A/N: Are you guys enjoying this week as much as I am? I'm thinking these AUs were the breath of fresh air I needed in my life. The world-building alone… I could go on for days. But you're here for another story, so let's get on with it!

I hope you'll dig my take on a Modern Vampire AU. I love reading vampire romance, and I just recently realized that I've yet to actually write anything with vampires. Shame!

As a side note: This is one that I'll probably revisit in the future and make into a full story. Maybe. I had a lot of fun writing this, and it ended up being mostly just laying groundwork for something longer.

As a second side note: This was originally only 9k. When I went in to revise it before CoLu Week started... I got a bit carried away. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the doubled length of this one!

Day 3: Invite

Night's New Mistress

Summary: When she woke up in a crypt, covered in blood, Lucy had no idea what had happened to her. All she knew was that there was a note pinned to her clothes, telling her to come to this address and speak with a "Mr. Cobra." Her night was already turning out to be strange, so what was the worst that could happen?

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

Lucy winced at the harsh shouting coming from the other side of the door. She'd been there for all of ten minutes, and she could already tell that she wasn't welcome. But it wasn't her fault, really. She'd been hard-pressed to find the address written on the piece of paper pinned to her clothes when she'd woken up in that crypt. It was a little hard to make out everything, since there were bloody fingerprints obscuring some of the text, but she'd pieced it together. Of course, she'd made full use of the 26% charge on her phone battery to open up Google maps, find her location, and then curse technology when it promptly died before she could get the directions she'd needed. But Lucy was nothing, if not persistent. So she'd done what any smart person would do.

She went to the nearest Pizza Hut and asked them for directions. She had the address, after all. She just needed to know how to get there.

And she'd ended up at some mansion on the top of a hill overlooking the city. The exterior was constructed in the Brutalist style with large cubes of concrete and glass jutting out at random intervals that made the place look like a half-finished game of Jenga. She blamed Levy for knowing what the name of this particular architectural style even was.

"What the hell kind of bullshit is this, Bacchus?!"

Lucy cringed. She didn't know that name, or why she'd been told to come to this place. But if there was one thing she was sure of, it was that waking up in a crypt, covered in blood, was an omen. Or a sign. Or something. Maybe.

She was just a little weirded out over her general lack of a reaction to the blood squishing between her toes and soaking through her socks, though.

Now that she thought about it, that was probably why the guy behind the counter at Pizza Hut had asked if she needed to get to a hospital. She'd told him no, she just needed to get to this address. It was a little disconcerting that he hadn't insisted on helping her get to a hospital. Maybe he'd assumed she was a psychopath, and was just trying to avoid getting a pickaxe to the face. She didn't even own a pickaxe. She had a great collection of industrial locks for newspaper boxes, though.

"No, I'm not gonna fucking teach her a goddamn thing!"

The man who'd answered the door in his black slacks and red dress shirt - after she'd spent nearly ten minutes just trying to find the door in the first place - hadn't looked all too thrilled with her presence. He'd looked downright murderous when she handed him the paper and asked for "Mister Cobra." But he'd ushered her in all the same and stuck her in this room with no furniture aside from a single rickety wooden chair in the corner, then left.

Lucy hadn't wanted to take any chances with the chair, so she'd opted to stand instead and stare at the blank slate grey walls. The cherry wood floor. The ceiling that was the same shade as the walls.

And she paced. From one end of the room to the other with her bloody sneakers squeaking incessantly, she walked in a figure eight. Then a nine. Then a fifteen just for shits and giggles. She needed something to do, after all, and listening to the man who'd brought her inside with nary a word - either in greeting or concerning her sudden impression of prom Carrie - aside from the screaming she was currently listening to through a door, was making her question her sanity. And his sanity, especially.

He hadn't really reacted to her being covered in blood. Maybe he was an ax murderer. And she'd willingly found his house, searched for it. All because of some cryptic note pinned on her. In a crypt. Her eyes rolled skyward and she glared. "Really punny, universe," she muttered.

"You can't just fucking turn someone and send them here, you plebeian son of a whore!"

Lucy paused in counting the wood grains and stared at the door, her mouth hanging open. Well, that was different.

"I will come down there, so help me fucking… No, asshole, I'm not gay! What the… I'm not fucking a goddamn baby!"

At that point, Lucy wasn't sure what to think anymore. She didn't know who this Bacchus person was, but she didn't want to meet them if they were going to be suggesting getting down and dirty with infants. That was just disgusting.

"That's a low fucking blow and you know it!" he bellowed.

Lucy cringed when everything was silent on the other side of the door for several minutes.

"You owe me so goddamn much. You have no fucking clue how much you fucking owe me, asshole! You'd better believe I'll come fucking collecting too, because this is the last time I do any motherfucking favors for you!"

She jumped when he threw something at the wall. She couldn't see what it was, but it definitely sounded as though it had hit hard enough to put a hole in the drywall.

"Motherfucker!"

Lucy couldn't find it in herself to do much more than stare at the door as his footsteps came closer. And when he opened the door and glared out at her with his one indigo eye, her mouth ran dry. She hadn't really been able to take stock of his appearance before. He'd looked at her, invited her inside, then walked off once she was in this room. But now she could see him. Especially since he was walking out of that other room and right toward her. And he was positively seething.

"You're gonna be here for a while," he said. There was just a hint of an accent coloring his deep voice, and it rolled over her skin in waves. He looked down at her feet and sneered. "There are no shoes allowed on in my house. You'll track in fuck only knows how many germs. It's vile."

Lucy let out a quiet squeak and kicked off her bloody sneakers. She peeled off her socks for good measure. The blood was starting to dry, and it was getting a little on the crunchy side. "So, uh… I have no idea-"

"Yeah, you don't know what's going on," he said with another sneer. His narrowed gaze raked over her from the blood-soaked roots of her hair down to her pink-painted toenails. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-four," she said. If he took her into another room with a video camera and a leather couch, she was out of here.

"Any family?"

"Dead," she said. Her parents had both died three years prior. Her mother's battle with her second round of cervical cancer had been vicious and long and tiring for everyone involved, but she'd finally given up two weeks after Lucy's twenty-first birthday. They'd all known it was coming, but her father spent three days mourning his wife's death before he died of a broken heart. Lucy hadn't known it was possible, but what had presented like a heart attack hadn't been one. There was no blockage in her father's heart, and his left ventricle had been inflated like a balloon. She'd had a feeling he wouldn't last long without her mother. They were soulmates.

"That works in our favor. Follow me." He turned and she did as he said. "You need a fucking shower. We'll talk then."

"Wait, what?" Did this asshole really think he was going to do anything while she was showering? They definitely wouldn't be talking. She was already starting to question just what was going on. Why she'd woken up covered in blood. Why there had been a note of all things telling her to come here. Why she'd listened instead of going home and washing up, then getting her ass down to the newspaper plant to fill her '97 Tahoe with newspapers. "What time is it anyway?"

He glared at her over his shoulder. "It's gonna be a long night. I'm not spending the rest of eternity talking about this shit."

"About what shit?" she asked. He continued walking, forcing her to follow him. She didn't notice anything off about the décor, or the other people milling about the house. She didn't see them at all, far too focused on following the tanned man with dark crimson hair who was leading her to a bathroom. If she'd been more aware of her surroundings, then Lucy would have felt the three pairs of crimson eyes watching her from a darkened corridor.

They didn't talk while she'd been showering. Lucy was left alone. Again. Luckily, it was because this Mister Cobra person realized that her jeans and oversized, newsprint-stained shirt were soaked in blood. She needed a change of clothes. Luckily, Lucy had enough brain cells to ask if he had a charger that she could use for her phone. She sure hoped he did, because she needed to call Gray, the sub for her route, and ask him to run it that night. She wouldn't be using her truck, so he could borrow it as long as he filled the tank back up.

It was just too bad that she relied on her phone so much. She didn't have his number memorized. Damn technology making her brain lazy and complacent!

She was forced to walk out into the adjoining bedroom in only a towel. Mister Cobra was there, though, and sitting on an ornate lounge that was probably worth three years of her entire meager salary delivering newspapers. He gestured to a large four-panel dressing screen in the corner of the room, and Lucy ducked her head and rushed behind it. Luckily, there were clothes there. Well, a forest green shift dress with silver embroidery on the hems, but still. She'd have to make do with no underwear.

"So, I'm sure you have some questions," he said while she pulled the dress on.

"I really do," she said.

"I'll tell you right now, I'm gonna be blunt. I don't want to hear any crying or screaming about the unfairness of the world. This is how it is, and there's literally no changing it."

Lucy frowned and came around the screen. She took a seat beside him on the lounge, leaving as much space as she could between them as was socially acceptable for sitting beside a stranger in an unfamiliar bedroom after waking up covered in blood from some unknown source and trekking through the city at midnight to their mansion. One foot. That was the acceptable distance. "... Okay?"

He let out a long-suffering sigh through his nose. His gaze pierced through her. She kind of wondered if he was always this intense. He needed an off-switch for that, because it was starting to give her the creeps. "You're a vampire."

She blinked.

"You were made into a vampire by some of Bacchus' followers, and I swear…" His eye closed for a moment, and she watched, dumbfounded by the news, as his jaw tensed. "I am going to murder the fuck out of him for this bullshit."

"I'm a vampire," she said slowly.

"You are. And don't give me any shit about not believing me. I don't feel like dealing with-"

"Sweet!"

He paused. And it was his turn to stare at her as she laughed and stared down at herself in wonder. "What?"

"I'm a vampire?" she asked, grinning at him. "Seriously?"

"... Yes?"

"Awesome!" She bounced in her seat, but it didn't last long. Lucy vaulted to her feet and rounded on him. "So, what can I do? Ooh, can I turn into a bat and fly around?"

"What? No!"

She frowned at that, then shrugged. "No biggie. I'm kind of afraid of heights…"

He stared at her in horror, maybe bewilderment. She didn't really care. She was a fucking vampire. They were real. She was one of them. That had to explain the blood. Oh, she was latching onto this, because it explained a whole hell of a lot of the weirdness of her night.

"What about mirrors? Damn, I can still see myself in a mirror, right?" She couldn't remember having looked in a mirror since waking up. Lucy was tempted to dash back into the bathroom to see if the mirror was still fogged up. She needed a mirror in her life. How would she check for those unruly pre-period pimples? Wait, would she even get a period anymore? Was undead menopause a thing?

"Mirrors reflect light off of objects," he said. "Do I look like I'm invisible? Honestly."

She stopped bouncing in place and frowned at him. "Sunlight?"

"It's just uncomfortable," he said. "Imagine the Weasleys visiting Barbados in July without sunscreen."

Lucy shuddered. There went tanning for her, but spray tans were a thing. She could always go that route. Especially since she was one of the undead now. Anything to avoid that sickly pallor. "Crosses?" She wasn't really religious or anything, but she needed to cover her bases. It would give her a good reason to avoid churches.

"Bullshit. We're not evil."

Her head tilted to the side. He'd said we… "Are you a vampire, too?"

"I am."

"How old are you?"

