Page 1 of The Vanishing
Early April
One
Midnight. Haruka watches in awe as Nino steps out of the master bathroom. His honeyed skin radiates the luscious scent of cinnamon and mahogany. The light casts an angelic glow on his sculpted, naked shoulders.
“Grazie per avere aspettato, tesoro.” Nino grins, climbing onto the bed. He folds his legs in his soft sweatpants.
Thank you for waiting, darling,Haruka translates as he drags himself upright from lying on his side, adjusting to mirror his mate in front of him. Nino bites his lip. Haruka raises an eyebrow. “What?”
Reaching up, Nino moves his hands behind Haruka’s head and toward the large bun at the nape of his neck. He releases the tie, pulling it forward and allowing the heavy mass of Haruka’s hair to unfurl and rest against his shoulders. Nino combs through the length of it with his fingers. “It’s so damn long, Haru—and thick. Jesus…it’s amazing. When will your barber cut it to donate it?”
“Perhaps in another month?” Haruka guesses. This is a benevolent “punishment” for being lazy about getting his haircut. When he waits too long, his barber insists that he grow it out to have it donated to human children who are unwell. Strangely, there is a large, diverse market for purebred vampire hair. “Are you ready?” Haruka asks. “You wanted to show me something?”
“Yes,” says Nino. “Watch this.” His palm flat, he brings one hand up between them. Nino’s eyes shift from their natural, radiant amber to glow in vivid cranberry-orange. The color reminds Haruka of a fiery sunset. It is the color of their love: their unique bond and shared vampiric essence.
With his palm still open, Nino flexes his fingers. Haruka gasps when the tips glow in bright red-orange light. Nino looks up at him, smiling. “See? I can isolate my energy a little. You’re always fussing that I don’t take our meditations seriously, but I’m getting better.”
“I do not fuss.” Haruka lifts his chin. “I encourage you… passionately.”
Nino laughs. “Right.” He traces his fingertips along Haruka’s jawline. Nino’s touch is warm and fizzy, reflective of his inherent nature. He moves Haruka’s hair aside, caressing up and down the back of his neck, across the delicate grooves of his upper spine. The sensation is calming, making Haruka’s eyelids heavy.
“I still can’t press it outward to manipulate anything yet,” Nino says, quiet and soothing. “I feel a little like E.T., but it’s better than nothing.”
Haruka’s eyes open in a blank stare. Nino pouts. “Haruka—”
“E.T. is…” He glances sideways, hurriedly scanning the crammed files of his mind. “An animal—no. An… alien? From a children’s television show. Movie. I understand the reference. I do.”
Nino lifts and leans forward to place a quick kiss upside Haruka’s nose. “I have such a good mate that listens to me when I talk about trivial things. How did I get so lucky?”
“This isolation of your aura is wonderful progress. Pressing it outward with the same level of manipulation will be our next objective. Even if in a simple way, my hope is for you to have defensive capabilities.”
“I don’t know if my aura is made that way, Haru.”
“My essence within you unquestionably allows for the capability. It is only a matter of intent and focus, then manifesting the power according to your unique abilities. Shall we meditate to practice now?”
Nino scrunches his nose, reaching up to scratch the back of his coppery-brown head. He wears it tapered on the sides, but wavy and longer in the top. Modern, clean and easy. “We can try?”
Seizing the hair tie from Nino’s hands, Haruka refastens his dark tresses into a low bun. Once secured, he flips his palms flat between them, elbows resting on his thighs, back straight. Nino takes a deep breath before grasping his hands.
Haruka relaxes, closing his eyes and opening his mind to Nino. The objective is simple—calibrate their shared energy to practice manipulating it together. Haruka is exceptional in controlling his aura, capable of wielding it in a number of specific ways. By focusing and linking their minds, he can guide Nino in doing the same.
They have tried practicing multiple times, but their experiments are always cut short… somehow.
He breathes deep, emptying his mind of all thoughts, focusing on the frenetic energy of his vampiric essence deep within. The warmth of it swells and pulses outside Haruka’s body, making his eyes burn bright behind closed lids.
Shifting his attention to the strength of Nino’s hands gripping his own, Haruka mentally reaches out to him as his other half—as a fundamental but autonomous part of him.
He looks sexy in this robe… Is it new? Why does he always smell so damn good—
“Nino.”
“Sorry.”
Inhaling, exhaling, Haruka presses his aura out further. Nino’s essence swirls warm and vibrant into the proliferation of Haruka’s cool energy. He manipulates his essence around them so that it forms a large sphere, allowing Nino’s aura to pour in and fill the shape—ideally mimicking it. Nino’s thoughts echo like a whisper in Haruka’s mind.
It’s a sphere… Make a sphere…
Haruka opens his burning eyes. Nino’s are still closed, his brow furrowed in stern concentration.
