[C][M] Astringent Fate

"You look terrible, Honey."

Dario reached out to gently lay his hand over Ray's forehead, brushing his hair away from it again.

"Do you remember me?"

He hoped he did.

Then they'd at least have a little bit of ground.

He thought for a moment, his mind was a haze and having this pain in his head wasn't helping.

He remembered the man's face, a small, barely noticeable smile graced his lips as he blinked groggily.

"Dario..."

The fledgling murmured in a near whisper, yes, he remembered, he told himself he would never forget the man's kindness, he didn't think he would ever see the human again.

A bright smile curled the human's lips.

"That's it."

He did remember him.

"I found you on the beach. Me and my friend bought you back here to my apartment to clean you up a bit."

He stroked Ray's cheek gently in a comforting gesture.

"We cleaned out your head wound. It's looking better now without any sand in it."

Dario talked quietly and slowly. He didn't want Ray to have to strain too much to understand him.

"On the beach?"

He muttered, his brow furrowing, as he looked up at the man in confusion.

Ray didn't remember going to the beach, the last thing he remembered was talking to Cy about going out to town.

His eyes opened wide as he bolted upright, looking around the room in a panic, where was Cy?

Had he had another panic attack, was his Sire mad at him? Was he going to be punished again so soon?

"Careful," Dario murmured when Ray bolted up.

"Don't move around too quickly."

He didn't want Ray to hurt himself. The boy had already gone through enough. He didn't want him to suffer any more than he already was.

"Lay back down for a bit, okay? My friend is making you something to eat. Some soup."

"I have to go back home."

Rayner muttered but laid back down as he was coaxed to, looking up at Dario with immense concern.

"If I stay out after sunrise he will think I ran away."

He couldn't imagine how mad Cyneric would be if he stayed out longer than he was meant to.

The word 'eat' caught his attention though as his eyes darkened in lust, he had bled a lot, he was hungry and Dario smelled good.

With a soft click the Vampire's fangs emerged from his gums.

"It's already gone sunrise."

The sun was already up and it was just going to get brighter. Winter had passed as it was slowly moving towards spring.

"Sit and rest for now. You can go back when you're feeling better."

Dario's brows drew together when he heard the click of Ray's fangs. What was that noise?

"Wait here for a minute. I'm going to go see if your soup is ready."

Dario pushed himself to his feet and padded towards the kitchen. "He's awake. Responsive. I think he just needs some painkillers and a good long rest."

Rayner slumped against the couch, it was too late then, he couldn't go outside and head back home, if he tried he would end up dead.

As such he just had to get as well as possible because Cy would not be a nurturing and kind as Dario was being to him.

He nuzzled into the pillow on the couch, trying hard to control his urges.

"I can imagine." Silt replied as he stirred the pot of soup, it was practically ready, the Demon wasn't a great cook but it should taste alright, the only difference to this soup and the one he made back home was instead of adding human or demon flesh he added chicken, should make a fine substitute.

"Every time I see that poor kid he's in trouble. I feel like I should take him in and keep him safe," the human chuckled softly.

He leant against the counter, eyes sliding shut as he inhaled the scent of the soup. "Smells good. Make enough to share around?" He was a little hungry himself. He wouldn't say no to a bowl if he was offered some.

"Close to being done? I want to get some food and something to drink in him."

"How is he at the moment?"

Normally he wasn't worried about Vampires but Dario was human and this one was hurt pretty bad, he didn't want the man getting hurt.

"Should be enough for all three of us, I'd say it's good to go."

He muttered it, examining the taste a little more. It was nice a mild, with cubed chunks of various vegetables.

"Here."

He scooped out two bowl fulls and handed them to Dario.

"I'll grab some cups and a jug of water."

He added, motioning toward the living room.

"A little worried about his partner, I think. He's a little slow but he is answering and he remembers me so I'm not overly worried."

He took the bowls when they were handed over to him and smiled.

"Thanks for helping out, Silt."

The Demon didn't have to help, but he had done. Dario appreciated that a lot.

Dario disappeared into the livingroom again and moved to take a seat next to Ray. He held up a bowl.

"Careful, it's a little hot," he warned as he waited for Ray to take the bowl from him.

"It's alright, not like I was just going to leave him down the beach like that."

He wasn't that heartless, he still felt a lot of empathy for people.

Rayner looked up at Dario as he reentered the room, sitting up slowly, leaning against the cushion as he looked at the bowl in confusion before taking it tentatively.

He set it down into his lap and stared at it for a moment, the last time he ate food was when he was human, he barely remembered those days anymore, he couldn't recall the taste of food and the smell of it seemed so foreign to him.

"Yeah, I'm a little weary about eating it myself," Dario chuckled as Ray looked down at the bowl.

"This is the first time I'll be tasting his cooking, too."

He wanted to add 'let's hope it isn't poison' but he decided not to. He didn't want to say something callously and make Ray even more uptight than he already was at the moment.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to, but it's there if you do."

He wouldn't force it down Ray's throat.

Rayner looked up at Dario as he spoke, his gaze darting down to the bowl.

He was never offered proper choices, it was always 'my way or punishment' he didn't know if this was a trick.

Cy always told him that he wasn't meant to eat but now Dario was urging him to.

He didn't know what was the right thing to do. His stomach growled loudly at the scent of food, even if it was food it had not sampled in a long time.

Slowly he dipped the spoon into the soup, avoiding any chunks of food and just taking the liquid, tentatively bring it to his lips and drinking it down.