"I'd already been a vampire for a century when the Spanish Inquisition started." So that was... the 1500s? 1400s? Lucy sucked at history. She knew some of the big dates for things. Pearl Harbor, 1941. Great Depression, 1929. The first Chic-fil-a store opened, 1967.

"Are we undead?"

"No, I can hear your heart racing right now."

She wasn't one of the undead? How was that even possible? Vampires were humans who'd been killed and brought back to life with black magic. But this man didn't have any reason to lie to her, did he? Maybe he did, though. Maybe she'd jumped the gun with her excitement. There was a reason people thought vampires were nothing more than myths.

Her eyes narrowed and she took a step back. "How do I know you're telling me the truth?"

"You don't."

"Well, how do I know this isn't all some elaborate hoax just to lull me into a state of complicity, and then you'll rape and murder me, and then I'll wind up on the evening news?" Obviously, that was the most likely scenario.

"... First of all, ew," he said, crossing one leg over the other. "You're a baby. Second of all, murdering people is the last thing on my mind, unless their name is fucking Bacchus. That asshole has been a thorn in my goddamn side since we were five."

"Five centuries old?"

"Years. I knew him when we were human. He was a pain in my ass then, and he's an even bigger pain in my ass now."

Her brows furrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Prove it."

"Prove what?"

"Prove you're a vampire. Hell, prove that I'm a vampire." If he couldn't prove it, then she was going to grab her phone and run the fuck out of this place. She'd jump through a window if she had to. There was one lining an entire wall of this bedroom. She'd fucking do it.

"You seem oddly alright with all of this."

Lucy shrugged. "I'm a millennial. I'm jaded."

He rolled his eye at her then. "Fine, how would you like me to prove it?"

"Don't you have fangs for, like, leeching off of people's life force or something?" He stared at her even harder than before. "Y'know, drinking blood?"

He blinked slowly. "Wow." Still his lips parted, and she leaned forward just enough to peer inside his mouth. Lucy stared so intently at his teeth that she didn't notice how he rolled up one sleeve and cut his wrist with his nail.

She felt it though. It wasn't something orgasmic that called to her like a siren. Instead it was painful, like she'd swallowed a bag of snakes and they were trying to eat their way out of her stomach. He swiped his finger over the cut and lifted it so she could see how it dripped down to his knuckle. That was when the pain worsened. It shot from her stomach up into her mouth and settled in her front teeth. She couldn't tell which ones, but it hurt almost as much as when she'd had to get her wisdom teeth removed a year prior. That sharp, throbbing pain nearly blinded her. She wasn't able to focus on anything but his finger, so she didn't miss how his hand shot forward and grabbed her chin with what felt like enough force to break her jaw. "Ow!" she screeched. "Let go!"

"It's gonna hurt more if I don't do this." That was all the warning he gave before his fingers were in her mouth, ripping out her canines. As any strong independent woman would do in this scenario, Lucy screamed. She screamed bloody murder, and it didn't faze him in the slightest. Even with his death grip on her face, her knees buckled beneath her. "Or maybe it hurts less if they fall out on their own," he muttered when he saw the tears dripping down onto her cheeks.

Her eyes clenched as the throbbing intensified. She wasn't sure how long it lasted before he let go of her face. It felt like an eternity spent kneeling in front of this man she didn't know, waiting for the pain to just stop. She spit out a mouthful of blood right onto the carpet. She didn't fucking care if it stained as she pressed a hand to her mouth. Maybe with enough pressure, it would stop hurting. Then again, she could still smell his blood in the air. Lucy glared up at him through her tears, silently cursing his very existence. Wasn't it just poor manners to rip out someone's teeth when you barely even knew them? Couldn't he have at least offered her a last meal before he started to torture her?

Maybe this was his version of foreplay. She'd been stupid enough to believe everything up until that point, and now he was going to make her into his dungeon-dwelling sex slave. He'd rip out the rest of her teeth to make it easier to force her to give him blowjobs. Ooh, Lucy hated him so fucking much.

"And this is why I can't stand babies," he sighed. He uncrossed his legs and spread them around her still kneeling form. She watched as he put his wrist to his lips - she hadn't even noticed that his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows before then - and bit down. She didn't see any fangs, though. Vampires were supposed to have fangs. Then again, he paused after letting go of his wrist, and when he pulled it away, his mouth was closed. Before she knew what was happening, his wrist was in her mouth. She swallowed, and swallowed again, and each drop of crimson liquid that danced over her tongue dulled the pain just a little bit. "Now, take your time, and I'll explain. Don't suck too hard. You're not trying to give me a damn hickey."

Her cheeks flamed and she followed his instruction.

"Can you listen right now?"

She barely nodded. She didn't want to let go long enough to give him a proper answer. He seemed to understand though, because they both slowly adjusted until she was left kneeling between his spread legs, leaning against the lounge, and his forearm rested on his thigh so she could easily reach it. Lucy didn't even mind all that much when his other hand came to rest on her hair and his fingers scraped over her scalp in a gentle, soothing rhythm.

She was kind of wondering why she wasn't ravenous, though. And why he was giving her his own blood. If she was already a vampire, then shouldn't she be drinking human blood? Or was he actually turning her right then? Or maybe it was all a farce, and he was some stranger who'd set up an elaborate scheme to get her to his house so he could satisfy his blood kink.

If that was the case, then this was entirely her fault for following the directions on that note.

"We can still eat food," he said. "Think of this as a dietary supplement. You'll have to find another vampire to drink from if you want any actual nourishment from it. Human blood is too weak."

That only left her with more questions. Like how she was turned in the first place. Wouldn't a vampire have bitten her and drank her blood, maybe made her drink its blood in return? She still really wanted to know why she'd woken up in that crypt, too.

"We don't have magic, but we're pretty athletically inclined. Running, jumping, faster healing. We can see in the dark, too, so that's a bonus." He shifted slightly when her fingers brushed across the inside of his elbow, and she glanced up at his face only to find a slight blush on his cheeks while he glared at the wall. "What am I forgetting?" he mumbled to himself. "There's so much shit you people have made up over the years…"

It took all of her willpower to pull away from his wrist long enough to speak. "Stake through the heart?"

His free hand wrapped around the back of her head and forced her mouth onto his wrist again. "Drink, dumbass," he spat. "The pain's stopped for now, but it'll start right back up until those little baby fangs of yours grow in. And this is helping speed that up." As soon as she started sucking again, he continued petting her. "You're lucky I'm as old as I am. It'd take even longer if you were feeding off a newer vampire."

Lucy just hummed and allowed it to happen. She was barely getting anything out of his wrist anymore, so maybe he was already starting to heal. It wasn't a conscious thought to bite him. She just did it, and she heard the way he hissed. She felt his muscles tense as her jaw locked onto his flesh.

"Fuck you and your stupid, blunt human teeth," he snarled. He pressed her head harder against his wrist, and she knew the exact moment when her teeth finally broke through his skin. The way his whole body relaxed when she sucked was odd though. Did this part feel good for him?

She kind of wondered why she wasn't madly in love with the taste of his blood though. It was actually a little gross. Watery and bitter, like a melted down mouthful of pennies. The taste left something to be desired, but as it trickled down her throat it definitely left her feeling more refreshed.

"A stake through the heart," he sighed. "It's about as effective as stabbing a stake into a human, so yeah. It'll kill us. Holy water's actually effective. Holy weapons too, but in this day and age who the fuck is gonna be carrying around an axe blessed by a god? No one, that's who. But it's only holy weapons from a deity who's not aligned with Osiris. Complicated as hell. And it changes over time when the gods make different alliances."

He sure liked to ramble. She didn't really fault him for it though. He was apparently teaching her what she needed to know to survive. Wait, did that mean God actually existed? And there was more than one? Holy shit, she was starting to rethink some things now.

"Enough talk for now," he said after a moment. "Just keep drinking."

When she glanced up at him after a few minutes spent in silence, she found his head tipped back on the lounge and his eye closed. Lucy wondered if he fell asleep.

"Bite me again," he mumbled without looking at her. "It's closing up."

When she bit down again, he didn't react nearly as badly. His arm tensed under her teeth, but it was already easier to pierce his flesh.

What Lucy hadn't expected in the slightest was the high she felt after drinking so much of his blood. Maybe it hadn't been more than a pint, maybe not even that much. It felt as though she'd been there for hours, suckling at his wrist and draining him dry. Everything tingled from the roots of her hair to the tips of her fingers. Every brush of cloth over her skin was uncomfortable. The dress she'd been given was already a soft cotton, but it was suddenly far too rough. It was itchy. She wanted to tear off her shoulders from how badly it scratched against them.

"Why are you squirming?"

She looked up at him and finally pulled her lips from his wrist. "The dress…" And the rug biting into her knees. And the way his pants brushed across her forearm. The only thing that wasn't uncomfortable was the still-steady rhythm of his fingers in her hair. She was sure it had been at least twenty minutes, and he'd yet to stop stroking her hair like this.

He let out a slow breath, and she noticed the lazy little turn to one corner of his lips. "It's been a while since I've handled a baby myself," he chuckled. "Let's get you to bed. You'll be more comfortable."

She sat back on her heels when he leaned forward, watching as he stood. Lucy took the hand he offered and stood with all the grace of a college girl at three in the morning on Saint Patrick's Day. It was pretty embarrassing when she stumbled right into his chest. But then her cheek brushed against the soft silk of his shirt, and she was sure she'd found heaven. Her eyes were heavy-lidded when she looked up at him. Maybe a high wasn't the right word at all. Maybe she was drunk, after all. Drunk on him. Oh, that sounded bad. Lucy bit her lips for a moment, then winced as her new fangs grazed the inside of her mouth.

"None of that now," he said. His fingers brushed against her lips. "You took a lot out of me, and if you start bleeding I'm liable to bite you."

That sounded much more alluring than it should have. She hummed quietly and let him lead her away from the lounge with his arm draped around her shoulders to keep her steady. Instead of going to the bed that was only a few feet away, he turned them toward the door. "Where are we going?"

"My room," he said. "My sheets are silk. Trust me, you'll be fidgeting all day if you try resting in this bed."

She paused when they reached the door, frowning up at him. "You want me to lay in your bed."

"Yes."

"With you?"

"Yes. I'm exhausted." He did seem a bit tired, now that she was looking at him more closely. But why wouldn't he just put some silk sheets on the bed in this room, then leave her there? He could go to his own room to rest if he needed it.

"I don't even know your name," she whispered.

He snorted then and rolled his eye. "You showed up here looking for a Mister Cobra, remember?"

"And your name is really Cobra?" She wasn't sure if she could believe that. He'd said he was born before the Spanish Inquisition. People in that time weren't named Cobra.

"No, that's what people call me. Bacchus won't let that shit go." Her knees went just a little wobbly when he smirked down at her. It was entirely the high-drunk feeling she had. It had absolutely nothing to do with the way he was looking at her. Nothing at all. "My name is Erik."

"Lucy," she said. He'd never even asked her name. From what she'd heard of his phone conversation through the door, he was doing this Bacchus person a favor by taking her under his wing. He didn't have to do any of this for her. He'd agreed to teach her, not even knowing something like her name. Or who she was.

