Clink
The sound of ceramic touching wood echoed softly through the room.
Lilliana placed a mug down in front of Soren, her movements noticeably slower than before.
After setting it down, she hesitated for a brief moment, then sat down beside him.
This time, she was closer, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.
"Thank you, Miss Rose," Soren said automatically.
"…"
She inhaled, then exhaled shakily.
"…Lilly."
Her voice was hoarse, still rough around the edges from crying earlier.
It wasn't forced or commanding; if anything, it sounded uncertain, as if she wasn't sure she was allowed to say it.
"Huh?"
"You can call me Lilly… when it's just us," she added quietly, eyes lowered.
"Oh. Okay…"
Soren rubbed the back of his neck, unsure how to respond appropriately.
The atmosphere was different now, quieter, heavier, but also warmer in a strange way.
Then something else came to mind, a fragment he had found buried in his memories.
"If you want, you can call me Ren," he said, after a pause.
Instead of replying verbally, Lilliana simply nodded once.
They sat like that for a while, neither rushing to fill the silence.
The only sounds were the faint clink of mugs being lifted, the soft exhale of breath, and the muted rustling of leaves from the plants lining the room.
The distance between them had all but disappeared, but Soren still had one question remaining.
"What did you mean earlier, when you said you don't have friends, Lilly?" he asked gently.
She smiled faintly at hearing her name again, then stared into her mug as if searching for the right words.
"Uhm… well…" she began hesitantly. "I never really went outside until I enrolled in Stellaris Academy. I was… sheltered, I guess. When I finally arrived here, everything felt overwhelming."
She paused, fingers tightening around the mug.
"My mother always warned me about people. About how dangerous it was to trust them. So when I got here, I was scared. Scared of saying the wrong thing. Scared of letting people get close."
She swallowed.
"So I spoke bluntly. Kept my distance. I told myself it was safer that way."
Her voice trailed off, and she avoided looking at him.
Soren frowned slightly.
"I didn't mean that, though?" he said in confusion.
She looked up, surprised.
"Then what did you mean?"
He leaned back slightly, eyes drifting to the ceiling as he tried to organise his thoughts.
Then he sighed and blurted it out.
"Aren't we friends…?"
He avoided eye contact, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks.
Blink blink.
Lilliana froze.
For several seconds, she just stared at him, completely still, as if she hadn't processed the question yet.
Then her lips slowly curved into a smile.
"Do you want to be friends, Ren?" she asked, her tone suddenly playful.
"Well, maybe I'm wrong, but usually you don't pour your heart out and hug someone while crying if you aren't friends," he retorted, glancing at her.
He paused, then added.
"Would you, Lilly?"
Her face flushed instantly.
"I—I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "Yes! We're friends, okay?"
"Good. Glad I didn't misunderstand," Soren said with a grin.
She huffed, embarrassed, but didn't deny it.
"Anyway," she said, quickly changing the subject, "we need to figure out when I can teach you blood magic. So—when are you free?"
"…"
Soren went silent, clamping his mouth tightly shut.
Lilliana tilted her head.
"Why did you go quiet?"
"…I'm always free."
She stared at him for a moment, then let out a short laugh.
"Oh. That does make things easy… Ah, I see."
She smirked and leaned back slightly.
"Well, I'm usually free most days after classes, but I still need time for lesson plans, grading, reviews, and everything else. So I'm not always free… unlike a certain someone."
He could tell she was teasing him, and for some reason, that made his chest feel warm.
"I don't mind, but wouldn't it be better just to make a schedule at the beginning of each week so that we don't need to worry about each other's schedules, though?"
He paused for a moment, then continued.
"It's not like this is a business transaction, and we can also use the opportunity just to hang out or something after tutoring is over."
She thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
"That makes sense, plus it would be a little bit depressing if I spent time tutoring you just for you to run away the moment it's over."
Her expression shifted slightly.
"But where would we do it? I can't exactly make my species public knowledge."
Soren's eyes wandered to their surroundings before snapping back to Lilliana.
"…"
"…"
They both stared at each other for a moment at Lilliana's question before she nodded.
"…I guess we'll do it here," she said finally.
"Won't that… make people suspicious though..?" he asked.
It was then that Lilliana realised her situation and scanned Soren up and down.
"…You're too young for me," she said flatly. "And you're the complete opposite of my type."
"That's not the problem," he muttered.
