The shock jolted Yan back to his senses. He tensed up, worried that his unrequited feelings had been discovered. However, the emotion Oliver referred to differed slightly from the truth.
“You wanted to become friends with him. Well, you weren’t the only one, so there’s no need to be so embarrassed. It’s natural for men to be drawn to strong men.”
Yan felt relieved that Oliver understood with such a macho logic. After all, Oliver was right. If the doctor’s words were true, they’d need to investigate thoroughly; if not, that would be fortunate. Sirius certainly wasn’t a vampire, so there was nothing to worry about. Yan comforted himself with these thoughts and focused on his work.
However, even after three days, Sirius did not appear.
***
Returning straight home after work, Yan turned on the television first. He had learned from the past week’s experience that an empty house only invited unnecessary thoughts. He moved about using the TV sound as background music. Fortunately, no idle thoughts surfaced while he tackled postponed household chores. But the moment he caught his reflection in the mirror while changing clothes, Yan inevitably thought of the two men.
“…My body has healed a lot.”
His swollen nipples had already subsided. The areas of congestion from being nibbled—his neck and the inside of his thighs—had also improved significantly. This was fortunate, as he had been anxious about his colleagues noticing these marks over the past few days. Yet for a moment, Yan felt a touch of regret.
The man in the mirror shook his head. The emotion on his pale face was confusion. The man wanted to hide his feelings, but Yan already knew. He felt regret and disappointment. That the traces of that night were disappearing, and that his relationship with those men…
Yan silently changed his clothes. A t-shirt covered the faint remaining congestion. How nice it would be if emotions could be covered so easily. But that was impossible, which is why Yan kept consciously repeating to himself:
“I was deceived. Completely fooled…”
Still, on the first day, he had trusted Sirius. But when he couldn’t contact Sirius and no one reported seeing him, Yan grew anxious. Wondering if Procion might know Sirius’s whereabouts, he tried contacting him, but he too had suddenly disappeared.
Sirius had always been a man with no information, as if he had suddenly fallen from the sky. But whether human or vampire, as long as one exists in this world, there can’t truly be no trace. Once they set their minds to it, the police discovered all too easily that Sirius was a vampire. This was thanks to evidence he had left here and there, not because Sirius had a careless personality. From the beginning, it didn’t seem like he had tried to hide being a vampire at all.
By this point, Yan had no choice but to reconsider his belief. Why had he trusted Sirius in the first place? What about him? Looking back, Sirius had never once said he was human. It was a question never asked, yet Yan had deluded himself into thinking he had received an answer.
“…This part is still swollen.”
Yan murmured, pausing while putting on his pants and looking down at his buttocks. The aching when fabric brushed against it seemed to insist that it hadn’t healed yet. Unlike other areas, the bruising on his buttocks was deepening in color as time passed. Yan carefully caressed his purple-bruised buttocks. He wished this would heal quickly too, but strangely, he didn’t feel like applying medicine.
He quickly finished dressing and came out to the living room. ‘Forget it, forget it and go back to normal,’ he kept repeating to himself. It was like a spell to summon his peaceful daily life. Just as he had been muttering “forget it, forget it” for the past few days, the television caught his eye.
-…The flash observed yesterday at 3:25 AM has been confirmed to have originated from the vampire kingdom. The exact reason for this flash remains unknown, but experts’ analysis indicates it poses no danger to citizens.
The anchor’s voice rang clearly. Yan stopped in place and stared at the footage.
It showed a whitish light flashing in the dark night sky. At first glance, it resembled lightning, but the difference was that it surged from the ground rather than descending from the sky. “Hey, what’s that?”, “Is something happening again?” The voices of the cameraman and his companions could be heard. Then the screen began to shake. The person filming seemed to be running while holding the camera tightly.
When the submitted footage ended, the newsroom appeared. The anchor and panelists sat in a row. They began discussing what this phenomenon was and its potential dangers. Yan continued to stare blankly at the television.
‘Is Sirius safe…?’
The moment he realized he had unconsciously worried about Sirius, Yan felt devastated. While the people on the news were concerned about citizens’ safety, he was worried about a vampire’s well-being. It was ridiculous. If anyone could take care of himself, it would be Sirius; he would certainly fare better than Yan.
“Forget it. Forget it, erase it.”
Yan muttered the spell again. But even Yan didn’t believe it would magically sweep away his thoughts of Sirius.
***
Despite Yan’s efforts to return to normal life, his workplace colleagues were sadly unhelpful. The fact that a brilliant vampire hunter was actually a vampire was an enormous topic of conversation. Whenever at least two people gathered, talk of Sirius would begin.
“How can he do that? When they’re the same species.”
