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"Okay, so now that we're alone... which of us do you think has been hypnotized?"

Belette was distracted glancing at his phone when that question came, so it took him a short while to process its meaning and find an answer. He raised an eyebrow, looking back at the blue tiger that was sitting right in front of him.

"What do you mean?"

"Spirals, pocketwatches, stage shows... I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about." Xyln tilted his head, one of his white, pointy fangs showing through a half-playful, half-embarrassed smirk.

"Yeah, but why do you think any of us is hypnotized all of a sudden?" Belette asked, smiling back. "Either you're in a really horny mood or..."

He left the sentence hanging there, but Xyln shrugged.

"I mean, I just think it's obvious. Look at the situation we're both in."

The tiger and the noivern looked around, their eyes turning to the other tables in the room and the waiters that came and went in a rush. Those who hadn't been served yet were chatting animatedly, but most of the people were eating from their giant bowls of noodles. Even though there was a lot of noise, it wasn't the most stressful place any of them had been eating at. It didn't look like the best place to get hypnotized, either.

"Looks like a regular restaurant to me," Belette replied, turning to Xyln again. "No one seems to be zonked. Not even the waiters."

"Mhm, they look pretty awake," the tiger agreed, leaning forward. His eyes sparkled with that mischievous gleam that usually meant he was having ideas. "So we agree that there's nothing that suggests anyone's been hypnotized, right?"

"Right. I'm following." Belette answered, unable to hide a tone of irony. He didn't really know where Xyln thought he was going with this, but he was curious to find out.

The tiger crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them, still looking at the noivern. His tail could be clearly seen from that position, moving back and forth slowly.

"That's why," he said, with a big smile. "None of us is supposed to be expecting it, so it's clearly happening."

Belette scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"And!" Xyln added, his ears perking up. "Halloween's close."

"Oh." The noivern considered that for a few seconds. "Yeah. That could actually mean something. None of us has been turned into thirsty vampire boys yet, right?"

"Yet," Xyln agreed. "Or at least not that we remember it."

Those words sounded not as much as a joke but as an actual thing that he thought could have happened. Belette raised an eyebrow.

"So, by your logic, we could always be hypnotized and not be aware of it. Which, uh, yeah, I agree could happen. But what makes this situation so special?"

"I mean, if I was writing this as a story, this is probably how it'd start." Xyln looked away from the noivern, his eyes focusing on one of the lights that hung from the ceiling. "Two unsuspecting boys, waiting for their meals. And for a vampire to come back from the bathroom. The noivern had been looking at his mobile phone before their conversation started. Did that mean something? Maybe that's how he got zonked. Or maybe he was just following the movement of a sneaky tail at the back of the blue tiger. Of course, only readers noticed that... if they did. Some of them went through the text without really paying attention to it or never thought it would be brought up again. Just filler text to convey some movement, they might have thought. But others wondered if it was the start of an induction. Maybe they're right and maybe they're wrong. And now our main characters are discussing whether they're hypnotized or not, but they don't really believe they are. That's where the fun is." He paused for a second to catch his breath and looked deep in thought. "Huh. I think this is actually good stuff. Maybe I should write it down."

"Maybe," Belette agreed.

"Yeah. Might have to skip this part, though. Breaking the fourth wall is a cheap way to make a story seem more interesting."

The noivern chuckled.

"Alright," he said, trying to move the conversation back to where it had started. He was beginning to find that idea interesting. "Let's imagine for a second that I agree with you and that I think one of us might be hypnotized. Do you think there's ways we could know?"

"I mean, yes, I guess we could," Xyln leaned back again and shrugged. "Are you hypnotized, Belette?"

The noivern grinned.

"Yes, master," he answered, with the kind of sleepy, monotone voice that would suggest exactly that. He even let his eyelids drop a little and pretended to be staring blankly. "I shall bring you cheese and cider to prove my eternal obedience."

"And ear pets," Xyln added, chuckling at the joke.

