Dropping Off

"Tea?" Jel asked, holding a cup and handing it to Osbert who took it absentmindedly. Chuckling to himself, the first man took a seat beside the latter. "It's pretty, right?"

Everything had gone back to normal except the surrounding is not sparkled with stars anymore. Though the leaves on the trees and the plants glowed all kinds of colours so they did not have to worry about falling into a dark void.

"You … why are you showing this to me?" Osbert asked, placing his cup to the side. "You know what I do."

"I don't know." The man said immediately, poking a straw into a blood bag while he began to drink off it. "Bleh. AB-? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers."

"Are you drinking … blood?" Osbert asked, looking at the man cautiously.

"Yeah. You want it also or something?" Jel asked, holding the bag to the man as blood trickled down the corner of his lip, revealing a bit of his pointy teeth.

"No thanks," Osbert said quickly, averting his eyes from the man. "I was just surprised."

"Why? You know that I'm a vampire right?" Jel sucked up the rest of the blood before burning the bag with a lighter he carried on him, for some reason.

"Yeah, but I have seen one drink from a blood bag."

"If we are going to be friends, I am going to need you to get used to this, Osbert," Jel said as the other man quickly turned to him, eyes wide.

"Friends?"

"You don't want to be friends?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "Was I the only one that thought we could be friends? Awww~. I am so sad."

As though to prove his point, Jel laid on the ground, whining incessantly.

"You are so immature," Osbert said, looking at the man from the corner of his eyes. "Besides … I never said I didn't want to be friends."

Ears perking up, Jel jumped and wrapped his arms around Osbert, grinning brightly. "Yay! Me and Osbert are friends now!"

"How old are you anyway?" Osbert asked, shoving the man away while trying to hide the smile that came on his face as best as he could.

"Let me think," Jel said, crossing his arms and scrunching his face up. "I believe I am … around … four hundred and fifty years old, I think. You stop counting after you reach the first hundred."

"You are what?!?" Osbert got to his feet, staring at the man. "H-how? No one I have met have lived past the age of a hundred and fifty.

And they certainly don't look as young as you do."

"Awww~. You just keep flattering me." Jel said, putting his face in his hands. "What do you want? A reward? I am not that easy but it's been a while since I got a compliment so I will give you something. Give me your hand."

Subconsciously, Osbert held his hand out as Jel placed a light blue gem in his hands.

"What is this?" The man asked, inspecting the gem in his hands. It is about the size of his fingernail but boy did it glow.

"It is my gift to you," Jel said brightly. "It is made after hundreds and hundreds of years of pressurized vampire blood. It was very difficult to make so take care of it."

The moment he said that, Osbert suddenly clutched the gem tight in his hands.

"Why would you give me something so precious??"

"You say precious when you don't even know what it does." Jel laughed, laying back down. "Don't worry about it. It's useless to me."

"What does it do?"

"Well, vampire blood. So it gives the holder a fourth of a vampire's abilities." Jel shrugged, staring at the darkness above him, suddenly reminded of his mornings.

Suddenly feeling annoyed, he stood up, rubbing his hand over his eyes.

"This is too precious for me," Osbert said, panic written all over his face. That was enough to make Jel break into a chuckle.

"So you mean, my gift is inadequate?" Jel asked, pretending to look offended as he held his hand out to him. "I thought you would like it, but getting a gift from a vampire is a little much, isn't it?"

"No!" Osbert said, clutching the gem again. "I mean … I like the gift. I will keep the gift. Thank you."

"Are you sure?" Jel asked, raising an eyebrow at the man.

"Yes. Thank you." He said, turning away from Jel to look at the gem closely while Jel observed him closely.

Osbert is a big man, filled with muscles that flexed every time he so much as breathed.

As expected of a shapeshifter. They have mostly muscles on their bodies by default. Maybe it's because of the constant rearranging of their organs as they shift? I don't know.

His dark blue hair looks like the night sky and the bits of silver just made it stand out even more. The burn mark on his face ran all the way down to his two fingers.

I wonder what caused it. His body should have healed it without leaving a mark. Unless, he got that mark by a holy weapon or … something else.

"You have been staring at me for a while," Osbert said, turning to the man, his black doe eyes reflecting Jel's face in them. "Is there something on my face?"

"Nothing." He said, smiling pleasantly as the laughter of children filled the ears of the two.

Both looked below at the same time to see the two women with the two children, running around the backyard where a large tree stood in the middle of glowing grasses.

"They seem to be having fun," Osbert remarked, looking at the kids as Lillian Rose waved her hands, showing them a trick by picking the kids up with her hair and throwing them in the air.

"They do." Jel agreed, a hint of sadness on his voice. "It's good that Lillian Rose is generous."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in case you forgot, those kids are vampires, well, one of them is and the other is a Devil Child. This place is only full of 'herbivores'." Jel said, putting the word 'herbivores' in air quotations. "You remember what that means, right?"

Osbert fell silent, staring at the kids again. "So, what are you going to do then? With them?"

"They are still kids, I asked Lillian Rose to take care of them and she agreed," Jel said, frowning slightly. "Even if they are 'predators', if she is the one to take care of them, most of the people won't mind."

"But she will only be able to do it for so long, right?" Osbert asked, turning to Jel. "Once they grow up-"

"We will worry about that when the time comes," Jel said quickly. "There are enough worries for now. Like, collecting and bringing the meals for the two."

"Right, the both will need blood." Osbert bit into his lower lip. "Tell me honestly, Jel. That woman … she was their mother right?"

"She was," Jel said honestly, watching as Osbert's expression turn from conflicted to distraught. "Don't feel bad, Osbert. You weren't the one that killed her."

"That doesn't change that she died in front of me, by my teammate." He sighed, burying his face in his hands. "There are so, so, so many questions I have and I don't even know what I don't know."

Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, Jel offered a smile, "I will be glad to answer them for you. But not now, tonight has been long and … I would rather you ask them with a clearer mind."

"Yeah. I think that's better too." Osbert said, looking at the kids again just as a call came from his phone, startling him. "Sorry."

Jel clasped his hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out laughing as the place they were in is mostly silent, save for some voices here and there.

Jel stopped laughing and stared at the man in front of him then at the people below, a narrow expression coming on his face and then changing as Osbert turned to him, keeping the call.

"Who was it?"

"My teammates," Osbert said, looking at his phone. "I didn't realize how late it's gotten. The sun is going to rise in forty minutes. I need to go."

"I will still be here for a while. I need to talk over some things with Lillian Rose. Come." He grabbed the man's wrist and jumped down, stopping in front of the four. "He will have to go now."

"I will take you to the gate," Reagan said and was about to go but the girl held onto her leg.

"Don't go!"

"I will only be a minute."

"Don't go." She begged, looking at her with her big doe eyes. "Mama went and she didn't come back!"

"Hadley." Tory tried to pry her off but the girl was relentless

"I will take him to the gate," Jel said, smiling reassuringly at them.

"I will tell them that you are coming," Reagan said, picking the girl up in her arms. "Sorry. I am not a very good guard."

"You were excellent," Osbert said, looking at the boy and girl apologetically before quickly turning and floating away.

"I'll be back," Jel said, chasing after Osbert as quickly as he could, putting his hood up.