FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“So here we are. Please, come in. Make yourself comfortable.”

Simon walked into the flat, their fur standing slightly on end as they stepped through the doorway. The red-furred hedgehog was still getting used to a lot of stuff, so it was hard not to think they were going to mess things up one way or another. Their gaze wandered around the enclosed space as they shut the door at their back. Already in, they thought. I got that bit right this time.

The black cat that they’d been following around for the past few minutes turned to Simon and smiled.

“What do you think?”

It was a beautiful house. The long corridor leading from the entrance to the living room had deep brown parquet floor and one of the walls was covered in mahogany cupboards. The high ceilings made the passage feel slightly narrower than it actually was – a problem that had been solved by filling the wall opposite to the cupboards with mirrors. The reflection made the space feel more ample and a few elegant lamps that pointed to the chandelier by the living room gave everything a classic, slightly gloomy feeling. The kind of mood Simon recently enjoyed the most.

“I like it a lot. I should have known you’d have a nice place.”

“Heh, you’re too kind. Okay, I’ll go get a glass of water. You wait for me in the living room,” the cat said.

“Oh, bring another one for me, please.”

The cat nodded.

Simon was about to walk towards the living room before their host turned his back to them. Had they made that terrible mistake, the cat would have been able to spot a really strange occurrence – that Simon’s reflection was missing from all the mirrors in the corridor. I’ve got to be more careful, they found themselves thinking again. Simon blamed the thirst on that. It made thinking methodically much more difficult. They had no idea how the more experienced vampires could work around it. The hedgehog certainly couldn’t.

When the black cat returned from the kitchen holding two glasses of water, Simon took one and drank from it, aware that no matter how much they drank, it wouldn’t quench the thirst inside them. At least this time they’d positioned themselves so that their body wouldn’t have to be – not – reflected on any mirror. That must be enough to keep the black cat oblivious for long enough.

His name was Will and Simon had chosen him as one of their first quarries. Their previous attempts to feed had turned into… complicated situations.

Now that the hedgehog was in the cat’s place, however, they couldn’t help but think that their host had the most fitting house to fall prey to a vampire. There was even a fake fireplace on the opposite wall, displaying bright orange flames on a thin screen. With enough imagination, they could easily imagine they were staying at a particularly far-away castle.

“So, uh, you mentioned that you wanted to talk about something,” the black cat asked then. He looked slightly embarrassed. “What was it?”

Simon grinned, showing a bit of fang.

Obviously, that had been an excuse to corner the cat in a safer environment where nobody else could interrupt them. Flirting was all part of a vampire’s strategy to feed, or so Simon thought. It wasn’t like they’d had many tutors to teach them what vampire hunting was supposed to be about, but they were learning on the fly, almost literally.

There was a trick, however, they’d learned pretty soon.

“It’s nothing,” the hedgehog said, stepping closer to Will and moving a paw to his chin. The black cat shuddered a bit as his head was gently tilted upwards so that his amber eyes would meet Simon’s bicolor gaze – emerald and sapphire. “I just thought I’d like to have you here all for myself, you know. You look particularly… delicious under this light.”

“Delicious…?” Will whispered back, slightly confused but way more infatuated.

Simon liked that, as it favored their plans. The only thing they needed to do now was activate his eyes and let them work on the defenseless kitty so that he’d drop like a rock into a mindless trance, being forced to do as the hedgehog wished. He wouldn’t wake up even after Simon’s fangs pressed against that exposed neck, searching for the vein – and then blood would pour into the vampire’s mouth, finally sating that overwhelming thirst.

Just thinking about it made Simon salivate, so they decided to take the last step pretty quick.

“Yeah… You know. I could just eat you up, here and now…” One of their thumbs stroke the cat’s cheek, locking him in place. “And perhaps that’s what I’ll do.”

They searched into their mind to make their eyes pulse. They still didn’t know how it worked, they just knew they did.

However, as they were about to begin melting the cat’s brain with pretty hypnotic eyes, Simon felt a strong pull on their hand and their body slumped forwards.

“Sleep,” was the simple instruction whispered into their ear.

Simon wanted to complain, but they didn’t manage to make it in time. Their consciousness suddenly went out like a candle. The hedgehog’s body, heavier now that merely seconds ago, leaned on the cat’s shoulder as it grew loose and limp. They tried to understand what was going on or when the cat had reached for their other paw, but there was a loud snap next to their ear. It made them shudder one last time as any attempt to think properly just vanished in the wind.

“Deeper and deeper.”

A soft sigh escaped Simon’s lips as they dropped helplessly into trance. Their mind, quiet. Their resistance, suddenly overridden.

Still holding the hedgehog in place, Will clicked his tongue.

“I can’t believe my luck,” he said, shaking his head. “Why do the most handsome ones always have to be vampires? I could have sworn this one was a mortal like me…”

Simon mumbled something in their sleep, but Will didn’t pay attention to it. They were so out of it by now that it probably didn’t make any sense.

As the black cat gently pulled Simon’s body to the nearest couch, he thought about how eager they’d look back there, right before their eyes displayed their full hypnotic power. That must mean the hedgehog was pretty new at this, or else they’d learned to mask their intentions properly.

Will would have probably seen it coming anyway. He’d learned to read the signs a long time ago, when he’d become some sort of vampire hunter – only that he didn’t hunt vampires, he merely stopped vampire attacks from happening. As such, he knew there was a narrow window of time in which they were susceptible to be dropped into trance just as deep as they intended to drop their victims. This had always seemed fairly ironic to the black cat, but now that he was looking at the limp hedgehog dozing off in his couch…

… he couldn’t help but think it was pretty cute, as well.

Will gently pushed one of his fingers inside Simon’s mouth, which was beginning to open naturally because of the deep trance. His claw tentatively caressed those fangs, measuring them. Just as the cat thought, they weren’t as long or pointy as those of adult vampires.

“You’re just a fledgling,” he murmured, surprised.

That must also explain why Will hadn’t noticed he’d been flirting with a vampire. So inconvenient.

Will had a rule not to befriend any vampires – not because he thought they were bad or something, but because they knew how strong their thirst was. However, the sight of the hedgehog resting so peacefully in his living room and the previous eagerness that he’d seen on their face made him feel slightly guilty. What if Simon had been converted recently and didn’t know what he was doing?

In response, Simon let out a soft moan. The cat was still measuring their fangs, their mouth open. They were probably about to start drooling.

They must be so thirsty, Will found himself thinking.

Perhaps he could fix that, somehow? No thirst, no danger of the hedgehog attacking any other unsuspecting victims, after all. He bit his lower lip and let that brief moment of weakness choose for him.

“Now listen carefully, fledgling,” Will said as he rolled up his sleeve and placed his wrist under Simon’s fangs. “In a moment, you’re going to bite. And when you do, you’re going to drink. Calmly. I want you to think about it like sipping on a smoothie with a straw, okay? You don’t want to sip all of it immediately – you want to enjoy it and you want to be gentle so that you don’t choke. Is that understood?”

Simon nodded slowly. Will found himself smiling at the sight of the deeply entranced vampire. It was quite adorable, actually.

“That’s a good creature,” the cat praised them, unable to help himself.

Simon let out a content sigh, their tepid breath caressing the cat’s wrist. Their cheeks had turned slightly redder. As their chest rose and sank slowly, they looked so peaceful that nobody would have ever thought they’d been about to attack the cat in front of them.

And Will would make sure it stayed that way. At least for a while.

“Alright, then. Bite.”