Pinpricks
Hello and welcome to a new story idea! My friend Gemelli helped create these characters and I loved them so much that they had to get their own story. I do plan to write more with them so look out for that in the near future! For now, say hello to Cali and Oskar! (You'll learn why Cali calls him Fox later~) ((Also also, once again SoFurry will not let me indent the first paragraph. I don't know why that's happening.))
Whoever decided that forcing students to sit in a dark and musty room for multiple hours a night to watch pretentious movies was a real sadist. I don’t care how influential this flick was, watching an hour of some random family’s photos being broken down to the emulsion should be banned by the Geneva Convention. Most of our classmates have already fallen asleep in protest, their soft snoring voices a cry against this cinematic injustice. But here I am, wide fucking awake, squirming in my uncomfortably tight folding chair in search of anything to cure me of this boredom. My paw moves before my brain does and reaches for the earbuds in my pocket, but as soon as my finger touches the cord, I remember how our professor nearly gave himself an ulcer the last time he saw me on my phone. His knuckles nearly white with rage, the bat stormed over to my seat and yanked the phone out of my paws, earbuds coming along for the ride. He only gave them back after a lecture on the importance of ‘proper film viewing etiquette’ in front of the entire class. What a psycho.
I look over at Fox. His eyes, as always, are glued to the screen with the diligence of a soldier carrying out a tactical ops mission. The Siamese was nearly motionless, his only signs of life being the faint rise and fall of his chest and the distinctive sound of rushing blood underneath. It lodged itself in my ear canal like pool water and no amount of head shaking was getting it to leak out. My heart reacts to his, pumping faster with excitement, but I look down at the pen and paper in his paws before any weird ideas can spread. The page is already full of his unintelligible German scribbles. He’s almost as far gone as that nutty professor.
“You okay?”
Even through the darkness, the worry etched into his face is as sharp as the red eyes staring back at me. If these urges weren’t making me nervous, being under his gaze made me feel like one of his projects. It was as if he could just figure out the right dimensions and materials, he’d be able to create a masterpiece out of me. My rings start to itch from the build-up of sweat in my fur. Fidgeting with one of them, I try not to look him in the eye as I respond.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
It’s an obvious lie and he knows it too, but instead of leaving the subject alone, he places the back of his paw on my forehead. It isn’t long before he yanks it away like a child whose curiosity leads them to high-five a hot stove. Now I’m double screwed. Not only will he think that I’ve contracted seven types of airborne illnesses from sitting here, but the way he smells is just… fuck. Before I can stop it, two silver fangs slowly begin to elongate in my maw and I’m treated to my personalized version of heat. Don’t worry, I’ve got all the classics. Labored breathing, spiked heart rate, a pesky erection that won’t calm down, but now there are some added perks! Instead of being normal, my heat comes with the insatiable urge to drain Fox of the very life force he needs to live! Aren’t I just an angel?
When I turned, my mentor taught me several grounding techniques, but I’m not sure how effective transferring energy to my chair will be when Fox’s eyes are currently boring a hole through my skull. In fact, it’d probably just make me look crazy. Well, crazier than I already am. My thoughts were already drowning in him anyway. For a long time, I was able to keep them at bay, surviving with doggy paddling through these rough waters, but lately, waves of temptation struck me over and over. Now it’s sink or swim.
It’s not just the blood either; I can smell everything. Every drop of sweat, the way it pools around his neck and under his armpits, how he tries to hide the smell with that woodsy cologne he wears. Of course, that didn’t reach below his waist. That’s a whole different treasure chest waiting to be unlocked. If I just lean over, all he would feel are a couple of pinpricks. It wouldn’t even hurt.
“You’re hot,” Fox says, breaking through my grim reverie.
“Thank you~” He rolls his eyes and shoves the notebook into his satchel.
“I’m taking you to the health center.”
Before I can interject, he grabs my paw and pulls me out of the seat. Luckily, we always sit in the back row so it isn’t much of a commotion, but I still feel bad seeing a few swiveling heads as Fox pushes the doors open. They probably think this is part of the protest.
I imagine this is what being flashbanged feels like. (Going from dark to light like that is just cruel). I shield my eyes from the blinding lights, almost letting out a hiss for good measure. Fox isn’t even phased though, he’s used to my crepuscular shenanigans. The cat barely ever sees me during the day, and if he does, it’s under the security of my weighted blanket. The night, however, is a completely different story. I get up to all sorts of trouble during these beautiful hours. The long walks around campus are my favorite. It’s so much prettier when there’s no one else around. It feels like I can breathe unlike now. Fox’s smell is as stifling as his ironclad grip on my paw. I’m sweating like crazy and he doesn’t seem to care. He’s that same soldier, marching forward until the mission is complete.
