“Ah, he lives,” the tall, devilishly good-looking man greeted Lay.

           “Good morning, Kris,” Lay mumbled as he heaved his guitar case off of his shoulder and onto the little stage.

           Kris looked up from his place behind the counter. “Eh? Morning?” He chuckled. “Had a rough few days, bud?”

           Lay let out a bitter laugh, “You could say that.” He silently continued to set up his music stand, microphone, and other performance paraphernalia.

           “Oh, by the way,” Kris broke Lay's concentration, “Your girlfriend came by yesterday after you left.”

           Lay looked up. “Soyoung?”

           “She IS still your girlfriend, right?”, Kris teased. Lay gave him an exasperated look.

           “Just kidding,” Kris waved off, “but yeah, Soyoung was here yesterday.”

           Lay waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

           “And?”

           “She brought a lunchbox and a smoothie for you.” Lay stopped what he was doing.

           “Where is it?”

           Kris rubbed the back of his neck. “I uh, ate it.”

           Lay narrowed his gaze. “What?”

           “Well, I mean, it's not like you were going to come back so she gave it to me. Didn't you say you were going to the grocery store, anyways?” Kris justified.

           Lay didn't answer and turned back to set up.

           Indeed yesterday Lay left work a bit earlier than usual. It was a Monday, the first day of the work week. The coffeehouse was relatively empty that night as people were quick to get home after the long day. However, he didn't go to the grocery store, instead he went to the butcher shop.

           He had woken up from a restless sleep that morning with a ferocious hunger and the fact that he was up before 9:00 was a feat in itself, but Lay assumed that it had something to do with his new nature. He stretched and made his way to the refrigerator. Opening it, he groaned at the realization that he had forgotten to buy food. Again.

           Lay pulled a box of cereal from the cupboard reluctantly. After completing the necessary preparations for the very uneventful meal ahead of him, he stood at the counter and hastily brought a spoonful to his mouth. Instead of the chocolate-peanut buttery flavour that he and Luhan loved, Lay felt like he was chewing lead. He checked the box again to make sure he had not accidentally taken Jongin's box of 'heart-healthy' cereal. He hadn't. Lay ran to the sink, spat and washed the vile, metallic taste out of his mouth.

           He had decided that going to the store now would be a good idea when Tao came to mind. Maybe he would be able to better explain the current situation. Not wanting to drive, weary of the fact that Soyoung's scent may still be in the car, Lay decided to walk the moderate distance to the alley he had first met Tao. He didn't know why he thought Tao would be there to begin with, and even if he wasn't, maybe the fresh air would do him good.

           Lay turned the corner, greeted by the same mischievous grin from two days ago.

           “I knew you would come.”

           “Somehow, I knew you would be here,” Lay replied hesitantly.

           Tao pushed himself off the sturdy brick wall.

           “That old blood is wearing off quickly, I see.” Lay cocked his head, not getting the gist of Tao's comment.

           “Have you fed yet?”

           “Umm..”

           “And by 'fed', I don't mean cereal,” Tao raised an eyebrow. Lay wasn't even surprised anymore that the tall fellow already knew this.

           “What if I told you..I don't really..want to?”, Lay challenged timidly.

           Tao scoffed. “Oh, come on Yixing. No need to play that game with me. You and I both know that not only do you want to, you need to.”

           Lay bit his lip, regretfully admitting to himself that Tao was right.

           “Your old blood is quickly decreasing in pressure and flow,” he continued knowingly, “Soon it won't be able to sustain you.”

           Tao paused momentarily, allowing Lay to retain all this information.

           “You need to feed, Lay.”

           Dejected, Lay dropped his head. “Is there a way that I can do this without..hurting anyone”

           Tao's face showed surprise. “You don't mean to tell me you haven't tasted anyone as yet?”

           “I have..” Lay noticed Tao's look of enthusiasm and hastily continued, “but it was an accident.”

           “The first ones usually are accidents...though of a different kind,” Tao smirked, “Impressive.”

           “What's impressive about that?”, Lay's voice rose, “I could have hurt her, for God's sake, Tao!” Lay's arm swung around, his taut fist making harsh contact with the brick wall behind him. He yelled in frustration and sank to his knees. Lay's breathing became heavy. He felt Tao's hand rest on his shoulder. With a sigh, Tao sank down in front of Lay.

           “I'm sorry,” He stated in a comforting tone, “I didn't realize she was that special to you.”

           “Given the fact that you can read minds, I kind of figured you would have already known that,” Lay muttered.

           “Don't be greedy, Yixing, I'm the maker of five others. I don't have time to gallivant around your brain all day.” Tao's humourous attempt elicited no response from Lay. He cleared his throat. “I wish I could tell you that since this...girl...is special to you that I can grant you an easy way out, however the opposite is true. That just makes it all the more difficult. You've already tasted her. Her blood will be the sweetest to you.”

           Lay interrupted Tao, “That's exactly the problem, Tao. I don't want her in danger. I don't want her to have anything to do with this. I don't want anything to do with this!” Lay's eyes turned to ice, “Now that I think of it, You're the one that made this mess-”

           Before the last word was out of Lay's mouth, he found himself pressed against the cold brick wall, Tao's hands clenched around his jacket collar.

           “You listen to me, Yixing,” Tao spoke through his teeth, “Do you think I asked for this, either? None of us did. So before you begin accusing me or anyone else of making this mess you speak about, realize that we're all just playing our role. I didn't want to turn you and I'm not proud of the fact that I've turned five other before you. They aren't my trophies, they are signs of my weakness. I've chosen not to be bitter over it, so you learn that lesson now before it's too late, huh?”

           Tao stared at Lay, waiting for an answer, but received none. He unclenched his hands from Lay's jacket and let out an awkward cough.

           “But, anyways, I'm sure you can survive on raw meat for at least a day. I'll be able to get you blood donations from the hospital, only for so long, though.”

           Lay nodded submissively, not risking upsetting Tao with any verbal response. He turned to walk out of the alleyway when Tao called out to him.

           “And Yixing,“ The younger turned around acknowledging Tao, “I'm no relationship expert or anything, but I would think that telling your girl would be a good idea sometime in the near future.”

           Lay nodded briefly and continued on his way. He felt like he had walked away from a battle of sorts.

           And lost. Brutally.