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Zero Kiryuu was hunched against a rough wall, dressed in jeans that were so tight they were about to cut off his circulation, and a grey shirt that used to be lilac, so thin he might as well not have bothered with it at all.
He was also bitterly regretting his life choices and life in general as he smoked through his last cigarette.
The other boys that 'shared' his corner had given up over an hour ago, gone inside to warm up and shoot up.
Not many drugs worked on vampires, but 'D's were an exception. Just above human-standard enough to need double or triple the standard dose, and just below a real vampire that they worked at all.
Fuck Zero wished he could join them.
Not the drugs, he hadn't quite reach that level, but going inside felt like a privilege right now, even if it was a grim squat or one of the other's shabby apartments. It would be better and standing on this corner and freezing to death.
Prostitution as a vampire made for awkward timings. Being nocturnal meant that really he ought to be standing on this corner in the middle of the day – much warmer too- to catch his …clientele as they finished work, but Hunters visited in the day, making a nuisance of themselves and Zero didn't want them to see him.
That was just taking humiliation to a whole other level.
He used to be one of them. Now they could buy him. No way. No way in hell. Zero would give in to his sleazy landlord first and let Mashiro put his greasy paws and fangs all over him before he let the Hunters know how far he'd fallen, so that left the night. Hunters didn't come into vampire territory at night. They weren't that stupid.
It started to rain.
Fuck fuck fuck. Zero cursed as he tossed his the butt of his cigarette away, the last echo of warmth going with it. He knew he should have brought his jacket and fuck the rent. Yeah he got more attention in just a shirt, but it was cold. Pretty Woman hadn't prepared him for the cold. And the boredom. No one told you how boring street prostitution got.
It was enough to make him wish for a fight.
The Hunters might have taken the Bloody Rose – not that they'd yet found a replacement Hunter who the Rose would accept – but they hadn't taken his skills. He could defend himself and his corner far more easily than the other abandoned D's could. He hadn't had any trouble since the last time someone had tried to become his pimp and Zero had made an example.
He shivered, the rain plastering his shirt to his skin and soaking his jeans making him scowl. He didn't own a dryer and he couldn't afford to have the radiators on. They were going to take ages to dry and he only had one other pair.
Then again, if he didn't find a customer – and he still called them that despite the new and colourful vocabulary he'd picked up – he wouldn't own a fucking radiator to dry them on.
Fucking Mashiro and his fucking obsession with his arse.
Zero scowled again, folded his arms across his chest and tried to prop himself attractively against the wall despite the rain. Thirty minutes then, thirty minutes to an hour and he was going for his jacket and fuck the rent. At least he didn't get sick as easily as a human anymore.
He saw the car – a sleek black thing that reeked of money – about ten minutes after he thought he'd drown standing up. He shifted enough so that the intermittent streetlight would display him and hoped for the best. He probably looked like a drowned rat, but Zero had seen enough to know there were all kind of kinks out there. Maybe he'd catch a break.
The car slowed and Zero breathed a sigh of relief, squelching he strolled to the car, doing his best to walk seductively, leaning down as the window opened.
It was Kaname Kuran.
Zero cursed his life all over again. Fuck it, he should have just let Mashiro have him, anything was better than Kaname fucking Kuran seeing him like this. Then again, what was the prince of purebloods doing crawling the street?
"Didn't take you for the type," Zero blustered, thankful that he was far too cold to blush. Attack was the best form of defence anyway. He should have sensed Kuran's aura from miles away, but it was too late to run and hide.
"Zero," Kuran drawled giving Zero a once-over that made him twitch with irritation. And since when were they on first name basis. "You're looking…wet."
"Oh fuck off Kuran," Zero snapped. "If you're not buying, bugger off."
He'd thought that would embarrass the pureblood, but if anything Kuran looked amused. Fuck, Zero had always taken Kuran to be a prude. The level A gave him another once-over.
"How much?"
Zero choked on the rain.
"Are you fucking serious? I wouldn't touch you for anything, fucking leech. Go away before you scare someone else off. I've got rent to pay."
