prohibitions | When love became an act of defiance

Cain remembers very little about his family life and his earlier years. He knew that his name had been Abel Remington when he was born and for an indefinite amount of time. Not that it mattered because it has been a name long since discarded.

He was somewhat of an oddity. A being that he thinks shouldn't exist. To be alive. If you can call him alive. Cain could only guess that his parents wanted nothing to do with him. An abomination of some sort. He was half vampire and half human. Toeing the line of being alive and dead. His breathing was irregular. His heartbeat almost non existent. The sun wasn't lethal, but he found that he was rather vulnerable to it. Just a multitude of things that made his life inconvenient, but nothing too harrowing.

Still, if his parents didn't want him, who was he to expect others to?

The Brit lives a pretty comfortable and solitary life. A historian with emphasis on studying the arts and he resided on a prestigious university campus. Majority of the student body recognized him as the man who sat the corner of the library staring out the window. There was whispers and rumours aplenty about him. There was nothing particularly interesting about him though. Other than the fact that his fridge is filled with blood (and that the school even supplied them); he is pretty boring. He spent a good amount of his time cross referencing new and old textbooks and acquiring new knowledge. He taught lectures every so often, but he only ever really taught one or two classes a semester.

Or taking over another class for the remainder of the school session when one of the other professors goes on emergency leave apparently.

He walks through the quiet halls before entering the lecture hall carrying a few large and worn books in his arms. He glances at the student body before placing the books on the desk. "As you probably have heard, your previous professor has gone on leave and I will be lecturing you for the rest of your semester. I am Professor Cain Scarlett." He places his messenger bag next to the his books. "We'll keep today fairly short. Do you have any questions? If not, I'll begin."

The university that Jonathan decided to apply to was one his entire family had gone to and graduated from and it seemed like a tradition that he should follow suit.

While his family took some level of secrecy to not expose their second nature, his brothers being the only ones to try to pursue sports during their schooling to which they had to dial down on some occasions to not arouse suspicions. And from what he could tell, the vast majority of the student body were human with the occasional supernatural like himself so he can't imagine the knowledge of their kind would go over well.

Jonathan hadn't quite decided what major he would fully pursue and at the moment was dabbling in several arts classes on top of his basics to see what would stick. Taking a sort of part time job as one of the landscapers on campus as something to do that wasn't centered around an extracurricular. He avoided sports outside of the physical education class that was required.

He had heard some of the rumors going around about Professor Scarlett, even if he had never had the pleasure of meeting the man himself. He never even visited the library that often either so he can't even say he's seen the other in passing.

When walking into class today, his classmates were buzzing about hearing their professor had to go on leave so they were wondering who would be taking up the mantle until they returned. Jonathan took the center fourth row seat in the hall, giving idle chatter to a classmate before the room seemed to fall silent on its own when their substitute walked in.

A few mutterings happened around him as no one had any questions to ask or any that demanded immediate answers. Jonathan merely glanced around before giving Cain his full attention, gently tapping his pencil against the long row desk.

Cain was definitely on the younger side of the scale as far as the professors went. If anything, he was probably the youngest, which said much about his intellect and habits.

He easily goes into lecture, talking about students receiving an updated syllabus for class based on how he feels the class has done previously and that he feels like the syllabus before might be a bit slower than what the class was capable of retaining. The man speaks easily enough. Firmly. Concisely.

Of course there were certain things to pick up. Things that were a little off, but not something that most would pay attention to. Cain seemingly took far less breaths between his words and sentences. Of course, one could say that he just had strong lungs (though his chest cavity doesn't seem to move too much either). Jonathan may hear it though. While heartbeats weren't all the same, his was just noticeably off. It was slow. Very slow.

Eventually, Cain cuts class early. He thinks that it better to keep it short for students to assimilate and get used to the changes and that he would be e-mailing everyone that evening the updated syllabus and anything else they would need by next class. He assigns them homework of course. He's not that nice.