"And ear pets."

"That's a good boy."

"Yes. But you're a good boy too, you know?" the noivern asked, with a teasing smirk. "Are you hypnotized, Xyln?"

"That's exactly what I'm trying to find out," the tiger said, with an almost flustered smile.

"Okay, I think we should check like, if any of us is under the basic effects of hypnosis," Belette offered. "Are we feeling floaty, hazy, trancey or any similar -y adjectives?"

"Nope," Xyln admitted, frowning. "And you?" The noivern shook his head. "Hmmm. Do our elbows or shoulders hurt after a particularly sudden handshake?"

"Wow, that's very specific. But no, elbows and shoulders feel fine."

"Yeah, same here."

"Do you remember how we got here?" Belette suggested. "I do, but do you?"

"Of course I do."

Both looked as if they were about to add something.

"Can we both count up to ten?" Xyln asked then, biting one of his claws. "Maybe he's made us forget one of the numbers."

"Oh, sure. Do you think we should try it?"

"Yeah."

During the following ten seconds, both of them counted from one to ten trying to fight the urge to laugh. Some of the other people in the room glanced at them as if trying to understand what they were doing.

"Alright. That was embarrassing, but I think we got them all. Missed something?" Belette asked, shifting his position as he dragged the chair so it was closer to the table.

"I didn't, but you know. I could have been made not to miss it."

"I mean, then I would have noticed, right?"

"You would," Xyln agreed. "Unless we're both thon... zonked. In that case, we might have forgotten the same number and none of us would know."

"Huh." Belette looked confused for a second. "This might be more complicated than I thought, actually."

"Yeah. See? Look, all I'm saying is I got this feeling that at least one of us is probably hypnotized. And there's no real way we can know," Xyln said, glancing at his claw for a second before moving his eyes up to Belette again. "Unless..."

He left the last word float there in a move that seemed oddly calculated. The noivern waited for him to complete the sentence, fully aware that the tiger was doing that only to ignite his curiosity. But then, Xyln's gaze turned away from him and his lips formed a small smile as he seemed to spot something at his friend's back. Belette turned, knowing that he wasn't really going to get an answer even if he asked. And anyway, he could already guess what it'd be.

The vampire bat had just come out of the bathroom and was walking back to their table, slowly. It had been his idea to bring both of them to that place to begin with, since they've talked about having pho together several times in the past. However, once they'd reach the restaurant he'd left them alone, arguing that he needed to go to the toilet. None of them were really sure vampires needed bathrooms for any purpose, but they had decided not to argue with him. After all, vampire bats knew better about vampire stuff.

Nyeogmi took a few steps in their direction and then he seemed to lose his balance, clawed feet stumbling on the wooden floor as he tried to go back to a proper position. His body seemed a bit loose and those big, powerful wings were hanging limply by his sides as he walked. The bat's green eyes, usually glowing with mysterious powers, were now dull and kind of glassy, and his jaw was slack and hanging lower than usual, allowing for a good sight of those pointy fangs.

"Uh..." was all that Belette said as his boyfriend came closer, drawing a few indiscreet glances from other customers, who probably thought the bat might have had too much wine.

When he finally reached their table, the bat slumped on the seat between Xyln and the noivern. He looked at them briefly with the sleepiest expression they'd ever seen in his face and appeared slightly confused to see them there. Then he folded his wings on the table and rested his head on them, pretty much like the tiger had done before.

"Uuuuuuh... hello, friends..." Nyeogmi said. His eyelids came close for a second, then they opened again heavily. Every single second he spent looking at the other two seemed to take a huge effort from him. "This is... weeeeird. I'm feeling all floaty... and hazy... and many other similar -y adjectives..."

"You're kidding," Belette mumbled, with his eyes wide open.

"Hmm...? Ooouch... can you believe I think I hit my elbow on... something... on my way here... It hurts..." the bat pouted. However, he was soon looking as peaceful and calm as if he'd just fallen asleep.