“If you think about it, it’s not that unusual. Why, there are murderers among humans too. Perhaps killing within the same species is common in the world.”
“Can we please not talk about this stuff at least during lunch? I’m about to throw up.”
Dave grumbled, chiding Rick. Known for having a strong stomach even among police officers, he was unlikely to vomit over such a topic. He was standing up for Yan, who became depressed whenever Sirius was mentioned. Noticing this, Yan pretended to be unaffected and bit into his sandwich.
“Why? It’s interesting. Or did you grow attached to that vampire? Come to think of it, you and Yan stuck with Sirius for a while, didn’t you?”
“Not ‘a while’—just one week. And who’s getting attached!”
Dave raised his voice angrily at Rick’s provocation. Yan stopped mid-swallow and pounded his chest. After running around all morning, he was finally eating lunch, only to end up choking on it.
“Senior, the chief wants to see you for a moment.”
Fortunately—if one could call it that—an excuse to leave appeared. Normally, having lunch interrupted would be annoying, but this time it was welcome. Being summoned by the chief, not just the captain, made Yan wonder what it could be about, but since he hadn’t done anything wrong, it couldn’t be for a bad reason. Yan left his half-eaten sandwich and headed to the chief’s office.
The chief’s first words to Yan were somewhat unexpected.
“Officer Circuitz, are you eating properly?”
“Yes, I am.”
Although feeling guilty about his abandoned sandwich, Yan responded affirmatively. The chief didn’t accept this easily and looked Yan over. Nervous under the stern gaze, Yan fidgeted with his fingers. The well-tailored uniform would show even a five-pound weight loss compared to civilian clothes. The chief had surely noticed the loose cuffs, but didn’t inquire further about Yan’s eating habits.
“I have something to ask, and it’s fine if you don’t know. Just answer comfortably.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you know anything about Sirius?”
The thought surfaced abruptly: another conversation about that man. At this point, even discussing food would be more pleasant. Perhaps this sentiment showed on his face, as the chief added gently:
“I’m asking because you were the closest to Sirius, so I wondered if you might know. I’m not asking for anything significant. Just if you know what kind of personality he has?”
“Personality…?”
“Whether he’s a vampire supremacist or a pacifist. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t subscribe to any particular ideology. I’d just prefer if he were an ordinary vampire.”
Yan could only blink. He understood what the chief was asking but didn’t know the answer. While Sirius probably wasn’t a vampire supremacist, he couldn’t be certain. What did he really know about Sirius? Yan had even made assumptions about his species. The only thing he knew for sure about Sirius was his particular fondness for tormenting his chest.
“Well, I suppose Officer Circuitz wouldn’t know.”
The chief muttered, interpreting his silence as an answer. Yan felt a strange sense of defeat. True, he had no reason to know anything about Sirius, but the chief’s definitive statement bothered him. Even Yan himself acknowledged his ignorance about Sirius.
“May I ask why you’re inquiring about this?”
“We need to understand his tendencies to predict how our relationship with the kingdom might change.”
A puzzling response. The chief looked at Yan’s blank face and sighed.
“You’ll find out eventually, so I might as well tell you now. Are you prepared for a shock?”
“I don’t think anything could shock me anymore.”
“Sirius is the former Lord’s son.”
“…”
“You could call him a prince. Though his image is quite different from fairy tale princes.”
Despite trying to appear composed, Yan was deeply shocked. Sirius, the former Lord’s son! He had often thought Sirius possessed inhuman strength, but he never imagined he was more than just a vampire.
“Vampires live in palaces, but unlike human monarchies. In our political systems, attempting to take the throne would be treason or an attempt to overthrow the state, but in vampire society, it’s legal. Anyone qualified can challenge for the Lord’s position.”
Yan knew this much. Wasn’t that why there was such an uproar when the vampire Lord died a year ago? After power-hungry vampires gathered and fought fiercely, Alesha, the former Lord’s daughter, claimed the throne.
“Wait, wasn’t Alesha the only child of the former Lord?”
“That’s what was publicly known, but there were sons too. They were just not as famous for some reason.”
An image of the quiet Sirius flashed through Yan’s mind. Sirius, who never spoke unless necessary; Sirius, who only gave one-word answers to questions; himself, struggling to engage Sirius in conversation… With such a reserved personality, it made sense that he wasn’t well-known.
‘No, that’s not the issue—he’s a prince!’
Yan, who had momentarily escaped into memories, forced himself back to reality. He didn’t understand why he was recalling details about a crush that was already over. Regardless, he didn’t want Sirius to come to harm. It’s one thing to resent and curse someone who’s alive, but directing such feelings at the dead is merely futile.
“So what happened to Sirius?”
“…”
