Two: Bail

Maverick was regaining his senses, feeling alive once again. The blood from his dear Hiro was warming his body, enhancing his senses so he could see again, could hear again. His tongue licked his lips. Such a wonderful experience. Such pleasure that he had never experienced.

"Now you'll die.." Hiro said, looking away from Maverick, away to the windows with the growing colors that said the sun was coming.

Maverick looked at Hiro in surprise. Die? But he had just said he would live!

"Die..? But I.."
"Hush," Hiro said, looking back to the boy in front of him who's eyes were wide with fear. "You will live after you die. Death is something all of us need to go through. We are no exception. I died..but I lived."
Maverick listened, wishing he didn't have to die. Was death…what he thought it was? Was death the darkness that he imagined?

"Death is painful for us, people like us," Hiro said, looking away once again, his eyes like jewels in the coming light, "..but..for the years and years to come after..the painful experience is just a small price."
Maverick sat, not moving at all. He did nothing, not even raise a hand to wipe the drawing blood from his soaked lips. In those few moments of silence, pain found the boy again. Maverick winced and fell on his side, groaning as he rolled into a kind of ball, his back hunched over and his knees drawn up to his chest.

Hiro turned to watch, standing and taking slow steps to his Maverick. But something else caught his attention in that second. The sky to the east was glowing a bright yellow..

"Shit.." he breathed fast. Moving quickly, the man scooped the hurting Maverick into his arms again. "We must move now..It's coming sooner than I thought. We haven't much time to hide ourselves away!"
Hiro was running fast, leaving the room to the huge hall. Even the hall had a few windows.

Maverick closed his eyes. The light was so bright!
"Don't look at it!" Hiro shouted running quickly, finding stairs that lead down. Maverick did as he was asked to do. The boy found himself growing tired as well as hurting from the coming light and from the pain of death.

"Stay with me, Maverick. We're almost there..!"
Hiro was running through a hall once again. This one had no windows at all and it was smaller than the ones upstairs. Where they underground? The boy was too tired and hurting to think.

Hiro threw open a door. They headed down, the door closing behind them. It was dark, but Maverick found he could still see. No dawn light reached here. Down, they went. They reached a room full of coffins. All of them had closed lids. There were many, but Maverick found that he couldn't really count them at the moment.

Hiro threw open a lid and set the body inside. "Sleep, Maverick. I'll come for you just as the sun sets. Don't fear death. You will live. Stay inside until I come for you!"
Just as the last of Hiro's words had come out from his lips, the lid to the coffin was shut. Maverick was frightened in the dark, finding it hard to breathe, but sleep was coming on fast wings. Sleep forced his eyes to close, and for the boy to rest through his pain and through the light of the day…

Maverick awoke in the darkness of the coffin Hiro had put him in. He stirred slowly, not recalling what had exactly happened only the night before. But he realized that death had been coming. No more pain surged through his body. Was he dead?

Maverick panicked, his arms hitting the top of the coffin. Something stunk. It stunk of human waste. Hitting the top of the coffin, Maverick was shouting in panic, shouting for Hiro.

The lid popped off. Maverick could see the small amount of light from the stone basement. The smell wasn't so intense now, escape through and from the coffin.

His arms moved the lid aside. It should have been so heavy to him, but it was so light! He could move it with such ease. His arms carefully laid it down at the side of his "bed", looking around the place. Nothing else stirred.

It wasn't until he got up that he realized that the smell was coming from his own clothes. His pants were wet with human waste. What..had happened while he slept? Was he really dead..?
Confusion filled him for a moment until he could hear Hiro's fast feet. He could hear it as he came down the steps and threw open the door to the basement.

"Maverick..! You're..awake now.."
Hiro was carrying fresh clothes, clothes that would only fit a boy of Maverick's size and no larger. Did he know something?

"Hiro..I.."
"Hush," Hiro said. "You're dead..but you're so alive now!"

