“Goodnight, you two,” Ryan said quietly, then he slowly dozed off into sleep.

  Modak turned the key around in the lock, pushing the door open in front of him. As he stepped inside, the smell of cigarette smoke practically assaulted him. “Urgh, Dad, come on . . . Why are you smoking inside?”

  After he stepped into the adjacent living room, Modak’s father let out a slight grumble. “Pah! I can smoke whenever I want!”

  The young orc sighed, walking across the room to open the window. “I didn’t say you can’t, but I thought Mom told you not to smoke inside.”

  “Your mother’s not here, so who cares?”

  Modak raised his brow, confused. “What do you mean, she’s not here?”

  With the cigarette in his mouth, the ash dropping onto his dirty shirt and getting caught in his beard, Modak’s father continued grumbling, “With that friend of hers … Mala was her name, was it?”

  “I think so,” Modak replied, walking over to the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge and freezer, and let out a quiet sigh of relief. There wasn’t any prepped food, so that meant his mom would be coming home tonight. But at the same time, that meant Modak would have to get his dad to stop smoking, or else this would start a fight when his mom got home.

  Though, frankly, it wasn’t particularly hard. Modak walked up to his father, standing between him and the TV. “Dad?”

  “… What?”

  Without saying another word, Modak simply stared at his father for a few moments. Growing nervous, Brog groaned and reached over, pressing the half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray. “Happy?”

  “Yup,” Modak replied, grabbing the ashtray to empty it out in the trash.

  Looking at his son’s back, Brog seemed to get curious. “So, what did you do today? Ya had work?”

  Modak quickly shook his head. “No, I was at Ryan’s place.”

  “Hm … are you sure you’re not—”

  “Yes, Dad, I am positive that Ryan and I are not dating.”

  “I wouldn’t mind if you were, you know?” Brog pointed out, staring at his son. With a slight laugh, Modak shook his head.

  “Again, we’re not. I am kind of talking to someone, though. I might bring her over sometime.”

  “Is it that Silvia?”

  “No, it’s not Silvia either, Dad. Her name is Yanna, and she’s very, very nice.”

  Brog turned back to the television. “Can’t blame me for thinkin’ you’ve got somethin’ going on with one of those two. You spend all your time with them!”

  Though the young orc wanted to deny that, Modak quickly stopped himself. That part was true; the three did spend a ton of time together. But even so, “I promise you, I am not dating either Ryan or Silvia. Technically I’m also not dating Yanna yet, but … we’re getting somewhere, I guess.”

  “Good! I wanna meet my grandkids someday! The gods know your older brother ain’t givin’ us any!” Brog laughed loudly, and Modak’s smile quickly dropped.

  “Sister, Dad. Older sister. Not brother,” he explained, once again, and Brog nervously sat up straight.

  “Oh, I’m … I’m sorry, son … I try, you know?”

  Modak sighed lightly, trying to force his smile back up, “I know. Just … keep trying, alright? Anyway, I’m pretty tired, so I’ll head to bed now. Goodnight, Dad. And please, don’t start smoking again. And close the window before you go to bed.”

  “Yes, yes, I’m not a child!” Brog laughed, and Modak smiled as he made his way into the hallway.

  “Night, Dad.”

  “Good night, son!”

  A bit annoyed at his father for taking everything as lightly as he always did, Modak shut his bedroom door behind him. And he really did not want to see his father’s face when he realized that Yanna was a minotaur, so even if they wanted to, the two would never be able to have kids together. Not that it mattered to Modak much anyway, but his father always kept going on and on about grandkids for some reason.

  Modak let out a long groan as he dropped his bag on the ground, then quickly got undressed. He already lay down in bed, when he realized he hadn’t brushed his teeth yet. After contemplating whether it was worth it to get up again now that he was already in bed, Modak groaned and forced himself up. He wouldn’t be able to fall asleep otherwise anyway.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Hot

  The early morning’s sunlight shone through the cracks in the window blinds, while the rhythmic beeps of the phone’s alarm went off over and over again. Trying to force his eyes open, Ryan patted the bed where his phone usually was. Annoyed to find that it wasn’t where he usually put it, he let out a loud groan and sat up.