“I told you, I’m fine.”
It takes a bit of struggling, but eventually, I’m able to wriggle from his grasp. He stops as I do, his eyes scrutinizing everything about me. The way his brows furrow in concern is actually kind of cute. You can see the stress lines through his darkened fur and everything!
“You are having a panic attack. It’s the same as when you tried to show me your music.”
Oh, don't remind me of that. The music ‘incident’ was particularly embarrassing. It was one of the first times I really felt an attraction to him, which is pretty normal now that I think about it. That’s just how vampires work. As we get closer to people, we link to them and that bond becomes incredibly difficult to break, but oh my God was it overwhelming. I never saw him that way before. Romantically, sexually, nothing, but there we were. We were sitting so close together on my bed that I could feel his warm breath on my fur; it felt like he was petting me. Sharing my music with him was difficult. It’s a part of me that I don’t show too often because the songs are really personal and because I hate listening to them myself. When he didn’t cringe away in fear, that’s when it happened. Emotions so strong that they blew from me like oil shooting from the ground. That’s when I learned how to float.
“Then I just need to calm down.” I point to a bathroom across the hallway. “I’ll go wash up in there. Get all this sweat off me, okay?” He stares at me and bites his lip. I can practically hear his voice of reason telling him to say no.
“Fine. I’ll be outside if you need anything.”
With his tail tucked between his legs, we walk over to the restroom. It’s not one of the many private stalls littered around the campus, so the chance of someone wandering is a little high. As my hand is on the door, I look back at Fox.
“If someone tries to come in, tell them I’m like, puking in there or something. Don’t let them in basically.” He looks at me quizzically, an eyebrow raised.
“Okay, Cali.”
His resigned response makes my heart ache. I’ll have to find a way to make it up to him later or just explain what’s going on. You know, without all the vampire stuff. Even if he believed me, he’d never understand and I don’t want to ruin our relationship. It’s like admitting I have a crush on him but ten times worse. It’s been a long road towards societal acceptance for us and a lot of people still hold deep prejudices. I don’t think Fox is like that, but you never know.
With a curt nod, I push open the bathroom door and make my way to the only sink inside. The whole area looks like some sort of liminal space you’d encounter in a video game with how empty it is. Kind of a surprise with how much paw traffic there is up here. Looking into the mirror, the stoat that leers back at me catches me by surprise. I look way worse than I thought. With my coat being mostly white in winter, it’s easy to notice all the imperfections. Sweat has run down my face and neck, matting the fur it comes across, my pupils can’t focus, darting from thing to thing in a frenzy, and my whiskers are bent in all the wrong ways. It looks like I just got out of a fight or that I took heroin… Hopefully, Fox doesn’t think I’m on drugs.
Lifting up my lip, I marvel at the fang in my maw. It hasn’t retracted yet, which means my body is still rearing to go. In fact, I can still smell Fox from over here. The door between us isn’t enough to get him out of my nose and mind. It reminds me of going to Sephora as a kid with my mom. All the perfumes get stuck in your nostrils and you can still smell the fragrances once you get home. The more I smell him, smell his blood, the harder it is to get him out of my head. Sometimes he’s all I can think about. When I’m with him, it takes every ounce of self-restraint to keep me from biting him. It’s like he’s this parasite that’s wormed his way into my brain and has claimed it as his own. I can’t get rid of him. Then, the door opens.
“You okay in there? It’s been five minutes.”
I see Fox in my periphery first. I can’t make out all the details, but I can tell that he’s nervous and doesn’t know what to do anymore. The wave crashes into me so hard that I’m forced underwater, but instead of being cold and frightening, the plunge can only be described with one word: relief.
Everything happens so fast. He doesn’t make it a meter into the room before my fangs make contact with his neck. As soon as they do, he tenses up, all of his muscles screaming in fear. It’s not a gentle bite. My muscles are screaming too. Everything inside of me is screaming out for him. I need him more than anything right now. More than food, more than water, more than air. Fox can fulfill those roles for me. I drive my fangs into him, hungry and desperate for something I’ve waited years to get. Despite his bigger frame, he feels so small in my arms. I don’t even notice slamming him into the door, the resounding bang being drowned out by the heaven between my lips right now. His back slowly slides down the door until he’s sitting on the floor and I’m straddling him, my face buried in his neck. Hair messy, nostrils flared, this is all I need right now. It tastes so good. He tastes so good and I have to be careful not to take too much blood from him. There’s a word for this among vampire circles: Consummation. When the bonding of a vampire and a normal person becomes complete with a bite. It’s like our version of sex. It feels just as good, better in fact.
