pull my strings just for a thrill

Taiga is frantically running and he has no one else to blame but himself.

Tonight is the night of the blood moon. He knew perfectly well he had to be prepared for this night. He was always prepared for this night. Ever since he was fifteen and his vampire senses, he knew about the consequences the blood moon awakens in every vampire.

And being a full-blood vampire, it was even worse for Taiga.

It was stupid of him to assume that he could make it. Normally, he would have already secluded himself in his villa. With no one in sight. He would have asked all his household staff to have the day off, even a week off, and have the villa all to himself to avoid harming anyone else.

But he just had to go out today of all days. Fully knowing that the blood moon will rise on this particular day. But he stupidly thought he could make it home before nightfall. Clearly, he overestimated himself.

He blamed no one else but himself. He could have pushed the meetings with his suppliers. He could have pushed back the deadlines of projects and kept today free for himself. But no, he just had to convince himself that none of them would go over the estimated time he had plotted for each.

To make matters worse, the traffic was at its worse peak. All vehicles have either stopped or taken a detour to make room for the blood moon festivities.

He has no time for this. He has no time to be distracted by the festivities. He has no time to apologize to the people he accidentally knocked over on his way, the longer he ran, the stronger he got. He was already losing control of his strength, not being able to keep it under wraps like he does on regular days. A clear as day sign that the blood moon is starting to affect him. Soon, he will lose control of his senses. He has to get to his villa soon. Or at the very least, away from where he could smell human blood.

Taiga took a detour and decided to run in alleyways instead of the main road despite it making his distance from his villa even longer. The main road was filled with too many people, the scent of blood was starting to cloud his judgement. He hoped that the alleyways had lesser smell of blood, lesser triggers of his vampire side. His villa was a long way from the city, he knew this was an impossible feat, but still, vampires ran faster than normal human beings, his adrenaline added to his speed.

He abruptly halted and cradled his head with his hands. Too much noise is hurting his ears, he was losing control of his hearing. He could not focus enough to not pay attention to other sounds his ears were picking up. The smell of blood has become more pungent, even away from the crowd, even with fireworks being detonated everywhere with smoke covering the air, he could strongly smell blood.

Taiga dragged his feet. He turned to the direction of the forested area near the city, much closer to his villa. With the blood moon’s festivities, he had hope that there would be close to no one in the forest, what with everyone celebrating in the city.

The blood moon was said to bring prosperity to a city and everyone who lived around it that it was unspokenly required that everyone celebrates with a lot of noise, crowding together in the central part of the city. With as much positivity it brought to normal humans, it brough out the worse in vampires. Their craving for blood is intensified which came along with the lack of control of their strength and an even heightened senses than they already had.

Taiga still ran as fast as he could, even when he could finally smell the trees, flowers, and fruits that probably populated the forest. The smell of blood was not as strong anymore. Soon, it was overpowered by the smell of the forest. Reaching deeper into the forest, Taiga stopped running, slowly phasing into a brisk walk, and ultimately end up walking. If it were a normal human, they could probably not feel their legs by now. But Taiga was a full-blood vampire, it would take a ten-fold of extreme situation to tire his body out.

He could hear spring water, which excite him and his burning body. The effect of the blood moon was getting worse. His temperature was already rising. Taiga growled and bared his fangs, not holding anything up as he does not sense any human presence at all.

As he got closer to the sound of the spring, however, Taiga yet again smelled blood. Human blood. He walked faster, his instincts telling him to get closer to the source of blood as soon as possible.

Taiga stopped a few meters away from the spring. His eyes focused on the human - a skinny, naked from his torso up human -  was soaked in spring water, The blood smelled… attractive. It was not that it did not smell appetizing for him, it was just that blood smelled as if it was demanding his attention.

All human blood smelled the same to Taiga. But somehow, this particular smell was sweeter than any other blood he has encountered before.

And Taiga badly wanted a taste of it.

The human turned around as though he sensed he was being watched. Still, Taiga was faster. He was able to hide himself behind a tree, away from the line of sight of the human. The night was darker than it normally was, the blood moon did not really give as much light as the normal moon does and stars are never out whenever the blood moon was at its peak. Taiga was at an advantage, no normal human could see in this dark. The human won’t even be able to detect him even if part of his body was not hidden behind a tree.

Taiga watched as the human got off the spring. He could clearly hear the water trickling down, hitting the grass as the human walked. Once clothed, the human took a seat on the grass. The human looked up, baring his neck. Taiga still had a bit of morality left in him, but this sight was messing with his control.

Taiga had never actually attacked a human before. He kept a decent enough amount of blood packs at his villa, enough to feed him when he gets hungry and satiate his need when it was either a full moon or the blood moon. He never wanted to hurt humans by directly drinking from them.

But this particular human, he wanted to sink his teeth into his neck. Just a taste, enought to satisfy his curiosity.

A strong gust of wind intensified the smell of blood and before Taiga knew it he leapt on his feet and pounched on the human.

The human’s eyes grew at the sight of Taiga on top of him. Taiga’s teeth were bared, growl coming out from his throat. Hunger was evident in the eyes of the vampire. The human was startled, but there was no a hint of fear from his eyes. He looked rather… intrigued. The human pulled his chin up, enough to flash more of his neck to Taiga. Taiga took it as an invitation, the human clearly wanted him to bite him.

Taiga leaned down, pressing his fangs hard down on the human’s neck until he pierced his skin. The first drip of blood made Taiga completely lose control of himself, he buried his fangs harder, sucking in as much blood as he could. He heard the human moan from under him, a result of getting vampire venom in a human’s system was that it inevitable wakes their sexual desires. Taiga was already clouded by the strong taste of this human’s blood, now his libido was growing stronger too. He pulled away just enough to change their position, rolling over to have the human resting on top of him. He could feel their bulge rubbing in together and he could not help but jerk his hips.

The human gripped tight on Taiga’s shoulder, crying in pleasure as Taiga pulled him closer. Their body heat mixing in together, their hips moving in sync. 

Taiga sucked in harder. Harder. Only stopping when the body above him grew limp and collapsed on him.

Taiga was brought back to his senses. Having satiated his thirst for blood, he was able to regain his consciousness. There was the initial panic of what he had done to the human but it subsided when he could still feel the human breathing. The human had lost consciousness, the strain of getting his blood sucked and the heat of his body probably became a little too much.

Taiga mounted the human on his back and ran to the direction of his villa.

Taiga spent the night watching over the human. He nursed his bite marks and bandaged the wound to avoid infection. But the whole time, the human stayed unconscious. Taiga had no need to sleep anyway, that was part of the reason he got more work done than the average workaholic. There was nothing else to do at night anyway so he mostly spent his nights working on his art or working on his business.

But last night, all his attention was on the human he brought home with him. The first human he brought home to his villa who was not there to work for him. His household staff consisted of vampires and half-breeds - humans born from a couple consisting of a human and a vampire. It was easier that way, having people around him who understood that he thirsted for blood from time to time.

Right now, since it was a blood moon yesterday, none of his staff were at his villa. They all probably secluded themselves somewhere to hold themselves back from the power the blood moon holds over vampires. Taiga has to do all the work around the house by himself. Including making food for the human he brought. Taiga had no need to eat but his kitchen was still stocked for his half-breed staff. Despite knowing the human should get something to eat when he wakes up, Taiga could not possibly leave him alone in his room. He worried about what the human would feel once he regained consciousness. He worried at how the human would react when he found out he was in an unfamiliar room instead of waking up in the forest.

Taiga had half a mind to transport the human back to the forest where he found him. However, as he watched the human sleeping peacefully, he could not find it in his heart to suddenly abandon him. Especially as he thought that the human probably had a place he could have come home to after playing in the spring but instead was attacked by an out-of-control full-blood vampire.

The human stirred in his sleep, turning to his side. Slowly, his eyes opened. Taiga froze as the human’s eyes met with his. Taiga was suddenly hyperaware of his surroundings, he could hear their breaths - his coming in short while the human’s was as steady as when he was asleep.

Slowly, the human sat up. “Good morning,” he greeted Taiga as he cradled his neck. “Uhm thanks, I guess.”

Taiga was confused at why the human seemed to be so composed. He knew the human was still conscious when he bit him, he did not actually knock him unconscious before biting down so the human probably has a bit of memory of what happened last night. “It… it was the least I could do after I sucked out your blood.” There was no use hiding his identity anyway, the human knows what he is.

“Do you need more?” The human asked.

“What?” Taiga had an idea of what the human meant. He was just caught off-guard by the question.

“More blood. I’m not quite sure how much I can handle yet though. My body’s rested but the last meal I had was yesterday afternoon.”

Taiga was dumbstruck. He had never had an encounter like this before. This was the first human he drank blood directly from. But from what he head heard from his other vampire friends, humans were normally afraid of the vampire who bit them. This particular human does not seem the least bit afraid of him. Heck, this human was even offering his blood again.

“Do you want to eat something? I can cook simple meals.” Taiga was taught how to cook simple dishes despite not really needing to eat. Full-blood vampires could eat like normal humans and even digest food, but there was really no difference whether they ate or not. Taiga was taught at lot of things so he could smoothly blend in with humans.

Humans and vampires have lived together for as long as the world began. But only a few humans knew of the existence of vampires, most of the population are convinced the vampires were just figments of imagination. Vampires tried everything they could to blend in with humans after the siege on their ancestors that almost wiped off their whole existence. Therefore, vampires like Taiga was taught and raised as if they were human, with the additional responsibility of controlling their thirst for blood.

