Chapter Text
-x-
As it turns out, washing your hair in the sink is a feat harder than what is necessary.
Bent over the sink, you awkwardly run your hands over the strands to get most of the salt out, scowling when you end up pumping your head on the faucet. Perhaps you underestimated how much you used your bathroom.
You change into something different, shedding away the wet suit and throwing it to the side to be cleaned later. Despite the earlier troubles, you are feeling quite good. That hot, flowing blood on your tongue has you almost completely swayed just by the memory. It isn't every day that you get completely full.
You debate with yourself for a moment if you should go to town to hear any gossip about what had happened at the seashore. At this time of night (or, more like early morning), most would be heading home while the morning people will start their day. The sun had just started to rise, the chill in the air warming just the slightest bit.
It would be sunny outside, and so you'd be at risk of a sunburn and exposing yourself. But, while that is a gamble, you still go out during the day just so people wouldn't get awfully suspicious.
Now that the sun is gentle, you could sneak your way into the humans without much trouble. With a hood on and gloves, you would be just fine.
And, if you do happen to catch the ray of the sun, you could always pretend that something had gotten in your eye and excuse yourself immediately. Thankfully that had only happened once.
You pull your go-to clothes, securing the hood on and pulling the gloves over your hands. It was the end of winter where the weather begins to warm, spring closing in, so it wasn't so unpredictable to wear jackets and hoodies.
The summer is usually the hardest season when it comes to keeping hidden.
Boots tied, you head for the door. Your great hearing letting you know there was minimal noise coming from the bathroom. Either Eclipse was asleep or he was plotting to run away. If he were smart he wouldn't.
And if he did run away, well... you could smell blood from a far distance. He won't be able to hide with that injury still not healed.
You step out and lock the door behind you, if only to slow your fish patient until you head back in a couple of hours. Or less. Probably less, as you don't want to be away so long.
Tugging the oversized hood over your face, you begin the walk to the up-front town in the west. Technically the nearest one to you and the one that's been sending all those sailors looking for stupid sirens.
Fucking hell. Why do they believe capturing one will solve all of this? It might just make all of the siren folk angry and a war written in history will begin to unfold.
Humans were really all over their heads.
The walk to the town takes about twenty minutes, as your steps are fast. You could certainly speed that up, but you fear someone would see. 'Speed walking' is the next best thing.
The nearer you are, the more buzz and sound can be heard. Houses becoming more and more common in the area as you close in. The sand begins to fade into pavement, shops and carts line the place, kids running past you and almost tripping you—
You really didn't like this place.
It is certainly usually easier to live in bigger cities where everyone's neck is glued to their phones—you're sure even if you showed them your fangs, they wouldn't believe you.
Here, however, it is like time didn't move much. Which wouldn't be a big problem if these kinds of people didn't hold to their beliefs.
You had wanted to stay at the place you got and never interact with anyone, but someone from the small town had found your house and had started to wonder how you got your food.
You had genuinely debated whether you should just kill the nosy guy and end the whole mishap, but that would only lead to trouble.
Fucking damn it.
You really miss the big city. The ocean here is the only reason you have stayed.
You head towards your usual route, ignoring anyone and everyone. You're nice when spoken to, but do not speak to anybody when unprovoked. Being nice hurt, sometimes. Emotionally.
The first stall—or, perhaps more like a truck, is that of an old lady who sells baked goods. She'll know all the gossip. She's your first stop.
"Hello, Mrs. Rose," you greet to signal your arrival, as it seems the old lady's hearing has degraded.
"Oh!" She blinks with a wide smile that wrinkles the corners of her eyes. "Always an early riser aren't you? Hello to you too, dear."
"Whatcha got there? Anything new?" You ask out of habit, knowing the lady likes to experiment with new types of bread to see what will sell better. "That looks fancy," you point to one with green stuff over the top. You're pretty sure you've seen some of it at some point in your life... Zaatar? You remember once a few decades ago when you saw this stuff commonly in the market.
"Ah, yes! Yes. This is a new recipe I found. It is quite delicious." She unwraps the bread and offers you a small piece, "Here, see for yourself."
You hated this part of the conversation with her.
