Chapter Text
The sound of dripping water, as it rained, kept disturbing Levi's attempt to sleep. He had not slept well ever since he had been brought here. The noisy drumming of water drops against the ground outside had woken him up. To him it seemed as if the noise was inside his head, driving him crazy. He had never liked rain. Now he was forced to listen to its sound without a choice.
He peered around the room to see if there was any way to tell time but the clouds cast shadows and no sunlight in sight. It could already be night time. Levi closed his eyes with a sigh. There was nothing else to do than sleep anyway. He only could wait and hope to be left alone. Rescue was not coming and he knew that.
When Levi woke up, there was no sound of rain but even after sleeping he was still exhausted. He had no idea how long he had been here exactly and what was the point of him still being alive. He would not admit to it if asked but he was having very dark thoughts about accepting the fact that he would die sooner than later in this dirty, smelly prison cell of his but he would let them know that. Not in all of his years had he experienced such a time when he had felt that the days just dragged on, taunting him with their slow cycles from darkness to light.
Not to mention the ever present feeling of hunger. He was so hungry that he was ready to do almost anything to get a bite, anything that did not involve him getting experimented on. He had been having staring contests with his prison guard, stalking him like prey. Levi could see the fear in that man's eyes when he could stare at him unblinkingly for the whole time. Countless times he had imagined how he would rip that guy's head off and dance in the rain of his blood. He was not extremely violent by nature but these guys had him thinking of such wonderful thoughts. He would not hold back if he ever had the chance. He would suck that motherfucker dry with pleasure. He would make sure the guard would suffer as much as he had.
Levi's stomach growled in agreement. He hoped there would soon be something to munch on, like a werewolf filled with juicy, fresh blood, topped with cute eyes and fluffy pair of ears.
Wait a minute.
Levi was sure he was hallucinating but while he slept there had been an addition to his cell. He must have been sleeping soundly not to notice the cell door opening and closing. Levi cursed in his thoughts of his apparent failure to keep track of his surroundings while sleeping. Before being captured he had prided himself on his ability to wake up to any odd sound he heard that was not supposed to be there. No one had snuck upon him for a century at least.
This mouth watering addition was a young werewolf, sitting on the only part of the floor that was basking in sunlight. The werewolf was watching Levi carefully. The calm was only a facade. Levi could see that the werewolf was ready to fight if Levi tried to make a hostile move. He had to admit that if he tried to make a move on the werewolf in his current state, he'd sorely lose the fight. The werewolf looked healthy and the sound of his young, beating heart kept taunting at Levi.
Levi could almost hear the blood coursing through those veins. With each pump the blood flowed. His prey was right there in front of him but Levi knew it would be foolhardy to try anything. Inwardly he laughed at himself as he knew that it would come down to the decision of either trying to eat and keep himself as a puppet for these weird fellows who ran experiments on him or he could find his peace of mind and die at the hands of this werewolf.
He had a choice.
He finally had a choice that he could make.
The werewolf was looking at him with narrowed eyes, full of suspicion. Levi could not blame him at all. The guy was smart, sitting in the sun. That is the only thing keeping you alive, he almost said out loud. It wouldn't be smart to anger the wolf boy unless he wanted to die. Levi was still contemplating that choice and he did not want to make it hastily, no. He had to have some time to think if there was any other way out of this situation.
He could always try to get the werewolf on his side but what good would that do? Was there something he knew about werewolves that could be useful? More than anything, his mind kept screaming him to just bite him. Levi's mouth was parched with the lack of eating anything and the heart beat just a few feet away from him had his fangs extend themselves in anticipation to what was coming.
Needless to say, Levi was not exactly in his right mind to make any kind of decisions. He needed blood, he needed to eat to get his head straight. He wondered if the wolf would let him have some if he asked nicely?
As if the werewolf had known what he was thinking, the furry eared man said, “If you touch me, I'll kill you.”
So much for being nice. Levi gritted his teeth, baring his fangs to the werewolf for a split second. That damn cub was observing him and Levi did not like it. He settled for glaring at the werewolf.
