Chapter Text
It was not the strangest job he’d taken.
Actually, no, scratch that. An indefinite amount of time living in one of those big, larger-than-life Gothic mansions out in a European countryside, full expenses paid with a lump sum of cash to be paid afterwards that would set him for life?
It was absolutely the strangest job that Kaeya had ever taken. Then again, after nearly six years of serving a certain market of high end clientele, he couldn’t say he was surprised that he’d gotten an exclusive offer such as this one. He knew nothing about the person hiring him, only that the contact had said, with some brief embarrassment, that he was somewhat of a family friend.
Which was interesting, because when it came to vampire families, politics suddenly became much more convoluted. He may have only served as a glorified juice box to some, but Kaeya was… more than aware of how some things worked in vampire culture.
The fact that he was bent hired out meant that he had managed to impress someone important. That was what was the most important, arguably. Not that he wouldn’t need to work parties with guests that had a reputation for taking a little too much, or getting a little too hands-on—without willing to pay the price, at least.
The first class flight was a good sign. The private chauffeur who Kaeya could already feel judging him for the flight-pillow that Kaeya kept around his neck was another, but then again, the judginess was probably from the grin Kaeya had given in lifting a hand to pat at the pillow and the spare comment of ‘keeping the goods safe and secure. He had been assured that that the staff already knew just who, or what, they were working for, but… it seemed German humor likely wasn’t the same.
The drive took so long that he nearly dozed off in the car again, but that wasn’t a bad thing. He wanted to be well rested for meeting his new… host? Patron? There was probably a word for what they were going to be that was more professional than ‘sugar daddy,’ just like there were probably more professional personal nicknames that Kaeya could have for his sponsor than his newfound ‘leech.’ Perhaps depending on just how depraved the man might be, he’d come up with some worse ones for him, too.
But Jean had vouched for the guy, and with how well she had treated him since he’d begun in this particular profession, her word carried the weight of gold with it.
Oh boy, he had not expected it to be an actual castle, though. He had been promised WiFi and modern amenities, but he was stunned that such a place actually existed hidden away from the rest of the world—at least, if it really did have WiFi.
“Master Ragnvindr encourages you to make yourself at home. Adelinde will show you to your room. Dinner is at eight.”
“Will I be eating alone?” Kaeya asked, shrugging his suitcase at his side and his backpack higher up on his shoulder. “Or do you mean that I’m the dinner?”
The driver’s frown thinned, and he left without another word. Kaeya just shrugged, and turned up to the grand doorway at the front of the castle. Before he had time to even get up to the tempting, heavy looking knockers hanging from the front doors, one opened to show a woman who, even Kaeya knew immediately, was not to be trifled with. Though she didn’t look more than in her thirties at least, she wore the severe expression of someone who was far too old to be dealing with nonsense. She did not, however, bear any of the traditional signs of vampirism. She had opened the door to him in the broad afternoon sunlight, after all.
“Mr. Alberich,” she greeted effortlessly, stepping aside to allow him in without making a single notion to help him with his bags. “My name is Adelinde. If you’ll follow me.”
“Right away,” he answered, feeling that if he showed this woman anything less than the utmost respect. Immediately, he became aware of how… modern the interior of the castle was. It served as a stark reminder about judging books by their covers, but he supposed a surplus of electrical lighting often made up for the heavy lead-weighted curtains that hung in front of every window. She explained each room as they passed, straightforward and abrupt.
The entertainment room, with a screen that Kaeya was certain could rival movie theaters he’d been in before, the recreation room, which doubled as a gym with a with an open doorway to a heated indoor swimming pool. A kitchen with not one, not two, but three refrigerators. “And this hallway,” she announced, gesturing simply with one out turned hand, “leads to the guest suites. You may pick whichever one you find suits you the most. You are not to venture down the right hallway without express permission from Master Ragnvindr.”
‘Master’ from her as well. Perhaps some things on this estate were old fashioned still after all.
“And dinner is at eight,” Kaeya noted, as if making sure of what the driver had told him.
Adelinde paused at this, clearing her throat gingerly. “Your dinner is at seven.”
“…And Master Ragnvindr’s is at eight?” Kaeya corrected himself for clarification. She averted her gaze.
“Master Ragnvindr will arrange such matters with you personally. If you have need of me, I will be assisting with the preparation of lunch and dinner at eleven in the morning and six in the afternoon every day. Otherwise, ask one of the other maids to send for me.”
“One more question.” Kaeya had been well behaved until now, but curiosity tugged at his lips like a Cheshire cat, and it held her attention. “If all of Master Ragnvindr’s staff are human, why is there a need for me?” He allowed himself to relax enough to cross his arms, tilting his head to make himself a little more personable in seeking his answer. “Not that I’m terribly afraid of dying, but is your master going to send me off in a body bag?”
