Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 20

At first, Feliciano didn't quite understand what was going on. Vlad's teeth had pierced Feliciano's skin and he was drinking Feliciano's blood. It took several seconds for him to grasp it, and once the realisation hit, he immediately pulled Vlad's head away.

Vlad groaned, his mouth red with Feliciano's blood. Feliciano felt a pang of hunger at the sight, as normally happened whenever he saw blood, but it only took a second, as the reminder that it was his blood snapped him out of it.

"Vlad, what is going on with you?" Feliciano demanded.

"Thirsty…" Vlad rasped.

"Then drink water!"

The glass had fallen to the bed, pouring its contents everywhere, but it luckily didn't shatter. Feliciano grabbed the glass, refilled it, and held the rim to Vlad's mouth. He tipped the glass towards Vlad, and it took a while for Vlad to start swallowing. Feliciano watched as Vlad drank the whole glass, before he pushed Vlad down to get more sleep. His eyes were still foggy.

"Sleep," Feliciano said. "I hope you feel better later."

Feliciano usually didn't do this, but he used the hypnosis that all vampires could use to get Vlad to sleep. His hypnosis was weaker than the others', so Vlad shouldn't be asleep for too long. But it should be long enough for Feliciano to do everything that he needed to do.

Feliciano left the bedroom as he pulled his phone from his pocket. He managed to get Arthur and Lukas's numbers in case something happened to Vlad. And they definitely needed to know about what happened.

As he waited for Arthur to answer his phone, he looked at his wrist. The bite had already healed, but blood still marked where it had been. Feliciano had never seen anything like this before.

"Feliciano, I'm in the library," Arthur's voice whispered. "Did something happen?"

"Vlad just drank my blood," Feliciano explained.

"…What?"

"Vlad said he was thirsty, so I tried to give him the glass of water. Instead, he grabbed my wrist and bit. He drank my blood."

"What? H-how… why…?"

"I already told you the how. As for the why… He didn't look as though he knew what was going on around him. He seemed to do it out of instinct, but it's not a human instinct, is it?"

"Of course not! People don't just… What happened to Vlad then?"

"I put him to sleep. He should be out for a couple of minutes."

"This… Hold on." Arthur spoke to someone on the other side. Even though he pulled his phone away from his mouth, Feliciano could hear him. "Vlad just attacked a vampire and drank his blood."

"What?" the person on the other side asked. "That's… I know that demons might attack someone for their blood, but I've never heard of something attacking a vampire like that. A-and why do you have a vampire taking care of Vlad?"

"Long story." Arthur moved the phone to speak to Feliciano again. "Okay, so apparently…"

"Demons might attack people for blood, but whoever you're with has never heard of a vampire being attacked like that," Feliciano interrupted. "My hearing is very sensitive, you know? And who are you with, anyway?"

"One of Vlad's friends. He's a naga. He told me that the demon would end up killing Vlad if it lingers too long. He suggested that it might be a parasite or an infection, but how to get rid of it…"

"I'm looking," Feliciano said. "I haven't seen anything in the book you gave me yet. And I… I don't think it's a demon possessing him or anything. I've seen possessions before. It's not the same thing."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm three hundred years old. I've seen these things. But I've never seen whatever's happening to Vlad before. This is entirely new, and it scares me."

"Keep looking in the book, and keep an eye on Vlad. I'll… I'll see if I can ask Alistair to come by later. Anyway… You said that Vlad drank your blood. Isn't that…?"

"I know. I'm worried about it too. I… I might have to ask the mage in my coven for some help. I know that it's dangerous, but… He might know what to do. We'll just have to protect Vlad if it goes further."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous? Do you think that he would even help us?"

"Helping Vlad is in his own self-interest."

"If you're sure… But, if it ends up hurting Vlad…"

"I will make sure that doesn't happen. I'll let you know if something else happens. I'm just going to check on Vlad again, then I'm going to his bedroom. I want to see what's going on there."

"Just be careful. Is the house dark enough for you?"

"Well, the kitchen is going to be difficult later today. For now, there's enough shade."

"Sorry about it. Anyway, thank you for telling me about Vlad. Have you told Lukas?"

"No. You were the first person I tried to call."

"Alright. I've got to go now. Make sure Vlad stays hydrated, and tell me if he behaves strangely again."

Feliciano ended the call, before he checked on Vlad again. He was still sleeping, and Feliciano didn't know if it was because of his hypnosis or because of Vlad's own exhaustion. Either way, this gave him an opportunity to tackle the serious issue.

Feliciano went to Vlad's bedroom. Everything seemed normal on the outside. But the moment he stepped inside, things changed.

Feliciano gagged when the scent of old blood and rotting meat assaulted his nostrils. He was glad that he didn't need to breathe as much as humans did, for this scent was truly vile. He gritted his teeth as he looked around. Vampires had a far lower body temperature than humans and didn't react to temperature changes the same way, but even he could tell how cold it was.

