Bitten

~*

Hey everyone! This is another magical world, but this time with elves, vampires, werewolves, and such! This story also becomes a slow burn. They figure out their feelings for each other for sure around chapter 3 but it takes until the end to get to the sex, though we tease it plenty in other chapters. Just a little warning before we get into the story! Love you all and enjoy! *~

Avanær was an ancient and proud country split into provinces according to the races of its denizens, each ruled by a leader of their own people (or by three royal families in the case of the fae, or a council for the werefolk). The oldest and largest district was Fyrie, known as the Fae world, with the next oldest right next to it, Arcasias. Arcasias was where the vampyres ruled over their people, with the King and Queen and their children who were next in line for the throne. There was a rather large human province, a werewolf territory, and a demon domain. The entirety of Avanær had treaties among their peoples, laying down what was allowable between the different races and how to make sure everyone got their needs met.

Blood was donated from all of the other provinces and shipped to Arcasias so the vampyres wouldn't starve or have to hunt humans anymore; though many among the vampyre elite eschewed werewolf blood, claiming that it tasted terrible, while Fae blood was reserved for the ruling caste only. Food was also traded between provinces, goods and crafts, raw materials, and more. They all worked together to make sure Avanær would prosper.

In the very middle of the disparate regions was a plot of land that was designated a neutral zone. It was still part of the country, but it didn't belong to any single race. It was known as Varsonia, and the Vedora School of Sorcery and Inherent Magic had been founded there. Almost every noble family sent their children there, starting from the age each race began developing magical powers or their race's abilities; grade school for most but generally puberty for the werewolf tribes. It was a large school, with wings dedicated for each level of schooling and set up to keep most of the races separate.

Of course, these classes were for magical creatures. Humans, mostly lacking in innate magical abilities and living such short lives, had their own schools within their district. Every other generation or so, the humans would produce a sorcerer and they were, of course, welcome to attend, but the School was the place for everyone with long lives to learn about their magic. That was why Rhys Draven, bastard son of Duke Jasper Draven, was finally attending. Normally, he would have been in the school much sooner, but he had been taught by private tutors out of necessity.

Rhys' mother was a princess of the Wood Elf conclave, but no one in this area knew that. What they thought, originally, was that she was some human that the Duke was keeping around. Now, with her not aging, it was clear she was something else but no one knew for sure. Most people figured she had some vampyre blood, making her a dhampyr, the same as Rhys. dhampyrs were generally looked down on in vampyre society, but they had their uses.

Rhys had been working on controlling his elven abilities so he wouldn't slip around anyone that he and his family didn't want to know about it. There were prophecies about elves mixed with other creatures, and none of Rhys' parents wanted to deal with how people would react because of how insular the different societies were.

Everyone would have expected that Duchess Iona would have hated her husband's bastard, but the truth was that she loved him as if he was her own. If it was up to his three parents, he

would

be the heir, but it would bring too many questions. Even Marius would have been happy to step aside for him, but Rhys didn't want the responsibility of being the next Duke of Dravenwood.

His parents were in a triad relationship. All three of them loved each other, and all three of them stayed in the same bed. No one outside of their home knew that though. Everyone else thought Alavara Caimaer was simply someone who took care of the children and home, and who the Duke slept with.

Rhys was Alavara's only child. The birth had been traumatic and difficult, and ended with a c-section which was almost unheard of where they lived. After that, she was left unable to have more, but she acted as a second mother to the others and her heart and family was full.

Now Rhys was back from his trip to learn advanced elven magic in secret by his Uncle, the King of the wood elves, and he was being sent to Vedora. His siblings were already there, and now it was his turn to go. He was all packed and waiting for the car to pull up and take him to the dorms where he'd be staying during the school year. He was excited to see his siblings again, as it had been a long three decades away learning from his uncle and cousins.