"If you need anything, I'll be here for a bit longer and can answer questions privately. Off with you. Get going," he says as he takes a seat back at the desk.

As the lecture went on, Jonathan starts to notice the strangeness surrounding Cain, or what he suspected was him. He'd been in this class long enough to know what everyone sounded like, smelled like, that all of them seemed relatively normal. But with a heartbeat that sounded way too slow to be such, he started to get suspicious of their substitute professor. He probably spends more time staring at Cain then paying attention to what to expect with a new syllabus or the lecture itself.

When Cain cuts class early, everyone is quick to pack up, some even groan at the idea of homework assignments. Usually, he waits for the class to file out before he leaves himself since he didn't want to bother battling the sea of his fellow students to leave as soon as possible.

Maybe some of the rumors sounding the professor might end up being true but he still didn't know the other enough to ask him such a series of strange questions to confirm any of his suspicions. One doesn't simply walk up to someone and reveal they can just hear their heartbeat. Who does that?

Jonathan is slow packing up, trying to come up with some question to ask so that he might have some sort of excuse to get close to the other man. He's even slower walking down the steps of the hall and making is way over towards Cain, a curious look on his face after he made sure they were the only ones in the room.

"Um... excuse me, Professor?"

Cain was honestly already tired. The class was an inconvenient time for him with it being in the morning. He spent much of his night awake and he's sure that this was going to force him to keep more day hours than night and he wasn't quite looking forward to that at all. His eyes hurt and his body ached despite the day being rather cloudy and overcast.

He didn't bother to watch the students leave as he seemed to be glancing over some papers before Jonathan speaks up. Cain sets them out before looking up at the other with a curious expression.

"Yes? Was there something that you needed?" They were curious to him. The scent of the room had been different. Something smelled sweeter and with everyone having filed out, but the other; he can now guess it was coming from them. He was curious but also a bit agitated. nothing was more tempting than the smell of someone's blood as alluring as Jonathan's. Packaged blood lacked nutrition and it hardly tasted good, so the other was tempting.

It just helps that he was very good at not acting on temptations.

Standing in front of the other man confirmed his suspicions, he can hear the other's heartbeat clearer now. Noticing just how slow it really was and how the other seemed to barely breathe. Then there was the matter of this mix of vanilla and blood that he could pick up. The latter being strange because it lingered stronger than it should.

Of course, him taking the time to notice leaves a moment in time that he doesn't immediately answer. He also couldn't come up with a valid question to ask either.

"I... sorry.. 'm Jonathan." He flashes a smile, trying to come up with something to cover his tracks enough that this didn't seem too weird as he holds out a hand, "Just wanted to welcome you and thank you for taking the time to take over our class."

That was a things students did... right? Welcome new professors even if they were only substituting in?

Either way, he's making this slightly awkward and he should probably get going instead of stalling.

"Sorry... I had question but it seems that I've forgotten what it was. I should probably go..." Jonathan rubs at the back of his neck with an embarrassed smile as he adjusts his backpack.

Cain offers the man a polite smile in return. Jonathan can probably see the fangs that protrude a little farther out than the rest of his teeth. Not quite prominent, but noticeable enough.

A little odd to be welcomed since it isn't like he wasn't a familiar face, but whatever. "Well, it's a pleasure Jonathan. Hopefully, I'm a suitable replacement for your teacher for this semester."

An odd guy, Cain has already decided. Then again, he has had people approach him with stranger words on their tongue or with weirder intentions. He knows plenty of the rumors about him and a lot of the students at the university were around his age.

"It really is no problem. If you need anything, I'm around campus and you can always send an e-mail if you figure out what you wanted to ask. Get going. I'm sure you have better things to do than talking to me." He offers one more smile before going back to looking over his paperwork; assuming this was the end of the conversation.

The fangs are noticed and they raise his curiosity as well as his suspicions. Normal people were capable of having longer canines naturally so the were only some grounds there but it didn't rule out Cain's other clues.

