A Daring Snack

Thirsty

"Just feed off of me."

Alucard blinked in surprise. He's never felt this hungry before, and his empty stomach urged him to leap upon Trevor and suck him dry.The two sat across from each other, and he could hear Trevor's heart beating loudly against his eardrums. It's a good thing that Alucard has learned to suppress his bloodthirsty urges, but this was testing his limits. "Why..."

Trevor growled. "Do it before I change my mind. Just don't kill me." He had already cast off his shirt, and he felt his bare arm out towards Alucard invitingly. "What are you waiting for, a written invitation?"

In a flash Alucard was inches away from Trevor's face, eyes wide with hunger. He was breathing hard, exposing his fangs, and before Trevor could speak again he had seized his arm and drew his sharp nails across his skin to make a shallow cut.

There wasn't as much pain as Trevor had been expecting. It was really just strange to have his friend sucking so hard at his skin, barely pausing for air as he sucked down Trevor's blood. Trevor made a fist, trying to control how much he was shaking.

But he couldn't get past how bloody insane this whole thing was.

"You're not getting enough." Alucard groaned and pulled away to speak, but Trevor grabbed the back of his head, fingers threaded through his gorgeous hair. "Make a deeper cut and keep going. I feel fine."

He expected Alucard to hesitate, or maybe for him to realize how feral this made him look and stop. But Alucard was so focused on feeding that he barely paused long enough to stick a sharp nail deep into Trevor's arm, close to the elbow. Blood gushed to the surface and Alucard stuck his fangs into the wound, widening it and then covering the whole thing with his mouth.

Trevor's blood tasted so much better than Alucard could ever have imagined. It was sweet and rich in his mouth, sliding down his throat with ease. He could feel it running down his chin and soaking into his shirt, but Alucard couldn't bring himself to care. His mind clouded over, and he dug in as far as he dared.

Trevor gasped softly. This was no longer just uncomfortable. The wound pained him every time Alucard sucked from it, and his hand was starting to feel numb. He could hear his own heart beating in his eardrums, and his head was starting to feel alarmingly light.

He had to stop. But he couldn't- Alucard was starting to look so much better, his cheeks flushed with color for the first time in a week. His grip was starting to feel like iron against the cold skin of Trevor's left arm.

Sypha had gone away from their temporary camp to find some sort of native desert plant. Apparently she wanted one called a 'cactus' to give to her grandfather next time they saw him. That was great and all, but Trevor was starting to wish she had stayed in camp to help with this. Of course, it wasn't her fault she was missing this- Trevor hadn't exactly told her about it, knowing it was as stupid as it sounded in his head.

But he wouldn't let Alucard starve to death, or get to a point where he broke and slaughtered his companions.

Trevor realized he was starting to slump sideways. He was getting so tired... no! He placed his wobbly free right hand against Alucard's head and pushed. It did nothing except earn a small hiss from Alucard.

"Hey- hey, you need to stop. You've had enough. I'm not feeling so great..." Trevor's eyes closed and he fell backward.

The sound of Trevor's skull connecting with the hard wood of the wagon was what finally snapped Alucard out of his feeding haze. He gasped and pried his hands off of Trevor's arm, seeing dark bruises in the shape of his fingers. There was also a huge, ragged, bloody hole near Trevor's elbow, and Alucard began to shake. He had done this?

Trevor's eyes were rolled up into his head and half-closed, and for a second Alucard thought he was dead. He had killed his friend! But no- his heart filled with relief when he realized that he could still hear Trevor's heartbeat.

How could he have done this? Alucard stuck to animals, not wanting to hurt his mother's memory by harming one of the humans she loved so much. And now Trevor could die because he couldn't control himself.

No. This was different. Trevor had asked him, had wanted Alucard to feed from him. But that didn't quite strangle the guilt.

Alucard was suddenly hyper aware of the blood staining his front. He probably looked like a deranged murderer. But even as panicked as he was, Alucard knew that if he didn't stitch and bandage that cut, Trevor was going to bleed out on the floor.

Sypha returned just as Alucard finished dressing the wound. She stared at him with wide eyes, gaze flicking back and forth between him and Trevor. She finally nodded, piecing together what had happened.

"You took too much. He's too pale."

"I know. I- I couldn't stop..."

"It's alright. I really can't blame you."

Alucard looked at her, surprised. He had expected her to yell at him, to strike him, maybe to cry and send him away. But there was no fury in her gaze, just pity and worry.

"Trevor is an adult who makes his own choices. I wish that the two of you had been smarter about this, but you were not in your right mind. And Trevor, well... he does what he thinks he has to in order to protect his friends."

Next to them, Trevor stirred fitfully in his sleep. Sypha took his hand and traced along the veins around his injury. They had turned a strange purple color and raised upward under the skin. "This looks infected."

Alucard sat down beside her, careful not to touch Trevor. His hunger was satisfied and he no longer had the urge to drink from his friend, but Trevor's blood had tasted so good, and Alucard needed more time to process how he felt about all of this.

"In a way it is, but it won't kill him now that I have cared for the wound. My fangs have a very mild venom, which vampires can use to sedate and slow down difficult prey. Trevor should wake soon with no more than perhaps a little numbness in his right arm and hand. It won't be permanent."

Sypha shook her head at Trevor's sleeping form wryly. "Such a fool. But we're lucky to have him."

This brought a small smile to Alucard's lips. "I believe you are right." His smile quickly faded. "Sypha, I am so sorry. This will never happen again."

"What? Alucard, this is a good emergency backup plan. We just have to be more careful next time, maybe-

"No." Alucard's hands shook, and he clenched them into fists to make the tremors stop. "Trevor loves you as much as he loves me, and today I almost took him away from you. I- I would never wish to hurt you so badly."

Sypha reached for a nearby bucket of water and dipped a rag in it, laying it on Trevor's forehead before responding softly, "All living things must eat to survive. Never be ashamed of what measures you must take to preserve yourself. And never take for granted what lengths others are willing to go to in order to help the ones they love.

"I have seen how terrible bloodlust can be, how it leaves the other vampires wild, like animals. But even when you were starving... you could have cut Trevor's throat and had as much blood as you could hold. But you stopped, and he lives."

Sypha put an arm around Alucard's shoulders. "You aren't lost Alucard. You are loved."

Alucard didn't reply, but as he and Sypha sat together waiting for Trevor to wake, the tiny smile from before returned.

And this time, it stayed.

*hope y'all enjoyed! I had fun writing this. Thanks for reading!*