Once I’m satisfied, I let my fangs detach. I break away from him panting, licking the blood off my lips, and for a few seconds everything is amazing, a mixture of pure awe and the sublime. Then, the realization of what I just did smashes into me at full speed. Jumping to my feet, I back away from Fox, my shoes desperately clacking against the tiles. What is wrong with me? Why did I do that? From across the room, I can see the usual color of his fur has drained to a muted gray. Oh god, did I take too much anyway? His chest moves sluggishly and his breathing slows. Running back over to him, I shake his shoulders a bit too vigorously and his head lulls to the side.
“Fox, are you okay? I am so so sorry. I should never have done that.”
Instead of the beratement I deserve, the cat’s eyes just follow me lazily, choosing to remain silent as he catches his breath. The collar of his shirt is completely soaked and his fur has become even more matted than mine. Those piercing red eyes almost feel like otherworldly judgment, a sign from beyond that I have just fucked up royally.
“Here, let me help you up.”
I bend down below his shoulder and lift, but the feline’s body is basically dead weight. We drop back to the floor together, crashing against the door. My head falls against his chest and I can’t stop a few tears from following suit.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” I repeat. It’s not until I feel his paw on my cheek that I break out of the trance I was in. Looking back at him, I notice that there’s no fear in his eyes at all. In fact, his expression is something completely different. It’s softer, more sensual. Is that pleasure?
“You have blood in your fur.”
Fox takes his paw from my cheek and looks at the blood that now coats it. I don’t even know what to think watching this play out. All I can do is stare at him as he raises it to my mouth as if it were an offering. My heart skips a beat, hurting in my chest. Maybe I pushed him a little too hard and he hit his head. I don’t remember him being this crazy.
“Still hungry, Hermi?” he asks with a smile on his face. I push his paw away and shake my head. His shoulders move up mechanically as if he’s attempting to shrug. How could he be so calm about this?
“So you’re a vampire,” he states and I nod without looking at him.
“For how long?”
“Before we met,” I choke out.
“And you never told me?” I shake my head again.
“I thought you… I don’t know, I just thought that you might…” I close my eyes and put my head down in defeat before finally saying, “You know how people are.”
With the little strength he has left, Fox wraps his arms around me and pulls me further into him. There we were. The two of us lying on a dirty bathroom floor, covered in blood, sweat, and tears. My brain is full of so many questions I want to ask and emotions to feel that none of them come out quite right. There’s too much pressure in there; I feel like I’m going to explode.
“Am I one now?” he asks nonchalantly.
“That’s not how this works.” I open my eyes and look back up at him. It’s the same old Fox, looking at me with all the love in the world. “You watch too many movies.”
“We’re in a film class.”
I can’t help but laugh a little bit at that. It’s more out of exhaustion than anything else. All I can do at this point is let myself melt into his weak embrace. It’s surprisingly comfortable for how cold he is. The light in the bathroom flickers, threatening to burn out altogether, but we stay there anyway. My head against his chest, listening to his slow heartbeat. Now that I’m full, that same frenzied lust doesn’t rear its head and I can listen to the rush of his blood normally. Honestly, I just like the way that it sounds. It’s calming like a shallow stream.
“So you’re not scared of me?” I finally ask after a few minutes of peace.
“Well, I was scared that you attacked me so suddenly, but no.” He pets my head slowly. “This actually makes a lot of sense.”
“How so?” I question, but am immediately greeted with an expression that screams ‘Are you kidding me?
“You are always asleep during the day, disappear for hours at a time at night, and I’m pretty sure I saw your fangs once.”
“Oh, when you put it like that…”
Laughter fills the room as the two of us realize the absurdity of what just happened. Maybe I shouldn’t have hidden being a vampire from him for so long, but now that he knows, a weight has definitely been lifted from my chest. It’s a similar feeling to when I bit him. A pure jubilation.
“Before I help you up,” I continue. “I have one more question.”
“Ja?” he replies, slipping back into German for a second. Blushing, I turn to acknowledge the… big tent in his pants that’s been poking me for the last minute.
“You’re gonna have to explain this one.” When I look back at him, he’s blushing too.
“I’ve been into you for a while and got excited that you were paying such close attention to me? Fox says, his voice raising at the end like he’s asking a question.
That was the most Fox way of admitting his feelings that I’ve ever seen. No dancing around the subject, no fanfare, he just said it. This big oaf is weirder than me and that’s saying something. I laugh even harder as I help the feline stand up. He leans against me for support as it’s still a little difficult to walk.
“Let’s get you back home. We have a lot to talk about.”