The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 161: Wake Up, Taira!

The next morning, the sun had only barely just started peaking over the horizon when Taira opened his eyes in the confines of his bedroom.

He sat up and rubbed his head wearily as if he were nursing the world's worst hangover.

'What time did I even get into bed last night...?' he glanced at his bedmates and realized that they were all bathed and sleeping off last night's proclivities.

Hickeys of multiple different shapes were strewn tastefully across everyone's body, including his own.

'They look more anymore beautiful everyday...' he thought.

Taira admired his wives for a little bit longer before he eventually slipped out of bed without waking them.

Stretching for a bit, he stepped over to his dresser before pulling on some boxers, a pair of sweatpants, and his headphones.

Finding his phone, he started playing music almost immediately before heading into the bathroom to freshen up.

Once he was done, he stepped out of the bedroom quietly and went to find the only other member of his family remaining.

Unexpectedly, he found Yasuke by the front door, clawing like he was trying to get out and meowing as if it were depressed.

Once it heard Taira coming, it ran right up to him and started meowing up a storm.

"I got it, I got it." Since Taira couldn't really hear the cat over the music, he just assumed him to be hungry and excited about eating.

Which in fairness wouldn't be all that uncommon for him.

'We should really get an automatic feeder... but I don't know if I trust him not to break into it.'

Once Yasuke's bowl was filled, Taira walked through his apartment to reach a door on the opposite side and arrived in his personal studio.

Though a little messy, this was where he worked the best and had been able to create art works that had won him countless awards and acclaim.

Past pieces of his hung on the wall; some of which included canvases of his beautiful wives in their natural environments.

In the center of the room, there was a wooden stool with a cushion on top and three different easels circling it, each with an incomplete work already in the midst of being done.

Silently, he pondered which of them he should finish first.

The piece that was going to be the birthday present for some son of a trade analyst at Goldman Sachs, the portrait commissioned by a famous music artist, or the one he was planning on submitting to an exhibit as part of a collection?

"..."

Eventually, Taira grabbed a whole new easel and canvas to start an entirely new project.

It was a good thing that the deadlines for all of these projects were weeks away, or he may have been in more of a rush to complete it and jeopardized the quality in the process.

'Just a quick sketch to get the juices flowing should be fine..' he thought.

Taking a pencil, he roughly started to sketch out an image on the tapestry with no specific vision in mind.

This was what he had become famous for.

When he was painting, there were no interruptions or distractions capable of breaking his total immersion.

With the low sound of Teyana Taylor playing in his headphones, he was practically a machine that needed no human input to function.

Before he'd known it, he had finished the actual sketch and started painting.

Every action that he took was meticulous and done with the utmost care, and one could almost tell that he had real love for the subject material.

Unbeknownst to him, hours went by with song after song playing in his ears and he never noticed a thing.

The only thing that finally drew his attention was a soft hand on his back, and a pair of lips on his neck.

Taira smiled as he paused his music, already knowing the woman by her touch alone.

"I'm surprised... it's rare for you to be up before noon."

"...It's two o'clock, honey." Enyo confessed.

Embarrassment showed up on Taira's face. "Shit... I did it again, huh?"

"Seems like it."

Enyo came from behind Taira and his breath was temporarily caught in his throat.

Currently, her only coverings was that of a thin lace bathrobe that she hadn't even bothered to tie closed; allowing Taira to see everything underneath.

"I… who is that..?"

Taira followed Enyo's gaze to the easel in front of him, where a tapestry of a beautiful, but unfamiliar woman was painted on the canvas.

Enyo knew Taira had a talent for art.

In fact she was the one who first discovered it, since she used to be his babysitter when he was in elementary school.

And out of everything that she ever saw him create, this was the second picture to bring literal tears to her eyes.

"She… is beautiful…"

Sitting all alone by a crystal blue lake was a woman with rich dark skin and long grey dreadlocks.

She had a slender, yet healthy figure and an abundance of black tattoos that all seemed to be spider themed.

Taira was every bit as floored as Enyo was, because he had never seen this woman before.

'No, that's not true.'

'What am I talking about..?'

'You can't forget her. Not after everything that she's been through.'

'I-I don't…'

'Act like a fucking husband and go back to her..!'

'What..?!'

Eventually, Taira groaned and bent over to clutch his head that was suddenly splitting.

"H-Honey..? Are you alright?!" Enyo asked worriedly as she wiped her face.

Taira could only barely hear her as he was currently enduring a headache of absolutely nightmarish proportions.

"I…"

Aveena: "Hey! You guys have to get a move on or we'll be late!"

"O-Oh, that's right!" Enyo realized.

"Late..? Do we have something today?" Taira asked with difficulty.

"Your parents called about an hour ago and said they flew in to surprise us. They want us to meet them at Nobu in forty-five minutes…"

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For some reason, those words hit Taira like a freight car.

But he couldn't explain why.

"I-I should probably call and tell them that we'll need to cancel since you aren't feeling well.." Enyo started to leave, but stairs gently grabbed her wrist and held her in place.

"No… I'll be fine, I just need to take a couple of aspirin."

"A-Are you sure??" Enyo asked.

"I'm positive." Taira said as he stood up.

"Let's go eat a hole in my old man's wallet."