Rhys had been hearing various perspectives about the upcoming appearance of literal vampyre royalty at the School from his siblings during his "exile." There was a great deal of speculation about the return to the School of Prince Vasile Valravyn following his twenty year hiatus among the humans. Word had been spreading around the School that he had been trying to battle a Basilisk-blood addiction and had spent five of those years alone in the woods, meditating and praying to Shezmu to deliver him from the wrath of Hekate. Yet another tale explained his scruffy appearance with the claim that he had cast aside his wealth and position while among the humans and lived amidst the unwashed masses in the shanty-town outside of Poivin, the major human city.

There were as many rumors as people spreading them, but the man's reputation was nevertheless spotless, at least among vampyres. There was a faction in the School that had traditionally opposed the vampyre hierarchy, and even they seemed to like the guy.

Of course, Rhys understood how rumors were around royalty. He'd seen it with the vampyres, and he'd seen it with the elves as well. He'd been a fairly well kept secret at the wood elf palace to everyone except those who lived and worked within the palace, and the help gossiped all the time, especially around him because it was easy to forget he was there when he was quietly reading books. He wasn't going to make any judgments on the Prince until he met him. As an illegitimate royal himself, though, the title itself didn't interest him much. It wasn't going to be what made him hang out with the man.

The first person he saw once he finished all his paperwork, got his school ID, got his things stowed away where they needed to be and got into his uniform was his brother Marius. Marius came over and threw his arms around his brother's shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug before letting him go.

"Wow, look at you!" Marius exclaimed as he looked over Rhys. "You grew your hair out, I see, and you got taller. You'll have every man and woman falling all over you soon enough."

Rhys shook his head at that. "I doubt it. The dhampyr stuff always gives people pause. It's so good to see you though."

Marius grinned at him. "Come on, come sit with us for dinner."

Marius led him over to one of the tables. Vampyres could still eat food just fine, and even better if the food had been cooked in blood, which was a great delicacy in Arcasias. The table was covered in that exact type of food. It took some effort to not show his reaction on his face when he took in the blood sausages, potatoes, mostly raw steak, and other savory foods laid out on the spread. He was so used to the sweet fare of the elves now that the savory food of the vampyres seemed less appetizing. He briefly wondered if he was becoming a little too elven for this area now.

Most of those sitting at the table were his siblings, but Marius introduced him to their friends. He shook hands with each new person before he sat down next to Marius. Someone asked him, "Are you excited about the Prince coming back to school?"

"Should I be?" Rhys asked back, looking surprised by the question. "I'm just a lowly bastard dhampyr. What interest would vampyre royalty have with me? I'm nothing but a piece of gum on his shoe."

"You're

touching

his

shoe

?" Marius asked, pretending to swoon while everyone laughed.

"I'd only be so lucky!" Rhys joked, fanning himself as if that was making him hot all over. "I bet he'd just step around me, unfortunately. How could I ever get the attention of someone so important?"

"You could try asking for it," said a quietly cultured voice from behind him. In all the commotion from their conversation, no one had noticed the approach of the handsome Prince of the Vampyres. Rhys turned in shock to see Vasile Valravyn standing casually nearby, a crooked smile on his face which was reflected in the twinkle in his lavender eyes.

This was Rhys' first time ever getting to see the vampyre prince, since his schooling had been mostly private and he'd been gone for a while now. Vasile was easily six foot four inches tall, making him only about three inches taller than Rhys was. His raven black hair fell to his broad shoulders, matching perfectly with his pale and unblemished skin. Despite the rumors of his scruffy appearance, he must have shaved recently because all Rhys could see now was a very light five o'clock shadow. He was well built, which the uniform for the school easily showed off, though Rhys' uniform wasn't quite as well tailored.

He was a beautiful man, and even Rhys could admit that much. Still, he wasn't going to admit that out loud, even if his eyes did widen slightly as he took in the man's appearance.

"Surely it's not that simple, Your Highness," Rhys replied, his own teal colored eyes sparkling right back. "With all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds you, you could surely make better choices than little ole me. I'll just have to make do with checking you out from afar and drooling like all the other riff raff who couldn't have a prayer's chance in spending more than fifteen minutes with you."

