Fan Fiction ❯ Touch the Moon ❯ The Air I Breathe, The Blood I Bleed ( Chapter 4 )

Hi again, and sorry but the long delay in the updates. I really don't have an excuse other than I was depressed and feeling unfit to write, I apologise *bows head in shame*

However many thanks to Akurei, Hele, Shinikaru Bahitsu and Rose for being such kind and wonderful reviewers! And as for the meaning of the title, you'll just have to wait and find out, it has got a meaning, of sorts, though now I'm worrying if it's too obscure or not…oh dear, self questioning is such a bad thing…

Touch the Moon: Chapter Four

I twitch. I have no patience. I glare at the laptop, I suddenly remember how much I hate computers. This is why I only lasted two weeks as a Hacker for Lan. I wish this stupid file would load quicker. My breathing has gotten better over the last two days, after poking at me for a bit Lei told me my lungs only felt like they were burning because they wanted oxygen. More trauma than anything in my family's opinion.

Fei-Long has taken to mercilessly teasing me. Evil person, I'm only letting him off with it because he's my best friend. Right now the evil being in question is sitting in bed next me smoking and watching me loose my temper at the laptop. Since there's thirty-three family members bunking in the house right now we've all had to share beds. Our houses usually only equip up to six or seven vampires since we're hardly all together at any one time so even with shared rooms some of us ended up sleeping on the couch.

'What are you doing Aki? You don't even like computers so what are you looking up?'

'Nothing.'

'Why won't you tell me? I'm your best friend! Is it porn? Aiiya Aki! You're so--'

That's as far as he gets before I attack him with a pillow. After I bundle him out of the bedroom with only a little trouble I crawl back into bed, it's so much nicer when you have an entire king-size bed to yourself. I turn back to my laptop and glare at it. Well at least the file is finally loaded, I drag the cursor over and click open. And all that lovely information I was looking for springs up helpfully, I grin gleefully, I may hate computers but I can still use them.

Yue, the Chinese for moon. So that's his name. The boy on the roof. I wonder how his head is. Randomly I scroll down, skimming over his statistics, age, fifteen. Date of birth, height, weight, blah blah blah…so where is he? Address…useless with his head banged up like that he's probably in hospital. Huh? What's this? I catch a link at the bottom of the page, so Yue's been in care too. Like me. Hm, orphan, lived on the streets for a while. Did drugs and prostitution to survive, been in care for about two months. Woah, this kid has it bad, and he's how old? Fifteen…even worse than me, all I know about me is that my mum had me after a fling and just dropped me into care the moment I was born.

I give a sardonic little grin to the computer. I really shouldn't be hacking into government official files but I can't help it. I'm curious.

That boy's been plaguing my thoughts for the last two days. Why did he stick around to make sure I was OK? Any other mortal would've just scrammed. At first I felt guilty about causing him injury, now I'm just curious. I could laugh, since when have I cared for anything? Other than Helen and my current family anyway.

Now that I've found what I want, I sigh and shut the computer down and tuck it under the bed. I pull on some jeans and some random button up shirt. Passing a mirror I run my hand through my hair as I go. Vampires do have reflections I assure you else we'd be having quite a few problems trying to blend in with humans. Eh, still look like crap. What the heck. The moment I step out of the door I get knocked over by Fei-Long who's after revenge. Temporarily distracted we end up in a fight, which concludes with me pinned under Fei-Long being tickled mercilessly.

After I manage to fend him off, I travel through the kitchen and living room heading for the front door. Before I can so much as turn the handle six random family members lazing around the room immediately ask, 'Where are you going?' without even looking up from whatever they're doing. I rack my brains for a decent excuse, 'I'm going out.' just how pathetic was that? Tsui pushes himself up from reading a magazine and eyes me critically, 'Going out where, you're still weak?' he's a good liar and usually gets us out of trouble with his sharp tongue.