"This is a joke, right?" Belette insisted, turning his head to Xyln with an amused expression.

"Why? What do you mean?" Xyln asked. He was looking at the vampire bat with no trace of surprise or bewilderment. In fact, it almost seemed as if he thought Nyeogmi's behavior was completely normal.

"Well, he's clearly hypnotized," Belette insisted. "Who did this? Was it you?"

Xyln held his gaze for a few seconds, as if trying to decide whether the noivern was joking or not.

"No... I mean. You know that I can't hypnotize him. There's no way I could hypnotize a vampire," the tiger said, his gaze switching between the two bats. "And besides, what's gotten into you? He's perfectly fine."

"Does... does any of you guys know how we got here...?" the bat was saying at that moment. His eyes were still closed and his breathing was slow and steady. "I can't remember..."

Belette pointed at his pinkish nose, raising an eyebrow.

"You think that's perfectly fine?"

"What, his nose?"

"No! I mean... him as a whole!"

"He's a vampire," Xyln reminded him, with a shrug. "And it's 7pm, which means it's more or less like 5am for him. If I had to wake up at that time, I'd probably be as confused and sleepy as he is right now."

"I guess that's true. But really, look at him!" The vampire bat was snoring softly. "If you didn't do it, then someone must have..."

"What? Hypnotized Nyeogmi? Come on, don't be ridiculous," Xyln said, interrupting the noivern and waving a paw as if trying to play down the whole thing.

"One... two... three..." The bat had begun speaking in his sleep in soft, almost inaudible whispers. "... three... heh... I always forget what... comes after that one..."

Belette held Xyln's gaze as if he couldn't really believe what he was hearing. Then his frustrated expression changed slowly into a knowing smile.

"Ah, I see what you're doing," he announced, relaxing a little. "You're trying to make me think I'm the only one seeing this."

"Seeing what, exactly?" asked Xyln, not batting an eye. His tail was moving back and forth in almost slow motion.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. This is all sooo convenient." Belette's smile grew wider. "First he goes to the bathroom and then you begin talking about how we don't know if we're hypnotized or not. And then he comes back like this. You banded together, right? This has to be staged."

"It's not," Xyln assured him. He looked slightly confused. "Honestly, I don't know why you're overthinking it so much. Nyeogmi's sleepy - he just needs to take a short nap. I'm pretty sure he'll wake up by the time they serve our pho."

"Suuuure. Of course that's what's going on. Come on," he leaned forward a bit, poking the bat with one of his claws. "He's either hypnotized or pretending."

"Of course he's not hypnotized, silly noivern. Oh, I know what happened." Xyln's puzzled expression turned into a smirk and he leaned forward, too. "You looked deep into his glowing eyes when he came closer and now you're confused."

"What? I'm not confused!" Belette objected. "And besides, his eyes weren't glowing!"

Xyln scoffed.

"Of course. Not glowing. The eyes of a vampire, not glowing. Sure, you're not hypnotized."

"They weren't! You're the one who got it wrong," the noivern complained, crossing his arms on his chest. One of his big, round ears twitched with annoyance.

"Whatever you say, hypnotized noi..."

"I'm not...!" Belette managed to calm himself down right at the last moment. He knew the tiger was teasing him, but that was no excuse to lose his temper in the middle of a pho restaurant. He took a deep breath in. "Okay. Fine. You want some evidence? Look at this!"

He brought his claws closer to the bat's eyes and gently lifted one of those heavy eyelids. A quick thought that maybe he shouldn't have done that crossed his mind, but it came right at the last moment when it was already too late. Fortunately, Nyeogmi didn't react and, even with his eye open like that, he seemed to be still deep asleep.

But there was something that Belette hadn't been counting on.

"Yeah?" Xyln's voice came from the other side of the table. In other circumstances, the noivern may have tried to look away from that eye to look at the tiger. He might have even sensed the subtle tone of triumph in the blue tiger's voice. "What am I supposed to see?"

