Shout out to the five people following this train-wreck-in-progress! Triple shout out to my beta-reader and sole reviewer of this story! *blows big wet kiss to all*
Chapter Five: Wretched Appetite
Mokuba rubbed his eyes blearily.
No where. Seto… vanished.
His car was gone. Industrial Illusions denied any existence of a meeting between the CEO of KaibaCorp and Maximillion Pegasus. The mexia knee nothing. The board of directors rallied for silence over the subject. Seto Kaiba would turn up, they were sure. Or a ransom letter would come in by mail. Authorities investigated quietly.
Mokuba could understand their position. Shareholders would panic. Stocks could plummet. Other companies would swirl about them like vultures over a festering carcass.
But Mokuba was not worried about Kaiba, the multi-billionaire genius. Mokuba could only think of Seto, the big brother, the guardian, the smartass.
He pressed a hand to his forehead. His shoulders shook, and he choked on the lump in his throat.
"S-Seto…"
He didn't hear the fluttering of wings over the ache of his heart. A small silhouette landed upon his sill.
Clack
He jumped at the sound. He glanced over.
A dark bird with piercing red eyes stared through the glass. Its long beak gently tapped upon his window.
He hiccupped, eyebrows furrowed.
It tapped upon his window. The slender head tilted, the red eyes stared. A folded piece of paper was grasped in its bill.
He drifted to the window. He opened the side without the screen. Red eyes stared. With slender legs, it stepped in. He held out a hand. It lowered its head and gently placed the paper onto his palm.
Red eyes stared. Mokuba held its gaze and slowly unfolded the paper.
He squinted. It was written with a typewriter.
Dear Mokuba Kaiba,
Your brother is safe. Trust not Pegasus, trust not Paradius. Do not go out at night.
Seto will see you as soon as he is well. He will be secure in my care.
Wishing you peace in the twilight,
A friend
Just as his eyes traced the last letter, wings fluttered. He looked up. The bird was gone.
Swooping from the sable abyss of night, the heron alighted on the belfry. Feathers melted into shadow, froze into flesh. The motion never stopped; the man in the bird's place fluidly strode to the hatch on the floor and the ladder beneath it.
He ambled through the building, and when he passed the door of his charge, he paused a moment to undo all the locks and latches. He could hear running water and splashes echo from within. He left the door ajar and continued on his way.
Kaiba rubbed his wet hair with a towel. It was plush. The soft fabric pushed between his fingers as down might. Cleaned of all the sweat and the blood, he might have said he felt human again. But the unmoving organ in his chest refuted any such claim.
He stepped from the bathroom and into the room that was his prison. He left the door, a panel that blended in perfectly with the wall, open to vent the steam. He grimaced at the bloodied clothes on the floor. He certainly didn't want to put those on again.
Might as well check the wardrobe.
Soft shirts, perfectly hung, lined up. He checked the sizes. A little bit bigger than his own, but they'd do. Undershirts, underwear, pants of assorted variety, and socks were precisely folded and stacked in the drawers. They were all vaguely his size, mostly a tad bit bigger.
Dressed, hair still wild and damp, Kaiba approached the door. It was cracked open slightly. He stepped into the hall.
Yami… returned. From wherever he went.
After Kaiba… ate, he'd lulled quickly to sleep in that chair, like some sated infant. He'd awoken, slipped between sheets, the door locked. Kaiba assumed Yami would simply let him roam with supervision, so it meant that Yami had left.
He stepped into the hallway. A smokey, heady scent drifted on dusty wisps through the stone corridor. Incense. He stood a moment, mesmerized by the unfurling curls of smoke. He followed them, the gray ribbons that trailed like slow caresses along the air. Soft candlelight slanted through a doorway. He approached slowly from close to the wall.
Candles were scattered about the room. Their small flames danced, the dozens of faint lights worked in tandem to cast the walls in an orange glow. Kneeling upon the stone floor, Yami. To either side of him, smoke curled up from two bowls.
He was shirtless. His pale back gleamed in the warm pulse of the candles. Several scars, some white, some dark, marked his sides and scratched at his broad shoulders. Even at the nape of his neck, his dark hair was raised. Dark, loose-fitting trousers pooled along his calves and bared his slender feet.
He knelt before an altar pressed close to the wall. Amongst the scattered candles, statuettes stood solemn. But largest of them all rested center. A woman, feathered arms extended.
Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses.
Yami was… praying?!
"I hope the clothes are to your liking." The deep voice pierced the flame-laden silence. "I understand they are not as luxurious as what you are used to." The pointed chin turned. Yami's sharp profile was outlined starkly by candlelight. A single gleaming violet eye assessed Kaiba.
"They're fine." He'd worn much worse. "Ancient Egypt," he stated. Much less a question and more of an answer.
"Yes." Yami gracefully stood.
"You're religious."
"... If you so label it, yes."
"You're fucking ancient. Or one of those weird ethnic xenophiles." Kaiba wasn't sure which was more believable, in the context of this impossible situation of his.
Yami laughed. "The former."
Kaiba's eyes honed in to a dark vein climbing its way up that pale neck. He tore his gaze away, and curiously glanced down at the wrist that had fed him not so long ago.
It was spotless.
"How do you have scars?"
"Battle wounds. From before I was... turned." Yami walked closer and gestured out the door. "Come, I was just finished."
Kaiba's lips parted. He was just about to say something when pale fingers snapped, and all the candles flickered out as if blown by some great breath. "... Hn. And don't order me around. I am not some dog."
"I never thought you were, Kaiba," Yami replied. His bare feet padded softly across the floor.
"Hn." Kaiba still found himself trailing after his captor. Blue eyes traced along a visible vein that stood out against the firm, pale muscle of Yami's tricep. A sharp pain echoed through him, and longing burned his tongue. Fuck… what was fucking wrong with him?
Yami led the way back to the study. He ambled to his desk.
Kaiba remained in the doorway. Hawkish, he watched the other man open a drawer. He pulled a slim, sleek, state-of-the-art laptop from within. The processors in that model were lightning fast, and it could crunch data at the speed of a supercomputer. Kaiba approved.
But his eyes were stolen away. Every time Yami shifted, Kaiba's focus shifted to the marbling of blood vessels beneath that pale skin. He moved slowly around the edge of the room. A tilt of the head; a flash of a jugular vein. His arm bending, elbow on the desk; the dark line on his tricep bulged. Chin on his knuckles; a glimpse of spider webbing upon his wrist. The ache returned, vengeful and hungry, and a low growl rumbled at the bottom of his lungs.
When Kaiba skulked his way to the shadows of one of the numerous bookshelves, he froze with horrible realization.
He was… prowling. Stalking. Hunting.
Vertigo lapped at his senses, and he slumped against the bookshelf. "F-Fuck…" He pressed a shaking palm to his forehead.
Yami glanced up, purple eyes soft, purple eyes understanding. "Come, sit, Seto."
Kaiba's muddled, horrified brain did not register the change in address. But that deep voice called in more ways than one, and his feet dragged him to stand before his captor. He collapsed into the chair, that same one from hours earlier. Perhaps it was just in his head, but he could swear that he still smelt the blood from earlier. It made his gums ache dully.
"There are many things you have yet to get used to. Some may take years, decades. The need for blood - your primal desire for it, so strong that even your subconscious yearns for it, that your behavior changes without your consent - will not so easily be tempered. It is why I have you here with me, instead of allowing you to roam free amongst the unknowing populace of mortals. You are most unpredictable, and therefore dangerous, in your current state. No one is safe from your hunger." The solemn resonance of Yami's voice said things unspoken. The experience, the sadness.
Kaiba's eyebrows ticked. "Is this why you won't let me go home?"
"Yes. Mokuba would not be safe in your presence."
Kaiba snarled with outrage. "I would never hurt Mokuba!"
Yami tilted his head to the side in a half-nod. "Perhaps not intentionally." His voice lowered, dangerous, sharp. "But, imagine yourself in his presence. You can hear his heart beating. You can smell how hot his blood pumps. He's so temptingly close to your grasp. His skin is like paper in comparison to your fangs."
Kaiba shuddered, wretched and appetitive.
"Maybe you can take just a little. Just a little blood won't hurt him, will it? He loves you. He would be more than willing to give you just a little blood. But then you taste it. It is hot on your tongue. That warmth is seductive, and you think, just a little more. He would not mind just a little more. More. More. More, it is not enough. It is never enough. Just a little blood, just a little more becomes a dead, drained brother, and you the one who made him so."
"Why did you do this to me?" Kaiba asked, voice fragile and rough.
