Wow, I'm updating way quicker than I thought I would be lol. This thing isn't quite finished being written yet, but I have enough chapters in store that I should be able to get the end finished off before I reach it... hopefully
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :D
It took Ryoma a while to find the library. He'd had a vague idea where it was, since it was included in the tourist tour and was near the long gallery. But, knowing what rooms it was near and where said cluster of rooms happened to be were completely different things. He almost cheered where he found the long gallery and then happily walked along the short corridor to the library.
It wasn't as big as the library back in his palace, but he was sure there had to be a book in here somewhere that would help.
In the middle of the room, there were several comfy looking chairs and Ryoma looked forward to reading in them, that was until he saw Tezuka sat in one of them. He'd wanted to do this all by himself, this way he could find out all the answers to his stupid questions without embarrassing himself!
Luckily, Tezuka gave him a nod of acknowledgement and then returned to his book. Ryoma breathed a sigh of relief and then started walking along the bookshelves. Most of the books were old, bound in dark leather, their titles faded from their spines. Ryoma doubted he'd find what he needed in these books, further inspection of them revealed them to be fiction and, really, he needed a more modern book on vampires.
He found the non-fiction books on the other side of the room. These books were in less order than the fiction, being put where they fit on the shelves rather than being sorted by subject.
He was starting to doubt whether the book he wanted to find was actually going to be in the library. Why would vampires own a book telling them basic things about vampires? So far, he'd found books on everything from gardening to human culture, but nothing about vampires. He was about to give up and go and ask Inui if he had any books he could borrow when he saw it, squashed between 'Rose Growing for Beginners' and 'Mountains of Koori' was 'Vampires: From Monsters to Modern Day' by Albert Kewnard.
Ryoma grabbed it and flicked through it. Just from a quick glance it seemed to be exactly what he needed and he wondered if someone had planted it there. But maybe he was being a bit too paranoid now.
"Can we take the books out of here?" He asked, knowing Tezuka was listening.
"Of course," Tezuka replied, "make sure you bring it back though."
"Okay," Ryoma said, "thanks."
He held the book on his side opposite Tezuka as he left. He didn't really know why, out of all the vampires in the castle, Tezuka was the least likely to make fun of him, but he felt rather embarrassed that he knew so little about vampires beyond the legends. He didn't like looking ignorant or asking endless questions.
He hurried back to his room, the book tucked under his arm. Somehow, he didn't get lost on the way back to his bedroom. Karupin was lying, stretched out on his bed, Ryoma sat next to him and pulled him into his lap and the opened the book.
He skipped the introduction and the chapter about the ancient history of vampires. He didn't see how the creation of the vampire's country was very important, he sort of knew the story anyway.
There had been lots of wars, mainly between the vampires and his own country. At the time, his country had been known for its magicians, especially in the royal family. But the magic had long since dried up, something Ryoma was less than happy about. He'd love to have some magical power, even if it was just the power to summon objects he wanted from across the room. The chapter mainly focused on the details of the battles and the wars and Ryoma found he didn't really care about them. He could always come back and read the chapters later.
He flicked through to the next chapter about modern day vampires and started reading.
Whilst outside of their country, vampires are viewed with fear, within The Hyotei Empire, the human residents regard them the same as they do their human neighbours. The path towards coexistence has been a long and difficult one, as we have seen in the previous chapter, but for the past few hundred years, there has been peace inside The Hyotei Empire.
Ryoma flipped ahead, he didn't need to know about vampire-human relationships right now. What he really needed to know about was mates. He went to the glossary and looked up 'mates' and then found the relevant pages.
As vampires cannot reproduce, the most common theory for vampires taking mates is to ensure a regular supply of blood. However, to think that vampires only see their mates as a food supply is not only naive, but completely wrong. Vampires can court their mate for many years before finally forming the bond, often both parties are completely in love before the bond is made (although, that is not always the case, see later in this chapter). The bond itself is permanent, although it can be transferred. However, most prefer to leave the bond intact and create another. Humans can only be mated to one vampire, however, vampires may have an unlimited number of mates.
Whilst vampires can mate with any race, they most commonly mate with other vampires and humans. Normally, the human mate will be turned at some point during the relationship so that the couple may grow old together. With their extended life spans, companionship is very important to vampires.
By the looks of it, being a vampires mate was virtually the same as being married to them, except more physical. The book didn't explain what the 'bond' was though, or what it did or how it bound the mates together. The book just went onto explain that mating with the same gender was completely normal in vampire society and that within the human society that had grown up around the vampires, being chosen as a mate was seen as a great honour.
Ryoma sighed and skimmed over the rest of the chapter about mates. The author started to analyse mating for reasons other than love (mainly political gain), but didn't say anything about mating happening by accident other than saying that it sometimes happened.
Just being bitten by a vampire does not necessary create the mate bond or turn a human into a vampire. To create the mating bond, the vampire must first bite the one that they wish to mate with and then their mate must drink the vampire's blood. A human mate will often find themselves with greater than average strength and can enhance it for a short period of time by drinking their vampire's blood.