"But..." Belette tried to look for a way to complete that sentence. His mind refused to find it.

The eye was glowing, just like Xyln had said it would. Ring after ring of deep green glow kept appearing on the big iris and, despite the fact that it was only one this time, the noivern was already noticing the familiar feeling that his mind was being pulled somewhere else.

"Yeeeeah?" Xyln asked. Belette thought he could see his grin widening from the corner of his eye, but it wasn't as if he could really care about it now. "What is going on, silly noivern?"

"It... it is glowing..." he managed to say. The tension in his face was fading easily and his big ears were slowly falling limp at the back of his head. His tail stopped moving and rested on the ground like a heavy pillow. "You... you were right..."

"Of course I was right," Xyln's voice sounded. The noivern had the weirdest feeling that it came from very far away, but it was still insultingly easy to hear and follow. "I don't usually get these things wrong. At least, not when I'm in the right mood."

"... mood?" Belette asked, fighting the urge to yawn when another bright pulse of green washed away a considerable amount of thoughts. The usual noises of the restaurant were now nothing but a distant buzz at the back of his mind.

"Yeah. I'll tell you another thing that I was right about, but first I think I'm going to ask Nyeogmi to wake up a little. Right, cute vampire bat? Yes, theeere you go."

Belette wasn't sure, but he thought he could see a blue paw scratching behind big, pinkish ears. The rest of Nyeogmi's head appeared blurry and undefined in his field of vision - only that single green eye, pulsing with patterns that his mind couldn't really recognize now, was clear and focused. For that reason, when the eyelid shuddered and there was some movement in the bat's head, the noivern was quick to follow.

The bat began to rise very slowly and Belette rose with him. He hadn't been aware that his upper body had been practically lying on the table at that point, mimicking the position in which he'd seen his boyfriend the last time. Now that Nyeogmi was awake, his eye had opened wider and the green, hypnotic pulse was much more intense than before. A soft sigh escaped the noivern's lips, who felt his body melting on the chair. Nyeogmi, on the other hand, was sitting with his back straight now and that meant that Belette had to look up to meet his gaze.

It was then when the vampire bat turned his head until there were two eyes to stare at. It had already been difficult enough to keep his body and mind together under the gaze of a single eye, so that was all the noivern needed to let everything slip away. The seams that kept the fabric of his brain working and functional were too weak under the overwhelming green. He was unraveling.

"I think that's much better." The blue tiger's words came from an unknown place. Even though it had only been a few seconds since his last sentence, it had felt like an eternity. "You're both looking good now."

"Goooood..." Nyeogmi echoed.

Goooood..., Belette thought.

"I knew you'd agree," Xyln purred, with deep satisfaction. "Oh, Nyeogmi, wait a sec. Are you hypnotizing poor Belette?"

"... yeeees..."

"Oh, silly me! I promise I hadn't noticed. Hmm. Guess it's too late to stop it now, right?"

"... yeeees?"

"You don't sound convinced at all. What do you think, Belette? Is it too late to stop now?"

The noivern didn't really know. Thinking felt a lot like trying to swim in a puddle - thoughts were shallow enough that no matter how much he tried to grab them, they wouldn't mean a thing. In the end, he was squirming and trying to move forward, like a fish helplessly flapping on the ground and trying to find some water. The only difference was that fish felt anxious about flapping on the ground, but he? He was feeling so calm and relaxed and peaceful that a dumb smile spread on his face as he sank deeper into those eyes. Being in a puddle felt nice. He could remain there for a while.

It wasn't helping him feel any more awake that he had to focus on the words of two different people at the same time. No matter how drowsy Nyeogmi's words were, the fascinating green belonged to him and it needed to be followed. And even though Xyln's words sounded a bit further away, they still had to be paid attention to. Belette wasn't sure why, but he wasn't asking questions either.

The only thing he could do was nod.

"If that's the case, I think we shouldn't stop. And you're going to stare deeper, aren't you, Belette?"

