Chapter Text
Neoptolemos wasn’t expecting to be co-workers with his only surviving ‘brother’ but the real thing that surprised him was to realize he actually enjoyed the company of the said brother.
Normally, he had little tolerance for young Neonates, they were often reckless, insufferable and created problems for him because they often caused Masquerade breaches. Killing them was easy job for an Ancilla like him but it didn’t mean he liked the job.
Luckily, Ekin assumed the mantle of Scythian; his only request was to change the job’s title to Sheriff. He said it sounded more respectable. There wasn’t anything reputable about the job but Neoptolemos didn’t argue with him. It was better to let him understand it with time.
He lived long enough to know that a Prince should have indulged their underlings from time to time.
Neoptolemos raised his head from the paperwork –it was his Seneschal’s responsibility but he didn’t trust Sophia enough to let her deal with the financial reports yet- and looked at Ekin who had been reading a book on his leather sofa.
After they killed their Sire and started to work together, Ekin often ended up in his room; sometimes just sitting in silence, reading books, or listening to music on his headphones. Neoptolemos assumed that he felt lonely after Markos and his Childe disappeared, that he would stop his visits when he found something or someone to spend time with but after six months, Ekin was still here and much to his surprise, he didn’t mind his presence.
He tried to see what the book was about. It was hard to see long distance due to his bad eyesight –it was worse when he was a mortal- but when he narrowed his eyes, he could see the name; Giovanni’s Room.
Luckily, he wasn’t obsessed with Greek tragedies because Neoptolemos didn’t know if he could handle another foreign Malkavian who was obsessed with Ancient Greece.
“If you asked, I would have told you the title.”
Ekin closed the book and looked at him as if something was wrong. His blue hair and eyes shine under the fluorescent light of the room. Neoptolemos never understood the unnatural hair color. Ekin told him that he dyed his hair after losing a bet and Embraced before he could remove it. Now he was stuck with it for eternity.
The color wasn’t unflattering; it reminded him of the lapus lazuli rocks they used to make pigments from back in his village.
“You seem distracted.” He put the book aside and rose from the comfortable sofa. “Would you join me to hunt?”
“Sure.” He realized how dry his throat felt. When was the last time he hunted? Yesterday? The day before?
He took his coat from the hanger, and they exit from his office. Neoptolemos refused to use Peisistratos’ old palace, instead settling in a building that could be classified as a tower.
The city was relatively crowded even though it was past midnight. After spending hours in his room fresh air made him feel better. Since the late Prince didn’t even bother to educate him as his successor, he still had a hard time adjusting to his position. At least when he was a Scythian he didn’t have to bury his head in paperwork.
Truth be told, he never expected Ekin to make him the Prince anyway. He told him ‘a change of management’ not ‘help me kill my Sire and put me in charge”
“I always wondered.” Neoptolemos finally disrupted the silence. “Why haven’t you backed Sophia’s claim and decided to help me?” He intentionally hadn’t mentioned Markos.
“We made an agreement, did we not?” Ekin turned his head and looked at him as if he was trying to detect any sign of trickery. “I promised that I would help you when the time was right.”
“Do you keep all of your promises?”
“I try to.” He averted his eyes and turned his head to the East. “She is going to kill you. Sooner or later.”
Neoptolemos knew who he was talking about.
“I know that she will try.” Sophia was a Ventrue after all and both knew that she held grudges. “However, I think you are the one in danger. Sophia won’t make a move against me before she destroys you first.”
“Because I am loyal to you?”
“Because you slighted her. She killed her Sire out of spite. You promised her a throne but decided to give it to me. What do you think she will do to you?”
“I promised her nothing. She forced me into doing her bidding.” Ekin put his hands in his pockets as if they were cold. “Sophia should have known better than to entrust everything to someone she threatened to. It is not my fault that she is an excuse of a Ventrue”
“Careful, you wouldn’t want her to hear you.” Neoptolemos wasn’t reprimanding him. He was amused by his audacity and merely warned him because he truly didn’t want Ekin to perish.
“I thought I was under your protection. Would you allow your Seneschal to kill me over an insult?” Ekin’s eyes locked on his face for a moment. He knew the answer. If she asked, Neoptolemos would have to indulge Sophia, who had several useful connections throughout the city. She was older than him and his Sheriff was just a disposable Neonate.
“You are a smart boy.” He finally spoke. “You already know the answer.”
“I wanted to hear it from you. At least you are reluctant to admit that you would throw me to the wolves.”
“I am advising you not to do anything that requires me to do that.” He hissed at him which caused a couple passing by to give them a weird look.
“Nevermind.” They walked in silence until Ekin stopped in front of a neon sign. Neoptolemos realized it was a small bar located between an Italian restaurant and a small bookshop.
“What? A bar?” He sneered at him. “Why don’t we just find a random person and be done with it?”
“I thought you could use some distraction.” Ekin shrugged. “If you won’t accompany me, I will need to go and hunt alone somewhere else. The bouncer won’t let me get into the bar without a partner.”
It took him a whole minute to understand his meaning and when he did he almost laughed out loud. They looked so different together with Ekin’s blue hair, brown jacket and jeans contrasting with Neoptolemos’s brown curls, long black coat combined with a silken shirt.
“Are you suggesting we act as a couple?”
“Only until we granted entry. Is that such a bad idea?” Neoptolemos realized the hesitation and fear in his eyes. Considering Peisistratos’ behavior towards women, he couldn’t blame him for that. But he was nothing like his Sire. He never cared about people’s preferences.
