Gasping, Casimir clutched his throat, trying to hold back the wetness that was gushing between his fingers. Lilin pulled one of his hands away and held the glass up under his neck to fill it.
"Did you think I would let you just come back to my city without punishment?!" Jared was shouting so loudly that his voice rang off of the bare walls. "You bastard. You murderer! You'll bleed out, just like she did!"
The world was going black around the edges. It would take Casimir longer than a human to die like this, but he would die, once he was out of blood. Swaying, he fell to the ground and tried to crawl.
Lilin grabbed him by the back of the shirt and lifted him completely off the floor. Without ceremony, she carried him out the door, to the lake, and dropped him on its shore. Kicking him, she forced him to roll onto his back, and threw the goblet of blood into his face. "Enjoy your dinner."
Desperately, Casimir licked at his own blood, trying to get any of it back inside of him. Barely any of it landed in his mouth, but it was just enough to close the hole she had made. It didn't matter—he had lost too much overall and couldn't move. If he could crawl to Inaho's den, maybe she would help. He dug his fingers into the dirt to pull himself forward, then stopped, his near-empty veins icing.
One of the flesh monsters was coming towards him. Slowly, it rolled across the surface of the lake, its mass catching a fish as it leapt clear of the water. Before Casimir's horrified eyes, the creature absorbed it, meat, innards, and even bones melting away inside of it until there was nothing left.
Letting out an airless groan, he groped for his pockets, but he didn't feel a match. If he could get under the water, maybe… But it was already too close, and traveling closer with every desperate, fading heartbeat. Casimir shoved his toes against the ground and pushed as hard as he could, rolling away.
The world went black, and he found himself suddenly looking at the sky. The wet, squelching sound of the flesh ball was just behind his head, and he didn't have the strength to roll away again. Desperately, he looked around, trying to find anything that would buy him more time.
A flash of light nearly blinded him, and he weakly threw an arm over his eyes to block it out. A pair of hands closed around one of his ankles, dragging him through cold mud and tall grass, and when he stopped moving, he let his arm fall away. By the light of the burning creature, he could see Mikki kneeling over him.
"Holy shit, you're covered in blood!" he whispered. "Is it yours?"
Casimir tried to say that it was, but his vocal chords were too damaged to make a sound. He made a gesture for Mikki to leave before he got caught here.
"Good thing I followed you," he muttered, pulling the knife from his belt. He hesitated, then slashed his palm open, pressing his hand against Casimir's open mouth.
Desperately, Casimir licked away the taste of metal, hands clamping around his wrist with all of his remaining strength. It took everything in him not to bite, but to run his tongue over and over the slash, until some of the pain in his throat receded, and he could speak.
"We need to go," he croaked. "They'll find us soon." With Mikki's help, Casimir stood, leaning heavily against his thin frame. He was dragged back into town but forced Mikki to stop at the restaurant they'd eaten at just hours before. "I need to rest."
Mikki kicked the door open—the place had been trashed while they were gone, tables overturned if they weren't outright missing, the front window shattered, with scattered flatware on the floor. He turned a chair right side-up and pushed Casimir down, sitting on the table beside him. "Are you gonna make it?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "I need blood. I need a lot of it."
"So I don't have time to go out and get you a hooker." Mikki scowled and then took off his turtleneck. "All right, get it over with."
Casimir gazed at him, uncomprehending. Curious, he looked at the scarring on Mikki's chest; a half-circle under either pec of ragged lines with thick, raised scar tissue near his nipples. It must have been from where his breasts were removed. Whoever had done the surgery was a butcher.
"Stop staring and just bite me, all right?" Mikki demanded, sounding more uncomfortable than annoyed.
Casimir swallowed hard. "I'm afraid if I do that I won't be able to stop. I… accidentally killed someone before when I was starving. I didn't mean to. But I was badly injured, and she offered her blood to me, and I…"
"So that's why the other vampires are pissed off at you. You did something stupid, but you didn't do it on purpose." Mikki twirled his knife between his long fingers. "Remember, you didn't think you could stop yourself before, and you did. Same thing goes: if you take too much, I'll stab you."
Casimir licked his lips; they were sticky with drying blood. "It would be easier if you sat on my lap."
Jumping off the table, Mikki did just that, legs sprawling off to one side. He hooked an arm around Casimir's neck and held a knife in his other hand, head turned to bare his neck.
He rarely went for the neck. It was so dangerous, with thin skin and thick veins, but the blood would come quicker. Casimir was shaking as he put a steadying hand over Mikki's heart, to keep himself conscious of the beat, and sank his fangs in.
Mikki gave a strangled cry, gripping a tight handful of Casimir's thick hair. "Fuck," he gasped, feet sliding noisily against the floor.
Casimir could barely hear it. The hot rush was as sweet as an orgasm, and he wrapped his other arm around Mikki to hold him close, rocking him as he sucked harder at the vein. He knew by now the narcotic in his bite would turn the pain to something closer to pleasure; he felt Mikki switch the knife from hand to hand.
Gasping, Mikki had a hand between his thighs, rubbing himself through his jeans. He started when Casimir fumbled for his zipper, grabbing at Casimir's wrist. "Don't finger me," Mikki grated. "I don't like anything in there."
Forcing himself away from the bite, Casimir pulled Mikki's jeans open and worked a hand inside. He could feel the hard press of Mikki's clit, wet and aching against his fingers, longer and thicker than a woman would have felt. He rubbed a thumb against the head and was rewarded with a groan, so he drew a slow circle around it. All the while, he licked away the trickles of red, his mind finally feeling clear.
Mikki's dark eyes closed. "Stop teasing and just jack me off," he demanded, turning his head to look at Casimir. Before he could receive a response, Mikki tentatively kissed him.
Casimir was even more careful with mouth against mouth, mindful of his fangs, of Mikki's tongue as the kiss grew deeper. He could still taste copper between them, but he was more focused on the hardness under his fingers, on working them fast, faster, listening to Mikki's breathing rise.
It was Mikki who did the biting when he came. His teeth sank into Casimir's lip, just enough to not draw more precious blood, as he bucked his hips against Casimir's hand. He pulled Casimir's hair, twining it around his fingers, before he collapsed, panting, in Casimir's arms.
While Mikki caught his breath, Casimir licked the wound closed and stroked his dark hair. He was still hungry, but there wasn't enough blood in Mikki's body to fill him. What he'd taken would keep him alive for the moment, and he didn't want to bite Mikki again—the idea felt wrong after that kiss.
Finally, Mikki pushed his hand away, doing up his jeans and getting to his feet. His knees wobbled. "Get enough?"
"I'll need more very soon, but I'll survive for now. Thank you." Casimir forced himself to stand. "I'm going to need somewhere else to stay, too."
"I'll see about that. You can go back there right now, can't you?"
Casimir tongued one of his fangs thoughtfully. "I suppose I need to get my things, yes. Why do you ask?"
"Because I heard some of that conversation with the other monsters—with those vampires, I mean. I wanna hear the story about Olivia," Mikki said with a pointed glare.
"All right," Casimir said reluctantly. "Help me get there, and while I pack, I'll tell you what happened with her."