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Shilo has never fed off a human before, given specialized blood for as long as he can remember. According to Arthur, he'd get sick if he ate something he wasn't accustomed to, which Shilo didn't doubt. Just the idea of feeding off of something living and breathing and writhing under his teeth– the idea just didn't settle right with him.
But eventually, after seeing how much the pampered prince was struggling with the lack of food, Arthur put his foot down that Shilo needed to learn.
Arthur said he'd find a human from some clanless area that was hopefully fancy enough for his tastes, going out in the middle of the night with a nervous and fidgety Shilo in tow.
Arthur was quick to shove Emizel off when he asked to join, arguing that he wasn't willing to deal with both of them if they both went into a frenzy. The logic was sound, but Shilo still didn't like being left alone with Arthur. Not that Emizel was much less utterly terrifying, but the new vampire had a… familiar kind of comfortable quality to him that made Shilo enjoy his company far more than the brooding Arthur Bennett.
The second Arthur opened the door to the unexpected man's home, Shilo couldn't help trembling. Not only was the idea of finally doing this terrifying in and of itself, but Shilo wasn't fully on board with the idea of breaking into some strangers house and possibly killing him. Arthur assured him it'd be fine, but Shilo didn't exactly trust him.
The next moments pass in a blur, the sound of a panicked human heartbeat suddenly coming down the stairs. Shilo’s own hearing was muffled with his terror, hands shaking.
Within seconds of the human coming into view, it was pinned against the wall and gagged by Arthur’s shadows.
Shilo briefly made eye contact with the panicked eyes of the human in front of him, vaguely remembering something of Arthur telling him it'd be easier to use his Domination, but he couldn't think clearly.
Faintly he heard Arthur’s monotone instructions next to him, followed by the comforting meow of the cat on his shoulder. “Just lean in and bite his neck as slowly as you can, I’ll make sure he doesn’t move,” Arthur spoke as he almost glared at the human he was restraining, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at Shilo.
Shilo’s eyes glazed over as the reality settled on him, and suddenly all he could hear was the sound of the human’s heartbeat, the sound of his muffled panicked breathing. The sounds of prey surrounded him as he became nothing but instinct. His ears rang and it made his body fill with static. His vision blurred, and all he could see, all he could smell, was his prey.
Shilo lunged at the man, his fangs planted in his neck in an instant.
He didn’t even know what to do once he got there, but the smell of blood surrounded him as it fell onto his lips, and suddenly all he could think was kill, take it back, eat. He was completely consumed by instinct, gnawing on his prey’s neck and practically tearing a chunk out of the skin. He couldn’t even find it within himself to drink properly, all he could focus on was the screaming voice in the back of his head and the smells and sounds of everything in front of him.
The taste of blood practically flowed into him as he felt it splatter across his face. All semblance of proper cleanliness that had been hammered into him since as far back as he could remember, were replaced with only thoughts of eat, eat, kill. He was basically chewing on the prey’s neck at this point, the human slowly going limp in the shadow’s hold.
Shilo now realized he felt hands trying to pull him off. Hands trying to pull him away from his food.
He fought in the grip letting out an animalistic growl as he continued to ravage the prey in front of him. His teeth chomped down fast, quickly searched for any skin he could latch onto for more blood. His head spun and his stomach churned, but all he could think about was the fresh source in front of him.
Shilo tore at the skin his fangs were practically latched onto, blood splattering all over him. But he couldn’t care less, eyes completely glazed over as he devoured whatever he could. He licked around the wound, trying to get every possible drop he could before it was gone.
Shilo almost thought he could hear yelling, but nothing could break past the complete frenzy he was trapped in. The grip on him grew tighter and more aggressive, but Shilo just kept chomping down, fangs searching for any kind of purchase.
Before he knew it, in a blur, all the sudden Shilo’s fangs found themselves chomping down on fabric, followed by panicked meowing in the distance. Shilo’s first instinct was to chew down harder, until he looked up and made eye contact with–
Arthur.
Oh God, he bit Arthur–
The second it dawned on Shilo, his mouth went slack, stumbling backwards from Arthur. He could tell words were being spoken to him, but he couldn’t understand any of it.
Arthur looked at Shilo, then down at his sleeve where he’d been bit. It clearly hadn’t hurt him, but it was the principle of the fact that Shilo just bit one of the most terrifying vampires he’d ever met outside of the castle.
Shilo’s head swarmed as he looked down at his hands, licking his blood soaked lips. His stomach churned more aggressively, and it felt like his prey might make an appearance again. But despite how ill he felt, he couldn’t help but lick the blood off of every possible place he could find it on himself. It was warm and sweet, and it was fresh, nothing like the cold blood he’d drink out of that terrible chalice.
Despite the instinctual hunger that caused him to crave the warm blood, it settled in his stomach like flames. It coated his insides like a deceptively warm fire. His gut intuition drew him towards the warm flame of his prey, only to shove him head first into it and scald him when he got too close. Yet, in a bizarre way, he couldn’t help craving it. The blood practically curdled as it settled heavily in his stomach, but the taste in his mouth was marvelous.