"You look like a Lucy," he said. Erik opened the door a crack, then paused when she stumbled. "You alright?"

Lucy giggled. She couldn't help herself. Her feet wouldn't work right. She was ready to take this stupid dress off and rub her whole body on his shirt just to get rid of the crawling sensation under her skin. But that wasn't going to happen. Even with the discomfort, her body was thrumming with energy, begging to be put through its paces. She was a little curious about what she was actually capable of now. Good god, she'd be able to do her newspaper route so easily with the strength she could already feel in her muscles. Those ten pound bundles of Sunday newspapers on Christmas morning would be a breeze!

Then again, if she could barely manage walking… Lucy seriously doubted she'd be able to run any marathons.

Erik surprised her by stepping in front of her and crouching down. "Hop on."

There wasn't even a modicum of grace left in her as she clambered onto his back and wrapped her legs around his waist. She rested her chin on his shoulder, and smiled when his hands wrapped around her thighs. God, his hands felt wonderful. Like tiny, little, itty bitty lightning storms in the shapes of long fingers and smooth palms. And when he opened the door the rest of the way, when he took the first step out of the room, she felt the silk of his shirt rubbing against her thighs, between her legs. The only thing that ruined it was his belt digging into her crotch. Her naked crotch. Oh, good Lord… she'd forgotten that she didn't have any underwear on.

Lucy wanted to ask him to wait so she could at least grab her panties. But when she turned her head to do just that, she smelled his hair. She hadn't known vampires would use Old Spice. "You smell yummy…"

"I swear, if you bite me again-" His footsteps faltered when she struck his neck with a soft moan. "You don't need anymore right now, Lucy," he breathed. "Let go."

Her eyes slid open at the sound of several masculine voices laughing just in front of them. And Lucy found three pairs of humor-filled crimson eyes staring back at her from three very different men.

"Looks like someone forgot what it's like being a baby," said the shortest of the three men, smirking with his black-painted lips. She wasn't sure what to look at first, his two-tone white and black hair, the goth-glam look he was actually rocking with confidence, or his makeup.

"No shit, Midnight," snorted the second. Lucy found herself mesmerized by the piercings lining his brows and the bridge of his nose, and his long raven hair pulled up into a high ponytail. He looked muscular enough to bench press three of that Midnight person. "Cobra, man, you know she'll keep feeding on yer ass for the next week."

The third man cackled. He actually cackled. Lucy's gaze slid over to him and she bit down again when Erik's skin started healing. Apparently her new fangs weren't doing a good enough job to puncture very deep. What she found staring back at her was a tall man, almost as muscular as the second, with a blue mohawk and a little person tattooed in the center of his face. And a long tongue hanging from his mouth while he laughed. Cackled. That was most definitely cackling.

"Which means we get to be on rotation," Midnight sighed. "Gajeel will get your room set up with food. Bickslow, get drinks. I'll make sure you've got towels and sheets and... " He paused and stared at Lucy for a minute. She nearly squirmed under his penetrating stare. His eyes narrowed slightly. Was he glaring at her? "Clothes for her. You strike me as a Bohemian Gypsy style kind of woman."

Her eyes lit up and she tried to nod, only for Erik to groan and put his hand on her head to keep her still. She wondered how he knew what style she liked. It wasn't as though her jeans and t-shirt and faded sneakers combo really screamed Bohemian Gypsy. Maybe the dress she was wearing? But that was what Erik had given her.

The cackling man just nodded and walked off, still laughing the whole time. He didn't say a word otherwise. Did he even know how to speak?

Erik swayed just a little when Lucy sucked harder. "Damnit, don't fucking do it like that."

She lessened the pressure and bit him instead. Her teeth went deeper this time, and she felt the groan he let out vibrate against her chest. When she started carefully pulling more blood from his neck, he tried to take another step. And nearly crashed them both into a wall. She wanted to pull back and ask if he was alright, if he needed her to stop until they got to his room, but then she tasted something tangy in his blood that was more than the normal coppery flavor. It was spicy and rich, and washed across her mouth like the tide. She inhaled sharply and sucked harder. Whatever that taste was, she liked it. And she definitely wanted more of it.

"Damn," Gajeel chuckled, "Try not to get too excited, Cobra."

"Shut up," Erik muttered. "She's doing it…" Was he panting? His fingers tightened around her thighs for a second. "... Really hard…"

"You know you can't bite her right now," Midnight said. "She's too young. And with how much you'd probably take, it could kill her." He and Gajeel came to assist Cobra by standing on either side of him. When it was clear that he wasn't planning on walking anymore - maybe because he couldn't bring himself to do it - the two tried to carefully pry Lucy from his back. "Miss, if you can just wait a minute-"

Lucy surprised herself by the growl she let out when their hands came closer. But just because she didn't want these two to pull her off of Erik, didn't mean they would stop. They were stronger than her, and probably already more used to being vampires. Well, if they were vampires, that is.

Gajeel snarled, and she saw the fangs that Erik hadn't even showed her. She was just a little surprised to see that he couldn't even properly close his mouth with how long those fangs were. And when she looked at Midnight, his own fangs were bared as well, except they were much smaller than Gajeel's, more delicate in appearance but probably no less deadly. She was in for a world of pain, but she didn't want to let go of Erik's throat. The tang to his blood increased tenfold in tandem with the palpable danger in the air.

"Let go, Lucy," Erik said gently. His voice was colder, darker when he spoke again. "And you two, fuck off. You're scaring her."

"Sure doesn't seem fuckin' scared," Gajeel said. "Seems like the baby wants to find out what she got herself into."

"She didn't get herself into anything," Erik said slowly. He leaned back to sandwich Lucy between himself and a nearby wall, then reached up to gently stroke her hair. When she took that as a sign to keep going, to sate her hunger, his other hand tightened its grip on her thigh. He took a deep breath. "Some of Bacchus' cult assholes kidnapped her while she was walking up to her apartment. They did the ritual to sacrifice her, so their lord and master could have a bride or some stupid bullshit."

Gajeel laughed along with Midnight. "That's the dumbest fuckin' thing I've ever heard!"

"Bacchus isn't ever going to get married, and especially not to her," Midnight nodded. "You, on the other hand…"

"Shut the fuck up," Erik spat. "I'm not doing a damn thing with a baby!" Lucy frowned and bit him harder than was strictly necessary, and he slapped her thigh in return. "Don't you get sassy with me. If you'll let go long enough to get to my room, then you can suck my ass dry. I literally can't fucking move with you like this."

Lucy hummed her question of why, but Erik didn't get a chance to respond before Gajeel cut in.

"He probably didn't tell ya, but being fed on is kind of a turn on."

Her eyes widened and she let go of Erik's neck completely. That wasn't what she'd been expecting in the slightest. Though, it did explain why he'd looked so relaxed when she was feeding from his wrist before. And probably why his feet hadn't wanted to work with him when she'd been stuck to his back like a leech. Oh god, was her feeding on him like this essentially the same as giving him a blowjob? It wouldn't be the first time she'd sucked first and asked questions later, but still...

"Look down," Gajeel smirked. "He's got a fuckin' rager."

"Shut up, asshole," Erik growled.

Lucy's legs slid out of his grip, and she carefully stood on her own two feet behind him. When Erik turned toward her, she made a point of only looking him in the eye. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Oh, I doubt he was uncomfortable," Gajeel said.

"Not helping, Gajeel," Midnight sighed.

"Was I doing it wrong?" Lucy asked. She looked from Erik to Gajeel, then over to Midnight who was still glaring at her. More precisely, his gaze was set on her mouth. "Or maybe just too much?"

"You're fine," Erik said softly. He carefully swiped a drop of blood from her lower lip, then smirked at her while sucking it from his thumb. "We'll need to work on you not making a mess, though."

Her cheeks flamed and her shoulders hunched in on themselves just a little. Just enough for Erik to pick up that she was embarrassed. But how could she not be? There were two other vampires right here, and they were all looking at her as though she was an idiot. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know much about this - or anything, considering how many things she'd been wrong about when she and Erik had talked before.

There was only so much information she'd had access to. Like the entire fucking internet. But it was full of misinformation, apparently. Why wasn't there a vampire wiki with the shit people like her needed to know? Maybe there was. Maybe it was just password protected, or like the Dark Web. Maybe the password was something like Nosferatu. No, that was dumb.

Just as dumb as she was. God, she needed to get herself under control. Her arms wrapped around her waist in a tight embrace. "I'm okay to walk now, I think…"

He nodded and pulled her into his side, then turned away from Gajeel and Midnight. "Get everything ready," he told them over his shoulder. "And then leave me and Lucy the hell alone until I call one of you."

"Yer lucky he's got a TV in there," Gajeel called out. "Cobra's the most boring motherfucker in the world."

"Fuck you, Gajeel!" Erik laughed.

She kept her head down while they walked. When they were out of sight of Midnight and Gajeel, he pulled her to a stop. "I'm really sorry," she said, staring at the floor.

"Nothing to be sorry for," he said. "It has been a while since I've dealt with a baby-"

She scowled up at him. "Stop calling me a baby. I'm an adult."

Erik shook his head and laughed. "We call all newly changed vampires babies. They have to learn everything all over again. How to deal with their strength, how to feed, our own laws. Taking on a newbie, like yourself, is essentially like raising a child."

"So, now I'm like your kid?" she asked.

"In a sense," he said. "If you go on a killing spree, it'll be my ass getting in trouble for not teaching you better."

She sighed and started walking again, then stopped when she felt his warm fingers wrapped around her elbow. She turned to look up at him.

"The only reason I agreed to this shit," he said, "Is because Bacchus is an irresponsible asshole. He's gotta deal with what his little peons did to you. They weren't supposed to do anything without his permission, and they did."

"So, I'm an accident."

"Pretty much," he chuckled. That didn't really make her feel better. She was just a burden, then. "But I agreed to take care of you. This shit isn't your fault, so you shouldn't be punished for it. That's why you're with me."

She supposed that made sense, but that didn't explain why she'd woken up all alone. What if she hadn't been able to read the note that was left with her? What if she'd ignored it and went home? Would someone have come looking for her? Would it have been Erik or one of the other three men in this house? "Then who wrote the note?"

"Bacchus," he said. "They told him where you were at, and when he found you, he realized what happened. And instead of calling me while he was there, he figured it was a better idea to have your confused ass wandering all over the city trying to find me."

"That's… kinda stupid."

Erik shrugged. "He's a fucking drunk. I've learned to not question his logic most times." Her cheeks warmed just a little when his thumb drew slow circles down her forearm and on the inside of her wrist. "Two more things, then we'll go."

Lucy nodded.

"You'll find that those of us who have been around for a while aren't exactly the most uptight when it comes to… relationships."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," he sighed, "We're really not concerned with keeping things strictly between men and women."

Oh. So vampires were just bisexual. She kind of wondered if it was all of them, maybe it was part of being a vampire. And why he was telling her this in the first place. Maybe it was because he lived with three men? It wasn't like he needed to explain himself to her. He didn't owe her any sort of explanation. Then again, he didn't know her at all. Maybe he thought she was uptight about things like that.

