“Oh…shit…Marko, wait…”
“No need to waste time, Winter…”
“Oh…Damnit…”

His cold kiss met her neck, and his other freezing hand touched her opposite cheek. She breathed heavily, attempting to calm herself - and her blood flow - down. She imagined her blood running through her veins, and right to Marko’s mouth, the red fuel giving him the life he needs. But Winter realized her heart was still beating rapidly, almost out of her chest.

Marko could sense this, she knew, and she heard him groan against her skin. “Sorry. I’m calming. I know you like it slow. I’m trying.” Her eyes closed when Marko moved his hands and pulled the collar of her leather jacket closer around her, over the sight of his mouth on her neck. Winter slid her hand back and around her long hair, moving it to her other shoulder so Marko could have more room.

Winter heard the catcalls from across the cave. “Would you two get a room already?!” and “Looks like Marko’s gettin’ lucky, Paul!”

David’s voice was heard, as the others silenced. “Be quiet, both of you. Marko’s feeding. And Winter here is gracious enough to provide for him.” He grinned maliciously at her, raising his blood bottle to his lips. Even though Winter was straddled over Marko’s lap, his back facing David, Winter could see the others in the cave. She opened her eyes and grinned, just slightly, back at David, then ran her fingers through some of Marko’s hair.

“All right. Go ahead, Lentulus.” She paused her fingers, and he leaned back enough to meet her eyes. They stared at each other for a good four or five seconds before Marko held onto her collar, leaned back into her neck, and began to feed.

He drank from her neck, from her blood supply, and it only hurt when he pierced the skin. Winter felt that he had been neglected of mortal blood lately, and she wasn’t too sure why, but it troubled her. He drank from her more hungrily than usual, and she planned to ask him about it.

Being Marko’s own bloodgiver (practically, besides Marko she'd only given to David once, and she had yet to tell Marko about it - but she always gave to Marko whenever he needed it) was her life. It was her obsession, her fandom, her faith. She vowed to keep herself healthy and as sane as possible for him, and he always thanked her for it. They never let the other guys know about it of course, but he always thanked her.

The other guys didn’t know that sometimes Marko wasn’t exactly in the mood to go out and kill mortal strangers for their blood. Winter would back him up when he didn’t feel well, she’d tell Dwayne and Paul off, and she would try her hardest to convince David that Marko couldn’t go. That was when Winter and Marko would have the cave to themselves, and they’d keep trying to figure out why Marko kept getting sick all the time. Winter would go to the doctor’s offices all the time to get tested for diseases of any kind, any kind at all, even STD’s when she rarely ever had any kind of sex with mortals. She always came back negative, she was perfect as far as they could tell.

Winter suggested that maybe Marko was infected from a previous attack for blood. He said he didn’t know, he never paid too much attention to who he was drinking from. They both knew silently that he couldn’t go to the doctor’s office and get a blood test, because well, obviously, he’s a vampire. It just wouldn’t work.

Marko drank his last drop, and pulled away slowly from Winter’s neck. She opened her eyes and put a hand to the two little holes in her skin, which is something she always did whether she had to stop any bleeding or not - and she rubbed the redness from Marko’s lips, the excess blood that didn’t get inside his mouth. “Thanks,” he said quietly, rubbing his mouth with his own fingers to get the rest of it off.

“No problem, like always.” Winter remarked, a smile in the corner of her mouth. “Look, Marko. I gotta ask you something.”

“Shoot.” He lay his head back against the huge bean-bag-like chair, eyes closing as he “digested” the blood and got his high from it. It was his pleasure that he only experienced with Winter, and she was proud of it. She was the drug that made him happily high all the time.

“Have the other guys been keeping you away from attacks lately?”

“What’re you talking about, Winter?”

“It felt like you haven’t exactly gotten your doses. Like you were making up for the lost ones with me.”

“Shit,” Marko swallowed and sleepily opened his eyes to look at her. “Why’re you so worried about that?”

“Who said I was worried?”

“Why else would you ask?”

Winter paused, giving a sigh. She interlocked her own fingers together with both hands, looking down to them. “I do care about you, you know. This isn’t just business. We’re friends.”

“Yeah. We are.”

“…Have they been pushing you from the attacks or not, Marko?” She was determined, and it was in her eyes. Marko didn’t speak, but simply took her hand and kissed the back of it. She smiled a little at this, and he smiled back, but she wouldn’t let him get off that easily. She sighed quickly.

“Marko. Have they or haven’t they?”

“…Have. Damnit, Winter. Yeah, they have. Can we get off the subject?” He looked around the chair but then remained in his position. “I’d get up but I’m too goddamn high from your drug.”

“You need to stand up for yourself with them. You know I’m here for you if you need it, but you can’t rely on me. I won’t always be around. I’m not immortal, like you.”

Shit. Marko didn’t like it when Winter brought this up. She just remembered.

“Which is why I’ve been telling you that you should let me turn you.”

“No. I won’t do it. I turn, you can’t get blood freely from me anymore.”

“I’ll find someone else.”

“There is no one else, Marko! Everyone else is either scared of you or they want to slay you! You need to stand up for yourself during the attacks. That’s all there is to it.”

“Shut up, Winter. I’m tired again. This goddamn disease, or whatever shit…it keeps taking its fucking toll.”

Winter sighed, and got up, putting her hands to Marko’s jacket and pulling him upwards. “Lean on me…lean-- no, this way-- lean.” She half-carried him to his cot of a bed, and ended up falling onto it with him.

“Sorry…I didn’t mean to.”

“Not your fault,” Winter said quietly, looking at him from her position at the back of the bed. He was basically lying full-length against her, his back to her, and she lifted his arm and put hers under it, her hand over his heart. His arm lay silently on top of hers, his hand over her own.

She leaned forward and kissed his neck, then whispered. “Go to sleep. You’ll feel better if you sleep.” His eyes wearily shut, and it didn’t matter anymore that he wasn’t hanging upside down like the other Lost Boys soon would be. Winter knew this, and wasn’t worried - when it came to personal sleep, the other Boys didn’t care how you did it, as long as you did it.

Her eyes slowly closed, her regular breathing becoming Marko’s lullaby as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. The other Boys flew rapidly to the cave, and ran inside before the sun’s rays could hit them. Paul and Dwayne almost ran over David when he stopped to look at Winter and Marko - then all three of them stared silently.

“Look at this, boys,” David said slowly. “The mortal’s in Marko’s bed again. Looks like they did want privacy after all.”

Paul and Dwayne cracked up with laughter, heading up to their perch for sleep. David walked over to the side of Marko’s secondary bed, and ran his cold finger down Winter’s cheek. “Sleep tight, Leslie. Don’t let the bed bugs bite…”