Page 29 of Lore and Lust
“I think if we hit ten thousand, it’ll be plenty.” Nino pauses, then smiles as he glances up at his friend once more. “The only downside is that you’ll be stuck with me for a while.”
Haruka sets his coffee cup down and stands from the floor, stretching his long arms up as he moves toward him. “On the contrary,” he says. “That is the primary benefit of this research.” He folds one leg against the cushion as he sits in front of Nino in the sunlit window. Thankfully, the intense heat Nino feels in his chest isn’t outwardly visible.
Nino smirks, teasing. “Because you’ll have a guaranteed purebred source for a while?”
“Because I take much pleasure in your company,” Haruka says matter-of-factly. “Nino, why should we rely on your brother to obtain contacts for us in Italy? I can understand relying on him for other areas of Europe, since his business dealings are wide-ranging. But do you not have correspondence with the vampire aristocracy of Milan?”
Nino rests his back against the wall. Confession time. Again. He should start referring to Haruka as Father Hirano. “When I lived at home, I didn’t engage with the members of our aristocracy. After everything with my uncle, and then my mother dying… I just kept to myself in our estate.”
Haruka’s eyes are patient as he listens. He shows none of the awkward stiffness that had been there the first time Nino talked about his childhood.
“Have you not cultivated a specific role within the aristocracy?” Haruka asks.
“I haven’t. But I’m learning that I’m pretty good at running the bar. I earned a twenty-five percent gain of profit from capital within the first year and a half of opening.”
Haruka grins. “While I am not an expert in business economics, that does sound impressive.”
“I have proper skills. I just haven’t established them in any official capacity in the aristocracy.”
“I think you could easily adopt the role of Business Consultant. You are thoughtful and easy to talk with as well, so perhaps even Social Liaison?”
Nino hesitates, meeting Haruka’s gaze. “I’m not always like this, Haru… just with you, or if I’m around other vampires I trust.”
Haruka’s hand is resting near Nino’s in between them against the cushion. He subtly shifts his hand forward, brushing his fingers against Nino’s. Understanding the gesture, Nino reciprocates his touch, gently entwining their digits together. Haruka wants to feed. Nino has learned over the past month that this is his quiet way of communicating his needs.
“Why do you trust me?” Haruka asks, his eyes searching. “This is not the first time you have expressed as much.”
“Well… when I first moved here two years ago, all everyone talked about was the mysterious purebred vampire who never left his house.” Nino remembers both humans and low-level vampires alike coming into his bar and speculating.
Was he old and creepy? Was he like Dracula? Some kind of horrific, self-loathing monster that they should all leave alone? People had these wild theories, but having been someone who’d hidden himself away practically all of his life, Nino wondered if Haruka might simply be like him: fearful or deeply wounded in some way.
“When I met you, you were so polite and nice,” Nino says, decidedly leaving out the part where the energy of his aura had reached out and pulled him toward Haruka like a magnet. “You’d always stayed isolated, but then you offered to help me. I just had a good feeling about you.”
Haruka nods in understanding, softly caressing his thumb against Nino’s with their fingers still entwined. His gaze flickers down to their hands, then back to Nino’s eyes.
“May I feed?”
Nino swallows hard, conflicted yet again. Caught between speaking his mind or keeping his mouth shut. “Yes…”
Haruka shifts Nino’s hand upward, but Nino instinctively grips his fingers tighter, keeping them linked against the cushion. Confused by the subtle resistance, Haruka looks up, his voice quiet in the intimate space. “Is something wrong?”
Nino rakes his free hand through his hair and takes a breath, steeling himself. “Why do you keep feeding from my hand?” The first time he’d done it, Nino had understood. Haruka had been attacked, he was wounded, shaken. It was a tense moment and a spontaneous offer. His reluctance to feed more intimately was natural. Expected.
But for the past month, he’s continued the practice. It feels odd. They’re both adults and Nino has given his consent—even initiated. There’s no reason for Haruka to keep doing this.
Haruka blinks, the sudden unease like a veil over his dark head. “I… Well—”
“Are you feeding from me this way because it’s comfortable for you?” Nino interrupts. “Or because you’re worried about hurting me?”
Haruka rubs the back of his neck. “It is always my intention to make you feel comfortable in my presence and home. I take your confiding in me very seriously and I wish to be sensitive to what you’ve experienced.”
“I appreciate all that, it’s exactly why I trust you. But, here—”
Nino lets go of Haruka’s hand, then moves his fingers to unfasten the first few buttons on his shirt collar. Haruka’s burgundy eyes widen at his actions and Nino stifles the urge to laugh. He opens up his collar, takes hold of Haruka’s hand and slowly brings it up to his right shoulder, snaking it underneath the fabric of his shirt. He presses Haruka’s fingertips against his skin, guiding him to caress his upper back.
“Do you feel that?” Nino asks quietly, ignoring the warmth in his belly from Haruka’s fingers on his flesh.
“Mm,” is all Haruka says, his face full of trepidation.