If only she knew human food would make you sick.
Sure, small amounts wouldn't do much, but it would still make your stomach tight and unhappy for the rest of the day. Oh, well... it is a price to pay for information.
You pull down the collar from over your mouth to put the piece in your mouth, pretending to chew thoughtfully as you can't taste the food that well—everything else had dulled in the face of rich blood.
You can't even be sad about the idea because blood will always make you happy when drinking it. A dopamine boost, or whatever the equivalent of that was. It'll always taste better than anything you have ever eaten. That's what your vampire brain knows for a fact.
"Mm! This is quite good!" You nod along as you swallow, smiling lightly. It doesn't reach your eyes (unlike her) as you feel your throat closing around the unwanted food. "It is so good I'll actually take one. They're warm too."
"Straight out the oven!" Mrs. Rose exclaims with a laugh, going to her truck to get you a concealed one in a bag. "That'd be five bucks."
Back in your day bread was barely a few cents.
You don't miss those days.
You search within your pocket for the stashed money there, going slow on purpose as you wait for her to spill any 'tea' about what happened last night.
You're sure everyone knows. What happened was only a few hours ago, but it sure had spread everywhere.
"Oh, that poor sailor..."
There it is. You pause with fake confusion.
"Have you heard? The ship that went out to search had come back with a missing man!" The old woman wails as she animatedly gestures to where the sea was.
You blink and look around, brows furrowing, and lips pulling down in a frown, "Wait, what happened?"
Mrs. Rose didn't even need to be asked to tell everything she knew. "Mr. Rayson had fallen off the ship while he was drunk—he got caught up in the fan and—" she shakes lightly at the image.
You almost lick your lips at the reminder of a hearty meal.
"What?!" You step closer, hands outward as if to offer comfort. Your voice is high-pitched and distressed, "That's..." Okay, what do people say when they're sad again? "That's awful... is he okay? I don't know much about ships, so I don't know—"
Mrs. Rose shakes her head in sorrow, "He is dead. No one survives being caught there..."
"Oh..." Were you bad at this? You knew your face was doing the right expression of remorse and grief, but you weren't sure of your voice.
Perhaps Mrs. Rose wouldn't notice, but someone else might.
"They should stop with this siren nonsense—all it brings is death and misery!"
"Sirens don't exist. I'm pretty sure sharks have been around the area and are the cause of destruction. But sharks don't attack humans, mostly, so there is no reason to hunt them down..." You try to make this your way—redirect this into something useful. If only you could hypnotize everyone in this town to make them believe sirens never existed.
A few tears slipped past the lady's eyes that she wiped with a napkin. "Perhaps you are right. I have heard all about sirens since I was a child, but never fully believed in it. It had always hurt people who went out on endless trips looking for one."
The bread was getting cold.
You have gotten what you needed. You don't feel like conversing anymore.
"I hope his family recovers from the grief," you say to end the conversation, pulling the money out. "Here you go. I should get going, it's really cold."
She pockets the money with a faint nod of her head. "I hope so, too. Now, get going, child. You're so pale you wouldn't handle a cold." She shoos you off.
If only she knew you were older than her.
A small quirk to your lips almost betrays your act. It will always be funny what people don't know. Like an inside joke, but better!
You turn and head towards where you knew they sold various types of fish—this place was right by the ocean, fish was the main dish for most.
You wish they sold something that was more... rich in blood, but most animals were drained before selling.
People's heartbeats mix in the air, your superior hearing allows for you to hear each and every bump of that delicious liquid flowing through their veins, oxygen-filled and rich in iron. Mm... this is why you never come here when hungry, you might attack someone on impulse.
Shaking the idea off as much as possible, you survey the shops around, pondering which sea animal Eclipse would eat. You might just buy him anything till he actually tells you specifically what he wants, but you still want to have variety in case he can't eat a certain type.
Would tilapia be good? Or salmon? Those were popular here. Or maybe some herring?
Eclipse had a lure that was pretty much similar to an angler fish, and those lived in the murky depths of water. This means Eclipse feasts on creatures that live there.
But... that wouldn't explain why he was near the surface enough to be caught.
