Leo’s blood rushing through me felt even better than the last time. It might have just been the new bite location, or maybe it was how much love I felt in it, but I felt completely overwhelmed. Even though my vision was a bit hazy when I pulled away from his ear, I could tell that he wasn’t as happy as me. As long as he’s safe, it didn’t bother me that he was upset for now.

He’ll understand after a while, I’m sure of it. I’ve just got to keep him close, and he’ll fall for me just like I fell for him! I thought to myself, lightly massaging his wrists with my thumbs. I kind of wish I could force it though. Not having him hugging me feels like I’m getting burned up all over again, but if that’s what it takes to make him happy, then I will wait for him.

I moved off of his lap and laid down on the bed. There was a restless feeling going over my whole body. Every little breath he took, or beating of heart, made me want to hold him down some more. Still, I knew I would only scare him. Leo sat up and rubbed the place where I’d bitten him.

“S-Sorry about that. I guess I got kind of worked up. Do you want me to get you anything? There might be some sunlight in your living area, but I’ll be careful.” I asked him.

“Wait.” Leo told me, trying to stand up. “Senna, just promise me that you aren’t going to give up on Simon entirely. If you’re scared, okay, we can wait. But if you want to just hide away here indefinitely, I can’t agree to that.”

“...Do you hate me, Leo?” I asked, staring down at the floor from the entrance.

“What? Of course I don’t! I care about your well-being, Senna, but Simon—"

“So then why do you keep bringing him up?!” I shouted back at him.

I hated myself for yelling at him, but I had no other choice. The fresh blood flowing in me was boiling over. These new emotions were still too strong for me, and I felt like my heart might burst out of my chest. My fist slammed into the wall, splintering the wood and scratching my hand. The pain only flashed over it while I healed, but Leo was quieter now. Seeing him scared was making me more upset, so I left the room.

Dodging about the room, I set to closing the shutters using the fire poker to avoid putting my hands in the sunlight. Once the room was dark, I started a fire to begin cooking. Briefly I thought about making something for myself, but I remembered that I could feed on Leo now. My pale cheeks flushed and my anger washed away, hugging myself with joy at the thought of it.

Leo stepped out of the bedroom and stared at me while I cooked. Knowing he was watching me calmed me down already. I watch the meat sizzle in a cast iron pan with a curious expression, hoping it smelled good to Leo. To me it was only losing the appetizing scent of blood. He walked past me and towards the table, though I raised my feet a little in case I need to bolt to the door and hold him down again.

He sat down at the table in silence and waited for me to finish. When I’d finally pulled the meat off of the pan, I brought it to him and set it down. Even though I could hear his stomach grumble, he was clearly reluctant to eat. His mind was probably racing, but I was only getting more infatuated.

“Senna... you know I can’t stay inside forever, right?” He asked me.

“Of course, when the night time comes I can watch over you. We can go hunting like we did before! I’ll take down and animal and then you can take its hide and meat. Um, maybe we’ll have to set up some kind of trade thing where someone will pick it up in the morning for you...”

“You don’t even trust me to go into town in broad daylight? It’s not like the Ainz family can go and attack me then, Senna.”

“N-No, but what if someone tries to rob you! A drunk might try and pick a fight with you! S-Some other girl might flirt with you!” I shouted back, standing up in the heat of the moment.

“That last one doesn’t seem like a threatening situation.”

“It would be if I were there...” I muttered before taking my seat again. “Look, it’s just... I got really scared when I thought you were going to die. My first thought was to feed you some of my blood, which is what my aunt told me to do if one of our... if one of the humans at our estate got injured. That being said, she told me never to do it to the one I was feeding on, or he’d turn into a vampire himself.”

“So as long as you feed from me, you can’t do that kind of healing? Seems like it’d be smarter if you fed on animals again then. Then you could—"

“NO!” My fists slammed into the table, shaking the plate. “I-I mean... no, I want to keep feeding on you. Even if it is a bit reckless, I just feel so much safer and happier when your blood is inside me...”

I brought my arms back towards me, hugging myself tight and closing my eyes. With Leo’s blood, my senses were strong enough that I could hear his breathing. It was faster than it probably should have been, and I knew it was my fault.