It seemed she expected such a question, though, and for the first time since his arrival, she returned just a hint of his smile. “Because all of our contracts with the Ragnvindr family are very strict in keeping a separation between our work and the needs of our employer. The contract you signed is different, of course, but I don’t believe you’ll have to worry about being unduly murdered, no. Welcome to the Dawn Castle, Mr. Alberich.”
“Bit of an ironic name, don’t you think?” Kaeya mused, though he was already making his way down the hallway to find a suite he particularly liked for the duration of his stay.
Adelinde couldn’t help but smile a little more genuinely at his back, relieved that out of everyone they could have brought on for this ordeal, it was someone with a sense of humor.
—
Dinner was, as expected, precisely at seven. He had a feeling that it would have been placed on the table, waiting and ready, whether or not he actually arrived on time. The dining room table was situated in a grand room of its own, with the longer side turned to a grand fireplace that at least took away some of the cool, neutral chill that hung to the halls of the castle. His own room had a fireplace as well, the coals to it warm with a low flame when he’d chosen it and settled into it—but then again, all of the suites had had a fireplace prepared, as if they were simply keeping them all warm until he’d made a decision.
Over the grand fireplace hung a portrait of a somber man with stark, red hair and a small goatee to match, with his hand resting over the shoulder of a wide eyed boy who looked as if he was struggling not to smile. Kaeya couldn’t make out the finer points of their features for the shadows of the room, though.
It was also nicer than anything Kaeya had ever had served outside of the fancy restaurants some of his other clients had insisted on treating him to before. Some of them, he’d learned, liked to watch what their own meals were eating. He likened it to… only eating eggs from free range chickens, perhaps. Roast beef poured over a bed of rice and rich vegetable stew, and…
Eaten alone.
Perhaps that was something he was already used to, meals taken in silence and solitude. Though it was a lonely endeavor and Kaeya was a menace in preferring the company of others just for the sake of his own amusement, he did remind himself that it had been his decision to embark into the middle of rural Germany to live in some fairy tale castle in the first place.
Only when he lifted the small, silver dome over the dessert did he find a small card written in neat script.
‘Please place your tray in the kitchen when you are finished. Your dessert is the option of carrot cake, or raspberry tart in the first refrigerator.
-Adelinde’
Simple enough instructions. It seemed the staff didn’t linger around after dark—but then again, when every staff member was like a roaming little midnight snack on legs for the man of the castle, he couldn’t particularly blame them. Stacking each of the dishes onto the ornate silver tray and feeling a little like he’d returned to his waiter days that had gotten him into the blood business in the first place, he found his way back to the kitchen to leave it next to the sink.
The only problem was that they had never specified to him which of the three the ‘first’ refrigerator was. After a particularly short game of guessing, he opened the fridge in the corner, only to stop short at the sight of nearly six rows of bags of blood. “Well,” he murmured to himself. “Someone’s certainly stocked.”
“What are you doing here?”
The voice is sharp enough, demanding enough, that it seized his attention immediately. He closed the door quickly—either feeling like a child that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and turned.
For a moment, he mistook the man staring at him from the doorway of the kitchen for the man from the painting, but that didn’t make much sense. There was no goatee for one, and admittedly, his shoulders looked a little broader than the painting, but that could have been artistic interpretation. Vampires didn’t build muscle mass, though. Like they were frozen in time, they never changed.
“Looking for my dessert,” Kaeya admitted before it could be obvious that he was staring, wasting no time in moving on to the next fridge, clearly unaffected by the surplus of blood. Opening the second fridge, which was by no means the ‘first refrigerator’ he mentally huffed, he reached for the raspberry tart tray and set it on the counter. “Master Ragnvindr, I presume?”
The vampire—because he was a vampire, he could see it in the preternatural beauty that each of those terrifying creatures seemed to possess—moved past him towards the fridge he’d just closed. Kaeya could see it in the way his pupils were just a little sharper than normal. Like rubies. He could see it in the way his gaze had lingered at the curve of Kaeya’s throat. He knew the other could hear his pulse, and Kaeya prided on how he kept it even, the picture of calm disinterest. Let the predator chase him, they liked it better that way.
“Diluc,” the man corrected, hesitating as if opening the fridge would be some sort of shame to do in front of Kaeya, despite Kaeya just seeing the contents of it.
“Diluc,” Kaeya repeated, leaving his dessert on the impressive center island of the kitchen, watching as Diluc’s hand lingered on the fridge door. “…What’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?”
The redhead froze, purposefully not looking at him. “I thought that I would give you a night to rest, since you just arrived.” Despite the soft accent he had picked up from both Adelinde and the driver, Kaeya noticed that Diluc’s tone, deep and even, didn’t seem to carry anything that betrayed an accent at all.