  Ryan eventually found his phone under his pillow, but not without spotting Maximus, still seated in front of the computer. With a raised brow, trying to keep his tired eyes open, Ryan looked at the time. 9:01 a.m.

  “Did you pull an all-nighter?” With a slight groan, Ryan pulled his legs over the edge of the bed. His whole body was aching all over, as if he had worked out every single muscle yesterday. The knight turned around, confused, and quickly glanced at the time in the bottom right of the monitor.

  As if in a panic, Maximus waved his arms around, but Ryan just waved him off with a long yawn. “You’re good, man. It happens. As long as you’re alright, it doesn’t really matter.”

  A bit awkwardly, as if he were standing on new legs, Ryan got up from his bed. The moment he did, his stomach growled, so loud that it could probably be heard from the hallway. Ryan had never been more hungry than he was now. And though he didn’t know for sure, he had a pretty good guess as to why.

  On the back of his hand, he could see a spiral slowly shaking on his skin. The spiral extended outward onto his arm, branching out into more complex patterns, though compared to last night, they were definitely a lot simpler.

  It seemed like the symbiote that Ryan had formed a bond with last night was still asleep, so he figured he shouldn’t wake them up. But right when he thought so, the spiral started furling away and opening a ring on the back of his hand, before three simple symbols appeared.

  Zzz The symbols were still waving around, not being as bold and clear as the ones from yesterday.

  Ryan scoffed lightly, “So, you can use letters for this, but not to write?”

  The symbiote’s symbols slowly became more solid as they woke up. :,c

  “Don’t worry, maybe you can learn how to someday. Though this works right now too, right? I can understand you, at least.”

  :D

  Ryan smiled lightly and looked down at his chest. The large scar from yesterday was still very blatant, though it was a bit less red. Though maybe that was also because now, he had the symbiote’s large red pattern encroaching on the left side of his chest. The way that the pattern was wriggling was slightly unnerving, like it was alive, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable thing. Ryan just wasn’t used to it yet.

  But thinking about it, it was a kind of weird feeling. He had the corruption stuck to him, something that infested his body, threatening to take over. And the way that he solved that was by letting something else directly infest and spread through his body. Logically, it was swapping one bad thing for something slightly less bad, but when Ryan actually looked down at the symbiote, it just felt right.

  This was probably exactly what Runar was talking about yesterday; the “bond” was a special thing, something that extended beyond just the physical. Even before the two connected directly, after Ryan saw the symbiote, he felt like something he just had to do. And now that they bonded, it felt like something he didn’t even know was missing had come back to him. It was a weird realization, but this whole thing was surprisingly easy to get used to.

  Though, that only was the case on an emotional level; his body was killing him. He was insanely sweaty after waking up and was feeling ridiculously hot; he was so hungry he could eat a dragon; and his whole body hurt with every step he took. Not to mention, he was so, so thirsty all of a sudden.

  “Maximus, just feel free to keep reading. I’ll be in the kitchen,” he said, not even waiting for a reaction before rushing out of the door. Practically running, Ryan made his way into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it up with water, then poured it down his throat. After doing this a couple of times, Ryan pulled open the fridge. All those leftovers from Runar were still in there, and Ryan quickly grabbed one of the boxes.

  After smelling it to see if it was still good, Ryan grabbed a fork and started shoveling the fried noodles into his mouth. He didn’t even notice that Runar was standing in the doorway. “Hey, I was actually going to eat that.”

  Ryan looked past the edges of the box, locking eyes with his uncle. With a full mouth, he tried to get out the right words to point out that there was no way he was going to eat this, as he never did, but it was just inaudible blabbering.

  “Finish chewing first,” Runar sighed as he walked farther into the kitchen, putting the paper bag he was carrying onto the table. Ryan curiously watched as Runar pulled out the items inside; protein bars, packaged meat, blocks of cheese, and tons of dry pasta.

