He'd never gotten such a good night of sleep in his entire life. Whatever happened after they'd left the restaurant was a simple blur in his mind, but the food he remembered intimately. 

Just the thought of the delicious fried fish, baked potato, and cake made him lick his lips. Except, when his tongue slowly swiped out of his mouth, it came in contact with something... 

Curiously, Marquise let his tongue slip from his lips again after having retracted it. His mind began to clear as he continued to lick, rather enjoying the rhythmic sensation that his former half often partook in. It was a bit odd doing it as a human, but the habit, evidently, was still ingrained. 

By the time he was content with his work and opened his eyes, he was in quite a good mood. 

Uh...

His brain took a full minute to piece together what exactly was going on. Well, thankfully, it was more like what wasn't going on. At least at that moment. 

I might actually die today. 

Marquise wasn't sure what he could really do in such a situation, either. Somehow, someway, Vrasje hadn't woken up when he'd turned his neck bright red with his tongue. However, there was no way for him to sneak away from the situation, unfortunately. The man's right arm was wrapped comfortably around his lower back with his hand gently grasping his waist. 

I'm partially on top of him, too. What the hell is wrong with me and why is he here? 

It didn't take him long to answer his own question. The collar of Vrasje's nice fancy dress shirt was scrunched into a wrinkled mess by his right hand. It looked like there'd been a bit of frustration on Vrasje's part, too, because he had a few red spots on the back of his hand as if pressure had been applied for a while to try and loosen his grip. 

It's... been a really long time since I've done that while sleeping. 

He usually only held onto a pillow when he was extremely comfortable, and even in his previous life, that kind of situation had occurred quite rarely. 

Slowly unfurling his fingers from the man's shirt, Marquise winced a little as his joints began to ache. 

Yep, definitely been holding on all night. 

"You can move, he won't wake up." 

Feeling a faint warmth rush to his face, Marquise looked over to where Taru was sitting with his legs crossed and a grin on his handsome face. 

How long have you been sitting there? 

"Not too long," Taru replied, making Marquise nearly choke on his own saliva!

You can?! 

"Yeah, for a while now, but I didn't want to startle you so I wasn't sure how to say it. I guess I still did anyways, huh?" Taru said as he silently got up, then walked over to the other side of the bed closer to Marquise. 

"Come here, hun. He won't wake up after having drank while you were out," he said as he reached toward him with a smile. 

After a brief glance back down at Vrasje, Marquise carefully unwrapped himself from his arm, then silently moved across the bed until he was lifted up into Taru's waiting arms. 

They walked out of the room in silence, but as soon as Taru nudged the door shut, Marquise felt the man's arms tighten around him considerably in a strong hug. Taru also buried his face in the crook of his neck. 

"I'm so glad I didn't listen to him," he eventually said in a quiet, raspy tone. 

Marquise wasn't really sure what he meant by that, but he figured that the man would clarify his words eventually, so he simply settled in for the attention and even got a gentle pat to his head as a reward for his patience. 

As Taru calmed down he began to walk, eventually bringing them back downstairs to the bathing room he'd used before. 

Ah, good idea. I could use another bath. 

It had been a few days, after all. 

"Marquise?" Taru asked after he gently set him down on the edge of the tub, then actually sat beside him, letting their legs hang over the edge. 

Not wanting to be rude, Marquise immediately replied with a quiet, "yes sir?" 

Taru seemed like he wanted to reach over and touch him again, but he kept his hands to himself and simply smiled.

"Are you happy here? I know it's not the best situation right now, but things are going to change... and far too quickly for my liking," he said, making Marquise tilt his head curiously as he stared at the man beside him. 

"I am very happy here, master Taru. What do you mean, though? What things are going to change?" he asked, a little confused but also a little worried. 

Taru pursed his lips and looked away for a moment, making Marquise want to tug him into his arms for a tight hug. He held himself back, however, and waited patiently until Taru turned back to face him. 

"I don't know what's going to happen, but several people reported smelling the faint scent of a werewolf on you last night as you passed by them on the street and in the restaurant. 

Ah, it was only a matter of time. After all, my scent is still there, no matter how faint it might be now. 

Before Marquise could come up with a reasonable response to calm his master's worries, Taru had climbed into his lap and wrapped his arms around his neck as he hugged him again. 

"I promise I'll protect you, so don't worry. Just be good and make sure to stay with me or master Vrasje, okay? Don't go wandering around until people get used to you, okay? You have to be good for a while and stay close to us." 

Smiling calmly, Marquise returned the hug and began rubbing Taru's back gently. 

"I'll be good. I know that humans don't care for wolves, and even if mine is gone, I'll still technically be considered one. I won't leave without one of you with me," he said, hoping that his words brought his master comfort. 

