"...and that's your current assessment, your highness. Your estimated life expectancy is no more than a year...if you're lucky enough to have your retainer's blood continue to sustain you for that long."
"Hey now...You didn't have to put it so...bleak, Armen." Ramiel chimes in, feeling anxiousness over her colleague being so harsh to the prince's face directly. "Couldn't you at least give him some hope?"
"The prince is well aware of where his hope lies." He looks at the royal for a moment before facing the smaller nurse. "It's up to him whether or not he takes hold of it like we've been suggesting for years now. If you ask me, he's a fool not to."
With that, Armen takes his exit, leaving Ramiel alone with Ahmes. Honestly, the news wasn't that surprising. The prince was well aware he's been on a time limit. His living to the age of seventeen was a miracle in itself. It's part of why growing up he felt like there was no use in trying to continue living.
If he was just going to die anyway, as an unworthy heir to the throne, then why bother?
But then he found a reason for living, a reason to keep on even if just for a short while. That was the secret to his so-called 'miracle survival', as the Angel Feathers called it. For a royal vampire's will was never to be underestimated, even if one is in not ideal health.
Of course, it was obvious to anyone what or rather...who the prince was fighting so hard to live for. One only need to look at Ahmes' eyes whenever they looked at his human to know the answer. Yes, he continued on despite his pain, despite his suffering, for Toshiki. For him and him alone.
His kingdom. His people. His own health. The royal's feelings toward all these things paled in comparison to what he felt for Toshiki, a feeling one might label as heartfelt devotion or fondness for a pet, depending on who you might ask. Regardless of what it was or what it's called, those strong feelings for the human have caused his current predicament regarding his health. Armen was, after all, not lying when he said the prince's hope for continued survival was well known by this point.
Toshiki was a special human. Not just because of his favor by the heir to the vampiric throne, but because of his blood. He had a blood type only seen once in a generation, one the bloodsuckers called Type MT or 'Miracle Trigger'. This fact was revealed during Blasteed's trial, for the flames of Judgement did more than just punish the sinful. It had the ability to cleanse one's blood of any toxins and identify the type without needing to taste it by the color of the human's blood amongst the flames.
And under the blue holy flames of Percival, who casted Judgement in the prince's place that night almost a decade ago, Toshiki's blood shined with a green tint, the signature sign of Type MT. The blood type that tasted overly sweet and possessed miraculous healing abilities. Legend says one sip can enhance a vampire's peak physical strength, including cleansing the body of any sickness or weakness they may have felt. Though, the downside to it is that it's very addictive. If one is not careful, one might drink the Type MT holder dry in a single sitting.
This was what Ahmes feared and, thus, drove him to forbid himself, or anyone else for that matter, from drinking from his human. Because even if the human's blood had the power to save him, the risk of him dying in the process was too high to attempt. On top of that, the very thought of feeding upon a human being, especially one as kind and sweet as Toshiki, sickened the royal. The last thing he wants is to become a monster in the eyes of the one he cherished most.
His wishes frustrated everyone in the court, the Angel Feather's included. King Alfred tasked them with finding alternative means of medicine to heal his child, means they all knew didn't exist. Ahmes' condition was too dire for anything to work. Again, it was a miracle he was still alive despite his constant state of being bedridden and having his veins threaten to tear him apart. His being stubborn about taking what they considered life-altering medicine just made their jobs harder, and Rameil was especially sick of it. The subtle, irritated look she gave the prince said it all.
"Ramiel...You think I'm a fool too, don't you?" The prince asks as he sits up, his words causing the nurse to jump back a few paces in surprise at the question. He didn't mean to cause her alarm, but he really must remember his power over others.
"I mean...you're just doing what you want to do with that brunette. That's your right. It's not up to me or anyone else to decide how you choose to use your property. I mean, if I were you, I know what I'd be doing with a Type MT, but that's just me."
"He's...He's not my property." His fists clench together, his gaze averting down to avoid hers.
"Whether or not you call him that doesn't change the fact he is legally." Those words stung, no matter how many times Ahmes has heard them. "To think you selected the cream of the crop without even knowing it! You certainly know how to pick offerings, Prince."
"I...I didn't even want one to begin with...My father made me choose..."
"Oh, to be forced to get what every vampire would kill to have...Such a tragedy." The sarcasm in her voice is evident, Ramiel seeming to lose all professionalism as her big mouth shows its ugly head.
"Personally, I think you're wasting your future away by refraining from drinking his blood. Just one drop and all your health problems would go away! You know that, right?"
"I do, but...I'm afraid that I will-"
"I know. You're scared of drinking him dry. Ash told me all about your little problem." Sisters do love to gossip, after all. "Honestly Prince, if you're so fearful of biting him to death, then why not just get his blood another way? You do know fangs and bites are not the only way to extract blood, right?"
