Aaric shakes his head vacantly, grazing his fingertips across the bleeding gash that scars his cheek. As he collapses onto his bed, having put off any further thinking since getting into the car, he now pauses to properly absorb the harsh magnitude of the situation.
"Oh my god!" he screams, snapping up and snatching his cell which rests on the bedside table. "Shit...shit..." he murmurs as his trembling fingers punch at the speed dial key. Shoving the receiver against his ear Aaric then stands, pacing quickly as the monontonous rings hug his eardrum. "Come on, pick up!" Another couple of rings sound.
"Hey, dude!" Cole's perky voice seem surprinsingly more comforting than normal. "Why the hell did you leave your shift--?"
"No, dude! Shut up for five seconds," Aaric hisses, clutching the phone with both hands as sweat accumulates on his palms. "I need you to get over here....right now." His tone is sharp yet fearful, eyes darting frantically around his room for any suspicious signs.
"Now?" his friends implores. "I'm still working! I had to cover your shift. Kirk's pissed as hell..."
"But, Cole, you don't understand! I've been through some creepy shit tonight...you have no idea." Aaric turns to glance out his window, peeking through the curtains.
"Man, did you knock up a girl or something?" he snickers.
"Cole, I do NOT need your joking right now--!" Aaric turns in anger, eyes connecting immediately with Scor who lounges casually in Aaric's recliner. "Oh god!" This sight provokes a fearful jump, cell phone leaping from his slippery hands to clatter loudly on the floor.
"Aaric? Aaric...hello?" Cole's distant voice leaks from the receiver. Scor rests his chin on his fist with a dissatisfied frown. Aaric opens his mouth to speak but can only manage choked sounds. Scor slowly uncrosses his legs and rises, walking over to Aaric and crushing the phone beneath his shoe.
"Tisk, tisk, tisk. I thought I told you not to tell anyone. Maybe it slipped my mind." Scor looks up at Aaric after mourning the broken trinket and grabs Aaric's shirt tightly, bringing him close as his lip curl over his threatening snarl. "Then let me take this time to tell you. You're DEAD to the world. I own you now--you're merely a pawn to the vampire empire." He pauses to release Aaric's shirt. "You don't want enemies like me in this world..."
"Sorry," Aaric mumbles. "Wait...I can't associate with anything?" Scor nods slightly. "What about my friends? Cole's been my friend ever since 3rd grade."
"Cole?" Scor turns and steps over to the chair again, sitting as he idly tongues his lip ring. "That friend of yours with the brilliant eyes, right?"
"Yeah. How do you--?"
"Of COURSE not Cole!" he spats rather acidly. "I don't believe that there's a Cole Acceptance clause in my shpeel!"
"He's my best friend! He knows everything about me...and..."
"Everything? So he knows that you're gay?"
Aaric bites his tongue as Scor stifles another outburst. "Listen, Aaric...I get how upsetting this is right now...but not everyone is going to be all sympathetic. We don't really give a shit about emotions."
"We as in...vampires?"
Scor nods, running his hand through his bangs. "I'll try to help you out seeing as right now you're kind of hopeless--" He smirks, peeling his jacket from his torso.
"Hey! I'm trying!" Aaric defends, looking back out the window as his cheeks grow warm. "Why are you here anyway?"
"All I'm inclined to tell you is that I need a place to stay tonight," he says.
"I thought I belong to you mind, body, and soul---where does mi casa, su casa come in?" He turns to meet Scor.
"You're funny." Scor stands, admiring Aaric with crossed arms. "Just make sure that doesn't turn cocky." He smirks. "Then again...cocky would be just fine..." In a hasty flash Scor races up to Aaric at an ungodly speed, stopping just before he can slam into him. Aaric feels his stomach twist, watching Scor's lips curve into a guilty smile. "Hmm...Virge told me not to bite...but just a taste wouldn't hurt..."
"A bite?" Aaric forces down a swallow as he feels Scor's cool lip ring brush his own lip.
"You DID agree to body," he reminds. "So..." Scor gives in to the overwhelming need conquering him, listening to the roaring of blood as it pulses through Aaric's veins.
"Aaric?" Cole's voice is muffled from the front door. Scor pulls away before properly endulging in his craving. A deep growl works its way up Scor's throat.
"Don't hurt him...Scor!" Aaric reaches forward to snatch at Scor as he slinks toward the front door. "Scor!"
"Who? It's Cole..." Cole says uneasily. "Someone in there or something?" Scor reaches forward to grab at the doorknob but Aaric sprints forward, taking back his arm just in time.
"I told you: no life, that means no Cole," Scor hisses. "Say goodbye to him. He's dead to you." His words are almost surreal, so cold and blatant. Aaric swallows back a lump in his throat as he opens the door, Scor ducking from the line of fire. Cole leans with a sly smile against the doorway, bag of M&Ms tucked under his arm. He pops several into his mouth as he greets Aaric.
"What's with the voice? Scor?" He chews slowly as he waits for his friend's answer.
"Uh...the T.V was on," he draws out as his fingers knead the door's wood. Just out of his peripheral vision he can spot Scor fishing a walky-talky like gadget out of his pants pocket. Even from this far away Aaric can spot the strange brilliance of Scor's eyes. A rather unique shade of illustrious amethyst shade which twinkle with curiosity as he glances up from the device. Though his face doesn't carve with any apparent emotion, only his eyes provide any possible insight.
"Aaric, what happened to your face?"
In the heat of it all Aaric had forgotten the stinging laceration lining his cheek. "Oh, right. I fell--and hit my face..." he admits lamely.
