Vampires can live a very long time, theoretically forever, which means their idea of getting down to business can be damn leisurely.
LAURELL K. HAMILTON, Obsidian Butterfly
~*L*~
Lovino Vargas, despite all he wanted to deny it, was getting used to having his blood drunk. The initial feelings of light headed powerless had come that first night when he had made the agreement with Antonio to become his donor, but the following day he had been in control of his voice and had not passed out. Now after their 'blood sharing' this morning of the third day, he felt only slightly weak, but still desperately hungry.
"Yo donna, make me another funnel cake." he yawned as he patted Bella on the shoulder.
She swatted at him glaring with her eyes sparkling.
"You want one then help me make it." She poked his nose, "I'm not your servant young knecht."
"But I'm exhausted." He groaned, "Having your blood drained may not affect you immortals but I can assure you that even with all that food you've been shoveling down my throat, most high with iron, having your blood drained three days in a row is very detrimental on a human body."
Bella turned sympathetic and pulled out a stool from beneath the counter patting the seat.
"Fine then, but you still have to sit here and keep me company while I prepare it."
Lovino sighed and hopped onto it crossing his legs.
"Fine."
Bella laughed and turned back towards the stove where she had already been making all the preparations to make funnel cake anyways. She now determined that she needed to make other foods for Lovino as well. Meat was a necessity and other grain, probably some warmed sliced fruit wasn't a bad idea either. As she bustled around the kitchen she began talking quickly and apologetically to the young man.
"I'm sorry that your having to endure so much in such a short amount of time but Antonio was really in bad shape so he needs all the blood you can give him in order to recover."
"And in the meantime nothing is being done about my brother." Lovino growled.
"You and he both promised me that he would do everything he could to find Feli. So far, he's done nothing but drink my blood, talk with me a bit, and sleep. Mostly sleep. I didn't think you guys even slept." He finished with a grumble.
Bella laughed.
"How many times have we told you that practically everything you know about vampires is wrong? We do indeed eat and drink just like a human and all the tastes are the same, although it's probably safe to say that we experience the tastes on a higher sense level than humans are able to. But we do need blood as well in order to survive, that is absolutely true. Which is why Toni is drinking yours like water at present." She looked over her shoulder at the young man with concern, "Where is he by the way?"
"Sleeping like he always does after he takes." Lovino waved a hand dismissively but rubbed his neck subconsciously. He didn't really need the white cloth around it, by the time he managed to extract himself from the death grip that Antonio always clutched him in when the man fell asleep after feeding the blood had stopped trickling down his neck. A simple wipe of a washcloth was really enough but to him the white cloth tied around his neck symbolized his sacrifice and reminded him of why he was doing this, not out of want, out of necessity.
Bella caught the gesture reflected in the back of the shiny stove and smiled sadly to herself before she continued with her previous train of thought.
"Ah good. He needs it. Well anyways, we do need sleep. Just like a human, without sleep we will start to hallucinate as our body reacts to the fatigue and strain on the brain. The only difference is that we can't die from lack of sleep. Also, as you've no doubt noticed from your previous dealings with Antonio during the day and from being here, we are perfectly fine in the sunlight, and most certainly do not sparkle."
She laughed at the ridiculousness of the thought.
"If anything, we probably have a better potential of sparkling in the moonlight. We are creatures of the night after all so our beauty and heightened features show more prominently during those hours."
Lovino had noticed this actually. Bella was quite beautiful under normal light, but when they had left his apartment two nights ago, the young vampire woman had practically glowed with radiance in the light from the moon and the stars. Her golden blond hair shimmering as if it was really flecked with the precious metal. He didn't dare let his mind wander over what Antonio would look like when he finally saw the man in similar night light.
Lovino shivered and to avoid thinking anymore on that topic he went back to annoyance regarding his brother.
"Fine the bastard needs a lot of sleep, he's like a fucking cat right now, but in the meantime I am still no closer to finding out what happened to Feliciano then when it was just the fucking police and detective on the case. A vampire should be able to find out if something supernatural went on. When is he ever going to investigate?!"
Bella was about to admonish him teasingly on his language and give the best answer she could think of when a different voice spoke up, a cheerful much stronger than days before, but still laced with slight exhaustion voice. A voice he had learned all too well and gotten very close to.
