It was a rainy day on campus.
Knox had lost his umbrella a long time ago (he was fairly certain he’d left it in one of his classes one day, never to be seen again), and he was too cheap to buy a new one. He also didn’t own a rain jacket, leaving him to fend off the less-than-ideal weather with a hoodie.
Needless to say, he was soggy.
His clothes were unpleasantly damp, hair frizzy in a decidedly un-cute way and socks wet from trudging through puddles on the way to class. He’d spent the entire class period distracted by the feeling of wet fabric against his skin, unable to focus as the air conditioning of the classroom chilled him to the bone. He was fortunate his only class of the day was one of the larger ones, and the other sixty students in the class didn’t seem to notice a particularly soaked man in the back corner.
He decided on his way home, hood yanked up over his hair in a useless attempt to keep the rain out, that he would buy an umbrella from work the next time he went in.
Knox was a couple of blocks away from his apartment, clinging to the sides of buildings as best as he could, when someone grabbed him.
The arms were strong, wrapping around his shoulders and pulling him into the alleyway he’d been passing. Panic surged through him, and maybe he’s yelling but really he’s too busy flailing to really pay attention to what noises he might be making. It’s only a few frantic seconds before his attacker is slamming him against the side of a building, his back hitting the wet brick with a surprising amount of force. Not that he’d been slammed into many walls before now, but this entirely knocked the breath out of his lungs, head hitting against the hard surface with a thud. It made him feel dizzy, eyes squeezing shut as the back of his skull throbbed.
“Sorry, sorry,” His assailant apologized, voice panicked and hot breath on his face. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t check to see because his eyes didn’t want to open, “I forget how fragile humans are. Oh no, oh no, please be okay.”
“Baby bear,” A new voice called out, equally as frantic as his assailant’s had been. If he had the ability at the moment, he would have flinched. “You can’t just run off like that- I know all the people get to be too much, but-“ The new voice cut off abruptly, ending in a sharp gasp, “Oh my, did you attack this human? You know that your sire won’t be pleased with that, sweetie. I know your instincts make you want to, but you know you have to resist them. Are they already harmed? You might as well just get on with it then, you’re going to be punished regardless.”
“What? Callum, no.” The grip on Knox disappeared suddenly, and he slid down the wall gracelessly. “Oh shit, I don’t-“
Darkness overtook him before he could hear his fate.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚:⠀ *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: .⋆
Knox was laying on a cloud.
At least, that’s how it felt. The sheets beneath him were silky, body sinking into the mattress that wasn’t too soft or too firm. The pillow beneath his head was just the right amount of cool, and he was half sure that he was dead. There was no way anyone but God themself would have such a comfortable bed.
Except his mouth was super dry and he really needed to take a piss. He wasn’t really an expert on the afterlife- having never been dead before- but he was pretty sure that human needs, like drinking water and toilets, wouldn’t be necessary if he were dead. Why would he stumble through life taking care of the meat sack he called a body, just to have to keep maintaining said flesh when he was dead? It didn’t seem fair.
God was standing above him when he opened his eyes.
It would only make sense that God was beautiful. Immaculate bone structure, flawless skin, dull red eyes. They (him? her?) towered above him, long blond hair cascading down and nearly tickling his face with the hanging locks. They smiled when his eyes focused on him, fangs flashing in the low yellow glow of the lamp beside him.
Knox recognized God.
“What the fuck…?” He croaked; voice scratchy from how dry his throat was, “You…I’ve seen you before.”
He wasn’t dead. Yet, anyway.
“Oh good. You’re coherent.” The vampire said, reaching out to touch him. Knox flinched, scrambling back to get away. His back hit the headboard, bringing his knees up to his chest as a wave of nausea overtook him. His sudden movement made him dizzy too, the room spinning for a moment as his sluggish brain tried to catch up with the change of perspective. “Do you know what year it is, Knox?”
If the vampire decided to kill him, which was very likely because why else would they kidnap him, he wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight. Not that he would have normally, but now when he can barely see because his head is pounding, he definitely didn’t stand a chance. Why hadn’t they already decided to eat him anyway? It seemed like a lot of effort to drag him to their lair and then wait for him to wake up, but maybe they liked playing with their food.
“I wouldn’t taste good, you know. I’m… I’m anemic, lacking iron and all that. You should definitely not eat me.”
Now he probably should have anticipated the vampire being incredibly amused by his stupid reasoning, but well, his head fucking hurt. The vampire’s smile grew, chuckling lightly in this charming way that probably would have had Knox swooning if he weren’t scared. It was hard to feel attracted to something that was probably hoping he had a particular blood type. “Anemic huh? You don’t smell anemic.” The vampire moved faster than Knox could react, suddenly on the bed and leaning into his space. The noticeably inhaled, eyes sliding shut as they breathed in. This close he could make out the freckle in the corner of their left eye. “In fact, you seem perfectly healthy, physical injury aside.”