“I,” Kaeya announced, reaching up to the buttons of his shirt to undo the first two with slow purposefulness, “have been resting since the plane landed. I think I slept three hours in the car. I’m a little ‘all rested out’, even.” The movement had exactly the desired effect. He could feel Diluc’s gaze fall to his collar even before the vampire’s pupils started to narrow.
Thirsty boy.
And yet, there was apprehension, there. The hand dropped from the handle of the fridge, and he could tell from the shift of Diluc’s chest that he had taken a slow, careful breath—unnecessary. Vampires didn’t have to breathe, not really, so it had likely been to catch his scent. How wonderful it’d been that Kaeya had been sure to shower before dinner. The approach was also slow, so quiet that it was like a being stalked by a big cat, Diluc’s feet silent on the floor. Closer, now, Kaeya had to be thankful that he’d never been particularly susceptible to how attractive vampires were naturally. Diluc opened his mouth, as if to speak, and Kaeya could see his fangs long with hunger just under his lip.
“It’s okay,” Kaeya promised, pulling out one of the stools under the island to sit on. It would keep him from falling or letting his back dig into the counter, and once he was situated, he tilted his head to the side. He knew that Diluc would see the other scars there, pinprick and carefully tended to, from every vampire he’d fed before. And still, Diluc hesitated.
“I’m not-“
“You’re a fledgling, aren’t you?” Kaeya asked, unable to help but sound like he was teasing the other. “After you bite, lick the wound. While feeding, vampires produce anticoagulants, but after they’re finished they actually produce the opposite, as well. A lot of ‘vamp-rights’ groups say it’s to show they’ve ‘evolved as as humane feeders,’ but honestly, between you and me, it’s just to make your prey last longer.” His smile broadened a little to show that that, too, was a little joke.
He wasn’t sure if his words cleared up and lingering reservations or just made the vampire want to shut him up, but Diluc tucked his face into his neck, and driven on by that soft tease. With no further warning than that, the man sank his fangs to where the pulse was strong, but not strongest.
Kaeya hadn’t mentioned the rush of pleasure that would follow. That he assumed that Diluc would already know of, given he had to have been turned at some point or another. He inhaled sharply, barely feeling the initial pinprick of fangs piercing his skin. One of his hands found Diluc’s arm, squeezing the fabric over the firm, cool muscle under it. It started as a white-hot sensation at the source of his neck, spreading slowly through him before it settled slowly at the pit of his belly. It always felt good, each slow pull a draw of blood from his throat and lips that would suckle a mark around the bite that would last longer than the bite itself. It was enough to almost curl his toes against the support bars of the chair, and to keep himself silent, he sank his own teeth against his lower lip.
Only when he could feel himself go a little light headed did he squeezed Diluc’s arms, whispering the soft mumble against the crown of the vampire’s head, “that’s enough. You’ve had enough.”
With great difficulty, and with a little guiding tug of Kaeya’s other hand through red curls, his host pulled away. Kaeya could feel warmth in the soft breaths that followed against his skin—his warmth. They always went warm, with his blood pumping through them. It must have been difficult for him, Kaeya acknowledged with some semblance of sympathy, to be so unused to fresh meals.
Bagged blood just simply didn’t satisfy the same needs.
“How did you know?” Diluc asked, after his tongue had brushed over the open bite, letting the natural properties of his saliva start the mending process that much faster.
“Your eyes were red. That’s a sign of someone freshly turned. You’re too hesitant with your bite—any slower and you might have actually made it hurt a little, but we can work on that. I can take care of this, too,” Kaeya whispered, nudging his thigh up against the barely clothed erection he could feel pressing into his hip. Diluc tensed up, and pulled back just as quickly, averting his gaze. Kaeya understood rather quickly that the other hadn’t expected the offer, and maybe he had overstepped.
“… go to your room.”
“I’m not a child, for one. Bossing me around isn’t part of this deal. And that?” Kaeya dropped his gaze down to where Diluc half turned, trying to hide that obvious sign of arousal. “…that’s a completely normal reaction. To feed. To fight. To fuck. It’s proof that somewhere deep down, your body is still alive. Try not to worry too much about it.”
Diluc was going tense—Kaeya could tell he was pushing too hard, and rather than lose this incredibly cushy gig, he sighed and pulled his shirt back up. Only after did he grab the neglected tray of his desert did he turn towards the hallway. He’d need the sugar to make up for the blood loss, and dessert in bed was always particularly indulgent. He was already wondering what kind of service the television in the bedroom of his suite had, since he wouldn’t be enjoying other kind of entertainment for the night. “…You know where I am, if you change your mind.”