Your lips twitch in irritation. There was so much you didn't know about sirens, and that was making this supposedly easy task so fucking annoying.
You enter a shop that seems to offer various options of fish, heading towards the pile laid over ice to keep cold.
"Hey," you call to the man behind the counter. "Can I have two fish each of those," you point towards the previously mentioned species; salmon, tilapia, and herring. You entertain the idea of also getting shrimp just to mess with Eclipse, but forced the idea out of your head.
You watch, tapping your foot on the floor as the man begins to clean each fish, using the electric blade to cut the fins and smooth out the scales. When he's done, you hand off the money and take the bag offered.
Alright, time to head back. Hopefully, Eclipse hadn't tried anything stupid trying to escape.
-x-
Eclipse holds his body still, waiting and listening as the creature walks almost deathly silent through the house. When the door closes and locks, he flares his rays to catch the sound of it heading away.
He waits for about ten minutes before deciding it is safe to move.
Carefully, he hauls himself out of the tub, choking in a scream from the pain that spiked throughout his tail, zapping electricity all the way up his spine. The pain was so great he collapsed on the floor in a heap, breathing heavily as his vision swam around. Damn it, he was in a very bad shape—his injury rendering him useless.
Still... he couldn't stay here when there was a damnable blood-drinking creature that could easily kill him. It was rare that he encountered another living thing that could outmatch him—it scared him deeply.
He's wary of it. He's scared of it. He doesn't like it or want its lifeless hands on him knowing those same human-like hands, once fleshy and easily breakable, could tear him apart.
He couldn't stay here. He doesn't want to be its next meal.
Grunting with great effort, Eclipse drags his heavy body across the floor, trying to keep the wound from grinding on the hard surface. That, of course, doesn't go as he planned, and it only aggravates his wound. This time, he couldn't hold his pained scream.
His breaths are shaky, filled with terror of the dawning realization that he was too weak to escape. His injury was severe. He was a prey right in the middle of the predator's jaws.
The panic has him trying again, only succeeding in bringing more pain before his arms refuse to move anymore. His face presses against the cold tiles, lips parted, eyes closed. His spikes scrape against the surface while his lure bulb dimmed, resting beside his head.
Fuck... he was doomed. Him, an apex predator, rotting away in a human house where a non-human creature lives, unmoving from the floor like food on a platter.
He doesn't know how long he laid there, breaths calming but body still unresponsive and so very painful.
A low croon leaves his throat on instinct, so similar to when humans weep.
His body jolts when he hears the door open, eyes snapping open and claws digging into the floor as if to brace himself to attack—a last resort to stop the vampire from deciding it was bored with him. He hears nothing but the door closing with a click and the crinkles of something plastic—the vampire's steps light and impossible to hear with his raging feverish state.
It's about five minutes later that the door to the bathroom opens, and Eclipse lunges—
Only to find the creature unmoving like a brick wall, and his attack earns him nothing but more pain that has him heaving once again.
His eyes lock with the red of the human lookalike. It clicks its tongue at him in mild annoyance—whether that's at his futile attack or the fact he's pathetically lying on the wet floor...
As if he's some misbehaving pet.
Without a word, it crouches down to take a look at his bandaged injury, easily manipulating his lower half to get a better look. Whatever it finds there, it doesn't complain about as it sneaks its arms around him.
Eclipse immediately tries to scratch and bite, but he's too weak and the creature is immortal. Whatever poor scratch he leaves behind is immediately healed, gone before his eyes.
Its mouth was too close to his neck, and he remembers what it had done to the human—
A growl leaves him, feeling himself twist and turn trying to get away, but that only has his tail smacking against the sink and walls, and even more pain zaps through him.
"Stop moving!" It snaps, giving its own version of a growl that has his rays pin back defensively. "All you're doing is hurting yourself!"
"Let me go," he hisses, eyes wide, surveying the room for any way to get away.
"Why the hell are you acting up?!" It lowers him down as gently as it could while he's still wiggling around. The cool water of the tub surrounds him, and the moment he's securely in, the creature lets him go. "I thought you'd be smarter than that—trying to run away with a tail that literally has a hole in it... Do you want to die in the wild or something?" It mocks him.