"I'm sure you'll do great." Not that he doubts that Cain wouldn't be a suitable substitute, even if this was the first time being taught in a class the other supervised. He might find paying attention to the lectures to be a bit difficult now though.

"I'll do that. See you around, Professor." He smiles, "Have a good rest of your day." He gives a gentle wave before he turns to leave, lingering a little in the doorway as he glances back at the other before heading down the hallway against the wave of students on their way to their next class.

His next one didn't start for another hour or so, leaving him with a gap of free time that he didn't really know what to do with except spend it in the library. Its not like he had homework he needed to catch up on like he usually did so he did some research of his own. On vampires no less.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch, had Cain returned to the library at some point later on, he may spot Jonathan helping with the landscaping nearby with one of the flowerbeds. Overcast days were rather perfect for it since it meant not overheating and sweating from the sunlight. Jonathan worked on homework afterwards once he was off from that. Multitasking between his assignments and more vampire research that he ended up heading into the morning hours with. Dozing off in his classes were inevitable at that point but he tries his best to pay attention as best as he could.

Cain had somewhat of a schedule. Or at least, there were particular times that he seemed to be in the library. He could maybe be found in the early mornings (although this was rare because he generally slept through the morning) or in the late afternoon to evenings. If the days were gloomy and overcast; he could be found in the library too. He enjoyed sitting by the window, but sunnier days meant he either stayed cooped up in his room or just sleeping through it entirely.

He ends up taking a nap, but spending some time in the library. He realizes why the other was familiar in appearance. He had a tendency to watch the other landscaping when they were in view from the library. Something idle to watch when he was feeling distracted.

Surprisingly enough, Cain is fairly engaging for a class about history of some kind. He was obviously well learned of a multitude of details of what he talked about and the man liked to throw in some random facts that certainly aren't worth knowing, but fun tidbits about a specific person or the era or whatever else that can be said.

Class comes and goes before the man ends lecture for the day. "Read the next chapter and take notes. We'll go into more detail and go over any questions you might have about the information. Off you go."

Eyes were always on him at some point while he worked, even if he never really noticed. He never noticed Cain's from his spot in the window but then again he wasn't making an effort to try. Had he, he would have recognized him before he introduced his name to the class instead of knowing him purely by name.

The little fact tidbits the other taught were fun, it certainly made the class more interesting than it was before and that was something he enjoyed.

Jonathan can't say when in Cain's lecture he might've dozed off, only that his head is rested in the nook of his arm against the desktop. The bustle of students getting up to leave doesn't tip him off that he should wake up and no one next to him taps him either.

Or maybe they did and he simply didn't notice.

Carelessly dozing off in a now empty classroom was definitely embarrassing especially when it was only the second day with the new professor. Not the sort of impression he wanted to leave after greeting the other yesterday.

A lesson to be learned in not staying up into the morning researching vampires.

Cain had taken note of the other when they dozed off. The change in their heartbeat was noticeable. It's a little detail that he was incredibly aware of as a vampire. The sound of heartbeats. Blood. Certain smells. Things that he really could do without being hyper aware of because it was kind of irritating if he were dreadfully honest.

He quietly packed his messenger bag up and closed it before leaving it on the large, oak desk. The man simply walked up the few steps and over to where Jonathan was currently resting and tapping him on the shoulder.

He doesn't know what habits the other has. For all he knew, the other could have stayed up late studying or partying or what have you. "I know history isn't the most interesting subject, but you could choose better places to sleep."

Hopefully, the other isn't caught too off guard by being woken up.

It takes Jonathan a few moments to stir, lifting his head up slowly until he got his bearings again, noticing the now empty lecture hall and his professor standing nearby. As everything comes into proper focus, he's just embarrassed as he looks down at his notes, seeing the end of a letter turn into a strange squiggle then glancing up at Cain. He caught most of what the other had said as he tapped him awake.