Ryoma nodded, that made tied in with what Fuji had told him. He suddenly remembered that Fuji had mentioned that Tezuka had been in 'bloodlust' when he had bitten him. He could guess what the meant, but looked it up anyway, just to be sure.
Bloodlust: When a vampire has not drank enough blood they will lose their senses and go into a feeding frenzy around blood. This usually leads to the death of whatever they bite.
That was exactly what Ryoma had thought and he realised that he'd been close to death twice that night. To distract himself, he opened the book in a random place and started to read about vampire covens and the monarchy (succession in which was determined not by who you were related to but by the fact you'd killed the previous king). He was sure he'd seen the Vampire King once. It had been during some kind of summit and the king had visited the palace surrounded by his guards in their pale blue uniforms. Ryoma had been very young and had snuck out of his room, where he had been instructed to stay, to watch the formal greeting for the balcony overlooking the main hall. He'd been scared of the vampires, having been told stories of how they kidnapped virgins and killed them by sucking out their blood, but had wanted to see them. He'd been rather surprised when he'd seen they looked like normal people.
And then, during one of the long, boring speeches by the Foreign Minister, the Vampire King had looked straight up at him and Ryoma had been frozen to the ground with fear. He'd expected him to tell someone and then Ryoma would get scolded for leaving his room, instead the King had winked and turned back to the Minister.
He supposed that one of the vampires here must be a member of the aristocracy. He skimmed down the page and his eyes caught sight of the name Tezuka Kunimitsu, Lord of the Seigaku region of The Hyotei Empire and trusted advisor of the King. It looked like he'd just married into the aristocracy, although not the one his government had wanted him to. Tezuka had helped king Atobe overthrow the previous King and take the throne, something that surprised Ryoma. He didn't know Tezuka at all, but from what he'd seen he seemed more like the type to lock himself up in a library rather than join in a plan to kill a monarch. It made him realise just how little he knew about his mate. He picked up Karupin and buried his face in the cat's fur, wondering again what on earth he was going to do.
The past was in the past though, what had happened to him was permanent. He could run away and it wouldn't change the fact his parents were dead or that he didn't have a home to go to. He'd just be stuck in the wilderness, alone and cold.
I need money, Ryoma thought. He could always sell the jewels he'd smuggled out, but now that he was safe and had had time to think, he didn't think he could bring himself to sell two of the only connections to his past he still had. It would be like selling Karupin.
He wanted to be useful though. He hated the idea of sitting around the castle doing nothing, he didn't have any skills or anything, not unless someone wanted a public building opening.
But a job would be good. Something to keep him busy and help him earn money whilst he figured out what he was going to do next.
"A job?" Fuji repeated, sounding amused when Ryoma brought up the subject a few days later. "Why would a prince want a job?"
"I'm bored," Ryoma shrugged.
"Have you ever had a job before?" Fuji asked.
"No," Ryoma replied, "other than being a prince."
Fuji turned to Oishi, "do you think he's well enough?"
"As long as it's not too strenuous," Oishi replied, "you should be fine."
"Where are you going to work?" Kikumaru piped up.
"I don't know," Ryoma admitted, "I'm sure I'll find somewhere though."
"Somewhere that wants to hire someone with no skills?" Fuji said sweetly.
Ryoma turned his full glare onto Fuji, who continued to look innocently at him. He wished he had a comeback, but Fuji was armed with the truth.
"We could help!" Kikumaru said, "we know lots of people who have shops and stuff, I'm sure they'd hire you."
"I'm sorry to put a spanner in the works," Oishi said, "but someone tried to kill you a few days ago!"
"But Oishi," Kikumaru said, "we killed them. They're not coming after Shorty unless they've risen from the grave."
Oishi ignored his mate for a moment and appealed to Fuji for reason, "whoever sent them must still want Echizen dead."
"I suppose so," Fuji said, "I hadn't thought about it."
"Fine, I'll do something in the castle," Ryoma said, "I just want to dosomething!"
"We already pay people to do the housework and Tezuka enjoys taking care of the garden," Oishi said, "you could always make things and sell them," he offered.
"I'll think about it," Ryoma said, knowing his talents didn't lie in arts and crafts.
"Thanks for your help," he said as he turned to leave.
"You'll find something you can do," Fuji said as he shut the door behind him.
Well, that conversation hadn't helped at all. Oishi may be right, but Ryoma couldn't help but feel annoyed at him for scuppering his attempts to get a job. Not that he was likely to find one, Fuji was right, no one was going to hire him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way back to his room, where he sat by the window, watching the rain running down the glass.
Maybe he should develop a talent. He dismissed the idea almost immediately, it would take him years of practice to get to the point where he could sell something. He tried to remember what he'd done back at home in his free time and realised, to his horror, that he'd spent a good proportion of it seducing random good looking men from around the court in an attempt to prove to his father that he was not interested in women. He realised where that thought was taking him and he felt sick at himself for even remotely considering prostitution. He'd rather die than sell himself!