"Mmmm," Kuran didn't look the slightest bit offended, damn him. He just kept looking. Zero had been a hooker for months now; he made profit from those sort of looks. Even so, he felt like he needed a very long shower, and it had nothing to do with imminent frostbite.
"I think you will touch me, Zero. Five hundred for the night."
Zero hesitated. His pride wanted to say fuck off – but his head said otherwise. So what if Kuran wanted to spend a few hours humiliating him? Kuran was rich, bastard that he was and Zero needed the money. Kuran was offering well over market price and he knew it.
"What does a vampire mean by a night?" he asked to buy himself time to freak out.
Kuran raised an eyebrow. Zero resisted the urge to hit him. "Until I'm done with you."
Fuck it, Zero thought. He didn't have a choice.
"You serious?" he asked, if this was a joke, Zero was throwing a rock at his car.
"Yes," Kaname said, and the window rose. Presumptuous bastard. Zero walked around and got in the other side of the car, hating that he was proving Kuran right.
At least he could drip all over the bastard's posh car and ruin the seats.
#
"I thought purebloods had their own drivers," Zero asked when the silence got uncomfortable, for him at least. Kuran looked like picking up a whore was a daily occurrence. Maybe it was, Zero thought, it's not like he could claim to really know the other vampire. Several years of mutual distaste did not a relationship make.
Fuck he should not have thought the word 'relationship.'
"I do, but I wouldn't let a C touch this car," Kuran said possessively. "It's one of my personal ones." Zero shifted, trying to drip over as much as the leather as possible. If it meant that much to Kuran, Zero was morally obliged to damage whatever was in reach.
Kuran smirked and turned the heaters on, the car warmed within seconds and Zero began to thaw out.
"Go ahead," Kuran said, navigating the roads with ease. "I've got three more just like it."
Zero folded his arms over his chest and stared out the window, cheeks hot. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They drove in silence, houses outside slowly becoming bigger, and the streets wider as they entered better areas. Vampire areas that was. This town was almost entirely populated by leeches, which was why Zero had made his home here, such as it was. Better vampires than Hunters right now.
"Should I ask about the career change?" Kuran asked as they moved away from the streets altogether.
"I'd rather you didn't," Zero said, forcibly keeping his tone even. Kuran was a paying customer, and Zero didn't actually want him to kick him out, not until after he was paid. He tried changing the subject.
"Where are we going?"
"My house," Kuran replied easily. "I want to take you in my bed."
Zero shrugged. It didn't really matter. For what Kuran was paying, he could have him anywhere he liked. He wondered queasily how public this transaction was going to be.
"Don't you have staff and shit? Or your fan club? Are they going to be there?"
Zero could tolerate private humiliation, but if Kuran's club of vampire groupies were hanging about, if they'd see…eugh. He should have charged more.
Kuran rolled his eyes. "My Court doesn't hang around all day and night waiting on me you know. They all have work to do and have their own places to live."
"Staff?"
"Yes, but they're discreet. Besides, who's going to challenge me over buying a whore?"
Zero huffed. He wasn't worried; he just didn't want to be paraded about like a …whore. Fuck it.
"Why does a pureblood want a whore anyway? I thought you clicked your fingers and vampires bent over."
"Don't be ridiculous Zero," Kuran said lightly. "I'd never click my fingers at someone. That's just crass."
"My point still stands," Zero muttered discreetly trying to wring his shirt out all over the window controls on his side.
"Well you're right in that I don't need to pay for it, but you looked so fragile standing under that street light, Zero," Kuran's smirk said he was teasing and loving it, bastard. "Just like a drowned kitten. I'd feel cruel leaving you out there."
"I wish I'd shot you more at school."
"I wish I'd fucked you more at school."
Zero coughed, hating that he was warm enough to blush. He was fire engine red and Kuran's smirk was only growing wider.
"Eyes on the road," he snapped, feeling off-balance and hating it. He was too curious for his own good sometimes, because the next question just slipped out. "You, er, wanted me back then?"
"Every time you mouthed off to me."
Zero shut up. He could take a hint, and he was not going to ask why Kuran hadn't just taken him. Zero had relied upon him for sanity back then, and if Kuran had said he'd trade his blood for sex, Zero would have spread his legs.
