#also Tabaeus still has Memory Issues (tm) so...

[eruden-writes]

Room & Board - Part 5 (Tabaeus x Reader)

Anon submitted this prompt:

For the prompt submissions a vampire that feels guilty after feeding/attacking someone so they leave obscenely valuable ancient artifacts as payment/an apology?

Part 1 | Previous | Masterlist | Next

x x x x x

Hours pass and Tabaeus is enthralled with the computer and the Internet. After you provided some supplemental lessons - such as some key sites they may find interesting, how to open documents and save files, and helping them set up a free e-mail account - you left Tabaeus to their own devices. On the promise the vampire would ask you if they had questions or if something - ahem - unseemly popped up.

You’ve managed to reply to your manager and even taken a nap in your room, before deciding to rouse Tabaeus from their Internet fugue. 

As you wander into the kitchen, retrieving a soda from the fridge, you call over to Tabaeus over the short distance, “How’s it going?”

“Fine,” they mumble, their shoulders hunched as they lean over the desk, staring a bit too intensely at the screen.

You make a curious sound as you, with your soda in hand, peer over Tabaeus’s shoulder. On the screen, an article about vampires is displayed. It’s from an old site, with a pure black background and obnoxiously ornate font. 

“Ah, researching your roots,” you comment with soft amusement as you pop the soda tab open and take a sip. You lay your hand on the back of the chair, fingers just grazing Tabaeus’s shoulder. 

Your small touch seems to break through the digital daze. Tabaeus blinks, their eyes shifting from the screen to your hand. You can see reality resetting itself in their brain as they offer you an awkward smile. But the attention is short, as they’re soon turning quickly back to the screen.

“Yes, but seeing these images is making me hungry,” Tabaeus uses the mouse to wave the pointer over the accumulated gallery. You can’t help but notice that much of the depictions involve people clad in nearly translucent gowns, feasting or being feasted upon, in quasi-erotic poses. The bite marks on your throat throb and you recall a hazy memory of how the blood tickled as it dribbled down your skin. You shove the thought away before it can settle and warm your cheeks.

From the way Tabaeus is avoiding your eye, you’re fairly certain their hunger is two-fold. Blood and lust. You try to ignore that realization by grinning at Tabaeus and snarkily asking, “Want a bowl of cereal?”

Their lips press into an unamused line as their red gaze tilts up at you. You merely grin back, delighting in the mild annoyance emanating from them. It’s only when they move to slowly stand that you begin to worry you overstepped some line between you two. Or maybe that’s what you wanted, you realize, as you fumble backward. Even though your heart is thrumming, you can’t seem to find an iota of fear as Tabaeus closes the distance. 

Something solid bumps into your back. With a start, you realize Tabaeus has backed you across the small living room, against the far wall. A quick calculation tells you that the vampire is too close for you to slink away and, within a breath of being cornered, Tabaeus is stooped over you. 

One of their long-fingered hands plants against the wall, right beside your head. The light scrape of their nails, now longer and darker and curved, hisses against the wall and right into your year. They bring their free hand to your chin, barely touching you. But you still tip your head back, tilting your gaze toward their face.  

“You know what I want, little sango sako,” Tabaeus purrs, their clawed fingers delicately trailing along your jaw before coasting down your throat. Somewhere, in a totally separate pocket of your brain, you wonder where their timidness has gone. 

“Wh-what does that mean?” Tabaeus’s eyes lazily flick from your neck, back to your face as you speak. You try to clear the stutter from your throat before clarifying, “Sango sako?”

“You do not know esperanto?” A slow smile spreads over Tabaeus’s lips, showing off those fearsome rows of sharp points, as you shake your head.

The smug grin crossing the vampire’s lips makes you balk a little. “Should I?” 

“It was supposed to become an international language, so all could communicate.” Tabaeus gives an amused hum. Their gaze travels down your throat and the air in your lungs seize, memories of the last feeding razing over your nerves. Realizing themself, Tabaeus’s attention flicks back to your face and their smile takes on an impish angle, “I called you a little blood bag.” 

Your eyes widen as heat bleeds hotter in your cheeks, embarrassment twining with the anticipation of the moment. Before you can even think it, your hands have planted against Tabaeus’s chest and pushed against them. “Oh! You are awful!” 

Infuriatingly, the vampire doesn’t even budge. Instead, Tabaeus looks at your arms, head tilted to the side like a cat surveying a bug with interest. “Yes, well you knew what I meant when I said I was hungry.” 

You clap your hands around your neck, ignoring the slight ache from where Tabaeus had previously fed. “Well good fucking luck getting a snack off me now! Calling me a bloodbag… geez.” 

That curious look returns to your face. A smile tilts at their lips, an easy delight dancing in their eyes. “I am good at waiting.”