Of course not all vampires had as much self-control as the rest, there were still those who did not care about respecting boundaries and let their bloodthirst overpower them.

“Anything would do. I’m not really a picky eater.” The human scratched his nose. “I’m Tanaka Juri, by the way. So you’ll know how to address me.”

Taiga got off the bed. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll do something to you? You even willingly gave me your name. I could be one of those evil vampires for all you know.”

“Well, at least I get to die at the hands of a beautiful vampire.” Juri got off the bed too. He looked down on the clothes he was wearing, sensing that it felt different from what he was wearing last night. “Are these yours?” He said. “Thanks for dressing me.”

“Tanaka-san,”

“Juri,” Juri corrected him. “My name. Use it.”

“O-okay. Juri,” Taiga said. “I’m Kyomoto Taiga. You can call me Taiga. Can you walk to the kitchen or would you rather wait for your food here while resting?”

Juri shook his head. “I should probably stretch my limbs. For better blood circulation. Oh, if you have liver, spinach, or really anything that could help with blood production, maybe that will be a better meal for me.”

“Well, if you’re coming with me to the kitchen, you might as well choose what you want to eat.”

Their walk to the kitchen was spent in silence, except for the sound of their footsteps. Juri was very nonchalant about everything, he was not even looking around the villa and simply walked a few steps behind Taiga.

Taiga instructed Juri to get whatever refreshments he wanted while he waited for his food. To his surprise, instead of water, Juri grabbed a bottle of energy drink. Juri sat on the stool on the kitchen island, quietly waiting for Taiga to finish cooking. Taiga opted to cook stir-fried vegetables with liver, it was the quickest meal that he could serve to Juri which meets Juri’s request of something that could help with his blood production. Taiga worried he might have drank a little too much of Juri’s blood, making the human conscious of regaining his lost blood.

Juri ate in silence. Taiga was not much of a talker - unless it was a business thing - and he also had no idea what they should talk about. After all, they were practically strangers who met in an unusual way.

Taiga decided to start with an apology. “I’m sorry about last night.” Juri looked up at him. “I can’t explain it in detail, but I was not in the best shape last night.”

“It was the blood moon, right?” Juri said. “I’ve read about it. About how it affects vampires.”

Taiga let out a sigh. “Still, it’s not an excuse. You were… you had no idea. I attacked you and sucked your blood.”

“And grinded on my cock too.” Juri was blunt with his words, apparent from the way he spoke without holding back. “So is it true? You get this rush, sorta like an increase in sexual desire, when you drink blood?”

“Yes, we do get… an urge when we suck blood.”

Juri was nodding along. “I see, vampires get horny too.” Taiga blushed at the word. “I’m not one to judge. It’s not like I didn’t get hard last night when you had your way with my neck.”

“My venom probably affected you. It happens. The venom doesn’t necessarily transform you into a vampire unless you’re sucked dry off of your blood and only the vampire’s venom is running in your blood vessels. But when vampire venom mixes with your blood it gets…” Taiga sighed, he tried to think of a different word to use but his mind was not working all that well, not when he was confused with Juri’s behaviour. “It gets you horny.”

Juri swallowed the last of the liver on his plate. “Really? I thought I was just really turned on by your beauty. Has anyone ever told you that you have a pretty face? Well, it was said that vampires tend to look attractive enough to lure their prey.”

“You know a lot about vampires, huh?”

Juri shrugged his shoulders. Still, he looked relaxed as he talked to Taiga. Even Though he was alone with a vampire in a villa that seemed to only have the two of them in it. "I know enough."

Taiga did not want to jump to any conclusions. But with the way Juri was handling his situation right now and him knowing some things about vampires, Taiga could not help but think of the worst.

"Are you a vampire hunter?" Taiga braced himself for the worst. He was the one who dressed Juri and has not taken his eyes off of him since they got to the villa. Juri does not even have a bag with him. Taiga doubted Juri had any weapons that could lead to his death.

Juri snickered. "Ah~" he leaned back on the chair. "I got caught this early?"

"You-"

"Don't worry. I'm not here to kill you. I'm not here to turn you over. I'm here to be of used to you."

Taiga still had his guard up. He has not felt anything wrong with his body even when he had a fair share of Juri's blood last night. If Juri was taking supplements that vampire hunters usually take to alter their blood chemistry as a defense for when vampires suck their blood, he should be feeling weak right about now. Regret now flooded his mind. He took Juri directly to his house, what if Juri has a tracker implant? After what he did to Juri last night, he can't exactly be called a non-threat vampire and that will give vampire hunters an excuse to execute him.

"It's true that I come from a line of vampire hunters," Juri broke the silence. "But don't worry, I don't take supplements because I'm not classified as a bait. I don't have any weapons in possession, you should know. I don't have a tracker, I had it removed." Juri lifted his arm to show Taiga the scar on his forearm. "I defected. Maybe you'll ease up knowing that fact."

Taiga did not even notice, he must have looked really tense just now which prompted Juri to give him assurance. But for what exactly?

"Relax, Taiga. I know you're probably thinking about a lot right now. I don't blame you for being worried. Especially since you're a pureblood. You have a bloodline you need to preserve."

"You said you knew enough." Taiga bared his fangs, his way to intimidate Juri. "Information about fullbloods are not found in books or gossip."

"Not in regular books," Juri retorted. "But you see, I'm not a bait. Not a fighter. Not a tracker. Which leaves only one more option."

"A bookkeeper."

"Correct!" Juri clapped his hands. "But again, I defected. I found out a little too much about vampires and humans and a lot more that’s hard to explain. While we vampire hunters say that we only hunt those who pose a threat to humans, I think you're old enough to know that there are some hunters who kill just because they want to."

"Same with vampires. Not everyone is the same."

"So, I hope you understand. I'm not like the other hunters." There's an air of confidence around Juri when he smiles. "I really wouldn't mind dying at the hands of a beautiful vampire like you. Don't worry, no one will look for me. As I said, I defected."

"What do you want from me? Money? A stable job? A place to live?"

"I've always wondered how it would feel having sex with a vampire. I've read accounts of how good vampires are at sex. Having lived as long as you have, you probably have a lot of experience."

Unfortunately, Taiga did not. It was embarrassing to admit but he was a virgin. 

Vampires are born human until their vampire venom awakens. Some wait for it naturally, others does rituals to speed it up. For a pureblood like Taiga, it happens when they develop and age enough to the point where they can decide to have a vampire who had stopped aging to transfer some of their venom to them so their body will stop aging. For Taiga, his father was the one he could come to when he wanted to stop aging. Taiga did not want to be stuck in a teenage body forever because there would have been a lot of restrictions on his actions. He decided to stop aging when he reached twenty-seven - he looked mature enough to hold high-level positions but at the same time youthful enough to still look like his parents' child.

Despite reaching adulthood before he decided to stop aging, there was still a lot that he was not able to do. One of them was to have sex. He did play with sex toys on himself, but never had he had a partner.

"You won't get the shorter end of the stick. I could give you my blood in exchange for sex."

Taiga chuckled. "You'll let me pull your strings just for the thrill of having sex with a vampire?"

"An attractive vampire."

"Were you in the forest in an attempt to lure a vampire?"

"No. You just really happened to find me."

Taiga let out a heavy sigh. "I have work to do."

On the way to the study, Taiga pointed Juri to the direction of the game room and the garden. Not really knowing what the other likes to do, or whatever the hell he felt like doing now. But as for him, he needs time to think things through. Especially now, no one else was around. His villa was not exactly the safest place right now. He had no guards anywhere and he was alone with a vampire hunter.

Taiga is confident he is stronger than Juri though. But, still, he needed to figure out the best course of action. And he needed to shrug Juri off his back for a bit for that. It does not help that the smell of Juri’s blood was distracting to him.

Juri, however, seemed to have other things in mind and Taiga was getting nowhere with his plan. Juri followed him to his study with no complaints, not even a word at all.

Taiga really did have work to do. That was true as he only called in to his secretary that he would be working from home for the day. With his laptop in front of him, Taiga can't help but divide his attention between his work and glancing secretly at Juri who was lounging on his study room's couch.

"Do you really not want to do anything? I mean, I have a pretty updated list of consoles and games in the game room. That's way better than staying on that couch doing nothing."

"I've told you what I want to do,"

Taiga let out an exasperated sigh.

“I want to have sex with a vampire,” Juri said as a reminder. He has his elbow resting on the sofa, cradling his head with one hand. “But you see, my vampire has work.”

Taiga’s fingers stopped typing momentarily. His heart has been beating normally no matter what he does but with hearing Juri say ‘my vamipre’ he felt it skipping a few beats. Juri had suddenly claimed him as his own and Taiga has never heard anyone say that. Not in the fifty years that he had spent being in his twenty-seven-year-old body.

“I don’t even know if I should trust you. Don’t you have work?!”

“That’s why I’m purposely not going out of your sight,” Juri said in a matter-of-fact voice. “I told you, I defected. I don’t have to do my work anymore. Just so you know, I’m a uni graduate so I could probably get a different job. Provided I apply somewhere not owned by vampire hunters who got pissed off that I defected. We do need to go somewhere soon, though. I already got delayed a day but with your resources maybe I’ll get to where I need to go faster. After all, money talks.”

“What makes you think I’ll let you use me and my resources to get to where you need to be?”

