"You're really leaving me?"
Trip stops buttoning his top and glances over at the teenager. Aoba is sitting up on the bed with wide hazel eyes and his blue hair tousled from sleep. He's hugging one of the pillows tight, Ren curled up against his side. The blond can't help but smile. He leans down and lightly grips his chin between his thumb and forefinger before he presses a soft kiss to his lips.
"It won't be for long. Just a day."
"We have important business to attend to. We trust that you're able to take care of yourself and hunt on your own. Of course, Hersha and Welter are also here to provide extra safety for you," Virus chimes in as he pulls on his signature dark blue suit jacket.
Aoba bites his bottom lip. His guardians had never left him for that long. The longest they had ever left him before was a few hours at most. They'd never left him overnight before. What if he screws up during hunting? It would be so easy to mess it up; drink too much blood, forget to hypnotize the victim. He gulps nervously. A hand gently runs through his hair.
"You'll be fine without us for one day. You do well enough with your hunting that you can do it on your own. Just remember what you were taught," Virus tells him as if he had been reading his mind. Had he read his mind? Could he even do that? Aoba sighs softly.
"I hope so…" Virus pats his cheek. He still doesn't believe his words, but he'll do his best so he doesn't let him or Trip down.
"We'll be back before you know it." He just nods before pulling away from his guardian's touch. He watches as Virus straightens up, both him and Trip going back to getting dressed. He can't help but wonder where they're going and why they're going to be gone so long, but he's long since learned to never ask about their whereabouts. Every time he'd asked when he was younger, Virus would simply chuckle and tell him not to worry and Trip would simply tell him that it was none of their concern and they'd be back soon. After a while. Aoba had simply just stopped asking. If they wanted to tell him, they'd tell him.
Trip and Virus finish dressing, then the two of them lean down and press a kiss to Aoba's cheeks before saying, "We'll see you tomorrow." Then they were gone before Aoba could even get a word out. The teen sighs and flops back down on the bed. He's not sure what he's going to do.
Aoba wonders the street, hands shoved in the pockets of his coat. Ren trotted along beside him, attached to the leash that was wrapped around Aoba's wrist. He had thought about leaving him behind at first, but quickly thought against it. Even if Ren was no longer getting a lot of sunlight, he could at least let him get some fresh air. Plus having him here at least helped a tiny bit with his nerves.
He looks over each potential victim, but none of them seem good enough. He's sure it's because he's feeling off tonight, because normally he'd go to any person who looks easy enough to trick, but he even lets them go. He's just not feeling the hunt tonight, hating that Trip and Virus aren't there with him. He's got to force himself, otherwise he'll go hungry until his guardians came home and he knows that would be far from good.
"I guess I'll just pick the first person I lay my eyes on," he tells Ren, who lets out a small yip in response.
Except, that wasn't how it worked. Instead a young looking female, brown hair pulled into a messy bun approaches him before he can even start looking again. She looks frantic, her brown eyes wide and scared. "Please," she croaks out. "You've got to help me…my daughter…she…she wondered off. Help me find her?"
He's confused as to why she came to him of all people to help her find her daughter. Did he look more helpful? More trustworthy? It was probably the latter. Hopefully it was the latter. He smiled and gives her a nod. "Of course, I'll help." He supposes feeding can wait until he finds this woman's daughter.
"Thank you so much!" She points to the left of them. "The last place I saw her was over there." Aoba glances over to where she's pointing. The spot is crowded, full of people window shopping, buying food from sidewalk vendors, as well as entering and exiting shops. He inwardly winces. Hopefully they can find her amongst everyone.
"Do you have a photo of her?" The woman nods and hastily pulls out her phone. She holds it out, showing him her lock screen. The lock screen is a photo of the woman as well as a girl who is probably around his age and looks just like her mother except with bright purple hair. The two of them are grinning, the mother's arm around her daughter's shoulders as the younger throws up a piece sign. She shouldn't be too hard to spot with that hair color.
Aoba gives a nod, scanning the crowd. There's a numerous amount of people with black and brown hair. A handful of people with blond. No sign of purple. He bites his lip and steps away from the woman after picking up Ren so he doesn't get trampled on. "I'll check this way," he tells her before heading into the sea of people.
When he gets into the middle of the crowd, that's whenever he sees her. At least he thinks it's her. She's the only one with purple hair in the surrounding area. She's standing beside a sushi restaurant, near the alley. She's leaning up against the building, texting on what appears to be a cellphone. She's holding a couple of shopping bags and Aoba can't help but wonder if that's where she had disappeared to. A quick sweep of his surroundings tells him that the stores the bags are from are nearby; which makes is assumption correct.