"Show yourself," he snarled.

For a while, nothing happened, which only set Feliciano more on edge. He didn't trust the silence.

His ears caught it first, and he spun around, only for something to slash his cheek as it darted past him. He hissed as he spun around again. His eyes sought out the culprit, but everything seemed normal, if not for the fact that the hairs on Feliciano's arms stood on end.

"What are you?" Feliciano hissed.

There was a sound, and he turned around to face it. The mirror had tilted slightly, and Feliciano came closer. As a vampire, he didn't have a reflection, so he was surprised to see that there was an image in the mirror. When he got close, he blinked in surprise.

"Vlad?" he whispered.

The figure looked like Vlad, but his hair wasn't the same. It was much darker than Vlad's hair was, and when he looked up, Feliciano could see that the eyes were duller as well.

"What's going on?" he asked, though he didn't think that he had an answer.

The figure that was not Vlad raised his arm, which was bloody. The sight didn't send a jolt of hunger through Feliciano, which he found odd. The other then raised his head again, and Feliciano could see the fangs in the figure's mouth.

What was going on?

"What are you?" Feliciano demanded. "Why are you attacking Vlad?"

The figure's shoulders shook as he laughed, as though Feliciano said the funniest thing ever. Feliciano took a step back, despite himself. He was a vampire and he could fight most opponents, but he'd never had to face off against a mirror before.

And just like that, the figure disappeared from the mirror. Feliciano looked around, but the temperature was rising, and the scent was fading slightly. Instead of feeling relieved, this caused him to panic, and he ran towards the guest room, where Vlad was resting. He expected the strange thing to go to Vlad, but he was still sleeping peacefully.

Feliciano slumped against the doorframe. If he breathed, he would have been out of breath now. He wondered if he should call Arthur, but he didn't think Arthur would know about any of this.

He checked the window. It was late morning, and he should have been asleep a long time ago, just like the rest of his coven. But there was someone that might have been awake, whether he wanted it or not. And Feliciano knew that he told Arthur that he would call him, but he was reluctant to do so.

Vlad shifted in his sleep, a tired moan escaping his lips. Feliciano sighed as he pulled out his phone. He would have to do it for Vlad's sake. He moved away again as he scrolled through his contacts, landing on the one he needed to call. He pressed 'dial' and waited.

The call went to voicemail after a while. Feliciano dialled again. And again. The fiurth time, Gupta answered.

"What do you want?" Gupta roared.

"I take it that the café means that you don't get all the sleep you need," Feliciano said.

"Feliciano Vargas, you better have a good reason for calling me in the middle of the day."

"Something's really wrong with Vlad. He fed from me."

There was silence for a moment.

"I'm sorry, he did what?" Gupta asked.

"He grabbed my wrist and drank my blood," Feliciano said. "He's not doing so good. He's really sick."

"I noticed. He vomited last night at the café, and I could smell the blood."

"You probably know that there are protection spells around him, and that a lot of them were undone?"

"What? I didn't undo any of those spells. I tried to work around them. I was suspicious of them, but I didn't undo them."

Feliciano pursed his lips. Part of his motivation for calling Gupta was because he suspected that Gupta was responsible for the undoing of the protective spells and thus what was happening to Vlad, but if that wasn't the case, then some of the fire was extinguished, and Feliciano wouldn't have the same motivation to challenge Gupta.

"There's something else," Feliciano sighed. "There's something in Vlad's bedroom. Something that I don't recognise. It's… I don't know what exactly it is, but it managed to scratch me before I had time to react."

"Honestly, that's not too surprising," Gupta sighed.

"I think it went into Vlad's mirror. It… It looked like Vlad, but his hair was darker. It held up its arm, and it was bleeding, and I didn't feel hungry when I saw the blood, and there were fangs in its mouth, like ours."

"Okay, failure that you are, even you would react to seeing blood, even if it's a vampire's."

"There's also this stench in Vlad's room. Like… old blood and rotting flesh. And it was cold in there."

"…You felt cold?"

"Yes. And before you imply I'm weak again, you should know that I don't normally feel cold at all."

"Feliciano, I'm not implying you're weak. I'm calling you weak. But my point was that none of us are supposed to feel cold. You're saying that it's in Vlad's room, with him?"

"No. Vlad's in their guest room at the moment. It's a lot safer than letting him go into his normal room. The thing attacked him two nights ago. It just grabbed him, and left a bruise. Didn't you notice last night at the café?"

"No, I didn't. A bruise just by grabbing…? Is there anything else that you can tell me?"

Feliciano really didn't want to tell Gupta more than he had to, but he feared that he didn't have a choice. He wanted to protect Vlad from Gupta, but Gupta was also the best source for if he wanted to protect Vlad from the other thing.

"There's demonic influence in Vlad's bloodline," Feliciano said. "And right now, it looks like it's making him sick."

