**CW: mentions of blood**

         “I’m not sure if you’re truly ready to leave yet, little one. Are you sure you’re ready to go?” Valentine hummed, as if he were speaking to a particularly restless child who wanted to go to the park but hadn’t done their chores yet.

Knox parted his lips, staring at the vampire blankly. It was Tuesday. He’d missed two shifts and an entire day of classes, unable to do much because on top of his concussion, he’d caught a cold from being out in the rain. He’d had no choice but to allow the vampires to take care of him, upon their continued insistence. He’d spent the last three days burrowed in the guest bed, letting them to hover over him as if he might die at any moment. He was pretty sure that Valentine had been convinced he might at one point, fever-hazy memories of the head vampire speaking to Callum in hushed tones, like if he spoke too loudly he might actually keel over. Knox was completely fine now, though, had woken up this morning feeling refreshed as ever, the days he’d spent resting really helping his tired body. No aches or pains, no coughing or congestion of any kind. He felt as good as new, and he needed to meet up with Flint within the next two hours.

He didn’t have his phone. The vampires seemed to have a disinclination for such devices, hadn’t seen nor heard a smartphone since he’d gotten there. August had had one on him the first night they met, but he hadn’t seen one on him since.

It was a little weird, but he didn’t know what vampire culture was like. They probably thought technology was just a passing fad still, or something.

As it was, Knox was currently in a weird situation. He’d figured they’d be eager to get rid of him the second he was feeling better, had figured they kind of saw him like a stray puppy, feeding him a couple of times and that’d be it. Feeling obligated to take care of him because they’d accidentally hit him with their car and didn’t want to take him to the vet. He wasn’t really sure why Valentine seemed reluctant about him leaving.

Unless they actually thought of him as some sort of pet.

“I- yeah? I feel fine, and I really can’t miss anymore work, or class, and like I said before, you can totally blindfold me so I don’t know where your nest is. You don’t even have to take me all the way to my apartment, honestly, you could just dump me a few blocks away and I can figure it out-“

“Knox, please, you’re rambling again-“

“Am I a prisoner or something?”

Valentine finally looked up from the crocheting needles in his hands. He’s making something out of this ugly yellow yarn, Knox can’t really tell what it’s supposed to be, but it looked lumpy, and Valentine doesn’t seem to be sure of what he’s doing. There’s a book laid out beside him, and he’d previously been looking at it every few seconds, hands fumbling as he tried to get the rhythm of threading the yarn together correctly. Now though, his hands were paused, lips pulled into a frown as he turned all of his attention on Knox.

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, not that your nest isn’t nice or anything, but if I’m not allowed to leave I feel like that’s important information I really need to know.”

Knox thought it was a pretty reasonable assumption. He’d been dragged here unconsciously, been denied when asked to leave, and didn’t have any way of communicating with the outside world. It seemed like he might be some sort of captive, even if they were being really nice about it so far.

If he was being held hostage though, maybe he should be doing his best not to offend his captors. Stay on their good side. And he was already failing because Valentine looked scandalized.

“Now why in God’s name would we be keeping you prisoner?” The vampire asked, “I might not interact with humans very often, but I’ll have you know I’ve always been a humanitarian. In fact, I was one of the first lords to ban the keeping of humans as slaves! Why would I want to keep you trapped here?”

Knox shrugged, refusing to meet his gaze. “I dunno. If I’m not a prisoner, then can I leave?”

Valentine puffed out a breath, dropping his hairball of a creation and large crochet hooks in a pile beside him and stood. “Let’s find Nash, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to help you to your apartment.”

Nash didn’t look happy about taking him home. Quite the opposite actually. The other three vampires were in the living room, Callum sitting in a large reading chair, novel open in front of them as they curled up in the oversized thing. They weren’t reading though, apparently, with how their eyes were fixed on the scene the remaining two vampires made on the couch.

Nash was leaning back against the cushions, the picture of ease as he tilted his head, legs spread to make room for August who was sitting sideways in his lap. Knox couldn’t see his face, where he’d ducked down to bury his face in the other’s neck, but he could see how his adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. His hand was fisted into Nash’s shirt, scrunching the fabric at his chest.

Valentine grabbed Knox’s shoulder, preventing him from running, squeezing it gently. He didn’t even glance at him though, regarding the situation with a soft, fond expression. “Nestlings have to feed often, though our August is spoiled. We feed him at least once a day.”

Knox’s mouth was dry, “How often do you have to feed?”

“Oh, once every couple of weeks at least. I could probably go longer, but there’s no reason to starve myself.”

August pulled away from Nash then, as if just realizing there was anyone else in the room. His head turned to look at them lazily, as if he were drunk, red eyes half-lidded, “Oh, Knox.” He smiled, fangs dropped, and lips coated in sticky, red blood. “Hi.”

