If there's one thing you should never take away from Vladimir Tod - it's blood. Bloodthirst had been very severe in his family for centuries now, even the sound of someone getting cut would trigger their unbearable bloodthirst. It must have been because Vladimir was the prophecetic Pravus - the one who could withstand about any vampire.

Vlad had only one secret - besides the fact that he was pressed every day to keep his vampirism hidden, he was bisexual. Yes, as a matter of fact, Vlad was considered gay. He would watch people like Henry or Joss walk on by and just stare at either their crotch, their butt, or their shirt, waiting for it to ride up if they raised their arm and he would see the gorgeous six-packs they sported. Vladimir was a bit of a pervert, if you could tell, but that never stopped him before.

He was very lanky; he would sometimes get fingers pointed at him because of his figure. He had silky porcelain skin which would sometimes be blemished with the temporary bumps that were scars, shiny raven hair that hung over his face and would have to be brushed out of the way to expose his dark eyes, which had the tendency to flash purple when his hunger grew.

Vladimir had one secret that well, he wouldn't keep a secret forever - he adored his best friend Henry. When they hung out at Vlad's house after high school and played video games, Vlad would look over and see Henry pursing his lips in frustration as he lost the game. Oh, how Vlad wished Henry's lips were upon his own. They weren't too plump, and they weren't too thin, and they were just pale enough to be majestically beautiful. And the way they moved when Henry spoke was straight-up sexy. And, oh, that wavy dirty blonde hair... what Vlad would do just to have his own slender pale fingers coursing through Henry's soft locks, cherishing the charcoal scent they carried and feeling it waft through Vlad's veins...

Ahem... you get the point... Vlad loves Henry.

But there was just one obstacle in the way - Snow.

Ever since Vlad fed from Snow, she saw everything in an erotic way, demented so that she could toy with the "world" she created. She took everything the wrong way. If Vlad asked her to hang out and maybe play some video games or get a bite to eat, she would assume he were asking her on an actual date and she would plan her moves on him. Vlad didn't feel that way about Snow; he loved her, but he loved her like a sister.

Defining Snow in three words was easy - sex-craving basketcase. She would touch Vlad in a comforting yet flirty way, she would rub his shoulder to ease tension, she would caress his cheek and have her thumb "accidentally" graze his lips. She had been wearing more makeup and perfume ever since Vlad fed from her. Now she looked like a goth Snow White mixed with layers and layers of Geisha makeup and she smelled like a rosebush's deodorant.

She had been straightforward about her matters, too. She came up to Vlad one day and simply asked him to bite her. He gave her a strange look, but she had shaken it off and said she missed his lips on her neck. That was when he noticed she wasn't trying to help him - she was trying to seduce him. The clues didn't stop after that. The tighter corsets, the shorter skirts, the higher heels, the pounds and pounds of perfume and porcelain concealer, the push-up bras. Vlad knew that last one because Snow - being her now-perverted self - had asked him how she looked in her new push-up bra. It made Vlad sick to his stomach at the thought of having sex with her. Not in an insulting way, exactly. Usually, in a sexual relation with a vampire, there's almost always or sometimes blood drinking involved. Snow was only after the ecstasy, and it made Vlad's stomach clench in a way he was unfamiliar with.

Vlad lay on his king-sized, which was overflowing with sapphire covers which were stained with blood in certain spots. He had on a black too-big hoodie and a pair of baggy dark gray pants. He flicked through his phone, looking at the phone numbers on his contact list. Henry, Joss, Kristoff, Meredith, October, Snow, Sprat...

There was a knock at the door. Nelly opened the door, her flowered apron painted with blood. She was busy in the kitchen trying to make blood sausages.

"Vlad? Are you busy?" Nelly asked, that sweet look on her face that was so irresistable to Vlad. Even if he was in his foulest mood, he couldn't turn that face down. She looked like a 4-year-old... well, with wrinkles and crow's feet.

"Not anymore." Vlad groaned and sat up on his dark bed.

"Well, I've got something to ask you..." Nelly toyed with her bony fingers.

"What is it?" Vlad narrowed his eyes.

"Snow's parents called and they want to have dinner with us." She sighed.

Vlad's eyes filled with rage. "NO! No way is she coming over here!" He got up and stormed up to Nelly. He always liked how he teered over her by three inches, even as a freshman.

"Why not, Vlad?" She put her frail hand on his shoulder. "I think you two make a cute couple."

"She's obsessed with me, Nelly!" He swatted her hand away and buried his hands in messy ebony hair.

"Oh, Vladimir, listen to yourself." Nelly scolded with a slap of her wet hands on her apron. "You're making her sound like a pedophile. She's a very sweet girl, Vladimir, I wish you would stop stereotyping her!"

