Chapter Text
I pushed myself through the crowd and blindly found the door. Slipping on my shoes, I pulled open the door and stepped outside. The rush of cold air was comforting and I inhaled a large breath and exhaled, admiring the mist that escaped my lips. I spotted him quickly. He was sitting on the front steps of the porch, not even 5 feet in front of me. I stretched out my wings while I stared at the back of his head. Cracking my shoulder, I folded my wings behind my back and stepped down a couple steps before sitting beside him. Neither of us said anything for a beat, and I glanced down at my watch before saying anything.
“Ten minutes ‘till midnight”, I murmured. “Whatcha doin’ out here?” I leaned over and bumped my shoulder with his, earning a heavy sigh from him. He began, but paused. I looked over at him. His eyes were hidden behind his glasses, which reflected the moonlit fog that hung in the air. The rain made his purple skin glisten in the light, and I could see the air leave his nostrils. I followed his gaze to the sky, dark and gray. The lights from the house across the street made the fog glow, illuminating the outline of the trees, making the whole scene look like something out of a horror movie. It was quite comforting, actually, for both of us. I could feel that there was something Liam wanted to say, but he was quiet for a long time. There was a sort of sadness radiating off of him, and I wanted to at least hear him out.
I slid closer to him, so our thighs and shoulders were touching. He didn’t move away. “C’mon, Liam… What’s wrong? Not excited for the new year?” Another sigh. He shook his head, ever so slightly. “When you get as old as me,” He began. “There comes a time where you begin to dread the new year rather than welcome it. I feel like I’ve lived a million lives, but none of them were ever worth it. I can’t expect you to understand,” He said. I paused for a long time, I didn’t know how to reply. I closed my eyes and opened them again, leaning forward to look at his face.
“Liam, if you’re so old, why do you still go to high school? I’m not trying to be rude about it or anything but-” He lets out a huff. “I still feel like there’s so much I don’t know. Even though I’ve lived so long, I still feel like I don’t know anything. Either from the internet, from observing, from class, I could absorb the same information over and over again, I could learn everything and still feel like I know nothing at all.” He leaned forward to put his head in his hands for a moment, sliding his glasses up on his forehead to rub at his eyes before putting them back down onto his nose and sitting up again. “The new year just reminds me of how little I know. How little I understand about monster-nature. Relationships.” He groaned, “The new year is all about relationships.” It was hard to wrap my head around what he was saying, and in all honesty I don’t think I could ever come to grasp what he meant. But the fact that he was even willing to share, to even temporarily come clean and tell me was huge. I almost had trouble believing it. I smiled, looking at him sideways.
“Relationships? Like the romantic type?” He nodded. “What do you mean, you don’t understand them? What’s not to understand?” I said. He shuffled a little bit before turning to face me. I stopped leaning on my elbows to look him straight in the face, trying to peer beyond his glasses and into the yellow of his eyes.
“I’ve been in a lot of relationships before. I had a lot of bad experiences, ____. Too many. The thing I don’t understand about relationships is how to make them work,” He pushed up his glasses with his knuckle and glanced down for a moment. “Every time I find myself falling in love, it scares me.” There was a pause between the two of us.
“Liam, are you in love with someone?” I asked before I could think about what to say. Liam paused, his cheeks growing a deeper shade of purple. He looked off to the side, then back to me. Finally, he nodded. “Yeah, and it’s unironic, I’m afraid.”
Wow. Liam doing something unironically? I never thought I’d see the day. I was completely baffled. I wondered who, for a moment, exactly would get Liam feeling like this. It’s the first time I think I’ve ever seen Liam blush so deeply, so authentically. Dahlia? Damien? Some hot buff demon who finally got past his shell of meta and irony? I couldn’t think of anyone who hung out with him as much as I did. Maybe Vera but there was no way that she’d ever put up with him in such a way that they’d be kissing. A sudden cold feeling on my knee made me jerk, my back straightening. I looked down to see his hand resting on my knee. My eyes trailed up his brown jacket to his collar, where his bowtie was undone around his neck, to his face. He was still blushing. His translucent skin continued to shimmer with the mist in the air, and I leaned closer to get a better look. He didn’t lean away. In fact, his eyes darted down for a moment and I noticed his tongue wetting his lips, fangs hidden behind his smirk.
“You figured out who yet?” He whispered, giving my knee a light squeeze. I swallowed thickly and my heart began to pound as I imagined his fangs sinking into my skin, threateningly close to a vital artery. I was putty in his hands and he hadn’t even done anything. I nodded slowly, keeping his gaze. “Who then, ____?” He asked. From inside, people began screaming. Counting down. “Ten! Nine! Eight!” They hollered. I swore I could hear Damien screaming the loudest and Scott letting out a howl. Liam leaned in and his lips ghosted mine. I could feel his breath as he spoke.
