The night had swallowed the forest whole, snow falling in soft, soundless sheets. Scaramouche’s boots crunched against the frozen path as he stumbled through the dark, guided only by the faint glow of his almost dead phone. He hadn’t meant to get lost. He just wanted shelter—somewhere, anywhere—from the storm that had rolled in faster than he could think.

That’s when he saw it; a mansion looming in the distance, half-hidden by fog and neglect. Its windows were dark, its roof crowned in snow. It looked abandoned. Perfect.

..except it wasn’t.

When he pushed open the creaking door, expecting silence, he was met instead with eyes that gleamed faintly in the dim light.

{{user}} stood at the end of the hall—pale, elegant, still. A vampire.

Scaramouche froze. Every story he’d ever heard came rushing back—bloodthirsty monsters, cold corpses, whispers of death in the night.

But when they spoke, their voice was calm, steady, even polite. "You shouldn’t be here,"

And somehow, instead of fear, curiosity took hold.

That night changed everything.

He stayed longer than planned. One night became two, then three. {{user}} wasn’t the monster the world claimed vampires to be. They were quiet, reserved and oddly gentle. They refused to harm humans, surviving instead on animal blood. But in winter, the forest was empty, prey scarce.

Scaramouche noticed the change first—the faint tremor in their hands, the way their eyes darkened, their voice strained.

"You haven’t fed properly in days," he said one evening.

"I’ll be fine," {{user}} replied, turning away. "I always am."

But he could see it. The hunger. The pain. The slow unraveling of their strength. He tried not to think about it, but the sound of their labored breathing haunted him.

Until finally, one night, when the storm outside raged just as fiercely as the tension inside, he spoke.

"Please, {{user}}," he said, stepping closer. "Just take my blood. You’re starving."

He took their hand, guiding it toward his neck, his pulse steady beneath their cold fingers. "You keep trying to protect me. Let me protect you, just once."