"Staaaare..."

Nyeogmi's voice echoing the sentence made the noivern shiver. He'd been staring at those eyes for a long time now, but as soon as those words were pronounced, it was like he'd been merely glancing at them. The green seemed to grow and swallow everything, the fuzzy white face of the vampire bat disappearing completely until he was practically floating in that emerald ocean and the only thing that remained were the two voices guiding him deeper.

"And you're falling easily into trance, right?" Xyln's voice had its usual feline tone - that characteristic velvet-like resonance full of deep subtones and rolling rs that seemed to suggest he was either growling or purring every single word.

"... deeeep..." Nyeogmi's voice, however, felt like a soft squeak echoing in the noivern's head, which was mostly empty by that point. He sounded so sleepy and happy and peaceful that all he wanted was to let it wash him away so that he could feel the same.

The two voices were intertwining in some kind of hypnotic dance and his weakened mind could barely take it.

"There are no thoughts in that head of yours now, are they?"

"No... thoughts..."

"I think you're going to give up soon and stop resisting, if you haven't yet."

"Give... up..."

"The green is getting soooo bright and you're losing yourself in it... I can tell."

"Greeeeeen..."

"So, so much easier to just stop squirming and slip into a much deeper place."

"... sleeeep..."

Belette moaned softly, feeling as if his mind was being pushed side to side, confused, broken piece by piece. His body was floating somewhere else, carried away by the waves of that pure green ocean. It didn't seem to belong to him anymore, so he couldn't even feel the growing wetness at the corner of his lips and, mere seconds after, on his chest. He kept on drifting, unable to know where he was, shuddering with every single word that came into his melting brain. He kept on drifting... drifting...

There was another voice somewhere, but it wasn't important. He was out by the time the words were spoken.

"So here are your three bowls of pho, gentlemen! Hope you don't mind it took a bit longer than usual. We're crowded today!"

Xyln looked up from his zonked friends and gave the waitress a warm, sympathetic grin. The green-scaled dragon was carrying a large tray with the three biggest bowls that the blue tiger had ever seen and a few drinks. She looked strong enough that she could beat each of them up, but she was having trouble trying to keep everything balanced.

"Oh, it's okay, really! We've been having a good time together. Oh, let me... let me help you." He stood up to help her place the bowls on the table and then went back to his seat. "Thanks!" he exclaimed, as the dragon hurriedly walked back to the kitchen. Her thick tail drew a long arc in the air before she disappeared round the corner.

He took a long look at his own bowl. The three of them had ordered the same thing, but Xyln had only ever tried pho once and he still needed to find out if he liked it. Hot steam rose from the clear brown broth in which flat rice noodles and the rest of the ingredients floated - sliced beef, green onion and bean sprouts among others. The blue tiger had never been particularly good at identifying or describing ingredients, but the mere sight of the bowl in front of him was enough to make his mouth water. He picked up his chopsticks - those were the usual, cheap kind of chopsticks that came in a small paper bag, but that had nothing to do with the quality of the food he'd been served - and he broke them apart with a loud snap.

A perfect cut down the middle! It was his lucky day.

He looked up to his two friends, who were sitting in front of their bowls with vacant gazes and blank expressions. They didn't seem to have noticed that their food had already arrived. Sleepy creatures.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked, with a smirk. "It's not very polite to start eating without the rest of the people at the table. And I do enjoy a little bit of etiquette from time to time."

There was no response. Xyln let out a snort of amusement.

"Oh, come on. Start eating before it gets cold!"

The two bats finally reacted. They picked up the chopsticks and broke them apart in slow motion, which took some time and effort. Xyln's gaze never left them, enjoying each of their small movements as they drowsily lowered their heads and began eating from their bowls. They were just too cute not be watched intently.

"Is it good?" the tiger asked.

