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Pure Vanilla was shocked to see Shadow Milk in the Vanilla kingdom, let alone on his balcony on a random Sunday night. Now, the former king was staring at the glass doors leading to his balcony. On the other side of them stood The Beast of Deceit, in other words, his other half.
Said other, was staring at him through the glass, unmoving, just staring.
Pure Vanilla carefully walked to the glass doors, hesitating before unlocking it. He slowly opened the door, letting Shadow Milk inside. The Beast didn’t say anything, he just kept staring. The Ancient closed the door behind the other.
Pure Vanilla cleared his throat. “So what brings you here Shadow Milk?…Have you considered my offer of friendship?”
“No.”
“Ah… Well it still stands then.”
Pure Vanilla tilted his head to the side. “I don't mean to offend, but then why are you here?” He questioned with a soft voice.
Shadow Milk looked back at the glass doors, staring out at the night sky. “You awakening crumbled my Spire…” The Beast answered, sounding rather exhausted.
The lack of attitude and snark in the other voice made Pure Vanilla pause. Shadow Milk sounded like he was finished with life, standing on his last legs.
Pure Vanilla moved back a bit to the desk near him, hand searching the smooth surface of polished wood. When his hand found the lamp he was searching for he flicked it on. Light pooled and illuminated the room in a soft warm glow.
When he looked back at Shadow Milk he had to stop himself from frowning.
Shadow Milk looked terrible. His hair was messy and unkept, his clothes looked like they had seen better days. He looked as if he was freezing, but a slick of sweat covered his face. Said face was unusually pale and sunken in.
Pure Vanilla watched as Shadow Milk swayed slightly on his feet.
“And I'm hungry…” Shadow Milk said slowly, as if he couldn’t believe his own words. “Would you like me to get you some food?” Pure Vanilla questioned.
The Beast stared at him, and unreadable expression on his face. “You know I don’t…” Shadow Milk trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.
“Know what, Shadow Milk?”
“I don’t eat what other cookies eat, y’know that right?”
Pure Vanilla blinked in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
Shadow Milk opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say. Pure Vanilla tried to speak but was quickly cut off.
“Do you have any blood?”
The two stared at each other, unsure of what to do and say.
The realization dawned on Pure Vanilla. Shadow Milk was a vampire. He needed blood to live. But why would he come to Pure Vanilla of all people?
Oh right, Shadow Milk’s spire had crumbled after his awakening. The Beast probably did have blood stored away in spire… But now that those were gone… That was probably what happened.
During the time Pure Vanilla was lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed how Shadow Milk had became paler and started trembling. His swaying had also gotten worse than before.
The Ancient came back to reality just in time as Shadow Milk’s knees buckled. He moved forwards and effortlessly caught the Beast before he hit the ground.
The two sat on the ground, Beast leaning heavily on his counterpart, breaths shallow and quick as he clung to the others shoulders.
“Are you with me?” Pure Vanilla asked softly, rubbing a hand up and down Shadow Milk’s back. The Beast nodded.
“When was the last time you had any blood?” The Ancient pressed.
“Not sure… Maybe a week and a half?”
“What! A week and a half?— Shadow Milk!”
The Beast pressed a hand on the Healers chest, pushing himself off of the Ancient. “Please stop yelling.” Shadow Milked whined. Pure Vanilla moved to hold the other by his elbows, effectively steadying him.
“You must be so hungry…” Pure Vanilla murmured, the other grunted in response.
“Would my blood work?” The Healer asked. “Probably… Yeah, it would.” Shadow Milk nodded. Pure Vanila simple softly.
The Ancient moved a bit to slide a hand behind the Beast’s back and his other arm underneath his knees. He stood up from his seat on the ground with Shadow Milk secured in his arms.
Shadow Milk yelped from surprise and squirmed in protest, but it quickly died down when Pure Vanilla set him down on the bed.
“I suppose we can make do with my blood, right?”
“Yeah, whatever works.” Shadow Milk shrugged, putting on a mask of nonchanlance.
Pure Vanilla unclipped his cloak at Shadow Milk’s words. Then he took of his turtle neck shirt, it would only get in the way.
Shadow Milk stared at Pure Vanilla’s now shirtless body. Some color returned to the Beast’s pale face, against his will.
Pure Vanilla sat on the edge of the bed, next to Shadow Milk. “So how do you want to do this?” The Ancient questioned. Shadow Milk didn’t answer, he simply moved forwards and bit the skin between the healers neck and shoulder.
Pure Vanilla let out a soft gasp at the prickling pain that the Beast’s teeth caused.
Shadow Milk wrapped his arms around the healer, pulling them closer together. Pure Vanilla wrapped an arm around the Beast’s waist.
Shadow Milk was in bliss. Finally after so long, he was able to eat. The empty, aching hole in his stomach was starting to fill, slowly but surely. He ignored the fact that he went to his enemy of all people and decided to relish in the fact he had gotten his hands on some blood.
Pure Vanilla didn’t stop Shadow Milk. he let the Beast feast on his blood as much as he desired. That was until he had begun to feel a bit lightheaded.
Pure Vanilla brought his hand up and buried it in Shadow Milk hair at the back of his head, close to the scalp.
“Alright, that’s enough for now.”
Shadow Milk grumbled and whined quietly as Pure Vanilla pulled the Beast away from his neck. “Shh.. Il be able to get you some more tomorrow from the blood bank.” The healer assured.
“Mh..” Shadow Milk hummed before slumping against the healer. His face pressed into the others bare chest, left over blood and spit smudging against Pure Vanilla’s skin.
Pure Vanilla let him breathe, not moving or talking. Which made the room quiet except for Shadow Milk’s somewhat heavy breathing.
Shadow Milk drifted in the quiet, falling in and out of sleep with ever realizing it. Pure Vanilla knew the other was drifting off, he could feel how the other relaxed and slumped into him further.
Pure Vanilla lifted a hand up to rub the Beast’s arm. “Shadow Milk, you gotta clean up.” The healer persuaded as he nudged the other.
Shadow Milk groaned in protest, causing the healer to let out a small chuckle. “Okay, wait here i have an idea.”
Gently, Pure Vanilla got up from the bed, making sure not to rouse Shadow Milk too much. He gently priyed off the blue hand which held onto his arm.
Shadow Milk huffed at the separation.
Pure Vanilla walked to the attached bathroom in his room, opening the door and flicking on a light. He grabbed a washcloth from a nearby shelf and ran it underneath warm water. He rung it out just enough for it too stay damp before going back to the room.
Shadow Milk lay right where the healer left him.
Gently as he could, Pure Vanilla used the washcloth to clean Shadow Milks face, wiping off all the grime. The Beast’s slept through all of it.
When Pure Vanilla finished cleaning up his other half, he dropped the dirty washcloth in a nearby hamper and made his way back to the bathroom.
In front of the mirror, he took the time to clean up the space between his neck and shoulder before using his magic to heal it. The skin was mended back without a scar left behind.
Once again he went back to the room, as he left the bathroom he made sure to shut the light, doing the same for the lamp on his desk.
He crawled onto his bed and moved Shadow Milk up the bed as to not let him sleep on the very edge and risk falling off. He rearranged his other half into a better sleeping position before using the blanket to tuck him in.
finally, after he was certain Shadow Milk was comfortable, he settled into bed himself. His eyes slipped shut easily. Sleep came to him like a gust of wind, gentle but quick.