Hiro smiled, looking over his creation. Maverick noticed he wasn't so beautiful, not as elegant as he had been before when he had first seen him. He didn't look so unnatural. The boy was confused further. Hiro looked like an average human! Where was that beauty?!

"Here, Maverick. I brought fresh clothes."

The boy remembered his dirtied clothes. They smelled terrible. "What..happened?" he asked, looking from his smelly fabric to Hiro in front of him.

"Death made your body immortal. You aren't human anymore, Maverick. You've no need to…get rid of waste.. You only drink blood now."
So the coming death had changed him. Wait a minute..drink blood? "I…I'm a…"
"A vampire.." Hiro finished for him. A bit of worry was on his face as he watched Maverick stand in surprise and silence in the basement, the reality of the situation sinking in.

"I'm…I'm a…like you! Like Raku!"
The boy sank to his knees, holding his head, feeling hot tears coming to his eyes. "I'm a vampire!" he repeated, hating the idea that he was a blood drinker now, a fiend that killed! Tears rolled down his face as it hid in his hands.

"Maverick.." Hiro said comfortingly, trying to stop the boy from crying, "It was the only way you could live..the only way you would still be here. If I hadn't given you my eternal blood, then you wouldn't be here!"

Maverick stopped sobbing. He would be gone from this world..? He would be truly dead if Hiro hadn't save him with his life giving blood?

"Come now," Hiro spoke, reaching down to take Maverick hand and help him up. "Those clothes truly do smell. You need fresh ones."
Maverick let his hand be taken away, seeing red on his fingers. At once, he panicked and felt a kind of throbbing pain in his chest at the sight. Was he hurt?

Hiro would speak again as if he knew what was going through Maverick's mind, "Those are tears.." he said, wiping Maverick's red stained face free of the blood tears.

I cry…blood..? he thought.

"Come on, now. Let's get you into something cleaner."

Maverick nodded, first taking the hem of his dirty pants. How gross they were, smelling of waste! The boy shoved them down, underwear and all. Hiro was a male, he didn't care. Taking off his shirt, too, the boy stood naked, taking Hiro's clothes that he had brought with him, slipping on the pair of boxers first.

"Better now instead of those dirty clothes?"

Maverick nodded, slipping on the smooth fabric of the pants he held over his legs, taking the white blouse next and pulling it over his arms, buttoning up the front.

"Then let's head upstairs. I can only imagine how thirsty you must be.."
Hiro turned away once the boy was finishing with his shirt, Maverick's blue eyes watching Hiro's back move away, watching the blonde tresses flow behind his back.

Thirsty? Just at the thought, Maverick felt a kind of pain once again in his gut. Was that the feeling of being thirsty? IT felt so foreign. But he just had to satisfy it then. He craved something that he had only had once.

Just thinking about it, Maverick longed for the ecstasy again, the pleasure of drinking the blood out of a person's body to feel it warm and give life to his form.

"We don't have all night, Maverick, as much as I wish we did!" Hiro called from the stairs on the other end of the room. The boy snapped back to his senses and trotted over, heading out of the basement with Hiro to see the new world that awaited him.

The thirst burned in Maverick's throat and out through ever single vein in his body. He hadn't known this kind of feeling before. It was like being hungry with the addiction of a methamphetamine addict. Maverick would do whatever it took to get his hands on the flow red rivers of blood. His feet obeyed his commands to follow Hiro. He knew he would be led to the waters of the blood fountain once again.

His cold fingers held the railing of the stairs as they ascended. Maverick's tongue had found new things already, the boy discovering that he had large teeth in his mouth. His canines were long and white as well as sharp. Just the thought of piercing flesh, feeling the soft crunch of the skin breaking, made his thirst burn worse.

"I'm thirsty.." His words felt foreign to him. He was speaking with a voice that flowed. It was deep and strong, full of confidence in what he was. He jumped in surprise at his own words.

"Patience, Maverick," Hiro comforted, not turning back to look at his new "son".

