"Daniel, stop...I told you to stop." He said inwardly, knowing he could hear him as he tried to fight the tears that tried to well up in his eyes. He could not afford to lose Daniel.
"Do you think I'll be happy if you did that?" He asked, trying to provoke Daniel who roared, sending shivers to the officers,who were beginning to step back.
This situation was dangerous for him. He had to turn the tables around.
"Prepare to fire." The superior in charge ordered.
"No...Daniel no...don't shoot." He screamed as he ran over.
"You're always giving me a problem." The leader of his group hit him hard across the face.
It had always been like this.
If anything had ever gone wrong, it had always always his fault. He had just wanted to die. He thought even God wasn't by his side.
But then, that happened.
He was being beaten up one afternoon after the show's messy performance when Daniel, the circus's lion suddenly walked over to block him from the beating.
The group leader had been particularly scared of the lion,so he had scurried away.
As punishment, he had been starved and thrown into the lion's cage for the night. Daniel had been the circus's lion, so he had been domesticated all his life.
Daniel had passed him his doll that night,on noticing he'd been sad.
"What's that dirty looking thing? I saw it on the tv." Daniel had woofed and he'd scoffed.
"Is this your favourite doll or something?...So you're telling me if I can have something like this, I'll feel at peace...is that it?" He'd thrown back the doll and had curled himself up.
"I don't need something like this...You need someone to rely on, right? Sorry, I don't have time for that."
That had been the start of their relationship.
And after that, whenever he had been in danger or was being bullied Daniel always came to help him and he had kept sleeping with him as punishment.
"Hey Daniel, should we become a family?" He had asked him one night and Daniel had walked over to sleep beside him.That had been the first time he had ever felt warmth from another living being.
Was that what a family was like? It had been an emotion he had felt for the first time,but it didn't last long for him to understand what it was.
Even in a situation where Daniel had gotten injured because of him and his wound had deepened, Daniel had still tried to protect him.
And then had come after the vampire outbreak, the team's financial situation had become difficult as support and sponsors stopped and the team members had made an extreme choice.
He had been surprised to had seen they had all become vampires, and not wanting him to be the only normal one, they had fed him their blood out of his will, making him become another being.
The rage he had been keeping inside of him for years had crept out and when he had came to his senses, his hands had been covered in blood and all of them were dead.
He had fallen unconscious from the shock and the one who had dragged him out was Daniel, who had accidentally slurped up his blood, while dragging him.
He'd been thought of himself Daniel's guardian, but if he had looked back, the one who had always received protection and comfort was him.
Yet even in that situation, Daniel put himself before him.
He raced over to block Daniel as they fired and the bullets pierced through his back. The pain was more painful than what he had imagined it to be and he held on to Daniel's face, as he gasped for breath. There was possibly no way he would survive that.
"Daniel...." He called softly, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'll protect you....I'll block it all out, so now, run away Daniel and the short life you have left, live it happily."
He heard one of the officers scream. "He's also a vampire.
"Prepare to shoot." The superior ordered and he braced himself for more pain. Just then, cards came flying towards his feet.
Cards? From?
He raised his head to see Zuriña and the detective on the roof of a nearby building and he smiled. "You're ruining the mood."
"Hurry, purple hair." Kaiwan mouthed.
"Shoot."
Vael kicked up the cards with his foot, surprising everyone with his neat soccer skills. The bullets were fired and he sent the cards ablaze before dropping it to the ground, sending up flames of fire.
The officers stepped back as the acidic bullets fired, only enraged the fire, making it worse.
"Shit."
"Vael, you'll recover somehow but Daniel is..." Zuriña was saying later that night after he'd been treated. The day had been a disastrous one.
"I know." He interjected. It was obvious he didn't want to hear it.
Kaiwan had a sad look on his face. Even though he'd tried to hide it, she had noticed his mood had changed after Daniel had woken as a pureblood. He'd probably known about it,that it would turn out this way.
That was why his expression wasn't good.
She walked towards Daniel and threw her arms around his face, hating the fact she wasn't able to save him. She had hoped it would work though, so she could save the detective.
"I'm sorry for not being able to help." She whispered and he woofed quietly.
"What are you sorry for?" Vael asked as he ran his fingers over Daniel's fur. "If I hadn't tried, I would have regretted it till the end."
Zuriña could see he was holding himself from sniffing. "You should go now. Thanks to you, I had a good dream...Ah, and the things I said earlier don't forget it."
"We won't." She blinked hard before walking over to her room to pack her things.
"You alright?" Vael asked once Zuriña had gone in. "How long do you think you can hang on?"
"Why would you want to know? Are you going to plan my funeral for me?"
"Your lifespan..." He was saying but changed his mind. "Just forget it. I think I've troubled you enough with Daniel."
Kaiwan straightened his jacket, a smile playing on his lips. "It's not something you should worry about. Do I look like I'll die easily?"
"Acting tough till the end, huh?Honestly.... Zuriña and I are very similar." He said and Kaiwan turned to glare at him.
"You and Riña? What nonsense is that?" He blurted out.
Vael sighed. "Ever since I was young, I was lonely and had no place to rely on. Mom died during childbirth, Dad was MIA...I couldn't trust anyone. It could be worse for her. But, you would know she relies on and trusts you... So at least for her...live till the end."
"You're stating the obvious." He smiled as he his hand on his shoulder.
"And you brat..."Vael called as Kaiwan turned to head for Zuriña's room.
He sighed as he spun to him. "Why do you have so many things to say? Let me leave."
"You're a good detective, although not as sexy as me."
"Don't make me laugh." He said and turned to head for Zuriña's room.
Vael turned to Daniel, whose eyes were already heavy and tears blurred his vision as he slowly walked over to him.
"Daniel... we've had a long day. Should we rest now?"