Dyonaigus slowly opened his weary eyes as his mind still spun from the blood loss. His vision slowly started to fill with the world around him, that being the dark alleyway and a red-eyed rat perched on his chest.

It squeaked when Dyo finally started to move, scurrying off of him before the vampire rushed over to him.

And that made him stop.

It wasn’t fear really, most of that had dissipated with the thing keeping its promise. Instead, it was its face. It was beautiful now that life had finally returned to it. His red eyes sparkled, and his bone-white skin was smooth while being about as full of life as that colour could be. His face was somewhat androgynous too like his but with a bit more masculinity to it, its slender structure bent in worry as the vampire helped to haul up the woozy demigod.

He stumbled a little as he was brought onto his feet but managed to find his balance fairly quickly. But as he got back up, his eyes never left the entrancing figure before him.

“I… I tried to keep your clothes clean, but the edges are a little dirty…” They mumbled, dusting Dyo’s coat off as they looked them up and down for any other spots.

“What’s…” Dyonaigus slurred, “What’s your name? I haven’t asked that yet.”

“My name?” The boy’s eyes met his, “I’m… I’m Hreysti, though nobody has used my name in…”

His eyes glazed over for a moment as he trailed off, memories drifting to a time long ago.

“How long Hreysti?”

“In… In about five hundred years, I think. I’m not sure though… I was asleep for almost all of it and I only woke up a few months ago and started wandering south again. On my my nineteenth name day, about a month ago I think, I can remember that.” His eyes yet again started to glaze over again as the memories continued their flow back in.

“But where are you even from? Hreysti isn't an Emoran name at all.”

He nodded, “I’m from the north. The far north. I’m not sure what they call it now though, all of my memories are from a few hundred years ago.”

“Right… Well, I’ve never been out of my home village until now you see-”

As he pushed his shirt and doublet back over his shoulder, the cold, gut-dropping revelation that his cloak was on the floor suddenly hit, his eyes slowly meeting Hreysti’s.

“Wha- What’s wrong!?” He asked, quickly grabbing onto the demigod, and holding him up with an iron grip. “D-Did I drink too much blood!? Are you going to die!?”

“My… My horns…” Dyo muttered, “Don’t you think it’s odd that I have ram’s horns? Why haven’t you mentioned it?”

Hreysti body relaxed as his eyes met Dyo’s, “I’m a vampire that drank your blood an hour ago, that has unnaturally white skin and has been talking to a rat- A rat… Ugh, this language!” He swore in a language that Dyo had never heard before, “A not dead dead rat that I made two weeks ago! Horns are nothing to me.”

“It’s not just horns…”

The vampire’s brow furrowed, “Are you one of those satyrs I’ve heard about?”

He shook his head, “No! I’m… I’m a demigod. Dyonaigus, son of Calsyniacus and the guards can’t see that I have horns right now! I-I-”

“I’ll help you get your cloak on then and I’ll go with you to where you need to go.”

“But why? Didn’t you-“

“I…” Hreysti looked away for a moment, “I’m grateful for what you’ve done. It’s been a long time since someone has let me feed on them with consent and I’ve been slowly starving on rat blood for the last month. I owe you a lot for that so I’m going to repay you on the honour of my blood and my family. Even if I’m all that is left of it…”

The vampire’s eyes met with Dyo’s once again as he said his oath, only for them to go wide as Dyonaigus pulled him into a deep embrace.

“I’m thankful for this, so thankful. But I want you to know that while I still have blood to give, I won’t let you go hungry, and you don’t need to owe me anything. But…”

“But?”

“You know you’re not the last of the vampires, right? I’ve heard they are very much alive north of the mountains.”

He pulled back, swallowing as a scowl spread across his face, “I know I’m not the only horrid monster out there, but I would rather die than consider myself a part of their kin. My blood lies with my mother and…”

“I understand. Now, I need to get to an inn, and I know just the way for us to cheer up.”

And with that, the vampire swore again in that unknown language.

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It had turned out he had just been blind as Hreysti had managed to find a suitable inn in a few minutes. Though, the sun had started to go lower in the sky by that time, signalling the end of the day.

It seemed to be a newer building with a different design from the old insula it was flanked by. It had more depth to it and exposed stone replaced some of the plastered walls. The main thing that stood out though was the massive painted sign above its entrance. On it was depicted a traveller riding into town upon a decorated horse.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The inside was about as decorated as the outside, with large carved beams and wooden pillars. Neatly organised tables were lined up and a large bar stood strong at the back. The floor even had decoration with a fresco inlaid onto it in the centre of the room.

It was amazing but, still, a pit formed in Dyo’s stomach. That being the realisation that he might not be able to afford a room in this place… All of the elaborate decorations and people there were silently echoing that to him. Like a well-dressed man giving him a side-eye.

An orc lounged on a klinē by one corner swigging wine. A simple white shirt covers his muscled swamp-green body. His face however was far less monstrous than Dyonaigus imagined them to be. They had a large jaw for sure, but their teeth were all in their mouth and his short black hair was well kept.

To the side of them was what looked like a group of merchants all chatting between each other. Dyo couldn’t make out all of their faces though with half of them turned away from him.

On the other side of the room, a dark-skinned woman sat. Her clothes were modest and made all of plain linen. Her face withered by wind, making it a little hard to make her age out. Her body was also muscular, muscular in the way that the foresters at home were with not a lot of definition but plenty of mass. The sort of person who could body slam a wolf.

But, on the next table over, was a man who was the antithesis to her version of muscularity.