Maverick studied Hiro with his new, blue eyes. He could only see the vampire's back, but he noticed too many changes already. Hiro was no longer as stunning as he was before. His hair was a flowing river of gold, each strand shining in the light of the torches that lit their way up. His robe of soft fabrics was black and glowing. Maverick could see every stitch in the clothes Hiro wore. The vampire walking in front of him appeared to be normal now. He didn't look supernatural or something to run from. He was a normal being now.

They reached the top of the stairs, Hiro pushing the door open effortlessly to reveal the light of candles and torches lining the hallways of the elegant castle. Maverick could see perfectly. The light of the castle should have been dim, like he had remembered it in the hours before he had been attacked by Raku. The castle was bright now, and everything stirred with life. The statues and paintings appeared to be alive, their figures moving. Angels on oil canvases on the walls flapped their wings and sang in praise of God. Statues' helmets looked like they were turning from side to side, as if they were watching for intruders. Even the red carpet on the floor was far from plain. Maverick could see every little fiber that stood up as his feet passed over it.

"You're studying your new world, are you?" Hiro threw a glance back over his shoulder, his feet still carrying his tall and graceful body forward. His blonde tresses barely moved.

"Yes," Maverick said, his words not afraid of Hiro. Before, he had felt that Hiro was someone that had a lot of power. Now, Maverick saw him as a normal person. "Everything is different to me, Hiro. The paintings are moving."
Hiro chuckled. His green eyes of depth were turned away. "They do seem that way when you first look at them. Don't let everything entrance you, Maverick. This is how the young ones don't survive before they reach their first victim."
Maverick suddenly shivered. He wasn't cold by any means, even if his hands and fingers were like ice cubes. He shuddered at the thought of killing for blood. The thought of blood suddenly triggered his conscious to leave. He was losing himself to the thirst once again, not even thinking about the life he might take.

"You're beautiful now, Maverick," Hiro said once again. His voice was not as soothing and comforting as it had been before. "You should see yourself as you are now. You are one of us, the powerful, the immortal, and the graceful."
Maverick was sure that he would have blushed at that kind of compliment. His face wasn't hot. I wonder if I don't even enough blood in my body, he thought. His hand went to his chest to rest over his heart. It was still beating, pulsing with powerful life, flushing blood out into his body better than when he had been mortal.

Hiro was leading them both down a different hallway. They had been walking a long time, but Maverick had not noticed. The time had flown because of his studies.

The vampire in front of the fledgling stopped and gesture to a door. The door was huge but not nearly as big as the front gates of the castle. It was made of the thickest gray stone, two large heads of lions were sculpted on the handles.

The vampire in front of the boy turned around. "Open it," Hiro ordered with the softest voice. Maverick thought he should not even have heard him, but his hearing was very clear, as clear as the day he had come into this world.

"I can't open that," Maverick whined in reply, pointing to the door behind Hiro's back. His pearly white fangs glistened for a second as they were exposed from behind his lips as his speech leaked out.

"Yes, you can." Hiro's voice was very convincing, his face that of an angel trying to tell a soul that it was deceased. "Open it for me, Maverick. Pretend it's a small door."

Maverick wanted to speak, but Hiro put his finger to his lips as soon as the boy's lips parted. Maverick couldn't get out a word. Hiro was waiting patiently.

Maverick stepped forward at least, moving slowly past Hiro and ordering his cold hands to leave his sides and meet the door's handle. His fingers wrapped around the stone beneath the lion's mouth as it roared, wrapping around like a snake to kill its prey, slow and steady. In an instant, he pulled.

The door came away with his tugs. Maverick didn't groan at the heaviness at the door at all. He pulled it open as if it was a light, wood door to a child's room.

Inside was the grandest ballroom he had ever seen. Gold lined the chandeliers and the candle holders on the walls, the flames burning down the finest wax that money could buy. The floor was painted in gold and black colors, many designs around the floor. It was shining with such light that suggested it had been freshly polished. The unpainted floors were made of finest marble and granite. Windows were at the opposite end of the huge room, the entire wall made of glass to look out and the twilight sky. Maverick could still see the glow of the falling sun, colors of pink and purple painted across the canvas of stars.