Taru seemed to calm down after a few moments, then leaned back enough to reach up and muss up Marquise's already messy hair. He seemed to realize something a moment later, however, and his hand froze as it lifted away from his head. 

"U-um, it doesn't hurt anymore, does it? Is it okay?" he asked, suddenly nervous. 

Marquise gave a quiet chuckle and leaned forward, nuzzling his head against his shoulder. 

"It has healed. It doesn't hurt, and I love it," he said honestly as Taru's hand quickly returned to sift through his shaggy hair. 

"If I ever do something that makes you uncomfortable, please tell me. I'm not used to being around other people unless I'm working, and a werewolf..." he shook his head slowly as he looked down, clearly trying to figure out how to finish what he was trying to say, but honestly...

So adorable. 

Unable to help himself, Marquise reached up and gave Taru's hair a gentle pat. 

"I will. I never thought I'd be in this kind of situation, but I don't think I could have asked for a better master," Marquise said with a warm smile. 

When Taru hesitantly looked up at him with wide, nervous eyes, he couldn't help but give a little chuckle and rustle his hair. 

"You're a good master, Taru... though I'm not sure how you turned out so well with Vrasje as your sire," he said with a smirk. 

"Oh?" 

Oh...

Licking his suddenly-dry lips, Marquise slowly turned his head toward the opening of the room where a certain vampire was now leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

The area he'd licked previous was angrily red and glaringly obvious to the eye, even in the poorly lit bathing area. 

 "Good morning, master Vrasje," Taru said as he hurried move out of Marquise's lap, then stand up. 

It was obvious that something was about to go down, and it was likely his fault, but they both kept calm and waited as the elder vampire slowly made his way into the room. 

Surprisingly, he didn't even walk up to them. Instead, he stayed back by the large length of counterspace and watched them for a tense moment before finally speaking. 

"Taru, get ready to leave. There's a new pack trying to settle near the southern border that needs to be removed."

There's a new pack trying to get in? 

"How far away is the southern border?" Marquise asked, curious.  

When Vrasje turned his attention to him, Marquise felt a shiver run down his spine and he quickly lowered his gaze. 

"Forty miles," was the vampire's eventual response, making Marquise's head immediately snap back up to look at him with his wide eye. 

Forty miles?! 

"When are you coming back?" he asked abruptly, seemingly surprising Vrasje enough to make his expression soften the slightest amount. 

Instead of answering his question right away, though, Vrasje tilted his head slightly and asked one of his own. 

"Are you not worried about the wolves I plan to murder?" 

Shrugging, Marquise slowly turned, then crossed his legs so that he was able to sit more comfortably and also see the man better. 

"I have no control over that situation," he answered honestly. 

Whether he cared about those wolves or not wouldn't make a difference, so there was no use in voicing it. 

"That's right, you don't have any control. Not over that situation, not over Taru, and most definitely not over me," Vrasje hissed out, making Marquise frown. 

Hadn't we just been talking about the pack of wolves? Why did this conversation suddenly shift to me being an issue? 

"I don't understand," Marquise eventually said. 

He expected Taru to question his master, too, but when the man just gave a stiff bow, then dismissed himself to go get ready, Marquise realized that he would be the only one dealing with this situation. 

Vrasje watched his heir go, then walked over and closed the door before turning back around to stare him down with a narrowed glare. 

I thought we were doing pretty well last night... and I really didn't mean to lick your throat. That was just an old wolfish habit. Please don't kill me, I still want to eat that extra potato at least, first. 

Vrasje's expression relaxed abruptly before his brow furrowed and he pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose. 

"You really are a dog," he whispered quietly, more to himself than to anyone else. 

Marquise couldn't argue, though. He was a dog, or really, a wolf. 

"Get the water going," Vrasje said as he slowly began to walk closer. 

Not wanting to cause anymore problems for himself, Marquise quickly turned back around and pumped the filling lever several times. 

Taru must have already had someone set up some coals beneath the tub because he suddenly realized that it was quite warm in the room. 

Looking forward to the nice bath, Marquise leaned forward again to get the water going a little faster. Except, he couldn't quite reach the lever this time because there was something holding the back of his shirt. 

Um...? 

Behave, was Vrasje's curt response, making Marquise raise an eyebrow and look over his shoulder. 

Behave? But you're the one grabbing my shirt. 

Frowning a little, Marquise tried to nudge Vrasje's hand away with his own, but that just succeeded in making the guy's grip tighten. He also got a hiss after a few tries, making him roll his eyes. 

"What are you doing that for? Didn't you tell me to get the water going?" Marquise said, honestly confused as all heck. 

