Hyde laid in bed. His hair was a mess, his beard thick and unkept. He had showered a couple of times, when he couldn’t stand his own smell anymore. Rune’s scent had begun to fade from the hoodie and pillow. He hadn’t touched them since he noticed, afraid of the scent disappearing.

He glanced out the window. The sun had gone down already. He barely remembered it shining today. How long had it been? Three weeks? He hadn’t been keeping track.

The front door opened. Footsteps came close to his bedroom. The door handle went down behind him.

“Hyde?” Selene called out.

Hyde groaned.

“I’m finished.”

Hyde’s eyes widened, he turned to her. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.” She waved for him to come. “Come on, I want to do the final test.”

“Which is—”

“Yes, Rune. Hurry up!”

Hyde pushed himself to sit, every joint in his body complaining. He got off the bed, then grabbed some sweatpants off the floor and pulled them on. He rubbed his eye and scratched the top of his head, creating even more of a mess in his hair.

“You don’t seem excited,” Selene noted.

“I’ll get excited when I see it working.”

“You look terrible.”

“Thanks.”

Selene frowned. “I see you pulled the plaster off. How’s your head?”

Hyde shrugged.

“Still dizzy?”

“No.”

“Headaches?”

“Yes, but I don’t think that’s from the concussion.”

She hummed. “It seems to be healing well. I’m sure the bruising will go away soon.”

Hyde sighed. “Are we going, or what?”

“Oh, now you get impatient?” Selene shook her head. She turned to leave. “Let’s go.”

Selene dragged Hyde into her guest room, fresh vial in hand. Hyde turned away from Rune’s body and tensed his shoulders.

“Okay, so”—Selene turned to face him—“for the first time, the rat I test on came back with a glimmer of life in its eyes. It seemed to act on some small amount of intelligence, instead of only instinct. And then I killed it again, and the same thing happened! So, I’m confident I’ve cracked it!”

Hyde sighed. “Let’s hope it works on people.”

Selene huffed. “Don’t be so pessimistic. Don’t you trust my abilities?”

Hyde shrugged. “We’ll see.”

She grinned. “What do I get if I succeed?”

“Get on with it!”

“You’re no fun,” she groaned. She leaned over Rune’s face, Hyde stood at the foot end. She pulled Rune’s lips ajar and let three drops of the potion fall into his mouth. She stepped away.

Hyde saw the same thing as last time, the gaping hole in his chest knitting itself closed.

Rune’s eyes shot open as he gasped for air and cramped together. He pushed himself to sit. He took heavy breaths and stared down at nothing. He looked around the room before resting his gaze on Hyde. He seemed confused, but gave him a concerned smile and said, “Hey.”

Hyde didn’t know how to react. It worked? It worked! He wasn’t an empty husk of a body this time, he was here, smiling and talking. He was back!

Hyde stepped closer to him. He carefully put his hand on Rune’s cheek, he teared up. He smiled. “Hey.” Hyde climbed on the bed and hugged him tight. He let himself lay against Rune’s side and pushed his face against his head as tears escaped his eyes. Rune wrapped his arm around his waist and caressed his hair.

“Did I actually die or was that a dream?”

“You did die,” Selene answered. “Three weeks ago.”

“Oh.”

“But, you’re back now.” Hyde leaned their foreheads together with a teary smile.

“How?”

Hyde shrugged and laid his head in the crook of Rune’s neck, enjoying his scent.

“Congratulations! You’re my first successful humanoid experiment,” Selene exclaimed.

“Huh?”

“You know that research you tried to steal? It was this, bringing back the dead! This is the second attempt on you, actually.”

“What?”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Hyde moved down slightly to see Selene grab a notebook and pen.

“Your body came alive, but your soul wasn’t there. So, tell me. Do you remember that?”

Hyde looked up at Rune, his eyes were wide, his mouth agape.

“No. You turned me into a zombie?!”

“Only for a moment, then I killed you again.”