"After being alive long enough, you might end up finding certain things attractive about women that you didn't while you were a human. Or men, if you swung the other way as a human. As whole, as time goes on, we really don't care. Or it's more like we just stop caring."

That was actually very progressive of them. And it kind of made sense, she supposed. At this point, she was just going along with it.

"To go along with that, you can feed from any vampire. It doesn't have to be you and a man."

"Good to know," she said. She wasn't really worried about that just yet anyway. At least for the time being, she was going to be with Erik. She was his responsibility, after all, so it stood to reason that she'd just feed from him until he told her to move on to someone else. And hopefully he'd help her figure out where she could even find another vampire to feed from. Would he set her up on some sort of website to find other vampires. Like, Plenty of Vamps for her to create a profile. Or Fanger, where she could swipe right or left at her leisure.

"The other thing is…" He actually hesitated. He'd been blunt and straightforward this entire time, but that little pause held all of her focus. "When we're in my room, we'll be sharing my bed. For you to be comfortable, you'll need to be naked."

"Wait, what?"

"Silk sheets," he chuckled. "They'll feel better on your skin right now."

Well, she hadn't really forgotten about how uncomfortable this dress felt on her, but just by bringing it up, it brought that discomfort right to the forefront of her brain. And once again, she was itchy and uncomfortable.

"I have no issues with nudity," he continued. "And I'm more comfortable with nothing on while I'm in bed. For your sake, I'll wear some boxers."

"So kind of you," she muttered. Lucy shifted slightly to try and pull at her dress. Why did he have to bring this up?

"My only rule while you're in my bed for the next week is that I won't fuck you." He laughed when Lucy's jaw dropped and she gaped at him in horror. "After you feed enough, you might start feeling horny. No matter how bad that gets, I'm not touching you. You're a baby, and I'm just teaching you the ropes."

That made sense, she supposed. And, oddly enough, it was pretty thoughtful. She didn't exactly plan on trying to jump his bones or anything, but considering she'd been getting just a little excited by the taste of his blood earlier, Lucy could at least accept that it was a very real possibility that she just might want to as the days wore on. The only thing she needed to know was what the hell she was supposed to do with herself if she started getting horny enough to try and fuck him. Maybe she'd just have to go and take a bath and rub it out herself. It wasn't like she was incapable of masturbating - spending the past few years without a stable relationship and only the occasional fling to get her rocks off left her with few options in the orgasm department.

"Okay," Lucy said quickly, before he could keep talking. "I've read the terms and conditions, and I accept."

"I'm not done-"

"I'm itchy," she whined. "We'll both be naked, okay. Just take me to your room and let me get in those sheets. You can talk my ear off then."

His eye narrowed once more as he peered down at her. "You seem a little too accepting of this."

"Millennial, remember?" she laughed while they started walking again. "We're a weird generation. Plus, I've spent enough time in strange men's beds to not be all that shy about someone seeing my tits. I'm good." Which was a bit of a contradiction, considering how she hadn't wanted him to see too much of her in that towel earlier. And that she'd practically accused him of being a rapist and murderer. But at this point, if it would help to ease what felt like chicken pox breaking out all over her body... she was all for it.

Erik shook his head and led her down the hall.

"Okay," Lucy said, rolling onto her side with a content sigh as black silk shifted over her skin. God, it was so soft. Like bathing in creamy butter without the greasy after-effects. She made sure the top sheet was tucked around her breasts and propped her head on one hand. "I'll ask a question about vampires, and you tell me if it's right or wrong."

"This should be good," Erik chuckled. He tucked his hands behind his head, and she took a moment to just soak in the pulling muscles on his arms and chest that she hadn't seen before. But boy, could she see them now that he was down to a pair of red silk boxers, lying in the bed with her. The fact that even his boxers were silk was just hilarious. Then again, maybe vampires had insanely sensitive skin. Maybe she'd never be able to wear cotton or polyester again. Or spandex. Oh, god... her yoga pants collection!

"Can't have garlic?"

"It just smells gross," he said. "We've got a great sense of smell. Well, yours is still shit right now, but give it a year and you'll grow into it."

"You have to be invited into a person's house, or you can't cross the threshold?"

"That's called manners," he said, rolling his eye. "What the fuck is wrong with this generation?"

"Right, but is it a requirement?" She had a habit of just walking into her friends' houses. It was a horrible habit she'd picked up from Natsu years ago, and she'd never been able to break it. She did, at least, have the decency to phone ahead and let them know she was on her way. Unlike a certain pink-haired moron best friend of hers who crept in through people's windows at dawn just to see if they were home from their paper routes, to ask for breakfast. God, she loved that dork.

"No, it's not a requirement. You can break and enter to your heart's content."

"How about…" Lucy frowned and tried to think about the vampire lore she'd read over the years. There were so many variations to choose from. "Crossing running water?"

"Are we talking rapids or just a stream?"

"Either," she said with a shrug.

"Well, it doesn't matter," he said. "We can cross water. How do you think I got here from Europe? A fucking boat. As a vampire."

Lucy laughed at the deadpan expression he gave her. "Keeping familiars?"

"It's possible," he said. "I don't. It's a hassle having to deal with humans, so I avoid that shit like the plague…" He paused to chuckle to himself. "Ah, I'm so glad I was already a vampire when the plague was going around. The boils were hilarious."

"Wow…"

"Shut up," he laughed. She liked his laugh. It was a deep, throaty thing, but it suited him. Just like the dimples in his cheeks when he really smiled. But those seemed to be rare occurrences, from what she could tell. "But keeping humans is a personal choice. Some do it. Some keep them, then turn them later, like Bacchus does."

"So those three guys..." She hadn't a clue who they were. She was actually pretty curious about that.

"Vampires are broken up into families," he said. One hand moved from behind his head to toy with a lock of her hair that had spilled down onto the pillow. "When one breaks out on their own, they have to file with the Council when they decide to take on members for themselves. It's a lot of bureaucratic bullshit."

"That sounds complicated," she said.

"Yes, and no." They both watched the way her golden hair twisted around his fingers for a moment. "I'm the head of my family. As the head, I can turn someone and bring them into the family, or delegate that responsibility to others the way Bacchus does. But there's a limit on how many humans can be turned in each family in a decade."

That made sense, she supposed. They needed to control the vampire population; otherwise, their kind would end up obliterating the human population entirely. Though, considering there weren't that many differences between vampires and humans that she could see - aside from the blood thing, and a couple other small things - she didn't really see the big deal if they did wipe out humanity.

"In my family, I do the turning," he said softly, drawing her attention back to his face. "I don't do it often. I met Gajeel in Cyprus when it fell to the Ottomans in 1571. He was fighting like there was no tomorrow, and for him there really wasn't. But I stopped him from being killed and turned him. Gajeel found Bickslow in India in 1785, and brought him to me to turn."

"I'm guessing Bickslow is the one who just laughs?"

"Yeah," Erik chuckled. "He's a fucking weird one, and he'll laugh at pretty much anything. It's actually kind of annoying." He didn't sound like he found it annoying. "And he's a fucking pervert."

"And Midnight?"

"His name is Macbeth," he said. "Gajeel calls him that to piss him off, because of how he dresses." He smirked a moment later. "I do it for the same reason." Lucy couldn't stop herself from giggling a little over that. "We found him in New York in 1978. He was partying at Studio 54 at the Casablanca Records party, snorting coke off Donna Summer's ass."

Lucy blinked repeatedly. That... was not what she'd been expecting to hear.

He seemed to realize it, too, because he smiled at her again and tapped her nose. "I took a liking to him. And he was so stoned at the time that he jumped on the chance to come home with me and the others. That was... an interesting night."

Maybe that was why she felt like Midnight had been glaring at her. Maybe he didn't like the attention she was getting from Erik, when he'd been the baby in this family for the past forty years. Or maybe she was just reading too much into it. From what she could tell, though, Erik seemed to mostly swing toward men. He only turned men. And he'd only turned three - that he'd mentioned - in the past nearly 500 years. "Are they the only ones you've..."

Erik's brows pinched for a moment. "You've met everyone in my family," he said. "We had someone else but... they're gone now."

She wanted to ignore the tinge of anger in his voice that rippled through the air. He seemed a little more tense now. Maybe it was time to change the subject. "Vampire OCD and counting seeds on a grave?"

"That… is the dumbest shit ever." He smiled again, and she was sure that he was actually enjoying hearing what humans thought about his kind. Their kind now, she supposed. "I call bullshit. Unless there's a vampire with OCD, but it's not the standard."

This was good. She could keep this light mood going. "I won't even ask about... the glitter."

"A wise choice, because I'd have to cover you in it if you did," he said. "Fuck those books."

Lucy giggled and inched closer to him. Her teeth were starting to hurt again. Maybe it was part of being so new. Her fangs just hadn't grown in fully yet. "Just for the sake of making sure I've covered all my bases here… Pale skin, fangs, and the cheesy Transylvanian accent."

"She asks the tan guy with an obviously not Transylvanian accent," he snorted. "I swear to fucking Osiris."

"Huh?"

"Yes, before you ask, Osiris is the god of vampires. It's a whole thing. I'll give you a book to read."

"Any wolf, bat, or misty transformations?" she asked. Now that he'd brought up his skin, he was starting to look a little more edible. Like a piece of caramel just waiting for her to devour it. Ooh, like a Milky Way. She loved those.

"No shapeshifting. And the only way you'll run up the side of a building is with a lot of momentum and some parkour skills." His nostrils flared slightly when she licked her lips. "And those are not standard vampire skills. You'll need to practice if you plan on doing that shit."

"And making new vampires by biting them?" she asked. Lucy leaned a little closer and eventually brushed her nose over his sternum. The throbbing in her mouth only worsened. Had it been long enough since she'd bitten him last? She didn't want to do it too often, but her mouth really hurt. As the seconds ticked onward, she was ready to rip her teeth out again. That had hurt less than the bullshit happening right then.

"The fact that you remember no part of being turned is a bit problematic," he sighed. Her eyes closed when his fingers brushed her hair back and he pulled her lips to his throat. "Go ahead, you look like you're ready to eat my fucking soul."

She didn't need more prompting to bite him, but it was even easier than before to get his skin to break.

Erik swallowed when her body was pressed flush against his side. "Remember to be gentle," he whispered.

Lucy hummed and forced herself not to suck as hard as she had been. It really was difficult to remember that when everything in her was screaming to drain him dry as quickly as possible. But she could have some self-control. She really could…

"Fuck," he groaned. He shifted on the bed, his back arching ever so slightly. "Not so hard, Lucy."

She pulled away just enough to speak. "My mouth hurts."

He groaned when she latched on again. "You need to do this when you feel it coming on. Shit, this isn't good…"

"Hm?"

Erik shook his head and reached for his nightstand. His hand swatted one way and another until he found his phone sitting right next to hers that was in the process of charging. Without hesitating, he dialed and put it on speaker.

"Already?" Gajeel's gruff voice said in answer.