Why do I feel like acting so selfish with him? It must be scary to have me behaving so violently in front of him. But he has to understand why, right? Leo knows that I love him, even if I don’t think he gets how much. I thought to myself and opened my eyes. Do I even deserve to protect him, or keep him safe? He’s brave and wonderful, but I can’t imagine he truly needs me. I might just be causing trouble for him, but I can’t help wanting to get even closer with him, to be with him all of the time!

The rest of the daylight passed by without much more talking. I borrowed an old pair of Leo’s shorts, and one of his sleeping shirts to wear. Leo paced around the room a lot, and cleaned some skins he had inside the cabin. As he moved, I just sat at the table with my knees tucked to my chest and watched him. He wasn’t particularly scared or angry, but I could see his eyes drifting to the doorway every so often. Thankfully the sun fell below the mountains and I could open one of the shutters again. Even though I felt perfectly content staring at him, Leo probably wanted to go outside and stretch his legs.

I leaned on the window sill and stared up at the sky, like Leo had told me to on our first night hunting together. There were streaks of purple, the last remnants of dusk bleeding away to the night. Without the moon or stars, it was just nearly invisible clouds that dominated the view above the trees. Without much to admire yet, I looked back to Leo with a bright smile. While he didn’t return it, I could tell he was feeling nervous. I moved next to him and grabbed his arm, hugging it against my chest and leaning on him.

“Senna...?” He asked, looking down at me.

“I just thought we could walk out like this, since nobody else is here. From what I remember, this is a thing couples do, right?”

“Well sure, but...” He responded before shaking his head and moving for the door. “Nevermind, just try to stay calm, alright? If you get upset, you might break my arm if you hold it like that.”

Realizing what he was scared of, I pulled myself away till I was just holding his hand. My eyes locked onto the ground while I waited for him to start moving. While he might have assumed I was worried I would do as he said and hurt him, I also felt hurt. The gulf of strength between us was too large for comfort, and he seemed all to aware of it. I wanted to curl up and act meek just to make him feel safer, but he’d probably just get freaked out. What I want is a lot more than just holding his hand, but I’m willing to take this if it will make him feel a little safer with me.

He opened the door and led the both of us outside. The sky still had light tinges of orange on the opposite side of the cabin, but it was definitely night where we were now. The second we exited the cabin, I felt an odd sense of fear. Even though it didn’t feel founded in anything, I didn’t like how open everything was to Leo. My mind raced with the idea someone might accidentally hurt him while out hunting. I pressed myself closer to his side and let out a small whine of frustration.

Without the need to hunt to feed myself, I didn’t have a reason to leave Leo’s side. There were a few rabbit traps that we checked, but there was only three with rabbits inside of them. Watching Leo carefully kill them each with his knife made me excited. I thought it might have been because of the small amount of blood, but compared to Leo’s blood it had barely any impact on my sense of smell. When I really thought about it, Leo’s every action seemed more interesting to me now.

I stuck closer to him while we walked back, and my nose pressed against one of his sleeves. There was an odd compulsion to keep smelling him, even when my nose was strong enough to get the same sensation from further away. I nuzzled against him warmly as we walked, but the scent of Leo became overwhelmed by something else. At first I thought it might be cooking, but the strength of the burnt wood was much too high for that. I let go of Leo and rushed off towards the cabin, with him trying to keep up with me.

As I got closer, smoke noticeably rose above the treeline, and a bright red light shined in the darkness. I rounded the corner and found the cabin engulfed in flames. Right in front of the destroyed building was a cloaked figure. At the sound of my footsteps they turned around and pulled off their hood.

“Edward Ainz... I knew I should have killed you.”

His face was scarred similar to mine, but far worse. The whole right half of his face was pitch black, same for his right hand. As soon as he saw me slow down to a walk, he undid the fasten of his hooded cloak and let it fall to the ground. There were bandages wrapped around his torso, with stains of blood on them. It was only when I was a couple meters away that I noticed his scars were leaking a faint steam or gas.

Leo rounded the corner after me as I stopped and he lout out a shout at the sight of his home burning. I looked back at him for a second before snapping back and glaring at the arsonist Ainz.

How dare he destroy the place me and Leo were going to live from now on?! I’m going to skin him and make throw his worthless corpse at that pathetic family’s estate!

With a growl, I leapt towards him with my arms thrown out at either side, ready to strike. In the few moments of my charging, I noticed something mixing with the smell of burning wood. A warped grin spread over the face of Edward as I remembered what it was, but too late to stop myself. The smell was coming off of him, and was the same disgusting smell I had gotten from that room where Anna died.