Chapter Text
Roman stood in front of the door. He could hear the music thrumming from the club inside. Was he really about to do this? His hand paused before the handle. He wasn’t usually one to hesitate much before diving into things. But, this would be big.
He keeps hearing in his head their voices echo from his argument with Remus, the last time they spoke. He needed to be stronger.
Marcus walked up to stand by Roman and smiled at him.
“Hey, it’s alright man. I’ll go ahead and let Patton know that you’re okay to enter his club. You should be able to mingle from that,” He said. Marcus was the one who had told Roman about this place in the first place. How it could lead to the solution he was looking for.
He went on and opened the door, gesturing for Roman to follow him in. Roman straightened himself up and nodded. He grabbed the door behind Marcus as he walked inside.
His eyes had to adjust to the dimly lit space. There was plenty of energy coming from the dancers on the dance floor. A lot of dancers moved around each other, making up the crowd of that space. He carefully walked towards it and looked around. It was a bit hard to tell who had fangs and who didn’t with the way they spun around each other. There was more of a crowd for this kind of thing than Roman would have expected. Even with his weak still human nose, the scent of blood wafted by in the air.
“Hey,” Came a masculine voice near him. Roman turned to face the other. The other young man was pale and made sure to show his fangs as he smiled at Roman.
“Seems like you’re looking for something,” He drawled out. Roman smiled at him.
“Yes, I am. Maybe you can help me.”
*
Logan clinked his nails against his glass for a moment. Then he picked it up and drank more of his whiskey. He wasn’t really one to fidget usually. But he was often in thought. He signaled the bartender for a refill. Yet he barely listened as Patton commented on someone finally getting to feed as needed. Logan just hummed and nodded absentmindedly. He did notice when Patton stopped talking though. He could feel the bar owner’s eyes on him, wanting to ask a question. Logan could already feel his own sigh coming when Patton finally commented.
“You know…I didn’t think I’d see you here much now with-“
Logan pursed his lips.
“Nope,” He interrupted firmly. Then he sighed.
“…I’m sure you can see or at least guess what is happening there,” He said with a frown.
Patton hummed. Logan refused to look up and see what expression was on the other vampire’s face.
“Is this your way of attempting to put distance between the two of you?” Patton asked. Logan could hear the doubt in his voice.
“It’s safer this way,” Logan said trying to sound firmer about it. “You know how addictive it can be.”
He was always hearing in his head the ways the other could argue, how this wasn’t a real solution. He heard the way Patton shifted, the other definitely looking right at Logan.
“I think you and I both know there is a better option. A cure that this doesn’t substitute,” Patton said.
Logan growled a bit and tightened the grip on his glass. Only just remembering not to break it before he threw back the rest of his drink.
“Yeah…but I don’t have to do that yet though,” He said. He dropped some bills on the bar.
“Thanks for the drinks as always, Patton,” Logan said as he stood up. Patton smiled at him a bit sadly but then nodded. Logan didn’t need his sympathy. He made his way back out of the bar, not looking at any of the other occupants of the club as he went.
He sighed again as he stood outside the club for a moment. A wave of sweltering heat hitting him as he left the coolness of the bar. He’d really just been wanting to get away from other people for a moment anyways. Logan shook his head to himself and pushed himself to start walking already. It wasn’t long before a pained whimper caught his attention though, his steps faltering. It came from the alley ahead.
He quickly sped forward and cautiously peeked into the alley. Alleyways often weren’t quiet around a club since fucking wasn’t allowed in it. And Logan had been going to this club long enough to have heard sexual sounds come from such places. He knew what consent sounded like, and this was not it.
There were two figures in the alley, one clearly feeding from the other. The vampire stood facing away, clearing consumed by his feeding. The man in his grasp was struggling, wiggling back and forth in clearly futile attempts. He wasn’t able to move much in the vampire’s hold. The wiggling began to slow the more he resisted. He let out whines of pain, his whimpers fearful as his knees started to buckle. There was still a spark of defiance to his eyes, but it was fading as the energy drained out of him. His bright green eyes darted toward the end of the alley.
He must have gotten a glimpse of Logan. He struggled to open his mouth before his weak voice strained out, barely more than a whisper,
“P-please…help me…I-I can’t!...”
Logan entered the alleyway fully then.
“What do you think you’re doing? He is clearly not willing.” Logan said firmly, allowing his voice to go low and reverberate.
The vampire pulled away from the victim’s neck, and scowled at Logan instinctively. Then his eyes widened when Logan stepped into the light more from a nearby streetlamp.
“Logan!” The young voice exclaimed in mixed tones. Incredulity but also terror. He let go of the human none too gently and fled away to the other end of the alley. Logan hurried over to the human’s side. He was too concerned with the young man bleeding out before him to care about the menace’s escape. When Logan got to the man, he was already starting to crouch by him even as the scent of fresh blood came to him. Logan gritted his teeth some as he noticed. He was stronger than this.
That would make stopping the bleeding harder though. He checked over the man carefully. Putting two fingers to his wrist, searching for a pulse. After a moment he found it, but it was not good. Rapid and weak.
Logan reached into his coat pocket and brought out some gauze. A good precaution to have when at a human / vampire club. Plus Patton always had extra anyways just in case. He put the gauze in the human’s hand on the side of the neck puncture and moved it to cover the holes in his neck. That was two layers keeping Logan from touching it, so it should be fine. The hand offered no resistance and didn’t even seem like he’d be able to hold the gauze in place. The man was a shade of pallid dire on a human, and eyes barely staying open. Logan leaned down and murmured to the other,
“We need to get you to a hospital, quickly.” Logan was already starting to put his arms carefully under the man. He mentally calculated where the closest hospital was. He hadn’t needed to go to one in a while after all. Getting him there would be a pain when Logan was in a state like this, but he could manage. The man tried to shake his head though.
“No…no, I jus’ got out…” He said. The man’s sleeve had fallen down during Logan’s earlier maneuvering. On his wrist was a plastic hospital ID bracelet. It was marked Prince, R…his arm also had bruises and scars from whatever had landed him there.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll die if I don’t get you the care you need,” Logan said.
Prince frowned again, then he blinked. Before growing limp in Logan’s arms. Logan held him more securely and leaned him against his chest. Oh, so Logan was cradling him now.
The man’s lips started to pale more as well.
“You…please…” Prince struggled to look at Logan, but there was a begging in his eyes.
Logan’s breath caught. He wanted to ask to make sure he understood what the other wanted. But he knew talking would be hard for the struggling man.
“You…are you sure?” Logan stalled.
Prince tried to nod again.
“Yes…please save me,” He whispered.
Logan’s breath shook. His hand shook as he brought his wrist to his own mouth. Logan bit down, a sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time. Two points of his fangs puncturing his own cold skin. Then he brought his wrist to the struggling man’s lips.
“Then drink…this is how we’ll save you,” Logan whispered. He stroked the man’s hair and held him while he fed.