"Yeah, she's a hungry one," Erik said. "I don't know who's got first, but I need one of you in here. Soon." Lucy bit down again, pulling a sound that was very nearly an aroused moan from his lips. "Real soon... Fucking shit..."

"I'm first," Gajeel said. "Lemme wash up and I'll be there."

Erik hung up and tossed the phone to the bed. His hand rested on her golden hair. "Try to go slowly, okay?"

Lucy hummed in response.

"Turning a human is… there's a whole ritual," he said in answer to her question. "Picture a standard virgin sacrifice kind of thing, and you're about halfway there. I'll show you the books later on when you're not licking the inside of my fucking carotid."

Lucy laughed against his neck. Sadly, it was a weird angle for her to be in, and she just wanted to be comfortable. It was with that thought in mind that she slowly crawled on top of Erik and laid herself on him. She got ready to pull back to ask if it was alright to be in this position, but his hand held her in place.

"It's fine," he said softly. "As long as you don't start grinding on my dick, we're good."

She hadn't even considered that, to be honest. But since she was lying completely on top of him, she could feel his arousal pressing against her hip through his boxers. And she was sure that he could feel her pebbled nipples brushing against his chest when she shifted to kneel between his legs. At least, if she was like this, it would be a bit less sexual on her end. She didn't have a dick to fuck him with, after all. Oddly enough, his legs parted with no hesitation. She wondered if that meant he was a bottom. Maybe a power bottom. He seemed like the type.

"Eye hypnosis?" she asked, licking at the two small pinprick punctures in his neck and the indentations from her normal teeth.

He really laughed then, even when she moved lower and bit into him again. "Look into my eye," he said with an exaggerated slavic accent. "Bluh bluh bluh! Fucking stupid." Lucy laughed against his flesh while one of his hands rubbed slow circles on her lower back and the other started stroking her hair again. He was pretty touchy for someone who hadn't wanted to teach her only hours before. "You do it like this." His hand splayed across her lower back, then he started rubbing her skin again in random patterns. "Skin contact. Only with humans, and only when you really need to feed. If it's dire enough that you're willing to feed on their weak ass blood, then hypnotize them. They'll do whatever you want, and you can make them forget you were even there when you're done. You try this shit on me, and I'll fucking eat you."

Lucy drew back and licked at the punctures, then looked into his eye. "Does it work on other vampires?"

He smirked. "You'll have to figure that out on your own."

"Sleep in a coffin?" she asked with an answering grin. She bit his chest just before he could answer. She couldn't find a good spot to get a lot of blood out. His wrist had been alright, but she didn't want his wrist again. She wanted something else. Something she couldn't describe. Maybe it was feeling arms around her, caging her in. Hands freely touching her overly sensitive flesh. She pulled back just a little and scraped her fangs over his chest, hoping to get a few scratches in. Anything to make him bleed more, so she could quell the pain in her mouth.

"You're literally in my bed right now. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable a fucking coffin is?"

"Super seductive?"

His fingers trailed higher on her back to the space between her shoulder blades. "If you wanna slut it up, by all means," he said. "I don't fucking care. Does being a vampire make you more attractive? I'm biased."

"You really fuckin' are," Gajeel said from the doorway.

Lucy drew back in surprise, pulling a hiss from Erik when one of her fangs snagged on his skin. His hands wrapped around her waist and he held her in place while Gajeel came over to the bed. Was he telling her not to move? He'd called Gajeel to the room, but Lucy didn't want the others seeing her feeding. She still didn't know what she was doing, really. And now she knew that Gajeel was several centuries older than her. He probably thought she was a moron.

"No funny business," Erik said. He and Lucy watched as Gajeel removed his black tank top before taking Lucy's previous spot on the bed, leaving him in only a pair of black silk pajama pants.

Gajeel just smirked. "You got it. I'll deal with it myself later."

Erik nodded, then turned to Lucy. She hadn't a clue what was supposed to happen, but he seemed to realize it based on the confusion written all over her face. "You're draining me," he said. "Gajeel here's gonna let me feed on him, so I can keep feeding you on demand."

Lucy blinked and sat up, holding the sheet tightly to her chest. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I really am doing this too much, aren't I?"

"She's fuckin' adorable, Cobra," Gajeel said, drawing her attention. He looked so intimidating, she wasn't sure what to make of him. But then he smiled at her in a way that wasn't predatory or mocking in the slightest. "This is normal. He took you on, so he'll feed you until you don't need it all the time. Me and the others'll come in when he needs us to. Shouldn't be more than a week."

"Really?" she whispered, looking from one to the other. "I'm not doing it wrong?" She tried to suck the blood off her lower lip, and ended up scratching herself with her fangs. Lucy hissed and pressed her fingers to her mouth.

"You're fine," Erik said. He reached for her hand and pulled it away, closer to his lips. Lucy was mesmerized by the sight of her fingers, dotted with blood, drifting across his lips. How his tongue flicked out to taste them. His eye closed in euphoric bliss for the briefest of moments. "It'll get easier to figure out when you need to do it, and to hold off for a little while. Right now, you're waiting too long so you need more at a time."

"Sorry…"

"Fuckin' precious," Gajeel chuckled. "Do yer thing, little Bunny. We'll all help ya learn."

She smiled over at Gajeel, then licked her lips when she looked back down at Erik. She could see the bites she'd already left on him were healing, but she was still feeling the urge to bite him. The pain was gone in her mouth, so that was a plus. But if she still felt like this, then maybe she wasn't done yet. "Should I keep going if I want to bite you?"

"Yeah," Erik said. "Do it until you don't want to anymore. I'll be alright."

"Yer the oldest one in this house," Gajeel snorted. "You'd better be alright."

She watched as Erik rolled his eye and accepted Gajeel's wrist that was suddenly thrust in front of his face. She'd yet to see Erik's fangs, and it was actually something she was curious about. He noticed her watching him though, and Erik pulled Gajeel's arm away from his mouth just enough for her to get a good look at his fangs. Her eyes widened at the sight before her. They were longer than even Gajeel's, long enough that she wondered if they would pierce all the way through her wrist if he tried to feed from her.

But where Gajeel's and Midnight's fangs - and even hers, she was sure - were just elongated canines, Erik's teeth were different. The incisors just next to his fangs were also slightly longer, and definitely a whole lot sharper than normal teeth.

"Wow…"

"It's an age thing," he said. His voice was even a little different now. Well, it was probably hard to move his lips around teeth like that.

"I ain't staying here all day, man," Gajeel said. He picked up the remote for the television and turned it on, then started flipping through the channels. "So hurry up and-" Erik's jaws snapped down on his muscular forearm. "Fuckin' shit!"

Lucy laughed at the heated glare Gajeel sent to Erik. After a moment, his bite lessened, and she was able to actually watch his lips holding a perfect seal on Gajeel's flesh. How Erik carefully sucked just enough to get the blood flowing, then let Gajeel's body do the rest. How he waited, then swallowed without moving anything but his throat while Gajeel slowly clenched his hand into a fist, unclenched, clenched again.

"Be glad he's not feedin' on you right now," Gajeel muttered, turning his attention back to the television. "He licks people way too fucking much. It's like getting a goddamn rimjob on my fuckin' arm. I can only imagine he'd be doing the same fuckin' thing to you."

Her cheeks flamed and she looked down into Erik's eye. And he winked at her. At least, she thought it was a wink. Maybe he'd just been blinking with the only eye he had. Except it had looked a bit saucy. If he didn't want her thinking he'd be banging her anytime this week, then he probably shouldn't be doing things like that. Then again, she was seeing the sort of relationship he had with Gajeel. They were comfortable with one another, and she was sure it had everything to do with how long they'd been a family.

Erik slowly sat up, keeping his lips on Gajeel's arm the whole while, then directed her to turn around and put her back against his chest. It took a good bit of maneuvering for her to get comfortable between his spread legs, all while keeping the sheet over her chest so Gajeel wouldn't see her tits.

"He's makin' sure you can watch while you feed," Gajeel said. When she looked up at him, he met her gaze squarely. He didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest by Erik feeding on him. "Do you need me to show ya?"

Lucy flushed and shook her head. She could do this, too. She could learn how to feed on her own. It was bad enough that Midnight and Gajeel knew just how clueless she was. She didn't need one of them actively walking her through it.

He finally stopped on a channel that was playing the opening credits for Blade. "God, this fuckin' movie…"

"I've never seen it," she said while getting more comfortable.

"It's so fuckin' bad," he laughed.

She looked up at Gajeel as Erik's arms wrapped around her with one offered up for her to bite. "Tell me everything that's wrong with it?" she asked.

Gajeel grinned down at her, then turned to Erik. "I like this one. You should keep her." His smile faded when Erik bit him again, probably unnecessarily based on his reaction. "Asshole."

Erik chuckled, and Lucy looked down at his tanned forearm. She was going to get it right this time. She wasn't going to bite too hard or suck too hard. She had to start learning how to do it right. Except she didn't really know where the best place was for her to bite him with her fangs. She knew that it was relatively easy to slit one's wrists and bleed to death, but that was only if they did it just right. And Lucy wasn't really all that sure about the logistics of suicide and self-harm anyway. "Um..."

Gajeel set down the remote and leaned forward slightly. His thumb pressed into Erik's wrist and drew slow circles. "Touch the veins here," he said softly. "You can feel 'em, which one are the best." Lucy nodded, touching Erik's wrist as well. "Get yer top lip lined up with the best vein, then bite down."

Slowly, she closed her mouth around his flesh and applied a little pressure at a time until she felt his skin pop against her barely-there fangs. She sucked just once to get the blood flowing then let it pool in her mouth. Erik hadn't swallowed right away from what she'd seen, so she was going to do the same. Based on the soft sigh he let out against her hair, and how she felt him relaxing the longer she gently suckled at his wrist, Lucy could only assume she was doing it right. And as the movie continued, with Gajeel explaining why one thing or another was complete and utter bullshit, she brought her hands up to hold Erik's arm in place. He was probably getting tired of holding it up. She would've been, if their roles were reversed.

By the time she finished feeding, Erik had long since finished with Gajeel. The three of them watched the remainder of the movie until Lucy felt herself drifting away from the room and into dreamland. She hadn't known whether vampires actually slept. She could only assume they did as her eyelids grew heavier.

"Rest," Erik said into her ear. "You'll need to feed again when you wake up in the morning, and then we'll eat something."

Her eyes snapped open after a moment, and she sat upright in the bed. She didn't realize that the sheet fell down to her hips in her sudden panic. "Fuck, my route!"

"Huh?" Gajeel asked, frowning as he paused the movie.

She shook her head and crawled over Erik to grab her phone on the nightstand. It took too long to turn on, but she was glad that the android icon finally disappeared and her background of little pink sugar skulls showed up. The time read 3:15 AM. She was fucked. If Gray didn't answer, she was more than fucked. Because she was supposed to be down at the newspaper plant by two in the morning, waiting in line to get the papers for her route. And with how large her route was, she needed to be one of the first in line at the conveyor belts. It wasn't a residential route, so she didn't have the luxury of just tossing papers out the window. No, Lucy's route was full of stores and those large boxes on the street.