Karupin rubbed up against his legs and looked up at him with his big blue eyes. Ryoma smiled down at the cat and then picked him up and hugged him. He could always open a stall selling opportunities to pet Karupin, although he wasn't sure Karupin would approve of it.
He wondered if there was anyone else in the castle he could ask for advice. It had been hard enough bringing it up with Fuji, Kikumaru and Oishi, let alone going to someone else as well.
There was a knock on the door and Ryoma internally sighed, he'd quite wanted to spend the afternoon alone, letting his pride heal itself a little.
"Come in," he said, expecting it to be Fuji. He was rather surprised when the door opened, revealing Tezuka.
"Oishi told me you want a job," Tezuka said, coming into the room and shutting the door behind him.
Ryoma nodded, "I'm bored and wanted something to do." Tezuka looked at him and Ryoma felt like he was looking right through him. "And, I want to earn some money," he added quietly.
"Your money got taken away from you," Tezuka said, most people would have made it a question, but both Tezuka and Ryoma knew it was true.
"I don't want to be dependent on you," Ryoma said, "I never had to worry about money before and now that I don't have any I feel…" he trailed off searching for the word to sum up his feelings.
"Insecure?" Tezuka supplied.
"Yeah. I don't like it."
"No, it is not a good feeling," Tezuka agreed and Ryoma nodded.
"I just want to do something," Ryoma sighed, "but I guess if it means someone might try and kill me again there's no point."
"We should find you something," Tezuka replied. "You'll be happier if you're busy. I'm sure Inui would be grateful if you helped in his laboratory."
"Yeah," Ryoma said, he didn't really fancy looking after scientific equipment.
Tezuka seemed to sense his hesitation, "or the library could do with some rearranging."
"Yeah," Ryoma snorted, "the non-fiction section is a mess."
"I would be very grateful if you could make it less of a mess," Tezuka said.
"I can try."
"Thank you."
Ryoma smiled, talking to Tezuka had made him feel so much better. He liked the way it never felt like he was being judged or teased by him, it was just so straightforward to talk to him.
"Did you really help overthrow the previous Vampire King?" Ryoma asked, it had been bothering him since he'd first read it in the book.
"I did." Tezuka replied, "the previous King was a tyrant who believed the only purpose of humans was to provide food for vampires."
If it had been from anyone else, Ryoma would have had doubts. He could have easily been making it up to make his actions justified. But Tezuka seemed just too straight laced for that. Ryoma decided to trust him.
"And the current King?"
"Atobe is a very good king," Tezuka replied. "He's doing all he can to find out who tried to kill you."
"Why would he care about that?"
"Because you were attacked in his country. In case you haven't been keeping up with the newspapers, a lot of people are speculating that you were assassinated by vampires."
"Oh."
"You are also my mate and Atobe is a very good friend of mine, he wants to help."
"And everyone thinks I'm dead?"
"For now, no one knows for sure. We want to know who wanted to kill you and why before we let anyone know where you are."
"Okay," Ryoma said, "I wonder what will happen when Tanarsis and my government find out I'm already married."
"If you don't want to go then we won't let anyone take you," Tezuka said, "you are, of course, free to leave once we find out who your assassins are."
"I'd rather be with you than a princess I've never met."
To his surprise, Tezuka chuckled. "You've only just met me. And I bit you."
"Yeah, but you're treating me like a person and not a political tool. Or food," he added as an after thought.
Karupin chose that moment to jump off Ryoma's lap and made his way over to Tezuka, threading himself between his legs and purring. Tezuka looked down at the cat, looking a bit confused.
"He likes being stroked," Ryoma prompted him, "he doesn't bite."
Tezuka bent down and carefully stroked Karupin's back. "He's a good cat."
"The best," Ryoma said.
"I should go. I have work to do," Tezuka said, giving Karupin a rub between the ears.
"I'll start on the library," Ryoma said, getting to his feet. "You stay here, Karupin," he told that cat when he tried to follow them out the room.
"You can let him out," Tezuka said as they walked down the corridor together.
"I don't want him to get lost."
"He found his way to the castle by himself, I'm sure he'll be able to find his way around."
"I guess," Ryoma shrugged, "it'd probably be good for him to walk around." He paused for a second before asking something that had been bothering him, "you need to drink me blood, right?"
"I do," Tezuka agreed, "but not right now and when I do we can extract the blood with a needle. I won't bite you."
Ryoma nodded. "When you bit me that night, it felt," he blushed, "it felt good," he continued, praying that Tezuka understood what he meant.
"Yes," Tezuka said, looking suddenly embarrassed, "I believe it has that effect."
"Right," Ryoma said and they drifted into silence.
They parted ways at the library and Ryoma was left to his own thoughts as he pulled the books off the shelves and started working out how to re-stack them. He'd never done anything like this before, but Tezuka's confidence in him made him feel like he could do it.