“Who?”
“Me…?”
“Correct.”
As the partygoers inside reached zero, his lips latched onto mine. His hand left my knee and grabbed the back of my neck, forcing me to cant closer to him. I groaned in his mouth, and I could feel him smile. He pulled away, his hand still on the back of my neck, fingers fiddling with the hair there. My wings involuntarily stretched and shuddered, the feathers making rustling noises with the movement. His hand dragged up the back of my head into my hair completely. I sighed, looking at him with heavy eyes.
“I can help you understand, Liam. I could help you learn about what makes a good relationship work. But first, uhm,” I gathered up as much courage as I could muster. “Could you uh…kiss me again?” I asked, tilting my head towards him. He chuckled, his hand snaking further up onto my scalp, his long fingers sliding on the edge of the feathers in my hair. It sent a shiver down my spine.
“You want that?” He said. I nodded, closing my eyes and moving to kiss him again when he made a fist in my hair and tugged. My eyes were pulled open and I grunted with the pain of it.
“Please, Liam,” I said. “Please,” I begged. He smiled, and I could see his fangs grow in his mouth before snapping back. Who knew they were retractable?
“God, begging is so mainstream,” He laughed, pushing his lips against mine, this time with more force. His tongue prodded my lips and my jaw slacked as he swiped his tongue against my bottom lip, my tongue finding his, briefly tasting him before he pulled away, sighed, and went back for another kiss. His hand never left my hair, experimentally pulling and stroking, rubbing the barbs of my feathers between his fingers.
“I’ve got a question.” He said. I nodded. “Have you ever gotten your blood sucked before?” Ohhh fuck. Jesus Christ.
“You’re not gonna…take me out to dinner first?” I asked, chuckling. Distantly, I could hear the jeer of my classmates from inside the house. A huff of a laugh left his mouth.
“This is my dinner. If you want me to buy you food later, I will. Answer the question.” He said. I could feel myself blush, the warmth spreading across my face reached my ears, and he seemed pleased with my reaction.
“No. No I haven’t,” I said.
“Do you want me to?”
“Yeah.” Satisfied with my answer, he forced himself into me, his teeth biting my lip, tugging on the flesh before he released it, soothing the bite with his tongue. He licked down my chin, up to my jaw and down to my neck. I could almost hear the shrink of his fangs coming out, and I tensed my muscles to prepare myself for the bite. A sharp pain coursed through my body as he bit down. He licked the wound, his mouth making a perverted slurping noise as he sucked, and I suddenly got lightheaded as I could feel the blood leaving my body. I looked down to see his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. I forced myself to hold back a moan. I grabbed blindly at his jacket, pulling his sleeves and tugging the cloth in slight pain. He pulled back to look at me, his pupils blown and a slight drunk look on his face. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a mix of spit and my blood wiped away from his face.
“You good?” He asked. His voice sounded deeper than usual, the gravel of it going straight between my legs. I nodded, my head feeling heavy. He smiled, his fangs long and thin.
“Am I gonna be a vampire now?” I asked, my voice hushed. He laughed and shook his head.
“Nah, to do that I’d have to inject you with my venom,” He paused, voice more solemn. “I’d never do that to you.” I nodded, not wanting to prod any deeper. My hands went from his sleeves to his chest, and I gripped the fabric there, pulling him close.
“Are you..still hungry?” I asked. With no answer, his lips found my neck again, sucking from the bite. He drank more, and this time, I didn’t hold back my moan. His hands reached for my hips and he squeezed the flesh through my shirt before sliding under it, his hands stroking the soft, supple flesh of my hips before making their way up to the edge of my binder. Through all of this, he continued to drink, taking small sips as his hands rubbed my back, near my shoulder blades where my wings were attached. I groaned slightly again, pushing myself into his touch. His mouth left my neck and found mine, muffling my moans. The taste of my own blood met my tongue and the metallic twang of it made me cringe. He didn’t seem to mind forcing me to taste my blood, though, as I could feel him smile. He pushed his tongue beyond my teeth, forcing more spitty blood into my mouth, and I swallowed. Liam moved away from me, and we looked at each other for a long time.
“I,” he started, “Thanks. Thank you,” He whispered. I didn’t know what to say. He continued, “I haven’t drunk anybody’s blood in so long, I…I can’t believe you trusted me with that. Thank you.” I paused.
“Liam, I’d trust you with anything. That’s what makes a good relationship. I wanna make this work, I do.” I said. He nodded in agreement. His hands went from my back to my thighs, giving them a squeeze.
“Want to get out of here?”