“Tabaeus.” Your eyebrows dip as the stern word manages to break free from your tightly pressed lips. As easy-going as Tabaeus is taking the moment, you cannot do the same. Such a casual reminder of how you were a food source reignited some lingering fear from that first night. It’s joined with the apprehension from being enthralled and the uncertainty of trusting a vampire who, allegedly, has lost their memories.

Reading your body language, Tabaeus’s eyes widen and their pointed ears droop. They push themself away from the wall and take a couple steps back, giving you a wide berth of space. Their hands remain at their shoulder height, lightly curled into fists in an attempt to hide their claws. “My apologies, I was only teasing.” 

“Yeah, well,” you mumble, still feeling the burn of mortification on your cheeks and still keeping your hands tightly locked around your throat. “Try not to be so convincing next time.”

“Duly noted.” Tabaeus’s fingers start to shift against their palm. One arm lowers as the other reaches toward you, slowly and carefully. You stare as Tabaeus holds out their hand to you. Despite yourself, the earnest look in their eye has you reaching for their hand. 

Once your palm grazes theirs, their fingers curl under yours and they lift your hand. They press your bent knuckles to their cheek, leaning their face against your fingers. Tabaeus closes their eyes, a sad crease between their brows as their voice dips softly, “It was not my intention to frighten you. I am so sorry.”

A blush crawls over your cheeks at the touch of Tabaeus’s cheek against your hand. You frown, agitated with yourself as you gently pull your hand from the vampire’s grasp. Their eyes crack open, a pouty frown forming on their lips, but they release you. 

“Other than making yourself hungry, have you learned anything new?” The question comes with an edge, reminding Tabaeus of the line they overstepped while trying to maintain a measure of politeness.

“Quite a lot, actually.” Tabaeus straightens, their eyes warming with jubilation. Their guilt over their mistake completely forgotten. If you had known, you would have braced yourself for an array of information that would have satisfied a five-year-old’s curiosity. Soon, you forget how Tabaeus had reignited your concerns and fear, under their onslaught of knowledge.

Did you know that the Japanese have made square watermelons? Or that there are spiders that keep tiny frogs as pets, to keep pests from eating the spider’s eggs? Oh, or that Earth used to be purple and, speaking of the color, there’s only two countries that have it in their flag? And on the historical note, did you know more photos were taken in the past seven years than in all of previous history? 

You can’t help but smile and simply nod, occasionally offering a comment, as Tabaeus continues to rattle off fact after fact, often segueing themselves into a completely separate topic. They remind you a little of how you were as a kid, when the Internet opened up so many worlds to you. Cute and charming, in its own way. 

When Tabaeus finally seems to be running out of steam, you decide to steer them back towards more pressing topics. “Have you learned anything that explains your memories a bit better?” 

“Ah, not quite.” They deflate a little under that question, even though you can’t blame them. The amount of information that has been opened up to them is overwhelming and easy to get distracted by. Though you had been hoping something would spark their own knowledge of the memories. Likely, they need more structured research, but you figure giving them free reign for their first ‘lesson’ will make narrowing down topics easier.

“That’s alright,” you reassure Tabaeus, with a pat on their arm. “I’m going to use the computer now, though.” 

“What do you need to research?” The vampire cocks their head to the side and their eyes follow you as you make your way to the computer desk.

“The Internet is for more than just research,” you say as you sit yourself in front of the monitor. You partially thankful Tabaeus hadn’t stumbled onto some more illicit sites. If the barely scandalous gallery on the vampire site got them hungry, you worry what out-and-out porn would do to them. Of course, they never clarified what sort of hunger, so maybe you were just misinterpreting their own body language. 

Shaking the line of thought from your head, you enter a URL to a popular home searching site into the bar. “I’d like to find a better place to live.”

Tabaeus’s eyebrows furrow and you can hear them look around your apartment, now with a discerning eye. “Is your current residence not appropriate?” 

“Not for the two of us.” You are clicking on various options as you reply. A basement and an attic would be nice, giving options to Tabaeus for a room. You faintly wonder how many rooms you’ll want. Should you plan for others to be involved in this arrangement? What if you found someone to date? Or what if Tabaeus needed another source of blood at some point? What if they aren’t as sincere and naive as they’ve acted?

Your brain spins with possibilities and potentialities. Various could-be futures fracture and spread out in your mind’s eye. 

“Oh, I thought it was cozy here.” Tabaeus’s words bring you back to actuality. Turning away from the array of home options, you catch their eye and offer them a slight grin.

“The universe plopped a wealthy vampire into my lap.” Tabaeus opens their mouth and you know they’re going to say that no, they’ve never been in your lap. You cut them off, continuing to speak, “So I might as well try my luck further and buy a house, yeah?”