Empathy lined that sharp, pale face. "It was the best of so many worse options."
"In your opinion! You should've let me die!" he hissed.
"I will give you more time. In the next few months, if you decide that this life isn't worth living, I will kill you if you so desire," Yami replied. His expression was unwavering. It was a promise. "At least with this route, you can choose death, instead of having it foisted upon you." Yami got up from his chair and walked around the desk to stand before him. "I have taken it as my responsibility to teach you restraint. To ensure you can function amongst the humans that you hold dear." With cold, tender fingertips, he tipped Kaiba's chin up. "It would reflect poorly upon me if I let you suffer through unfettered bloodlust."
Kaiba stared up at Yami. He was too submerged in emotion to draw away from the other's touch as he normally might. "Will I… always be so… thirsty? All the time? Like I am now?"
Yami shook his head. His blond bangs swayed with the motion. "You are so thirsty because you have had only small drinks to tide you over. My wounds close before I can sate you. It will be so until you are ready to bite me, to willingly feed from me."
A shiver laced up Kaiba's spine. His gums ached at the thought of it. The part of his psyche that rejected this reeled in protest. No, you will not encourage this, you will not bite this freak. But slowly, the others were overwhelming it. In the context of this situation, it was only logical that he drink his fill… right? "Bite you…" he echoed.
Yami's fingers shifted from Kaiba's chin to tap on his lips. "Open your mouth. Let me see your teeth."
Kaiba's brow furrowed. "Why?"
"I need to see if your fangs are developed enough for efficient feeding. It would be most gruesome if I allowed you to simply gnaw on me with relatively human teeth."
Kaiba snorted briefly before he curled his top lip to show his teeth. Yami hummed. His finger traced over an elongated canine, pushed a bit on the tip. It was sharp enough to prick his skin.
"Now, this is purely for my curiosity, but could you extend your tongue for me?"
Kaiba pulled back, though his tongue reflexively swiped up the little spot of blood on his tooth. "No."
"Do you wish to feed?" Yami inquired and proffered his wrist.
Kaiba eyed it speculatively. Hesitantly, he wrapped his fingers around the base of Yami's palm. Instinctively, he nuzzled the cold flesh. His blue eyes cut up to Yami. "How the fuck do I even do this?" His voice was gritty and gravelly.
"Just bite me."
His lips parted, and a shudder wracked him when he dragged his lengthening fangs over the pallid skin. His gums ached, his stomach wrenched in his belly. He bit down. His fangs easily punctured.
"Pull out a little. It will make the blood flow more smoothly," Yami intoned. Kaiba didn't notice at the time, but the tone was a little breathier than usual.
Kaiba followed directions. Indeed, more cold fluid filled his mouth.
"Seal your lips against my skin, so it won't get everywhere."
Kaiba could barely hear his voice anymore. His world revolved around the bitter taste blossoming on his palette. He swallowed, then sucked, siphoned that crimson nectar from the weeping flesh. One hand clenched around Yami's slender fingers. The other clutched his forearm. A hand carded through his hair.
When the blood flow slowed down, his jaw clenched to re-open the wound. He growled, eyes closed tight, tongue rolling in his mouth. He swallowed, and swallowed, and swallowed. Time became a triviality. His insides shivered at being sated.
A hand nudged at his forehead, tried to push him off.
His jaws clenched tight, and he growled possessively. No, no, it wasn't enough. He needed more.
"Kaiba, release me."
He heard the words, but his frenzied mind couldn't recognize their meaning.
"Kaiba!"
The wrist in his mouth suddenly jerked forward, gagging him, as a strong hand wrenched into the hair at the back of his neck. Yami yanked him back and ripped his arm free of Kaiba's grasp. Kaiba panted, his breaths angry growls that faded into despondent whimpers. His eyes lingered on the bloody wrist.
Yami loomed above him with stern eyes. "That is the reason why you cannot be around humans. You have much to learn."
Kaiba slumped back against the chair. It stung to admit it, but Yami was right.
He couldn't function like this.
END PART
The bird Yami turned into was a black-crowned night-heron, a nocturnal waterfowl known for its cries at night. It is native to Egypt, among many other places. Anywho, hoped you enjoyed this chapter. It's the longest yet, if only by 400 words. I promise the chapters will get longer as I get into the swing of things. ALSO, this chapter marks the end of the beginning.
Sooo… thanks for tagging along so far!