"What are you doing?" Erik asked. He and Gajeel watched as she sat on her heels and her thumbs tapped the screen rapidfire, faster than they'd ever seen someone typing on a phone before. Finally, she put the phone up to her ear, completely ignoring them both.

"Lucy?"

She sighed in relief. "Gray, you sweet, wonderful angel of a man. Tell me you're not busy."

"Uh... no, I guess not." She could hear him shuffling through papers on the other line. "Did your truck take a shit on you?"

"No," she laughed. "But I do need you to cover my route tonight." Her gaze slid over to Erik, and she was taken aback by the suddenly deadly gleam in his eye. Her heart thudded in her chest and her muscles tensed, ready to run. It was a natural instinct, she knew. Because he looked for all the world as though he was about to kill something, and she sure as shit wasn't strong enough to take someone like him on.

"This is kinda short notice, Lucy," Gray said. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I've just..." She paused when Erik sat up a little straighter. She could only assume that she couldn't tell anyone about the existence of vampires. Or that she was one of them now.

"You had too much to drink tonight," Erik hissed, low enough not to be heard by Gray.

She shook her head. That wouldn't work. Gray knew that she wasn't much for drinking out of the blue. She was responsible about her alcohol. Saying that would only raise more questions, and he'd end up getting Natsu involved. The last thing she needed was her best (and most overprotective) friend banging on her door in the middle of the night, only to find her missing with her truck still there. "I've um... W-Well, you see, I..."

"Lucy, are you okay?" Gray asked. He sounded much more focused on the call now. "Are you alone?"

"No," she said.

"Are you safe?"

"Yeah," she sighed. She really did love that her friends cared. "Look, this is kind of embarrassing, but..." She looked at Erik, then over to Gajeel. And then she smirked. "Promise you won't tell Natsu?"

"Promise."

"Well, I met these two guys earlier," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "And I'm kind of tied up right now."

"Wait... you're what?!"

Lucy laughed and pulled the phone from her ear when he started squawking. "I can't find my clothes," she snickered. "And I kinda don't want to."

"Where did you meet them? Did Cana introduce you or something? Lucy, are you sure-"

"Gray, I'm fine," she giggled. "I'm just very naked, with two very attractive men who are currently staring at me like a piece of meat... And I'm about to be a yummy sandwich."

"Why are you only just calling me, if you were planning on doing this?" he asked.

Shit. That was a good question. "Well, it wasn't exactly planned," she said, wincing. It wasn't a lie. And luckily, it wasn't entirely out of character for her. Gray had been one of her flings years ago just after they all graduated high school. But that was before he met Juvia in college, and those two had started dating. Levy was the one who didn't think too highly of Lucy's insistence that she not be tied down to a guy. Luckily, she didn't try to make her feel bad about her decisions. But she could still tell that Levy didn't like it. And then there was Natsu. He just wasn't interested in relationships in general, and he completely understood the one night stand thing. He was just constantly worrying about Lucy doing the same thing and getting herself hurt because of some random guy being a psycho. "We met at Burger King."

Erik looked positively disgusted. Gajeel was trying his damnedest not to laugh.

Lucy rolled her eyes at them. "You know how I feel about my king-sized Triple Whoppers," she said. "Apparently, it was sexy."

Gray laughed. "You're disgusting."

"Either way, we hit it off, and I came back to their place. There's been a lot of rolling around on the finest silk sheets ever created, and even more biting. Gray, you don't even know... The biting..." Her eyes closed and she sighed in bliss, thinking about the relief she'd had from feeding on Erik. "And I didn't realize the time until just now, so I kinda put our sex-capades on hold to call you and beg for your divine mercy."

"Send me a picture of these guys. I wanna make sure you're not in trouble."

"Hold on..." With a heavy sigh, she pulled her phone from her ear and switched to her camera app. They were both staring at her, but the looks on their faces wouldn't sell the story she was telling Gray. Gajeel and Erik needed to seem as though they were ready to devour her. Quietly, she whispered, "Play along."

Erik glared at her, and Gajeel gave her an unimpressed eyebrow raise. They were going to make her work for this, weren't they... Well, if she was going to get out of working that night, then this needed to happen. When Erik brought up his rule about them not fucking, he hadn't mentioned anything else, so she rose up onto her knees and let the sheet fall away from her completely, then crawled into Erik's lap. She shamelessly ground herself against his hips and brought her lips to his in a searing kiss that she was sure would leave him lightheaded. He didn't hesitate to kiss her back, which was surprising, considering his adamant stance on not doing anything with a baby vampire. But damn, could he kiss! And the way his hands curved around her hips to pull her flush against his chest was just heavenly. She could feel the raw power in each of his fingers. When Lucy pulled away, she snapped a quick picture of the desire clearly etched onto his face.

She turned toward Gajeel, and found him smirking at her. His hand quickly shot up and wrapped around the back of her neck, dragging her sideways to crash her lips against his. Where kissing Erik for a short time had been an intense, heady experience, kissing Gajeel was all harsh movements and playful nips at her lips with the tips of his fangs. He finally let her go, and she took a moment to breathe before getting a picture of him as well. The fire burning in his crimson eyes when she looked at her phone had her insides tightening with longing. Fuck, he looked sexy like that. She swiped over to Erik's picture, and had to hold back a whimper. These two looked like they were seconds away from breaking her phone so they could have her undivided attention. Instead, she attached both pictures to a text message, and sent them to Gray.

She put the phone back to her ear.

"Lucy, those two will eat your ass alive. Jesus..."

She couldn't help but laugh at that, completely forgetting that she was still, in fact, sitting on Erik's lap. "Well, as you can see, I'm a little preoccupied tonight. So, can you cover my route?"

"I guess I can," he said. She could still hear the shock in his voice. It seemed a little more distant, like she was on speaker. Was he still staring at the pictures she'd sent? "How the hell do you even find guys like this?"

"Burger King," she laughed. "Never underestimate the sexiness of me stuffing my face with artery-clogging goodness."

"Wrap this shit up," Erik murmured.

She laughed again and leaned closer, brushing her nose against his. Maybe she'd gotten a little too into this pretend sexual rendezvous. "Gray, I've gotta go. Borrow my truck, okay? The route sheets and numbers for this week are on the passenger seat. And you can skip that little bodega on 15th street. They're not paying me for shit, so they're not getting shit until I deal with the owner."

"I'll fill up the tank when I'm done," he chuckled. "Use protection."

"I always use protection," she snickered. "You're a lifesaver." She hung up the phone and dropped it to the bed, then let out a quiet sigh. Crisis averted. Her paper route was covered, at least for the night. She'd have to figure something out for tomorrow, but that could come later. Slowly, she tried to shift away from Erik, her eyes widening when he held her in place.

"Gajeel, give me your fucking arm again," Erik said. She couldn't help but notice the tension in his jaw.

"Hell no," Gajeel huffed. "You'll rip it off. Yer a fuckin' beast when yer horny."

Erik turned to glare at him. "Arm, now." Gajeel refused again, and Lucy squeaked when Erik held her tightly to his chest and pounced, pinning Gajeel down on the bed with her body sandwiched between them. "You'll really tell me no?"

Lucy turned her head as best as she could to look up at Gajeel's face, only to find his eyes wide and a little horrified. Then his pierced brows drew together and he snarled up at Erik. "Fuck off, man!" he shouted. Faster than she could follow, Erik shot forward and latched onto Gajeel's throat, pulling a sharp cry of pain from the hulking man lying beneath her. "Damnit, Cobra, stop!"

She tried and failed to shimmy out from between them. Erik used one hand to grab her head and press it to his chest, urging her to sink her fangs into him again. She didn't really feel like feeding right then, though. Her mouth wasn't hurting, and that had been the only indication beforehand that she needed to feed. What caught her off guard, however, was the unfamiliar pair of calloused hands suddenly massaging her hips and the outsides of her thighs.

"Fuck," Gajeel groaned. "Cobra, c-come on... Not like that!"

When Erik growled, Lucy closed her eyes and forced herself to bite his chest as hard as she could. It sounded like Gajeel wanted Erik to stop, and if she could maybe hurt him just enough to distract him, then Gajeel could... He could... He could keep groping her, smoothing his hands over her thighs and massaging her as Erik groaned above her. Two pairs of hips bucked against her, Gajeel's silk pajama pants beneath and Erik's boxers on top. In a matter of moments, Gajeel was left a panting mess who desperately grasped at any flesh he could reach. Hers, Erik's, it didn't seem to matter to him in the slightest.

"I know yer horny, but.. ngh... This is why you need to get laid more, you ravenous fuck!"

Slowly, Lucy's arms wrapped around Erik's back. Her fingers dug into the contracting muscles as he ground against her again. She could hear the way he growled, how it stopped long enough for him to swallow. She tried everything in her power to time her own with his. He drank deeply, as though he'd been starved. But he'd just fed from Gajeel. Was this really okay? That sharp, spicy tang to his blood had returned, and her eyes slid closed as she basked in the way it burned in her throat.

"Shit," Gajeel panted. "Erik, you've gotta stop or... Fuck, I'm gonna... Fuck!" Lucy's eyes widened when Gajeel's hand slipped between her legs and his fingers teased her entrance. She whimpered against Erik's chest, sucking with a little more force before the shallow punctures could close over again. "Fuck, she's wet... Oh, god... Erik, stop biting m-" He groaned and slowly pushed two fingers into her sex, then withdrew them quickly and pushed her and Erik off of him.

She let go of Erik's chest and looked up as they rolled to the side. Gajeel was still pressed tightly against her back. He held Erik's snarling mouth away with one hand, then shoved his moistened fingers between Erik's lips. And suddenly, everything went still. Erik, especially, went eerily still. He stopped moving, except for his eye sliding closed and his tongue slithering around Gajeel's fingers, tasting everything. When Erik's eye opened again, he met her worried gaze with his eye half-lidded. Gajeel's fingers slid from between his lips, down to his chin. She couldn't help but stare at the blood smeared across his lips, staining his dangerously long fangs that wouldn't let his mouth close all the way.

She didn't look away as her hand slid down the length of his chest, his stomach. Her fingers teased the band of his boxers, then eased inside, inching downward with all the care and caution she could manage. At the first sign of him wanting her to stop, she'd do just that. But it seemed as though that wasn't what he wanted at all. She shivered when Gajeel leaned down, and his deep voice rumbled just next to her ear.

"Y'see, Erik here hasn't been with a woman in centuries," he said. "And I'm pretty sure he needs a woman's touch. Me jerking him off won't be the same as you doin' it. Yer hands are softer."

She had to fight not to bite her lip at the way Gajeel's breath warmed her throat. She kept looking into Erik's eye, memorizing the intensity of his gaze, the way his breathing had changed to something harsher, filled with anticipation as her fingers brushed across the coarse hairs above his cock. He'd said he wouldn't fuck her, because she was just a baby vampire. Maybe it had something to do with her being so young, compared to him. But for her, he didn't look that much older. No, Erik looked as though he was barely thirty. Or maybe he didn't want to have sex with her as a new vampire because it was all so new to her. She didn't know her own strength. She also didn't know what kind of strength he possessed. And Erik looked like he was on the verge of losing control entirely.