I grit my teeth, 'Out to visit someone.' Immediately every single family member shoots up and looks at me incredulously, I can even see some of them peering around doors. The lazy Aki actually going out? Amazing! Not. 'Eh! Has Aki got a girlfriend?' asks Fei-Long as he peers around the bedroom door, Mei giggles, 'or better yet, a boyfriend!' damn her. Evil yaoi fangirl…everyone bursts into a fit of laughter. I am this close to storming out the door and sulking for the rest of the day. Fei-Long, being my best friend senses this and decides to stroll in and give me a friendly hug and kiss. Like I said, all vampire families are close, to a point of obsession in the human view I suppose.

'Don't worry 'bout it! We're just kidding you, you know we all love you really.' Mei and Lai come to join our group hug, they both offer me a kiss and a tight squeeze. Lai just laughs and tells me, 'Just don't forget to tell us what she looks like!' I kick him. 'Ah! Calm down Aki! Just go and have fun!' I glare at Mei, she totally agrees with Lai and Fei-Long and whatever they just said. I know they don't mean it seriously though so I let them off. I shove my way out of their tangle of limbs and head out the door.

Just as I round the corridor of the apartment all my oh-so-beloved-clan all stick their heads out of the door and wish me luck on my way to find my 'little lover', I turn and yell profanities at them wildly in Chinese. Grumbling I climb onto my bike and pull on my helmet, I wonder how Lan managed to import my bike all the way from here to London and then back again. On second thought, I shouldn't ask, I probably don't want to know.

I swerve and narrowly miss getting into a road accident. I'm so distracted today, it's like Fate is determined to assassinate me.

Pulling up in front of the hospital I hide my bike suitably behind some bushes. I'm not registered or anything, hm, I don't even have a license I don't think. In anycase I have no intention of loosing my precious bike.

The moment I walk into the hospital reception, I've already attracted a lot of odd stares. Jeez, I don't look that odd do I? I suppose I don't exactly look the part of worried-family-member or hysterical-fiancée do I, probably more like trash. I really should look in the mirror more often; well you can't say I'm vain at least. The nurse at the desk looks at me torn between amusement and disgust.

'Can I help you sir?'

'Yeah, I would like to visit a Yue?'

'Surname?'

'He doesn't have one.'

The nurse looks at me ominously; I wish I'd thought of a decent excuse while I on my way here. But I was too busy actually thinking about ways to get back at Fei-Long at the time. The is nurse randomly flicking through some files, clearly looking for a reason as to why street trash like me might come looking for an innocent looking boy like him. All my legal stuff in England so she must figure that I'm just some ex-friend of Yue's from his time in the streets. I can just tell that she sympathises with the boy like he's the victim. Finally the woman looks up at me with pursed lips and stern eyes,

'I'm sorry sir, but only family members are allowed to visit, and well Yue clearly doesn't have any relatives.'

Stupid cow. I bite my lip and chew on it for a while hoping for a decent excuse. Why can't I be as good a liar as Tsui.

'What?' I whine, 'but the social services said I could visit him! They said that I could come just this once and--'

'Look,' she cuts me off irritated, 'you can't just barge in here and demand to see someone, we need papers and--'

Suddenly a burst of noise from just outside the door attracts our attention. The nurse just scowls annoyed, 'Oh not again..' she trails off and briskly walks off to see to the trouble. I'm so damned curious to see what's happening but refrain and instead pelt off deeper into the maze of hospital corridors. And amazingly within minutes I'm fully distracted, not by the identical looking corridors, no far from it. I should've expected this…I'm totally and utterly being sidetracked by the heady scent of blood.

To a human nose, it's all sterile and white and boring. To me this is heaven, I can smell blood everywhere, hidden under the scent of bleach. I suddenly feel really, really hungry. And so many different types of blood…I almost forget the reason I'm here. Shaking myself firmly I remind myself, Yue. Right. Must remember. Um, where is his room?