"Clumsy, as always. Okay...so, can I come in?" Cole implores with a chuckle. Aaric laughs nervously as he closes the door slightly, watching his friend's forehead wrinkle in perplexity. "Aaric, man, what's up?"
"Uhm..." A quick glance at Scor. "I'm actually busy right now." The eerie squeak of the recliner springs suggests that the impatient vampire has risen from his throne. Aaric's throat seems to tighten to unbearably uncomfortable measures.
Cole's eyebrows hike up in suspicion. "You're...busy? Twenty minutes ago you were having a spaz attack on the phone and now you're busy?--Uh, hello?" Cole's eyes squint as he scrutinizes the estranged Scor. "And you are?"
"I--" Aaric's heart jumpstarts as Scor's arm sneaks around his waist.
"I'm Aaric's boyfriend," Scor cooes as he rests his head delicately on Aaric's shoulder. Boom. Boom. Boom. Explosions? No, just Aaric's sweet heart working itself to death, pounding violently in his chest. His face grows incredibly warm with embarrasment and several other constricting emotions as a gutsy M&M pops from Cole's lips, a rather degrading snigger tailing it.
"Y--You're joking!" Cole laughs, exchanging glances between the two. "Very funny, you got me. I guess I deserve it for not coming here in time..."
"It's not a joke," Scor continues. "Aaric here has been meaning to tell you for quite some time now. Isn't that right, baby?" Aaric shivers as Scor's cool breath rolls up his neck. Aaric doesn't speak, or nod, or even gesture. He doesn't do anything. His mind temporarily shuts down. How could this be happening? This morning all he did was chip snow off his car and now, in a rediculous arrangement of events, he has an undeniably attractice gay vampire wrapped around his waist with his one and only best friend in front of him as a first seat witness. Could things get any worse? Aaric gathers his courage to lock eyes with his friend but before he gets the chance to Cole has already abandoned him. All that's left to lock eyes with is a pathetic tear in the hallway wallpaper that, even now, seems to stare back at him mockingly. "I'm sorry we had to do this the hard way, Aaric. But you didn't really give me any other choice." Scor flings the door shut, sliding the dead bolt into place. Once turning to the shocked Aaric he shoves him up against the wall with an empty face. "Let me take a moment to reiterrate what I've told you. We don't take to emotions like you mortals. No one cares about sadness, remorse, happiness, or even love." Scor's lips graze Aaric's trembling jaw. "So let's just forget those right now, shall we? Emotions are a sign of weakness, vacancy that of strength. In this game, you need all the strength you can get."
"Games? What the hell are you talking about? What games?! And--And emotions?" He continues even after Scor has traveled to the bed. "What about you? You're the one who was all over me five minutes ago! What the fuck was that? Don't treat me like a puppet if nothing is going to come of it!"
Scor snaps upward after lazing onto the comfy bed, teeth beared. "DON'T speak to me like that! You filthy mortal, you have no IDEA what I've been through...what my race has been through. You have no right to speak to me in such a tone!" he barks, fists clenching. His eyes seem to flare fiercely, as if tongues of ember colored flames are mere seconds from scorching his eyelashes. He stands and ambles over to Aaric, watching him cower against the wall. "You're damn lucky I didn't kill you in that alley way! I risked my own hide to save you, you know that?" His words are sharp, stabbing at Aaric's only sense of confidence. They belittle him into an incapable state of being. "If you think that this is difficult now, then you're fucked! Try watching houses burn to the ground as you wait in the shadows, watching as the ones you loved go down with it. Try licking the blood of the innocent off your lips and still have the dignity to look at yourself in the mirror the next day! This life isn't cookies and rainbows, baby! It's blood and flesh...and that's all it's ever going to be." He turns, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly to stretch the muscles. "We're all that puppet once in a while. But you're god damned lucky that at least I'm here to tell you to have the sense of forgetting your emotions before the strings are cut!" He slams his fist onto the bedside table, an explosion of sapphire flames snipping the air.
Aaric attempts to smother the loudness of his frightened breaths, absorbing all of Scor's words. "I'm sorry...I don't know what it's like. I'm not like you. I don't know all of this, it's so new. If you could bear with me? I'm sorry, I'll try not to anger you again."
Scor rubs his forehead, then massaging his temple. "You'll anger me again...but it won't be your fault. My fuse is short. Tomorrow I'm meeting with Virge to discuss your future. Try not to do anything else that may fuck up any chance you have at staying alive. You're already walking a thin line at headquarters..." he trails off. Aaric stands slowly, watching the vampire glance out the window. "And if you haven't realized...that's only how I am."
"What?"
"I'm just that. I'm a puppet master. It's what I'm good at. I play games because I'm good at them. I can make up the rules and I can find my own players, molding them into just what I want. And I picked you. There are some things...no...a lot of things you don't know about me, Aaric, and one of them is that I only play games for one reason and one reason only: because it's a way of getting back at the world for what it's done to me. I'm sorry that I picked you to be the pawn...but that doesn't mean I don't like you any less. You are cute, after all." He tears from the window, readjusting the curtains as he passes Aaric to reach the next room. In there is a couch he uses to sleep, choosing not to take up Aaric's bed. Though not because it's a nice thing to do but because it reaks too much of mortal blood and depression.
Aaric contemplates taking Scor's arm to pull him back and comfort him, but he's far too distant to even consider such a drastic move. They met maybe two hours ago and someone know all this shit about each other. But knowing about someone doesn't always guaruntee immediate friendship. Especially when such dark facts are opposing the friendship.