Hiro gestured for Maverick to enter first as he still held the hand of the cold, stone doors. Maverick hesitated, but he couldn't refuse his teacher's requested. The boy put his foot forward, feeling the cold but soft and firm marble. Hiro followed close behind. Maverick could hear Hiro's robe dragging on the gleaming floor.

"This is…wonderful.." Maverick said so softly, it was barely a whisper. His feet carried him further inside the ballroom, turning around to look at the variety of gold lined Corinthian pillars holding up the edges of the ceiling and door he had just walked through. The other side facing the ballroom was pink marble, rare and of the grandest quality.

"I'm glad you like it, Maverick. The room you had your last feast in was not grand enough for your first meal as a vampire."

Maverick broke from the room's entrancing hold. His blue eyes focused immediately back to his maker. His hands were limp at his sides, staring with fear and worry. "What are you talking about, Hiro?"

"If you don't kill while you are sane now, Maverick, you will leave the castle and endanger yourself to find blood. You could kill the wrong victim and risk exposure to all of our kind. Our society is secret. You must sate the need to take a living victim now." Hiro's voice was kind but firm, telling Maverick that he was perfectly serious and not kidding.

As if she had heard his words, Lorgania appeared. She was guiding a man forward by his shoulders. His face was blindfolded and his hands were bound to his back. He wore a rotting jacket and torn pants, cuts adorning his hairy legs. A mustache was on his face, appearing as if he had been lost in the woods for some time now. His teeth were rotting and black, consumed with cavities, some of them even missing. His expression was that of fear, dots of wet liquid on the blindfold. Maverick could hear his crying, his moaning to be released, and his stomach growling to no end. He was a man on the edge of death.

Lorgania guided him to the middle of the room, forcing him on his knees. The man let out a cry when his frail bones hit the hard and cold floor. Lorgania untied the blindfold with such haste, Maverick could barely see the fingers of her hand moved while the other held the man's shoulder. His eyes were opened at last, his expression consumed with fear as he saw Hiro and Maverick standing only feet from him.

Hiro came forward next to Maverick, facing the space between his victim and his fledgling. "Drink, Maverick. He is doomed to die a starving and thirsting death. Ease his pain."
Maverick couldn't move. His blue eyes were running continuously over the man Lorgania held on the floor. His was shivering from the cold and fear of the two figures in front of him. Hiro's words hit him like a dart would hit a balloon. He would soon be popped.

"Take him, Maverick. He is dying. You would be doing him such a service to make his death painless now."

Maverick was almost completely oblivious to Hiro's pleading words. He still couldn't move. His lingering human emotions said no to the pleasing meal in front of him while his thirst was demanding that he leap forward and enjoy such a feast that pulsed through the man's body. Maverick could even hear the man's weak heart. It was beating with such haste, it might burst.

"Take him," Hiro ordered again.

This time, Maverick shook his head. "No," he said in words that barely left his lips. His foot stepped back, carrying his weight away from his victim. "No, I can't.." he said, shaking his head still with his hands rising to his face.

"You must, Maverick. You must do it now before your need to kill a life becomes unbearable."

Maverick understood what Hiro was asking him to do. He understood what may happen if he refused this kill in front of him. He still couldn't bring himself to do it. "No," he said again, his hands creeping over his smooth face.

"You must!" Hiro's voice was serious and firm. He was losing his patience.

Maverick felt frozen to the floor. The man in front of him was crying. He could hear the gasping for air from the man's throat and smell the tears running down his smelly and dirty cheeks. His throat…no! I can't, he reasoned. That would be murder.

"Maverick..we are vampires! We kill and prowl the night. Murder is our talent. Take this man, or risk exposing yourself. Death will come on swift wings if you leave this castle. Take him!"