He'd have hated it, but he'd have done it.
And that wasn't even considering the law. Once Zero had finally completed the transformation and become a D – an unclaimed D in his territory - Kuran would have had every right, according to vampire law, to use him however he wanted.
On second thoughts, that was probably why Kuran hadn't. He was pretty decent behaviour-wise for a pureblood. He understood a concept like consent.
They approached a massive pair of gates, which looked far more than merely decorative, and had an accompanying guardhouse, with half a dozen armed men manning it.
Zero eyed it all with interest.
"Why do you need security?"
"Rabid fans," Kuran deadpanned, the gates opening as the guards recognised Kuran's car and Kuran pushed some sort of button on a key fob.
They drove up a long stately drive, and finally Zero saw Kuran's excuse for a house.
It was not a house.
Kuran had a freaking castle, moat and all.
Zero rolled his eyes, and started calculating how long it would take him to get back to his apartment after they were done. It would take at least half an hour to walk down the drive, and he doubted he could catch a bus at dawn.
Those thoughts distracted him as Kuran parked the car and they got out, walking right through the front door because Zero hadn't been embarrassed enough yet. Thank god, the maid who came out to greet Kuran kept her head down. Kuran led him through a maze of corridors until they were in a bedroom that was fit for… a castle.
Zero twitched.
Suddenly, Kuran's aura washed over Zero, and he shuddered. Clearly the pureblood didn't feel the need to hide his aura now that he was home, and Zero's Hunter senses started screaming incoherently about the nearby pureblood. Well, at least they weren't broken. Too little too late, though he wished he knew how Kuran had hidden it in the first place. Might be useful.
He forced his Hunter senses down. It was just Kuran. Sure, he was a pureblood, but he was a customer too. He wasn't the worst person Zero had ever slept with, and he was easy on the eyes, which was always a plus.
"Scared?" Kuran had turned back to look at him, apparently his reaction had not gone unnoticed.
"You wish, bastard," Zero replied, hating that Kuran was goading him, and hating that it was working. Zero might have been tempted to back out now that he was warmer, but he couldn't after a challenge like that.
Kuran still knew him too well. Fucking pureblood.
#
"How do you want me?" he asked brusquely, determined not to hesitate. "And I want to see my money." Kuran wasn't the type to try to welch, but Zero wanted him to know that he wouldn't just roll over either.
"Take a shower first," Kuran replied unlacing his shoes. "You look blue."
Zero wanted to tell him to fuck off, but he didn't. He was cold and he wouldn't turn down a hot shower anyway. The water heater in his apartment was broken and Mashiro said he'd fix it when Zero showed some fucking gratitude. Fuck that.
Because Kuran's eyes weren't affecting him in the slightest, Zero stripped off his wet clothes right there in the bedroom, and left them to ruin a posh chair that looked like an antique.
The shower was gorgeous. Zero passive-aggressively used all of Kuran's body wash, just because. He wished he could spend an hour in here, and he would if Kuran was paying by the hour, and if he thought it was possible to use up all of the hot water. But he didn't want Kuran to think Zero was avoiding him, so he stepped out, dried off, left the towel on the floor and wrapped himself in a robe hanging on the back of the door.
Walking back into the bedroom, he eyed Kuran apprehensively. A pile of notes had appeared on the side table by the door, and Zero decided to be rude and count them.
Kuran, the bastard, shadow-walked up behind him, making him jump as hands appeared on his waist, and a mouth nuzzled at his neck.
"Rules?" Kuran asked undoing Zero's belt and slipping his hands inside.
Zero ignored him, carefully counting. Five hundred. Well alright then.
"No biting or blood, no maiming, no watersports or shit like that. No animals, no scarring and no permanent damage. Other kinks by negotiation only."
Kuran snorted into his neck. "Is that all?"
Zero smirked and leant backwards, arse grinding against Kuran's interest.
"No biting?" Kuran nibbled. "Are you sure? I'll pay double."
"Not happening," Zero said, not even the slightest bit tempted. Vampires who drank his blood got glimpses of memory and emotion and that shit was private.
"On your knees then."
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