When Lucius had been thrown down on a chair with a knife to his face that night he'd been rather certain the person ending up hurting him would not be Anthony. Yet, he could confirm that it hurt a lot as Anthony stormed out of the BBT manor, pulling him along with a firm grip around his arm.

"Unbelievable," Anthony growled, paying no attention to Lucius trying to halt their pace. "You're like a child, doing the exact opposite of what someone tells you to just to spite them."

"That's not true," Lucius protested, only half sure it wasn't a lie.

"I tell you to stay away, and you waltz in there in the middle of the night, having the gall to ask to join?"

"And they said no." Lucius scowled defiantly as he struggled to keep up with the pace. "No harm done."

"You don't even realise what could have happened, do you?" It was hard to see in the dark, but it looked like Anthony's forehead wrinkled in what looked like concern but returned to his furious mode immediately after. "He had you pinned to a chair, with knives!"

"Yeah..." Lucius swallowed, but refused to admit he'd been scared. "... Bummer about my coat."

"Lucius!"

"Well they decided against it when I told them I know you, so—"

"Don't ever assume that's going to save you." There was a tinge of fury in Anthony's voice, but then he suddenly lowered it. "Rather the opposite."

Lucius joined the frowning-club. It seemed odd that Damien would actively harm someone his son cared about.

Assuming Anthony does care, if just little.

Then again, what was Damien's relationship to his sons anyway? Why had he gotten so moody when Derek mentioned Ethan?

Lucius halted his step and looked around the large garden. Now that he thought about it, where was Ethan?

"Just... Hang on, will you?" He tried loosening the grip again as Anthony still managed to pull him forward. "I need to, uh... Look for something before we leave."

"Ethan?" Anthony had already guessed, voice taking on a chilled, almost Damien-worthy tone. "He's at my house. Completely exhausted, probably showing off as usual, and now he's out cold because Tom's not there."

"Wha—Is... Is he in danger? Like... Starving?"

"He'll live." Anthony shook his head. "But barely functional until he eats."

"Oh..." Lucius pursed his lips. He hadn't known Ethan would exhaust himself through shroud-walking, but couldn't help but feel bad regardless. "I—I guess he could have some of my blood."

"I can't believe you two," Anthony continued, ignoring Lucius' offer. "You're both acting so immature despite your age."

"Pretty sure Ethan's much older than me," Lucius objected, intentional bitterness slipping into his voice. "Not that I'll ever actually know how old you two are."

"You do realise the more you do these kinds of things, the less I want to tell you?"

"You're not telling me anyway!" Lucius raised his free hand. "I had good reasons to go there, and you know what? I actually have even more reasons now."

"But you're not going back there." Anthony turned to give him a scalding stare even the dark of night couldn't mask. "If you care even the slightest about me or your own safety you don't ever go back there, and you don't interact with Damien or Derek. In fact, don't even go near anyone belonging to the BBT."

Lucius' mood sank, and he swallowed before replying.

"Not... Even you?"

He couldn't have suddenly burned a bridge just like that, could he? Thinking about it, it was possible Anthony found him more of a bother than anything else. He'd never been interested in letting Lucius close, much to the latter's confusion after all that happened before his supposed death.

Anthony faltered, looking remorseful by Lucius' question.

"That's... No, I didn't mean you can't be around me, I just..." He closed his mouth, searching for words. "I never involve friends with the BBT. Even without context I'm fairly certain you know what kind of people they are."

"Brawny knife man and brainy ice man?" Lucius suggested, and the corner of Anthony's mouth twitched.

"Try sadistic any-weapon man with a disregard for morals and more often than not, mercy," Anthony corrected him. "And bitter, heartless man with self-serving ideas and complete lack of humility."

"Now, is that any way to talk about your father?" Lucius had to ask, even though it was hardly time for jokes.

Anthony didn't humour him, so he pinched his lips together.

"So by saying you have more reasons to go back..." Anthony then said as they entered the gates to his house. "... Did you find something?"

"Oh, we're sharing now?" Lucius' voice turned dry. "So you can go ahead and hide more things?"

"If you wouldn't dig up more things to ask about I wouldn't have to hide so much. The answers you seek are dangerous."

"Ever occur to you that me knowing why I need to stay away could make me stop?"

"It did, but I know better than that."

Lucius exhaled a defeated breath.

"You got me there."

Anthony looked over at him, ending up sighing as well and stopped before reaching the door.

"Alright, fine... Tell me, and I'll try to answer."

