AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima!
Please enjoy!
Chapter Seven
Gajeel watched the little blunette spoon another mouthful of cereal into her mouth. He could feel Jet and Droy watching him, but ignored them. She yawned cutely, gaining the attention of the other two in the room. Gajeel wasn't sure at which point he'd fallen asleep during the full body massage, nor at which point the midget had, but the two idiots had not been happy. Gajeel had woken up to the sound of them shouting, only to find the little blunette sprawled across his legs. What they thought the two of them had been doing in that position, he had no idea. Hell, he didn't even care. He just wanted her to answer the questions that now swirled around his brain.
"Can you stop staring at me, please?" She finally sighed, getting up from the table to go put her empty bowl into the sink. "You're going to give them the wrong idea if you keep that up."
"All ya did was massage my-"
"Gajeel, can we please just move on?" She squeaked, her cheeks flushing as she turned to glare at him.
"Why are ya getting embarrassed?" He frowned, looking at the two horrified Hunters sitting next to him curiously. "It felt like ya'd done it plenty of times befo-"
"Gajeel!" She snapped, suddenly launching the wet sponge from the sink at him. He narrowly dodged it, allowing it to land with a splat against Jet's face. "Sorry!"
"It's fine, Lev." He sighed, picking up the sponge to dump it unceremoniously on Gajeel's crotch. "It's not like you to miss though."
"What the fuck, asshole?!" Gajeel snarled as he snatched up the sponge, only to wince as the pain burned with the sudden movement of his delicate neck.
"I assume she threw a sponge filled with cold water to cool you down." Jet returned, glaring hostilely at Gajeel. "Although I'm surprised you're still sexually frustrated after spending a night fooling around with our Levy."
"I'm not sexually frustrated!" Gajeel asserted, baring his fangs at the orange haired Hunter. "And I wasn't 'fooling around' with the midget!"
"Yeah! He actually believes in not having sex before marriage, like a real gentleman!" Levy added defiantly, before her face became pure fury. Cute fury, but fury none the less. "And since when was I anyone's?!"
"Hey! Did ya seriously have to say the first fuckin' bit?!" Gajeel exclaimed, mortification coming over him as he realised that the two Hunters now knew that he'd never had sex. What the fuck was wrong with her?!
"It's not as if you're going to have sex any time soon, is it?!" She pouted, folding her arms across her chest. "Is it even possible for a Vampire to get married?! You need a valid birth certificate! One from over six hundred years ago does not count!"
"Yeah, thanks, Midget! I really needed ya to throw the fact that that bitch literally took everything from me back in my face!" He snarled, suddenly standing over her.
"Ga-"
"Yeah, well she watched as some freak shredded my family in front of me! She didn't even try to help me! She didn't bother trying to save my family...She just kept on walking...muttering about life being unfair...and that she was grateful that she no longer had it..." Levy trailed off, her gaze becoming vacant.
"Levy?" Gajeel grunted, carefully taking hold of her shoulder. "Levy?!" He repeated, shaking her gently. "Levy!" He snapped, shaking her harder.
"I can't- I can't forgive her...I just- I just can't..." She mumbled as her knees gave way under her.
Gajeel snatched her body up against his before she could crumple to the cold, hard floor. He felt her quickened heartbeat in her chest, felt the never-ending sorrow coursing through her body, and felt the tears that had dried long ago, now unable to fall. He held her close, wishing his body held warmth. Her hands fisted in his t-shirt and he tightened his grip. How old had she been? She could not be that old now, so she must have been no more than a young child.
"We'll find her," Gajeel began, looking towards the two Hunters that stood by his side, "I promise."
Gajeel watched the sleeping form next to him with a sense of unease. Juvia was due to appear any moment, yet the little midget slept so peacefully under his gaze. Only a week ago, she had been a zombie – unable to sleep at night and desperate to train through the day, no matter how little energy she had. Her aim had become steadily worse. They had forced her to stay in bed after she finally missed the dartboard entirely. Since then, the three of them had taken turns watching over her as she slept. One would be out patrolling the silent streets, while the other slept downstairs. At least, that's what the plan had been to start with. This was his third night in a row watching over her. Was he not allowed sleep? Even if he wasn't 'alive', he still needed it!