Vrasje was silent for so long that the spigot for the bath pump slowed to a drip. 

"You don't feel anything, do you?" he finally said after many minutes had past. 

Feel anything? I feel your hand trying to choke me with my own shirt...

"I shouldn't have fed you while Taru was changing you. I should have just killed you myself and been done with this whole situation when I found you rolling around in the mud at the lake," Vrasje said, ignoring Marquise's mental response. 

"Well, um... since that didn't happen, can I take my bath now?"

Vrasje scowled at him, but Marquise only felt nervous for another moment or two before he returned the expression with an added fang, then slid backwards abruptly right when Vrasje's grip loosened from surprise. 

The action worked perfectly and within seconds Marquise had slipped free of his sleep shirt and away from the frustrating vampire! He then promptly fell over the edge of the tub beside him and right into the warm water. 

Not exactly what I had planned, but at least I'm awa—His thought was abruptly interrupted by the feeling of cold hands wrapping around him, then lifting him up and out of the water. 

Grumbling, Marquise wiped at his eye until he was comfortable opening it, then glared up at the man now staring down at him.

Your suit is all wet...

"And whose fault is that?" Vrasje ground out as he trudged over to the edge of the pool and lifted Marquise out of it. 

Hang on a damn minute. 

Turning around, Marquise let his legs fall back over the edge of the large tub before crossing his arms over his damp chest. 

"It was completely your fault for jumping in! I didn't ask you to help me, and I didn't need your help, either," he said truthfully. 

Vrasje stared at him for a long moment before replying in a surprisingly-calm voice. 

"You always need our help."

Marquise tilted his chin up slightly. 

"I won't always. As soon as I'm strong enough I'll leave. That way I won't bother either of you. Maybe I'll even find my own heir to ch—"

A finger pressed firmly against his lips, silencing him faster than any words had ever been able to. Vrasje now stood right in front of him, his slim-but-toned body situated right between his spread legs with part of his lower half still submerged in water. 

"I won't allow it. Taru gave you everything. A vampire is only allowed to change one heir throughout their entire lifetime. And here you are saying that you will abandon him the moment you are able?" 

The frustration in his voice was as clear as day, but Marquise could also hear the slightest hint of worry. Feeling a little more unsure, he quickly backtracked a tiny bit. 

"I won't just disappear. I'll talk to Taru first, when I'm feeling a lot better and I'm able to take care of myself," he said, hoping that his words would reassure the man that he wouldn't just walk out on his heir without talking to him first. 

His reassurance seemed to calm the man a little bit. Vrasje even took a slow, deep breath before reaching up and tugging at a long length of Marquise's bangs. 

"You still need a haircut, too..." 

He never really though of about one. His hair was always scruffy and never really grew super long. The fur of a wolf on grew to a certain point before it was shed, and some werewolves carried over that ability into their human forms. He thought about mentioning that, but when he opened his mouth, the only thing he said was "okay." 

"You need to get some decent clothing, too. Stuff that's actually fitted to your body," Vrasje added as his fingers slipped from his hair. 

Marquise licked his lips and looked down at his bare chest, then nodded. 

"You need to learn how to be a vampire, too. Not to mention that you still have to go register as Taru's heir and have your fangs measured, and—" 

"Fangs measured?" Marquise asked, cutting off Vrasje's rambling. 

The elder vampire quickly nodded, then gave a tiny hint of a smile. 

"This town has a funny little tradition it does for all new vampires, since we don't really have a large population of them. They like to measure the newly turned vampire's fangs."

That... seems kind of childish. 

"It is, but you at least have to do the registration and measurement, for Taru. You probably don't have much in the way of fangs, but it's the principle of the thing," he said as he glanced down at Marquise's mouth, then reached up with a curious expression on his face. 

"Actually, let me see first. Show me what you got," he said as he gently pressed down on Marquise's lower lip. 

Holding back from rolling his eyes, Marquise let the man slowly open his mouth, then focused on extending his vampiric fangs. 

"Ah, figured they wouldn't be too long. You were pretty sick when you were changed, so your body was likely trying to save as much energy as possible," he said as he gently nudged one of Marquise's little fangs. 

You sound like one of those young college boys fresh out of grade school that's still obsessed with having the biggest item between their legs, Marquise thought as he retracted his fangs... then allowed his other set to descend. 

Vrasje immediately removed his hand and jumped back a step, clearly startled by the second set of teeth. 

"Y-you have two sets?!" he exclaimed, then quickly leaned back in to examine them. 

"These are much thicker than normal vampire teeth, and there are even two matching ones on the bottom row, too," he said to himself as he poked at them for several moments. 

