(Faye)

  Faye looked out the window excitedly as they exited the dark tunnel, eager to see the world outside of Pavivani city. He didn’t even want to know what strings Lena had to pull to get Adrian to agree to the trip, but he was beyond grateful that she had gone through the trouble. Noemi was in the seat next to him, basically squeezing Faye into the wall as she attempted to look out his window.

  “Damn, didn’t know Dephus had sights like this!” she exclaimed and Faye merely nodded in agreement, pushing the girl back. They had exited the tunnel to reveal rolling green hills filled with colorful flowers and compared to the dank darkness of Pavivani city, it was like stepping back onto Terra. He had assumed the artificial light that lit up Dephus's sky to create day wouldn’t allow for plant life, but the flowers in the quiet hills disputed the idea. He could barely see the shape of a house in the distance and he started to wonder if they owned the entire meadow. He grunted with pain as Noemi leaned on him more, almost completely in his seat. “Real fucking flowers in this place!”

  He looked up as Zélia hushed the pair and he shrugged as Lena merely giggled. Rosie and Addis were present as well, but the pair seemed to be too engaged in their own quiet whispering to care what noise Noemi was causing. Faye frowned as he kept his eyes on Rosie, watching her chuckle at something Addis said. This whole trip had been a joint effort between the pair and Faye couldn’t help his suspicion at their intentions. Addis had mentioned to Lena he needed to travel to Aerovale to check in with the station he owned there, and suggested taking their best patrons with them to show off how well behaved humans and turned vampires could be. Lena was at first reluctant but eventually agreed and reached out to Adrian to make a deal about taking Faye and some of the other escorts to Aerovale for three days.

  Rosie had apparently gotten wind of the trip and offered to pay for the whole endeavor, as long as she was able to bring Noemi along. Faye had gotten the princess to let Noemi stay at the shelter in his room, but due to her notoriously bad behavior, the turned was often on thin ice with Lena and Zélia. The girls likely would have ever dreamed about bringing the woman along, but with Rosie offering to pay for the trip, they didn’t have much reason to deny her such a simple request. Which is why they were all now sitting on a luxury charter bus on their way to Aerovale, which apparently was up in the mountains.

  From what Faye had learned and understood, Aerovale was a home to more secluded vampires and humans, and unlike Pavivani city that tended to be a melting pot for all kinds of crime and mayhem, the High Vampires of Aerovale had no tolerance for such behavior. They also were said to share Addis’s disdain of humans, and the only humans or turned vampires in the city were servants and workers who knew better than to act out. Faye scoffed as Noemi bumped into him again, straining to look out his window. The antithesis of everything his best friend was.

  “Fuck, this scenery is beautiful! And Aovale is supposed to be better?!”

  “It’s Aerovale, Noemi.”

  “Who gives a fuck?” She complained, but Faye noticed she immediately sat back in her seat, crossing her arms and pouting as she did so. Faye glanced up to see Rosie looking back at the pair, a bright smile on her face as she kept her dark eyes on Noemi. Maybe it was all the time he spent around Addis and his pet creature, but Faye also seemed to notice something… commanding about the smile. A warning to behave. “It’s not the city and that’s f– that’s awesome.”

  “Heh, someone doesn’t like your cursing?” Faye jabbed and Noemi pouted more, slouching more into her seat.

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  “I gotta behave myself on this trip, since the vamps in Aroe-whatever don’t like chaos and Rosie pulled strings with Princess Sunshine so I could come with you,” Noemi admitted and Faye nodded, pretending to be surprised. “I ain’t about to not be me, but I can… tone it down for ya and Rosie. She doesn’t want anyone to know about…that yet, so I gotta not give her a reason to intervene.”

  “It’s appreciated, Noemi,” Faye smiled, gently resting his hand on the woman’s lap. She gently laced their fingers together, sighing heavily as she sat up slightly in her own seat. Faye glanced out his window again as they rolled past the soft green hills, able to see the mountains in the distance. Lena had explained it was a full day to Aerovale and the human grinned into the window as he squeezed his friend's hand. He glanced up again as Rosie chuckled, and he barely met her eyes as she turned back to talk to Addis.

  Addis… Faye let his eyes fall on the vampire, unable to help his frown. For a while, the passionate kiss in the dark room had tormented and followed the human, making him question how Addis truly felt about him and how he felt about the vampire. However, after weeks of Addis refusing to acknowledge the act and treating the human as poorly as he always did, Faye found himself constantly annoyed with the vampire. A part of him wanted to demand an answer, to know what Addis had done to him to make Faye want him, but another part knew Addis would never give a straight answer. The vampire would dodge or ignore the question, simply leaving Faye desperate for the truth.

  The creature Addis sent to watch him was equally obtuse, only remarking how intriguing it found the human and refusing to answer his questions. Anytime Faye attempted to ask it anything, it would remark that it had no interest in answering his questions, just observing him. It soon became clear Addis had told it not to answer him and Faye gave up his inquiry, settling for it’s occasional snide remarks about his days.

  Faye closed his eyes as he leaned against the smooth glass, sighing heavily. The truth was he was completely indebted to Addis and his shadow creature and his pride didn’t like the mounting debt. Adrian seemed to take Addis’s threat seriously and while he did still yell and throw things at the human, he hadn’t touched him since Addis appeared in his office. Faye was usually good enough to dodge whatever Adrian would find to throw, and the few times he wasn’t, he felt the creature move him out of the way. Adrian never seemed to notice, growing angrier that he couldn't just put his hands on the human to force the pain he wanted to inflict.

  Faye frowned as a shiver ran through his body, thankful that Adrian had also not bitten him lately. He knew it was only a matter of time; Adrian never went long without forcing himself on Faye and it seemed that Lena’s protection didn’t extend to feedings. Faye opened his eyes slightly as he remembered Addis’s anger at seeing the bite, frowning as he hummed thoughtfully to himself. If it made Addis so angry to know Adrian had bit him, would Addis stop Adrian the next time?

  Faye sat up slightly as he heard Addis chuckle, and he couldn’t stop himself from looking to where the high vampires sat. They were on opposite ends of the bus, but to Faye, it hardly felt like enough space. Any space he had to share with the high vampire felt too tight, too small, because his thoughts would always return to the side room. To the way Addis had pulled their bodies close together, and how easily he had let himself give into Addis’s touch and kiss.

  "Look at that Faye!" The human was pulled from his thoughts as he heard Noemi's voice, and he glanced out the window to see the beautiful shimmering lake they were now driving past. It seemed almost glass-like with its still surface and Faye couldn't help the way he smiled as he stared at the water's surface. "Now that's some beautiful shit."

  "Yeah," Faye agreed, barely noticing what he said as he leaned against the glass. Faye had long since given up on experiencing any sort of peace in his life but this… this came close to giving him that long forgotten feeling again. His heart almost felt at ease for the first time since he arrived in Dephus and Faye dared to hope that things would be peaceful, that he would be able to actually enjoy this trip.

  He needed the distraction.