Juri scoffed. He walked towards Taiga’s table, sitting a few centimeters away from Taiga’s laptop. “Because we’ll be off to somewhere where I hid a lot of files involving pure-bloods. You’re young, but you should more or less know what happens to purebloods out there. Ones whose identity has been exposed or…sold.”

The next thing Taiga knew, he was inside a car being driven by Juri. Not really absorbing the reality of the situation yet, he was typing in directives to leave for his household staff. He has no idea how long they will be gone. Heck, he does not have a clue where exactly they were headed.

“We should have at least brought a few things.” Taiga said as they went further away from the city and continuously threaded the freeway. “It seems like we’re going somewhere far.”

“We are going somewhere far,” Juri confirmed, keeping his eyes on the road again. “But, trust me, it’s better if we bring things we have no material attachments to. We can buy whatever we need along the way and get rid of any excess baggage when the time calls for it.”

“Thank you for at least letting me bring my work laptop.” Taiga rolled his eyes.

“Don’t go all sarcastic on me now,” Juri said. “Besides, isn’t it more exciting to go on an unplanned trip?”

“Unplanned? But you know exactly where we are supposed to go. While I have no idea what to do.”

“What you need to do is to fund this trip and maybe have sex with me one of these days.”

“Juri!” Taiga sighed. “Just when I thought you were finally getting serious.”

“I shoot my shot every time. You got into the car with me, so I guess you trust me. You never know, you might also give in and have sex with me soon.”

“Shut up! I only went along with this so I’ll know what you know about vampires. Normal ones and purebloods.”

“What if I was just making things up?”

“Are you?”

“Of course not. Why would I lie? I can get what I want by being honest.”

“And what you want is to have sex with a vampire, I get it.”

“Are you okay? Do you need some of my blood now?”

“I’m not a blood-crazed vampire.” Taiga’s tone was serene. He tried to keep down his reaction, thinking that Juri probably did not mean to accuse him of being blood-crazed. After all, the human only asked if he needed blood. It’s just that Taiga was not one to be offered blood, he knows when he needed it and he wants to be the one that determines when he will get it.

They arrived at an apartment complex in the next city. Juri parked the car and casually made his way to one of the units. There was a certain rhythm to the way Juri knocked on the door, Taiga figured it might have been some sort of code. Juri might have been kidding around by teasing Taiga about having sex with him, but the human looked serious enough about other things. They were let inside the apartment by a man who looked to be roughly the same age as Juri, probably a bit younger but not too young.

The apartment looked just as normal as any other human apartment. Nothing about it looked suspicious. They sat down on the sofa and were served with tea, water, and biscuits.

“Sorry, that’s all I have at the moment.” The human said. He eyed Taiga from head to toe before looking over at Juri. “You finally reached your dream?”

“I wish. This vampire sucked my blood but has not fucked me yet.” Juri drank some water. “I’m just here to pick up my bag, Shintaro.”

“Juri,” Shintaro suddenly lost the cheerfulness in his complexion and turned serene at the mention of Juri’s bags. “Are you absolutely sure about this? I mean, I know you’ve been wandering around for a year now. But I think the elders will be willing to take you back.”

“I’m not going back, Shin.” Juri said with a strong resolve. “I’ve made my choice. I don’t want to be associated with vampire hunting anymore.”

Shintaro glanced over at Taiga before turning his attention back to Juri. “Is it because of him?”

“It was just a coincidence that I found him. But remember, I defected a year ago.” Juri said with a straight face. “Whether I find him or not, I would still defect from the vampire hunting scene. I don’t want to involve you any further, Shin. We don’t know if keeping in touch will put you in danger.”

Shintaro shook his head. “I can understand if we don’t communicate as often as we did before. But at the very least, when shit comes down to it or you’re in a worser situation, you know you can call on me anytime, right? I’m not afraid to risk my life with you.”

Juri laughed in an amused way. “You make it sound like we’re lovers. Don’t let Taiga get the wrong idea. He might never have sex with me if he thinks I have something going on with someone else.”

Taiga sat quietly and let the two talk among themselves. He listened in but never gave an opinion about anything. After all, he might have some knowledge about vampire hunters, but he was still an outsider who only knew surface-level things about them.

Shintaro handed Juri a single backpack.”Everything you ever left with me is in there. You can check it before you leave.”

Juri rummaged through everything inside the bag. “We might not see each other for a long while, Shin.”

Shintaro eyed Taiga once again. “Take care of him. He can be a little reckless.”

“I-”

“We need to go,” Juri cut off the conversation. “Shintaro, you better take care of yourself too.”

Shintaro nodded.

Taiga was typing away on his laptop but a thought kept bothering him. Juri has been silent since they left Shintaro’s place, his focus kept on the road. It was not that they always kept talking since they met, the silence just made Taiga a bit uncomfortable after hearing what Juri and Shintaro talked about.

“Are - are you in trouble?” Taiga asked without taking his eyes off of his laptop screen. There was a bit of silence before Juri responded and Taiga had no idea what kind of expression the other had on at the moment.

“Are you concerned about me now?” There was a hint of playfulness in his tone but there was a bit of hesitation too.

I wouldn’t have brought you home if I wasn’t , Taiga kept his thought to himself. “I don’t know much about your side, but if elders are involved, it usually means it’s a pretty big deal.”

“Well, it is not yet a big deal. The elders are involved because they always are when someone decides to do what I did. It will be a big deal when they find out what I know and researched about before I can get rid of any evidence.”

“What? Aren’t bookkeepers supposed to report everything that they find out?”

Juri chuckled. “That is true. But, I was never one for rules anyways.”

“Figures,”

“That’s why I have no issues getting fucked by a vampire.”

“Juri!” There it was again, the frantic beating of his heart. He could feel warmth creeping up his face, he knew he was probably turning red right now. Something that has not happened to him in a while. “You should know that wanting to do that, there’s three different outcomes. First, you can wake up alive and human, the best outcome. Second, I might accidentally turn you into a vampire. And the worst one, I might kill you.”

“I wouldn’t mind dying in your arms.”

Taiga let out a sigh. He really can’t put up a fight on Juri.

Blossom City

After driving for four hours since they left Shintaro’s apartment, they finally arrive at Blossom City. Juri parked the car at a branch of a Kyomoto-owned mall.

"Let's walk for a bit," Juri said. "We need to stretch out our limbs. That was a long drive."

"Aren't you hungry?"

Juri shook his head. "I'm still good. Are you?"

"I'm not the one who is human here."

"This will be quick. We can book a hotel to spend the night at later and I'll eat there."

- - -

They arrived at a bank that offered storage services. Juri was required to go through an interview and sign some papers before they were let into the storage wing. Accompanied by one of the bank's staff, they collected some folders and pouches from a vault that Juri was renting out.

Taiga was not ignorant about these things. From the get-go, he already had a feeling that Juri did not rent an ordinary storage in the bank. They were led to the very middle part of the storage wing, going through one door after another in a maze-like pattern.

Juri rented one of the higher-end vaults, clearly it cost a fortune. This makes Taiga believe that these might be high-priority files. The two don't talk about the files on their way back to the car. Juri tossed them to the back seat before taking his seat on the passenger side.

"Isn't it expensive to rent that vault?"

"It is if you rent it for a long time. But you know, I make a lot of money being a bookkeeper and my freelance work." Juri explained as he drove out of the parking lot. "Have you decided which hotel we should spend the night at?"

Taiga reached over to the navigation panel and pinned a hotel location. "Don't worry about the cost. I'll cover for us."

- - -

Taiga decided to get them a suite room instead of a regular one. They can have their own bedroom and bathroom, they can have the freedom to move however they want to without being careful of the other one.

Thankfully, the Kyomotos have a mall in this area. Taiga was able to call in a favor from the staff to bring him and Juri some necessities and clothes. Juri told him he was fine with whatever Taiga chose for him, throwing in playful comments about how he was leaving his life at the hands of Taiga. The older neither confirmed nor denied it, instead he focused on making sure they had things they might need for at least two days. He included a meal for Juri tonight as well as he was not too keen on the idea of having room service food.

"You already take such good care of me," Juri said with a smile on his face before digging into the food when it came. "I'll keep my body healthy for you."

"Keep your body healthy for yourself," Taiga drank his tea while he focused his attention on his laptop.

"Is drinking tea a habit you used to have when you were human?"

Taiga nodded. "Purebloods are different from normal and half vampires, we can still taste food. I don't get hungry or thirsty, but I miss the taste of things from time to time so even if I'm not around people who don't know I'm a vampire, I eat and drink whatever."

Juri was nodding along as Taiga spoke, listening intently despite eating at the same time. "I'm lucky it was you who found me then."

Taiga can't deny it to himself, whenever Juri speaks like this, it makes his heart skip a beat or two. Add the fact that the human had such a nice smile. Taiga was having doubts that it was just Juri's blood that was attracting his attention, maybe it was the man himself.

"I'm going to wash up and rest," Juri cleaned up the take-out boxes he ate from. "You can check the documents we picked up today if you want. I'm not really keeping it a secret from you. I'll destroy them once we get a hold of everything I have hidden. My only request is for you not to make copies of this. You may be a pureblood, but there are still ways to harm you. I won’t do anything to you but I can’t speak for other vampire hunters if they find out you have these stuff."