Vasile had heard about the bastard son of Duke Draven before. He was interesting gossip because he was a dhampyr who was held in high esteem by his father and siblings, and rumors said that his stepmother was very fond of him, which was odd for a child born out of wedlock. He was also talked about because his looks were anything but vampyric. He was a tall man at six foot one and had deeply tanned skin that looked like it should belong to a human or one of the wood elves. His hair was a rich red color, just a couple of shades darker than ginger, and he kept it long down his back. Right then he had it up in two braids on each side that came down to meet in the middle. His eyes were also a very vivid teal color, like the pools of water in Fyrie sometimes were colored.

Rhys' nose was slightly turned up and he had only a hint of facial hair on his face. His lips were full and seemed to be curved up into a permanent smirk. It was clear by looking at the siblings he was with that he got most of his looks from his mother. The only vampyric thing about him was his sharper canine teeth and a look in his eyes as if he was sizing everyone up when he met them; a sign of a hunter.

Vasile laughed, a rich, melodic sound that surprised Rhys because it sounded nearly Fae in tempo. "I like you, Dukey. Feel free to invite yourself to my table any time," he said with an air of mischief.

Rhys stared at him for a moment while the others all laughed. He blinked a few times and then smirked again. "Oh come now, Princess, surely you could have paid someone to come up with a better nickname for me!"

A few of the people around them were shocked to hear Rhys speak like that to the Prince. Everyone turned to look at Vasile to see how he would react, though the prince could see Rhys' siblings thought he was hilarious.

Vasile smiled wolfishly at Rhys' cheeky response. "Does calling me Princess make it easier for you to imagine me in a compromising position,

svetocher

?" he asked, using a word for dhampyrs that full-blooded vampyres sometimes used, though whether or not it was meant derogatorily depended a great deal on its context. In this case, the word was said almost sweetly, like a lover's caress, but the look on Vasile's face was unreadable.

Rhys has been called that before, under less than pure intentions, but he found he didn't hate it when Vasile used it. He grinned in response, his teeth looking slightly sharper as the light glinted off of them, and said, "Oh no, I could easily picture you like that even if I was calling you Your Majesty and having to bow to you. But surely you already knew that. You have mirrors, and you could always just delve into my mind if you really wanted to. Dhampyrs have no protection against that."

Vasile's face twisted up in disgust at that, his lip curling into nearly a snarl. "We do not

rummage around

in the minds of the

noştri,

Dukey! I am shocked at your lack of decorum. Wait at least a couple of days before inviting yourself to my table," he said, that last part casually flung over his shoulder as he turned majestically and glided away.

Rhys watched him stride away, his eyes wide again, though he schooled his features soon enough. His mind was racing right then, because if the prince was being serious, then he had just said in a rather public place that a dhampyr was not much different than a vampyre. If he was being tongue in cheek, though, as Rhys was sure everyone would take it as, then he was just putting Rhys back in his place. Either way, he didn't know what to do with it.

He chose not to say anything out loud, though his siblings were watching him closely. When he looked back at the food, he found that it just didn't seem that appetizing right then. When he excused himself from his table to go back to the dorms, Marius followed with, wanting to make sure he was okay.

They came into Rhys' dorm room, where he had set up a small pot with a few sprouts growing out of it now. They were seedlings from Fyrie, one that would bloom with vibrant colors eventually. He opened up a box and pulled out a small honey cake that had been made back at his uncle's and popped it into his mouth.

"You know, you can't just subsist on sweets if you're back here," Marius warned him. "The more you stay away from blood, the less vampiric you'll look."

"I'll take some tomorrow, I promise," Rhys replied.

"So, that Prince, huh?" Marius asked him, changing the subject.

Rhys looked thoughtful. "He's a fascinating one. I can't figure him out or read him, which is probably on purpose. He can't give away his thoughts too easily, right?"

"Are you going to take him up on that invitation?" Marius asked.

"We'll see," Rhys replied with a grin. "It might depend on him."

For the first few days as school started, he did as Vasile told him, which was to not invite himself over. That was simple enough because the poor man was surrounded by other vampyres trying to get some time with him. Rhys liked spending time with his siblings, but other vampyres had never been his favorite bunch of people; especially the rich and noble families.