"...You really think all vampires like doing all that hard, messy work? Really, you really need to get out of your room more." She moves from his side to go to her workbench, rummaging through her things till she takes out a syringe and shows it to him. "We use this mainly to take and analyze blood samples in our lab. One poke from this bad boy, and boom! Blood extracted! It doesn't even really hurt! Certainly, much less than a normal feeding would."
"...I never was told there was another option." Probably because it would make the prince look more pathetic than he was perceived to be. A vampire's fangs and bites were things their kind took pride in, and extracting blood through such a method would no doubt be seen as cowardly.
"There's always other options if you just look for them. Prince, you could even just inject blood into your own bloodstream instead of drinking it directly, like you would with medicine. It does the same thing medically. Though, you do miss out on the taste. But for you, I doubt that's a downside."
If anything, it is a benefit. Just the smell of human blood was enough to make him nauseous. So, that, along with not having to cause Toshiki much pain at all to get it, did sound...promising. Like it actually might work.
For the first time in his life, was he actually...considering trying to consume human blood? Did Ramiel just hand him the solution to his dilemma?
"So...you interested in trying it out?"
"Tell you what. Why don't you take this with you and talk to your little human about it? See what he thinks. Not that he gets a say, but..." That last part is under her breath as she hands the medical tool to him, Ahmes' ruby hues staring at it intently.
Could he...really do this?
The question repeats in his mind over and over as he makes his way back to his chamber. Once there, no words escape his lips upon the sight of Ashlei outside his door, the royal giving her no greeting before entering inside to see the sleeping Toshiki passed out on the couch. Seems he too had a long day.
Kneeling at his side, the prince uses his free hand to gently brush the other's brown locks out of his face. He really did look so peaceful when he was like this. Not surprising, considering his mind was the one place vampires could not infiltrate. At least, that's what the naive blue-haired male likes to think. Little did he know of the horrors that no doubt plagued the mind of his companion.
"My sweet Toshiki...What I hold in my hands might be what changes our fate forever." He speaks silently, grasping the object in his hand tightly as he practices what he might say to him once he awakens. "If...If I can extract your blood and inject it into my body, then...the seals on my powers will be broken, and my health will improve. I'll be able to take the throne as my father wishes, leading me to have the ability to...finally set you free."
He promised himself he'd do anything to make that happen. Toshiki didn't deserve this. Neither did any other human. They were innocents caught up in the greed of the vampire species who only cared about their own self-preservation. There were ways to survive that didn't require an excess of human suffering. But such options were not even considered when they didn't see the other species as anything more than animals.
If Ahmes was on the throne, he would have the power to end this. To end the human suffering. To bring an end to the greedy, monstrous practices of Sanctuary. To free Toshiki from the chains that have bound him. All of this and more could occur if he just took this step forward that he thought might never be possible.
The hand containing the needle is raised, Ahmes now able to see his human through the glass. A small sample. That's all he would need they said. Even just a drop would be sufficient. That was how powerful Type MT blood is. And taking it this way wouldn't hurt much, if at all, Ramiel said.
His ruby hues close as he puts his imagination to good use, a skill Toshiki taught him that he's continued to use to help prepare for difficult situations. He seems himself doing the procedure. It's over quickly. He can see his companion isn't hurt, saying he barely felt it. Ahmes then injects the needle inside himself, and immediately, his ruby hues begin to glow, and a pair of vampiric wings made of his energy is released.
Toshiki smiles at him, seemingly happy the prince is cured. He sees himself happy, laughing even. But then...the image distorts. The bright light of the moon is replaced with the darkness of an eclipse. His smiling companion's gentle expression shifts to one of pure horror as his neck is bleeding blood, bite marks apparent as a shadow overtakes him.
And all he could hear in his mind was one word, the single word that personified his fear in the voice of who he loved more than anything.
"Monster. Monster. Monster!!!"
Immediately, the royal snaps back to reality. His heart racing as his breath heavies, eyes shifting to look at the needle. In a panic, he throws it out an open window before anyone can see what he had. No matter the method, he couldn't consume Toshiki's blood. He for sure knows he'll become what he feared most, a ravenous beast whose only desire was to drink. Type MT would surely be too much for a weakling to handle, and just one drop would be enough to get him addicted.
He couldn't risk it. No way could he after seeing that. The image in his heart felt like a premonition, as if fate itself was telling him what would await him no matter what he did.
For his fate was to be a monster, the very king of monsters. And no matter how he tried, such a fact was inescapable. This means the only thing he could do...was go back to his original plan. To figure out a way to free Toshiki without drinking from him or any other human with the time he has left.
The task seemed impossible considering the circumstances, but he promised to never give up...not until his last breath left his vampiric body.