Taiga took Juri’s absence as a chance to wash off the car smell. Maybe even drown out some of Juri’s scent that lingered - which was probably embedded in his being and not just because Juri was in such close proximity to him since he found him last night. This was foreign to him. No human scent has ever lingered once he was no longer around them. But with Juri… even with the suds of shampoo and soap covering him up, he could still smell him. He wondered if it was because he had an enhanced sense of smell compared to humans and Juri was with him in the same hotel suite. Maybe, he just doesn’t smell the individual human scent in the office because he got desensitized from being around most of them all the time.

Stepping out of the shower, Taiga got dressed in the clothes the kind-hearted mall staff brought over for them - a cream-colored knit oversized sweater and linen pants to match. It was something comfortable but at the same time something he could go out in just in case Juri decided they should be on the move again.

Coming back to the shared area of the suite, the stack of folders and memory cards were still on the table. It was as if they were calling Taiga to check them out. Juri was not out yet, the human was probably going to take longer to clean himself up and relax his muscles as he was the one who had been driving them around the whole day.

Taiga was no stranger to confidential files. He has enough programs on his laptop to protect him from virus threats and security breaches, it was a pretty safe tool to use to open the files that Juri so carefully hid but was willing to show him under the condition that he does not replicate anything. Taiga was also very curious about what exactly is the extent of Juri’s knowledge when it comes to the vampire race, especially about purebloods. He had not exactly asked him directly about his age, but Juri looked close to his mid-twenties.

The first memory card he plugged in was full of pictures. He recognizes a few of them, he’s seen them in social gatherings before. He could put a name on the faces but he only knew them on a surface level. A few other memory cards were also full of pictures. At some point, he eventually saw ones of pure-bloods, which were somehow named a different file name and he thought it was deliberately done so it mixed in on other photos in random order despite looking like they were all taken in the same day. Inside another pouch were memory cards again. This time they contained documents.

Taiga read through them. There were documents that looked as though they were done in a hurry and then it would have a counterpart that was meticulously arranged with almost the same file name except the cleaner ones had a version number.

It was no wonder Juri seemed to know a lot. Taiga was not even halfway through the stacks of memory card and it was already scaring him how much information about vampires were found in Juri’s digital notes. Taiga got too engrossed in reading that he did not even notice when Juri had joined him in the shared room. Juri, on the other hand, was scanning through the printed documents, having no laptop to check up on the digital ones.

“Don’t tell me you plan on reading all these tonight?”

“I don’t exactly need to sleep. As you may have already known. But you do. So no need to stay out here with me. I won’t duplicate anything.”

“Oh, I’m sure you won’t,” Juri stretched out on the sofa. “I’ll sleep out here with you then.”

“Sleeping on the sofa will be bad for your back. It’s bad enough you had to drive for hours. You should give your body the rest it needs.”

“Then, come with me to the room and read there.”

“Juri,”

“Looks like I’m sleeping on the sofa.”

Taiga let out a sigh. He separated the memory cards into a pouch of the ones he had already looked through and the ones he had yet to check. “Stubborn human.”

Taiga had the bigger room and the bigger bed, the two made their way to his room instead of Juri’s. Taiga kept the lights on dim in at least half of the room while the other half’s lights were completely shut off. The dimmed-down lights were enough for his eyesight anyway, it was better for them to adjust the lights for Juri to be able to sleep with a little bit of comfort.

Juri was tucked under the duvet, with only his head peeking out. While Taiga was seated on the bed, just the lower part of his body was covered by the duvet, and the laptop sitting on his lap. The nightstand provided enough room for Taiga to place down the documents and placed the pouches of memory cards inside the drawer and kept it open so he does not forget them.

- - -

In the middle of the night, Taiga could hear Juri lightly snoring. Somehow, it gave him assurance that finally the human was getting the rest that he needed. Taiga had brisked through the photos that Juri had collected for god knows how long but he never once saw pictures of his family, not one from their bloodline. He did see a lot of the vampires that usually settled in the northern areas. He glanced over at Juri, wondering how much it physically strained him to gather this much information How long Juri might be spending his days alone or was he working with a team? He felt very worried about Juri’s well-being when what he really should be worried about right now was Juri’s extensive knowledge about vampires. The human might be downplaying his bookkeeper role.

Juri has not once tried to harm him. Not even when they had him outnumbered when they visited Juri’s friend to get his bag. Taiga leaned his head back on the wall and closed his eyes. He still had more of the printed documents to read. This was no time to get distracted with Juri.

A big chunk of the printed documents were counterparts of the digital ones that he already read. Some were printed profiles of the vampires that had photos in the memory cards he breezed through earlier. The last folder had him stunned for a bit.

Trade.

If it meant what Taiga thinks it meant, then Juri really threaded dangerous waters. Even as a pureblood, his family always cautioned him about trades involving vampires and humans. As far as he knew, aside from business deals, his family never delved into other forms of trades with humans. Despite knowing much about it, Taiga was not stupid enough to believe that it was simply not his father’s scene. He’s heard a lot of gossip, some involving lives - both humans and vampires alike.

This file was relatively thinner than the other ones he scanned through but by far this one was the most nervewracking one of the day. He paid more attention to the contents of this one than the others he read through, his hand having shown his hesitation to turn to the next page.

He let out a breath he didn’t notice he was holding. Not that he really needed to breathe, he just does it out of habit and to not blow his cover of masquerading as a human. He felt relieved that even though there were details about some illegal trades, it was nothing compared to what he had feared he might see in the file.

But then again, this was just one of many of Juri’s piles. Taiga had no idea how many exactly they were seeking, but judging by the amount of keys he saw Juri hold up when rummaging through his bags, it was a lot.

Taiga reached out a hand to gently caress Juri’s head, careful not to wake the other up. He looked at him fondly and wondered just how much the other exhausted his body to gather the information he had. He felt a little protective of him after having read the piles of information they got a hold of today. Taiga was trained for combat. Although he does not use it often, his training was continuous as on top of being a vampire he was also a business magnate, and threats were always looming around the corner for him. If it comes down to it, he knew he could at least fight for Juri.

To why he was willing to fight and protect this human he had just met, Taiga had no answer to it…yet.

They were back on the road after having brunch. They headed west of Blossom City. Juri did not tell Taiga where exactly they were headed but Taiga willingly got inside the car. It was not like Juri said that they were headed to Blossom City when they first left his villa anyway. And so far, he was still alive and well. Having read Juri’s first pile of files made Taiga want to know more. What else does Juri know?

“I’m not going to touch you,” Juri said. Taiga was probably looking a little tense, with all the thoughts swimming in his head. “At least not until you tell me to or you’re in any immediate danger. But other than that, I’m not gonna touch you.”

Taiga did find it strange. For someone so adamant about sleeping with a vampire, Juri has never laid a finger on him. Juri stands next to him, sits next to him, and even lies in the same bed as him. But he never reached out to touch Taiga, not even once.

“And if I touch you first?”

“I’ll take that as you giving me permission to touch you,” Juri was quick to respond. “So be very careful when deciding to touch me. Because I’ll return the favor if you do.”

Taiga picked up that Juri meant a lot more than just the casual touching of skin, he doesn’t miss the underlying tone of Juri hinting on something else more sexual. “Do you mind telling me where we are headed this time?” Taiga changed the subject, he’s control with himself seem to have been faltering lately and he’s blaming it all on Juri’s scent. He has never been exposed to a scent he liked this long before. Unlike some vampires who gives in to their impulses, Taiga has never once aggressively tried to keep a human he liked the scent by his side. Not like he was keeping Juri, in reverse, it was Juri that was keeping him, he was just going along with it.

“Lavandula city,” Juri spoke to the GPS to pull up the direction.

“Ah! I have a rest house there!” Excitement was evident in Taiga’s voice. The first thing he ever did with his adult money was to build up a rest house for himself in that city, more specifically in the mountain parts of that city. It was a place where he could have some peace from the world. But eversince he assumed the CEO position, he hasn’t had time to seclude himself there.

“Really?” Juri asked. “Do you want to stay there for a few days?”

“Will that be okay? Won’t it interfere with your timeline?”

Juri lightly chuckled, he glanced briefly at Taiga and looked backed on the road. “It’ll be fine. Besides, you must know that these banks storage facilities somehow communicate with each other. It’ll grow suspicions when I open one too many of mine closely together.”

Taiga nodded along. What Juri said really did make sense. “Ah, I don’t have housekeepers there. We might need to clean it up a bit and maybe I’ll go buy some groceries so there’d be food.”

“I’ll come with you,”

“Really?” There was a concerned tone in Taiga’s voice. “Wouldn’t that, I don’t know, put you in danger?”

“Taiga, I can be seen in public. I’m not a criminal,” Juri chuckled. “You’re worrying about the wrong things.”

“I’m sorry,”

“No need to apologize. I understand why you think that way. Especially after you’ve read the first batch of documents we retrieved.”

Juri seemed unfazed that Taiga owned yet another mall in the area. Taiga was very vocal about liking this particular city. Even animatedly told Juri about the fields of lavender circling the city, the best part of the whole city for Taiga.

The rest house was pretty far from the busy area of the city. Taiga suggested they get everything they need from the mall before heading up the mountain path. His rest house was not too far in the middle of the mountain but it was still rather a long way from areas that sell whatever they might need so it was of better judgment to buy some things first (and not at all because Taiga wanted to check how business was in this area).

