The Prince of Blood (boyxboy)

11.Remember and Forget

Ace stayed up sipping wine from an expensive crystal glass as he watched the grandfather clock in his living room tick the time away. He couldn't get any work done that day, he was too distracted by the passing of time.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Clay was playing chess against himself in the corner. "You ought to stop waiting for him to come back, he's not going to."

"What do you know? Aren't you suppose to be a five year old mortal or something?"

"Actually, my memories from my past lives, well past life, singular, are coming back. I died at ten in my only previous life so technically I'm more like fifteen," Clay told him with a tad of annoyance in his voice. "And when the Vampire genes started to wake up, so did the embedded memories mother had given me regarding how the Nine Rings worked, it's a handy thing to have."

Ace sighed. "Teenager, lovely."

Clay threw his hand over the chess pieces and knocked them over rather violently. He was sick of it. He had been paying chess for the last three hours, since Ace sat down in the lounge room. "I really don't get what Claude sees in you. I suppose love is blind but honestly, you're unbearable and frankly useless."

"Thanks for the confidence boost," Ace muttered feeling awful. He had already been feeling horrendous.

Clay sighed. "Actually, you make a good couple."

"No need to force it," Ace said drily.

"No, as in Claude looks less like a walking zombie when you're in the room," Clay elaborated. "You just never noticed it. His eyes would go out of focus and he would stare blankly at nothingness. His skin loses temperature along with all other signs of life."

"I didn't know that," Ace muttered.

"He really liked you, loved you, even," Clay assured him. "If there is a possibility to return, I'm sure he would take it, but given the nature of Shadows as I know them, I'm afraid it's bleak."

As the clock ticked away, Ace felt his eye lids grew heavy and soon he was fast asleep. 

*

When Ace woke up, he was in bed, though he would swear that he fell asleep on the couch the night prior waiting for Claude who did not return. He felt a warm body next his own, curling around his. With a deep frown, he got up to see who was there. It was Claude.

"Claude!" He exclaimed in surprise, throwing his arms around the love of his life who he thought he would never see again. "You came back!"

Claude rubbed his eyes as he woke up with a slight confusion on his face. "Of course, it was just trip downtown to sort out some complications with Clay's adoption, why wouldn't I come back?" He had the most charming smile on his face that Ace was almost inclined to believe him.

As they ate breakfast together with Clay, the young boy with a teenager's mentality clearly thought it odd too. He pulled Ace aside for a quick and serious chat.

"Does he seem off to you?" Clay asked.

Ace nodded. "And I would swear I fell asleep on the couch last night but I found myself in bed this morning, and he was there."

Clay raised an eyebrow. "I believe I fell asleep on the couch too, and also woke up in my room."

"Something wrong?" Claude rose from the table, clearing away the empty dishes. "Ace, you have a meeting with the Heads of Nobilities, please try not to miss that as you did with military one." He pecked Ace on the forehead with a kiss as he went off to do his duty as the Crown Prince's personal adviser.