Bloodead

Chapter 2 - Rewakening

Author's Note: Non-consensual biting happens, but you should have already guessed that. xD

~ Amina Gila

He didn't realize anything was actually wrong – should've – until the moment he realized he can't hear Hunter's heartbeat anymore. It's... nothing. Quiet. And so, so wrong.

He should've been more careful.

The hunger, the need, is still burning inside him, demanding more but it's dwindled somewhat now. It's still present, but not maddening like it was earlier. And Crosshair still has no idea what happened to him, why... any of this is happening.

He might think about it more, if he could think about anything at all, aside from the fact that Hunter is...

Crosshair had been able to hear his heartbeat – never mind how impossible that is – ever since getting near him, but he can't anymore. The... his blood isn't really flowing anymore, either.

Is that why he was panicking?

It shouldn't even matter because Crosshair was sent here to kill him. It just – he didn't expect it to happen. Didn't really expect to succeed. Didn't mean for it to happen like this.

He slides off Hunter, kneeling next to him, just sitting there.

He's pale and he looks awful and no, he's not breathing. (There are bruises on his neck, and Crosshair's first assumption is that it's from the bite, if he hit a vein or something, but it looks too... hand-shaped for that. Wrecker hand-shaped, actually, and Crosshair doesn't want to think about that.)

Crosshair does not want to think about what that means.

"Hunter," he calls, panicking, shaking his shoulder. It's pointless and he knows that because he can't answer if he's dead, but he can't be. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were supposed to stay with him, not leave, and there are so many things Crosshair wanted to say to him, and they can't...

If it was in action, he might be able to let it go, because that's why Crosshair was sent here anyway, but not like this. Not after being so close to him again for so long.

He feels a flicker of something before he hears it. It's some sort of sixth sense almost, something in his mind. Something that sort of feels like Hunter somehow. He knows what it is, even if it shouldn't be there.

And it's hurting.

Burning.

The same way Crosshair felt when he woke up earlier after the ion engine. It had hurt so much then, past just his injuries. They aren't there anymore though. He doesn't know what to think about that, or the fact that he has fangs now, or that Hunter's blood still smells very appealing.

He reaches out to touch his brother's shoulder, just feeling. Watching. Because he doesn't know what else to do.

And then, finally, he sees him start breathing again. Hears it, too, and the faint beating of his heart. It's slower than it ought to be right now. He died. He shouldn't be... But he is. He is, and that's all that matters.

(Why there's a part of Crosshair suddenly fiercely insisting that Hunter is his brother above all else, he has no idea, but that's more important to him than anything. More than the fact that he was sent here to kill him. Hunter will be loyal to him now, and he doesn't know how he knows that, but he does. He's as certain of that as he is that they're both breathing right now.)

Stop panicking.

He needs to think, and this reminds him so much of when Wrecker got blown up and he was so terrified he just froze up. Hunter is still bleeding, and through the sheer fear of losing him again, Crosshair tamps down on the desperate urge to keep feeding on it, leaning forwards to press his hand to the bite.