Nyeogmi's head rose from the bowl. There was a particularly long noodle hanging from his lower jaw, which made him look extremely goofy and was about to make Xyln aaaaww in adoration. Then the bat nodded and the noodle slipped back to the bowl. He was seemingly very happy about this and kept eating.

The tiger decided to try his food then. It was good indeed! He had to fight a sudden urge to purr due to reasons that were mostly related to his pride. The hot broth had an amazing taste that wasn't too intrusive either, so he could enjoy the rest of the ingredients. The noodles had been boiled for just the right amount of time and Xyln lowered his head, slurping one of them with satisfaction. He felt a bit embarrassed, but he thought there was no dignified way of eating noodles that he knew. Besides, he didn't think any of his friends were going to judge him. Let alone in their current state.

He paused to drink some water and used the time to look at the two bats. They were both enjoying the noodles. Good, he thought, before drinking water again. Then, he remembered something.

"Oh, right," he said, putting the glass of water back on the table and drumming his fingers on the smooth, crystalline surface. "I was supposed to tell you what other thing I was right about, noivern." There was no sign that Belette was listening to him, but he kept speaking. "This began with me saying that one of us had to be hypnotized. And that was correct - you, by the time I was done speaking. Sorry about it, but you're much cuter this way."

He gave the sleepy noivern, who at that time was fidgeting with his chopsticks, a warm smile. Then he drank some water again.

That bowl of pho was delicious, but it could really make one thirsty. If he kept drinking at this rate, he'd run out of water before he'd eaten half the bowl. I can always order some more water, he thought. But then, of course, he'd have to wait for the waiter to first notice him, then go to the kitchen, finally bring a big jar. A big jar? Maybe that was too much water, he thought. Then again, he was thirsty enough that he might be perfectly able to drink that much.

Or maybe he could send Nyeogmi to hypnotize someone into sharing some water with him? That'd be nice, but embarrassing. And he didn't like embarrassing at all. He emptied the remaining contents of the bottle in his glass and let out a sigh, considering the idea. He had to stop himself from drinking again and decided to turn his attention to the bowl of pho instead. It is delicious, he told himself, as if trying to convince the part of his mind that was still looking at the glass of water with needy impulses. It was indeed delicious, but he wasn't hungry anymore.

So much quantity! One of these bowls could have easily fed the three of them. How was he supposed to eat that much without drinking a gallon of water? That must be a trick for the restaurant to make more money, or something. No, that doesn't make sense, he thought. Then, he caught himself drinking from the glass of water again and he let out a frustrated groan. Neither Nyeogmi nor Belette reacted to this.

The bowl of pho was still mostly full and he had almost run out of water. He glanced at his glass fearfully and found at that there was little water left! He shivered and then had an idea. It was barely a sip. It wouldn't make any difference if he drank it now, right? Waiting to do so was pointless, anyway, so he did.

Argh! What was he thinking? Now he had no water left and still an almost whole bowl of food that he wasn't eating because he was too thirsty!

His eyes turned to Nyeogmi and Belette's drinks, hoping that they wouldn't mind him stealing them. The vampire bat had ordered a can of weird red juice - probably pomegranate - and the noivern had asked for a nice glass of cider, since he was feeling adventurous when they'd walked in. None of them were paying any attention to their drinks now, anyway. Xyln had asked them to eat their pho, not to drink their drinks, after all.

The pomegranate juice was gone in two big gulps. The cider took even less to disappear down the blue tiger's throat. The sparkling sensation and the alcohol quickly getting to his head didn't make the pressing thirst disappear and he growled in irritation. What was he supposed to do? He picked up the whole bowl of pho and began to drink the broth, not using chopsticks or anything. Swallow after swallow he practically emptied the whole thing, but he stopped when he realized that it wasn't helping reduce his thirst.

Annoyed and feeling a nervous twitch in his ear, he leaned back on his chair and tried to think of a solution. This stupid problem was ruining his meal.

