While the confidence he had carried inside with him didn’t completely disappear, it wavered, making Danny remember the time his boss had asked him if he was gay. As Liam’s cool stare dismantled him, he felt a violent form of recoil cushioned only by the way Mari stormed past where Liam sat. When he failed to either look at her or follow, Danny realized how fucked he was. ‘Nice attempt, though, Mari,’ he thought. ‘If I live through this, I’ll have to thank you.’

“It’s my fault,” Danny said. “I told Mari I was getting stir crazy and she offered to take me out to a movie. We went for ice cream afterward. That’s it.”

“Cute,” Liam said. “I’m glad she’s enjoying her pet.” As he straightened in his seat, he folded his arms across his chest. “You realize that’s all you are, right? A pet.”

“Fuck you.” Danny said it before he could stop himself, but once it was out in the open, he squared his shoulders. His confidence returned, fully restored, and gained fire when he spoke again. “I don’t pretend to know anything about this crap life you guys lead where you can toy with humans until they go nuts or vacant or whatever the fuck it is you do to them. And I don’t know or care why you get your jollies from wiping their minds clean. All I know is that I went from living my own shitty life to being your fucking prisoner. Forgive me for wanting to stretch my legs.”

Liam snorted. As he stood, the leisurely way he slipped from the stool gave the impression of practiced patience. Danny felt his heart race, but kept his composure, trying not to be intimidated by the way Liam adjusted his suit jacket, or the continued lack of emotion in his expression. “Do you feel better now that you’ve gotten that off your chest?” he asked.

“Not really,” Danny said. He took a shaky breath. “I’d honestly prefer if you killed me instead of pawing at me like a toy, and that’s saying something, because I don’t want to die.”

“Remind yourself that you were the one who sought after me.” Liam pivoted to walk away, but something within Danny captured that same defiance he’d summoned in the presence of the Marquis.

“No,” Danny said, taking a step forward. He lifted a finger, pointing at Liam and though his declaration had stopped Liam from walking away, he failed to turn to face him again. “No, you were the one who went to Nocturne. You were the one who… enthralled me or did whatever the fuck you did to me and took advantage of me, and somehow, I’m the stupid one for wanting to know what some stranger had done to me before wiping my memories.” Tears welled in his eyes again, but rather than trying to stop them, he allowed one to trickle down his cheek.

Liam sighed. He faced Danny again, looking him in the eyes. Danny continued glaring at him. “You don’t get to pin this on me,” Danny continued. “Either me or my human curiosity, or whatever you tell yourself, so you can sleep.”

“I don’t have much issue with sleeping, Danny,” Liam said. “I’m over two centuries old.”

Danny felt a slight stirring at hearing his name being spoken by Liam, which still did little to salve his frustration and anger. “You ever think that maybe that’s part of your problem? If you can do this to people, maybe you’ve lived too long.”

The way the vampire chuckled bore more humor than irritation. “I have many times thought I’ve lived too long. That hasn’t made me reconsider continuing to exist.” He shook his head. As his disposition sobered again, his shoulders lowered and somehow, Liam allowed a fissure to show in his otherwise steely behavior. “Our ways aren’t your ways. You aren’t wrong about that. I don’t expect you to understand what survival looks like for our kind, or how important it is that we remain undiscovered. But I assure you that, to the people responsible for ensuring our safety, you are nothing more than a speck. All your objections. Any of your judgment doesn’t change centuries of tradition. Tradition that has evolved all for the sake of protecting our way of life.”

“Maybe I don’t understand it,” Danny said, lowering his arm at last, but not before wiping away his tears. “You haven’t done anything to explain it to me, though.”

“What use would that be? You won’t be around much longer. Even if I wanted it another way, I don’t have a say in the matter.”

“But you’re just going to lock me up in the meantime and not even talk to me?” Danny frowned. “If I’m going to die anyway, then what do you have to lose by explaining a few things to me? By being at least a little nice to me?”

“How do you think a man lives for two centuries by befriending someone so temporary?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you can start there.”

They stared at each other from across the short expanse separating them; which, to Danny, didn’t feel near as wide of a gulf as it even had minutes ago. Liam frowned in thought and Danny continued to gather his composure in pieces. The longer they looked at each other, the more his pulse stilled.

“You were dancing,” Liam said. “And you looked handsome in the light. I walked up to you and we danced together, and it only took a few minutes for your lack of inhibition to become contagious.” A small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You were the one to kiss me first. I suggested we go somewhere less crowded and when I suggested we do more than kiss, you were enthusiastically receptive.”

“So, I gave you permission.”

“No, you gave me a demand, and at the time I found that appealing.” He raised an eyebrow. “I have since begun to second guess myself, but if I had to be honest, it does continue to look attractive on you. Does this answer your question?”

“It does. Mostly.” Danny swallowed back a wave of relief which threatened to crest over him and make him cry again, this time out of gratitude. “What did you even say to me when you were taking away my memories?”

Liam shrugged. “I think I simply suggested that you carry on the next day without any recollection of our time together.” He paused, glancing away as if to recreate it in his head. “My words were something akin to having a meal, taking a walk, and going to work as usual.”

“Shit.” Danny barked a laugh. “That’s literally what I did.”

“Was I incorrect about how you spend your day?”

“No, but you did have me going to work on my day off.”

“Oh.” Liam succumbed to a brighter grin and a readier laugh. “I suppose I did do a poor job of planting a suggestion. That should teach me not to be so specific again.” What humor had infected him didn’t last, but as it faded, he continued to look at Danny, his eyes conveying what almost looked like a small sense of wonder.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I need to have words with my immortal child.”

Danny didn’t fight against Liam’s departure this time, though he couldn’t help but notice the strange levity Liam had left in his wake. As the door to the bedroom shut, Danny walked over to the couch, undoing the tie Mari had forced him to wear and settling on one of the cushions as a weight fell from his shoulders. While he expected to hear shouting, when minutes passed with only quiet murmuring in the other room, he slumped further into the sofa and focused on the blank television set.

“I asked him,” he said, wishing he could summon more than a scattered memory of their time together. For the time being, he settled on shutting his eyes, and sleeping off the remainder of a surreal night.