When I wake up again, I'm in a different bed, swathed in fabric and in someone's arms. After a moment, I realize it's Dante's hanfu, asleep behind me. It might seem sudden, but I'm not really surprised.
It's something that no vampire would ever admit, but every blood thrall knows. Vampires crave our contact. They may not be human anymore, but in some ways their bodies still are, and they need human warmth to stay sane. In fact, I have a suspicion it's the only way they can ever enjoy the peace of true sleep. It must be something about the soothing sound of a heartbeat, something they can't feel without a thrall. It's one of the ways we're still the same: we all need to be held every once in a while.
From the sound of his breathing, he's still asleep. I take the opportunity to turn around and examine him more closely. His features are refined; even asleep I can see the sharpness in the shape of his eyes. Like all vampires, his skin is pale and unnervingly perfect, like unglazed porcelain. Actually, it was their faces that used to make me nervous. For some reason, I got over the fear of being bitten quickly, and I got used to their lack of warmth. But those doll-like faces always made me uncomfortable - so I did my best to make them react, to just make any expression at all, and eventually it stopped freaking me out so much.
Then I remember the lock on my feet. It's emblazoned with the symbol of an azalea, the crest of the Lu family. He probably has his key on him, so I start rooting around in his sleeve as quietly as I can. Unfortunately, it's not quiet enough.
I catch my breath as Dante cracks open one dark eye and then the other. I feel my cheeks heat up, but he just chuckles and pulls the key from his breast pocket to dangle in front of me. "Looking for this?"
I make a face and looked away, but it's at this moment my stomach lets out a loud grumble. He chuckles again as he sits up. "I'll feed you, don't worry," he says.
Reflexively, I put my hand to my neck, but there's no new mark. He's not even looking this way, but he answers my silent question. "I haven't drunk again. You still need time to recover."
"II can feed myself," I say, or at least I try to. Nothing comes out. I saw that my hands were bound again, but my voice too?! I struggle out of the bed, trying to wiggle my feet down to the floor, but no such luck. I fall to the ground with a thump.
Dante turns around with an annoyed huff. "You should have just stayed put," he says. I glare at him. I know he has the keys to my feet. I try to kick them at him, but end up just wiggling my feet in his general direction. He looks down at me. "The ankle lock is staying on. I can't have you running off after I won you for the day." Won me?! He continues. "Obviously, none of us wanted to share. So I suggested we play a game to decide who gets you first." He kneels down to loom over me. "And my childish fellows locked you up as revenge for losing. But that's alright, I don't need your voice for you to keep me entertained." My eyes grow wide, and he grins down at me. "But first, you need food." And with that, he scoops me off the floor easily and carries me out of the room.
The food is terrible, of course, but I'm too hungry to care. That is, until Dante brings out a huge wooden chest and puts it on the ground next to me. He opens it to reveal….
Games? And at least three different types of card decks. I can see playing boards for chess, go, shogi, and more that I can't name. I can't hide my surprise as I stare.
Dante sees my expression and looks at me in irritation. "What did you expect? I'm not Adrian." Now I'm worried about what Adrian will want from me... But Dante continues. "A thrall can never compete with a vampire in physical abilities. But in terms of mental capacities, I find I can entertain myself plenty with the right game." He leans in closer. "...And the right stakes." Ahh, there it is. I'm a whole new kind of worried again, but I slowly start eating again. It's not like I can ask him what he plans to do, anyway.
He lays everything out on the table and asks me one by one which games I know how to play. Most of them I'm familiar with, but I've barely played. I've watched plenty of times, sure, but rarely joined. I mean, what vampire would invite a thrall to play a game with them when they could play a game and politics at the same time?
Eventually, my lack of ability to speak irritates Dante to the point where he decides to go find Virgil. But even now, he refuses to unlock my legs and just carries in one arm. With the other, he knocks on Virgil's door. There's no response, but Dante just bursts in.