It was apparent that there was only one reason why this creature has been locked in here with him.
They wanted him to eat him.
But Levi was not fooled that easily. There had to be a catch. If he wanted to survive he'd get enough of food from this werewolf to do so but it would not give him back his full strength, no. He would need much more blood to regain that aspect of himself.
He saw what this was for. The people who had captured him wanted to keep him alive but not give him a chance to escape. Levi saw no other option than somehow get blood out of the werewolf. That meant he would be rushing in for a certain death. The werewolf was much stronger than he was and with that threat of his, Levi did not wonder even for a second if he'd be able to survive.
Levi licked the back of his fangs, trying to keep calm. He did not want to play into the hands of those people. He did not know exactly what they needed him for in the first place? Levi remembered the foolish way he had been captured in the dead of a night.
Those people were smart. They had set a trap for him to lure him in and drug him long enough to push him into a cage lined with silver on the inside. They had kept him locked up for weeks without any food until he was too weak to fight them. They had been sneaky. They had moved him during the day, giving him a cloak to cover him from the sun. Levi knew that if he had lashed out right there and then, it would have hurt him more than them.
Sun was a bitch.
That was the first things he had been experimented on. They had come into his cell. They had restrained him and shoved his hand into the sun.
They watched his skin burn. They watched as it blistered under the scorching heat.
“How long does it take to kill a vampire exposed to sunlight?”
“I don't know!” Levi cried frantically as his hand was on fire, he could swear it was literal too even if there was no manifestation of flames to be seen.
“How long!?”
“Few hours at most!” he had finally answered and they had let him go. Levi had several times since then looked at the hand that had been burned. The sunlight was the only thing that he knew to leave such scars that now adorned the back of his hand. Those scars would never fade. He would heal from any other kind of damage without much of a problem but sunlight was much more deadlier force than anything else that had ever been inflicted upon him. They had cut him, burned him with silver but none of those marks were left on his body.
He might have considered ending his life by standing in the sunlight within his own cell. There was a window near the ceiling that cast large enough spotlight for someone to sit in, as the werewolf was demonstrating to him right now, but it would be long and painful death. That was not the death he wanted. It better be quick and painful. He did not accept anything beyond that.
The werewolf shifted, tilting its head to the side. Levi almost whined as he felt the strong urge to sink his teeth into that neck that was practically presented to him. 'Practically' meaning on the other side of the cell. He wanted to take a deep breath but resisted the urge. He did not want to give that sneaky creature anymore clues to how close to the edge of losing his mind he really was.
Levi closed his eyes. If he did not see it, it didn't exist.
That pulsing vein under that soft skin.
Levi licked his lips.
He could do it. He could just sit here and ignore that sound he heard. He'd pretend it was the sound of the rain. He'd make himself believe that and he'd be able to get through this.
A few feet away from him the werewolf was having the same kind of thought patterns but about surviving a possible vampire attack. Eren had been drugged by a bunch of shady looking guys. He had been spending his Friday night in a rather normal way for someone of his age. He hadn't been doing anything illegal or certainly not anything dangerous. He had been tailed for days or so they had told him when he had woken up in some sort of carriage, chained up to his teeth.
Eren did not know why they had targeted him.“We'll make a good use out of you.” That's what they had said and Eren had not liked the tone they used one bit either. Out of all the possibilities he would have never thought he'd end up in a dungeon cell with a slumbering vampire. He had been waiting for the past few hours for the blood sucking monster to wake up. All his life he had been told that vampires were devils that would kill for all their victims by sucking them dry. Eren had found the things his father taught him just a bit suspicious when Armin had once pointed out that if vampires were that bad, why was it so peaceful in the human world?
Eren was not sure if he should believe his father or Armin right now. The man had woken and up had already been eyeing him like he was the most delicious piece of meat on the face of the earth. Eren had seen those sharp fangs of his and they did not look inviting at all. Eren had been expecting the vampire to attack him and, truth to be told, he still was. Eren had not wasted his time as he had been observing the vampire. One thing was sure, that pale man was hungry. That was why Eren could not understand why it had not attacked him yet?
