positively stumped, having never worked with such a patient before.
“You should take a break,” Ryouma told her.
“A-are you sure?” she said. “I don’t want to leave him here alone.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” he assured her. “Go, get some rest. You’ve been up all night,” She nodded.
“If you say so.” She got up and left the room. Waiting a moment to ensure she was really gone, he took her seat, leaned over, and incessantly poked Leo’s cheek. He groaned, both at the unpleasant awakening and the ache in his body.
“Are you up?” Ryouma asked. Leo groaned again and lifted his good arm to cover his eyes. “Good enough.”
Leo was silent, and for a moment, Ryouma thought he had fallen back asleep. Then, he spoke.
“Where am I…?” he asked.
“Do you remember what happened?” Ryouma countered. Leo thought for another second or two.
“I was… out hunting,” he began. “I’m… I’m starving. ”
Ryouma took him in for a moment. Vampires looking dead was hardly unreasonable, but he did note that Leo looked a little more dead than what would be vampirically acceptable, skin ashen and hollow.
“Am I right to assume you haven’t fed in a while?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t remember,” Leo admitted.
He could admit he didn’t know much about vampires, but he did know their powers weakened when they went too long without feeding. In that case, the solution was fairly obvious. He pulled back his sleeve and bared his wrist.
“Here,” he said simply. Leo blinked owlishly. “I’m not poisonous or anything. Go ahead.”
“But...” He searched for some kind of excuse, but came up empty. “Are you sure?” Ryouma nodded.
Leo stared at his wrist for a moment longer, then licked his teeth. Cautiously, as though he expected Ryouma to lash out and hit him, he leaned forward and bit. Well, more like raked his canines across his skin like he was trying to take a bite of an apple. Ryouma winced as blood gushed from the wound, the vampire lapping at it eagerly.
It was easily one of the most uncomfortable things he had experienced, both painful and awkward. He resisted the urge to yank away his arm as Leo continued to tear at him, averting his eyes. Finally, he stopped, laying back and wiping his mouth. Ryouma let out a mental “thank fuck” and started tending to the disaster that was his wrist.
Leo almost immediately fell back asleep as Ryouma wrapped his wound and tugged down his sleeve, hoping no one would question him about that. The vampire romance novels lied.
Once Leo had woken up and Ryouma had sent him on his dazed and confused way home, the werewolf decided he should try to avoid the vampire from then on. He was crossing into some shaky territory here, and he was quite thankful Leo didn’t seem to remember their moment. All he knew is that he was attacked, and Ryouma rescued him. That was all he needed to know, and they could both be on their way.
Unfortunately, Ryouma wouldn’t get the chance to ponder these new feelings until later. Humans were rather stubborn, after all, and he probably should’ve guessed they’d track him back to his den. No hunters could stand up to his entire pack at once, but he would be lying if he said they weren’t causing some trouble.
A prime example; Sakura had been pinned to the ground and was about to be staked. A terrifying moment, but it took merely a second to pounce on the hunter and toss him away. No matter how many he cut through, the wave seemed endless. To be frank, it was a bit tiring.
‘Big brother, are you alright?’ Sakura asked.
‘Yes, I’m fine,’ he replied. ‘You should fall back. They’re more dangerous than I expected.’
‘That just means you need me more!’ she asserted quickly, throwing herself back into the fray before she would have to confront Ryouma’s reaction. He meant to go after her, only to be interrupted by a sharp pain in his leg. Oh, they were shooting now.
It was a nice effort, but it revealed the hunter’s hiding spot, and Ryouma wasted no time striking back, injured or no. He won, no problem, but perhaps he could’ve thought it through a bit better, as he stumbled right into a much larger group of humans just waiting for him. They moved quickly, Ryouma moving into a crouch in anticipation.
There wasn’t much of a need. Another group suddenly struck the hunters from behind, unrecognizable but buying him enough time to escape.
“Hey!” someone shouted. “Not even going to thank me?” Ryouma turned to catch Leo’s eye, triumphantly having arrived with backup.
“Leo,” Ryouma answered, “it’s hardly safe for you here.”
“I would argue that refusing help is much more dangerous.” Leo flicked his wrist, sending his friends off to help elsewhere. “Consider it repayment.”
The extra help was all they needed to chase off the last of the humans, Ryouma’s pack slowly noticing the presence of the vampires. Most seemed unsure how to react, Hinoka going so far as to snap at them. With a few soothing words from Ryouma, however, everyone calmed down quickly. Excitement faded, he could now focus in the more pressing issue: Leo.
“Why did you come back?” he asked, not bothering with niceties. Leo chuckled.
“Well, initially, I just wanted to apologize for some of our earlier interactions,” he explained. “To be frank, I haven’t exactly treated you fairly.”
“And you brought reinforcements for that?”
“No, that was for when I noticed the large group of hunters headed your way,” he said.
“Hmph,” Ryouma huffed. “In any case, thank you for your assistance. You may leave now.”
“That’s not very polite,” Leo said. Ryouma didn’t respond. “I had another purpose, actually.” He pointed to his wrist. “What happened to your wrist?”
“Just a minor injury,” he lied.
“You know, I find it quite odd that despite haven’t having eaten for quite some time, I wake up after a severe injury completely fine,” Leo said.
“Your point?” Ryouma said.
“Werewolf blood has a very distinct aftertaste,” he explained. Ryouma was silent again. “I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure of your motivations, but it was... generous of you.” He stuttered for a moment, words unfamiliar. “Thank you.”
“It was nothing,” Ryouma said. Well, it was a massive hole in his wrist, but he’d had those before, so…
“I’m sure my brother would be pleased to hear we’re getting along,” he continued. “If, perhaps, it’s not to much to ask, I would like to see you again.”
“Is that a date?” Ryouma said. Leo face went shockingly red.
“W-well, I mean-” he stuttered. “It doesn’t-”
“I’m free this weekend,” Ryouma said.
“Fine! That’s fine.” Shaking imperceptibly, Leo turned to leave. “See you then?”
“See you then.”