His eyes then caught a glimpse of something that caused an idea to stir in his mind. Nyeogmi was eating slowly and, whenever the bat opened his mouth, the tiger could see those pointy fangs showing. He never has this problem, I bet, he thought. Being able to drink from someone whenever he wants. He wished he had those fangs and could drink from...

Oh.

Belette had stopped eating now and had gone back to slumping on his chair. His heavy head had dropped to one side and his neck was casually, wonderfully exposed. Xyln began to feel slightly anxious about something.

But I can't do it, he told himself, trying to calm down.My fangs are not supposed to do that.

Well... how could he know? He'd never tried before. Maybe tigers could drink blood too, who was to tell? He touched his own fangs with his claws, tentatively. They were definitely thicker than Nyeogmi's, but he wasn't sure if that meant anything. One bite was all that it took, right? And there was an expert in the room. He felt the sudden urge to ask about it.

"Hey, vampire bat." He tried to hide how much he needed the answer, even though at that point it was mostly useless. "Do you... do you think I can drink Belette's blood with my fangs?"

Once the question had been asked, he realized just how dumb it sounded. Not that it mattered, anyway. He was too thirsty to worry about that.

Nyeogmi turned to him, confused.

"But you're not a vampire..." he answered, with that sleepy voice that Xyln would have found terribly cute under other circumstances.

"I know I'm not. But I'm thirsty. Do you think I... do you think I... damn." It was difficult to think in a language other than his own at that point. The tiger was feeling increasingly agitated. "Do you think I can bite him even if I'm not a vampire?"

Nyeogmi's expression was weird. He seemed to consider the idea for a second, as if it was the most unlikely thing he'd ever heard.

"I... don't think it works that way..."

"Oh, please! I'm so thirsty. I need to drink something right now or I'll lose my mind." A quick, passing thought that he might have already lost part of it went through his head, but it was quickly disregarded.

"Maybe..." the vampire bat whispered, tilting his head. "Maybe if you were a vampire..."

No way, was Xyln's first thought. He didn't want to become a vampire, even if it meant satisfying that terrible thirst that wouldn't leave him alone. Besides, it would have taken Nyeogmi a while to convert him, and he needed to drink right now. But his own fangs... they were too thick. Made for chewing, maybe, but not for biting. What if they hurt Belette? He didn't want that to happen. What if he bit his neck but the blood didn't flow out? He didn't want that to happen either.

His mind was going in all kinds of different directions and it felt like war. Half of it wanted to ask a few relevant questions. The second half wanted to drink the noivern's blood so desperately that it refused to let the first half win. Fortunately, the third half wanted blood too - and the fourth half needed to bite. That meant they could easily win the battle. It was plain logic.

"Is there really no other way?" he asked, impatiently.

"I... uh... don't think... so...?" Nyeogmi muttered, still looking terribly confused that the tiger would ask something like that.

Xyln's claws drummed on the wooden table frantically. He gave himself three seconds, then made up his mind.

"Alright," he sighed. "Do it. But do it quick, please."

The bat nodded.

He stood up from his seat and walked around the table, placing himself right behind Xyln's chair. The blue tiger felt Nyeogmi's huge wings fall on his shoulders. Even though he knew the vampire bat was still deep under his thrall, he couldn't help but shiver, as usual, at the idea of an apex predator standing so close to him. He closed his eyes and thought that doing this was the best way to get rid of his thirst. He was doing the right thing.

Slowly, he exposed his neck.

The bite came just a second later. Xyln let out a soft gasp and he felt one of his paws kicking the air involuntarily, despite the fact that he had already been expecting the sharp fangs to pierce his skin. It should have come as no surprise, but his eyelids fluttered weakly and were about to open when he felt the familiar sensation of hungry suction. It wasn't the first time, but it always seemed to catch him off-guard. The pain was barely noticeable, but the continuous feeling that he was but a prey caught by a far more clever hunter and that he would never be able to escape kept circling in his mind. He had the ridiculous thought that maybe he hadn't made the best decision and felt a jab of fear, but it was already too late. His body was limp on the chair, the wings of the bat were pushing him down and his circulatory system was being emptied more quickly than he'd emptied all the drinks on the table.