When Marquise had had enough, he retracted the larger fangs, then leaned away enough to send the message that he was done playing show and tell. 

"I think the second set was from my wolf. I guess I've always had them in my human form, but never really paid attention to them as much. I wasn't really expecting to see them in this form since I got vampiric fangs now," he said with a half shrug. 

"I think I used my wolf fangs to crush your servants hand the other day," he added, making Vrasje lift a hand to his own chin in thought. 

"That makes sense. Vampire fangs aren't strong enough to crush bone. They would probably break," he said before seeming to realize something and leaning forward again. 

He quickly lifted his hands to Marquise's head and forced him to lean over slightly. 

"You healed from what she did, right?" he asked as he sifted through his shaggy dark hair, clearly looking for a scab or general damage. 

Marquise quickly shook him off, then leaned away a little before raising an eyebrow. 

"Weren't you about to go hunting, oh great vampire lord?" 

Vrasje scowled at him, but before he could retort Taru called from the doorway. 

"I'm ready to go, master. Uh... is everything alright?" 

Good timing. Perfect timing. 

Vrasje scowled at Marquise before looking over his shoulder at his heir. 

"I'm just going to help him finish bathing, then I'll be right there," he said calmly. 

Except, Marquise wasn't interested in help anymore. 

"I can actually do it myself this time. You guys can go ahead," he said as he looked back at his master with a smile. 

Taru looked hesitant to allow such a thing, since he still wasn't close to one-hundred percent, but when he didn't outright decline, and instead looked toward his master, Marquise turned his attention to Vrasje. 

"I can clean myself, and the tub is only half filled. I'll be fine," he said before the man could speak. 

Vrasje bristled at being cut-off, but Marquise held steady. 

"I'll do it myself. If I need help I'll call for a servant, but I want to do it alone today." 

The man before him was clearly unhappy with his decision, but instead of arguing, he relented and climbed out of the tub. 

"I'll station two staff members outside the door," he said quietly as he tugged off his soaked suit jacket while heading toward Taru. 

Marquise turned a little to watch him go. 

"I will definitely call for them if I need anything," he said with an excited smile. 

He was finally being allowed to do something on his own! 

Taru chuckled a little once his master had left, then told him that they'd be back late and gently closed the door most of the way. 

Finally free of all prying eyes, Marquise quickly slid back into the warm water and dunked his head beneath the surface. 

This feels great!

He remained underneath for a bit, then straightened back up. Except, when he tried to lift his head above the water, it didn't quite reach. 

Huh? 

Confused, he tried again, and even pushed with his back feet to get higher. His nose just-barely managed to break through the surface, allowing him to suck in a much-needed breath of air. 

I swear this tub wasn't that deep, and I didn't fill it all the way, either. 

Unsure and a little nervous, he quickly looked for one of the sitting ledges and crawled up onto it, then tucked his tail around his paws as he sat down and caught his breath. Even sitting on the ledge, the water was up to his chest. 

The sound of the door creaking open a minute later made his ears flick in that direction, then had his head turning to follow them. He couldn't quite see over the edge of the tub, so he lifted himself up on his hind legs and settled a paw on either side to help him balance. Only then was he able to manage to just-barely look over the side to see who was there. 

Oh, it's one of master's servants! Good, they can help me get out. 

The man seemed surprised at what he saw for a moment, but then quickly began walking toward him with a strange look on his face. 

Maybe this isn't the right person? I think I might be better off staying in the tub till Taru gets back... 

Did all of his master's servants dislike him so much? 

Worried for his safety, Marquise quickly dropped back down into the water, then jumped into the deeper end to swim across to the other side that was bordered by a rocky wall. There, he settled on another ledge before turning at the sound of a different set of footsteps. 

Oh, the peacock is here? 

But weren't his master and his sire gone? Why was he here now? 

Tilting his head, Marquise watched as his master's stalker cut in front of the servant, who was nearly to the tub. The man didn't look happy, but he didn't dare try anything, either. Kova probably wasn't supposed to be there right then, but the man was an elder. Regular vampires clearly knew better than to try and challenge him. 

"Elder Kova, the masters are not home right now," the man said, trying the only thing he could in order to get the man to disregard the current situation and leave. 

Kova didn't even seem to hear him at first. His full attention was zeroed in on Marquise. 

"Such a frustrating problem you are to my sweet love," he said as he grabbed a large towel, then knelt down at the edge of the water. He then waved a hand toward to the man behind him. 

"Leave." 

Marquise watched as the servant sent him one more displeased stare, then walked out of the room without another word. 

Um... 

"I think it's time to finally take care of this situation. So, either you swim across to me now and I'll consider being nice, or you can stay there and make things worse for yourself."