Was it the sun?
Eren had sat down in the warmth of the sun just in case when he had noticed the notorious scent of a vampire emitting from the man sleeping soundly under the window. He had looked harmless enough while resting his head on his arms on top his knees. With the little knowledge Eren had about vampires, he had taken the precaution of sitting in the sun. Eren was not liking the way the sun light was fading slowly.
On the other side of the cell Levi was doing fine, his eyes closed, the sun was setting and he had willed himself not to move. He did not think about what the night would bring. He did not let his thoughts go there.
He was fine until he heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside the cell block that he was trapped in. Levi raised his head in full alert to see what was going to happen.
A group of people entered the space around the cell. The lead scientist who was a vicious woman walked up to the prison guard. She was protected by two men. They had rifles in their hands.
Levi pondered if they were finally going to shoot him. Heck, in this state that he was in it might actually kill him if he was shot right in the heart. His body was too weak already to heal serious wounds. Last time he had been abused had proved that even small cuts were taking time to heal, when they should have healed in a flash. So maybe this was his lucky day and he'd be rid of this miserable thing called life.
But things did not go as he expected, not at all.
“He has not touched him yet. He hasn't moved since we brought the mutt in,” the guard, who had been here for quite some time now, said He was talking to that evil woman of this group of evil people. They were evil as far as Levi was concerned. Levi could not understand why they had picked him as their target for experiments. He had never killed any humans! Okay, maybe he was lying but none of these people had been alive the last time he had killed someone out of necessity. He did not kill people meaninglessly and certainly not for food. He was capable of eating what he needed without killing. Last time he had taken a life he had been protecting his clan. It had been a war that had caused so many meaningless deaths on both sides.
Well that was then and this was now.
The woman in charge, walked to side of the cell, looking at Levi. “Why have you not eaten, vampire?” Her words carried animosity towards him every time she spoke. Levi was just another vampire to her.
Levi chose not to answer if it meant they'd kill him faster.
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Not answering? Are you too hungry to talk?” she taunted him.
Levi just looked at her with bored eyes before shifting his gaze on to the werewolf.
“Shoot the werewolf in the leg,” the woman ordered the man on her right.
Eren had no chance to dodge the incoming shot. He tried to move but did not make it in time.
Levi's eyes widened as he watched the werewolf gasp as blood spilled from his leg. It would be ridiculous to say the world stopped for Levi but in a way it did. The smell of fresh blood hit him like a ton of bricks.
It was as if the world had gone into slow motion.
Levi experienced every millisecond as if they were painstakingly long like hours. The blood pumped out of the leg, staining the fabric of his pants and falling on the floor as the werewolf clutched his injured leg with a cry passing his lips.
Levi could smell each drop.
Before he could stop himself he was on the move. He came to his senses for a moment, realizing what he was about to do when he grabbed the bloodied leg of the werewolf. Levi was kneeling next to him, his back facing the people outside the cell.
He met the green eyes with his own.
He saw fear in the werewolf's green orbs. He held the gaze and saw a question in those eyes. The werewolf had every right to kill him now as he had touched him. But Levi was neither biting him yet nor had the werewolf made a move to killed Levi yet either. Why?
They stared at each other. Levi was trying to convey that his intentions were not as bad as they seemed. Levi was crazy enough to think that if he saved the poor wolf boy from losing his leg to infection, they might forge a truce. Just maybe there was a way for them to get out of this hell hole. It was a gamble but Levi wanted to give it a shot. He could only hope the werewolf would not lash out at him. A wounded animal was the most dangerous kind of animal.
Levi made a small nod towards the werewolf in a way he hoped was reassuring, before his tongue darted out of his mouth, past his lips as he licked the blood off the skin. The sweetness of the blood elicited a soft moan out of Levi. It had been too long since he ate anything. He kept his eyes on the werewolf's as he closed his lips over the wound, sucking on the piece of flesh. He felt the bullet against his tongue. It was not deep in the wound and Levi carefully removed it with his teeth. The werewolf was whimpering. There were streams of tears coming down the boy's face. Levi knew it hurt. He saw no other option than sinking his fangs into the surrounding flesh.