Rune looked down at Hyde. Hyde nodded with a frown. “You tried to bite my neck,” Hyde whispered.

Rune frowned too. “Oh, shit, really? I’m sorry.”

Hyde shook his head. “Don’t be, it wasn’t you.”

Selene made notes on the paper. “Do you remember anything from any sort of afterlife?”

“No, it feels like I woke up from a long nap or something.”

She hummed and wrote it down. She laid the notepad on the bed and grabbed the bottom of his shirt.

“What—” Rune tried to protest as Selene pulled his shirt up. She examined his chest, Hyde looked at it too. There was a round scar in the center of his chest.

“Fascinating,” Selene whispered. She grabbed her pen. “Fatal wound left a scar, even on a vampire,” she mumbled as she wrote.

Hyde pulled Rune’s shirt down for him, Rune smiled. Hyde clung to him again.

Selene sighed and picked her notepad up. “Alright, I’ll give you some time alone. Clearly, you need it.”

Before either of them could answer, she walked out of the room.

Rune rubbed Hyde’s side. “You look like a mess.”

“I know.”

“How is your head?” Rune lightly brushed his fingers along the edge of the wound. “She hit you pretty hard, didn’t she?”

Hyde nodded. “Selene thinks I had a mild concussion.”

“Damn.”

Hyde pushed himself off Rune and sat cross-legged in front of him. Rune did the same, their knees touching. Hyde stared down with a frown. “I killed her,” he whispered. “I ripped her neck off.”

“Hey.” Rune cupped his cheek and tilted his face up. “You only defended yourself. They were going to kill you, too. She deserved it, anyway.” He stroked his cheek. “And you wanted to save me. Even after I pointed a knife at you.”

Hyde smiled sadly and grabbed Rune’s hand on his cheek. “That wasn’t your fault.” He placed a kiss on Rune’s fingers while he teared up again. He sighed. “I missed you.”

Rune leaned his forehead against Hyde’s.

“The last three weeks have been horrible, and lonely,” Hyde choked up. “I felt so guilty. That I couldn’t save you. That I couldn’t tell you…” he trailed off.

Rune raised his eyebrow. “Tell me what?”

Hyde pinched his eyes closed and shook his head. He moved his face back, away from Rune, and let his hand go. “I had thought about how to tell your family about your death. I had no idea how I could.”

Rune’s eyes widened. His family. Were they okay? Did they stop with him? And that comment the lady made about his father.

“Hyde.”

Hyde hummed.

“Can we go to Enath? Right now?”

Hyde raised his eyebrow. “Eh, it’s 11pm, there aren’t any trains until morning.”

Rune turned away with a groan and impatiently tapped his fingers on the bedsheets.

Hyde frowned. “Why?”

“I need to check if they’re okay. Make sure the gang didn’t hurt them, too.”

Hyde nodded. “Okay, we’ll take the first train in the morning.” He placed his head on Rune’s shoulder. “Let’s try to relax for now.”

Rune sighed. “Alright.”

“Want to go home?”

“Yeah.” Rune brushed his fingers through Hyde’s hair. “Then you can get cleaned up.”

Hyde groaned.

“At least take a shower. I can help comb your hair and trim your beard, if you want?”

“You don’t want to help me shower?” Hyde teased as he lifted his head with a tired little grin.

“You’re not elderly, come on now.”

Hyde chuckled. He pecked Rune’s lips, then gave him a small smile. “Let’s go.”

Rune smiled back and nodded.

Rune stepped out of the guest room, dragging Hyde behind him by his hand. Selene sat on the couch.

“Hey.” She stood up. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home,” Rune answered.

“I’m not done researching you, yet!”

Rune groaned. “Look, I’m grateful for you bringing me back. Seriously, thank you. But I’m not a test subject! I have more pressing matters to attend to.”

She glanced at Hyde for a moment before sighing. “Fine. You’re welcome.”

Rune smiled at her, then took Hyde out of the house.