It seemed unlikely, and Lucius was probably setting himself up for disappointment, but if anything perhaps Anthony's behaviour could give him some clues.

"What does 'Larkspur' mean?" he therefore asked, trying to read the expression on Anthony's face but he only stared back, awaiting further elaboration. "... It was marked on a piece of land. Both on the map at the town hall and a map I found in Damien's office."

"Oh." Anthony nodded, breathing out in relief. "Larkspur is a flower."

"For the fucking love of Dyris!" Lucius wanted to grab the man's shoulders and shake him. "Of course I know that, but that's not what that means, it's something else."

"Larkspur flowers grow in that area." Anthony frowned at the yelling. "They're used to make ink, and if you must now they're also toxic, and can be used for such purposes as well."

Lucius bit down hard on his lip. That wasn't it. As believable as it could have been, he could shoot down that explanation immediately.

"Larkspurs don't grow there," he said. "I've been there several times and have never seen a trace of one. Even if there would be a few it could never be such a flourishing spot for a business to keep track of it."

"Why have you been in the middle of the forest several times?" Anthony had the nerve to look amused while avoiding the actual topic, and he opened the door to his house as if done with the conversation. "Didn't take you for a berry picker."

Lucius drew a trembling breath as he hurried after him, finally fed up with it all.

"I buried my friends there." He couldn't stop his voice from breaking and Anthony stopped walking again, slowly turning to look at him with knitted eyebrows.

So Lucius continued.

"After they were executed. After this fucking town—After you and your council and Dyris knows who decided people from The Entrails should die just for existing. They were all dumped into the Siren's maw except for my two friends because I got their bodies out of there."

Anthony stared at him, eyes finally widening as the memory dawned on him.

"That was—?"

"And I buried them there. In that spot," Lucius continued, heart pounding in his chest and a concerning nausea reaching his throat. "I've visited the grave for years, and now..."

He had to take a deep breath.

"Now one of them is missing," his voice was barely audible now, and he blinked tears away from his eyes. "... Her corpse. Someone dug it up and I don't know where it is. And I don't know who did it. I just—I know that area isn't marked because of some fucking flower growing there, so... Just tell me something."

"What, uh... What's going on?" Richard's voice suddenly asked, and the two turned around to see Tom and the aforementioned standing in the doorway. "Whose corpse is missing?"

"It's no—" Anthony began, suddenly very eager to leave the subject, but Lucius wouldn't have it.

"My friend," he interrupted, sending Anthony a glare before facing Tom and Richard again. "I buried her in the forest and now her corpse is missing, and—"

"Lucius, don't—" Anthony tried, but Lucius was in no mood to listen.

"And both Anthony and Damien have marked that spot on maps but now this one's going with some bullshit reason about fucking flowers growing there." His gaze turned back to Anthony, whose face had shifted into panic for some reason. "But no larkspurs grow in that area."

All sounds were drained from the room, and Lucius watched in surprise as shock and dread spread over Tom and Richard's faces.

"... Larkspurs?" Tom asked, and Lucius nodded, growing a bit unnerved by the sudden mood shift.

"'Larkspur', it said. With a question mark, and a symbol resembling one."

"Why?" Richard's voice was a different kind of upset as he turned to Anthony. An angry kind. "Why do you have 'larkspur' marked down on a map?"

"They're gone." Tom shook his head in disbelief, though did not sound convinced by his own words. "There's... There's nothing left. No one survived."

"All right, calm—" Anthony began but was, as usual in this situation, interrupted.

"Where was it?" Richard turned to Lucius instead. "Where was the mark?"

"No, Richard, don't," Anthony tried before Lucius could say anything, but Richard only glared at him and turned on his heels to rush out through the door.

Tom stood paralysed and disoriented at first, as if not grasping the situation entirely, but let his eyes dart between the two remaining men before turning around to follow Richard.

"Fuck," Anthony muttered, and even someone like Lucius had to wince. When had he ever heard Anthony curse before?

"What—Anthony, what just happened?"

"I'm going after them." He too began walking out the door, only turning around to forbid Lucius to do so as well. "You stay and look after Ethan. It's the least you could do."

"I'm—" As usual, Lucius couldn't bring himself to utter a genuine apology suggesting he'd done something wrong. "... I will."

Anthony's eyes narrowed, more in concern than anger.

"We'll talk later."

Lucius remained motionless as he was left alone in the entrance hall. He'd known Anthony liked to keep secrets from him, but him doing the same with Tom and Richard surprised him. By the looks and sounds of it, perhaps he did have a good reason, but was it a valid one?

