Vampire Nightlife

"Stacy?" Lukas blinked.

Out of the trees, Stacy stepped out awkwardly with her hands raised in the air. She looked a little uncomfortable but also sheepish at the same time.

"I know for sure that I don't want to be hit with that dagger." Stacy said, her gaze flickering momentarily to the tree branch Lukas attempted to hit.

The ice cold feeling evaporated from Lukas almost instantly–he resisted the urge to cough in embarrassment and instead stored away the dagger.

"Nah, I think you've already seen how my efforts were going since you were spying on me."

"I haven't–!" Stacy said.

"You mean you haven't seen my terribly bad aim?" Lukas looked at her agog, and wished that he didn't say it out loud.

"Oh, that I saw–" Stacy smiled a little at those words. "But I wasn't, you know–"

"Well, I was just messing around, really." Lukas said and scratched his head. "I could have struck it if I wanted to–"

"I wasn't spying on you, Lukas." Stacy said, much calmer than she expected. "Don't kid yourself."

It was Lukas' turn to become a little awkward. His own words did seem like he was expecting girls to be chasing after him, which was a little foolish. Not that he'd show his awkwardness, instead he raised a brow.

"You mean that you just happened to end up in the same place as me and decide to focus on me playing with the dagger?" Lukas said.

"Yes, it wasn't intentional." Stacy nodded. "I would have come out and said something–but you looked like you were concentrating hard. Like… you were destressing or something like that."

Stacy wondered if it was a good time to point out why Lukas was here by himself. Shouldn't he be happily with Chaerin right now? But she knew better than to ask that.

Lukas grimaced at those words–wished he wasn't so easily read, but she knew.

"Well, what about you then?" Lukas asked. "Does your brother snore or anything? Don't I remember you saying that you're most comfortable with him?"

Stacy's lips twisted at his words. "I wish that he snored–but no, it's not really something I want to talk about now."

Lukas nodded.

He understood–well, both understood that it was best not to bring things up.

Instead, there was something else that he could do for the both of them.

Lukas approached her and stretched out an empty hand towards her.

"Huh?" Stacy glanced at him, not understanding at first–she tentatively reached out to take his hand until she saw the dagger appear in his palm.

"You were right, I was distressed so I wanted to destress." Lukas cracked a grin. "When it feels like life is completely out of your hands, why not focus on something that you can control and improve on, eh?"

Stacy bit on her lip and ignored the heat that rose to her cheeks. She had assumed and believed that he meant something else when he stretched his hand and she was…

Lukas' eyes widened momentarily when Stacy swiped the dagger away from his hands.

Stacy turned her back towards him and shifted her gaze to the tree above.

"I had some difficulty–" Lukas said, but his words fell to deaf ears.

The dagger cut cleanly through the tree branch, and within the silent forest, the branch crashed and made a sound.

It echoed and traveled within the forest, and the two Vampires looked at each other in surprise.

They had forgotten about it completely–

Someone lashed out in the darkness and Nievu nearly struck Stacy and Lukas both, before he stopped himself and narrowed his eyes on them.

Ursa was right behind him, transformed into her bear form when she saw the two together and the fallen tree branch.

She gave the two a reproachful look.

"Bad. We thought it was an attack–gave us a heart attack."

"Er, this guy nearly just killed us though." Lukas jerked a thumb at Nievu.

"Psh, you two are suspicious and outside–don't blame us." Ursa stuck out a tongue and then headed back to the villager's camp. "Don't make too much noise."

Nievu shot the two a warning look before he followed after Ursa.

Lukas and Stacy shared another look, before the two laughed.

"Nearly got us killed there, Stacy." Lukas chuckled and rubbed his face. "I kinda had a feeling–"

"Ugh, it makes sense that we'd alert them for being too noisy." Stacy snorted. "But don't tell me that's the reason why you were missing your shots. I don't believe that–can't fool me."

"Fine, I was missing my aim earlier, but I'd like you to know that my shots are accurate when they matter." Lukas defended as he collected the dagger again. "Watch me now, I'll show you that I can do that."

"I'm not doubting that," Stacy smiled, having quieted down a little. "You're strangely capable… and lucky too."

"It's not luck," Lukas frowned. "That's a little hurtful–"

"So you mean to say that you have the aim of someone comparable to people who've actually trained?" Stacy raised a brow. "We can still say that you've got skill and a talent for someone with no experience, but isn't that also still luck? My brother somehow never loses a fight, and while there's the fact that he's always been on the streets, it's also because of well–you know."

Lukas' lips pressed together and he nodded.

It was something that she didn't want to say, but the two knew it.

Bloodlines.

Stacy eventually just smiled and shrugged.

"Well, it's not that bad–you've seen how my aim was extremely good? Hit it in one go. A lucky strike. Not bad for a Vardoken, right?"

"Could be much much better, frankly." Drusilla quipped.

Lukas and Stacy both flinched away at the same time.

It had felt like an extremely private conversation, but somehow, Drusilla reminded them that it was anything but that.

Stacy was glad that she didn't say anything stupid.

Lukas wondered if there was a way to deafen the Vampire.