When an indefinite amount of time had gone like this, he felt those fangs pulling back. Nyeogmi's wings remained on his shoulders, though. They felt kind of warm, for some reason, and Xyln liked their touch. It took him a short while to regain control of his body. He lifted one of his paws, placed it on the table - scratched.

Then, he opened his eyes. They felt brighter, bigger, more powerful.

And he was so thirsty.

His tongue slowly moved across his lips, feeling his new, sharper fangs. Just the tools he needed. There was a vague impression at the back of his mind that people were looking at them. Can't let them intervene now that I'm about to drink, the vampire tiger thought.

He turned his new eyes to them. That power was new, but he was really thirsty and would accept no intromissions. The other customers dropped like dominoes on their tables. Plates fell to the ground and broke somewhere. Xyln couldn't care less about that.

The vampire tiger climbed to the table and the wood creaked under his weight. His prey was right in front of him - the unsuspecting noivern was still drooling, too far gone to even notice there was a very thirsty tiger moving his way. His tail was slowly curling back and forth at his back, following the smooth movement of his hips whenever he changed weight. The upper part of his torso was close to the surface as if he was about to pounce on the dragon bat. Feline instincts were combining with his new vampiric drive and the need to hunt was overwhelming. He licked his fangs again. He liked the feeling.

One of those bowls was on his way, so he pushed it off the edge with one of his mittened paws. It fell to the ground, but it didn't break. That neck was looking so succulent. He just needed to get a bit closer. The deeply hypnotized noivern wouldn't even see him coming. It was almost too easy. The distance between them got shorter and shorter until he could feel Belette's warm, peaceful breathing.

He opened his mouth wide, ready to bite. His body tensed for a second with anticipation, ready to sink his new fangs and pierce the thin skin. Drink, he thought. I need to drink. I need to drink. I need to...

His fangs caressed his friend's exposed neck and the noivern shivered.

And then... Xyln froze.

He remained frozen for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was going on. He suddenly felt as if some kind of veil had been lifted from his eyes. The thirst that had uncontrollably driven him to that point seemed to have vanished, and so had his newly acquired vampire powers. His eyes felt different. Tired. Almost like...

"Wait," he muttered, turning his head slowly to Nyeogmi.

The vampire bat was sitting on the chair that had been previously occupied by the blue tiger. He was holding his empty glass with the tip of his wing, an amused grin spreading on his face. His head bent to the right and he gave the confounded tiger a look of satisfaction.

"You said it yourself, tiger." His grin widened. White, pointy fangs. "There's no way you could hypnotize a vampire."

There was a flash of green. Then another. Then blankness.

An hour later, after picking up broken ceramic and cleaning the whole place with the pleasant help of extremely collaborative customers and two friends, a vampire bat walked to the door of the pho restaurant.

One of his wings was wrapped around a glassy-eyed, blank-faced noivern who didn't look like he could stop drooling. The other wing covered the shoulders of a confused, open-mouthed blue tiger who could barely walk on his own. If those wings hadn't been there to keep them in place, they would have probably dropped to the ground and stop moving, unresponsive, like wind-up toys devoid of kinetic energy.

Fortunately for them, the bat wasn't going to let them go so easily.

"Leaving already?" the dragon waitress asked, with a big, toothy smile. Her burnt amber eyes turned to the table and she seemed a bit confused, too. "Wouldn't you like to take your leftovers away? There's still a lot you haven't eaten, you know."

The vampire bat looked back to their table. Most of their food was intact, except for the bowl that had fallen to the ground and they'd had to clean. He turned to the waitress and smiled back.

"Oh, thanks, but you don't need to worry. Portions here are so big! And frankly, I expect to be feeling quite full soon enough." A mysterious, hungry gleam appeared in his deep, green eyes. "There are two snacks that I can't wait to sink my teeth into."