He doesn't give it an answer. What was he even supposed to say to the one that potentially might eat him?
It stares at him with a glare, eyebrows pulled tight. It was scary looking at lifeless eyes that could still see right at him.
How can he even begin to kill something that was already dead? If it did try to harm him, what was there for him to do in defense?
He was utterly, and completely, helpless in its presence.
And that was terrifying.
-x-
You huff, exiting the bathroom to go check on the fish you left on the stove, boiling them just enough to be hot, but not long enough to cook. You were sure your fish patient wouldn't want to eat frozen food.
What an idiot. He almost severed his stitches open trying to escape—and to where would he even go, exactly? He won't be able to swim with that injury and would simply sink to the bottom of the ocean.
And yet, he still looks up at you like you're the source of his pain. You could hear his heart beating erratically, hammering against his sternum in what you could only conclude was fear.
You don't exactly blame him. You'd probably be, too, if you were in his place. Yikes. Once again, you seem to forget that Eclipse was more or less like an injured animal. His fear and mistrust were completely justified.
Dipping your hand into the boiling water, you pluck two fish, holding each by the tail.
You make your way back into the bathroom, noting how the siren pressed himself against the tub to be as far away from you as possible. "I brought you food," you say, trying to remedy your earlier scuffle.
Eclipse's reply is a growl that keeps building higher in his throat. He makes no move to grab the fish from you.
"Hey, if you don't eat and end up dying I'll have to cut you into tiny pieces before throwing you out so no one sees you. So you either eat and get better to be released or starve," you warn, watching the fear build in the other's eyes.
You technically can hypnotize him to eat, but you're being nice and giving the other the choice to make.
"Come on. It's getting cold," you encourage, this time softer.
Eclipse, thankfully, makes the wise decision and snatches the first fish offered; the salmon. He doesn't even look at it before taking one huge chunk of it. His eyes seem to go unfocused for a second as hunger strikes, his body jerking and he stuffs the last bit of the fish in his mouth and swallows with barely any chewing.
Talk about table manners.
His eyes, pupils wide, zero in on the last fish. In a split second, he snatches it away and eats it too.
Your fingers curl against empty air where the fish was. That was quick. You watch as those same eyes lock with yours, filled with wild instinct, before they calm down when the food settles in his stomach.
"See? Wasn't so hard, no?" You lightly tease.
"Shut it," the siren hisses, sinking lower in the tub.
"Aw, you don't wanna be a good little fish and heal properly? Ah, so tragic!" You lean back with an arm over your face dramatically.
The anger was obvious on the other's scratched-up face, bright orange pupils trained on you with heated annoyance that seemed to replace the fear, if just for a moment. "Don't call me that."
"What? Call you what?" You abandon your previous position to invade the other's space, intentionally making him press closer to the wall. Were you being mean? You were too far into your head to notice. "You don't want to be a good boy? Can't handle being called that?—"
You don't get to continue before a splash of water drenches you from head to toe. You freeze in place, taken aback by the sudden wetness. Your hair clings to your forehead as water drips down your nose and chin.
You focus back on the offender, watching in real time as his actions caught up with his mind. His expressions turned from satisfied anger to regret in mere seconds. You don't know what he sees in you that has him so terrified, but your frozen face and glimmering red eyes probably painted the picture of a monster.
A part of you felt like a monster; tormenting an injured being that was clearly scared. Cornering him into the tub, leaving no room to escape, exactly like what had been done to you when your humanity was stolen.
You wilt under the unexpected memories, guilt, unfamiliar, crawled up your throat, almost choking you with its bitterness.
You step back from the tub, schooling your expressions. "I'll bring you more fish later."
With that, you all but escape the room.
-x-
As you had promised, you heat up a couple more fish for Eclipse at noon, and then again sometime after the sun had set.
He hadn't moved from where you'd left him, still pressed against the wall when you walked in. You say nothing as you hand him one fish at a time, watching him eat with sickened hunger.
"I'll go hunting later tonight," you say quietly, knowing this was the last fish you have bought, "I'll bring fresh fish for you."
