Dongwan looked at Andy as they sat across from each other in the sauna.

“I’m sorry I broke down today. I’ve been so weak since this happened. I’m not usually like this. I just need to adjust I think”, he reached out and squeezed Andy’s hand tight.

“But Wannie, I like that about you. You aren’t hard and bitter like so many of us…… like I was before I met you”, Andy looked at the man in front of him and smiled softly.

“But what we saw tonight…. it is a fact of my new life. You said yourself I had to be strong to get through it and I wasn’t. Everyone else in that room acted like it was just another day”, he looked down, ashamed.

“You aren’t like them. You have this beautiful spark of humanity and I hope you never lose it. You made me see my existence differently. Not just one night after another, marked by feeding. I want to do things; be out in the world”, he brought Dongwan’s hand to his lips and kissed it.

“What was your life like before you met me?”, Dongwan looked at him with a curious expression. Andy sighed and shook his head.

“I wasn’t living one. I mean, sure, I’m a vamp so living isn’t what we do. But I was barely existing. I would wake up at sundown, feed and then just stay at home. That party I met you at was the first time I’d gone out like that in probably 2 years. Jinnie was always nagging at me to come hang out at the café. I took all my feedings with the blood and when I didn’t feel like dealing with that I would just have blood delivered. I kept to myself”, Andy explained, he knew he had lived a lonely existence but he hadn’t known how else to deal with it.

“Did you ever wish you hadn’t been turned? I mean, what was your life like before that?”, Dongwan wanted to know everything about him.

“I was in school so I studied a lot but I still had friends and went out. That was how it happened after all. It was the end of term and I’d gone out with some friends and ended up at Jinnie’s café. My friends left and I ended up hanging out with Jinnie and after closing we hit a bar. I’d had way too much to drink and next thing I knew Jinnie and I were at his place. I remember after he told me what had happened I wanted to die. I even tried a few times…. But it’s harder for us to die. One time I tried to get a suntan”, he chuckled when he thought about that, “Jinnie managed to keep me from walking outside at sunrise. But at the time I wanted to die. But now…. it doesn’t seem like the worst thing to be a vampire”, he scooted over and rested his head on Dongwan’s shoulder.

“Is that why he wanted you to have a mate so badly? And why he was so excited that we decided to get together?”, Dongwan wrapped his arm around Andy’s waist and held him tight.

“Yeah, he knew how lonely I’ve been and wanted to see me happy”, he turned his head and smiled at Dongwan, “What were you like before you met me?”

“Lonely. I mean I had Ric and Amber and my mom but for the most part I didn’t interact with others. I had a boyfriend when I was in medical school and even worked in a free clinic for a while but once I opened the tattoo parlor my boyfriend drifted away. I heard he got married a few years ago. I wondered if that could have been me if things had gone differently. My mom is always nagging me to close the tattoo parlor and go back into medicine…… meet a nice girl or boy and get married and give her grandkids. I guess that won’t happen now”, he barked out a laugh and kissed Andy on the top of his head.

“Yes that is true but you don’t have to be alone and if you wanted to be a doctor again I would support you 100%. There are a few vamp doctors but they most work in hospice care or in hospital morgues”, he chuckled, “they get a paycheck and tend to be the ones that supply our special blood bank.” Dongwan’s eyes widened.

“You mean like a blood bank that sells the blood to vamps? How is that even legal?”, he asked incredulously.

“Of course it isn’t but there has to be an option for those of us that choose not to feed straight from the vein. You might say they are vegan”, Andy giggled and some Dongwan laughed with him. He felt better than he had since that morning he woke up with a hangover.

“What do you say we get outta here? You’re probably hungry plus we need to go see your coworkers still. I want to meet them for real. Were you going to tell them tonight?”, Andy stood and pulled Dongwan up with him.

“I want to, I probably should”, he glanced at his now bare arms. The taste of the king’s blood had erased the rest of the ink from his arms and he would have to explain it eventually. It would be weird if he wore long sleeves all the time.

They went and paid for two pairs of sweats at the front desk and left. They still had some night left, but not that much. They drove to the blood brothel and fed quickly. Andy didn’t go see Hyesung but instead chose someone he had never fed from before. Dongwan picked a woman and was able to get through the feeding without any ual thoughts at all. They went and got Andy a change of clothes from his apartment and went back to Dongwan’s to dress before they headed to the shop. Dongwan dressed first then lay on the bed and watched Andy get dressed, they both had dressed for comfort.

“How old are you…. I mean were you when you turned”, he watched as Andy pulled a sweater over his head.

“I was a late starter…. I didn’t go to college until I was 32”, he chuckled, “I was four years in and about to graduate when I was turned. So, I just barely turned 36. How old are you, Wannie?”, he pulled his jeans on and went to sit on the edge of the bed to pull socks on.

“I’ll be 38 this year. Well, not really…. But you know what I me