The Man With The Gloves (mxmxmxm)

19. Seeking explanations

"If you don't love yourself at least a little bit, if you do not create a shield of pure joy around your heart, my weak darts will be lethal and I will destroy you." (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland)

A few weeks had passed since Zephyr had told Fayez about his condition, but so far, Fayez didn't even have a clue on how the blond vampire could be cured.

He had spent most of his free time at the Institute's main library, hoping to find a solution in one of the numerous books about vampires that the library contained. Sometimes, he thought that his attempts were vain, for surely, Zephyr's lovers must have already read every book on this topic.

If they couldn't help Zephyr, how could Fayez be naive enough to think that he could? He was, after all, a newbie at the Institute. Worse, he was blatantly ignorant of the rules and traditions of the supernatural creatures.

His knowledge on the supernatural world was almost as bad as a human's. Yes.That bad.

When desperation threatened to overwhelm him, he reminded himself that he should rely on his instincts more. There was a small voice, in a corner of his mind, telling him that he was the only person who could still save Zephyr.

Maybe this voice was just a foretelling of madness. Maybe it was his own vanity talking.

Still, there was no hurt in trying, right? It was better than spending his days and nights wallowing in grief. At least, when it was time to come back into their shared room, he could put up a hopeful front for Zephyr's sake. The blondie didn't need to see gloomy faces, when he already had to deal with his own pain on a daily.

Now that Zephyr had told Fayez about his secret, Fayez could see that Zephyr was almost constantly in pain. The angelic prefect was very good at hidingt it, and Fayez didn't think that anyone, outside of the four of them, and probably the Headmaster as well, had picked up on it.

Some days were better than others, but Zephyr was slowly dying. Ashur and Akhenaton - and now Fayez as well, much to Akhenaton's dismay - had been feeding him some blood, but Zephyr still looked underfed and, when he thought that nobody was watching him, he would close his eyes and let out exhausted sighs that broke Fayez's heart.

A few hours ago, Fayez had had a revelation of some sort. If he was being honest with himself, then he must admit that he hadn't been clever in his attempts to seek information.

Books weren't the only answer, or even the most obvious one, to Zephyr's disease.

The three prefects were.

Zephyr had only told Fayez that a human had infected him, and that, although most of the poison had been taken out of his blood, it was still presenthad in his system. That day, Fayez had been so sad and flabbergasted by the news that he hadn't thought of asking Zephyr to give him more details.

Surely, the three prefects knew more about it. Asking them directly, instead of hiding in the library, would be a good starting point.

Who should he ask, though? He didn't want to bother Zephyr by reminding him of his current state. The conversation would be depressing and Fayez only wanted to cheer the prefect up.

Akhenaton wasn't a much better choice, as Fayez hadn't really talked to him since that day when they had almost kissed, and the brunette had graciously called it 'fooling around'.

Maybe his behaviour was a bit childish, but Akhenaton had unknowingly hurt him, and Fayez didn't want to feel this way anymore. So, he had kept conversations betweem them to the strict minimum, only adressing him during training, when he had no other choice.