"Its interesting when you teach it..." He says softly as he rubs at the back of his neck, "Sorry, I didn't mean to doze off like that. I had stayed up much too late researching something that before I knew it, it was already time for my morning class." He gives a little nervous laugh as he reaches for his bag.

It takes him a few minute to get everything packed up and the bag itself get slung over his shoulder as he gets up from his seat.

"I probably missed something important... didn't I?" He knows there is most likely homework but he was just making sure he didn't need to ask one of his classmates on what he might've missed if it was.

"And here I thought you were out partying or having the time of your life," Cain says with a shrug. The man lets out a yawn, his fangs more obvious than before. He really hated teaching morning classes. A nap actually sounded wonderful for the vampire. "I don't know what you could possibly be researching that would take up your entire evening, but at least have a more interesting reason next time."

He starts making his way back to the desk in the front where his bag was sitting on.

"Nothing that you can't just read up on. I don't give you guys information that you can't acquire on your own. Unless you like a few random facts, but that's stuff that won't show up on your exams anyways. You can ask your colleagues if you really feel like there might be something you would need to know," Cain says as he waves his hand dismissively.

Jonathan huffs a laugh, "That's only on the weekends, if there's a party happening, at least. I'm not that irresponsible." While he enjoyed a good night in, he doesn't skip out on most of the parties that happen around campus, even if he's only there for a few hours.

He can't help but notice the professor's fangs when he yawns and that burning curiosity returns.

"What can i say, once you get stuck in the mythology rabbit hole, its quite hard to pull yourself out of it." Jonathan stretches as he walks down the row and down the steps, debating on whether to skip his next class to call the day off early or dare risk sleeping in another. Though, there was something he wanted to check before he left Cain's lecture hall for the day.

Before he brings his arms down from his stretching, he pricks his own finger with one of his nails, just enough to draw blood. One of the few pluses of being a were-creature. He wanted to see if the other would react to it, to see if his own theories were true or some of the rumors he's heard from others. If he needed to make the wound larger, he might just dare to.

For now, he plays off as if nothing was amiss, dropping his arms down to his sides. Jonathan looks like he's considering asking his classmates for help when really he probably won't and figure it out on his own.

"I'll keep that in mind then. Sorry again, for sleeping during your lecture." He felt the need to apologize again before he left, if nothing happened with his little experiment.

It's almost instantaneous. The change in Cain's demeanor. The smell hits the man immediately and he tenses up. Rigid. While he was no stranger to the smell of blood, obviously, it's one thing to smell the rubbish that he drinks from bags. He doesn't hunt in any capacity and lives off stale blood. The smell of warm, fresh blood?

Positively alluring. Incredibly distracting.

He swallow and has to remind himself to take more breathes. Remember that he has to pretend he needs more air than what his body actually does. Remember that he can't act out of line in anyway. "It's-" He distractedly knocking one of his books off the desk. Damn it. "It's really quite alright. You wouldn't be the first one and won't be the last one either. Not all the other professors are so forgiving though, so best not try your luck."

Cain moves to pick up the fallen book from the floor. He can't ask why he smells blood. Wonders why the scent is suddenly there. It's perplexing and it really does nothing to calm the tension the man was suddenly feeling.

Oh.

That's certainly curious.

Jonathan watches Cain closely, having glanced at the door to make sure no one else would walk in announced. Despite the more breaths the other takes, his heart rate doesn't change much.

To watch someone so composed, suddenly distracted, even going as far to accidentally knock one of their books of the desk. He really hit the nail on the head with this and he wasn't even sure it would actually work.

Jonathan gives a light laugh, "I'll be sure to remember that. Wouldn't want to get one a professor's bad side this late in the semester."

As Cain moves to pick up the dropped book, he closes one of his hands into a fist, digging nails into the palm of his hand, hard enough that he can feel the slow trickle of blood. This was a really stupid idea, one that could possibly endanger himself and while he's surprised that his experiment worked, he can't help being a little guilty for doing this to a man he's barely known for twenty-four hours.