Eclipse merely stares at you, his eyes two burning stars in the darkness of the bathroom.
"Is there anything specific you want?" You ask, standing there like a statue—no heart to beat or lungs to expand, you were truly like a mannequin. Was that scary to look at? You think, even when you're not attempting to be the monster that you are, you're still scary-looking. Your eyes alone reflect no light, making them scream the fact that you are dead.
A big pink bow atop your head might be the only way to make you seem less threatening, apparently.
Eclipse does not dignify you with an answer.
You look to the side, your lips twitching as you think about your next move.
"Look, uh—" hmm, you are very bad at this. It had been decades since you needed to make amends with anything. "I am not going to harm you. This is probably a little hard to believe, but I do not benefit from killing you nor am I planning to even if it did. I may not be a saint but I keep my promises."
The other's mistrustful expressions do not fade. You don't expect them to.
"I am unpleasant to be around," you knew that for a fact simply because you rarely try to be nice if it doesn't benefit you. "But I will nurse you back to health."
Again, there was no answer.
Alright. It's fine with you. As long as the other doesn't try escaping again.
"I'll be going—"
"When will you be back?"
The voice almost startles you despite being quiet.
You turn at the doorway, staring at the other as he stares back.
"I won't be long. Three hours maybe. Definitely before the sun rises. I don't want to be burned."
Eclipse simply blinks at you in faint confusion.
He says nothing more after that.
You leave the room.
-x-
It had already been a few hours since Eclipse last ate, and you think now is better than any time to get him something before it gets close to sunrise.
Your (spare) diving suit is familiar against your skin, your bare feet walking up the shore and towards the water, the sand sticking between your toes—it's all familiar, except the tightness that has your insides raging like they're starving somehow.
The water kisses your skin as it climbs up your body till you are fully submerged, and by then, you have already set out to swim quickly through the salty water. You let yourself forget about your poor social skills and behavior, letting the water wipe it all away for the moment.
You had all your senses focused on any nearby movements, scanning the vast ocean for prey.
A medium-sized fish was swimming near, unaware of your presence as your eyes zeroed on it. This will have to do.
With a powerful kick of your legs, you lunge at the prey. Your claws sink into its scaly skin as it writhes and jerks around, trying to escape your clutches. Its movements only allow you to sink your claws deeper in, blood starting to flow like ribbons, and the smell has your grip tightening.
Now that it was secure in your hands, you started swimming back towards the shore. It hasn't taken you long at all, surprisingly. It usually takes you around two hours to get something, but that is probably because you don't rush through it. The nights you go out hunting, you usually let the sea carry you mindlessly for hours before deciding to actually look for prey to catch.
Not this time. This was simply to catch something fresh for your patient.
Would it count as an apology gift? You certainly could just buy fish from the market and call it a day.
But... buying that amount of fish every day will raise suspicion in no time at all. Hunting out in the ocean was the better option.
So this wouldn't exactly count as an apology gift.
You were so bad at this.
The shore comes into view, and you find yourself hurrying up to get the stupid fish to Eclipse. It had stopped twitching for a minute now and was growing cold.
The moment you are on the sand, your supernatural abilities allow you to reach your home in mere scant seconds.
Closing the door behind you, you head to where you left Eclipse.
"Fresh food, like promised," you state, standing in the doorway for a moment before entering to crouch near the siren.
He has not moved, thankfully. His eyes are trained on you like before.
"Eat it. It's warm. Fresh."
You hand him the fish, and he, surprisingly, takes it without hesitation, taking a big chomp out of the middle of it. Blood coats his face and falls into the water. You find yourself staring.
Your hands are also coated with its blood. You can't help absentmindedly licking that off. It was salty.
Eclipse ate most of the fish, and when he's done, you take the remaining bone and head and throw them away into the trash.
"I'm going to run you a new bath. The water got dirty," you say, but make no move to come closer.
You can do better! As better as you could manage, at least. That 'better' is in the form of not getting too close to the scared siren too fast.
You're not that cruel. You think. You may be cruel to humans, sometimes, but you shouldn't be to those who share similar grounds with you.
"There is a drain plug that I'll have to remove," you take a step closer. "It's right under you."