Knox sat frozen, heart hammering in his chest at the proximity. Before his instincts could decide on what to do (his brain tended to lean toward flight- a cowardly reaction according to his parents, but it wasn’t like he could grow talons at will like they could), the door opened.
“Calluuuuum,” The voice was whiny, a deeper tone pitched high, likely masculine. The vampire, Callum apparently, turned towards the newcomer, putting them in his field of view, “What are you doing to scare Knox? I could probably feel his fear from a mile away.”
Knox couldn’t help but gape, because August was standing in the doorway, all pouty lips and wide, doe eyes, gaze set on the vampire hovering near him. They leaned back, away from him thankfully, expression softening, “Are you getting overwhelmed again? You really shouldn’t be up, baby.”
“And you shouldn’t be messing with him.” August stepped into the room, approaching the bed. He grabbed the other vampire’s hand, tugging on it. “Come on, give him some space, please.”
Callum heeded the request like they can’t help it, easily allowing August to pull their slight frame towards him. They’re probably a couple of inches shorter than him, with narrow shoulders and smaller hands, but they were likely older than August. He seemed like a young vampire.
August turned towards him then, lips parted and eyes full of something Knox couldn’t quite place. “I’m really sorry, Knox.”
“Where the fuck am I?” He asked in lieu of an answer, weighing his options. August is familiar, at least. He hadn’t been violent in their previous encounters, nor had he seemed to be so, but that didn’t really explain what he was doing in a nice looking room with two vampires and a migraine.
“Our nest.” Callum answered and August elbowed them in the side.
Meanwhile, Knox was about three seconds away from throwing up. A vampire nest? Humans weren’t really known for leaving vampire nests in general, and the few who did were usually missing a liter or two of blood. Knox was skinny as it was, he needed the blood he had. It was his anyway, not for stupidly handsome vampires, he had made it himself. Besides, he didn’t want to die, he could just imagine his parents remarks about how he was too weak, their only offspring even failing at being a human, getting caught between some thirsty vampires. Then they’d give him the most dreadful supernatural funeral possible, and he just couldn’t have that. He couldn’t die now, even if just to spite his parents.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” August rushed to say, as if he could read his mind, “er… at least, not again. I really didn’t mean to throw you into the wall like that. I’ll be more careful next time, I promise.”
“Next time? How many people have you kidnapped?”
“N-no one! We didn’t kidnap you- you were just hurt, and you passed out and Callie has a medical degree. We just wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m really sorry.”
“Why didn’t you just take me to my apartment? Or I don’t know, a hospital?”
Maybe he shouldn’t sound so snappy, especially not when he was at the mercy of at least four vampires (or more- he didn’t know how many nestmates August had), but thankfully Callum just seemed amused as August blinked owlishly at him, “I didn’t think of that.”
“…Right.” Knox unfurled his legs, a little less scared now that he knew he wasn’t in any immediate danger, though no less wary. He patted his pockets in search for his phone, only to realize he wasn’t wearing his clothes. No, he was in a pink sweater and a pair of grey sweatpants. Someone had to have changed him, clearly, but he decided that wasn’t worth commenting on at the moment, “Where’s my phone? What time is it?”
“It’s eight.”
“PM?” He asked and received a nod in response. Shit. He had work tonight.
“I have to get to work.” He mumbled, moving to slide off the bed. He stood without much thought. Once his feet steadied on the floor though, he was immediately hunched over, throwing up the contents of his stomach as his brain seemed to pound against his skull. Instead of puking all over the carpet though, he was vomiting into a tiny trash can, a soft voice tutting near him.
“I believe you’re heavily concussed, Knox. You can’t possibly work in this state, even if you’re just sitting on a stool. I’ll contact your work, hm? The convenience store, right?” Callum was helping him back onto the bed then, this time laying down, cool hands fluttering over his forehead for a brief moment.
“I can’t- I can’t just call out.” He mumbled, even as Callum gently guided him to lay on his side, probably so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit if he threw up again.
“My medical license is active, lovely, I’ll write you a note to excuse you from work for the day.”
“You can’t keep me here.” He said, but it sounded weak even to himself. Another hand was touching the back of his neck then, August’s, just where his skin was exposed. A soft, warm feeling washed over him, though even in his fuddled brain he could tell there was something wrong with it. Something artificial, maybe, as if the feelings were manufactured, not his own. He didn’t have the strength or mental bandwidth to question it fully though, lulled into a strange calm of being neither awake nor asleep. He was aware of Callum and August conversing near him, in low tones, but he couldn’t really make out what was being said.
Minutes passed, or perhaps hours, it was hard to tell, but eventually the hand stopped touching him, the presence of the two vampires disappearing behind the click of a door. Knox’s eyes slipped shut, just on the cusp of sleep when a loud, screeching voice rang out:
“What is a human doing in my nest?!”
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