Lunar Flare Book 1: Crimson Moon

Chapter 14

Balthasar's head shot up to look over at the door he had just heard open, his eyes going wide. It was very late in the evening, he certainly hadn't been expecting anyone to come and see him at this hour, plus he thought he had locked the door. Now he had been caught in a rather compromising situation. As he stared over at the door he saw Cassian looking back at him, equally as wide eyed with shock. At the same time, Thedrick yanked his fangs out of Balthasar's shoulder in surprise at the sound of someone entering the room, causing Balthasar to wince in pain.

Balthasar quickly reached up and smacked the jester gently on the back of the head in retaliation. He then quickly pulled the little vampire's head in close against his shoulder to hide both Thedrick's blood covered mouth and the bite marks on Balthasar's flesh. Thedrick struggled in his grip, trying to turn his head to see who it was, but the chirurgeon held him firmly in place.

"What in the name of the gods is going on here?" Cassian exclaimed, taking a few more steps into the room towards Balthasar, who was seated at his desk.

"What do you think is going on?" Balthasar retorted blithely, scowling at the soldier.

That left Cassian looking completely stupefied for a moment, his mouth falling open. Then he seemed to pull himself together for a moment to return Balthasar's angry look.

"Is that the court jester?" Cassian snapped, glaring at the back of Thedrick's head.

"Do you know anyone else who dresses like this?" Balthasar shot back, frowning at the stupidity of the question. He felt Thedrick trembling in his arms, and squeezed him close against his chest.

"Was he... biting you?" Cassian asked in confusion.

"So what if he was? What business of yours is that?" Balthasar asked in return.

"But... I mean... I thought..." Cassian stumbled over his words, looking anxious.

"Spit it out already, you're interrupting a rather private moment and embarrassing yourself," Balthasar snapped in irritation.

"I thought we had something?" Cassian said forlornly, gesturing between himself and Balthasar.

"What, you and I?" Balthasar scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Or have you forgotten how much I hate you?" He tried to make his words as biting as possible. The more Cassian got upset, the more distracted he would be, and the less likely he would see what the truth of the situation was. Balthasar had to do whatever he could to protect Thedrick.

"You... you do?" The pain in Cassian's voice cut into Balthasar, but he didn't let it show on his face, just kept looking at the soldier with stern annoyance. "I mean... of course you do..." Cassian answered his own question, shoulders slumping. "Sorry I... I don't know why I thought any differently..."

Balthasar made a noise of annoyance and disgust. "Can you cut the dramatics and leave us alone?" he asked with a cutting edge to his tone as he continued to glare at Cassian, internally praying for him to just leave already.

"Right... sorry..." Cassian muttered, looking like he was about to cry, then turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Balthasar waited a couple of moments, then let out a sigh of relief and finally let go of Thedrick, allowing the jester to pull away from his shoulder. The vampire blinked up at him with large, fearful eyes.

"Don't worry, I don't think he realised," Balthasar said casually, grabbing up a nearby cloth and began cleaning up the wound on his shoulder.

"But, Baz... you like Cass, right?" Thedrick asked with confusion, watching the chirurgeon's expression carefully. "Why would you say such horrible things to him?"