Eclipse looks down at the water, his arm moving for a moment before he flinches as he, apparently, removed the drain plug and the water began to flow down all around him. Quickly, the dirty water lessened, and before long, the tub was empty.
Well, that works too.
You forgot sirens also have hands.
"Plug it back in," you instruct, moving a hand to rest on the handle of the faucet. When you hear the telltale sound of it back in place, you open the water and let it fill the tub back up.
Silence stretches on. Or, as much silence as you could have when you can hear things triple the amount a human can.
You can hear the other's heartbeat, slower than before, calmer. Does that mean your 'gift' worked?
"I want to reapply the ointment on your wound."
And as soon as his heart calmed, it started right back up. He can school his expression all he wants, you can know his emotions based on that sound alone.
"I'll be gentle," you try, already moving to get the kit from under the sink. "The sooner you heal, the sooner you can get back to your home, or wherever you live in the ocean."
His hands grip the edges of the tub tightly. "Be quick," he growls. Oh, wow, you hadn't heard him speak in a bit. He was very quiet in the past few hours.
You shrug. This will take as long as it should. You won't hurry and accidentally aggravate the wound even more.
You close the faucet when it was halfway through, reasoning it would be better that way to undo the bandages before letting it fill all the way.
After thoroughly washing your hands, you crawl closer, keeping an ear out to hear any abnormalities in the other's heartbeat.
You start undoing the bandages, unwrapping it till the stitched wound is revealed. You grimace. It certainly looks aggravated and slightly swollen, but you don't see any signs of infection (none that you know about, at least).
The siren's heartbeat certainly picked up speed at the stinging pain, his breathing becoming shallow and quick. You spare a glance his way before continuing, applying the ointment all over the closed injury before grabbing for clean gauze and bandages.
Quickly, but carefully, you wrap it around, securing the wound. Lastly, you stick another waterproof bandage on top to seal everything away.
You rest a hand on Eclipse's tail, away from the newly bandaged sight, "I'm done."
He slumps down, hands going limp.
You turn the water back on, letting it fill up as you clean around and throw the dirty bandages away.
When you turn, you find that Eclipse's eyes were half open, exhaustion once more pulling on him.
You're not sure, but you think he looks worse than he did earlier this day. The question if sirens can get a fever arises once more.
What would you do if he gets sick? If an infection had already occurred without your knowledge?
You move near his upper body and place a hand over his forehead, frowning when you don't immediately feel any temperature change. Your hand glides upward towards the fins that crowned his head, theorizing that, because of their thin membrane, they may give a more accurate temperature.
The moment your cool hand rubs against the other's warmer skin, you freeze.
Claws dig into your abdomen. Two big hands circle your waist with deadly claws that have sneaked close when you were distracted—unafraid, knowing the other can do naught to harm you.
Your eyes snap lower to lock with his, realizing how close you have gotten—or, was it him that had made it closer? Inching neared when he saw you were too concentrated, sizing his chance.
Eclipse's face was set into something predatory, determined, focused. His body was stiff, coiled, and ready to bounce.
If you were anyone else, then he'd have you right where he wants you. You'll ultimately be trapped. A perfect and easy prey.
But you aren't anyone else. He may try whatever little tricks he has up his sleeve and none will work. That was why you let yourself be vulnerable; there was no threat nearby.
What the hell was he even trying to prove with this move? There was no way he hadn't figured out you were stronger than him by now. You have personally told him you were immortal!
His claws dig dangerously deeper, seeming to struggle greatly against your tough skin, fingers trembling.
You remove your hand. You don't know what expression you were wearing as you stared back at him.
A feeling close to betrayal fills you. If you weren't a vampire, he would've killed you. All of this after you were trying to help him.
You weren't trying to help him because of the kindness of your heart, but you still aimed no harm at him, promised, and made good on said promise. You may not be the nicest, but both of you benefit from him getting better.
Easily, you step out and away from his grip. Your diving suit is now sporting ten holes on each side above your hips. Your punctured skin repairing itself in quick succession.
You spare no look towards Eclipse as you head out, closing the door behind you.
You'll change into a different suit and head out for another dive.