It was the middle of a workday, not much people were at the supermarket, it was mostly old women and middle-aged ladies that was there. It was easier for Taiga to push around the cart, not having to be too careful about accidentally hitting a child that’s running around because there was none and the foot traffic was spacious enough that he even nodded in greeting to a few aunties that smiled at him. Juri was walking close to him, within an arm’s reach but was still careful not to make skin contact with him.

"It's okay to react, you know?" Juri said when the aisle was clear except for the two of them. "You're not alone, I'm here to listen to whatever."

Taiga thought he was being subtle with his reaction but Juri was more observant than he thought. What Juri said was true, he did want to babble about the things he was looking at around the supermarket. Despite having people waiting at his hand and foot ready to do whatever Taiga needed from them, going to the supermarket was something Taiga enjoyed doing. He rarely gets to do it because of his packed schedule, but on days that he is able to do so, he enjoys every bit of it.

Taiga beamed at Juri. "Don't go regretting that now, okay? I tend to talk a lot."

Juri shrugged his shoulder. "I don't mind."

"Oh, no need to hold back, by the way," Taiga stopped and turned to face Juri. "You should know that I have too much money and I could barely even keep track. Don't worry about our expenses."

Juri remained unfazed. "You do know that when I said we'll use your resources that I was just teasing you?"

"But it makes sense for me to pay. I don't mind at all and I don't want to argue about this." Taiga stood firm. "I'll be spending for everything and that's final."

"Wow, what do they call this," Juri was deep in thought as they started to walk again. "Did I get myself," he leaned in a bit closer to Taiga, "a sugar vampire daddy?" He said in a low enough voice that only the two of them could hear.

Taiga stopped in his tracks. “Juri!”

Juri let out a carefree laugh. “You’re cute when you get all shy like that.” He threw in a small bottle of shampoo into their cart.

The two decided to get small-sized toiletries as it seemed more practical to do so with them moving around from one place to another. Taiga was casually telling Juri about whatever popped into his mind while buying stuff - fun facts about a product or a memory he associates with the product - or how product packaging have changed through the years. Juri listened attentively and chipped in his thoughts from time to time.

Somehow, it was easy to fall into conversation with each other. It seemed to come naturally for them, it was not like they met just two nights ago. Taiga was relaxed when talking to Juri. He felt a little closer to him as he noticed some things about him while they were in the supermarket - like how Juri took a few snacks but stocked up on energy drinks. Juri was teasing him when he said he loved tomatoes. The human was carefree when he teased that Taiga probably liked tomatoes as it was almost the same color as blood.

Since the supermarket clothing aisle did not really have a selection of good quality clothes, the two decided to drop by the department store. They talked about staying in the area for at least three days.

“Ah, what about your work?”

“I asked my father to take over things for a while.” Taiga said as he strapped in his seatbelt. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him what we are doing or anything about you. I just said I wanted some time off and he was more than willing to help.”

“It’s okay if you tell your father about me,”

Taiga shook his head. “The less people know, the less we put in danger.”

“Gathering my own files is hardly dangerous. We’re not stealing anything. Well, technically we’re not. Since the organization does not even know they exist.”

Taiga has a feeling that Juri might be downplaying the severity of the situation at hand but chooses not to argue about it. “My family’s not one to ask a lot anyway. They like having the feeling that I’m enjoying freedom despite the life that I lead.”

Once they arrived at Taiga’s rest house, the two got to work cleaning the place. Enough for the duration of their stay. They took off the protective covering up almost everything in the house and dusted them off to be able to use them. Just like in the hotel, they each took up one room in the rest house. 

They settled for a quick and easy dinner, both exhausted from the drive, the shopping, and the cleaning around.

“Taiga,” Juri said as he stopped in front of the door leading to his room. “If there’s anything you need from me, don’t be afraid to ask. I think we’re hardly strangers now.”

“Juri, this is sudden and out of the blue. But how old are you?”

“Twenty-six.”

“Ah, a year younger than my last human age then. Get some rest, Juri.”

“You too, old man,” Juri teased with a grin on his face.

Taiga got up from bed at dawn. He made his way to the kitchen. Yesterday, they bought some stock to last for at least five meals. He wanted to make up for making Juri eat take-outs and fast food over the past days, so he decided to cook him a good breakfast and maybe even prepare for their lunch this early if he finished up breakfast preparation the way he pictured it.

Juri did not tell him what time they would be going out today, all Taiga knew was that they were visiting another storage facility today to get more of Juri's hidden files.

Taiga engrossed himself with cooking. Along with the searing pan, he could hear the chirping of the birds that came in through the window. The ambiance of the rest house was different from his villa, although his villa was away from the city, there was still some of the city noise he could hear due to his enhanced hearing. The mountain was certainly different from the bustling city, here Taiga could hear nature, which grounds him on the fact that he’s walking on a living planet. Not that he hates the sounds around the city, but he just prefers the sound of nature buzzing in his ear.

“Breakfast smells good,” Juri took a seat on one of the kitchen island’s stool. “Did you make it for me?” Stretching out his limbs, the human was already firing up his teasing early in the morning.

Taiga nodded. "Your body needs sustenance, not just rest."

"What about you? You haven't had blood since we met. Sure you're eating human food, but that doesn't really do much for your body. Do you need me to?"

"I've marinated the chicken for lunch too," Taiga avoided the talk about blood drinking. "Hope you'd like your breakfast," He mustered up a smile. It would be a lie if Taiga says he was not craving for a little bit of blood now. But his thirst was still manageable, he can still control himself around humans at this point.

Juri does not push the subject. They fell into another comfortable conversation as they ate their breakfast. They talked about food they like and don't like. They compared their university years, which had quite a bit of a difference with Taiga going to a prestigious private university while Juri went to a community college.

Juri volunteered to clean up the dirty dishes and everything else that Taiga used to prepare their meal. Taiga kept him company, he was not going to say it out loud but he liked Juri's company. Despite the human's teasing nature.

Taiga showed Juri the hidden vaults on the floorboards of his rest house. Finding a vault that was totally empty, they tucked in the first batch of the documents they collected before leaving to get another batch.

Taiga was getting paler. Under the natural light of the sun, it was more obvious. Thankfully, the fall season was cold enough to have an excuse to dress in long sleeves and layers. He's always been pale, he doubts Juri and strangers will think of how pale he is as unusual.

Juri walked out of the house, he scanned Taiga from head to toe. Taiga doesn't miss the slight arc of Juri's eyebrows and the sudden exasperated sigh that the human let out. It looked like Juri wanted to say something but held himself back.

The bank they went to this time was a different bank. But the procedure to get to the storage facility vault was almost the same process. Just like with the first one, Juri's vault was yet again in the innermost part of the facility. Ushers to these kinds of facilities are well-trained to keep their emotions at bay, Taiga could only imagine that their usher was probably a bit confused why Juri was placing documents and memory cards in an area that is usually used by people for prized possessions such as jewelry and gold bars. True, these facilities have seen their fair share of confidential documents, but those are usually not hidden this deep in the facility.

To avoid suspicion, not that there was any that they were aware of, the two decided to stroll around the city for a bit. There was a strip along the road that seemed to be a bazaar, a lot of food stalls were there and the two decided to have a bite here and there.

Once they had their fill, they went back to the rest house. The ride was spent in silence. As much as they easily fall into a comfortable conversation, they were also not bothered when silence surrounded them.

They were relatively full when they reached the rest house. Instead of getting right to preparing their dinner, they decided instead to take a shower to clean themselves up.

Even after cleaning themselves up and watching a movie, they were still not hungry enough for a heavy meal. Instead, they ate the chicken Taiga had marinated with some side vegetables. Something light to get Juri through the night.

While Juri was busy cleaning up the kitchen and dining room, Taiga started to go over the documents they collected today. There were thinner printed ones so he started with that.

"Let me guess," Juri joined him on the couch, keeping a considerable distance between them. "You'll stay up all night going through as much as you can again?"

"And you will insist on staying with me. Let's just cut to the chase and proceed to my room. You need your rest."

Juri laughed. "Ah! You never fail to amuse me." He followed Taiga to his room.

Juri idly scrolled through his phone while Taiga read over some files. At some point, Juri had fallen asleep and Taiga had to gently pry his phone from his hands and settle it on the nightstand.

The more Taiga read, the more uneasy he got. It felt like there was something sinister lurking in the corner about to hit him like a tidal wave.

And there it was. What he had feared. The batches of memory cards did not only contain pictures secretly taken this time from a considerable distance, the pictures looked like they were taken at a closer distance. Which could also be explained by the wonders of technology. However, Taiga had reached the cards that had videos in it. The point of view looking a lot like Juri shooting at different distances, depending on which clip he was watching.

Taiga should have known about the dangers that came with Juri's responsibility as a bookkeeperm. He should have had an idea of what lengths the human went through to gather as much information as he can.

Some of the videos even had timestamps on them. Taiga's heart clenched as he did the math between Juri's current age and his age when he took the video based on the timestamps. Some of the videos were taken in broad daylight or public spaces, that was not that concerning, it was not as dangerous as…

Taiga froze in his place and held his breath. The videos timestamp showed it was taken eight years ago, which would have meant Juri was eighteen when he was filming. The video was dark, it was obviously night time, and with the amount of rustling leaves in the background, Taiga could tell this was a forest. Once the camera focused, there it was - a face off between a human and a vampire. Juri was filming them, putting himself in as much danger as the human currently faced to faced with a vampire.

This was not news to Taiga. It happened more often than the vampire clan would have liked and it was mostly turned vampires that made this kind of mess. Taiga looked back at Juri, imagining how young Juri might have felt as he watched and recorded a fellow human being attacked and eaten by a vampire.