Dario smiled but stayed quiet as he began eating himself.

He didn't want to say anything and have Ray stop eating. Eating was a good thing and he didn't want to cut Ray's eating short by opening his mouth.

Dario dug into his own bowl happily. It was damned good.

Who'd have thought Silt was a good cook?

Not as good as his Hayden, but still good. Better than anything Dario could have cooked in such short notice.

Rayner swirled his spoon in the soup for a moment, it didn't taste bad, just strange, he wasn't use to it at all.

Slowly he took another mouthful, this time allowing a few small chunks onto his spoon which he chewed awkwardly, it was hard to chew with his fangs extended in his mouth but he managed it.

It felt good, a few more spoons in and he could feel his stomach filling a little, that horrible churning emptiness suddenly was filling, his stomach had a certain weight to it that stopped it from aching so badly.

Dario kept his eyes on the door, waiting for Silt to step through.

His eyes flickered towards Ray, a little smile curling his lips again as he watched him eat. It was good to see him eating. The kid looked starved to death.

He wondered if he could push to get another meal in him before he left again tonight.

Would that be pushing it, though? The boy had been hesitant to even eat this one meal.

He'd play it by ear.

Silt had finished cleaning up the small mess in the kitchen and made his way out, his own bowl in hand as well as a jug of water and three glasses.

"Glad to see you're enjoying it."

He muttered to Dario before taking a seat on the ground, looking up at the Vampire with a smile.

"Hi, I'm S-"

He paused for a moments as his eyes met that of the Vampire, he look perplexed then worried all of the sudden.

In truth the Demon was shocked, the state of the boy was far worse than he first imagined.

"...Silt."

He finished as his mind finally caught up, his eyes glued on the black haired man.

Dario gave Silt a little nudge.

"Don't stare," he whispered under his breath.

He didn't want Ray to feel uncomfortable. The poor boy had been through enough in the short time he had known him. He didn't need anything else to push him.

"This is the one that helped me bring you up here and made the soup."

Dario smiled up at the Vampire. "How are you feeling with a bit of food in your stomach?"

Silt's gaze finally left Rayner, who stared down awkwardly at his bowl, he didn't like it when people looked at him that way, when ever they did it always caused an argument or them accusing him of being some kind of freak of nature.

"Thank you."

Rayner muttered, looking down at both of them through his thick, dark hair, hiding his eyes a little behind it.

How was he feeling?

"Thirsty."

He admitted, he wanted blood but instead took another spoonful of soup and forced it down despite the way his stomach churned, displeased at the fact that it was getting solids instead of the blood that it needed.

Silt understood the true meaning behind the man's words and stiffened a little.

"No need to thank us, Honey. We wanted to help you."

Well, at least he did. Silt had been dragged along for the ride and was playing nice so far.

Thirsty? "Do you want some water?"

Unlike Silt, Dario was completely oblivious to what Ray really meant.

"Or is there something else you want?"

Rayner's fangs ached as Dario asked that question, it was something else that he wanted, he wanted it badly and it showed by how the muscles in his jaw and throat tightened in need.

"Dario stop, you're tempting him and he is struggling."

The demon muttered as he got to his feet and padded over to Rayner, looking down at the Vampire as he ran a hand gently over the cut on the man's head.

"You're thirsty after all that blood loss huh? Look, I'll feed you, but you're not to bite Dario okay?"

He asked, looking down at the man firmly.

Rayner nodded softly as he looked up at Silt, his eyes wide with need.

Silt sighed and looked over at Dario.
"Dario this is going to be hard for you to understand because all your life you've been told we are just old folk stories but he is a Vampire, and by the looks of it a young one, from what I can tell he has been starved for a long time, I can't imagine how he is keeping himself from going completely insane.

So please, if you don't want any part of this, you're better off leaving the room right now."

He muttered as he unbuttoned his coat and tossed it off before pulling off his jumper and shirt.

Dario's brows drew together and he opened his mouth to bite back at Silt but he thought better about it.

He pressed his lips together and crossed his arms over his chest.

What had he done?

The human's lips parted in shock. "Vampire? Like...honest to god, anti-sun, allergic to garlic, can't cross running water Vampire?"

That was... actually fairly believable with what he had seen recently. The fangs Ray had. The horns and tail that actually moved on Silt.

"He's not going to turn you into one when he bites you, right?" Dario pushed himself to his feet and strolled the two steps it took to get to the couch. He parched on the armrest of the couch, watching as Silt pulled off his jacket and shirt.

"An honest to god Vampire, the sun will fry him to a crisp but garlic and running water are both horse shit."

He muttered as he sat down on the couch, gently pulling the fledgling into his lap and tilting his head back.

Rayner's lips parted, showing off all four of his fangs as they pressed into the man's throat, piercing his skin with ease before he started to drink deeply with desperate gulps as his hands gripped onto the man's shoulders desperately.

"He can't turn me, I'm a Demon, supernatural creatures can't turn someone who is already supernatural. Besides he can feed without turning someone. I doubt he would be able to stop himself from draining them dry, not in his state, I've never seen a Vampire like him before."

"False stories to scare humans?"

Dario watched as Ray was pulled into the Demon's lap and he latched onto his neck.

"Demon?"

Dario was hardly surprised now. Vampires, Demons. "The Easter Bunny real, too?"

Dario's eyes narrowed a little. "Don't talk about him like he's not in the room. It's rude. He's sat right there in your lap."

There were a few pet peeves Dario had and one of them was people talking about others while they were right there listening.