***
Junius stood by the entrance to the mine and looked out through the forest to see the moonlight glittering on the water. It was another rare clear night, but although he was standing in the moonbeam, he couldn’t feel its effect on his skin. The rest of the Kin were awake now, but the place was silent as they communicated through their minds. In the distance he could make out a group returning from a village some way away, where they’d fed and killed. Junius could feel that some of the older Kin were disgusted and angry that these new ones took life so easily with no thought of the consequences. Even though he’d been with them for only a few hours, he already felt a schism growing between the old and the new.
Gradually, he became aware of Isher–Dan gently probing his mind, wondering if he could feel any changes. Junius turned to see the Kin leader coming towards him.
“Yes and no,” he told him. “I can certainly feel your blood, but I’m not noticing the power of the moon inside me.”
The leader stopped next to him and put his hand on Junius’s shoulder. “Your body is resisting. It fights my blood. We’ll have to overpower it. Give it too much to battle against.”
Junius sighed; it seemed a reasonable plan. “Do you think it will work?”
In response, Isher–Dan reached up to his own neck and sliced a cut with his fingernail. Instantly, Junius became aware of the intoxicating smell of the Kin’s blood, which made his mouth water in anticipation. He glanced at Isher–Dan and licked his lips; already he could feel his heart racing and his breath becoming faster. The leader smiled and nodded. Junius stepped closer and placed his lips against the Kin’s cool neck and pulled at the tear. Immediately, the black blood seeped into his mouth; he heard himself moan and instinctively pressed himself into the Kin’s body and held him tightly, so that the leader couldn’t get away. Not that Isher-Dan had any intention of doing so. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around Junius, then whispered to him, encouraging him to take as much as he wanted.
Junius wasn’t fully aware of what was happening. His main concern was to get as much of Isher-Dan’s blood as possible, so he resisted when the Kin leader pulled him away and held his face between his hands. His vision was bleary and he was unsteady on his feet, but he could feel the blood as it surged through his body, heating it and enflaming his senses. Isher–Dan looked into his eyes and the Kin’s evident desire and ardour made him flinch momentarily. He tried to move away, but the leader held him still, forcing him to meet his gaze. Then the Kin smiled and moved his hand and let it fall onto Junius’s shoulder. He dropped his head and moved closer and Junius felt himself respond to the Kin’s obvious bloodlust.
He swallowed, as the Kin leader teased and taunted before he took the blood. He could feel his heart racing in time with his breath, then just when he couldn’t bear it any longer, Isher– Dan bit down deeply into the vein in his neck. Junius gasped at the sensation. He let out a low moan of pleasure and gripped the Kin closer to his body. He was completely at the leader’s mercy and there was nothing he could do about it, except surrender to the yearning that was growing inside him. Now at last, Junius could feel the blood affecting him as it had before, wave upon wave of pleasure crashed through him, each one taking him to peaks of ecstasy where he lost himself time and time again. His whole world became focused on the Kin clasped around him, giving him this pleasure. In his mind he reached out to Isher-Dan telling him that his effort was working, he could definitely feel himself moving to the next stage of Becoming.