Sighing I wander around the corridors aimlessly trying to discern any blood scent which is even remotely familiar. This is utterly useless, we probably put half the people in this hospital in here in the first place. They probably felt woozy and fainted or something after a vampire fed…hmph, mortals can be so fragile. It's really odd though, I keep walking in this one direction like I know where I'm going even though I don't. God this sounds cliched…

Well vampires all rely on instinct in the end, it wins over everything else, whether it be conscience or rationality. So I let myself be dragged by some instinct through about three random wards and what seems to be a couple hundred corridors. If I wasn't lost before I am now…damned instinct of mine, I'm beginning to wonder it's defective or something. Before I get a chance to talk to myself anymore I walk straight into a person's room before I can think about it.

When I turn to apologise and give some ridiculous excuse I notice it's the boy I'm looking for. Hey, wow, maybe my instincts are better than I thought. I settle down in a chair to watch him sleeping, I'm determined to work out what makes me think about him so. I don't understand why he's always on my mind, even when I'm concentrating on something serious.

As I watch I can't help but smile. I can see why the nurse didn't want me to see him, he looks way to young and innocent to be mixing with me. He looks like a twelve-year-old. Makes me wonder how he can be fifteen and survived the streets. He hardly looks capable of street fighting like me and Fei-Long. Probably a good thief from the looks of it, small and fast enough.

He's so pretty, fine black hair falling to his chin and then layering back gradually to that it rests comfortably on the nape of his neck. Bird like bones and delicate frame, he could pass for a girl if he really wanted to. High cheekbones and thick lashes resting on delicate skin. The sunlight filtering through the curtain makes him look sickly pale, he'd do better in the night.

Pulling myself out of my thoughts I pick up the clipboard hanging at the foot of the bed. Flicking through scan his statistics. Well, he's not dying like I was. Just head wound. Lots of bruising, I'm not surprised considering how hard he must been whacked by that railing. Minimal blood loss, must've been from any edges when he landed or something. He'll live. Hearing the bed sheets move I absently drop the papers onto the floor and turn around in my chair to face him.

His eyelids flutter and he groans immediately bringing a hand up to nurse the enormous, pounding headache he must have. He looks at me a little lost for a minute then frowns trying to remember,

'I know you…you're the boy from the roof…'

I smile ruefully, 'well at least you don't have amnesia or anything.'

He laughs a little and asks me, 'what about concussion?'

I smirk, silly thing, leaving yourself wide open like that for me to tease. I push my chair back and lean over him running fingers delicately along the cuts and bruises decorating his hairline. Even without heightened senses I can hear his breath hitch. He's blushing, eyes wide and staring uncertainly at me, smiling I let my gaze lock with his. We're close enough that I can feel my breath mix heatedly with his.

'Well you remember who I am, and don't seem to be in any particular pain. I'd say you're OK.'

I pull back a little, giving him some space, immediately his breathing takes on a more regular speed again. I can hear his heart beating furiously, absently I run my tongue along my lips, with so much extra oxygen and endorphins running around his blood, drinking suddenly seems like a tempting idea. Leaning down I again whisper by his ear whilst eyeing the pulse in his neck.

'Tell me Yue, do you want to live forever?'

'You, you know my name,' he gasps. I quell the urge to roll my eyes.

'Well with all these government official files lying around, I really couldn't help myself. Now tell me, do you want to live forever?'

I can feel his body sag and him sigh,

'This is such a stupid question, but no, I don't want to live forever, why would I do that? My life isn't the best around as you can guess if you've been hacking around…why would I want to live forever0?'

How mean, he doesn't believe me. I lean in closer, 'Because, you won't have any regrets this way. No one to mourn, all the time in the world to improve things…' I nuzzle closer to his neck, his blood is so tempting.

'How do you live forever?' he asks breathlessly.

Oh my dear, dear Yue, you are asking dangerous questions. Because if you won't agree to become a vampire after this. I kill you. 'You live forever when your blood turns silver and you stop ageing.'

'Oh?'

