Draluc woke up slowly in his coffin, and lazily reached for his phone. He checked the time, and realized that it was evening the next day. Figuring it was safe to open his coffin, he popped open the door and sat up from his bed.
What a mistake that was. A strong, sharp sense of malaise settled in his stomach, and he quickly felt the rising need to vomit. He cupped his hand over his mouth, getting up much more carefully, stepping out of his coffin bed. Stabilizing himself against the couch, he made his way to the bathroom.
It was no surprise that he had ended up this way. Last night, after finishing up a job with Ronaldo, they both had made their way to the Hunter’s Guild to relax and hang out with friends (Draluc felt confident that he could call the other hunters his friends too by now. He had spent more time hanging out with them than even Ronaldo had). Ronaldo had felt particularly tired from a combination of manuscript deadlines and a deluge of lesser vampire hunts that had ended up on his desk. After a brief 30 minutes, he went home before Draluc, muttering about how he needed his sleep. Ronaldo had taken John with him, so Draluc felt comfortable staying alone to drink.
This was his first mistake.
He was feeling a little more faint than usual. Although he barely received any blood in the last 5 years, the last time the lack of blood had been a huge problem was when he was a child. Superior adult vampires hardly needed to drink blood regularly to survive, it was merely a preference. As a child, drinking blood was an act of need. Young vampires need blood in order to grow up healthy, and he wasn’t ever particularly that healthy or robust to begin with. So as a child, he often received donations from a friendly human donor.
But adult vampires, the situation was different. Although most dhampirs could receive sustenance on human food, and occasionally craved blood, Superior adult vampires treated drinking blood as an act of trust, friendship, and love.
Drinking your friend’s blood from a cup was as sacred an act as sharing a promise. Drinking from someone directly was best reserved for those you intended to court.
Hence, his problem. The last time he drank any human blood was probably last year, before his castle exploded. After he met Ronaldo, he didn’t want to rely on blood packets from strangers he had never met. And somehow, drinking from them in front of him felt wrong.
So he hadn’t. And now he was feeling faint, and a little woozy, No Big Deal. But the other hunters had wanted to play beer pong. So he joined them.
This was his second mistake.
They substituted beer for milk, for Draluc. And despite his great talent at video games, playing a game in real life required real dexterity from his physical form just didn’t have. Trying to aim the ball on top of feeling dizzy just wasn’t happening, so he was 5 cups down before Satetsu stopped him. Shot, his opponent, also looked slightly worried.
“Draluc-san, are you alright?” Satetsu asked him kindly. Draluc glanced at him confused, but quickly understood. The humans thought he was drunk off of the milk. Well he’d tell them, he was perfectly fine!
“Maybe I’m just exhausted from keeping up with that damn gorilla all day.” Draluc answered back. He sighed, cleaning up the cups on his side of the table. “Sorry master, can you put this on Ronaldo-kun’s tab?”
The bartender nodded. Draluc deposited the cups on the bar’s counter before heading out. Draluc waved goodbye to Shot, Batter, and Satetsu, who waved back before turning back to the group to start the setup for their next game.
Draluc debated walking back to their office apartment, but he wasn’t feeling well enough for the 20 minute walk. He hailed a cab.
This was his third, and final mistake.
To be fair, he didn’t know that getting into a car would do this to him. He normally never had car sickness, not even as a child (though cars didn’t exactly exist when he was a child). However, the combination of 5 cups of milk and dizziness made for a nauseating car ride. By the time he got home, it took all of his willpower to climb the stairs and make his way into his and Ronaldo’s shared office/apartment space. He opened the door into the living room to see John curled up in his coffin, sleeping.
Draluc climbed into his coffin, shut the door, and passed out, hoping to feel better tomorrow.
+++
And that’s how he found himself in the bathroom, retching into the toilet. Draluc could hear a tearful “nuuu” outside the bathroom door, along with the front door opening and closing. Ronaldo had probably returned from whatever errand he had been on. He had already spilled most of the contents from last night, so there was nothing left in his stomach to empty. Draluc was probably going to have to stay away from milk for a while.
He washed out his mouth, and then brushed his teeth. While brushing his teeth, he heard a hard knock at the door.
“Hey! Idiot! Are you alright in there?!” Ronaldo said loudly.
Draluc finished his task before opening the door.
“I’m fine. I just drank too much at the guild.” the vampire said, hoping it would end the matter there. John jumped into his arms, and he picked him up, petting him comfortingly.
Ronaldo took a good look at his vampire friend, studying his condition. Draluc looked more sickly than usual, with bags under his eyes and pale cheeks, far more pale than usual. Furthermore, he had a bit of a grimace, betraying how unwell he was feeling.
“Can vampires even get a hangover from drinking too much milk?” Ronaldo asked. Draluc snorted.
“No. But I got carsick from the cab yesterday.” He said back.
Any other time, Ronaldo would have laughed straight in his face at such a ridiculous reason to feel sick. But something didn’t add up; it had been a whole day since Draluc took the cab, that couldn’t have been the reason he was feeling so sick right now.
However, rather than press him for the reason, Ronaldo let it go. Whatever the issue was, Draluc didn’t want to talk about it right now.
“By the way, wasn’t your family’s party today? I picked up my suit from the cleaners. Do you still want to go?” Ronaldo asked. Draluc froze up; he had forgotten all about it. If he showed up in his current condition, his dad would for sure figure out what was happening and make a big fuss out of it.
But calling out sick was out of the question; he wouldn’t be surprised if his father showed up in person the next day, hounding him about his health and bringing a basket of goodies and get-well gifts. Not that Draluc wouldn’t have appreciated the gifts and attention, but having his Dad figure out that he had been abstaining from blood due to his stupid crush on Ronaldo was probably the most mortifying thing that he could think of.
“Yeah, I’ll get ready. It’d be more annoying if I missed it.” Draluc responded.
Ronaldo quirked his eyebrows. He wasn’t sure why Draluc was so determined to go, but he guessed they could just make an appearance. Unlike before, the whole family was aware that he was a hunter, so there wouldn’t be any more stupid games trying to hide his real identity. If Draluc still wasn’t feeling well, his family would probably be the best people to ask about recommending a vampire doctor.
And even if Draluc resisted, he would give him a quick chop and then drag his stupid ass to get professional help.
He was clearly feeling ill, why would that idiot try to hide it so much?