She shifted slightly in her sleep and Gajeel moved the cover back up over her shoulders. A hazel eye cracked open sleepily and he smiled reassuringly back down at her. A soft smile graced her lips before she snuggled closer to him. She seemed to almost pout up at him and he shook his head. Just because he'd given in the first night, did not mean he was going to every night after. It had been a night of pure torment when he'd given in and lain down. He'd been tired and she'd clearly felt guilty. In the end, he'd lain down next to her – on top of the covers – and she'd snuggled into his side, promptly falling back asleep.
He wasn't going to give in tonight.
He'd managed to stay strong the previous night and she'd eventually fallen asleep snuggled up against his thigh. That had been hard enough. She smelt so painfully tempting and her words echoed in his head like a deadly melody. She'd already pointed out that when the scent of her blood became unbearable for him that it meant he needed to hunt, but he refused to leave her side. Juvia was due to arrive in town soon and the midget needed him. But she also needed him to be at full strength. How could he be if he didn't eat or sleep properly?!
"Gajeel?" She pouted cutely, peaking up at him from under the covers.
"Ya know I can't." He sighed, pulling the covers right over her head. An annoyed pout suddenly popped up above them and he had to fight back his chuckle. "Go to sleep, Midget."
"How can I sleep when I know you haven't been sleeping properly?" She frowned, sitting up in bed. "You know what'll-"
"Shhh, just go back to sleep." He murmured, gently pushing her back down.
"I won't sleep unless you do." She returned, shuffling impossibly closer to his thigh as he sat cross-legged.
"Then neither of us will sleep tonight." He sighed, shaking his head at her. "Ya have no idea how ya torment me." Her eyes shot wide with alarm and Gajeel internally cursed himself for not choosing his words more carefully. "Ya're too damn cute for yer own good." He added, hoping to distract her from his hunger. He chuckled almost silently to himself as her cheeks gained a light blush.
"If you were human, those words would be taken very differently." She mused, looking away from him bashfully.
"Huh?" He frowned, turning to look at her properly.
"Well, 'neither of us will sleep tonight', 'you have no idea how you torment me', and 'you're too cute for your own good'...They would all suggest that you feel things towards me...that weren't the urge to feed from my neck." She mumbled, looking away from his crimson gaze.
"This isn't the first time ya've heard my words as sexual." He replied, bemused. He looked down at her cute expression. "I'm not exactly sexual." He carefully lay down alongside her, keeping his eyes fixed on hers as she turned to look at him in surprise. "When I feed off of a woman, I get angry and violent. I'm not sexually frustrated, but I am frustrated. My body was feared then because of its size...but now it is a lure for pathetic women only searching for a 'big, strong man'. I hate how shallow women are, but it makes it easier for me to feed...When I see how their eyes devour my body, I get angry because only one woman should have ever seen it...but she never did. She was murdered in cold blood only months before we were due to be wed."
He raised his hand to gently stroke the side of her face, flinching slightly at the softness of her skin.
"Her name was Mariam McNabb. I met her while I was working in the boat yard. I was sent to deliver a letter to the local workhouse and that's when I seen her." He smiled softly, the shadow of her memory flickering through his mind. "She wasn't afraid of me." He added, taking his hand back. "I never touched her intimately, but I did kiss her once... I still feel as if I'm betraying her every time I kiss another woman, even though I have to in order to feed..."
"What was she like?" Levy whispered, the sudden sound of her voice startling him.
"I- I can't really remember...The curse of living for over six hundred years, I guess." He frowned, guilt seeping into him once more. He pulled back from the Huntress, rolling onto his back. He should not be in this room while she slept, never mind lying upon the bed where she was supposed to be sleeping. "I remember her headless body by Juvia's feet... I remember the despair...I remember Juvia's apologetic look before her fangs sunk into my neck...I remember the desperation I felt while I searched for my sister."
"But you don't remember love?" Levy asked, a strange expression in her eyes as she raised herself up onto her elbow.
"What is love?" He snorted, shaking his head. "My family was taken from me and now I can't find love. I keep on going for revenge now, not for love."
"Why not 'revenge for your loved ones'?" She offered, giving him a gentle smile.
"I don't feel the need to get revenge for my sister? For some reason, I feel like she's still here." He sighed, rolling back onto his side. He studied her startled expression as she held herself still, her face inches from his. She could see from this distance, right?
