[C] The Panic

Ever since they had moved to Italy Cy had been allowing him to venture out on his own for small amounts of time.

His progress had been good, he had walked through town a few times now all on his own without reacting to the humans.

Tonight was another night like that, his Sire had fed from him, it left him slightly more hungry, but docile in his weakness. Hunger was something he was all too familiar with nowadays.

He walked through a shady, dark part of town, it was quieter here, less humans chose to walk these streets, save for the shady folk.

He had been sulking around for a while and slowly found himself drawn to the sounds of nightlife.

Rayner leaned against a brick wall as he watched them all, drinking and arguing outside of one of the bars.

The noise intensified as a fight broke out amongst the drunken humans and all too quickly the sound of shattering glass echoed through the street.

The smell of blood hit him like the brick wall he was leaning against.

His eyes widened as his hand flew to cover his mouth, heat flared through his body making him tremble in need as the smell grew stronger.

Pushing off the wall he tried to distance himself but tripped, falling to his hands and knees before clutching his chest.

He cried out as his breath came in struggled pants, his chest thudding audibly in his chest, compelling him to drink, to feed.

Dario hated it when fights broke out in the club.

He hated it even more when he was sent out to diffuse them. Just because he was tall and strong, he had been dubbed the go-to guy to breakup petty bar fights.

"All right, all right. That's enough. Either calm your asses down or get lost."

The human crossed his arms as he watched the two men fight. He stood in his usual attire of little more than a thong and a few straps of leather. Today was one of the few days that he didn't have Silt shadowing him, though. He didn't much like these days.

Today it was only getting worse the longer he worked.

When someone smashed their bottle and struck out towards the other, Dario was done with playing nice. He yanked one man back and tossed him aside before pushing the other man in the other direction.

"That is enough. You. Fuck off somewhere I cant see you and hope you never let me catch you causing trouble again. You. Go into the club and ask at the bar for first aid. You go with him." He barked orders like it was second nature, looking less than pleased at the situation.

"Anyone else got any problems while I'm here?"

Rayner curled in on himself, trying to gain control of himself through sheer willpower.

Every time he had an episode like this it got harder and harder to calm down.

Usually Cy would bark orders at him, pin him down, or when it got to its worse, draining him enough that it left him limp and too tired for his emotions to fluctuate.

Tonight he had none of that, he was alone, in the middle of town.

He cursed himself for being foolish enough to wander this far.

A scream tore through his throat as he fell onto his side, both hands clutching his through as the searing pain burned down his throat and into his stomach, his fangs aching horribly as they jutted out through his parted lips.

His eyes hazed with a terrified desperation, he needed to get away, he needed to hide, but he could hear the muffled words of people around him and the deafening thuds of their hearts and blood pumped through their veins.

Dario's eyes flickered up immediately when he heard the scream.

He cursed under his breath as he dashed across the street.

The human crouched next to Ray. "Hey," he murmured softly. "I'm Dario. I'm going to help you, okay? I'm going to touch you. Is it okay for me to touch you?"

Dario held his hand out towards the Fledgeling, ready to help if he was given the a-okay.

"It's okay now. Nothing bad is going to happen."

His tone was gentle and soothing, his dark eyes a little wide in worry. He hated seeing people panic like this.

Rayner's eyes slammed shut and pain spread through his body and his trembling got worse.

He could barely hear was the man was saying through the screaming in his own mind.

His eyes flew open in sheer terror as the human mentioned touching him.

His head shook desperately, he couldn't handle being touched by a human, not right now.

"D-don't t-t-touch me."

He whined through panicked breath as he used all of his strength to roll himself onto his side, away from the human.

"Get a-away from me."

"Okay," he replied gently, dropping his hand immediately.

"I won't touch you. It's okay."

Dario knelt down next to Ray now, tilting his head to the side a little as he inspected the man's body to make sure there weren't any injuries.

"Try and breathe for me. Nice and slowly," he coaxed. "In and out. In and out."

Rayner's brows furrowed as he tried to listen to the instructions, tears welling in his eyes before sliding down his cheek as he screamed out again, convulsing onto his back as he trembled.

His nails bit into the flesh of his own neck, and his chest just above his heart, he was in pure agony at this point.

The fledgling sobbed through struggled breaths.

"Cy...it hurts. M-make it s-stop."

It whimpered pathetically, gulping for air.

"Hey, hey," he murmured softly.

He didn't like seeing anyone in this state. This was paining Dario quite a bit.

"It's okay. Nothing is going to happen. Try to breathe with me. In." He made a point to inhale loudly. "And out." His exhale was just as loud. "In and out. In and out."

With each set in inhaled and exhaled loudly and slowly to try and coax Ray to do the same.

"In and out."

Rayners unfocused gazed turned up to the man, it took a few moments of struggling before he finally took a breath, inhaling deeply when he was instructed to before exhaling.

Being told what to do was something he understood, this man didn't use to same commanding tone that Cyneric did but he did have a presence about him.

His breathing began to even out until he was laying against the pavement panting heavily with a soft whimper.

"That's it. Good boy. Just like that," he praised with a smile.