It was not just that one instance that Juri caught on camera. There were a lot more videos. There was even a video where it was obvious that Juri was running as fast as he can as stealthily as possible, he was not even able to turn off his camera in his haste and recorded his whole escape attempt. The videos just got more intense, more dangerous. It clicked on Taiga just how much danger Juri was putting himself into, even from a young age. He feared about not only the physical strain it must have been for Juri but also his mental and emotional well-being.

Taiga put down his laptop on the nightstand. He turned to watch the peacefully sleeping human beside him. He could only hope that Juri had someone he could talk to during those times, someone who would hold him when he needed it the most.

Taiga laid down next to Juri. He pulled him in an embrace, his body was not as warm as a human's is but he hopes his embrace can put his thoughts across. He felt like protecting Juri, he wanted to protect Juri. From what exactly, he does not know. All Taiga knows is that whatever or whoever would be after the human, he would protect him.

"You're hugging me," Juri said and snaked his arms around Taiga too. "Like I said, I'd touch you if you take the initiative to touch me first." There was a nervous chuckle, as if Juri knew what brought out Taig's action.

"You were so young. You had to witness a lot of blood baths. Induced by humans and vampires. Juri," Taiga held Juri tighter. "You won't ever need to go through that again." Taiga planted a kiss on Juri's forehead. "I'll protect you. Just… stay. Stay with me. Use my resources or whatever. Just don't put yourself through that again."

Taiga meant to plant another kiss on Juri's forehead but the human had other plans, he leaned up for their lips to meet instead. It was a soft and gentle kiss, but somehow, it said a lot more than an exchange of words. They pull back for Juri to breathe before they properly angled their heads to better fit their lips together. The kiss was slow, unhurried, and soft. For a moment, the world around Taiga seem to stop, like kissing Juri was the only thing that mattered at the time.

It was not surprising that Juri was kissing Taiga back. Juri was always vocal about wanting to be touched by Taiga. The want was already brewing inside them, it was just a matter of time before someone loses control. But Juri was apparently a man of his word and really waited for Taiga to be the one that breaks first.

Taiga held Juri against his body, wrapping his arms around him loose enough for the human to be able to sleep comfortably in his arms.

At the crack of dawn, Taiga carefully slipped off the bed. He looked back at Juri, peacefully sleeping Juri.

Last night, Taiga gave in and indulged himself. There was a strong want to protect Juri after seeing the lot of what the human had been through. Taiga was sure it was not even a quarter of what the human had gone through when he was still a bookkeeper.

Aside from his indulgence last night, Taiga almost lost control. If they didn’t stop when they did, he would have probably bitten Juri. He hasn’t had blood since they met and Taiga really needed some soon. He needs strength to protect Juri after all, and being parched for blood would greatly affect his strength and control.

Good thing they were currently at his mountain rest house. Plenty of choices for him to drink blood from.

Taiga has not had much practice tackling preys lately that he did not expect it would have been tough for him. Granted, he still was able to come back to the rest house in one piece with his thirst quenched. He examined himself in front of the dresser mirror, his face was not scratched at all but he was still taken aback by how battered his clothes were. He could only wince at the thought of what his sweater hid underneath, he’s sure it’s a canvass of scratches and blood.

Taiga abruptly turned around when he noticed Juri standing right behind him. Judgin from the human’s face, he was not amused with what he saw. Juri had always kept a rather kept together demeanor with Taiga. A still presence that showed neutrality unless the other was teasing him. But right now, as Juri scrutinized him from head to toe, Taiga felt something was off. Taiga felt like he deeply offended Juri in a way he did not purposefully do. The human looked like he was ready to argue about what state Taiga was in at the moment.

"You would rather tackle with a bear than drink my blood?" Juri caged him between his arms firmly planted in the dresser. "Afraid you wouldn't be able to control yourself?"

Pale as he was, it was easy to spot the flush that colored Taiga's cheeks. His own body betraying him by giving Juri an answer before he can come up with anything. “I- I don’t really drink directly from humans. That night- wh-when I bit you,” Taiga let out a heavy sigh. “It was the first time I bit a human ever since I got a hold of my vampire urges.”

“Still, you managed not to kill me,” Juri clenched his jaw. “You’ve seen what I’ve been through, you know what I’m capable of. I was a goddamn vampire hunter for crying out loud, Taiga!” His voice was stern and determined but Juri’s eyes betrayed him as it remained soft and worried while he kept eye contact with Taiga.

“Juri, I-,” Taiga, with his shaking hand, cupped Juri’s face. “I know, Juri.” He said, a little breathy and defeated than he had intended. “I know and I was scared. I was scared for you. I was scared how those might have affected you mentally. I was scared I might trigger something in you if I bare my fangs and bit you again.”

“It already happened once,” Juri leaned into his touch. “I’m still here. Use me, Taiga. I willingly surrender my body to you. Use me instead of going through whatever it was you went through this morning to get your dose of blood,” Juri was careful when he placed a hand on Taiga’s arm and finally looked down from Taiga’s eyes to examine his upper body. He had probably seen a scene of a vampire going at it with wild animals to get a dose of blood and was probably imagining what transpired between Taiga and whatever he faced in the mountain this morning.

"It'll heal fast," Taiga knew Juri probably knew that but he still wanted to voice it out. "I am a pureblood after all."

"Still, you need to get cleaned up. I'll go prepare the bath." Juri retracted his arms away from Taiga. "I finally found you after all the searching." Juri spoke in a low voice, low enough that he probably only meant it for his ears.

Taiga was aware that they were treading dangerous waters. Juri is a human. Taiga is a pureblood vampire. While he was not certain about how Juri feels aside from wanting to sleep with him, Taiga knew his own feelings better than anyone. He had never really fallen in love with someone but Juri might just be the first.

It pains him to think that he should never act on whatever he was feeling.

They only planned to stay at the rest house for three days but come their fourth there was still enough supply to last them the day. It was the only actual day that both of them really rested. After Juri confronted him about drinking from anything else apart from him, Taiga had been walking on eggshells around him. It was not until Juri cracked some teasing about sleeping with him and offering him blood that the two fell into natural conversations again.

They spent their last day lazily lounging at the living room. A movie playing in the background while they were both sprawled on the L-shaped sofa.

Despite Juri saying that they have almost seventy-five per cent of what he has hidden so far, there was still nothing related to Taiga’s family. At the moment, Taiga did not have enough courage to ask Juri about it.

Sakura Ville

The two headed northwards to a smaller lesser known town. Sakura Ville was just another agricultural town. Nothing about it stood out and is mostly known as just a stop for travelers. Still, the town had establishments and such that could cater to the needs of residents and travelers alike.

The backseat of the car was occupied by two backpacks that were filled with the documents they have gathered so far. A single duffel bag held some personal items such as toiletries and clothes for the two of them. Most of the items they had, they left behind at the mountain rest house. Taiga had called in one of his staff to clean up the place when they left. It was not like they were keeping their movements a secret to anyone, Juri had made that clear from day one.

Still, Taiga knew Juri was always on high alert. The human may look all calm and collected, but Taiga can sense he's ready to attack or flee anytime. Whichever the situation calls for. Taiga would like to tell Juri to relax, especially since he was around him as well but he was not one to hurt someone's pride like that. Something tells him that Juri was not one to heavily rely on others.

Taiga had actually never been to Sakura Ville and it probably reflected on his face. Despite the town not being a tourist attraction, the food on display as well as the trinkets and toys were really attractive. Every now and then, there's a storefront that captured Taiga's attention to the point that he has to stop and even ask permission to take pictures, wondering if it was something he could have displayed in one of his mall branches in the future.

Juri kept on losing Taiga because of it that he had to go back multiple times just to get back at Taiga's side. At some point, Juri held Taiga's hand to know when and where they would be stopping. Juri let go whenever Taiga talked to store owners. Eventually, Taiga held on to Juri's arm and tugged on him whenever he wanted to stop.

Losing track of time, by the time they got to the bank Juri intended to visit, the operating hours were already over.

"I'm sorry," Taiga said, tightening his hold on Juri's sleeve.

"It's okay," Juri placed his hand over Taiga's. "We did not really plan spending the night here but I guess we have to at this point."

"We never really had a plan for this trip since day one." Taiga said in a matter of fact tone that earned him a carefree laugh from Juri. "I'm sorry though. I got too caught up with things."

"Let's grab a bite to eat and find a place to stay before you sulk even further," Juri pinched Taiga's cheek. "Like you said, we never really had a plan."

Despite being the one more familiar with the area, Juri left the decision of where they should eat entirely up to Taiga. Without any time table at all, the two decided to stroll around the town. Juri was familiar enough with the town to know where the supermarket and convenience stores were at. The air around them was much lighter, their walk filled with conversations about anything under the sun.

Taiga had never talked this much about himself and to be able to sustain a conversation this long took him by surprise as well. While he did have a couple of friends before, having to outlived them and going through mourning over and over again made Taiga more wary of building relationships with humans. Eventually, in his lifetime, he just gave up and kept everything at a business level. While he does have a couple of vampire friends, it was still different having to talk to someone without needing to pull up decades worth of memories. Heck, Taiga does not even remember some of the things that had happened to him in the past seventy-seven years.