"Why not your parents or your fiancée?" She finally mumbled, glancing away from him.
"I don't know why I don't feel the need to avenge my parents' deaths, but I feel so destructive when I think of getting revenge for my fiancée...?" He murmured, watching something flicker though her eyes.
"I guess that's 'love'." She smiled, a sadness shimmering through.
"I-"
"What would you do...if I died...?" Levy asked quietly, cutting him off. "I mean, if I die during- during the fight against Juvia?"
"If Juvia killed ya? I'd make sure she died slowly and painfully so that she fully understood the crime she had committed." He answered, his hand coming up to stroke her cheek unflinchingly. "The world would become a much darker place without ya."
"Really?" She hummed, clearly unsure of his answer.
"I've lived through six hundred years of not knowing ya, Levy, trust me." He murmured, cupping her jaw gently. "Before ya, I kept to myself, only doing what I had to in order to survive until I could fight the one who took everything from me... I could never go back to the way I was before ya." He soothed, carefully leaning forward to kiss her forehead. Her face flushed at his intimate gesture and he chuckled quietly. "I couldn't face losing ya and I can't even understand why. I'm a Vampire, Levy, and nothing can change that. Ya're a Huntress. It's yer job to hunt me down to kill me, yet here we are...and I can do nothing."
"What are you talking about?" Levy hushed, confusion obvious in her features.
"I will not be silenced – I'm not a rambling idiot, Midget." He grumbled, shaking his head at her. "I care about ya, alright?" He mumbled, looking away from her. "Ya bring out the better side of me, but I can't let ya see me be the monster I am. I need to feed and I want to feed from no-one but ya, but I could end up killing ya... Even if I did decide to accept how ya're making me feel, ya'll die in the blink of an eye. I've watched my neighbours die too many times to risk getting close to anyone, but ya've somehow forced yer way in with yer damn stubborn cheerfulness. Ya say that ya're betting yer life on me? Yer life is too short."
"Then maybe you need to stop living in the past!" Levy snapped, pulling back out of his touch in disgust. "One minute you say that you'll make Juvia suffer for killing me and then you say that I could never mean anything to you because I'm just some stupid, short-lived hu-"
Gajeel shoved her down flat onto the bed, cutting her short.
"Don't ever say that ya mean nothing to me." He hissed, his lips a mere inch from hers. He felt her pulse quicken as she lay trapped under him. "Ya don't understand what ya're asking of me."
"I know exactly what I'm asking of you..." She murmured, her cheeks a cute pink. "I wanted the four of us to be team mates, but you- When it comes to you, I get so confused. I was so worried when I heard you scream...I was unreasonably happy at being able to do something to save you. All I really did was flick the switch for the air conditioning – it was Jet and Droy who synchronised to safely removed the weight from your ribcage... Then I felt so inexplicably jealous when you'd turned down my offering of blood so that you could go hunt some random girl..." She mumbled cutely, earning a grin from him. "Then I felt no fear while you were so close to me, running your claws through my hair as you taunted me...only to suddenly feel terrified at the thought of truly losing you. I think I worried the guys a little when I refused to leave your side for two weeks...We thought you were dead for the first one; I just didn't want to believe it."
"Thanks for not burying me 'alive'." He snorted, leaning forward. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to torment himself by attempting to enter her personal space, but he had to. "Do ya really want me to try to live in the 'now'?"
"What I want is to grow old with you, but you're frozen at twenty-two." She smiled sadly, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his.
"I'd walk by yer side forever..." He replied, pressing his studded nose carefully against her cute little nose.
"You're just saying that because you have to..." She sighed, turning her head away from him.
"Why do I have to? I'm not wearing a collar and I'm still here? I haven't harmed ya and it's not as if it's possible for us to get much closer physically." He returned, gesturing to their current position. "There's only that quilt between us now..." he breathed, turning her head back towards him, "and I've never felt the need to break my old fashioned ways before now. Ya make me want to do things to ya I'd never have considered doing to anyone in my six hundred odd years."
"Then-"
"No. It's taking all my strength just to restrain myself...I want to kiss ya, Levy, but if I kiss ya...? If I kiss ya, I'll want more. I can't have more, Levy." He murmured, pulling her against him to hold her tightly. "I can't risk killing ya by accident..."