School started exactly as he had expected it to: with snide comments, askance looks, and giggling when he would be near. He could feel, every once in a while, someone trying to probe his mind to figure him out, but he had figured out tricks over the years to keep people out. While he was serious to Vasile that dhampyrs weren't immune to mind reading and mind control from vampyres, there were ways to get around it. He'd had enough vampyres trying to read his thoughts to learn his secrets that his mom had helped him come up with ways to keep others out.

Usually it was by pulling up a mental image in his mind and just blasting it out to anyone trying to read him. Other times it was by singing a song in his head over and over again. It worked even better when he had a music video to go with it because the images along with the music drowned out whatever else he might be thinking of.

If Vasile had been serious earlier, then he should have talked to some of his noble subjects about not rummaging around, but he didn't say that out loud.

On the fourth day of term, Rhys came into the cafeteria to see the normal amount of people already trying to get Vasile's attention. He knew his time limit for staying away was at an end, but he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do. Vasile was fun to joke with, and there was something there that excited Rhys, but at the same time, he was the royal heir for a race of people that generally looked down on his entire existence.

He caught the prince's eye for a moment before Rhys turned away to search for a bottle of straight blood. Marius was right that he needed to get some into himself. He needed to get used to blood again. The little bit he'd had back in Fyrie wasn't enough. His uncle had brought blood in for him to drink, out of necessity, but it was truly the bare minimum.

He found a vending machine full of synthetic blood, but couldn't even force himself to consider it, so he went through the line at the counter. While he was waiting, Vasile joined him. When he noticed the tall, dark, and handsome fellow lurking behind him in line, he rolled his eyes, saying, "Don't you have people to fetch things for you, Your Malevolence?"

Vasile laughed melodiously and responded, "Probably, but that bunch over there were getting on my nerves and no one there knows what I like. What're you in line for? A pint of B-Minus?"

"Oh please, everyone knows O negative and any type of AB are the best flavors," Rhys teased. "I'm sure your menagerie over here would happily learn your tastes if you only graced them with the chance to. You look like you prefer the rarer types, maybe even those less human. I've heard the fae are very sweet in flavor."

Vasile nodded to himself in response to his answer, as if confirming that Rhys had at least tasted enough blood to be able to distinguish the good from the... not so great. "Fae blood is very rich. Too rich for me, at the moment. I had to be careful among the humans not to be seen casually consuming my usual fare, plus I was trying to blend in, so I went as long as I could between rations," Vasile said.

Rhys looked at him in surprise at that, as they had essentially been doing similar things for a long time, though for different reasons. He gave a nod of his head that said he understood. "I've been away myself, and have only taken strictly what was necessary. It's difficult getting back to it now that I'm here again. I'm sure that's different between us though. Dhampyr diets vary differently from yours."

Vasile shrugged in response. "Not so much that it matters. We're both drawn back to blood eventually and tolerate most human diets besides. The only real difference is that vampyres can risk Fae cuisine with impunity, though deals with the Fair Folk are still binding," he answered, casually demonstrating his knowledge.

Rhys noticed that he had left out werefolk diets, though. Rhys couldn't help but smirk a little at the mention of fae cuisine, which he had been eating since he was very young. He wondered, briefly, what Vasile would think if he knew it was a normal part of his diet, but he also knew not to give someone he didn't know well that kind of information.

"I should expect that the crown Prince would have tried fae cuisine at some point," Rhys commented. "It must be nice to get to try just about every race's cuisine at some point. A good learning experience. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so I imagine I'd probably like what the Fair Folk eat."

Vasile gave him a look, partially confused and alarmed. "Has no one told you that the human side of your bloodline makes you vulnerable to the restrictions regarding the food of the Fae? If you eat of it within their domain you become bound to them forever," he informed Rhys. "In fact, almost none of their food is sweet. Most of the Fae dislike the taste of sweet foods, with the exception of the ones whose ancestors subsisted on nectar."