Levi knew his bite would make the werewolf feel good. He would make him forget the pain and replace it with pleasure. It took only a few seconds for the werewolf to moan. It was not a moan of pain.
“He bit him! Good job, Geoffrey,” the woman said somewhere behind them. “We can't have him dying on us just yet.”
Levi let his eyes fall shut as the rich flavour of blood slid past his tongue once again. He was feeling just as good as the werewolf was. The starvation had only made feeding feel so much better. The trance he entered was brief but all the more satisfying.
He yanked his mouth off the leg. The werewolf whimpered again as Levi licked the wound close. His leg was already healing under Levi's tongue. He gently lowered his leg back down, licking his lips and reliving the short moment of bliss inside his head. Levi's movements were slow and precise as he left the wolf boy alone, returning to his spot under the window and hid in the shadows.
“That wasn't so bad now was it?” the woman laughed at Levi. “Ooh, look!” she exclaimed, pointing at the leg of the werewolf. “He healed the wound! I didn't know that was possible,” she sounded astonished and scribbled notes down on a small pad that she had always with her.
“Tell me how does it feel to eat after two months of starvation?” the woman asked, looking at Levi expectantly.
Levi refused to speak to her. He would not describe the deliciousness of the heaven he had experienced. The feeling of a mouthful of blood that he thought he would not feel ever again. He drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He hid his face from the others and let a smile spread on his face. There was a buzz in his ears and he felt the energy surging through his veins. He could not help but let it show on his face how good he felt and how happy he was.
He still tasted the blood in his mouth and he lapped his tongue over the smooth surfaces of his teeth. He fought back the chuckle of happiness that wanted to escape from his throat. He felt as if he was waking from a long dream. His mind was suddenly clear as the cloudless sky. He could still here the frantic beating of the werewolf's heart but he no longer felt the urge to eat.
Levi stayed unmoving from his spot in the shadows as the scientist woman tried to get answers from either of the occupants in the cell without any success. With a promise to come back later the people left them alone with the guard who resumed his post in the corner.
Levi was surprised to hear the werewolf moving towards him. Levi did not dare to move as he listened to the soft shuffling noises getting closer.
As quietly as he could, the werewolf spoke to him, “Why did you not suck me dry?”
Levi tilted his head to the side so that he could peer over his arm at the green eyes locked on him. Should he answer that? Levi stole a glance at the guard of theirs who didn't seem to have heard the question.
Levi looked at the werewolf lazily. He was coming down from his high and felt relaxed. The wolf boy seemed anxious to know what he had been thinking. “Was there a point to kill you?” he asked softly. His own voice sounded a bit alien to him as he had not used it for a week at least.
The werewolf looked confused as if Levi had said something that he was not supposed to say.
Levi sighed, closing his eyes. He'd rather enjoy this content feeling in silence, savouring it as long as it lasted. The werewolf had different plans, though.
“They said you have been starving,” the young wolf pointed out. “I thought you'd go berserk.”
Levi stayed silent as the boy talked to him in low whispers. The werewolf was sitting a foot away. Levi could so easily just snatched a hold of him and feast upon his blood but he would not do that and he had a feeling that the werewolf knew that.
Eren took in the haggard appearance of the vampire. “How long have you been here?” he asked out of curiosity.
“Five months or so. I'm not entirely sure,” Levi answered. He had not really kept a calender but the seasons had changed from early spring to summer and by the frequent occurrence of heavy rain, it was probably fall already.
The werewolf seemed to be truly amazed for a moment but then his features got dark. “I do not want to spend that much time here.”
“Me neither but here I am,” Levi stated, feeling of sadness finding its way into his chest. He had never wanted to go home this badly. He even missed his crazy uncle. “More than anything, I want to get out of here.” Levi contemplated if he should share his thoughts with the werewolf or not. He had nothing to lose other than his life which he had been ready to lose. Even if he told every secret he knew to the boy, it would do the werewolf no good because Levi doubted that either of them would survive to go home.