He lurched forward, the blood boiling to the surface, and within seconds he felt his body quickly being turned to face the corner of the room, and Shilo was soon met with his recent meal now covering the floor.
His throat seared, those welcoming flames burning him once again. The warm feeling in his mouth was replaced with nothing but the acidic, blazing feeling of the blood coming back up. He weakly continued vomiting every single trace of the wonderful taste from his mouth, eventually reduced to dry heaving.
Shilo pushed himself away from the bile in disgust.
Disgust at his own uncleanliness, disgust at his own actions.
But on his panicked arms and weak legs, he didn’t get far, panting harshly despite the logical side of him knowing he didn’t need to. He collapsed on his side, eyes completely glazed over but now only from pain, instead of the instinct driven ecstasy from before.
In his extreme fugue state, he felt as his limp head was raised and a soft cloth cleaned his face. He also noticed an odd weight settling on his chest, followed by a low rumble centering from it, and reverberating throughout his body. The sound of the rumbling mixed with the weight were comforting enough, managing to be one of the only things he could connect his body to in his stupor.
Shilo could faintly tell that the hands that were cleaning his face would say a couple words, none of which he could understand, and then the owner of the voice would simply sigh and continue their work.
Shilo couldn’t place a finger on anything in his surroundings, all sense muddled and foggy. The only sensations he could focus on were the weight and warmth on his chest, the rumbling throughout his bones, and the hands and cloth on his face.
In a way, all these things were comforting in his foggy state, slowly but surely bringing him to reality
A reality he’d almost pleasantly forgotten about, because at least in the fog, he was disconnected from his body enough to not be in such excruciating pain. But now that he was slowly returning to himself, he was once again reminded of the acid feeling coating his insides.
As Shilo’s eyes began to refocus, the first thing he saw was Arthur holding a bloody cloth to his face, cleaning it.
“Ah, you’ve returned,” Shilo heard Arthur speak in his usual monotone voice, but he could almost hear concern in it as well. “I apologize for… all of that,” Arthur spoke almost dismissively, clearly wanting to forget about this horrendous situation as much as Shilo. “It was my fault for simply throwing a human in front of you, I should’ve expected something like this.” Arthur was almost speaking to himself at this point, but Shilo felt somewhat comforted nonetheless.
“Thank you, Void, you may come back now,” Arthur gestured with his free hand for Void to return to his shoulder, but all she gave in response was a meow, not even opening her eyes to look at Arthur. He tried gesturing and calling for her again, but all she did was snuggle deep on Shilo’s chest, purring contently. Arthur simply rolled his eyes, sighing with a mumbled “fine,” and wiping the last of the blood off of Shilo’s face.
Arthur could probably sense Shilo’s haze and confusion, using this time to explain. “As I said before this, the Ventrue are… picky eaters. If you eat blood that isn’t of your preferred taste, you simply reject it. I was hoping to assist you in proving otherwise, but this was clearly the wrong way to go about it.” Arthur placed the now blood soaked towel next to him, looking over at the blood-vomit in the corner. He simply waved a hand over it, and a mass of shadows covered it, and within a few seconds, it was gone.
Arthur looked down at Shilo, who was slowly but surely gaining his bearings. “Do you think you can sit up?” Shilo weakly nodded. He slowly, with loose help from Arthur’s shadows, pulled himself into an upright position with his back against the wall, a low whine coming from deep in his throat. Void hopped off his chest to let him sit up, but quickly crawled back into his lap the second he was settled.
“The plan now is to find blood that we could possibly ease you into. Giving you small doses so your body adjusts properly. Are you sure you don’t have any clue as to what the Queen gave you?” Shilo shook his head weakly, eyes focused on the floor. They never told him what they brought him, and he never asked, and he especially couldn’t remember a thing in his current state, even if he had known anything.
Shilo weakly pulled his knees in, as much as he could with Void in lap. She looked so soft, but she belonged to Arthur, and Shilo feared potentially messing with anything of his. Void however seemed to read his mind, rubbed her head enthusiastically on his arm, welcoming him. Shilo, extremely slowly, reached for Void’s fur, and the second he made contact with a soft spot on the back of her neck, she began purring loudly, settling into his lap.
Shilo smiled, his eyes beginning to water as the reality of the entire night settled upon him. The second it started, the floodgates were open, and in a matter of seconds he was sobbing. Sobbing blood. Any of a vampires bodily fluids came out as blood they had drank lately. So here Shilo was, crying out the rest of the terrible blood he’d drank.
Arthur hung by his side loosely, clearly having no idea what to do with a crying vampire. Shilo buried his head in his knees, hiding away, trying to regulate himself but to no avail. “I’m—” Shilo choked on his words, sniffling. “I’m sorry—” Whether he was apologizing for crying or for the frenzy, it was hard to tell, but all he knew was that he needed to apologize fast, or else this powerful vampire would realize he didn’t want anything to do with him.
