Vampire Nightlife

There was a reason why the blood supply lasted for months–before Lukas knew it, the bright alarming light of the sun turned into darkness once more. It became night once more.

It made Lukas a little curious of what magic or technology actually allowed the city of Lux to be bathed in eternal night. However, there was a visible amount of relief on the faces of the others with him.

"Thank goodness the sun finally disappeared. My skin was so itchy the entire time–is this what it's like outside." Alexei pulled down his cloak and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Careful now." Theodore warned as he slowed down the van and eventually came into a halt. "Keep the cloak on, because if you think you can relax and sleep–you might just wake up to your own skin scorching you because you neglected the time."

"Wait, the sun comes back again?" Alexei groaned.

"After some time, yes." Theodore intoned.

Stacy looked like she was completely embarrassed by her brother's questions and was pinching the bridge of her nose. Meanwhile, Lukas couldn't help but chuckle. It made sense that the sun would come up after all–

"Do you really think it's that funny?" Alexei glowered at him, his red eyes flashing within the darkness.

"Nono, I was chuckling about something else." Lukas decided not to get into an argument. It was just a waste of breath and time either way–and he'd rather not give Stacy a headache.

"You better."

"Why did you stop driving, Theodore?" Chaerin asked, more or less noticing that the van had completely stopped.

"Yeah, why did you?" Lukas raised a brow. They could perfectly see through the night! They weren't humans who had to rely on lights actually.

"Obviously, I wouldn't stop if there was no–ugh, it's far more dangerous at night." Theodore said. "I'm going out to check the perimeter and make sure that there's no scorpion nests or sandworms anywhere."

Those words and the sound of the front door closing made Lukas fall a bit silent. Far more dangerous during the night? That was something a little concerning when to him, Vampires were the prime predators of the night.

It meant that there was something that could attack and even make Theodore uneasy.

After some minutes, Theodore returned and rested his head back on the headrest. "The relative area is free from any dangers. We can rest here."

Lukas raised a brow and then suddenly realized. "Heeeeey, did you actually get tired?"

"What?" Theodore glowered at him.

"I mean, we actually beat a freaking giant sandworm and evaded those scorpions. You could say that we've got things more or less handled."

"I do not like your definition of handled." Theodore looked at him frustrated. "But you are free to believe whatever it is that you wish to believe. I honestly do not care."

The four of them watched Theodore put on his oni-demon mask and not say a single word. A couple more minutes passed and then a sound of a slightly muffled snore came to be.

"Hah. Called it." Lukas said and shook his head.

"Stupid." Alexei rolled his eyes. "If he was afraid of saying that his body needs rest and fought against it, that's just really counterintuitive."

"He's worried sick about his cousin." Stacy pointed out. "I'm sure that he pushed himself to the point of exhaustion–just thinking of it is enough to mentally fatigue someone you know. What if you were in his shoes, Alexei? Think about that."

Lukas couldn't help but appreciate Stacy's words at that moment, but Alexei merely snorted and waved off a hand.

"You in danger? I'd sleep like a wee baby and get my full twelve hours of sleep if I was stuck in this situation."

"Bastard." Stacy hit her brother's arm.

"You'd do the same exact thing!"

"So what–you're big enough to last for a year without medical attention!"

Chaerin couldn't help but look at the two siblings interacting and felt a pang of pain within her chest. She crossed her arms over her chest and instinctively made herself smaller.

When she had finally managed to find Chelsea that night and actually talk with her?

It was something that left most of Chaerin's own thoughts and worries mostly unresolved. There were decisions that she never agreed with her sister and their differences were concerning.

Maybe it was why Chaerin was with Lukas right now even though he had insisted on her to stay back–she couldn't remain in the same place as her sister.

"Chaerin, you okay?" Lukas gently glanced at his girlfriend's direction and noticed her silence. She was a lot more talkative when it was just the two of them but being surrounded by others made her quite an introvert.

"A-ah, yeah, I'm good." Chaerin smiled weakly. "I just thought that it might be better off if we actually stay silent for awhile if Theodore's actually exhausted you know?"

"You're actually right." Lukas agreed.

"Sorry." Stacy looked in Chaerin's direction and yet the apology didn't seem fully expressed. Instead, there was a shared look between the two girls that vanished as quickly as it came.

Neither actually knew what that look was for.

It made Chaerin even more uncomfortable. Maybe another reason why she came here on this trip was because of Stacy Vardoken. She knew that Stacy and Lukas were friends… but there was always a lingering feeling of more.

Chaerin looked in Lukas' direction and watched him smile kindly at her and ruffled her head. This made Chaerin feel a little better, just by being close with him–she felt so much better than being left alone.

Didn't Lukas also tell her that if something were to change in the relationship… that he would tell them. He wouldn't keep any secrets from them any longer because they hurt and were painful.

A stab of momentary guilt came in Chaerin's chest.

Secrets were… sometimes unavoidable. You couldn't fully expect to reveal everything to a person right? Sometimes, it was too much to completely just enmesh your life with someone.

You were still your own person after all.

It was with those thoughts that Chaerin decided to rest again and it didn't take too long for the rest of the group to follow. But as the moon shone down into the desert, the van door suddenly opened.