“No.” He held Ekin’s hand to encourage him. “It is not a bad idea at all.”
Neoptolemos tried to fix his posture as they walked across the street. It was one of the bad habits left from his childhood; his father often scolded him not to slouch when he was a mortal boy.
The bouncer only gave them a slight nod before opening the door and allowing them inside. The inside was significantly warmer, a sudden wave of different scents filled his nostrils and his already sensitive ears were assaulted with loud, annoying music.
The bar was more crowded than he thought. Mortals danced on the floor, their sweaty bodies moving, grinding each other. Peisistratos found such places degenerate and often talked about banning them permanently from his city. Not that he was powerful enough, of course.
“Come.” He realized they were still holding hands when Ekin dragged him to the bar table. They sat on the uncomfortable high chairs.
“One Martini for me and whiskey for my friend here.”
After the bartender turned his back to prepare their orders, Neoptolemos pursed his lips.
“Such a waste.”
“They will kick us out if we don’t order something. Also, people will be less suspicious with a drink in our hands.”
“Don’t you think it is too much effort for a simple hunt?” Neoptolemos realized he was souring the mood and hastily added. “Your choices were very specific.”
“Martini looks fancy.”
“And why whiskey for me?”
“You seem the type.”
“Elaborate.” He took the dirty-looking glass from the bartender and pretended to take a sip from it.
“You look like someone who came here to distract yourself from your corporate job.” Ekin played with the olive in his cocktail glass. “They usually order the cheapest whiskey and act like they are in a fancy bar waiting for their next important meeting.”
“Speaking from experience?” It was always amusing to get small bits of his Sheriff’s mortal life. So far, he learned that Ekin had a lover named Marios, his mother lived in Thrace and he knew three languages besides Greek.
He slowly swirled his glass and watched the amber liquid. It was definitely a cheap whiskey considering the sharp smell.
“Maybe.” His eyes turned to the other corner of the bar. A young blonde man was looking in their direction while sipping his drink but his eyes were completely focused on Ekin.
“We found our prey.” He tapped his shoulder. “Meet me at the restroom in ten minutes.”
He left before Neoptolemos could answer. The only thing he could do was watch him approach the blonde man. Ekin gave him the sweetest smile he could afford, whispered something in his ear and less than a minute the other man put his hand on his hip, guiding him to the restroom.
Neoptolemos accidentally broke his glass and felt the shards piercing his skin. Before the bartender started yelling at him, he pulled a 100€ banknote and put it on the table.
“You might want to clean the wound.” The Bartender’s mood improved tremendously after putting the money in his pocket. “The restroom is at the corner.”
Neoptolemos removed himself from his chair and walked to the restroom as he held his hand not to spill any of his vitae on the ground. There were still more than five minutes, he didn’t care.
He opened the door and inspected the scenery in front of him. Their bodies were glued to each other; the blonde man’s hands were grabbing Ekin’s ass as if he was afraid for him to disappear but there wasn’t a hint of blood yet.
That changed quickly when Ekin realized Neoptolemos’ existence. In a second, his teeth were on the blonde man’s neck and he started to consume his blood without any protest other than a soft sigh.
Ekin finally removed his fangs from the man and gestured for him to join.
“What are you waiting for? Take whatever you need before he comes to his senses.”
The logical thing would be to drag his Sheriff outside after making sure that the man wouldn’t remember a thing but the smell intoxicated Neoptolemos. There was a prey in front of him and he was too hungry to ignore it.
Neoptolemos grabbed the blonde man’s wrist and bit him without any care. After the first sip, he realized that Ekin continued to drink from his neck.
There was something intimate about feeding from the same mortal, something arousing. Two blood siblings sharing the same prey. He wondered if vampires drinking from the same blood dolls at the same time felt like this. Would Ekin’s blood taste the same as this mortal if he sank his teeth on him and drank his vitae? Or would it taste like Peisistratos’ blood?
Neoptolemos could drain that man but in the end, logic outweighed pleasure and he let him go after licking the wound. He had countless years to master his Beast, to learn how to stop before doing something regrettable.
The blood wasn’t enough to fill his hunger, at least it would be enough for this night.
Ekin pulled his head back and licked his wound to remove his bitemark, then gently laid him to the ground.
“It is alright.” He carefully pushed the poor sod’s hair back as if he was afraid to wake him up. “He won’t remember a thing tomorrow.”
“Do you have any idea how risky that was?” Neoptolemos hated to sound like a boring old man –well, he was in fact a very old man- but he couldn’t help himself. “What if someone decided to piss and opened the door when we were sucking the life out of that man?”
“They would think we were about to suck another part of him and leave.” Ekin shrugged. “People tend to leave when they see adults getting intimate in a public restroom.”
“Let’s leave.” He didn’t want to create a Masquerade breach while preaching about the secrecy of their nature. Their prey could wake up at any moment. “We will talk about it later.”
Instead of following him, Ekin looked at his injured hand. Neoptolemos’ dead skin had already patched itself but the dried vitae remained on his fingers.
“What happened to your hand? Did you punch someone?” Without waiting for an answer, he pulled a tissue from his pocket and started to wipe the dried blood. There was a different look in his eyes as if he wanted to taste it.
What if he allowed him to do it? Neoptolemos knew that licking dried blood wouldn’t cause a blood bond. Would he do it if he asked? Ordered?
Before he could say anything the blonde man grumbled and attempted to rise from the filthy ground. He likely didn’t remember anything but seeing their faces could remind him of the blood sucking session they just had.
“Nothing.” He answered his question before opening the door. “Let’s go, it has been a long day.”