"I don't mind... But how does this work, exactly? You drink my blood, and I drink yours. Aren't the two of us just funneling blood between ourselves? Won't we just make each other hungry?"
He never really understood this topic back when he learned it in the Vampire Hunter academy. But now that he had someone to explain it to him, he—
"It's a secret."
'Haaah?'
"Seriously?"
Rachel smirked. "I'll tell you after I get better, since the last thing I want is for you to get angry at me."
"You're saying blood funneling is going to make me angry?" Gabriel acted oblivious.
She pouted slightly. "Sure sure, get it off your chest. Teasing me while I'm vulnerable is suuuuch a manly thing to do. Humph."
He let out a chuckle and decided to just help her out. He sat down on her bed and extended his arm. However, she sat it as him being overly petty, so instead, she dragged him down beside her.
For once, Gabriel became flustered as their noses were touching, and he could feel her warm breaths brush against his lips. But unlike the romantic situation he was expecting, Rachel opened her mouth, revealed her fangs, and then leaned in.
Instead of a kiss, she bit down on his neck and began sucking his blood. He was half expecting it to hurt, but instead, it felt very pleasurable, to the point where his whole body relaxed and he felt as though he was paralyzed.
And so for the next five minutes, she continued sucking on his blood, until finally, she stopped. But instead of backing away, she suddenly placed her lips on the spot she just sucked, then created a vacuum.
Because of the earlier paralysis, he couldn't resist, and when she eventually pulled away, she left a hickey on his neck. She smirked in satisfaction and wiped his blood off her lips before saying:
"I feel much better now~ Thanks for the help. Since your baby rage is over, you can come to me every night, and I'll let you drink my blood, so long as you let me drink yours. That way, none of us will be starving."
"Was the hickey necessary?" Gabriel asked.
She raised a brow. "That's what you're worried about? Well, if it makes you feel any better, you gave me a hickey when I didn't want one, so this is payback."
'She's way too cheeky... But I do need to rest. I'm feeling too tired after what happened earlier.'
Speaking of...
"Is it normal that I don't feel anything after killing all those vampires?"
She paused for a moment, then said:
"It's normal. Vampires you hold no attachment to, especially as a Vampire Noble, appear just like ants to you. I don't blame you for what happened."
That was nice and all, but one thing Rachel had just said managed to catch his attention.
"Vampire Noble?"
"Ah."
Rachel slightly looked away from him.
"S-So... I kind of wanted to keep it a secret until you go through the maturity phase. But yes, just like me, you're also a Vampire Noble. But you're not a fully-fledged Vampire Noble yet, which is why I wanted to wait until you hit your maturity phase before telling you."
"..."
'I'm a Vampire Noble? Aren't these guys like near the top of the food chain? It takes several top Vampire Hunters to even kill one, and I randomly became someone this powerful?'
He suddenly recalled the blood he had frozen by accident, which meant that he was not only a Vampire Noble, but he was a Vampire Noble with a bloodline belonging to at least a 500 year old Vampire Noble.
Since she saved him, did that mean Rachel at least 500 years old? But if they supposedly met when they were children...
'I don't understand this at all.'
Seeing how her complexion was back to normal, and she didn't look like a skeleton anymore, Gabriel went ahead and stood up, then approached the door. As he was about to leave, he flicked the light switch and turned off the lights.
"Wait." Rachel's slightly startled voice resounded. "Don't turn off the light. I can't sleep with it off."
'A fear of the dark?'
"Sorry."
He decided not to pry, and so he turned the light back on, gave her one last glance, and finally left her room.
***
The walk back to his room was a blur. Even as he laid down on his bed, Gabriel couldn't clear his mind, so he chose to do some practice. Maybe that way, he could sleep tonight.
'The Vampire Nobles' abilities aren't public knowledge, but every vampire has Blood Manipulation as an inherent ability. I already used it earlier, so I just have to recall how I did it.'
He sat there for a few minutes and tried to pick up some sort of feeling, but after nothing was happening, he was reminded of his middle school chunnibyou days. As a 24 year old, he needed to get his shit together.
So he went with a more productive option. He glanced over to the other end of the room and spotted a knife on a table. Gabriel went over, picked up the knife, and then pricked his finger.
As the blood fell, Gabriel finally felt what he had been hoping to. It was a very subtle ringing noise in the back of his head. When he focused on that ringing noise, he subconsciously felt a connection to the droplet of blood.
Back when he accidentally used Blood Manipulation, Gabriel remembered that he specifically commanded the blood to stop and not hit him. Although he had no idea how to make it subconsciously turn to ice, he had a rough idea of how to control the blood itself.
And that was through mental commands.
For one, he pictured himself commanding the blood to stop. Just as the blood was about to hit the ground, it froze in the air. Every other blood droplet that came after also froze, until finally, Gabriel had a whole ball of blood resting just inches above the ground.
He commanded it to move, and it moved wherever Gabriel willed it to. It was addictive, but after playing around with something as simple as moving for 5 minutes straight, the ringing noise in the back of his head intensified, making him feel lightheaded and disrupting his Blood Manipulation.
The ball of blood fell to the ground and splattered, making a whole mess. But Gabriel didn't care, as he was happier with the fact that he managed to manipulate the blood in the first place.
It was just that...
'For a Vampire Noble, I'm way too weak. I heard Vampire Nobles can control the blood of thousands of people at once. I'm struggling to control a small puddle.'
He thought he would have a lot more time to train, but that was when someone knocked on his door.