He already knew he was pushing it by hanging out with someone this powerful, especially someone who knew this much about vampires, knew things about Shilo that Shilo didn’t even know himself.
But now that Arthur realized how hard it would be to take care of him, he would throw him back at his Mother in an instant. He’d realize he wasn’t going to be able to feed Shilo and would take him back home, and Shilo would never know peace again.
He’d have to stare into the disappointed eyes of his Mother as he told him that this is what she meant when she said he was locked up for his own safety, that he should’ve accepted that he had it good, instead of running from her.
God, she was right.
His Mother was right, he was a mess outside of the castle.
He didn’t know what to do with himself , bumbling around like a complete idiot. He couldn’t even feed himself, he couldn’t even do what vampires are meant to do.
God, he was acting like a fledgling.
He’d never been able to feed off a human, and his Mother must’ve known he’d go crazy like this. She knew he would ravage anything he could, so she protected him. She gave him the blood he needed and made sure he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
He was stupid, he was a danger.
He’d never understood why he’d be given his blood the same way every morning no matter what, but he’d never question it because it tasted good. But now he understands. He understands that it was all because his Mother didn’t want to scare him, she just wanted to make sure he was safe and happy .
Arthur didn’t need to help him, he needed to return him to safety. Arthur hadn’t asked for this, he’d only come here for the masquerade breaker, and he’d found him.
Sure, Arthur had some kind of obligation to be a kind of pseudo-sire to Emizel, but he had zero obligation to Shilo. Shilo was simply an unfortunate side effect, happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Arthur barely even wanted to be around Emizel, but Emizel needed him in some way, so the shadow-master chose to stay. But it felt like everytime Shilo was in his vicinity, Arthur didn’t want anything to do with him.
During Shilo’s spiral, he'd practically drenched himself in tears. What he hadn't expected however, was to realize he had a hand on his shoulder. Arthur’s hand.
Shilo weakly tried returning himself to some semblance of reality, wiping his face with his hands messily, blood-tears drenching his gloves even more. He sniffled, feeling like a sobbing toddler crying over a minor inconvenience.
“I’m sorry—” was all Shilo could say at this point, repeatedly trying to wipe his face and sniffling in an attempt to control himself.
Arthur just silently grabbed another towel from seemingly nowhere, and he helped Shilo wipe the blood-tears off his face.
Before Shilo could get another panicked apology out, Arthur began talking. “You need to stop apologizing, this is not your fault. We simply need to figure out what your specific blood requirement is. How do you feel comfortable drinking blood?”
Shilo’s eyebrows scrunched in thought, tilting his head a bit as he stared down at Void in his lap, petting her soft fur. “I… I guess a cup of some sort? I certainly didn't—” Shilo gulped nervously, mind drifting towards his frenzy. “I certainly didn't like drinking straight from a human. I know it… it's a vampire's nature, but I just didn't…” Shilo shook his head. “It just felt… wrong.”
Truthfully, it felt more than just ‘wrong.’ Instinct took over before anything else had, but the second his fangs made contact, some distant part of himself couldn't help but cringe.
He swore he could feel his fangs rubbing against the human’s skin, and the slight resistance as he punctured it. Human's often smelled terrible as well. Even though he was overwhelmed with the smell of blood, he could smell the liveliness of it all, and it disgusted him.
And the warmth . Sometimes the blood he'd drink in the mornings would be warm, but it was never like this. The blood burnt on the way down, the way that it came straight from the source practically seared his throat. He could feel the human’s heart pumping, he could practically taste the life that once was. It stung his tongue, scalded his throat, roasted his insides.
Shilo looked up at Arthur for a second, seeing him lost in thought. “I'm—I'm sorry for being difficult… I don't mean to, I just—”
Arthur cut him off, holding up his hand, his other still planted on Shilo's shoulder. “It's alright, it's okay to have more specific needs than the rest of us, it just means we might need to do some experimenting.”
Shilo looked over at the hand on his shoulder, then made eye contact with Arthur. Arthur’s sunglasses were about halfway up his nose, hiding half his eyes.
Then, in a second, before Shilo could even begin to stop himself, he lunged towards Arthur, squeezing him into a tight hug, Void quickly jumping off his lap.
He squeezed Arthur as hard as he could, no more blood left to cry, but needing comfort all the same. Arthur’s hands hovered over Shilo's back, unsure of what to do. He wasn't a very comforting person, but Shilo just needed a hug.
After probably a bit longer than appropriate, Arthur slowly latched the hug, putting his arms around Shilo's back. He was holding nowhere near as tight as Shilo was, arms loosely across the other vampire's back.
“I promise, we'll find a way,” was all Arthur mumbled out, the words quiet even for his vampire hearing.
They may not have an immediate solution, but they both knew, especially after Shilo vomited or cried out the rest of the blood that might've been in his system, Shilo needed blood, and fast.
But here, in Arthur's arms, Shilo was okay. Even if momentarily, even if the second he let go the reality would worsen.
Right now all Shilo needed was comfort, and for now, this was enough.