"And don't you already have someone?" she added.
"Who?"
"…Miss Einhardt?"
"No…?"
They both looked at each other in confusion for a few moments.
"But she acts like—"
Soren sighed before clearing up the situation.
"She asked to be friends during the midterms, and I agreed, ever since then she's been following me around, that's it, just friends, nothing more, only friends, not at all, never happening."
"You know, when you deny it that hard, it sounds suspicious," Lilliana said dryly.
"...Okay, let me put it this way: do you think it's possible for Amelia to date in the first place?"
"…Fair point."
"Also, you're only four years older than me, and we're friends, so don't start trying to act like some mature instructor again."
Lilliana pursed her lips at Soren, who had shut her down.
"So… should I teach you a bit before you leave?" she asked, clearly changing the subject.
"Yes, please," Soren replied immediately.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"As you already know," Lilliana began, "blood magic utilises the blood inside your body in many ways, whether that be for defending, attacking or in some cases supporting."
She clasped her hands together.
"So let me ask you. What do you think the first thing I'll teach you is?"
Soren's hand shot up instantly.
"Yes?" she said, amused.
"Thank you, Miss Rose. Is it how to control blood?"
She chuckled.
"Ren, just act normal, but no. First, I'll teach you how to absorb blood back into your body."
She demonstrated, absorbing the blood from her [Hemokinesis] spell.
"First, you'll learn to absorb your own spilt blood. Then, blood created through magic. And finally… blood from others, both animal and human."
Lilliana couldn't hide her worry as she explained the short-term goals to Soren, but he just smiled.
"It's okay, I asked for this, plus I've got you watching over me, Lilly, so it'll be fine."
"Are you sure? It'll hurt a lot."
"I'll be fine."
Upon hearing those words, Lilliana stepped closer to Soren, cautiously holding a knife in her hand.
It was a knife that had been specially made for drawing blood that she carried around, as sometimes vampires cut themselves during battle in order to use more blood.
"Paw."
It was her attempt to lighten the gloomy mood with a joke.
After a few seconds of confusion, Soren finally realised what she was doing and put his hand in hers.
"…Woof."
"Good boy."
She said as she stroked his head, both giggling at the stupid joke that didn't fit their situation.
"Okay, bite this."
She held out a cloth, and Soren bit down on it as Lilliana carefully brought the knife to Soren's palm.
Slice
It was a quick, clean movement, clearly showing Lilliana's experience.
"Mmmmphhh—!"
Soren writhed in pain, and tears formed in his eyes, but she firmly held onto his palm, checking the cut to make sure it was correct.
Upon confirmation, she tilted his hand upside down and let the blood pour into the dish that had previously been placed on the table.
Drip… drip…
The blood fell slowly as the dish filled.
After a few minutes, the bleeding stopped, and the dish had filled to nearly maximum capacity.
It was only then that Lilliana let go of Soren's hand and took the cloth from his mouth.
"Hahh… hahh…"
"Are you okay?"
Soren forced a smile and nodded.
Lilliana wasn't dumb enough not to notice that it was forced, but she still continued her lesson, nevertheless, as she had already agreed to do this.
"Now the first step is to be in contact with the blood," she began. "After a certain level of proficiency, you won't need to do this, but for now, you have no experience. Then once you've done that, you need to imagine the blood flowing into you. It's an abstract concept, I know, but this was how I was taught."
Soren reached his shaky hand into the dish and closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath as he began to focus.
'Blood flowing into my body… blood flowing into my body…'
He tried imagining it, but…
"Uh… How do you imagine blood flowing into your body exactly?"
"Oh, uhm… the way I learned was by pretending to drink it…" she said awkwardly.
"Thanks, that makes it easier."
He brought his attention back to the blood in the bowl.
'Imagine drinking it…'
"..."
A few minutes passed in silence before Soren once again said something that shocked Lilliana.
"Can I just drink it?"
She didn't know whether to laugh at him or flick his forehead at that question.
"What race are you again?"
"…Human?"
"Do you want to drink blood?"
"Not exactly."
"Then keep trying."
"..."
Soren narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lilliana.
'She didn't give me a proper answer.'
'Well, whatever.'
"..."
After 10 more minutes had passed, Soren once again opened his eyes.
"Can I just drink it?"
Lilliana fidgeted for a while before responding.
"You… can…"
"Thanks."
He brought the bowl to his mouth and was about to take a sip when.