"In and out. In and out."

When the man had calmed down enough that he was just laid on the pavement, Dario leaned over a little.

"You look a little better now. Do you want to tell me your name?"

He was still in pain but his body began to calm slowly as he lay there.

When the man spoke again his brows furrowed slightly, his name?

"Honey."

He muttered softly, his throat parched and hoarse. That was what he had been called for as long as he could remember.

Honey? Strange name.

"Okay, Honey, I'm Dario." He had said it before but he doubted Ray had processed it. Much more pressing things were happening at the time.

"We're out in the street right now. I want to move you inside." No one would mind if he was taken into one of the back rooms for a while to calm down.

"Do you want to walk there yourself or is it okay if I help you a little bit?"

"No."He responded as he rolled onto his hands and knees shakily.

"Don't touch me, it's dangerous."

He murmured as he tried to push himself back onto his feet.
"I have...to get home..."

Rayner wobbled as he tried to stand, his body weakened and sore, the man swayed a little before falling back to the ground.

He looked a little to thin, and a too pale, dark rings under his eyes from his exhaustion.

Dario sighed softly when he was told not to touch him again.

He watched Ray struggle with a sad expression.

What was he so scared of?

"You're not in a good place," Dario murmured as Ray fell again. "I won't touch you if you really don't want me to, but please let me help you. At least let me get you somewhere you can sit down for a while until you feel a little better. We can call someone to help you. Someone at home. Your girlfriend or roommate or parents or something."

Dario hovered over the Vampire.

"Please let me help you."

Rayner debated inwardly for a moment. This man was the first person to actually show concern for him and try to help him.

He didn't know whether to take it or not, the thought of calling Cy was terrifying, how would his sire react to him not being able to control himself, how would he treat the human for helping him, for doing something as simple as laying a hand on him to help him out of the street?

He cringed at the thought.
"Okay..."

He muttered, his voice cracking, he didn't want Cy to hurt the human, Dario seemed to genuinely care, even if Rayner couldn't understand why.

At least he'd could help. That bought a small, relieved smile to the man's face.

He held out his hand.

"Can I touch you?" he asked again.

He wasn't stupid enough to believe that being allowed to help him granted him immediate access to do things that he'd been told not to do previously.

Dario had promised that he wouldn't touch him until he got his permission.

"Yes..."

He muttered reluctantly, he had to get off of the street, a safe distance from all these people who were gawking at him.

In his current state he wouldn't be able to make it away on his own, he needed help and that meant letting the human touch him.

It was the first time a human had touched him without Cy around, he was scared of how it would affect him.

Dario smiled when he was finally allowed to touch the man.

Now he could help out a lot more than he had been. Standing and hovering awkwardly had been almost painful for Dario.

His hand slid under Ray's arms and lifted him carefully to his feet.

"This way. We'll get you into an empty room in the club." Then they could deal with whatever they needed to do.

He led the man towards the club slowly, hovering just in case Ray tripped again.

Rayner got up onto his feet as Dario assisted him, shakily standing.

He hated having these episodes, they left him feeling weak and disorientated.

All he wanted to do was curl up and sleep, though he doubted that would be an option once Cy came to get him.

His Sire wasn't going to be pleased with him and he feared any possible punishments.

Dario elbowed people aside, trying his hardest to get people to move and not nudge Ray as they made their way through the club.

They got to the back of the club relative un-bumped.

The human pushed open a door and ushered Ray inside.

It was a room generally used for their under the table activities. It would be a quiet place for Ray to rest for a while.

Rayner could faintly sense other creatures around them, he kept his eyes to the floor as they moved through the club.

It seemed that whenever someone got a glimpse of his eyes and they weren't human, drama soon followed.

He wasn't in the mood to hear people talking about him as if he wasn't even a person.

When they finally got into the empty room Rayner collapsed onto the nearest comfortable surface and curled up, trying to calm himself down before he even tried to contact Cy.

Dario closed the door gently and sat down on the couch the furthest away from the door.

With this, Dario was close to Ray but not too close and Ray didn't feel trapped because he was between the young Vampire and the door.

Every little thing he did when caring for someone like this was carefully thought out.

"Is there anything you want?"

His deep emerald eyes had a feralness about them, he looked over at the human, his lips pursing, as if debating his answer.

There was something he wanted, but this man couldn't give it to him, he couldn't break his purity otherwise life would get a lot worse.

"No."

He lied as he curled up into himself more tightly, he would just have to rest until he gathered up the courage to make the call.

"All right."

Dario wouldn't push Ray if he didn't want to answer anything. The young man had already gone through enough. Dario didn't want to stress him out any more.

"I'll be right here if you need anything; just ask."

Dario leaned back against the couch and let his eyes slide closed.

Rayner watched the man for a few long minutes before slowly taking his phone out of his pocket and staring down at it.

"Can you....can you just stay with me, until Cy comes to pick me up?"

He asked timidly, he was sore and he was afraid, not just of himself but of his Sire too.

With shaking hands and went to the only contact listen in his phone and hesitantly dialing it, bringing it to his ear.