He had to search the house for a while before finding Ethan. It turned out he was staying on the upper floor after all and Lucius only opened the door a little as the sun had begun to rise outside, sending rays of light into the hallway.

"Um, hi..." he said as he walked up to the man, and had he not known about his condition Lucius would have thought him to be dead. He'd seen countless dead people, and the purple-tinted paleness was unmistakable, and he couldn't discern any movement or sound of breathing.

Ethan's eyes still opened, and a weak smile showed on his lips.

"Oh, good. You made it out."

"I didn't know your poof—Uh... Shroud-walking requires so much from you." It was as good of an apology he could muster, and he sat down on the bed. "Anyway, Tom's not around, so... I figured you could have some of my blood."

"You sure?" Ethan scanned him. "No matter how careful I am, you're still bound to bleed for a while."

"Oh, well, blood is not an issue," Lucius promised, taking off his coat to roll up his sleeve. "Seen a lot of it."

"Ooh, scary." Ethan arched his eyebrows but his muscles soon failed him and his expression grew tired again. "I've got some bandages on the drawer."

Lucius retrieved them and placed one in his lap to have it close, then he held his wrist forward.

"You're cold," Ethan complained as he held his hand, and Lucius let out a sigh.

"I've been outside. I just got back."

"You probably would have been cold either way," Ethan argued, using his trembling hand to pinch his arm. "I'm guessing you're usually cold?"

"Why?" Lucius narrowed his eyes, suspecting a jab at his body was imminent.

"You're skinny, and your arms are long." Ethan raised Lucius' arm as if he didn't know what his own body parts looked like and Lucius was disappointed to have been right. "The blood you have must be closer to your more vital parts."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning it's gonna take some time." Ethan uttered a miserable sigh, but then looked up to meet Lucius' gaze. "... Unless I go for your neck instead."

Lucius grew cold, having a deep urge to back away but Ethan held up a hand.

"I'm asking," he clarified, not without looking offended. "Despite what some would suggest, I'm civilised."

"Well, what... What would that mean?" Lucius was not convinced. "Puncturing my neck seems a lot more dangerous."

"I've had some practice." Ethan made a weak attempt at waggling his eyebrows. "One does when one's been around for some time."

"You're both so fucking frustrating." Lucius had to laugh, if weakly. He wasn't thrilled by the idea of someone feeding on his neck though, but to his remorse Anthony's words echoed in his head. Helping Ethan was the least he could do, right?

So he swallowed, took a moment to breathe, and then removed his cravat.

"I'm guessing you don't know if it hurts a lot?" He winced as Ethan pressed his shaking fingers against his neck to examine it. "Or can vampires eat each other?"

"No," Ethan answered, seemingly settling on a spot by pressing it a couple of times extra. "But I've been bitten a lot regardless."

"I... See?"

"Surprised you haven't." Ethan smiled without elaborating further and proceeded to roll the bandage Lucius had brought into a thick ball. "Ready?"

Lucius flinched.

"Oh, uh..." He didn't know why he was shocked. They weren't exactly waiting for anything, but it still felt so sudden. "... And you're sure you know what you're doing?"

"Of course I'm sure." Ethan shook his head at the ridiculous doubt and leaned forward, but then tilted his head just before reaching Lucius' skin. "Well, I've hit a main artery a couple of times in the past but... You'll probably be fine."

"What?" Lucius tried backing away but to his horror Ethan had grabbed hold of his shirt, pulling him closer to his face instead.

"Hush," he whispered, smile widening as he proceeded down towards Lucius' neck again. "It's a risk you take when offering up your blood."

"I thought it was through my wrist!" Lucius protested, struggling to get away. "I just offered my neck because you said it was safe!"

Then Ethan's smirk disappeared, exchanged for a smug laugh.

"Oh sweetie, I'm joking! Just wanted to get your blood pumping a little more."

That was quite enough for Lucius and he aimed a merciless stomp on the man's foot.

"Alright, alright, sorry." Ethan grimaced at the impact, leaning on Lucius' shoulder for support. "Seriously though, I do know what I'm doing. It's been years since I harmed someone by accident, and I need to eat regularly."

"Unrelated, but I'm going to hold my knife in the meantime."

Ethan chuckled, but it soon turned into a cough.

"Regular knives can only hurt me so much, so sure."

"... Right." Lucius had forgotten. He still picked up his knife from his boot and sighed before leaning his head to the side, providing better access to his neck.