Gulp
He heard an audible gulp.
"..."
"..."
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Lilliana stammered out an excuse.
"T-This is why I didn't want y-you to do this, I'm a dhampir, okay! I can't help it!"
"Why not just ask?"
Soren didn't understand.
Sure, it was questionable, but hadn't she just poured her heart out to him not long ago?
What was the problem?
Lilliana's face went bright red as she muttered the words 'just ask' under her breath a few times before coming to her senses.
"I-It's fine… You need to learn after all…" she said with a somewhat depressed expression.
Soren shrugged and brought the bowl to his mouth again, ignoring the audible gulp that was heard in the background and sipped the thick red liquid.
"Ugh…"
After downing over half the bowl, Soren placed it down on the table and gagged a few times before calming down and wiping his lips.
"As expected, it tastes awful."
.
[Congratulations, [Blood Magic: Blood Absorption] has been acquired!]
.
"...It really was that easy."
He then brought his attention back to Lilliana, whose face was still flushed red, and she was biting her thumb.
"Do you want some?"
He decided to ask again, since she seemed about to lose it if he didn't.
This time, instead of refusing, however, she walked over to Soren, completely ignoring the bowl that still had blood in it and stared directly into his eyes.
"Is that okay?"
Soren nodded, and immediately the green vanished from her eyes, replaced by eyes that matched his own.
Then she did something Soren didn't expect at all: she sat down on his lap.
While he was still surprised, she didn't even give him a second to think.
She opened her mouth and…
Pop
…Two teeth pushed through her gums, extending downwards until they had the appearance of fangs, then without hesitation she brought her mouth to Soren's neck and…
Crunch!
As her teeth pierced his skin, Soren felt as if two needles had just stabbed him in the neck, causing him to shudder involuntarily.
Then, after only seconds, the pain disappeared, replaced by a strange feeling that Soren struggled to describe.
One thing was for sure, though: it was dangerous.
He felt that feeling even more so when a warm, soft object was felt on his neck.
'Is she licking it?'
Every time her tongue moved up and down, his body shivered; for some reason, it felt as if all his senses had been heightened.
Lick lick
He looked down at the girl on his lap, who had not long ago been crying and clinging to him.
Whether it was because he felt cold or his brain felt fuzzy, he wrapped his arms around her.
Flinch
Lilliana's body jumped in surprise, but she didn't pull away; instead, she pushed her head even further into his neck. Meanwhile, Soren started patting her back like he had earlier.
It was a strange situation that both would have ordinarily been embarrassed in, but as Soren would only come to find out much later, bloodsucking was something that dulled both sides' abilities to think.
It was only after a few more minutes that Lilliana finally raised her mouth from Soren's neck, licking it a few times to stop the few droplets of blood from spilling.
Then she looked up at Soren, belatedly realising their situation.
"Uhm…"
She was desperately trying to figure out an explanation for her actions, but it was impossible.
No matter what she said, it wouldn't have excused her behaviour, but unlike what she was expecting, Soren kept holding her and patting her back before opening his mouth.
"It's okay, isn't it? I'm an adult, and I consented. Don't worry, Lilly."
Badump–!
Lilliana's heartbeat quickened as she looked at Soren's face, which was filled with a gentle smile directed at her.
"And it's fine if you need to again, you told me how important blood is to vampires, remember? So you also need to stick to your promise."
Her face flushed more and more with every word that was spoken with his soft, androgynous voice.
"Uhm! Can I get up now...?"
Soren quickly let go of her when he noticed what he was doing.
'Why did I do that?'
He was confused, as it wasn't something he would usually do.
The only reason he had done so earlier was to reciprocate what Lilliana had done for him when he was in pain, but he had no reason to do it just now, so why?
'My head feels fuzzy…'
He bit his thumb, lost in thought, when Lilliana called out to him.
"Ren–! Uhm, it's getting late, so I think you should go back soon… it wouldn't be good for you if there were any rumours."
"Oh, alright then… when do you want me to come by next?"
"I'm not sure! I'll let you know before Thursday, though."
"That's fine… well, I guess I'll get going now, thanks for today, Lilly, I appreciate the help… and you telling me about yourself."
"It's no problem, make sure you get some rest, Ren."
With their awkward farewell over, Soren left Lilliana's dorm and headed towards his own with somewhat wobbly steps, still confused over his earlier actions.
————「❤︎」————