Cecil pulled into his apartment's parking lot, trying to keep his anxiety bottled up. This was fine. Everything was going to be fine.

His co-worker was slumped into the passenger seat, still unconscious, as far as Cecil could tell. Visibly pale and with a very conspicuous pair of bite marks on his neck, but he seemed... probably fine. 

They were both still in their work uniforms, and the other guy- Gavin, Cecil realized his name was, looking down at his nametag. Gavin's uniform had a little blood on the collar. That was bad.

You were supposed to give people food and water after they give blood, right? He was pretty sure that was true. 

At least the cravings were gone. Or... suppressed, it felt like. Quiet. He could ignore them. Yeah.

He held his head in his hands, trying to think of how to get Gavin into his house. He could... try and wake him up... he had no idea how he'd respond. Would he try to run? Tell anyone about what happened? Cecil couldn't let him do that, but... 

No. He wouldn't. Cecil knew how good it had felt, for both of them. He'd want that again... wouldn't he? 

Cecil thought back to his hazy memories of where he'd felt that pleasure before. He reached up and felt his neck, realizing for the first time he had his own bite marks. He gasped as he brushed his fingers across them- they were sensitive...

If he'd done the same thing to this poor guy that'd been done to him... no, no, that wouldn't happen, right? His gut told him it wouldn't. 

He couldn't just carry the prey back in; people would see-

Prey? Why... why'd he thought that? What was wrong with him? He covered his mouth, glancing back at the unconscious passenger. 

His eyes were fluttering slightly. 

Cecil took a deep breath (which was useless, he realized, seeing as he didn't breathe anymore) before reaching over to him. 

"...h-hey- um- are you... are you awake?"

Gavin opened his eyes slowly, muttering a blissful "...mhmm..." He looked up at Cecil with an expression that wasn't quite fully there; Cecil could still see traces of the mind-clouding pleasure of the bite, lingering in his dazed expression.

"Y-you feel... you feel okay?" Cecil asked anxiously, involuntarily fidgeting. 

"I-I feel... really good," he mumbled, holding his head. "D-did you, like... did we do something together?"

Cecil's fidgeting worsened. He couldn't bring himself to make eye contact, feeling guilty and flustered... and a part of him felt almost giddy hearing how his victim liked it. He tried to ignore that part.

"We just... um, can I tell you inside? Y-you passed out."

"I... passed out?"

"You fell asleep." lied Cecil, badly, though Gavin seemed to buy it, nodding and weakly pulling himself up. "Alright..."

"Oh- um, I'll come around and help you get up," Cecil rambled as he hurriedly got out of the car. He still had no idea whether Gavin was in any state to walk around himself, with how much blood he'd lost.

He helped Gavin out of the car, shouldering him and doing his best not to make this weird. He didn't put up a fight, letting Cecil walk him to the apartment door and mumbling "Thanks..."

This was fine. This was working. He still had no idea what he was going to tell anyone, but it was... it could've been a lot worse. 

He closed the door behind him and set his co-worker down on the couch. They looked at each other awkwardly, neither of them sure how to begin.

"H-how are you feeling?" Cecil asked, glancing away.

"Um... nice. I think." Gavin laid back against the couch and held his head. "Really... really lightheaded, but uh, nice."

"Shit- right, hold on. Let me get you something to eat." Cecil ran to the kitchen rummaging through the fridge; he knew you usually got given juice and cookies after giving blood. They didn't have either of those, but he'd be able to scrounge up something.

He returned to find Gavin blushing and rubbing his neck. "I, uhhhh... so... why'd you bring me to your place?"

Cecil sat on the couch, handing him a glass of water and a half-eaten bag of gummy worms. "I... um," he stammered, avoiding eye contact. How could be possibly explain what happened? He still didn't know himself what happened between them. Other than how good it felt. How he could tell they both wanted more... his face flushed with stolen blood as he looked away, embarrassed. "I-it's- it's complicated."

"Yeah, uh... you didn't, like- you didn't drug me or anything, did you?"

"NO! I just- uh-" panic welled up inside him. He had no explanation for what happened. He was gonna fuck this up so, so bad. "I-I don't... I don't know." He couldn't meet his victim's eyes.

"You... don't know? Just tell me what happened, man." Gavin adjusted his position on the couch, staring at Cecil in a way that made him shrink down further.

"I..." Don't tell him. Don't tell him the truth. Bad, bad idea. "Uh......."

The co-worker reached up, touching his own neck before recoiling with a gasp. "Ah-"

The same, sensitive bite mark. Cecil stared at it anxiously. 

"You did... s-something to my neck. I think."

"Y-yeah."

They stared at each other, speechless. Neither of them had the words for how... uncomfortably close they felt after what happened. 

"You... you were standing there all fucked up in the parking lot, right? And I came and talked to you..."