“You do not own this place?” Realization begins to dawn in Tabaeus’s eyes, their eyebrows ticking upward. The second you shake your head, they scuttle up beside your seated self and crouch down, so they can peer comfortably up at the computer screen. “Well, in that case, let us see what abodes are available, yes?”

“Hah, I knew you’d be up for it,” you lightly laugh and roll your eyes as you turn back to the screen yourself. “You shopaholic, you.” 

Though Tabaeus’s eyes don’t turn from the computer, watching as you click on particular features and seeing as the options change, they still have the presence of mind to ask, “Shopaholic?” 

“It means you like buying things. A lot.” You glance down at Tabaeus, slightly amused with this absurdly tall vampire sitting at your elbow. Their red eyes catch the glint of the computer screen, making the hue all the more prominent.

Their gaze breaks from the monitor to your face. Hesitantly, as their eyebrows furrow once more, Tabaeus mumbles, “Does not everyone enjoy buying things for themselves?”

At that, you chuckle and your voice takes on a teasing tone, “Technically, you’ll be buying this house for me.”

It doesn’t even take Tabaeus a moment to respond, “Does not everyone enjoy buying things for those they care about, then?” 

You’re not sure which has you blushing hotter. The fact they barely even had to think about their retort or the fact Tabaeus - in such a short amount of time - has deemed you ‘someone they care about.’ 

Trying to hide the fact you’re internally squirming, you try to laugh off their comment. “A house is a little much. Especially since we’ve barely known each other.” 

“There is a way to… ah, what was that term?” Tabaeus presses their cheek to the back of your free hand, turning their red gaze up at you from their tilted face. You try to ignore them, keeping your eyes on the house listings, but your heart is thumping loud enough they likely hear it. A toothy smile spreads across their lips as the term finally comes to mind, “Oh, yes! We could speedrun getting to know one another fully, yes?” 

That breaks your diligent attempt to ignore them. A laugh bubbles up from your lips and you turn a disbelieving look down at the vampire kneeling beside you. From the way Tabaeus’s smile tilts, they’re enjoying your amusement. 

You’re not entirely sure the vampire understands the innuendo in their words. With your eyes narrowing, you try to purse your lips but only manage a puckered smile. “You’re talking about drinking my blood again, aren’t you?” 

“Am I that transparent?” A theatrical sigh escapes from Tabaeus, making you roll your eyes. Though your smile doesn’t falter. 

You snort, “Afraid so.” 

“In that case, I will work on being more artful.” They sit up, finally removing their cheek from your hand, and clap their hands together once. The move reminds you of an out-of-touch teacher, excitedly trying to pump up students. Faintly, you wonder if Tabaeus was in the learning profession at some point, but shake the thought away. 

“Alright, let’s focus on this,” you say as you point to the computer screen, where listings of houses are still waiting to be dissected. “Instead of perfecting your seduction of a blood bag.”

At once, Tabaeus’s eyes widen, the determined set of their lips curling into a pout. “I apologized for that!” 

A doubtful hum escapes you, which only intensifies Tabaeus’s pout. Without thinking, you lay your hand on their head, gently stroking along their hair. The action startles Tabaeus at first, but they soon relax into it. Their eyes flutter shut and, subtly, you feel them nuzzle their head against your palm. 

“Yes, you apologized, but you’re also a super powerful, preternatural creature of the night that should know better.” Your fingers flex in Tabaeus’s hair, tightening in a gentle way. As you experimentally tug, a pitiful sound escapes Tabaeus. The chair creaks as you shift to lean over them. You’re not sure if it’s the sound or if it’s Tabaeus’s own senses that prompt the vampire to open their eyes. 

Their eyes widen, seeing your face so close to theirs. If they were capable of blushing, you’re certain redness would flood their cheeks. Your voice dips low and soft, and you whisper, “Forgive me if I hold it over your head forever.” 

A whine escapes Tabaeus, their attention completely on you as they weakly nod in understanding. In return, you grin and tug on their hair a little harder than before. Another, almost imperceptible, sound leaves their throat. You notice their chest is rising and falling a little heavier than before and their hands are curled into the fabric of their sweats. 

Tabaeus is a temptation, you finally decide. And you’re fairly certain there’s no enthralling happening on the vampire’s part. Well, unless they got much better at controlling the power in the last twenty-four hours, which you decide you shouldn’t entirely discount.

With a final tug of their hair and a boop of your fingertip on their nose, you abruptly turn back to what you were doing. You can feel Tabaeus’s dazed look on you. It takes a few blinks until the vampire realizes nothing more is going to happen.

You say no more about it as you guide the conversation into needs and wants for a new home.

To Tabaeus’s credit, they manage to give input with minimal pouting.