Tortoise and Fox [BL]

3.4

Elijah was right. It was to be expected that nothing good could come out of change.

"In here," Eli called out, a palpable excitement in his tone.

Aisultan responded, entering the basement boiler room with a questioning gaze.

"I do suspect you lured me here for my blood after all..."

"Yet Elijah claims you were the one who insisted on staying–ah, there we are."

Eli pulled a hidden switch behind one of the heavy metal boilers, and pushed through the loosened wall, which hinged past. The dim concrete tunnel made way to a spacious room with tools strewn messily atop counters–frameworks of wood, metal, and scraps were piled in one corner, abandoned by their creator.

"This is my workspace! Please make yourself comfortable while I search for that misplaced ring draft..."

A mismash of clanging noises ensued, causing Aisultan's ear's to twitch rapidly while he looked around; the space was absolutely cluttered to the brim, unable to see the undermost counter through the piles of screws, pins, and wires.

"The Silverthorne Ring," he began, pulling a weighted parchment under from a pile of metal sheets, "was a project I started on a few months ago, as a tool to increase the production of boar blood harvesting with ease and decrease the craving of human blood–to the best extent I can, of course. After all, humans are far too interesting to dismiss as food; as goes for any other were-human or spirit. Most vampires though..."

He interrupted himself with a small grunt, the sheets of metal crashing as he held up the parchment, before spreading it out on the nearest counter–not before shoving everything off in the process of making space. Aisultan winced, to which Eli stopped, glancing over at the man touching his non-stop, twitching fox ear with a hand.

"Are the noises too unpleasant?"

"A bit. Sensitive ears are a hassle in loud environments such as these."

"Ah, my apologies then, I got too caught up in my excitement."

Eli gave him an apologetic smile, before turning back to the inked parchment, smoothing it out and pressing down the corners with mismatched metals lying about with a careful thud.

"As I was saying: most vampires don't agree with my sentiments, but I have a good friend who does–and she's more than willing to help put the manufacturing in place."

"And this ring is the one Elijah found on the man from last night?"

"No, it is not–in fact, it's something slightly different."

Eli pulled the ring out from his pocket, inspecting it near a candle's flame, before glancing at the scrawls on the picture and the outlined blueprint.

"The ring I originally made was a test product. What it is supposed to do, Aisultan, is supercharge the Silverthorne seeds within the ring, and have them root and absorb blood after numbing the subject. I measured the dimensions using my own ring finger, not really intending to give it to anyone else. After all, I had to confirm proof of concept with my own eyes, after weeks of drawn out debate with Elijah. But both Elijah was out of the house some night ago, and when I awoke, the ring was gone."

He fell silent for a moment as he leaned in closer, thumbing the tiny crevice and bumps that held the seeds and the charge mechanism. Upon first glance, the ring was adorned in pretty vines and leafy patterns, but up close the microchambers were poorly constructed, caving in as Eli pressed his nail into the ring at an angle. The ring had already been damaged by the time Elijah found the ring, indicating that the quality was so poor it only lasted to supercharge the seeds once before fizzling out.