"I-I'm so sorry," Cecil stared down, terrified. "I didn't mean to..."

"Didn't mean to what?" The co-worker tilted his head.

Cecil bit his lip, desperate for anything else to say. I bit you. I bit your neck and drank your blood and we both loved every second of it. 

"Whatever you did, it... uh," Gavin blushed, idly playing with his hair. "It felt good, man. What're you apologizing for?"

"Well- I- um," Cecil had known his victim enjoyed it, instinctively, but it hit differently hearing him say so. Waves of relief and embarrassment and giddy excitement washed over him. "Y-you... liked it?"

"Yeah, of course. Just... tell me what it was."

Don't tell him don't tell him don't tell him. Lie. Say anything else. "...I..."

"Hey, what's that on your neck?"

Shit shit shittt don't ask about that

"It- um- n-nothing," he lied, terribly. He tried to cover it up, flinching once he touched it.

Gavin leaned in curiously, trying to get a better look. "That, um. You sure you didn't drug me?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" he kept covering up his bite, wincing and forcing himself to keep his hand there. 

"So what's that? We both have one."

"It's... w-where I..."

"Where you... what?"

Cecil was getting more agitated. Maybe he should just bite him again. No, wait, terrible idea. He didn't have enough blood for that.

"...y-you... i-if I tell you. Can you keep it a secret?"

Gavin hesitated, leaning back and watching Cecil warily. "That sounds... really sketchy, man."

"I-I know... but..." he held his hand to his forehead, stress and paranoia gnawing at him. What was he doing? He really really shouldn't be telling anyone what was going on. 

"...okay. I won't tell anybody. Promise." 

That... alright. He had no way to cover this up. He had no options left.

"I... bit you." Nonono don't tell him that

"You bit me?"

"Y-yeah."

"That's... that's it?"

"...w-well I... I don't know why it felt so good," he blushed, stammering a little, "for... for both of us."

They stared at each other, trying to gauge one another's reactions. Cecil pushed away an idle thought to bite him again. 

"You... liked it too?" Gavin asked quietly.

"M-more than anything. It was... it was so good. I barely managed to stop myself."

Cecil realized he'd moved a lot closer to Gavin as he'd said that. The words had spilled out of his mouth before he realized it. He should probably shut up, he thought.

Gavin was leaning away and staring wide-eyed at him. Shit, why did I say it like that?? Cecil thought, despondently wishing he could take it back.  He thinks I'm weird and creepy and dangerous, doesn't he? I am weird and creepy and dangerous. What the hell am I-

"Th-that's, uh... wow."

"S-sorry- I'm so sorry. Um," Cecil pulled back, dying of shame. "Something's... wrong with me. I should stay away from you..."

"Yeah, are you, uh... rabid or something?"

"I..." Cecil felt his bitemark, anxious, trying to piece together how he got it. Someone must have bitten him. Their face was hazy, but he did manage to dredge up the memory of their red gaze... "M-maybe. Someone bit me first..." 

Gavin tried to stand up, stumbling, but Cecil quickly set him back on the couch. "Oh, careful - you shouldn't stand up too much. I, um, took a lot of your blood."

"Wait, you took my blood? What, like a vampire?"

They both stared at each other for a second. A... vampire. Was that what Cecil was now? He'd been too occupied with Gavin for that to occur to him.

"...are you a vampire?" Gavin raised an eyebrow.

"H-how am I supposed to know?"

"Well... you bit my neck and sucked my blood... so... probably, right?"

Cecil slowly processed this. It did match up... were vampires real? Was that any more far-fetched than any other explanation for his craving for blood?

Gavin leaned in curiously. "Do you have fangs? Can I see?"

He felt around with his tongue. His canines did feel longer. He opened his mouth, and Gavin nodded. "...wow, yeah. I think you're a vampire, man."

"I-I don't wanna be a vampire!" Cecil whimpered. "I can't just go around drinking people's blood! Everyone's gonna freak out!" 

"Well, uh- I mean... you can drink my blood. Uh, if you have to."

"I shouldn't! You can't even stand up!"

Gavin looked... hurt, almost? Cecil looked away. Of course he wanted to keep drinking Gavin's blood. It was... it was intoxicating. He needed it. He could just keep luring him back with the addictive, irresistible pleasure of the bite... it would be effortless...

But he couldn't. He shouldn't. It was irresponsible. Unethical. Wasn't it? He had to feed somehow, but...

"I... I guess. You should, uh- you should figure out more about it before biting me again, right?"

Cecil should be annoyed he was still assuming the biting would continue; in practice he instead tried to fight the eager agreement worming its way into his mind. It would be fine to keep biting him. Tonight he was just careless. Right? It would go better once-

His rambling train of thought was interrupted by the creak of the front door opening.