It wasn't until he could feel Ethan's breath against his skin he even considered what it must look like from an outside point of view, and he blushed. The hand placed around the back of his neck so he wouldn't pull away was, albeit concerning, quite comforting at the same time, and the sensation of lips grazing him certainly didn't make things less awkward.

Then Ethan bit him, and Lucius forgot all about those feelings.

"Ow, fuck!"

Ethan mumbled something Lucius assumed to be an apology, not removing his mouth from the neck, and brought up the balled up bandage to his chin.

"Alright," Lucius whispered to himself as the sting went through his body like a shudder, taking deep breaths to calm his heart. Despite the vampire needing his blood pumping he'd rather not overdo things and end up bleeding too much.

An eerie chill crept through him however. It wasn't the pain, or the fear that Ethan would bite too much, but rather a nostalgic sensation he wasn't so sure he enjoyed.

He missed Adrian.

The terms they'd separated on were worthy of lifelong hatred, but there were times before that. Times when Adrian trailed kisses along his neck, not out for blood, but for affection. This time was way different but the fact remained that someone's lips were touching his neck and Lucius couldn't help but tense up.

He'd never stop blaming himself, would he? Adrian had left him to die for a reason after all. For not showing the same kind of affection that he had, or doing those supposedly trivial things that were asked of him.

Despite what Adrian had done to him, despite how many people he'd loved that ended up hurting him, there still remained a part deep inside that claimed he'd always been at fault.

He suddenly flinched as Ethan pressed the bandage against his neck and backed away with a troubled frown.

"That bad, huh?" he asked, and Lucius blinked in confusion. "Let's stop it then."

"Wha—I... Was that enough?"

"Not for long, but you're clearly in distress."

"... Oh." Lucius turned his head away, realising how stiff his body had become and tried taking a breath to relax. "Yeah, I—I didn't think it would feel like, um... That."

"Lots of people get scared." Ethan gave him a sympathetic pat, still pressing the bandage against Lucius' wound with his other hand. "Careful as I may be, you do still need your blood to live."

"No it's not—" Lucius raised a hand to take over the wound care, hesitating before confiding. "It just... Brought up some bad memories."

Ethan's eyes widened in realisation, and he backed off further.

"I'm sorry," he said, face apologetic while shaking his head. "I forget. The idea of personal space is sort of rare when I eat from others' bodies on the regular."

Lucius nodded, understanding as much, but his heart was still racing and Ethan pursed his lips together.

"You know what? Just, uh... Just lay down here and rest. I can probably get a hold of Tom soon enough, so no worries there."

While the idea of several hours of sleep was more than tempting to Lucius, he couldn't leave a starving vampire with good conscience. Especially not with whatever situation the other three men of the house had ended up in.

"Not sure when they will be back," he therefore said, still happily leaning back as Ethan fluffed up a pillow for him. "Richard was pretty upset. I think Tom may have been as well."

Ethan's eyes darted around in confusion.

"Did I miss something?"

"Oh, right." Lucius had to smile, remembering the man had been sleeping at the time. "Well, remember the larkspur note I found? I mentioned it to the two of them and it seemed like I hit a sore spot. Richard ran off and the other two followed."

Ethan hummed.

"Ah, I... I figured maybe that was them."

"What was who?" Lucius arched an eyebrow and Ethan chewed on his lip, which seemed very unwise for someone with fangs.

"The larkspur order, if I don't remember wrong," he answered. "Anthony asked me if I knew about a strange group a while back and I think that's what they were called. He told me not to talk to Tom or Richard about it, so judging by what happened it must be the same people."

"The... Larkspur order?" Lucius frowned, trying to look through his head for more clues, and then his eyes widened.

Werewolves.

How had he forgotten? It had been right there next to the word. 'Werewolves?' had been scribbled just below the flower.

"I—I think it may have something to do with werewolves, so... Maybe that's why Richard was upset."

"Yeah, I... I got the impression that may have been the case." Ethan's tone was grave. "Much like Anthony, neither Tom nor Richard like to talk about their pasts but... I think that order might have been involved. And I think Anthony had a reason for reaching out to me specifically for information."

Lucius tilted his head, both concerned and intrigued.

"What reason was that?"

"From what Anthony told me, I gather they're an order of scientists." Ethan made a half-hearted shrug, face not quite so indifferent. "They just... Specialise in the supernatural."

"And that's... Bad?"

Ethan nodded, eyes fixed on the wall.

"I think they capture them."

"They...?"

"Capture supernatural people." Ethan nodded, eyes fixed on the wall. "To use them for experiments."