Chapter 136

Chapter 136: Chapter 136

When Dulce went to squish the ball, he realized it was stuck to his hands. He had lost his coats sometime while he drunk, leaving him in just his dress shirt. Trying to be thoughtful, he kicked off his shoes and placed a socked foot on the stretchy shadow rope, attempting to pull it off his hands.

All that accomplished was the shadow rope rebounding when he stretched it too far, the rope taking his sock with it. The rebound made it wrap around his forearms, sending his sock flying over the sofa.

Two Demons quietly watched him tie himself deeper and deeper into a bind. The elasticity of the shadow rope was endless, and its stickiness made it impossible to unravel.

Asael had to drop his jar of wine so that he didn’t lose his grip on it, desire spilling over his gray eyes like ink, staining them black. He might have had a hand in the stickiness, but his intentions hadn’t been to constrict the Vampire.

His current immobility was all of his own doing and even when he could barely move, his hands and legs tied in a rather suggestive manner, he didn’t look to Asael for help, still focusing on freeing himself by his own abilities.

This was the moment Kath’tan returned, it has gotten quite late and he had to go down to the tavern to get a barmaid’s attention. His gaze immediately went to Dulce only to pause, his shock expressive.

"What happened?" He demanded, already angry.

Dulce could no longer move, the shadows were completely wrapped around him now, somehow getting around his neck and torso. "Nothing," He said harmlessly while sitting in a pile of incriminating evidence. "Did you get dinner?"

Kath’tan didn’t even hear the second half of the Vampire’s words. "Nothing?" He repeated, marching in. "Who tied you up?"

Dulce glanced down placidly, "I did," He admitted sheepishly, still unable to bring himself to ask for help. If he wasn’t a Vampire, his face would be tinted a deep red. He had gotten too caught up in the fun, completely forgetting that Asael was right next to him.

Kath’tan paused half-way to him, glancing at the other two for the first time since they got in. They wore slightly bewildered expressions, and didn’t seem to have moved since he left.

"Are you not going to ask for help?" He asked, his anger dissipating and leaving disbelief behind.

"No, I meant to do this," Dulce said with a straight face. It was difficult to tell if the Vampire was embarrassed, telling the truth, or simply far too drunk.

"You can’t even move a finger," Kath’tan pointed out ruthlessly, still walking over but much slower now.

Dulce’s response was to waggle his fingers, forced to curl up even tighter than before because of the ties.

A low chuckle came from the bed, the topic of dinner forgotten in the face of the Vampire’s strangeness.

Asael was the opposite of impulsive, everything he did was from a logical standpoint. Even when it came to the things he wanted, he went with fact over feelings.

Unable to stay away from Dulce, he had decided to stay, but even then, getting intimately tangled with the Vampire would only cause more complications, it was a risk he could avoid so he did.

But right then, he wasn’t thinking of anything but the Vampire at the other edge of the sofa tangled up in his shadows, his pale hair mostly undone from his concentrated efforts to get rid of the shadow rope.

The ropes tightened suddenly without warning, eliciting a soft gasp from him. The sound sent the room into deathly silence, Kath’tan and Ruoxi immediately swiveling their heads in Asael’s direction.

The Shadow Demon remained composed, giving almost nothing away, nothing but the darkness swirling in his eyes. He calmly took a drink from his jar of wine, refusing to address the elephant in the room.

There was a knock on the door then, forcing Kath’tan to turn away to deal with it. He opened the door to a barmaid holding two trays of food, tempted to turn her away with the food. Dinner couldn’t be more unimportant at that moment.

But he didn’t, about to take a step back to let her bring it in, used to servitude, only to remember when he left behind in the room. So he reached out to take the trays from her, placing one of them on a shelf close to the door, the meal platter leaning precariously.

Ruoxi caught the tray before it slipped off, unfazed by it. Instead, he returned to the bed to eat while he watched the show.

Kath’tan placed his tray down but he couldn’t sit still, unable to focus on his food. Dulce had gone quiet, the Vampire staring blankly into space, the bonds still constricting him.

"Take back your shadows," He turned on Asael, unsettled by the sight for a reason he couldn’t name.

Asael turned to Dulce and the ropes tightened even further, the Vampire’s second gasp was no less jarring. "Are you done playing?"

Dulce glanced at him, pale red eyes self-conscious, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask Asael to solve the consequences of his own doing. He shook his head resolutely.

If he applied more strength, he could still stretch out the rope but even while being drunk off Huayuan wine, he had already realized that his attempts only worsened his already dire situation. So he was thinking of alternative solutions, or at least trying to, his thoughts were empty.

Asael resumed drinking wine calmly for all purposes and intents, the ropes tightening once again belying his constructed calm.

"Foolish Vampire," Kath’tan muttered, resolutely deciding to eat and leave the Vampire to his foolishness.

He decided to eat but the platter of food remained untouched minutes later, Dulce’s soft cry wrenching his attention from his dinner.

Even Asael looked over, the darkness was starting to encroach on the whites of his eyes but the Shadow Demon didn’t lose his calm. "Done playing?" He asked again.

Dulce’s head was tilted back from the pressure around his throat, the ropes had tightened incrementally ever since he stopped trying to escape. It didn’t hurt but it was difficult to ignore the pressure now.

He swallowed, the action taking some effort because of the shadow rope binding his neck. This time he nodded, accepting that he wouldn’t find a solution by himself in time. The Shadow rope would return to its original size soon and that would spell trouble for him.

Asael reluctantly beckoned the shadows back, the unnatural material seeming to cling to Dulce’s body as it pulled off him, going to the Shadow Demon.

Despite the muddled situation the Vampire had gotten into, he stared at the shadows longingly as they were taken away, looking like he wanted to ask Asael to hand it back to him.

But he didn’t, lowering himself to lean against the arm of the sofa, his eyes drooping close.

The air in the inn room got even heavier, Asael harmlessly manipulating his shadows around a hand like it was made of thick water.

Ruoxi got up with his tray, uninterested in playing audience for much longer. The Shadow Demon returning and agreeing to stay was surprising, but not as surprising as his apparent interest in bonds. He was left well alone when the Vampire came to feed him, he could also do the same. Even as he tried to convince himself of that, his gaze lingered on the faint red lines visible on Dulce’s neck and under his sleeves.

Kath’tan stubbornly refused to leave, he simply sent off his tray of uneaten food and resolutely sat back down.

Dulce seemed to rouse from the sound of Asael’s wine jar, his red eyes more muddled than before. But that didn’t stop him from joining the Shadow Demon to drink once more, taking one of the last few jars of wine.

Kath’tan simply watched this, it was partly his fault that the Vampire had gotten drunk. And even then, he was handling his drink with grace. He still felt the effects of all the wine he had drunk, and if he had taken another jar, he would certainly have blacked out.

But Dulce had taken more than thrice what he had and the Vampire could still walk around and still retained a bit of coordination. He sat up to drink with Asael almost subconsciously, seeming to ponder something.

The Shadow Demon was even more impressive, completely unaffected by the wine no matter how much he drank.

Kath’tan settled in for the night, not expecting much to come of it. If Dulce kept drinking, the Vampire may very well faint dead away, to rouse hours later.

A drunk Dulce wasn’t much different, even with his inhibitions gone, he had only made a mild request. And he knew that the Vampire would begin tomorrow with an apology on his tongue.

He looked away from Dulce taking another drink of wine, considering leaving for his inn room to attempt to sleep. Ruoxi was gone and as strangely as the Shadow Demon had handled the situation with his shadows, he had little worries about him.

"Asael?" Dulce’s said lightly, unsteadily. "Can I have the ball again?"