"She's trying to seduce me!" He yelled at her and stomped over to his window, sitting on the ledge. "She's obsessed with me! She's always trying to get me to bite her or kiss her or some other shit!"

"Language, Vladimir." She warned, sitting on Vlad's bed near him.

Vlad sighed, letting his dark eyes flick closed. He was too aggravated right now to argue any further. Nelly always did this - she always dragged Vlad into situations he was trying to avoid the entire time, without asking him first. No, he didn't want Snow to come over for dinner. She was a mental institute patient in a goth girl's body. She seriously needed to become bisexual so that she would get off Vlad's case.

"Vlad, I don't think she's that obscene." Nelly gently took Vlad's pale hand and sat him on the bed next to her. He didn't look at Nelly; he was already too embarrassed.

"Nelly, she's trying to get me to have sex with her!" Vlad blurted out, dark eyes filled with misery.

"Vladimir, I will have a talk with her, but just give her a chance to be kind." Nelly kissed his forehead in an attempt to soothe him. But Vlad wasn't anywhere near soothed.

"You have no idea, Nell." He got up and stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him. "You have no fucking idea!"

"Language, Vladimir!" She yelled back, knowing that he had not heard her. She ran her hand down her face when there was total silence.

. . .

Vladimir walked in-between the dark alleyways of deserted Bathory. Tainted water dripped from the gutters among buildings, clicking on the pavement, there was a dense moist fog drifting about, and every now and then the crisp air would spring to life in bursts, pulling Vladimir's jacket away from his chest. The crisp, frigid air stung his pale cheeks like daggers and the faint tapping of alleyrats wasn't calming him down any.

Vlad basically wanted to die; the girl he wanted nearly nothing to do with was coming over today to try to have something to do with him. No matter what he ever tried to do, she would just NOT see that he didn't want her. Snow always thought that "yes" meant "no" and "get a life" meant "take me, I'm all yours". Her life literally spelled out reverse psychology; her family used to play it on her all the time when she was an infant, and she would get laughed at because she hardly knew what was going on. But not this time. Now she knew what was going on and she wasn't very happy about the joke her family made out of her.

"Vlad?" Came an all-too-familiar voice echoing in the alleys. It was a male voice.

Vlad stopped short, breath hitching in his chest. The cold air swirled around him, and some winded its way up his pants legs, chilling the sensitive skin beneath them.

"Vlad?" The voice repeated. Soft footsteps echoed in the dark alleyway, and Vlad turned ever-so-slowly towards the voice. He saw the glint of dirty blonde hair, and his shoulders dropped in relief.

"Hey, Henry." Vlad played it cool, not wanting Henry to know the vampire was just recently thinking about him.

"What are you doing out here?" Henry turned teal, studious eyes to the raven-haired teen. Henry had a very sadistic look to his face, with a sarcastic grin and cheating aquamarine eyes.

Vlad bit his bottom lip. "Just chillin'."

Henry chortled. "Oh ha-ha. Seriously, Vlad."

Vlad sighed and leaned against a tall, rusty old dumpster. "Snow's parents called Nelly and asked if they and Snow could have dinner with us tonight. And knowing how much Snow "likes" me," he put in air-quotes here, "I didn't want to be around her."

"Why the hell does she think you're her toy?" Henry snickered, crossing his arms over his scarlet jacket. He wore a black-and-white checkered tight t-shirt which outlined the crevices of his taut abdominal muscles, a blood-red thin jacket over that, tattered dark jeans, and black Converse hightops.

"Why the hell does your mom still ask if she should tuck you in at night?" Vlad shot back with a sick grin.

Henry's eyes looked at Vlad like he was his worst enemy. "Because she still treats me like I'm four!"

Vlad chuckled. "She's just afraid of losing her baby boy, man."

"Yeah, well, I'm not her baby boy, anymore. I'm turning seventeen." Henry's face hardened to the point of dead seriousness, and his shoulder-length wavy blonde hair was curtained gently over his blue eyes.

Henry quickly swatted at his neck, killing a mosquito. Vlad's fangs instantly shot down from his gums and quickly began pulsating with bloodlust. The big blue vein that the mosquito savored so much caught Vlad's attention, as thick, rich red blood coursed through it...

Vlad could've sworn ten tons of blood rushed dramatically south when Henry wiped a bit of blood from his neck.

Henry looked at Vlad oddly. "You OK, Vlad? You look like you haven't eaten in days and you just saw a raw steak." Henry joshed.

Vlad's onyx eyes boiled with hunger, and he quickly walked towards Henry, a transparent lavender flicking over his eyes.

"Vlad?" Henry's smile disappeared as he saw Vlad sauntering over to him, sharp white fangs exposed. And Vlad was panting like a dog. "Vlad..."

