Title: E S C A P E

Summary: Wanting to escape taking over his father's company, Rujen turns to a mysterious stranger he happened upon in his own back yard. But this stranger is more mysterious than Rujen realizes...

Genre: Romance

Rating: T

Warning: yaoi

Chapter 2

There's something in the air tonight...something strange, yet familiar... Is it you? The one I seek? Please, help me...

Rujen slowly opened his eyes to find himself in his bedroom, the sun beaming through window as if to say 'wake up, it's afternoon already.' The youth slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, whispering to no one in particular, "What happened?"

Suddenly the door opened and Cain dashed into the room, having just heard about his brother, "Rujen! Are you all right? I was so worried about you, I came as soon as I heard!" Confused, Rujen turned to his brother, "What are you--?" The boy paused, suddenly remembering everything, and blatantly saying aloud, "Alume kissed me." Alume, who is he? Why did he... Rujen thought, a slight blush forming on cheeks.

"Alume? Who's that? Brother, are you feeling okay?" Cain moved to touch his sibling's forehead, only for Rujen to shy away, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I just...I probably just spent too much time under the sun earlier." Cain smiled, pushing the brown locks from his brother's face, "Okay then. I'll send Elena by later to check up on you. Get some rest and when you're feeling better let me know. I'll let the instructor know that today's lesson has been canceled."

Rujen was overly excited to hear that he didn't have to go to his lessons, but never once revealed any emotion pointing to it. Cain patted his brother's head and left, leaving the brown-haired youth to ponder on his previous thoughts. "Alume...who are you?"

Elena dropped by, just as Cain said, and gave him a lecture, sided with medicine, and told him to get a lot of rest. Night fell soon after and Rujen awoke once more. Sleepily, he got up, hearing a strange moaning sound, "Cats?" He walked unevenly to the window, opening it to the balcony, and stepped out under the moonlit night. His eyes widened at the beauty of the full moon shining brightly in the darkness, surrounded by stars. An image of Alume from earlier that day, hurt and weak, passed over the moon in his eyes. Rujen looked away, but hearing the moaning again, he stepped to the edge of the balcony, peering over. What he saw he wasn't ready for.

Alume grasped the other's hand, pulling her towards him, and he smirked, showing off large fangs. She haulted, suddenly filled with fear, and tried with all of her might to get away from his grasp. Alume grasped her shoulders and pushed her head to the side, as if she wasn't striking his chest and pushing at his shoulders. His teeth grazed her flesh and she opened her mouth to scream when, as if from the heavens, a voice stopped him, "Alume! Stop it!"

Rujen gasped as soon as the words left his mouth, What am I saying? But..Alume...I need to know, who he is... Suddenly a cracking sound echoed through the still air and Rujen looked down at the crumbling rail beneath his hands. It was too late, he tumbled foreward with the old marble to the ground below.

Alume pushed the girl from his grasp and lept into the air, jumping along the two large marble peices falling, and caught the young teen, pulling him close to his chest. He swiftly landed away from the crash site, his feet touching the soft grass below with a light thud. Alume noticed the boy in his arms tightly grasping his chest, a faint blush visible on his cheeks and nose.

Rujen was so flustered, he couldn't speak, not even to thank the man who had saved him. Suddenly thoughts filled his head. How did he jump so high? Was he hurt? Did that all just happen? How did he move so quickly? Rujen felt dizzy from the overload in his mind, but was quickly brought back to the real world when Alume cleared his throat, "Are you alive?" Rujen looked up into the black eyes of the silver-haired man holding him. There was a sharp point in his side suddenly and Rujen noticed it was the man's nails.

"Alume, who are you? Are you okay? Last time I saw you, you were hurt. Did you get help?" He stopped, still worried to the maximum, but he noticed the aggravated glare on the other's face. Suddenly Alume set him down, feet first, and glared at him, rage practically fuming from his person. Before the teen could ask what he had done to cause the anger, Alume pointed to him, "You lost me my meal! I have to go and hunt down another because of you. Don't you know to mind your own business? What's with you, are you really as dumb as you look?"

Rujen looked down, his face burning with embarrassment, he'd only wanted to find out who Alume was, what was the problem with that? Rujen wiped at his eyes, sobbing lightly, then looked up to the man with a slightly confused gaze, "Wait a--your meal?" He paused, gathering his thoughts, "You're...that means you're a..." The brown-haired teen trembled, unable to say the last part.

Alume sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as a headache began pounding in his head, "Yes, I'm a vampire. It took you this long to figure it out? Geez, you're slow..." He looked over to Rujen who, by now, had lost all conscious thought and reasonability. He chuckled to himself, watching the boy run the thought over and over in his mind, trying to grasp the concept, but Alume's smile faded when he realized the reality of the situation.

"Hold still," the silver-haired man said, reaching out to grasp Rujen's face. The teen noticed him lean in, slowly parting his lips. Rujen pushed away, blocking the body from advancing on him, "What are you--"

"You owe me this. You let my meal get away," Alume pointed out that the woman victim was now long gone and Rujen jolted back. Alume grasped the teen's arm, pulling him towards himself, "This shouldn't be anything new, I did it once before." He saw the utter shock written on the boy's face followed by a bright blush and laughed, "What's that look for? It's not like we had sex or something." Rujen was beet red by now and blushing wildly, but was alerted when Alume tried to reach his neck again. He pushed him away, "No, let go!"

"Stop that, I only need a little blood. It's not like I'm taking your first kiss..." Rujen was pulled close to the man's chest and held there like a child to its mother. He was scared, yes, but at the same time it was comforting. He felt like...he belong in this man's embrace. The thought was erased from his mind when large fangs grazed his skin. He suddenly felt warm, so warm. Alume's tongue licked at the flesh between his shoulder and neck and finally he peirced it. Rujen jolted at the suddeness of the attack, but felt no pain. It was just like the first time...

Alume sucked the blood from the boy's neck, tasting the sweet yet metallic flavor. Every once in a bit he'd lick at the wound, eliciting shivers and a few gasps from the body in his grasp. Just as he'd finished and was satisfied, Alume turned to the boy, noticing the dazed green eyes looking into his own black orbs. Slowly, Rujen leaned up to the man's face and brushed his lips against Alume's, just before darkness clouded over him and he lost consciousness. Alume sighed, knowing he'd regret it later, but kissed the younger boy back, slightly smiling as he retreated and jumped up to the balcony to replace the young boy in his bed.

"I'll be back tomorrow night...Rujen."

Alume noticed the sun would be up very soon, so he walked over to the large window and stepped out to the balcony, glancing back only for a moment to see that Rujen was asleep before disappearing into the darkness of the night.

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Shonen Nagasaki