Bite Me.

18.

Marzia knocked cautiously on Levi's door, praying to herself that he was already awake. If anybody ever roused him, he lost the plot. She suspected that he didn't get much sleep as it was, so what little he did get was precious. He always seemed to have dark circles under his eyes, but maybe that was his callous disposition. In the two days that had passed since Eren arrived, his demeanour had somewhat improved. He hadn't lashed out at a single maid, which was practically unheard of. All the same, they were tiptoeing around him more than ever in expectation of a sudden explosion. They'd none of them ever seen him act like this.
The thing was, he wasn't necessarily mean. Half the time he was very entertaining and engaging, and had a sharp sense of humour, but then each laugh had a patronising hint of malice to it, like he was working out the perfect way to kill you. Each smile reminded her of a lion snarling, and his eyes narrowed into slits, much like that of a snake. No, he wasn't mean; he just didn't understand emotions. She didn't know quite how old she was- and Archer's appearance and their conversations had convinced her it was older than he led her to believe- but she was surprised that he had seemingly never known what compassion is. He didnt know what to do with it.
'If you don't have any alcohol, don't bloody try it,' she heard a very unsurprising 'greeting'. She went through, coming upon him lying face down on the mattress and looking very morose.
'It's Saturday,' she remarked. 'Forgive me, but don't you have meetings to attend?
'Cancel all my appointments for the day. Reschedule them for Monday. I believe my brother,' he spat this word out with discontent. 'Has something planned for our house guests and I.'
'What kind of thing?'
'Oh, I should imagine something completely unsuitable, no doubt. You're welcome to join, if you want.'
She shrugged, not entirely surely if she did. It depended on what it was, of course. There was no telling with Archer.
'Can I ask you a question?' She asked as he sat up and stretched his arms over his head, the muscles on his bare torso rippling dramatically. He looked at her expectantly.
'How... How old are you?'
'Considerably older than I look. To answer your question exactly, 220 years old.'
She whistled under her breath- that was seriously older than she had expected. So how was it possible that he'd never learnt how to treat people? Or maybe he had, but the person who had taught him this had undone all their work by betraying him. This was a perfectly reasonable explanation; in fact, it would explain a lot, such as his unwillingness to reveal emotion and thus place trust upon somebody not to manipulate these emotions. He seemed in good sorts today. Perhaps it was time to quiz him a little further. She had a vague suspicion that the arrival of his brother was responsible for his good behaviour. Archer had been nothing but kind to her since her arrival, so she believed that he would probably put a stop to his brother before he could kill her. That was only if he dragged out the death, which you could never tell with him. It was usually at his angriest that he exacted the quickest deaths. It was as if he did it before he could regret it, like all the fury and hatred welled up inside him and acted before he could think. When the death of his victim didn't particularly matter to him, he tended to be more inclined to use their pain as his own pleasure. Like a human punch bag, he vented his frustrations upon their body. He looked as if he was waiting for her to enquire further, but just as she was about to open her lips Archer burst through the door. The moment had passed and she had missed her chance. She concealed her irritation with an overly cheery smile, turning her attention to the interfering brother.
'Come on!' He grabbed her arm and twirled her round, making her giggle, then proceeded to attempt to do the same with Levi. This didn't quite bring the same reaction, more of a punch square in the jaw.
'Yeah, I saw that coming,' Archer was still smiling, regardless of the blood beading at the corner of his mouth. 'I came to get you up, but I see that's already been done. We're going out, so put on some clothes. Now, Marzia, come with me. I need somebody more tactful than I to persuade May to put her shoes on.'
Levi mused for a while upon the point of this excursion. His brother never did anything without some ulterior motive. He definitely had something bigger planned than a little trip. They were apparently going to a country fair somewhere that had to be over two hours' drive away, and he couldn't for the life of him decipher what could be the importance of this location. It was far from home, meaning that nobody would spot them together. Levi didn't want it to be public knowledge that Eren was staying with him. It was only for the time being anyway, so hopefully he'd be gone before long. First he had to get through this day without murdering somebody.

Eren buckled May's seatbelt and silenced her with a meaningful glare, shifting uneasily in his seat as Levi sat next to him. Archer had insisted on driving and since he was the only one who knew the exact location of this fair, it had made sense. He had also demanded that Marzia tag along and ride in front with him. Eren had the fleeting suspicion that he had put his brother in the back so he could be exposed to people for a while. He was still planning to execute his plan of forcing Levi into developing emotions, clearly. It made for uncomfortably close quarters in the back. Eren couldn't help but notice his stomach clenching when he felt Levi's thigh pressed against his. It brought to the front of his mind memories of things becoming a little more heated between them. Man, they needed to have that conversation. He was convinced that the only reason it happened was because he was high off the venom. That had to be it- how could he ever be attracted to somebody so awful as this? It just didn't fit with his morals at all. And Levi was precisely the person he'd always made a point of avoiding; his sole priority was himself, and he cared little, if at all, for any collateral damage caused by his selfishness. Not to mention he'd never return any feelings, so having a crush on him would be pointless. It was just as well he didn't. He was still terrified of the guy, actually. His temper had cooled a little of late, but he still liked to remind everybody that he could kill them without a moment's thought. But you know, that was to be expected of him. It would be more disturbing if he wasn't making sure everyone was aware of that- that kind of behaviour might constitute a surprise attack or something. He kept stealing glances at Levi's glowering face, trying his hardest not to think about just how surprisingly soft those pursed lips were, how the pupils in those endlessly dark eyes dilated to at least twice their size when he was sated with blood, how that inky hair felt slipping through his fingers. He was failing to not think of these things. Very badly.

Levi noticed with amusement that Eren was blushing, and there was no doubt in his mind that he was thinking about him. The way the blood pooled in his cheeks really was delightful, and inconveniently hunger-inducing. He gently took Eren's hand and lifted it up, his other hand tracing the blue lines of his veins. Surely his brother would not berate him for feeding in front of the child. She had to learn at some point- it would be an impossible feat to hide their true existence. Archer shot him a warning look, but he took no heed of this. He was the Head of London; he didn't take orders from anyone. His teeth parted the skin and his mouth was flooded with the sweet, warm liquid he craved so much these days. For less than a second, his facial expression changed to one of bliss, but he was sure that nobody saw. He sucked hard, made all the more thirsty by Eren's soft whimper.
'Can you not control yourself for just a little longer?' Archer's sighed disappointedly as his brother finally released Eren's wrist from his grasp, delicately dabbing the blood from his face.
Eren melted into the seat, pleasure hazing his mind. The logical part of his mind was niggling at the smokescreen put in place by Levi's venom, telling him to sharpen up or he'd end up embarrassing himself. But he wasn't worried that he was making a fool of himself just yet. There was no room for negative emotion in his mind. Only a warm buzzing feeling.
'What did you do with Eren's arm?' May leaned forwards and poked Levi in the chest. He swatted her away as if she was a mere insect.
'I'm a vampire,' he stated simply. 'And I was drinking his blood.'
'I thought vampires weren't real!'
'Well, they are.'
'Okay.' She shrugged and went back into her own little world. He was surprised that she took it with such good grace. Usually when he told people they started screaming and tried to run away. Really, it was so annoying when they tried to run- not to mention stupid- because he could very easily catch up with them. It was as if they forgot about the superhuman speed he had. And the strength, too. And superior senses. To be honest, he was rather starting to like these two.