  After swallowing the food in his mouth, Ryan looked back at his uncle. “What’s all that?”

  “Some stuff for you to eat,” Runar replied. “It usually takes about a week for the symbiote to properly settle in a body. In that time, your body will use up tons of calories, you will be experiencing the worst muscle pains ever, and you might end up severely dehydrated if you’re not careful. I also bought these hydration powder things, so keep them with you when you go out.”

  Ryan continued eating, looking at his uncle with a slight stare. “Don’t you think a warning would have been kind of nice?”

  “Don’t you think wearing a shirt and trousers would have been nice?”

  “… Stop fashion policing me.”

  Runar sighed lightly, “I figured it was better to not stress you out with even more stuff. Not like this is going to be particularly bad anyway. The muscle pain is the worst part, but you would’ve had to deal with that on your way to opening your strength stat anyway.”

  “Right.” Ryan raised his brow, remembering something that Runar had said to him last night. “You mentioned that symbiotes improve strength, right? Does that translate into stats somehow? Like a specific point increase?”

  “No, no, it’s not like that.” Runar quickly shook his head. “Symbiotes will basically adjust the hormones and proteins in your body to the perfect degrees that are needed for muscle growth and recovery. They don’t directly increase your strength, but they make it easier for you to gain muscle. Basically … your physical stats are getting a growth boost from now on. And a pretty big one too.”

  “Hm … are you bonded with a symbiote too?”

  Runar scoffed, “Nah, I wish. When I was younger, I’d try to meet every new symbiote that came in because I wanted to quickly get stronger, but it wasn’t really meant to be. And at this point, I’m strong enough to not have to worry about that.”

  With narrowed eyes, Ryan chose to ask something that he had been curious about, though he didn’t get an answer last time. “How high are your stats anyway? And which ones do you have?”

  “I already said so, but I’m not telling you that.”

  “Oh come on, why not? I can tell you my stats,” Ryan offered, but Runar just scoffed and shook his head.

  “Yeah, sorry, but we’re in very different situations here. There’s a reason why I can’t tell you. Just trust me.”

  “Can you at least tell me why you can’t tell me?”

  “Obviously not.” Runar started putting away the things that he bought for Ryan. “More importantly, when you feel hungry, just don’t hesitate and eat whatever you want. I have no idea if ruby symbiotes act differently, so just listen to your body and your cravings.”

  Ryan nodded as he finished the box of leftovers, then quickly threw the box into the bin, when a certain young vampire stepped into the kitchen. With a narrowed gaze, Liam let out a disappointed sigh. “Cover yourself, harlot!”

  “Oh, calm down,” Ryan scoffed, “I’m far too hot for that.”

  “Humble yourself.” Liam shook his head, and Ryan stared back at him.

  “I meant that I am physically really warm. It’s like I’m in an oven or something.” With a loud groan, Ryan walked out of the kitchen. “If it’ll be like this for a week, then we’re picking up buckets’ worth of ice cream later. I’m going to take a shower now.”

  “Don’t take too long, we’re heading out to try and find the fragment in an hour,” Runar yelled after him, and Ryan quickly turned around and peeked into the kitchen.

  “In an hour?”

  “Yeah, does that not work?”

  Ryan immediately shook his head. “No, no, it works! It totally works! We can go sooner, even, I—”

  “Ryan, calm down. Take a shower, get dressed, and then we can head out. Alright?”

  “… Alright. Thanks.”

  Without further ado, Ryan made his way to the bathroom. He stripped out of his underwear and jumped into the shower without hesitation. The cold water just felt heavenly. With a long sigh, watching the water flow down his body, Ryan noticed something that he hadn’t up until just now. He had been way too busy stuffing his face. But he could swear that he got leaner, as if the symbiote had sucked up all the fat on Ryan’s body. No wonder he was so hungry; all his reserves had been used up.

  Sure, he looked good like this, but he didn’t necessarily care all too much for it. Plus, he only ever heard about how miserable looking like this actually was; you were always hungry and cold, and that wasn’t something that Ryan wanted to deal with. He hoped that after this week, his body would return to some sort of normal.