After a moment, he chimes in again when he should've been making the move to leave for his next class, "I think I might've just figured you out, Professor." Jonathan says almost quietly, head tilted with a knowing smirk.

The smell gets stronger and everything about it just consumes his senses. He can't seem to form any thoughts that weren't about blood. The smell lingers on the back of his tongue and he suddenly feels weak in his knees.

He braces one hand against the desk beside him and he holds the book he dropped tightly in his other as he tries to concentrate on the words printed on the front. He can't even make out that at the moment.

Cain chews on the inside of his cheek, tasting his own blood in his mouth before looking up at the other. There's a hungry look on the Brit's face. Eyes dilated as he looks hungrily at the other. A certain lust that he's trying so hard to stop attempting to consume him completely. He lets out a low growl. "What do you want?"

There's no need for niceties. Or maybe he can't muster any politeness when he was hungry and the other was making it damn difficult to ignore that part of him at that moment.

To see the older man struggle, to see the hunger on his features and the way his eyes were dilated. It leads him to believe the other hadn't fed or his source wasn't quite as tantalizing as a fresh source. Couldn't blame him for the latter, as an educator, that must be hard to either come by or a choice to choose other means of food. The whole heartbeat situation throws him off a bit though. In his research, vampires shouldn't have one and yet, Cain did.

Jonathan steps closer to Cain with slow steps, "Nothing. I just... I wanted to know why you smelt differently... why your heartbeat is incredibly slow compared to everyone else's..."

Having outed his professor, he felt it was only appropriate to do the same of himself. He blocks the view of the door with his back turned to it because he was about to offer what he riled the other up for.

The wounds he inflicted on himself for this would have healed over by now due to how small they were but he offers his wrist to Cain. Of course, there's still blood on his hand which likely makes this worse than better.

"Here." He motions with his arm.

He's never encountered a vampire before now and clearly he's making all the terrible plays. Especially this earlier in the morning.

Cain slaps the others arm away. He tries to keep his gaze downcast. The smell of blood was so strong and close now. He thinks if he catches sight of it, he won't be able to control himself. He doesn't want to lose control or potentially hurt the other. Though- "Are you daft? Do you know what you're doing?" Do they lack self preservation or something?

He lets out a shuddering breath. "I could hurt you because you decided to be a little too curious. Did you actually consider the consequences?"

Jonathan sure sounds like he didn't think any of this passed just sating his curiosity. What an absolute child. Nevermind that they hadn't thought of what might happen if he were exposed to everyone else. He swallows audibly. It was difficult to fight against feeding off the other and his resolve was crumbling quickly. His room wasn't particularly close either and now everyone he would pass was a potential meal.

"You realize you're putting others in danger doing this?" He doubts they do.

Jonathan lets his arm drop as Cain slaps it away, definitely not the reaction he was initially expecting but it wasn't one he didn't rule out completely. He gives a bit of shrug, "Not really, no." He had no clue. The research he had done relied on myth over actual truth and it probably seemed like he had a death wish or something.

"To be honest, I didn't think any of this would actually work but I did think about consequences if they did. I'm not exactly human myself, so I can handle whatever you dish out, professor." He's cocky in the thought that he would be able to handle a situation like this. When in actuality, he might be in over his head.

There's a sigh before he pulls his backpack off and turns to leave Cain standing by his desk to lock the hall's door before returning to the other, offering is arm again. "I realize that which is why I'm offering."

Yes, he didn't consider the rest of the student body would be at risk with this little stunt but he's still going to try and fix that.

Locking the door was basically locking himself in a cage with a hungry lion. Cain wasn't much like how pop culture liked to portray them. They weren't these suave and sexy beings, but something more basic. Feral. They were more like predators who merely want their food when it came to feeding.