~*L*~
"I really thought she was going to lock you in your room." Lovino sneered, "You're a fucking weakling after all."
Antonio laughed a little as they walked on the path towards the far end of Adeltine Park.
"Bella is a force to be reckoned with when she thinks she's right. But I'm afraid she's too protective of me currently and is underestimating my strength."
"Well you're definitely not back to normal yet." Lovino sighed looking him up and down from the side and noting that his skin still looked a little thin and sallow, plus he had dressed in a simple old sweater rather than trying to look nice and presentable, and had most certainly not combed his hair, "If anybody walks by they might mistake you for a bum."
Antonio laughed again but quieted when Lovino stopped, breathing heavily.
"Lovi?"
"Here" Lovino whispered, realizing that they had arrived at the point in the path where Steven Elden's body and the knife with his brother's blood on it had been found.
"We're here." He repeated.
Antonio had been more focused on the young man with him then on where they were walking but now that Lovino brought it to his attention, he sensed the strange atmosphere and the senses that alerted him to another supernatural in the area instantly were alert. It was not as strong as it would have been weeks ago, and his nose was not as keen as a werewolf's, except when it came to blood, but that was exactly what he smelled wolf and blood. It was faint and he couldn't tell if there had been more than one, but a werewolf had definitely been in the area in the last two weeks.
"Well aren't you going to investigate?" Lovino asked in irritation, breaking into the vampire's senses.
Antonio shook his head. "I don't need to really. There was a werewolf here recently. There might have been more but I can't tell because of all the human scents that are littering this place. Most likely policemen and detectives."
Lovino shivered and hugged his arms.
"A werewolf?" he whispered, "What does that mean?"
Antonio sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Honestly I don't know."
Lovino folded his arms and glared at the man.
"Well find out! And also, can you tell if my brother was here?"
"I can't tell you if he was here on that specific night Lovi. You told me that he walks through here often to get home from work so of course his scent would be here."
"Then..." Lovino bit his lip, "What about his blood? You're used to mine so you should be able to distinguish his from Steven's right?"
"I can faintly smell formerly spilled blood in the air yes." Antonio closed his eyes and focused on his senses again. Lots of recently and more distantly spilled blood in the air. Animal mostly but the faintest that he was certain was from two weeks ago was definitely human, it was mixed with the werewolf and...yes! There were two different scents to the blood which meant two different humans. But even if it had been fresh he wouldn't have been able to determine if one of them belonged to Feliciano Vargas since all blood was different to a vampire no matter if it belonged to siblings or even twins.
"Well?" Lovino was tapping his foot and fingers impatiently, "Is it or isn't it?"
Antonio sighed.
"Even I can't tell who it belongs to, but yes Lovi, two different humans had blood spilt here two weeks ago."
Lovino had been expecting this but it still made his stomach churn and his breathing go quicker as he rubbed fingers over his wrist in a nervous habit that he had.
"Was there a lot?"
Antonio cringed. He had been really hoping that the young man wouldn't ask that question, such a painful question to tell him. If one of the smells belonged to his brother then the outcome wasn't good. There had indeed been a lot of both blood.
He looked back at the boy and didn't need to say anything as Lovino read the worry and forgiveness in his eyes.
"No." Lovino moaned and put his hands to his eyes to force the tears back, "There is no hope then. Feli's dead, and the werewolf just dragged him off somewhere, choosing him to eat over Steven."
"Unless it was a rogue, werewolves aren't like that Lovino." Antonio spoke sternly, one of his best friends was a werewolf after all, "They rarely ever kill a human without reason and almost never eat one. So there is hope. There is always hope. But there's also a possibility..."
He sighed and put his hands on Lovino's shoulders to force the young Italian to look directly into his eyes as he spoke the greatest possibility.
"There is a possibility that your brother is no longer human."
Lovino blinked at him and pushed away.
"A werewolf?"
Antonio nodded.
Lovino felt sick again.
"What would that mean?"
"We find him first...we'll figure things out from there." Antonio sighed and stroked the boy's hair, pulling him into a hug.
"I have a general idea now Lovino. There are three werewolf packs in the surrounding area of this city. If any of them were involved or no of other recent werewolf activity then there's our lead. I will find Feliciano."