  For a while longer, Ryan just stood there, watching the cold water flow down his arms and chest. Cold showers were usually his worst enemy, but right now, it was truly the best thing he could have ever asked for. But after a while, Ryan knew he had to get out. After scrubbing himself down, Ryan hesitantly turned off the water, stepping back out of the shower. He stepped up to the mirror and looked at himself properly. He definitely got leaner. And right as he looked at himself in the mirror, his stomach started to grumble again.

  “Oh, come on …” he groaned, looking at the back of his hand. “You hungry little bastard …”

  ;P, the symbiote replied, as Ryan quickly started drying himself. With a towel wrapped around his lower body, Ryan quickly stepped out of the bathroom, then stopped by the kitchen one more time before heading to his room.

  He tore open one of the large packages of protein bars, quickly grabbing a handful. While tearing away at the plastic wrappers with his teeth, he locked eyes with Liam, who was sitting at the table, drinking what looked to be a chilled bottle of that artificial blood.

  “What?” Ryan asked as he shoved the protein bar into his mouth, and Liam shrugged.

  “Is everyone here in the city like you?”

  A bit confused about what Liam meant, Ryan raised his brow. “I’m not from here, so I’d say not really. But it depends on what you’re talking about. There’s definitely not as many humans as you might be used to.”

  Liam quickly shook his head. “No, but … you don’t even care that I’m a vampire.”

  “Should I? I’m not going to treat you like the king you want to be, if that’s what you’re saying.”

  “First and foremost, I’m just behaving like the king I’m meant to be. But … others are scared of me a lot. It’s annoying,” Liam pointed out, looking at the bottle in his hand awkwardly. Seeing his expression, Ryan could tell exactly how Liam was feeling.

  Ryan swallowed the bite of the protein bar in his mouth and then smiled at the young vampire. “I don’t think you need to worry about it that much here in this city. There’s so, so many different people here, I don’t think vampires will really stick out too much,” he suggested. Of course, Ryan knew that it wasn’t really as easy as that, but he didn’t want Liam to be too scared to go to his first day of school tomorrow. Plus, it was never bad to be a bit optimistic.

  “Do you really think so?”

  “I do. You’ll be fine, alright?” Ryan said, walking past the table. He ruffled up Liam’s hair, and the boy looked up, swatting away Ryan’s hand with an annoyed glare.

  “What are you—”

  “That’s more like it. Don’t let anyone push you around tomorrow and act like you always do. Alright?”

  “… Hmph …” Liam tightened his grip on the bottle in his hand, quickly taking another sip. “You’re right! It’s not befitting of a leader to act like a kicked dog!”

  Ryan smiled lightly as he left the kitchen, stuffing more of the protein bar into his mouth. He made his way into his bedroom and pushed the door shut. Holding one of the bars in his mouth, Ryan dropped the rest onto his desk and walked over to his wardrobe. For a moment, he hesitated, thinking back on Kindly yesterday. But since that was ridiculous, he just pulled it open and quickly picked out an outfit.

  Any of them looked way too warm for him right now … he definitely couldn’t walk around how he usually did. But almost all of his clothes were thick and heavy, and none of his trousers were shorter than his shins.

  That was, except for a single outfit. It was perfectly tucked in the back, and could probably use a wash just for having been in there for so long, but he had to make do. Silvia had gifted these to him for his birthday a couple of months ago, and she made them herself. If they let her, half of Ryan’s and Modak’s wardrobes would be filled with clothes she made for them at this point. But he couldn’t turn down a birthday present.

  Ryan looked at a pair of running shorts and a sleeveless top. She had seen Ryan work out and almost overheat with his sweatshirt jacket and long joggers on a particularly warm spring day. Ryan hadn’t worn them yet, beyond trying them on in his room after he got home that day.

  With a sigh, Ryan dropped the towel and got dressed. It wasn’t like he would really meet anyone he knew today anyway, and he would probably die if he wore what he usually did.