"You're an absolute fool," he says quietly. But he can't resist the other anymore. He reaches out to grip Jonathan's arm. It's firm and not something that can easily be broken. He brings the other's arm closer before he runs his tongue to lap up the blood on his hand. Warm, fresh blood wasn't something he had really gotten to enjoy in a rather long time and he certainly was going to relish it.

Of course, there were certain things that vampires did for ensnaring their preys. Something natural and just biological that Cain had. Like the sweet scent that came from the other as he lapped up the blood. Pheromones.

He cleans up the blood on Jonathan's hand before sinking his teeth into his arm.

Pop culture was a terrible reference in most portrayals and he didn't believe them for a second. One or two things could be true and be applied to this situation that he's seen but other than that, Cain acted like any other predator would.

"I get that a lot." He replies with, hand rubbing at the back of his neck as Cain gripped his arm, practically feeling his heartbeat thud against the firm hold. To see his professor lick the blood of his hand though... that was really something else as he holds his breath for a moment. It left an almost ticklish sensation against his palm.

Jonathan was mesmerized as he watched the other that it took him a second to realize there was another scent coming off of Cain besides the usual vanilla and stale blood. It was sweet. Probably a little sweeter to him then someone else with his heightened senses. It drew him in, made him want to stay like this was safe. Like there was no real harm and in itself that was a dangerous sort of mindset.

He winces as he feels fangs penetrate the skin, "Ah..," It wasn't a terrible sensation having the other feed off him. In fact, it felt... good? He couldn't quite explain it but after some time, he felt his face flush and he feels a bit warm.

He didn't like feeding off people because Cain didn't have to kill to drink his fill. It always lead to an awkward after math of some sort that he had quit it entirely for the sake of living a more secluded lifestyle.

Of course, it meant he was always tired to some extent. Bagged blood lacked a lot of nutrients and it wasn't quite as filling nor enjoyable as something fresh. It wasn't all that great to exist on, but it certainly didn't stop the man from deciding this.

His charm was also dampened in the first place because he wasn't a full vampire, and it just seemed better to try and avoid hunting.

This was a damn treat though. The taste of Jonathan's blood on his tongue and the warm feeling it leaves when he swallows it. He would honestly drain the other dry if he had the stomach for it. And if he were not aware of his senses enough. He runs his tongue along the bite punctures before pulling away.

The man looked significantly less pale. He was naturally pale, but it was noticeable. How more alive he looked after a meal. His heartbeat almost seemed normal even. As though the man in front of Jonathan wasn't half dead and had just drank some of his blood.

Of course, that illusion is broken with some blood running down his chin.

To give up his blood willingly was certainly something off the bucket list, not in the typical method one would but he finds that he could make a terrible habit of this if he was risky enough.

The mix of pheromones, blood loss and the after effects of the bite might be to blame for the temporary daze on Jonathan's features. As he feels the swipe of Cain's tongue against the puncture wounds, he shudders a breath as the other pulls away. He keeps his arm held up, tilted at a slight angle so that the slow creep of blood falls towards him instead of dripping on the floor.

Cain certainly looked better, sounded better after the meal. What a difference something so simple could do. He's vaguely aware that he closes the distance between them, reaching out with his other hand to tilt Cain's face up a bit before closing the distance further and swiping his tongue over the blood that was running down the other's chin. It was a far more intimate action than Jonathan was normally comfortable in doing but in this moment, he's not exactly one-hundred percent himself.

Its a slow pull away before he takes a step back from Cain. He knows what his own blood tastes on his tongue but he wonders what it must taste like on another's. Glancing at his arm as he feels the slow creep get further down his arm, he lifts it up to run his tongue against the skin. It beat smearing blood with his fingers or wiping it on his clothes.

It was certainly taking a little bit longer than he thought to heal over completely but he figured a deeper wound like a bite to a major vein would be different than a simple prick of nail.

After a moment, he asks, "What... did it taste like to you?"

Student x Teacher AU

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