----------------------------------------

Hyde sat cross-legged on his bed, only in his underwear, with Rune on his knees in front of him, brushing his damp hair. He had taken a shower, now Rune insisted he brushed his bird’s nest of a hairdo.

“God, I didn’t realise how much of a mess hair would be after not brushing it for only three weeks.”

The brush got stuck. Rune grabbed the lock of hair with his free hand and tugged at the brush to get it out.

“Ow,” Hyde mildly complained.

Rune pulled the brush loose. “Sorry.” He carefully combed through his hair again. He sighed and laid the brush on the bed, then sat down at Hyde’s eye level. He looked at the scars on Hyde’s torso, it was only the second time he’d seen them. It won’t be the last. He smiled a little, glad Hyde was comfortable enough with them—and him—to not cover them up. He glanced down at his own chest as a realisation came to him. He pulled his shirt up to his chest and looked at his own scar.

Hyde arched a brow at him. “What?”

“We have matching chest scars, now.”

Hyde snorted. Rune chuckled along and pulled his shirt down. He rubbed Hyde’s thick beard. “Should we go trim it? Or shave it, if you want.”

“No, not shave.”

Rune pouted. “I’d like to see what you’d look like.”

“I don’t want to have a baby face.”

Rune snickered. “Alright, alright.” He got off the bed and held a hand out to Hyde. “Let’s trim it, then.”

Hyde took his hand and got to his feet, too. Rune pulled him closer and pressed a quick kiss on his lips. He only smiled at Hyde’s light blush and took him to the bathroom.

“Shaving would be a lot easier,” Rune complained while he was clipping Hyde’s beard short with a trimmer. Hyde stood bent over the sink on the right side, his elbows on the edge. Rune stood over the left side, both showing the mirror their shoulder.

“Nah.”

Rune grunted.

“What? You offered to do it.”

“Yeah, I know.” Rune paused the trimming and moved back to see his handy work. He hummed. “It’s not very even.”

Hyde shrugged. “It’ll grow in no time.” He looked in the mirror above the sink. He frowned at one longer spot on his cheek. He took the trimmer from Rune and fixed it himself.

“How often do you do this yourself? Since your beard grows this much in three weeks and I’ve never seen it longer than it is now.”

“Twice a week or so. Once a week when I’m lazy.” Hyde laid the trimmer down on the sink and rubbed his cheek. He glanced at Rune through the mirror.

“Jeez.” Rune rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I haven’t touched my facial hair in weeks.” He examined his own small beard. The stubble on his chin and jaw stopped in the middle of his jawline. He had stubble above his lip, too.

“The joys of being a werewolf, I guess. It gives you a nice beard, but it takes a lot of maintenance to not look like a homeless person. If I were to shave my face clean, the first stubble would be back the same day. Having a smooth face for not even a day isn’t worth the itchiness.”

Rune looked down at Hyde’s body. “What about your other body hair? You’re not that hairy.”

Hyde rubbed his chest with a hum. “I’ve got some fuzz. It’ll get thicker and longer with age, judging by my dad’s chest hair.”

Rune chuckled.

They laid in Hyde’s bed. Hyde rested his freshened up face on Rune’s chest, Rune held him against his side.

“Have you been sleeping at all?” Rune asked, hushed.

“Not really.”

“About time, then.” Rune looked down at Hyde on his chest. He frowned. They always laid like this. He wanted to try something else. “Hey.”

“Hm?”

“Turn around, your back to me.”

Hyde didn’t have the energy to argue. He turned on his side, his back facing Rune. Rune pressed his chest against Hyde’s back and laid his arm over his stomach. He nuzzled his face into Hyde’s hair.

“So you’re a spoon guy?” Hyde asked.

“Yeah. Aren’t you?”

Hyde turned his head towards him. “I haven’t tried it before.”

He had, during a full moon. But Hyde couldn’t recall, of course. “How is it so far?”

Hyde smiled. “Comfy.”

Rune smiled, too. “Good.” He gave Hyde a kiss on his cheek.

Hyde laid his head on his pillow and finally let himself fall asleep.