"Alright. Let's just grab her and then we can get back to what we need to do," he whispers down to Ren, who just pants in response, looking up at him with a curious look. Aoba just sighs and gives him a small smile before he starts heading over to the girl.
Just as he reaches her, she disappears into the alley beside the restaurant. His brows knit together. Why would she go into the alley? The hair on the back of his neck stood up. Something didn't seem right. At least it didn't to him. He moves closer, making sure to not make any noise. If something was going on, he didn't want to draw attention to himself right off the bat.
He peeks behind the wall, keeping his body hidden. The girl is there alone, leaning up against the wall of the alley. Her bags are sitting down at her feet and he hands are now holding a cigarette and a lighter. He watches as she flicks the lighter, lighting up the cigarette. So that's why she had ducked into the alley; just so she could smoke without getting caught. Well, at least she wasn't in any immediate trouble; she'll be safe until he must bring her to her mother.
His eyes flick to her neck, which is exposed thanks to her hair being pulled away from it as well as how low cut her top is. He'd almost forgotten the reason he'd left and came downtown in the first place. He gulps and licks his lips. Surely it wouldn't hurt to take a little blood from the girl (just enough to satiate his hunger and keep her from passing out), make her forget, then send her on her way back to her mother. It was tempting.
He glances down at Ren, who is looking at his with his head cocked; curious. "I'll make it quick," he promises him before setting him down. "Stay here." Ren's head cocks again but he stays, sitting down on his hind legs. "Good boy," he tells him as he pulls his hair into a ponytail so that it wouldn't get in his way and end up getting blood in it. He'll have to stop by the pet shop later to get him some treats for listening to him.
The pet shop. Aoba didn't understand why, but at the thought, his stomach does flips. If he could, he would be blushing as well. He gulps and tries to shake away the feeling. That was…odd to say the least. He shouldn't react like that whenever he thinks about the pet shop. That's all it was. Nothing special about it.
A person rushing by brings him out of his thoughts. They bump into him, sending out an apology as they continue to run to wherever it is they're going. Aoba frowns, but says nothing. He just shoves his hands in his jacket pockets before he steps into the alleyway. However, as soon as he did, something felt off. He was instantly on edge, the hair on the back of his neck standing up.
He stops, quickly checking around the alley. No one was there besides him and the girl. It was probably just his nerves playing with him. He pushes away the feeling, stepping in front of his target. "You know, it's not very bright to be in an alleyway by yourself. Especially after dark."
The girl looks up, dark eyes widening a bit in fear before they softened once they realized the person talking to her seemed harmless enough. She snorts unattractively, flicking cigarette ashes to the ground. "Is that a threat? Because it's an awful overused one if it is."
Aoba laughs softly and takes a step towards the girl. He gives his head a shake. "No. It's not a threat. There are a lot of creeps that come out at night." The girl stares at him unimpressed. She takes a drag off of her cigarette before she laughs.
"I can take care of myself." He inwardly chuckles at that. He highly doubts that. She seems like a girl who is used to trouble, but if she went up against him, she would definitely lose. He was far superior to her; a mere human. If he wanted to, he could snap her like a twig. Which he never would. He wouldn't dare think of killing a human. He wasn't that cruel.
"Are you sure about that? There's some real dangerous people out there." At that, Aoba let his fangs show, delighted when the girl's eyes went wide in fear and she made a motion to move. He grabs her by the shoulder and slams her gently into the wall. She lets out a small squeak, her heart racing. It's loud to Aoba's ears but he ignores it. He's grown used to the sound; because scaring the victim? It was just part of the whole thing. He'd hated it at first, but now it was normal. He was used to it.
She opens her mouth to yell, but he meets her eyes and pulls her into his glamor before she can. He didn't need an audience for this. Or more importantly, he didn't need to be found out. That was a problem he didn't want to deal with nor did he want to burden his guardians with that problem.
The color in her eyes dull, which tells him that the glamor has taken hold. "Perfect." He whispers to himself as he leans forward towards her neck. He gulps, the scent of her blood making he salivate. It has a sweetness to it, which was always a treat. It was rare whenever blood had a sweet undertone to it.
Just as his fangs press against her neck, he's suddenly grabbed and thrown away from the girl. His back hits the wall on the other side of the alley, head banging hard against the brick which makes his vision go a little fuzzy. He does his best to focus, but all he can see if a blurred, dark figure coming closer to him.
Shit.