Knox is simultaneously grateful and mortified when Nash chuckled, grabbing the younger vampire’s chin to pull him into a kiss. Well, sort of a kiss. Nash was mostly just licking into August’s lips and mouth, lapping up his own blood. It’s obscene, the way August just parted his mouth and lets him clean him up, and Knox should probably look away. Except he couldn’t, because Nash is sucking on one of his fangs, and August lets out a breathy moan.

This was possibly the most homoerotic thing that’s ever happened to him.

Thankfully Nash pressed a small kiss to the corner of his mouth before pulling away, patting his hip, “Go sit with Callum, pretty. I think the human’s sleepover has finally come to an end.”

August frowned, but still stood up, stumbling over to Callum, who had their arms out to accept him. It was almost funny to watch, as if August was an overgrown puppy as he made himself fit into Callum’s smaller lap. Then he fixed Knox with a pout, doe eyes boring into him.

“You’re leaving?”

“Uh, yeah. I have to catch up on school work and stuff.”

“Oh.” August seemed displeased. Knox kind of wanted to throw himself off a cliff, “Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better. I hope you didn’t miss too much.” His eyes slid over to Valentine, “Can I go too?”

“The fact that you’re asking means that you haven’t learned your lesson, my love. Do you need me to remind you of your punishment?”

“No, that’s okay! I’d never think of leaving the nest without your permission, sire,” August sent Knox a charming grin, “Have a safe trip.”

His phone was deposited into his hands only minutes later, fully charged and blinking with notifications when he’d turned it on. He’d gotten a call from his dad on Sunday, which he probably wouldn’t have answered anyway, and a couple of curt texts from Flint. He responded to those immediately, nose buried in his phone as he followed Nash to the garage.

They got into a nice car that he didn’t bother to look at the logo of, knowing it probably cost more than his tuition. Nash wordlessly started the engine.

“Not worried about me knowing the location of your nest?”

“You wouldn’t be able to get back here if you tried, kid.” Nash snorted as the garage opened.

Nash drove with one hand on the steering wheel, tapping lightly to the rhythm of song on the radio. The other hand laid on the gear shift between them. Knox wondered how it might feel on his thigh, if the cold of his skin would seep into the pants he’d borrowed from August’s closet. Nash glanced over, “Something on my face?”

“Uhh, no,” He cleared his throat, deciding to turn his attention to the window. They still seemed to be in the city, which meant that their nest couldn’t be far away. Valentine had previously mentioned wards, probably something to make humans and other creatures overlook their dwelling. Or maybe something to make it invisible. Not that he was going to go sniffing around their hideout or anything. He’d managed to get out once, he wasn’t sure they’d be so keen on letting him leave a second time.

“Can you drop me off at a café?”

“Sure, which one?”

The rest of the ride was quiet, Nash seemingly uninterested in making small talk, which suited Knox just fine. Of the vampires, Nash was undoubtedly the most intimidating, just by appearance alone. Maybe Valentine was actually the scariest, but he was easier to talk to. Mostly.

He ended up getting to the café early, thanking Nash and retrieving his backpack from the backseat, before heading inside. He figured he could probably get some work done, charge his laptop and mooch off the free wifi until Flint showed up.

Except he was already there, sitting in the corner away from the window since the sun was out today. He was already looking at Knox when he stepped into the café. He looked tense, back straightened and knuckles white where he was gripping the table.

“Oh, you’re here early.” He said in greeting, ignoring the cautious way Flint was looking at him in favor of slinging his backpack into the empty side of the booth before sitting down himself. Could he sense the vampires on him somehow? Smell them? Had their auras somehow rubbed off on him?

“You’re the early one.”

“Well, I wanted to get some studying done.”

Flint didn’t pry, instead getting up without a word, presumably to order their coffees. Knox got his stuff set up, plugging his laptop charger into the nearby outlet, then checking out his laptop. He was surprised that the thing was still intact, as his backpack had taken the brunt of the impact when August had slammed him into the side of a building. Yet, there wasn’t even a crack in the screen, and it turned on when he opened it.

Maybe he should confide to Flint about his situation. He wanted to talk to someone about the… predicament with the vampires, maybe garner some advice from someone. He didn’t have a lot of options though, and there was no way he was going to talk to his parents about it. That pretty much left Flint, which was a little depressing, and he wasn’t even sure that the man was going to want to hear about his problems. If he even could.

Still, as Flint returned to the table, placing his double caramel latte in front of him, he found himself saying, “What are you, Flint?”

The man froze, still leaned across the table, closer than he normally would have been, “What do you mean?”

“Like, species?”

His friend sat down, leaning back so that he could regard him with a calculating gaze. His green eyes seemed to flicker, pupils turning to slits like that of a snake, before Knox blinked and they were normal again. “Human being.”

“Humans don’t have scales.”

Flint scowled openly, “We’re not talking about this here. Drink your coffee.”

Then he opened his laptop, completely ignoring the tense silence between them.