A Feast For The Vampires

XL

Kimi hardly slept; but when he did, he always dreamt of his dead father. In that dream, the world would be dark, his father would blame him for being the cause of his death and someone—someone he never knew who had the voice of a young woman—would tell him to look for something. And what was that something? Kimi had no clue about what it was. Normally, when he woke up, everything was either dark or white, and he’d either be in a hospital or lying alone in a bed. But everything changed this time.

When Kimi woke up, the first thing he felt was a different kind of warmth—a cold one that was embracing him life smouldering coal. And the first thing he heard was the weakly beating heart beside his ear. And the first thing he saw was a pair of silver eyes that had long, blonde hair falling over them, a scared look in the cold, silver eyes.

This time it was different because he was in Aurum’s arms, the same arms that had comforted him all those years ago, keeping him safe.

He was safe and alive.

“Aurum?” Kimi whispered, narrowing his eyes on Aurum’s face.

Aurum tightened the hold he had on Kimi. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss on his forehead. “You’re finally awake. I thought that you were gone.”

Kimi snorted faintly. “I’m not a freaking walking corpse like you,” he whispered hoarsely.

Aurum’s lips twitched as he forced a smile onto his face. “Why are you always scaring me?” he asked softly, passing his hands over Kimi’s hair.

“Then one billion brownie points to me.”

Aurum pressed another kiss on his forehead. His lips were still pressed against Kimi’s forehead when someone loudly cleared their throat. Aurum’s lips quirked up as Kimi looked past Aurum’s arms and flinched at the room full of Pristines and Hunters.

Kimi’s eyes shifted to Aurum’s face. “Did you just seriously act mushy in front of everyone?” he asked, making to sit up.

Aurum simply heaved a sigh and pulled Kimi’s face to his shoulder, hugging him tightly. “Stop scaring me,” he said into Kimi’s head.

Kimi rolled his eyes. He raised a hand and loosely patted Aurum’s back. “It’s alright penguin choirmaster. I’m not dead.”

Elvira sat up and chuckled breathily. “Penguin... choirmaster?”

Tobe pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think I just aged four hundred years by simply watching that,” he droned quietly.

Aurum unwrapped his arms from around Kimi. He held Kimi’s shoulders. “If not for Priya I don’t know what I would’ve done,” he said, pressing his fingers into his shoulders.

“Who’s... Priya?” Kimi asked, inclining his head in confusion.

“Raja Maikal’s elder sister. She had found you when she had come back to collect something Raja had forgotten in school,” he said, helping Kimi to his feet.

Kimi wobbled a little but regained a firm stance when Aurum held him. “I’m fine,” he said, removing Aurum’s hands from his body.

Aurum exhaled and looked back at the room. His eyes moved over their faces. After a few seconds, he placed the heel of his palm against his head, pushing part of his hair up.

“They tried to kill you,” Aurum hissed through his teeth. “They’ve already started moving.”

Kimi frowned lightly due to Aurum’s words. “Why would someone try to kill me?”

“I don’t know,” Aurum said, dropping his hand. His eyes landed on an almond-skinned young lady who had grey heterochromatic eyes—the left one was a dark grey colour while the right one looked glassy. “Miss Maikal when you had found Kimi did you see the person?”