Juri was the first human that Taiga had opened himself up to over the last decade. And he badly wished he was not making the wrong decision. Juri had been very considerate of him. Accommodating every one of Taiga’s preferences. Whether it came to food or how their sleeping arrangements were to happen or what they would be spending (Taiga’s) money on, Juri left most of the decisions with Taiga. The human assuring Taiga that if there was anything he was uncomfortable with, he’ll definitely tell him.

“Are you sure?” Juri asked under his breath as they waited for the receptionist to hand them their keys.

Taiga nodded. “You’ll end up finding an excuse to get on my bed anyways.” He lightly chuckled.

“Who was it that held on to my arm while walking around again?”

“You -”

Their banter was interrupted when the receptionist came back with their room key. Although Sakura Ville was a small town, there was still a big fancy hotel in the heart of the town. Taiga thought it was probably because of it being a stopover of a lot of travelers that people thought it was good to invest in building a hotel that could accommodate the needs of travelers. Whatever the reason may be, Taiga was felt some sort of relief that there was a place that could offer an employment chance for locals.

The room Taiga booked did not have partitions. It had a queen-sized bed at the far left side of the room, at the foot of its left side was the sliding door to the balcony, there was a couch in the middle of the room and a television, and on the far right was a small kitchen with a personal ref. Right next to the entryway was the door leading to the bathroom.

They each took turns washing up in the bathroom. Thankfully, some of their supplies from when they went to the supermarket in Lavandula City was still enough to last them a couple more days that they do not need to rely to the hotel provided toiletries. Having lost a round of rock-paper-scissors, Juri had to take the first turn in using the bathroom because Taiga insisted he had to make a few work calls.

Juri gently knocked on the balcony door to signal Taiga that he was done. Juri scrolled through the movie selections, the hotel provided streaming services but he had no particular movie in mind that he wanted to watch. He had lost track how many film synopsis he has read before Taiga joined him on the sofa. As if on reflex, he let Taiga stretch out on the sofa and had the vampire rest his legs over his lap.

“Is it okay if we go back to Lavandula City?”

Juri turned off the television, putting off one less distraction. “After getting what I need from the storage? It’s fine by me. It only takes a few hours to get there from here anyway. But, do you not want to read over the last batch of documents?”

“I do,” Taiga said. “But, I think I’d rather read up on them while in the comfort of my rest house.”

Juri nodded. “We can go there first thing in the morning. Maybe grab a bite to eat before we go on our way. But, do you not want to stroll around the rest of the town?”

Taiga could not help his smile as Juri threw in considerations for him. “I’m good. I’m kind of curious what the last batch of data contains.” He reached for Juri’s hand and the human met him halfway through. “I worry, Juri,” he said earnestly. “I know you said that there’s no danger, but I want you to know that I can protect you.”

Juri squeezed their hands together. “I am well aware that you are capable of that. I am also aware of how the vampire hunters move, so I can tell you if there’s anything we need to defend ourselves from.”

"Maybe it's best if we get some rest now. Go sleep, Juri. We have a long day tomorrow."

Juri chuckled. "Ordering me around, huh?" He playfully pinched Taiga's thigh. "You do have a point. I'll be driving around again tomorrow."

Taiga got off of Juri, the disappearance of the human's warmth in his leg lingering for a bit before it's completely gone. He let Juri take the side close to the wall, at the back of his mind, he was contemplating not even closing his eyes.

"Tomorrow night," Juri turned his back against him. "When you start reading the last batch of data. You'll understand why I'm happy I found you. Why I wouldn't have done this with anyone else."

There was something in the tone of Juri's voice that worried Taiga as the human spoke. Although Juri's tone was steady as usual, his words somehow carried a heavy weight on them.

Because of the placement of the bed, the sun was not directly hitting them as they lied down. The room was already lit up by the sun through the balcony door. With Taiga not even needing to sleep, keeping the balcony door's curtains was no issue at all. Even if someone were to break into their room, Taiga would be awake to defend them anyways.

Taiga indulged himself for a bit and watched Juri in his sleep. They never really set an alarm of when they should get moving and Taiga could never find it in his heart to wake the human up when Juri was always sleeping calmly. Taiga focused in on the human's breathing, always so relaxed. Juri had always been relaxed since they met, the only time Juri lost his cool was when Taiga went back from hunting in the mountains.

Maybe that was really his last straw. In just a few days, Juri had made him feel emotions he thought he had long closed up. Juri made him want to make a connection with someone which Taiga had never wanted to do for decades.

Juri stretched out his limbs and yawned before opening his eyes. “Good morning.” His voice was a bit groggy but he managed a few words. “I’ll wash up a bit then let’s go?” He receieved a nod in response. Feeling a bit bold, Juri leaned towards Taiga and kissed his cheek.

Oddly, Taiga did not feel the need to pull away and just let Juri. “We’re not in any hurry. My secretary told me everything’s good at work anyways and my dad is enjoying being back on corporate meetings. I really have nothing to worry about.

There was still a few hours left in their check-in but the two decided to check-out of the hotel right after making themselves both look decent enough for the day. Sakura Ville might be a small town, but the establishments and stalls were already very lively in the early morning. Two different shops caught Taiga’s eye and in a moment of indecisiveness, the two settled on eating breakfast at one of them and grabbing drinks over at the other as they waited until the operating hours of the bank started.

Knowing full well that theirs was not really a regular transaction, they waited a few hours before really stepping inside the bank and requesting to go to the storage area. Again, they were lead to the pricier part of the storage area. Taiga briefly wondered why such a small town had such a well kept and well guarded storage facility. Of course, you never know what the people in town really owned but the capacity of the storage area rivaled that of a known small city.

Somehow, the town made Taiga question a lot of things about it. The people were really nice. In the short time he spent walking around the town, he could tell that the people were living in harmony. They were very accommodating to guests as well. The locals chatted briefly with them in every shop they visited yesterday and the shops they visited today were no different.

After wrapping up their business at the bank and securing the files inside the backpack that Juri was carrying, the two decided to grab a bite to eat before heading off the road. Lavandula City was a long four-hour ride away from Sakura Ville and not to mention the half hour they need to travel from the heart of the city towards the rest house Taiga has in the mountains. They had a long walk around town for one last time, buying small snacks here and there before settling down on a small diner to have lunch.

“Are you all good?” Juri asked as they strap in their seatbelts. “We can stroll a bit more, you know?”

Taiga shook his head. “I got what I needed. I guess I’ll just have someone from the resources department conduct a site visit here. This town has potential.”

“You really like growing your business, huh?” Juri started the engine.

“A lot of people’s livelihood are tied to my business. I shouldn’t be lax about it.”

The drive was spent in silence. Despite Taiga being assured that his father had everything under control with their business, the workaholic in him could not help but finally fire up his laptop again. The silence shared between them never worried them anyways. They have only known each other a few days - more or less a week by now - but they somehow have this bond between them where they could either be chatting each other’s ears off about anything at all or be totally silent without worrying about whether or not they were making the other uncomfortable.

Thankfully, because Juri drove close to the speed limit, they arrived in Lavandula City with enough time to stop by the supermarket and bought a couple of supplies. There was no need for Taiga to really put tabs on Juri anymore, the human has proved that he was trustworthy after days of them sleeping in hotels and travelling to different places. Juri had never openly posed a threat to Taiga, he could have done it easily. Seeing as Juri had already collected his phone when they visited his friend Shintaro, the human already had means to communicate with anyone aside from Taiga.

Yet, Taiga had never once seen Juri take out his phone. The only time they were ever not around each other was when they took baths. Even then, Juri left his phone somewhere where Taiga could easily see it.

Now, it was the same when they first went to the supermarket together. Taiga was pushing the cart and Juri was walking at the side while holding on to the cart. Juri still indulge Taiga’s random talks while picking up a few items. Taiga could really get used to this, to having Juri by his side. Still, it all boils down to the human’s decision. Juri was free to come and go as he pleased and Taiga has long decided on his own that whatever Juri decides to do, he would accept it. Right now, what mattered to him was the here and now.

There has been a couple of innocent touches here and there between the two of them. Juri was still vocal about wanting to get fucked by Taiga but recently he says it in a lower voice, making sure it was only Taiga that could hear it. Instead of answering him with silence, the more Juri mentioned it, the more Taiga had a giggle fit with blushing cheeks.

Back at the rest house, the two lounged at the sofa first, having a music show playing on the TV with all their baggage and supplies lying on the floor of the living room first. Nothing was hurried anymore, they would get to keeping everything in order when they finally feel like it. Right now, they just wanted to rest.

For the first time since they met, Juri dozed off without Taiga even telling him to get some sleep. Which Taiga found adorable. The wall between them almost completely gone by now that Juri was slowly showing his vulnerable human side. Careful not to make too much noise to wake Juro up, Taiga got started putting things in order. Since he recently got one of his staff to clean the place, there was really not much to do aside from arranging the things that they have recently brought with them. Along with organizing their things, Taiga also got started on making dinner. They did have a couple of snacks during their drive back but their last decent meal was more than six hours ago.

“Sorry, I dozed off,” Juri was stretching his arms as he walked inside the kitchen. “Is there anything I can help you with?” He stood behind Taiga and rested his head on the vampire’s shoulder. “That smells good,”

Without hesitation, Taiga leaned his head a bit on Juri’s as his hands were both busy cooking. “I figured soup would be easier on your stomach.”

“I could get used to this and you have no one else to blame but yourself.”

