Sebastian against bunking in the same room for a while as there was a possibility Sebastian could wake up, spaz out from hunger, and attack Thad. It took a while for new vampires to be able to control themselves enough to sleep in the same room as a human. As all of the vampires in Royce’s coterie were particularly well fed and Royce mostly picked his people for their temperance, there was little danger to the humans here—most of the time. The idea that Sebastian might turn on his own brother did freak Thad out, though. Since it had been a couple of years since he was turned, he might be okay now. Maybe.
Thad thought it a better idea to hang out in the living room until Sebastian calmed down. Sebastian was pissed off that they hadn’t had any notice, that John had been such an unreasoning prick over it, that he was hungry after expending so much energy moving his and his brother’s stuff around, and that he couldn’t feed on Ashi. John had told Sebastian that he could once he collected him, but he was sorely disappointed to find out that Ashi had already been bitten and was badly traumatized, according to Mouse. He’d been able to see as much for himself, and hated being looked at like he was a monster on top of everything else. So he’d stalked off into his room in a huff, still too new and embarrassed by his needs to ask one of the other donors, and unwilling to feed on his brother.
Thad thought, for the most part, that he understood Sebastian’s problem, and tried to help him as best he could. He wasn’t contracted, and glad of that, but that didn’t mean he was blind to his brother’s needs. He’d been standing right there when John said Ashi was free game for anyone who wanted a taste, and that Sebastian could take his fill from him in payment for the inconvenience.
‘John really was a dick sometimes,’ he thought.
Considering Mouse thought Ashi was “traumatized,” and by John’s unusually forthright cruelty tonight, the guy was probably freaking out at having been bitten and wasn’t thinking with what he’d need to repair any damage John might have done to him. Glancing down at the beer in his hand, then at the TV again, Thad sighed, levered himself up off the couch, and shuffled over to the kitchen to put together some juice and vitamins for Ashi.
* * *
Ashi ventured out into the bedroom. He sniffed the air, but didn’t detect anything. He scurried across to the bathroom.
He didn’t look in the mirror. He just scrubbed his face, hair, and hands in the sink. There was blood on him, which he didn’t want to look at. After a few long moments of staring at the copper-tinged suds spiraling down the drain, he lathered up his hands again and rubbed his neck.
'Son of a—' He gritted his teeth. The bite stung like a mother. He wasn’t used to feeling this kind of pain. It wasn’t acceptable to him.
Still, he scrubbed his neck until his fingers stopped coming away with tiny brown flecks of dried blood. Then, still wet, he scurried back to the closet and hid inside.
'I was one of the top twenty high-ranks. Now Analie is braver and stronger than I am.'
Less than a minute after he’d retreated back to the closet, a loud knock came on the bedroom door.
“Hey, this is Thad. I’m… uh… I guess I’m your other new roommate. Can I come in?”
Ashi jumped, slamming the back of his head against the wall. When the stars cleared somewhat, he exited the closet in a low crouch.
After screwing up one possible alliance, he wasn’t too keen on alienating everyone. On the other hand, he was terrified of these people. Of course, a human wouldn’t be so tough to handle, and what would one want with him anyway? Thad wasn’t about to suck his blood.
It also did away with the whole now-I-have-to-introduce-myself thing.
He retreated to the far wall, still in a crouch. He needed allies here. Not even his own packmates wanted anything to do with him.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, still unsettled at the lack of substance to his voice. “Sure. Come in.”
Thad opened the door and paused, nonplussed seeing Ashi smashed in the corner. Now that Thad had mellowed after all the hard work and was not quite so angry from being shuffled around, he could see that the Asian guy was pretty