Leaning back against the wall, Kyle felt himself relaxing for the first time in weeks. Despite the giant wound on his side, his wrists and ankles being shackled in silver that sent constant waves of pain throughout his body, and the fact that he was trapped in a dungeon by a vampire Elder who had threatened to murder his whole pack, somehow just talking and laughing with Eryk made him feel more at ease in a way.

What is this strange feeling, Kyle wondered, finding it odd how the vampire had immediately gotten rid of his anxiety with barely a few words.

After they had introduced themselves, Eryk came over to Kyle and offered to help him with his still bleeding wound. The werewolf was shocked by this offer, not expecting the vampire to notice or even care about his injury, and a cynical part of him insisted that it was probably a trick and he should just decline the offer. 

However, something about the look in the vampire's eyes as he gazed at the big open gash, had convinced Kyle that he was being earnest when he said he wanted to help. There wasn't any reason to lie about helping him, not when Eryk could easily just kill Kyle without much effort, with the weakened state he was currently in.

Once he had accepted the offer of help, the vampire had ripped off the sleeves of his white shirt, tearing them into long strips with his pointed nails. He had taken one strip and cleaned out the wound, digging out dirt and gravel as Kyle hissed in pain and tried not to jerk around. Eryk had then spat onto his fingers, and wiped the sticky saliva into the open cut.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kyle asked in horror, as the vampire continued to cover his wound with saliva.

“It'll help with your healing,” Eryk said barely looking at him as he continued working, “When vampires keep long term captives they use their saliva on the bite wound so the human heals quickly and doesn't bleed to death. So they can continue to feed on them.”

Kyle knew about that, but he wanted to know why the vampire was doing that to him. He wasn't a human.

“The saliva should heal you just the same.” Eryk said, as if sensing his question. 

Kyle nodded, still perplexed, and tried not to grimace as the vampire continued on. After Eryk had applied a layer of saliva to the large cut, he quickly wrapped it up with the remaining torn strips of his shirt.

Perhaps his vampire saliva will somehow be able to counteract the effects of the silver, Kyle thought.

Once he had closed up the wound, Eryk moved back across the dungeon, not wanting to be so close to the werewolf when the scent of his blood was still so thick in the air. The vampire felt his stomach twist in hunger, a hunger that was years old and had never been satiated before. Having never fed on anyone, Eryk relied solely on the barely filling animal blood he was lucky to get his hands on. Animal blood hardly ever found it's way into the Elder's swarm, but when it did, Eryk felt grateful to be able to eat.

Even now his hunger twisted within him, crying, begging, pleading with him to just give in. To just bite into the werewolf. To just fill this massive hole within him with the warmth of Kyle's blood.

It took all of Eryk's self control to ignore the call.

He had never wanted to kill anyone, ever.

“Hey, Kyle?” Eryk said softly.

“Yeah?” Kyle responded, laying his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.

If I look at him any longer I might just ask him to bite me, Kyle smiled lightly as he imagined how shocked the vampire would be if he were to say something like that.

The two of them had spent the past few hours talking, with Kyle telling Eryk about his pack and their home. The vampire's maroon eyes seemed to glow as he listened to Kyle's stories with bated breathe. Eryk felt fascinated as Kyle spoke about his wolf pack, a warm family unrelated by blood that was filled with a wide array of werewolves. 

He wondered about the werewitch and the weregoblin who had gone missing, he found himself smiling at the thought of Benny and his fascination with the extinct fairies. The more he listened, and the more Kyle told him, the bigger his desire to help the werewolf grew. Eryk found himself feeling a strange protectiveness for this pack that to him only existed within Kyle's stories.

“I am going to save you. I don't know how, but I won't let you die down here.” Eryk said, sounding completely determined. 

Yeah, Kyle smiled softly, he's definitely something special.

Even though the vampire hadn't spoken about himself much, besides telling him his name and that he was twenty five years old, Kyle felt like he could trust him. The secrets Eryk held close didn't seem to be anything that would endanger him, not when he seemed to care so openly for the lives of others. Kyle knew that despite this situation, despite everything that had happened with the Elder and the wolfcatchers, that he would never be able to blame Eryk for it all. Not when he too seemed to be suffering.

“I need to save my pack,” Kyle replied, feeling the sudden urge open up to the vampire. “Robyn and Anastasia were captured by the same wolfcatchers who brought me here and I need to find them.”

“Not only that,” He continued, “But two of our pups took wolfsbane and I have no idea if they survived or what happened to them. They could be dead by now for all I know, and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.”

Kyle felt Eryk stand up, and make his way across the room to sit next to him. He held his breath, scared that any wrong move would have the vampire leaving his side again. The vampire grabbed hold of his hands and gently squeezed them, and Kyle's eyes flew open in suprise. The warm touch had his breathe catching in his throat, and it was all Kyle could do to not pull the vampire closer.

Whoa, Kyle thought, he's holding my hand.

“I feel like I have completely failed them.” Kyle whispered, all the words he had kept hidden in his heart spilling out at the unexpected display of warmth from the vampire. 

“They were all counting on me to save them, and not only did I fail to save anyone but I also got captured.” He said, his voice cracking as a sense of hopelessness took over him again.

I will die down here, Kyle realised, Heinrich is going to kill me and then he will hunt down my pack.

In the midst of his despair, a wild thought struck Kyle, and he suddenly sat upright and turned to the vampire next to him.

“Hey, wait.” He held up their clasped hands, “Can't you break this?” He asked hopefully.

Eryk looked at their hands, confusion flitting across his delicate features.

“Break what?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Kyle shook his hands excitedly, “These chains! Silver doesn't affect vampires, so you should be able to break through them easily enough right?” Kyle asked, honey brown eyes bright with excitement as the chains clanked loudly. 

Eryk shook his head and Kyle felt his heart drop.

“I can't.” He said, maroon eyes sad as he looked at Kyle.

“Yeah, of course. What was I thinking.” Kyle said, pulling away as disappointment weighed heavy on his heart.

“No!” Eryk said, grabbing hold of his hand again, “That's not what I meant. I just physically can't break these chains. I'm not strong enough.”

Kyle frowned in confusion, “What do you mean you're not strong enough? You're a vampire aren't you?”

He thought back to the car crash site where the wolfcatcher vampires had ripped the doors off their car. If low tier vampires could do that, then certainly the son of an Elder would be able to break through a few chains. 

“Yeah but my powers haven't fully awakened yet,” Eryk smiled ruefully, “Until I make my first kill I'm not much stronger than any random human.”

Kyle slumped back against the wall feeling defeated, swearing under his breath.

“Don't worry,” Eryk said, his beautiful face twisted with concern as his maroon eyes fixed on their hands, “I will figure out a way to get you out of here. You will save your pack. I promise.”

“I'll make sure you're back home before that lake freezes over so you can go ice skating with Benny just like you promised.” Eryk vowed.

Kyle wanted nothing more than to believe the kind words coming out of those soft lips. With both of them trapped down here there was really nothing Eryk could actually do. Still, Kyle appreciated the kindness that he didn't expect while in captivity, especially not from a vampire.

A crazy thought hit Kyle and he shot up again, startling Eryk, and wincing slightly as pain shot through his side. The sudden movement had agitated his wound and Kyle took a second to collect his breath.

“Just do it then.” He said, smiling softly at the vampire.

“Do what?” Eryk asked, confused.

“Bite me.”