"I could do that," Lucy whispered. Her hand still didn't move, but she shifted higher on the bed and brought her lips closer to his. Her tongue slithered out and she licked Gajeel's blood from his fangs. "It's not sex, so we're not breaking your rule."

"Fuck," Erik rasped. "Fine... Just..." As soon as her fingers wrapped around his hardened cock, he lunged forward and captured her lips in a kiss like no other she'd experienced. With Gajeel's body acting as a wall of hard muscle behind her, Lucy was trapped. She couldn't pull away from Erik's harsh, needy kisses. As she stroked along his length and he growled against her lips, Lucy found that she didn't want to pull away. Gajeel's hand trailed along her side, from her hip up to her breast, and she gasped at the feel of his thick fingers carefully teasing her nipple into a hardened peak. Erik groaned and curled his hips into her tightened fist, thrusting slowly at first and gaining speed the longer his lips were pressed to hers.

At the first nick of his fangs on her lips, Lucy's world spun. The heady feeling of something so deadly brushing against her threw her headlong into a spiraling vortex of desire. She wanted more of it. She craved it. And without realizing it, she threw her leg over Erik's hip and ground herself against him through his silk boxers. She couldn't be sure if the moisture staining the front was from him or from her.

Erik pulled away from her lips on a long moan when her thumb circled the tip. His eye honed in on the little scratches he'd left on her already. "I'll break you," he growled. "That's why I can't..." His eye rolled back when she started stroking him faster, and he gulped once. Twice. "G-Gajeel, make her stop..."

"Hell no," Gajeel chuckled. "Our little Bunny's gonna get you off, Cobra."

She turned her head to look at Gajeel, only to find his crimson eyes burning bright as he grinned at the tormented expression on Erik's face. Her hand slowed when she looked back at Erik. If he didn't want her doing this, then she wouldn't. It would kill her inside, because she was starting to get really turned on. She wanted to see Erik fall apart. But if he said to stop, then she would. "Do you want me to-"

"Don't stop," Erik growled. His hand shot down and wrapped around her wrist, forcing her to stroke him faster. Harder. To squeeze his cock and pump him with everything she had.

"He's a greedy fuck when he gets goin'," Gajeel chuckled in her ear. "Poor guy denies himself too fuckin' much. Even though we're all right here, and he knows we're willin' to let him have us."

"All of you?" Lucy asked. She looked at Gajeel again, and he nodded. So what Erik had said earlier was true. Vampires really weren't all that concerned with conventional relationships. He and three other men had been hooking up for years already, probably in all sorts of different combinations.

Gajeel smirked and let his hand dip between her legs again. She didn't stop his fingers from flitting across her sex. Her back arched as two fingers slid inside her again. "Part of bein' a family," he rasped. "We do it for convenience. You don't gotta look too far to feed when yer with a family. And you've got others to watch out for ya."

Lucy whimpered when his fingers withdrew and slowly pushed back in. He was teasing her with tantalizing touches, with promises of more pleasure. She'd never been this aroused just from a little foreplay. But her skin was still overly sensitive from being turned. Every touch to her flesh had her nerves lighting up, sending whole lightning storms of sensation crackling over her body. And fuck, she wanted more!

"And with feeding, usually comes fucking," Gajeel said. "You get horny, and there's someone right there..." Lucy moaned when his fingers buried themselves deep within her and he scissored them gently, just enough for her to feel what was to come. He started moving a little faster, with a little more power into each thrust of his fingers, pulling several breathy moans from her. "Pretty simple math, really."

She nodded, looking up into Erik's hazy indigo eye. His grip on her wrist lessened, and finally... finally, he touched her. First it was just her arm, then her shoulder. And then his hand was cupping her breast, pinching and pulling at her nipple. Gajeel slid out from behind her and Lucy found herself laid flat on her back with Erik kneeling between her legs. She wasn't sure when she'd pushed his boxers down, when she leaned up to kiss him. Or maybe he'd been the one to kiss her. What she did know was that one moment she was kissing him - still stroking his thick member and basking in the feeling of his hands all over her - and the next his body was bearing down on her and she was screaming into his harsh kiss as he buried himself inside her. His hips snapped at a relentless pace, but she stopped caring about just how quickly he moved within her, how powerful each thrust was as it pushed her higher on the bed. Because this was something wholly different from any sexual experience she'd had before. She could feel every inch of him stretching her, sliding out, how her body gripped him so tightly.

The scent of blood filled the air, mixing with his Old Spice shampoo that she'd smelled earlier as her fingers carded through his hair, the soap still clinging to her own skin from her shower.

She cried out as Erik lifted her easily from the bed and into his lap. Gajeel moved in behind her, hooking his arms beneath her legs and spreading her open for Erik. She wrapped an arm around Erik's shoulders, the other moving back to tightly grip Gajeel's hair. "Fuck," she moaned as Erik's hips slammed into her hard enough to crush her against Gajeel's chest. A delirious smile pulled at her lips when she heard them both growl, the sound zipping down the length of her spine. "Mm, Cobra!"

He didn't speak anymore. All she could hear from him were guttural sounds of pleasure as he pounded into her weeping sex.

"Welcome to the family, Bunny," Gajeel rasped. He harshly nipped at her ear. "He might say he won't fuck a baby, but he's fucked all of us after turning us."

Her head turned and she found her lips captured, her tongue being teased by sharp fangs and the metal bar that speared through Gajeel's tongue. Pure ecstasy danced just on the edges of her consciousness as Erik's lips pressed hot, wanting kisses along her jaw while he ground her against his hips, pushing deeper than before.

"So mojado for me..." Erik groaned.

"Oh shit," Gajeel chuckled. His eyes flashed with excitement as Lucy moaned long and low in her throat. "He pulled out the Spanish. Yer a goner, Bunny."

"Mierda..." Lucy turned to find Erik's bright indigo eye gazing at her as though she was nothing more than prey. His lips pulled back into a vicious snarl, baring all of his pointed fangs. Her breath quickened at the sight. She was his prey, she could feel it deep in her bones. This vampire who was centuries older than her, could kill her in a second if he wanted to. Maybe he planned on killing her with pleasure alone. Overloading her senses, sending her spiralling into insanity. "Te romperé."

"He says he's gonna break you," Gajeel rasped in her ear. Gajeel's grip on her legs tightened, pulling them open wider just to the point of pain. Lucy wasn't sure if she was screaming from the magic Erik worked between her legs anymore. All she knew was that she didn't want it to stop. She didn't want him to slow down, to give her a moment to adjust. She didn't need it. "I think I wanna see this."

She finally catapulted into the stars with a crackling scream just as his fangs struck her throat. Lucy knew, even as she ascended higher than ever before and tears dotted her lashes, Erik wasn't even close to being done with her. She clutched tightly to him and rode out her climax, held his lips tightly against her throat on instinct alone. Still, he didn't slow down. His hands were desperate as they kneaded her widely spread thighs, her hips, everything. When she finally felt his fangs pulling out, his tongue replaced them, laving over her flesh. Teasing her veins to give him more of what he sought. Gajeel was right, Erik's tongue was wicked when he used it like this.

Lucy wasn't sure how she managed it, or maybe they just let her do it, but her eyes flashed with victory when she managed to get Erik down on his back. She planted her hands on his chest and swirled her hips while her gaze honed in on her blood on his fangs. Fuck, why was that turning her on more?

"She's a feisty one, Cobra," Gajeel laughed. Erik bared his fangs in a vicious snarl, but it only lasted a moment before his eye was rolling back and he was moaning loudly at the way Lucy's hips rolled.

"I'm gonna break you," Lucy laughed. "Just you wait."

Erik laid on his side and slowly adjusted his hold on Lucy's limp, trembling body. His fingers brushed through her hair, pushing it away from her tired eyes. He shouldn't have fed on her. Luckily, it hadn't been much. His hunger had been sated by Gajeel already by the time he'd bitten Lucy, so it had really only been a habit. An aphrodisiac. Feeling his fangs sinking into her slender throat to push her over the edge into bliss was nearly orgasmic for him. It was the reason he bit the others when he was feeling frisky. He loved how it felt to have them tightening around his cock, screaming in ecstasy as his fangs that were longer than most others' sunk deeper and deeper into them.

He shouldn't have fucked her. But he hadn't been able to help himself, and that just wasn't like him. She was too young. Her body was still going through all the changes it needed to, so she could be a healthy vampire. There was still a bit of humanity in her. He'd sped the process along by ripping out her canines and letting her feed on his older, stronger blood. Still, what was he supposed to do? After she'd teased him, given him just the smallest taste of her sweet lips and lithe tongue... after he'd felt the way her hips circled on his while she ground against him... Watching the way she'd kissed Gajeel right afterward without a care... He'd lost control.

Well, he'd held onto it just long enough for her to get off the phone. Things were a bit hazy after that until he was buried between her legs and kissing her, and feeling the way her legs locked on his hips and pulled him closer. He didn't think he'd ever forget how her body molded with his, moved so easily with every rough jolt to her core. How her eyes had silently begged him to become an animal. How she'd unconsciously tapped into her new strength and overpowered him to push him down onto the bed. The way she'd moved while she was on top. It was one of the most erotic things he'd ever seen in his long life, watching her whole body flow with the motion of her hips.

But he shouldn't have given in to his desire. He shouldn't have let himself go with her the way he had. He shouldn't have tossed her to the edge of the bed and pulled her ass up into the air, just to keep fucking her. He shouldn't have let Gajeel help move her one way and another while he took her over and over again. She should have stopped him, but she didn't. Eventually, Lucy had begged him for more. To bite her again. And fuck, he'd loved how it felt to wrap his lips around her nipple and bite her, sinking his fangs into her supple flesh.

"If you need to feed," he whispered, "Go right ahead, okay?"

She nodded, but it was slow. She looked so tired right then. More than satisfied, but no less tired. It was a small blessing for her that Gajeel had more fucking self control. He hadn't tried to have sex with her, even though Erik knew for a fact that he wanted to. Gajeel had a thing for short women. He'd always been insatiable when it came to that, and Erik knew it was because he liked the way his hands dwarfed their bodies when he pawed at them.

"You should get some rest, Bunny," Gajeel said gently. Erik's gaze shifted away from her to find the first man he'd ever turned crawling up the length of her body. He'd been adamant about cleaning her up when Erik was done. He'd forgotten how much Gajeel loved using his tongue to do that for the others. Gajeel laid himself down behind her, stretching out flush against her back and letting her feel the silk of his pajama pants against her overheated flesh.

Lucy hummed, and her fingers danced along the line of maroon hairs leading down Erik's stomach. He knew her throat was probably sore. She'd been screaming quite a bit. More than likely, Macbeth and Bickslow both knew exactly what had happened. Whether they knew that Erik had been the one to lose his cool, he couldn't be sure. What he did know was that they'd know the truth soon enough. Gajeel was such a fucking gossip.