Maverick took his hands away. Hiro's firm words pierced his conscious and he leapt forward, running with speed he never had known. Lorgania had released the captive man and flew back. Maverick's left hand swung around the man's neck, careful not to break it and he swung his entire body to a stop behind his victim. The heart was beating too fast. It would flush the blood into his mouth so perfectly. Maverick couldn't hold back when the smell of hot blood reached his face. His lips drew back, his fangs of perfect white leaving the safety of his mouth and piercing through the man's neck and artery.

The pleasing jerk of his fangs through the skin forced his thirst to burn even more, his body hot with the desire of blood. It pulsed into his mouth, hot and thick with salt and iron. It was his methamphetamine for his addiction. Maverick fell in such lust with the river of red, his tongue caressing the wound and aching for more blood. His body was warm with it as it spilled down his throat and to his chest. It spread from his gut to every vein in his body. Ecstasy had him a state of total bliss. He couldn't stop it down. He couldn't tear his mouth away from the yielding river of blood.

The man struggled to free himself of Maverick's death hold. The new vampire held him effortlessly and pulled the blood from his body. His victim was pleading him to stop and release him. His heart was already beginning to slow as panic consumed his body. It was much too late for him to leave. He would die tonight within Maverick's grasp. The blood was all too grand to stop.

The heart was slowing and slowing, failing to stay alive under Maverick's desires of death.

"Slow down, Maverick. Let the heart recover, and you may have more blood," Hiro's voice had whispered into his ear, interrupting his moments of complete pleasure. But Maverick slowed as the request demanded. The heart pulsed with life again, and Maverick drank the blood fast again. His blood was too sweet, his chocolate.

Two hands gripped his shoulders and pulled him away. Maverick struggled and wreathed to free himself from the iron grasp to have more blood. He had to have more. It wasn't enough, even if his body was flushing the paleness of his skin away with the hues of pink. Lorgania rushed to the victim's side again as he fell limp. He was only a corpse now.

"Calm yourself, Maverick. Your meal is dead. You can't have him when he's dead. He'll take him to the grave with you!" Hiro's voice blared in his ears, Maverick snapping back to himself from the blood's hold. His lips were stained with red droplets of the river, his teeth coated as if it was paint on a wall.

Maverick slowed his struggles. He ached for more blood but stayed sane when Hiro placed him back on the ground, his feet touching the cold and elegant floor. He stood with coiled fingers in fists, his eyes shielded from the light by his glimmering silver hair. Gasps of breath left his lips. Blood flowed down his cheeks. Maverick was in pain, crying. "I…I-I..killed him.." he whispered, realizing what he had just down. Lorgania was already taking the body away to dispose of it. She was leaving Hiro and Maverick alone.

"Maverick," Hiro said, his voice comforting and gentle, "you had to take him. You will take victims every night. You are a vampire, a human no longer."
"I belong in hell!" Maverick was glaring in pain and sadness at Hiro, his silver flowing over his vibrant blue eyes. His hands, now warm and pink, rose to his face, his blood tears running over his smooth flesh.

Hiro couldn't argue with Maverick. His expression was a little stunned, knowing that vampires certainly couldn't go to heaven if they died of fire or the sun. His arms instead snaked around his fledgling vampire, hold him with cold but gentle hands. Maverick put up no protest. "You had to survive, Maverick," Hiro whispered into his ear.

Maverick cried. He cried for his brother, who was somewhere out there with an injury that needed treating if he was to survive. The pain of losing his brother was renewed. "I have to go," he said in a quiet voice.

"Maverick, you must stay. You are a newborn vampire. You won't last on your own," Hiro comforted, his hand stroking the soft locks of Maverick's soft silver hair.

"I can't stay," the vampire breathed, wiping his face with the back of his soft hands, trying to get the blood off of his face. "My brother is out there. He needs me. He may be dying right now!" The fledgling vampire struggled to get away from Hiro's grip. The older vampire held him fast. "Maverick," he said, his expression firm but kind, "your brother may have been long dead. If he did survive, he is a werewolf, a lycan, an enemy of the vampires. He was clearly bitten before I saved you-"
"I want my horse, Hiro. Please..tell me where my buckskin is. I want to look for him."