“I am a very busy man when I’m not on vacation from work, Tanaka Juri. You’ll have competition for my attention when we get back. Enjoy it while it lasts,” Taiga teased.

“I’ll be around for as long as you’ll let me. Even if your attention gets divided,” There was a heavier tone in Juri’s words. It wasn’t like the carefree Juri that has been with him over the past days. “I’ll take a shower first, okay? It looks like you have everything in order here anyway.”

When Juri talked like this, Taiga could not help but feel a little worried that Juri might suddenly disappear without saying a word.

Taiga could feel a heavy tension in the air. The silence while they ate was different from the silence that enveloped them prior to this. The tension in the air was even heavier than the first few days that they were together.

Taiga could tell that there was something Juri wanted to tell him. Out of respect for the human, Taiga does not push anything or even nudge him to talk.

After their meal, Juri insisted on washing the dishes. Taiga did not put up any fight and just let it be. Taiga went to the living room where they dumped the baga that had the files that they have collected over the past few days. He started sorting them into piles. One stack for those he had finished already and another for the ones he was yet to browse and read through. By this point, Taiga had an understanding of what the small streak of colors on the memory cards stood for and he grouped them together by colors.

"Taiga," Juri stood at the end of the sofa. "I know it's been on your mind so I'll just tell you now. In the last batch of files we collected, there is information about your family. Among other things. If… if after reading all that you want me to leave, I won't put up a fight and I won't even try to explain myself. I'll leave. The files will stay with you and it will be up to you what you'll do with it.

Taiga was at a loss for words. He has been anxious about what Juri knows about him and his lineage. But hearing Juri now, voice laced with worry, Taiga does not know how he should respond.

"I understand." Taiga kept it short. Even those two words were hard enough to come up with.

"I'll go get some rest,"

For the first time, Juri headed for a different room from the master bedroom. He kept the door open, a silent consent for Taiga to come in any time he wanted to. After all, it was just the two of them there.

Taiga was even anxious to know what the last files had. The information he had found on the prior stacks already made him feel uneasy, but with the way Juri talked, it was as if Taiga had to expect something even worse.

Taiga took deep breaths before starting with browsing with the top most folder. As he flipped through, it was one written report after another, complete with coordinates and even photographs to match some of the destination and vampire mentioned. The memory cards had more videos of Juri tailing vampires and even ones where Juri captured on video a vampire feeding on a human.

Only a quarter of the new stack was left when Taiga finally reached memory cards that contained information about his family. Specifically, himself.

Juri was keeping tabs on him. For a while.

The timestamps showed that these were two years ago. All the videos of Taiga was taken in public places - the supermarket, restaurants, branches of his mall, among others. The most private videos only reached a hotel hallway or the gates going to Taiga's villa. The videos about his family were mostly on public places as well. There was nothing incriminating about the information Juri has on his family, not that they were involved on any illegal activities.

Most of the information about the Kyomoto bloodline was about Taiga. It was as though Juri was keeping tabs on him. But the flow of information only went as far as two years ago. Nothing else follows.

If Juri had already found him before, why does the human keep on saying that he had finally found Taiga?

Reaching the last of the memory cards, Taiga’s eyes grew wide and he took in a shard intake of breath.

Vampire’s on chairs getting their blood drawn out from them. All three of them. They were restrained in their seats. Blindfolded ang gagged. Taiga’s heartbeat was going faster the more he watched the video. It looked like it was captured in secret, he had a feeling that it was even more carefully took than the rest of the videos. There were times when a cloth covers the lenses before the video resumes. 

Another video was in an even more awkward angle. But Taiga knows a trade when he sees one. The exchanged briefcases probably has money while the coolers being handed over probably has the bloods being drawn out of the vampires.

Taiga was well aware of the power a vampire’s blood holds. Pure vampire’s blood. His family had a long talk with him about it when he was turned. A pure vampire’s blood could help alleviate any health problems. A steady intake of it could help a person recover from a grave illness. Having enough supply for a daily intake was said to rid someone of their illness for the rest of their life.

Taiga has experienced such situation first hand. Some of his household staff that were driven in a corner and was bold enough to ask Taiga to draw blood for them to have a little more time with a family member who was on the brink of life and death. In exchange, they willingliy offer a human blood relative for Taiga to drink blood from. Taiga had granted one too many request to count but he never drank directly for anyone, the exchange was always one bag of his blood and one bag of human blood from the relative. His staff never asked for too much from him, they usually asks once or twice but not unless it was Taiga who offered after their requests had been granted, they do not usually bring it up again.

Anyone who knew about it was always sworn to secrecy. It was not unusual for a household help of the Kyomoto household not to know. Most of them had been serving the family for generations. Some had seen it happen first hand for people who were close enough with the Kyomotos. But other than those trusted by pure blood families, it was not public knowledge as no one knows for sure what consequences it could bare.

There had been talk about some people making transactions and selling bags of pure blood wampire’s blood. But Taiga never really confirmed such things with his eyes. He certainly did not think that transactions such as this one existed.

Thinking deeper about it… Why does Juri know about this? The videos looked as though it was taken in secret but the person taking it - probably Juri - was walking leisurely. As if he was part of the people involved in the transaction. If so, how much danger must Juri be in if anyone found out he took this video?

Taiga could no longer watch and closed up his laptop. He hurriedly went to Juri’s room where he found him sleeping. The feeling of wanting to protect Juri was growing even stronger but at the same time one question after another was brewing inside Taiga.

Juri stirred in his sleep as Taiga joined him on the bed. Taiga’s arm could not be considered as warm but there was a feeling of warmth inside Juri when Taiga’s arms encircle him.

“So… you’ve seen them,” Juri’s eyes were downcast. “Just… whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”

Taiga gently nodded his head. “Then, answer my questions. If… if I get a little too much. I give you permission to not answer or even leave me completely.”

“I will never leave you. So long as you make me stay.”

“You always say that you’re happy that you were happy to have found me. But you have footage and data about me from two years ago.”

“But nothing recent, I swear.”Juri moved to out a bit of space between him and Taiga, a more comfortable space to look at each other face to face. One of Taigas arm was still slung to his waist. “I found you before but you see, I did pull away from the organization so I was going all over for them to just give up convincing me to come back. Also, I swore to myself not to approach you and wait until you notice me…again.”

“Again?” Taiga tried to remember if he had had any interactions at all with Juri prior to the night he found him. But nothing comes to mind. He was not ashamed of not remembering, he has been alive and had a lot of encounters in life. “I honestly have no memory of meeting you.”

“You would not remember me because you went berserk the first time we met and I was really young back then. I was cornered by a group of vampires while I was wandering around training in a forest. You found me and saved me. From then on, I figured, maybe vampires are not so bad to co-exist with after all. We both know that vampires and vampire hunters are just being civil with each other, but still, vampire hunters detest your race.”

“So, you’ve been looking for me since then?” Taiga could not help but fight back his smile.

Juri nodded. “When I was finally assigned to an area with higher chances to meet you, I was so happy. I trailed you because it was my job. But, whenever I see you. I wanted to do the things you seem to enjoy doing, be the one by your side so you won’t feel so alone.”

Taiga let out a laughter as he looked back on what they have been doing the past days. “So, you let me ramble and talk nonstop whenever we do even the most mundane task so I won’t feel so lonely and alone?”

Juri’s skin was a tad tan but there was still a tinge of blush visible to Taiga’s eyes. “I don’t know why you’re always alone. But I really wanted to be there for you. Still, I had a job to do. Well, we’re here now. You found me in the forest just when I was about to break my own promise to myself so thanks for not letting me break my own vow.”

“The things you saw… is that why you decided to leave behind being a vampire hunter.”

“Yes.” Juri answered without hesitation. “I could not bare to see more of those transactions. I had to find you because I knew you were a pureblood and I was scared that you might fall to the wrong hands. But of course, you wouldn’t just put trust in someone you just met. Much less someone who was from a vampire hunter line. I had to earn your trust. This was the only way I thought of, by letting you see for yourself the things that I know.”

“I’m here and I’m safe. But Juri, won’t this be very dangerous for you?”

“They don’t know those footage exist. They made me sign a bunch of nondisclosure agreements about what I know about the organization. Besides, I’m a member of the founding family. They can’t just kill me off.” Juri caressed Taiga’s face. “I may not be as strong as you but I was trained for all kinds of situations and I know how they move. It’s very selfish of me to ask, but, Taiga, I want you to keep me by yourside. I want to protect you and make sure you don’t fall hostage to these dirty transactions.”

“I want to protect you too, Juri. The only way I can do that is if you stay by my side.”

“I would gladly spend the rest of my life by your side, Kyomoto Taiga.”

“But… about what you know about vampire blood trade.”

Juri shook his head in dissatisfaction. “I’m afraid it’s something way over our head, Taiga. This has been going on for god knows how long. There’s a bigger power at play. I’m not the first of my kind to move out of the organization with the intention of protecting a pure blood vampire.”

“So there are other families who are aware of this?”

Juri nodded. “I can’t say for certain who they are. No one gives out names of course. I didn’t tell them your name as well.”

“Can we at least tell my family?”

“We can.” Juri slung his arm over Taiga’s waist. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“It’s a lot to take in. But don’t worry, I’ll protect you from them. I’ll fight if I need to for us.”

“Us?”

“Uhhh…” Taiga thought of a way to get out of his slip of the tongue. “Us staying by each other side.”

Juri let out a hearty laugh. “I won’t cower away from anyone. As long as you’re by my side.”