"I promise." He whispered into the young man's hair.
And Lovino didn't even put a protest to being held so tightly but gently in an open space where anyone could see them. He just hid the tears of fear against the man's chest.
~*A*~
"You finally decided work was important I see." Arthur grumbled, "A struggling band without their lead singer can't do much you know."
"Well we were able to create music for future lyrics." Francis smiled, "I told you guys that Toni was too weak to come until now."
"Ya didn't say why though." Gilbert grinned and turned to the Spaniard vampire, "Well what kept you away? Did your boy come back? Have you been occupied monopolizing him?"
Antonio smiled but didn't answer Gilbert's question.
"It doesn't matter why I was away for so long, what matters is that I'm back now and ready to sing. Although, I don't really have any new lyrics."
The others groaned at that and Arthur muttered "bloody useless moron".
Antonio laughed at the comment and shrugged.
"Didn't have the energy for writing I'm afraid."
He turned to Gilbert.
"Does your brother have anything knew for us?"
"Yes he does in fact." Gilbert grinned and produced a sheet of computer paper from the folder that held all of the lyrics Ludwig had given them to use if needed.
"I'll stand by you?" Antonio looked at the title and began to read the lyrics, his eyes went wide, "How recent is this?"
"He wrote it just yesterday actually, when Francis called to let me know that you would be returning today. Why do you ask?" Gilbert looked wary and suspicious.
"Have you read the lyrics?" Antonio asked in return.
Gilbert shook his head.
Antonio passed them back to him and Francis and Arthur read them over the white werewolf's shoulder. Gilbert's eyes went wide as well and Antonio could see that his thoughts were racing.
Francis whistled.
"They're different than usual. More emotional in a heartfelt way. Not a love song per-say but...definitely caring."
Antonio nodded and continued to stare at Gilbert's face it went through several emotions.
"Gil..." he finally breathed, "Has something recently happened in your pack?"
Gilbert went dead still. He raised his eyes to Antonio's with a warning growl at the back of his throat.
"Why do you want to know Blutsauger?"
He rarely ever called Antonio, Francis, or Bella by that name so the fact that he did so now meant that he was very very angry and in beta wolf mode.
"Pack business is nobody but the packs."
"Gilbert calm down." Anotnio put his hands up as the furious werewolf rose to his feet and advanced towards him clenching and unclenching his hands. Clearly Gilbert was protecting something, or someone. Antonio had known that he would have to start questioning members of the surrounding packs about Feliciano soon, but it looked like starting with Ludwig Beilschmidt's pack had been the right choice.
Gilbert was still advancing towards him until a flash of purple light shot between them. They both turned to find Arthur glaring at them with his hand stretched palm forwards.
"Enough you two." He snarled, "If you want to fight about supernatural matters then take it outside the studio. Do not involve me in your races long standing feud."
Gilbert let his nails and teeth shrink back as he turned away from Antonio.
"I'm leaving." He growled.
"But the music!" Francis protested, "We've had to turn down gigs because of Antonio but now we can start accepting them again and get paid for what we enjoy doing."
"We're immortals...most of us." He laughed as if he was back to his old self, "We don't really need money, we've been saving up for years and master sorcerer can just make money, the humans can't tell that it's in fact fake. And it's full moon tonight so Ludwig would like me home earlier."
"It's just five. You'll still make it by dinner." Arthur shouted.
Gilbert didn't say anything more as he ran out the door but his thoughts were still racing with fear, worry, panic, and confusion. How had Antonio managed to link the attack on Steven Edelton on his pack? And why had he tried to investigate the case in the first place? Was it possible...?
He looked back over his shoulder to find Antonio standing by the front studio window looking out at him with calculating eyes.
Was it possible that Antonio was connected to Feliciano's brother in some way? Was that the boy that he had bitten and now appeared to be involved with? If that was the case then things could get even more complicated for the pack regarding their newest member than it already was.
He had to talk to his alpha about this. Pack safety could be at stake here. Not to mention, if his brother's new lyrics were anything to go off of...Ludwig's potentially developing feelings.
And Antonio had his own worries that he had to deal with on his own way home. Namely, should he tell Lovino that he might have found a possible lead to his brother, before he was completely sure himself?