Hidden In Plain Sight (MxM)✔

Chapter 1 - The World Is A Dangerous Place

"Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will."

- Suzy Kassem

It was dark, with no moon or clouds to be seen in the smog filled sky. Yet in this darkness, a lone figure slid open his second story window and crawled out onto the roof of a small folk home. He checked the area down below, making sure none of his nocturnal neighbors were looking his way, then proceeded to climb down the trellis. About halfway down, he felt something tickle his hand and found a large water bug trying to crawl across his fingers. 

Startled, he pulled back his hand so fast that he smacked himself in the face, then lost his grip and slid the rest of the way down. There, he stumbled backwards and plopped onto the petunias, flattening the flower bed.

The man froze, listening intently in case he'd  alerted anyone to his escape. When he didn't hear anyone stir from inside, he let out a sigh and waved an angry, silent fist at the now retreating insect. 

"Yeah, you better run!" He whispered harshly, then patted off his dirty pants and went to check the living room window. 

Inside he spotted his Master, Frederick Bates, reading a newspaper, unaware that his pet had escaped yet again. Despite appearing to be in his thirties, the man was at least a couple centuries old. He had short platinum blond hair and a sharp face with high cheekbones. His eyebrows were pencil thin, and his skin was almost porcelain white. 

Seeing that the Vampire was amply distracted by tonight's news, Luke quickly ducked away and started scurrying towards the street, intent on a night of frivolity. And by frivolity, he meant hiding in the corner of the local bookstore with his nose buried in some children's novel, hoping to improve his reading skills. 

He may be 20, but his Master had put minimal efforts into educating him, thus the man was forced to self study whenever he had the chance. 

The Vampire, Fredrick, had taken him in as a toddler and named him Luke. Frederick then provided food and shelter, if not a strict set of rules and a good beating when ever Luke disobeyed him. Not long after adopting the young child, it became apparent that he was different from the rest of society. For one, he never developed proper fangs and eventually the Vampire came to the realization that he had found possibly one of the last humans on earth, which was quite absurd since humans had been declared extinct for centuries, so it took a while for his Master to even accept that Luke was one in the first place. 

While rare, it was possible for a Vampire to give birth, thus how they continued their race. However Vampire children aged strangely compared Luke, who aged much too fast to pass as one of the undead. This caused them to have to move from one territory to another every year or so. 

His Master made sure to give Luke a strict set of rules to abide by. In exchange, the Vampire would continue to look out for him in this world of predators. 

Never speak. Never leave the house, and provide blood when asked.

Since humans were fragile, Frederick decided it would be safer to hide Luke away from prying eyes. The man had spent most of his life locked in basements or crawlspaces, though luckily this house didn't have one big enough for Luke to fit in this time. So the Vampire was forced to grant him a bedroom, which the human promptly began sneaking out of each night to procure some sense of freedom.

  A cold breeze blew Luke's dark brown hair over his eyes and he reached up to brush it back. His cheeks were slightly pudgy, and his eyes were big and round. Due to his lack of exercise, he wasn't quite a fit as he could be, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it since he was usually locked away.