Erik pulled the sheet higher, letting her feel the soft brush of silk and watching as she smiled and sighed in contentment. He knew how uncomfortable she'd been earlier. He still remembered very vividly how he'd foregone clothing altogether because he hadn't had the money to wear clothing made for royalty. It was the reason he preferred being naked even then, more than 700 years later. "You tell me if you need anything," he said, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Anything at all."

"And no more fucking," Gajeel chuckled, sending Erik a teasing glare. "You need to get off, call one of us. Let her fuckin' relax."

"Fuck you, Gajeel," he huffed, burying his nose in her hair. He wasn't planning on having sex with her again. Not for a long time. Regardless of whether she was part of the family, it was her choice entirely. And he hadn't turned her, so there was nothing that bound her to them in any way. Nothing but the blood she took from him. And even that was just out of necessity. Besides, she'd have enough on her plate dealing with Bickslow and Gajeel chasing her ass. Midnight most likely wouldn't be interested in anything that dealt with Lucy. Erik hadn't missed the jealousy that tightened his smiles earlier that night.

But maybe Gajeel had a point. All three of his family members had been telling him that he was working too hard. He was denying himself one thing after another. He waited too long to feed, and ended up needing all three of them just to stop the hunger pains from doubling him over. He waited until they found him curled up in his bed, forcing himself to endure the pain until he was too dizzy to even find his phone and call for help. He didn't have sex with them most times. Erik loved the way it felt to be inside them. He loved how Gajeel's back arched and the piercings in his forearms glistened in the light. He loved the way Bickslow always tackled him to the bed and licked him from head to toe. He loved the way Macbeth's hair swayed when his body was being rocked from beneath, and seeing his black-painted nails gripping the sheets. Erik especially loved the time after they were finished feeding and fucking. A time just like this with Lucy.

What he loved most about having a family was being able to hold them in his arms, to know that the ones he'd turned and taken into his home were safe.

And now, he had one more member of his family to care for. Erik had no illusions about what would happen with Lucy. He knew that she'd remain a part of his family, even after she got used to her new life as a vampire. It would take time for all of them to adjust, but they'd make it work.

His hand rested over hers, pulling it higher to rest on his bare chest that she'd marked up with her small fangs. They were still growing in, and he knew it would take a few days even with his blood feeding her. She still couldn't control the contractions of her fangs. Half the time, her bites were mostly blunt teeth with only little pinpricks from her fangs. Soon, she'd be able to really puncture him, to open his veins more easily. And she'd be able to retract her fangs to a normal length, so no humans would be any the wiser of her true nature.

She tilted her head back and smiled up at him. "Kiss me," she breathed. He gave in easily enough - and he hated himself for it just a little bit, because he was supposed to be keeping his distance from her until she was stronger - and pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss. It was much easier to do it without his fangs extended and his blood boiling with the need to sate his hunger. And he was able to appreciate the softness of her lips right then as they slowly puckered against his own.

It was too soon for this. He knew it was too soon, but he couldn't stop himself. Something about her kept calling to him, begging him to draw her closer. To hold her, never let her go.

Deep down, he knew the reason. She'd come to him covered in blood, lost and scared and confused. The last time this had happened, the woman hadn't been turned already. He'd been the one to do the turning that time. But seeing Lucy on his doorstep, looking the way she had, had called to that distant, painful memory. He'd known the moment he saw Lucy that he wouldn't turn her away.

Erik drew back and saw her smile again while she turned to look at Gajeel over her shoulder. Gajeel simply chuckled and leaned down to give her a short, sweet kiss. "Sweet dreams, Bunny," he said, brushing his nose along her cheek. She hummed and smiled again, then curled into Erik's embrace.

And that was something he hadn't expected. Just like he didn't expect his chest to fill with emotion so powerful that it nearly knocked the wind out of him. God, he was such a sap. He'd always been this way though, no matter how many times he'd tried to make it otherwise. Lucy's lips puckered on his sternum, and he looked down at her in question. Was she hungry again? He could feed her if she needed it. And he was positive that he wouldn't be tempted to fuck her again. He'd have more self-control the next time.

Why hadn't he thought to just fuck Gajeel, to spare Lucy from being thrown around like a ragdoll while he fucked her senseless? Damnit.

"Thank you," Lucy whispered. Her voice was definitely hoarse. She reached back and grabbed Gajeel's hand, draping it over her waist. "Both of you... for taking care of me."

Erik chuckled quietly. That was the first time he'd gotten a thank you after having sex with someone. But he knew, just as Gajeel did, that she wasn't thanking them for that. "You're part of the family now," he whispered back. "We'll always take care of you, Lucy. Now sleep."

They spent several minutes in silence, with both Gajeel and Erik watching over Lucy as her eyes slid closed and her breathing evened out. Neither spoke until they were sure she was completely unconscious. Only then did their eyes lock from either side of her.

"Bacchus really didn't know?" Gajeel asked.

"He found out after the fact," Erik said. "I told him I won't report it to the Council, but this is the last favor I'm doing for him."

"Pretty sure he owes you a hundred by now."

"Sentimentality from our childhood," Erik chuckled, shaking his head. His fingers brushed across the slowly healing bite he'd left on her throat. "He said he'll handle the ones who did this. His family hit their limit for this decade three years ago. If the Council found out she was turned under his name…"

"They would've killed her without question," Gajeel said. "I get it."

"And you understand why I took her in…" It was something that he would have to remind the others of as well. A story he'd told each of them when they'd been turned by him. Everyone in the vampire community who knew Erik - which was a good number of them, much to his great displeasure - knew two things about him. He didn't take vampires in from other families, or those looking for asylum - he only allowed the ones he'd chosen to be part of his family. And he didn't turn women. Ever.

It was going to take some serious thinking on his part to figure out how he could explain his choice to turn a woman. He wasn't going to throw Bacchus under the bus by saying that he'd taken her in from Bacchus because he wasn't supposed to turn anymore people for another two years. No, Erik was going to say he'd turned Lucy himself. And he needed to figure out why he would have done that. And it had to be believable.

Gajeel looked down at Lucy's sleeping face. He frowned slightly. "Not really. We never turn anyone, so we've got room for more. And she's pretty, but…" Then he realized it. Gajeel remembered Erik's story from the night he was turned in Greece. "She came to you, covered in blood, just like…"

"Just like Kinana did," Erik said. "I don't turn women for a reason, Gajeel. And it's the same reason that Bacchus passed her off to me so quickly."

"That's not a load of horseshit then?" he asked. "About falling in love with the woman you turn?"

"Not for me," Erik said. There was no guarantee that it was that way for everyone. Bacchus had turned a number of women in the past, and he'd never fallen in love with them. He'd been a little more forward with them, but that was it. But for Erik, he'd only had one experience with turning a woman, and it hadn't ended well. "I turned Kinana, and that was that. I loved her with everything I am. But now…"

"You know they apologized for what they did to her."

Erik knew the Council had apologized for killing Kinana. They'd put her on trial for some bullshit charges, and it was only discovered after she'd been torn to pieces by a pack of direwolves that everything had been orchestrated to get back at Erik. Brain's place on the Council was still vacant to that day. But the fact that they'd allowed him to kill Brain in front of three hundred other vampires didn't help. It didn't bring the love of his life back. She was gone, because Brain had convinced everyone that she was guilty of divulging their secrets and identities to the Pope. He'd been the real reason for the Spanish Inquisition.

"That doesn't make it hurt less, Gajeel."

What made it a little more bearable was knowing that Bacchus had been the only one who believed him when he'd said that Kinana was innocent. Bacchus had been the only one who helped Erik figure out what was going on. His best friend had stuck by his side, and if it hadn't been for Bacchus questioning who would want to hurt Erik - not Kinana - then they never would have come to the conclusion that Brain was the one behind this betrayal. Because Brain hadn't been happy that Erik had taken Bacchus out of his family to branch out on their own.

But no one really knew that, except the two of them. It was why he'd done so many favors for Bacchus over the centuries. He owed that asshole for being his rock back then. For holding him when he'd cried over her dead body. For spending ten years gathering evidence to prove Brain's guilt and deception had taken an innocent life. For never giving up on him after Brain was finally dead, and being the one to convince him to take a trip to Cyprus during the Ottoman invasion. It was because of Bacchus that he'd found Gajeel, and filled a small piece of the lonely chasm in his heart.

Gajeel shook his head, then leaned forward only slightly to get a better look at Lucy. "Well, you didn't turn this one. She should be fine staying with us, right?"

"I hope so," Erik said. She shifted in his arms and he waited until she was still once again before his hold on her tightened. "It'd do us some good, having a young one around." Macbeth had been the youngest for nearly fifty years already. They had a few businesses, but with how quickly the times changed - and with the way technology was speeding that up - it would be good to get some new blood in the family. He'd been hearing it from everyone lately that he needed to be less picky when it came to choosing a new member.

"And her being a woman?"

"Probably for the best," Erik chuckled. "There's too much fucking testosterone in this place. And Midnight can only make up for it so much."

He had no illusions about Lucy being some homely housewife for all of them. He didn't expect her to disappear from the world and become a slave that was only used for chores, sex, and blood. No, she could still have her own life. Erik just figured that having a woman around would be good for all of them. Just the breath of fresh air they all needed.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then. Bickslow's next for when you need it." Gajeel grabbed his shirt from the floor and left Erik's bedroom without another word. They both knew he was off to one of two rooms to work off the problem Erik's feeding had left him with. Well, more than just the feeding. Gajeel had denied himself any pleasure he could have had from Lucy, aside from kissing her. He'd left all of that to Erik. And Erik kind of pitied whoever Gajeel decided to visit that night, because he wasn't going to be gentle.

Erik made himself a little more comfortable and put on the cooking channel, his go-to when he wasn't in the mood for reading. There was a lot that Lucy still needed to learn, and she only had two weeks to do it before he had to report her existence to the Council and claim her under his family.

And they needed to sort out her normal life. She had to decide if she was going to keep the job she had and what would happen with her social life. Of course, there were vampires who chose to try and keep their lives as normal as possible until it was time to move on, but that was her decision. Considering she worked at night, it probably wouldn't change too much for her. He made a mental note to call Bacchus after getting some rest. He could cash in one of the many favors his childhood friend owed him, and have someone take over her newspaper route for the next week. She wouldn't be able to leave the house for, at the very least, one week. Which meant that it fell to him to make sure her life didn't fall apart. If people grew suspicious of her disappearance, it wouldn't bode well for any of them.

Thoughts of what was to come could wait though, because he was fucking exhausted. Dealing with this baby vampire's feeding habits was already cutting into his already erratic sleep schedule. In a few days, she would be able to feed on him without him being awake for it. But for now, he needed to guide her. Teach her.

Erik hissed when he felt her little fangs grazing his chest, just above his nipple. Apparently he needed to teach her not to eat in her sleep, too.

.The End…
For now.

So, what I ended up adding (aside from a few paragraphs here and there) was the citrusy goodness. I'd originally planned on not having any of that, and then I realized that Lucy's paper route plot hole needed to be handled... Which devolved into what you see here. I'm hopeless.