He was smiling, sipping wine with one hand with the other wrapped around a meek-looking woman who was giggling at the man’s comments. His tanned, muscular body was toned while also not being especially bulky like the foreign woman’s. The clothes he wore, though, were possibly some of the “boldest” ones he’d ever seen though. A black shirt hugged his torso tightly with a deep V cut into it showing his chest, and the bottom half of it being cut to show his stomach. With it all being lined with golden thread. The white and grey trousers he wore puffed around his thighs and waist in complete contrast to his tight shirt. With all of that topped by a translucent green silk scarf wrapped around him like a mantle on his shoulders.

That man gave Dyo especially bad feelings about the sort of price he’d be paying for a room tonight here. Even if he wasn’t giving him the side eye yet.

However, another sort of bad feeling overcame him as the man’s sparkling emerald eyes flicked to him as he stared. The man’s smirk grew a little as he watched Dyo’s gaze flick away, he in turn looking away, flicking his white hair out of his eyes, his attention refocused on the woman beside him.

But… He did also feel his heart race when the white blond haired man had looked at him with that smirk-

“Dyonaigus?” Hreysti whispered, “What’s wrong? Are their scents too strong for you too?”

“What?”

The vampire’s eyes flicked away, “I’m sorry, I forget some people don’t exactly have the same… sensitivities that I have.”

“To blood?”

“And flesh…”

Dyo slowly nodded, swallowing before moving forward to the counter. Every step filled with whirling thoughts of potential embarrassments. But still-

“And how can I help you? Are you travellers?”

The owner spoke before Dyo could even open his mouth, the pale old man already pulling out his ledger as he waited for the reply.

“Y-Yeah. We’re looking for a room.”

“Well then, a traveller’s room will be a Caput and two Flosaens for the night if you two are willing to share it. Board for the both of you including a drink is an extra Caput.”

Dyo paused. In his bag sat the remarkable sum to him of twenty silver Caputs, twenty-three Flosaens and five half Flosaens. A sum that seemed to shrink in value massively as it dawned on him how quickly he could go through it all. A sum that was built up over years by the villagers as an escape fund for him that seemed like a healthy amount a week ago.

The owner sighed, “Please tell me you can afford that.”

“I-I can but-“

“Dyonaigus!” A familiar voice called from behind, “You need some help with my old friend here?”

He turned, his eyes meeting that of the wine merchant’s from earlier that morning. The man pulled a few coins from his pockets as he walked up to the bar.

“You don’t have to! I’ve heard-“

“Ah, it’s alright! I think I’d lose money actually if I didn’t help you out anyway.”

The owner raised an eyebrow as he accepted the coins. A short, wordless conversation fired off between the two men as the merchant gave the man a knowing glance. The owner’s eyes finally widened as they flicked back to Dyo.

“I’ll get you the good wine then for you and your friend, on the house. And I-I won’t tell a soul about you.”

Did they tell him-

“I don’t need the wine. Or food.”

All three of them turned to Hreysti as the owner’s eyebrow raised again.

“I’ll give that wine to your friend then, but are you sure-“

“I’m fine. I’ve eaten already.”

The owner nodded, sliding a key across the table, “I’ll bring you everything out shortly. Take a seat.”

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The place was a little crowded. Leaving the only seat they could find was one by the large, dark-skinned woman. Her hazel eyes studied the two from across the table as they sat down, watching them. Though those eyes turned away once the two turned to each other.

“Is blood that filling?” Dyo asked, “I-I do feel a little light-headed, but I can’t imagine it’s that much.”

The vampire sighed, “You’re really curious, aren’t you? Fine. Only blood really sates me, and only human blood can actually support me. You saw what I was like living on rat blood. Then normal food… Normal food tastes bland to me, whereas blood has… I can’t really describe it but your blood. Your blood was different…”

“How so?”

“I’ve heard people describe fruit wine to me and your blood had a hint of that in its taste. It was…” He shuddered, “It was hard to stop. I-I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s alright… Though, the sunlight thing…”

“I don’t burn. It just… It feels like the sun is slowly cooking me with its light, yes. But it doesn’t do any damage to me, I’m just sensitive. Full moons are what a sunny day is to me, it’s… Nice… One of those few simple pleasures I can actually experience. The rest…” Hreysti sighed, “The rest are beyond my reach.”

A woman came by, placing two bowls and two goblets of wine onto the table, giving a slight smile and bow, then leaving. With no time for Hreysti to complain about the bowl of minestrone and a chunk of focaccia that had been dumped in front of him.

The soup, unlike the one he had when he got into the city, was far richer. Chunks of white fish and slivers of pork floated in there with a wide array of vegetables. All things that he only ever had in harvest feasts.

“May I-“

“Take it. It’ll just taste like water and pulp to me.”

“Have you tried it before?”

“It’s not something we had at home,” Hreysti said simply.

“So, how did you get down here anyway?”

“That…” He mumbled, “That is a long story. All you need to know is I started to move far, far away from where I came from. As far away as I could as soon as I woke up in the cave I was sleeping in. That’s all you need to know.”

He felt he had touched a nerve there. Hreysti’s eyes had moved to stare at the soup as his hands balled up. His throat swallowed as every part of his body tried to hold something back. That thing welling in his eyes.

“I’m not the only one far from home then.” The woman opposite them said flatly. “But I am here for work. Not issues.”

She’d shuffled a little bit closer to the group while Dyo wasn’t looking. Her hazel eyes looked at the two as she slowly sipped from a mug. Her voice was yet another accent that Dyo didn’t recognise.

“Sorry. I’m Shani. I’ve interrupted you; I think. I’m sorry for my poor words as well this…” Her mouth fumbled for a moment, “Language is new to me. Can I have your spare soup?”