'When you become a vampire, would you like to try?' I ask huskily.

'There's no such thing as vampires.' he tells me, he's so quiet even I have to strain my ears to hear him.

I pull back again; I smile sweetly and pick up a knife from the fruit bowel. I push it gently against my index finger to test its point. It's sharp enough. He watches me warily,

'Don't you see my eyes Yue, only vampire eyes are red.'

'And inventions called contacts have also been made.'

'And don't you see Yue, only vampire blood is silver.'

With that I promptly slit my wrist and allow the silver liquid to well up. I don't think Yue can quite believe his eyes. I lean over to face him again regardless that I'm dripping blood everywhere; I hover only a few inches above his face.

' Don't you want to live forever? With me?'

He blinks at me then smiles slightly and says, 'You even have fangs…'

No screaming, those drugs must really be getting to him, in anycase I smile and run my tongue gently over my canines, 'Mmm, all the better to bite you with.' I bring my wrist up between us and lap up the liquid, I swallow slowly and allow the flavour to settle in my mouth. He stares back at me shocked, lips slightly parted. I take the chance to ask him, 'What's the matter? Don't you have a taste for blood?' before swooping down on him and meeting his lips squarely. We stay like for a while, allowing the taste of vampire blood to seep between us.

Eventually I reluctantly pull back and watch him dazedly lick his lips, I smirk, 'Nice?' he seems to think about it and then nod, 'Sweet.' He says and pulls me down again to taste more. I'm more surprised when he bites viscously down on my bottom lip to get more blood out. Forcefully I pry him from my lips and absently run fingers down his cheek, 'So pretty…mei lai, beautiful,' I inform him, 'You've tasted my blood, now I taste yours.' He only manages half a nod before I'm down on his mouth again. Gently I nip at his lip until blood flows, nice…cool, light and sweet. Tasty.

As much as I would love to drink him dry, I pull back again yet again. Yue, who's holding my collar tightly at this point doesn't allow me to raise off him more than a few inches. He looks annoyed at the amount of interruptions. I lick my lips and swallow trying to stop my throat from being so dry.

'So? Do you want to live forever?'

He raises an eyebrow thoughtfully, 'With you?' he asks, I nod and he forcefully yanks me down again. 'Anything.' Is an injured person allowed to be so strong? In anycase he's happy and I'm happy so I won't complain.

Slipping my mouth from his I drop light kisses down his jawline and down to his neck giving it an experimental lick. He gasps and from what I can see, his eyelids flicker.

'How much do you trust me?' I eye his pulse thrumming deliciously along his veins just under the skin. Angling my head I bite down gently at first at the very edge of his collarbone and then gradually work higher and higher up. How much do you really trust me my dear Yue? Will you let me take blood directly from your neck? Or will you push me away like I did to Lei? Impatiently he pushes my lips further and further up until my jaws are directly over his pulse, he turns his head to one side urging me to drink and drain him. I nip at the skin adding more and more pressure till it tears under my teeth and his blood flows into my mouth. So delicious. I think I like your blood best my beautiful Yue…

I latch and drink with fervour. His death grip on my shirt finally relaxes and drops, I remove myself from his neck and look at him. He's dying. He glances at me weakly and gives my chin a soft lick trying to clean my mouth of the bloody mess. I cradle him and bring my still bleeding wrist up to his lips, sighing like a contented child he clamps on and drinks to sustain his waning life. I can feel his canines extending and see his skin change from sickly white to delicate peach as his blood flows from red to silver.

Once full he pulls away from my wrist, blood running provocatively down his chin. He wraps his arms around my neck to pull me to his level and brings his lips to mine, allowing me to taste my own blood. I smile against his lips wrapping my own arms around him.

I think I've found a partner.

~~~~~~~~~~

Whoa, my longest chapter yet. I wasn't even aware it was going to be so long…well next chapter is the last. It's only meant to be a short story. I hope you enjoy it. I can't believe I've finally