"I'm sorry, Henry." Vlad muttered before grabbing hold of the seventeen-year-old blonde and burying his fangs into the plump blue vein that was heaven to him.

Henry groaned in pain and shifted uncomfortably in Vlad's grasp. This made Vlad bite down harder.

Instantly the thick, sweet blood that called Henry's veins home came rushing into Vlad's eager mouth, filling up every air pocket and popping it. Vlad literally moaned with pleasure of the delectable blood pouring down his throat into his stomach. He snaked his arms around Henry's waist and pressed himself against the blonde, gaining more access to drink. Henry's eyes fluttered closed and he put a comforting hand on Vlad's shoulder.

This was so wrong - and yet it was so right. Vlad had bitten multiple people before, some of which he liked before. But feeding from Henry just felt so... so... right. It wasn't fake lust that Snow carried around with her, it wasn't hatred that Joss held. It was... desire. He knew he was disobeying his best friend, and harming him in the act, but that was the idea that turned Vlad on even more. He craved Henry, wondered how he tasted every night. What did his blood taste like? What did it feel like in his stomach? Was he a good kisser?

Well, that last one Vlad just came up with while being lost in his bloodthirst. He had dreamed about kissing Henry before, but it just seemed so distant... like it would never happen. Never. Never. Never. That word repeated itself in Vlad's mind over and over to try and persuade him to get over his crush on Henry.

But it would never work. Vlad was in love with Henry.

Henry's hands found strength and pressed against Vlad's chest, pushing him away. Vladimir's fangs retracted from Henry's neck with a sickening zipper-like sound. They were still pulsing with hunger, but it wasn't as severe. Henry let all of his weight drop back against the dumpster and lean there. He put a hand on his neck, which was bleeding fairly quickly. Vlad walked up to him again and put a reassuring hand on his cheek.

"I'm sorry." Vlad repeated.

"It's fine." Henry smiled. "What are best friends for, 'eh?" He patted Vlad on the back.

Vlad grinned faintly, letting his dark eyes drift from Henry's eyes to his lips. Oh, his lips. They were a completely different story of their own. Vlad observed the shape of them when Henry talked; they were almond-shaped with a little break in the middle, exposing his pearly white teeth. He knew his and Henry's lips would fit perfectly when they collided, like a piece to a puzzle.

As if he were reading Vlad's mind, Henry shifted a little closer to Vlad. A faint red tinge spread across Vlad's ivory cheeks when he noticed the quickly-diminishing distance between their lips. It seemed like an eternity when Vlad found the strength and guts to press his lips against Henry's. Henry was startled at first, then moaned a bit and let his eyes flutter closed, as he was lost in the blissful kiss.

Vlad let his shaky hands glide around Henry's waist and pressed his body against Henry's. Henry smirked a bit and tilted his head, letting lips battle lips.

Vlad was in heaven; a warmth deep inside his abdomen fired up and his hormones began raging. His hands shyly pushed up Henry's shirt and trickled along his six-pack. Henry seemed to dwarf Vlad; Vlad was so thin and tall he thought of himself as small compared to muscular Henry.

Henry's warm, wet tongue slid across Vlad's bottom lip, requesting entrance. Vlad's grip on Henry's waist tightened a bit when his mouth gently opened and Henry's spicy tongue flooded his mouth. Vlad wrestled Henry's tongue for dominance, all the aroused hormones in his body soaring south. He could feel himself getting harder by the second, and so far they had only kissed.

Vlad - embarrassed - scooted his groin away from Henry's so the blonde wouldn't notice the goth's arousal to the French kiss. But Henry had already known since they locked lips. Vlad had gotten so lost in lust he hadn't paid attention to what Henry knew, and what he could hide. Disobeying Vlad, Henry gripped the vampire's hips and tugged them towards his, Vlad's arousal grazing his crotch. Vlad moaned a little, feeling so dirty and so wrong, but yet he feeled like this was his purpose in the world. To be gay...

A car honked as it drove by the dark alley, and Vlad jerked awake - and away - from Henry. He straightened his onyx hair which was carefully tucked under his hood, and he looked down. His arousal was immediately perpendicular to his body. Henry followed Vlad's gaze and smirked when his eyes rested upon his manhood.

"H-Henry..." Vlad tried to explain his actions, but Henry merely grinned and kissed Vlad once.

"Don't be sorry. Bloodthirst always becomes poisoned with lust in some way, am I right?" Henry smirked. "Besides... I'm not finished with you yet." And he backed up, turned around, and turned the corner out of the alley.

Vlad touched his swollen lips with lanky pale fingers. Spicy... yet sweet...

He wanted more - and he would get it.

. . .