There was silence on the other end for a long time. Feliciano knew that Gupta was still on the other end. The silence told him that Gupta was thinking, and the longer the silence stretched, the more worried Feliciano became.

"Demon, huh?" Gupta said at last. "That's not good. But I've never heard of a demon infecting a bloodline. Do you mean his bloodline is cursed or…?"

"They just say he's been infected," Feliciano said. "I think it was because his ancestor was infected before he sired his son, so it came from that."

"And how long ago was this?"

"About four hundred years ago, I think."

"That's a lot of generations. Do you know if the ancestor who was infected was anything other than a mundane human?"

"He… He was a vampire."

Again, there was a long silence. Feliciano didn't like the silence.

"I see," Gupta said. "That would explain a thing or two. And it would certainly explain all the protective spells. I'd like to see Vlad for myself."

"N-no!" Feliciano exclaimed. "You can't…"

"I will do that once Arthur and Lukas are here for their shift," Gupta continued as though Feliciano hadn't spoken. "I just need you to make sure Vlad's asleep. Even your hypnosis should be strong enough to keep him asleep for a few minutes."

"I won't let you get anywhere near Vlad."

"Really? So, you're fine if this entity kills him?"

Feliciano flinched. Even though Gupta couldn't see him, Feliciano knew that Gupta knew that he had won.

"All I want to do is check on him," Gupta said. "I'm not going to drink his blood or something. If there's really a demonic influence in his blood, then it would be too dangerous to drink from him. I'm not going to do anything to harm him."

"And how can I trust you?" Feliciano demanded. "You blackmailed me into helping you, and the only reason why you pretend to care about Vlad is because you want to know if he can be useful in any way."

"If I wanted to hurt Vlad, I would have done it when I had him alone in my car!" Gupta snapped. "I'm also worried. If this is a parasitic demon, then it wouldn't be a problem, but if it's a demon that infects those around it, then it could be a problem. I don't know how strong vampires could be against something like that, and seeing as I was in contact with Vlad last night, I also have an interest in making sure that it's not too dangerous. There are many different types of demons that do many different types of things. I need to make sure what it is."

Feliciano hissed. He understood that Gupta was making sense, but his instincts screamed at him not to let Gupta get close to Vlad. His instincts never screamed at him so strongly before.

"…I see," Gupta said. "You said that Vlad drank some of your blood. I forgot. The mating ritual is closer to being completed. Tell me, did you drink Vlad's blood yet?"

"No," Feliciano insisted. "And I'm not going to. I-I don't want to…"

"What? You think that you will be strong enough to resist those instincts? Just so you know, once it starts, there's no way to stop it, unless one of you dies. So, if you truly don't want to mate with Vlad, then let him die."

Feliciano's hands curled into fists. He only released his one hand when his cell phone groaned in protest.

"You don't want that to happen," Gupta said. "Now then, as long as you don't drink from Vlad, there shouldn't be a problem. Of course, now that he drank from you, it's going to be a lot harder to resist."

"There's still the act of intimacy," Feliciano said. "Whatever that is."

"I think you're already past that point. It doesn't need to be physical intimacy. For all I know, the painting you gifted Vlad would have been enough for that, and yes, I know all about it. You know, things might be easier if you turned Vlad into a vampire. You can be his sire as well as his mate. And you don't have to worry so much."

Feliciano gritted his teeth. He didn't want to do that to Vlad.

"If you were given the choice between turning Vlad and watching him die, which choice would you take?" Gupta asked. "I'll be there this evening, after sunset. Make sure he's asleep."

And with that, the call ended. Feliciano punched the nearby wall. He would need to reimburse Arthur somehow, due to the sizable dent he made. He didn't want Gupta anywhere near Vlad, especially when Vlad was asleep and unable to protect himself. But a part of him understood that it would be easier for Gupta to understand what was going on if he saw Vlad.

Feliciano returned to Vlad's bedroom, his eyes scanning the area for something strange. He could still smell the scent, but it was weaker now. He didn't know if that was good or not.

His gaze roamed around the room, searching for something. He moved closer as soon as he spotted the tube he used to bring the painting to Vlad. He removed the painting and unrolled it. The painting was in exquisite detail. Was this really enough to act as an 'act of intimacy' for the mating ritual?

He put the painting on the bed. If this was truly all that was necessary, then it meant that all that was left was for him to drink Vlad's blood.

Feliciano turned to leave, but something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. His eyes widened, and he quickly ran out of the room. He shivered as he stepped outside, and he rubbed his arms. He was cold for a completely different reason. He returned to Vlad's current room and sighed when he saw that Vlad was still asleep. His breathing and heartbeat were both normal, and when Feliciano reached out to touch Vlad's face, he was pleased to see that Vlad's temperature had dropped.

Still, he couldn't get the sight of his own reflection out of his mind.