Sasuke had to admit he was a little peeved at how fast Naruto was taking to his newfound strength and speed. He had half expected the blond to be clumsy and oafish as he learned to adjust to the new parameters his body had been set – that Naruto would underestimate how fast he could run and would end up stumbling, or that he would accidentally crush something because he didn't realise how much pressure his grip now exerted.

It was in fact, very much the opposite. And that annoyed Sasuke, although he wasn't really sure why. Naruto's body appeared to be made for vampirism it seemed. Perhaps it was the result of his Hunter heritage that his muscles adapted so well to the new power coursing through them, or that his spatial awareness didn't seem the slightest bit hazy.

If it was the result of Hunter lineage, it was pretty ironic that a body built for the sole purpose of hunting down and killing vampires, was in fact perfect for becoming one of the undead itself.

Still, despite Sasuke's petty agitation, he had to admit that Naruto looked fuckinggood doing the whole vampire thing. Right now, as they navigated the obstacle course of corpses of buildings and husks of cars, Naruto had never looked more beautiful. He was a flash of yellow amongst the dingy grey, and Sasuke's superhuman eyesight was able to hone in on the way Naruto's thigh muscles clenched and compressed as he landed in a perfect crouching perch atop one felled building before pushing off with such power that the air around him actually parted and whipped towards Sasuke on one side, and the ocean-line on the other.

What Sasuke loved the most though, aside from this lethal display of furled-up strength waiting to lash out of Naruto's very cells, was the expression on Naruto's face. Whilst he could tell from the blond's eyes that he was at war with himself, the feral smirk that curled his lips indicated which side was winning in the mental battle between Hunter and Vampire.

They were heading towards the Slums, the only district of the broken city which still remained inhabited by humans. The Slums had been a pathetic shamble of shanty towns before the blue fires, and because they had the least to lose, they suffered the least. Now, it was nothing less than a thriving (if rather ugly) metropolis which was slowly spreading outwards into other districts like a wave of clumsy resurrection.

Sasuke could smell the hotspot of blood from his mansion, and even he, an aged vampire, had trouble resisting at times. It was almost like the smell of freshly baked bread, wafting through the vacant rooms and tempting the senses. He couldn't imagine how difficult it was for Naruto right now – the smell must be absolutely maddening to a newborn, although the blond seemed to be handling it well. He did little more than lift his nose to the breeze every now and then like a wary dog, his nostrils twitching briefly as he took in that delicious, copper scent.

Whilst all of this was fascinating however, Sasuke's mind kept returning to that disturbing sight he had witnessed in his breakfast room. The orange aura of pure evil that had risen from Naruto's sleeping body like Death's Veil, bubbling with energy that was desperate to destroy everything in its path.

And the shape it had taken on. Sasuke knew he had seen that shape before, that vulpine silhouette was floating in a long forgotten pool of memories, just out of reach of Sasuke's net.

One thing was certain though. Whatever Naruto had inside him, it was bad and Sasuke was going to have to get rid of it. There was no way something with an aura that chilling and frightening could ever benefit its host in the long-term. Sasuke hadn't changed Naruto just for him to be consumed by some inner demon that had accidentally awakened.

He realised back in the present moment that Naruto had stopped, knelt atop an overturned lorry and sniffing the air again. Sasuke landed silently beside him and focused his mind on the task at hand, teaching Naruto how to feed.

"One is close," he said as he spread out feelers of scent receptors, locating prey in the vicinity.

Naruto said nothing. He merely curled his hands into fists, his face losing the smirk. Now, he no longer looked like a beautiful predator. He just looked like a man fixing to do a bad thing.

Sasuke sensed that Naruto might be close to changing his mind and was quick to act. He took in a deep lungful of air, loud and clear and letting the taste and scent of blood infiltrate into his body like nicotine. "God, that smells divine."

Predictably, Naruto took in a deep breath too, unable to help himself when the tempting smell was so close by. A creeping of bliss scuttled over his face briefly as he did so. "Yeah... I don't think I've ever smelled something so good in all my life." He said it with such conviction that it surprised Sasuke, who had been expecting at least a little reluctance. He couldn't believe how quickly Naruto was forgetting about his Hunter instincts and letting the new Vampire instincts in.

It was almost too easy. Naruto wasn't even putting up a fight. Sasuke had to admit he felt disappointed.

He forgot all about that though when Naruto's body seemed to curl into a predatory stance. Sure, it was a shame that Naruto wasn't going to put up a fight, but at least Sasuke got to see the big show that much quicker.

"Where is it?" The blond's voice was so low it was almost inhuman, and the growl that rumbled through it was gruff and arousing.

"Follow me."

Sasuke leapt from the truck and down onto the cracked asphalt pavement, Naruto hot on his heels. Crumbling alleyways flew past their peripheral vision, as they honed in closer and closer on the unwitting human that had accidentally become today's lunch. He could hear Naruto behind him, breathing erratically as the cravings strengthened.

The Uchiha came to an abrupt stop outside a less derelict alley and Naruto halted with him. They pressed themselves to the wall and peered around to find a young homeless man poking through a bin to no avail.

Wrenching his eyes away from the morsel, Sasuke looked at Naruto. His blue eyes were darkened, much like when Sasuke had enticed out his lustful side, and two wolfish fangs were pressing against his flush lower lip. His fingers clenched in the material of his black pants that was stretched over his muscular thighs, and if it had been physically possible for him to sweat, he would have been drenched in a fine sheen of it. As it was, his skin remained clear and dry, though it had taken on a slight flush.

Sasuke was tempted to give up on the feeding lesson right there and then, and start a new lesson altogether – one that involved as little clothing as possible and focused on releasing a different kind of animal from within Naruto.

As it was, he could sense that the blond man was starving, aching to rush out and annihilate the homeless man. He knew that kind of hunger, had felt it wrenching at the nerves of his teeth and clawing energy away from his body in huge chunks. It was something he wished on no man or woman, not even on his rival.

He leaned forward and breathed shallow and hot against Naruto's neck. "Go."

Again he was surprised when Naruto did not hesitate. The word had barely left his lips before the spot next to him, previously occupied with his blond companion, was empty and stirring up dust, and a horrified scream was raised to the skies before the homeless man choked on his own blood.

Sasuke rounded the corner into the alley, and felt every cell in his body ache with longing at the sight he beheld. The beggar was slammed against the alley wall, so hard that it must have fractured every vertebra in his spine, and Naruto's predatory body was pressed against the dead man's from hips to chest as he gorged himself on the red liqueur spilling out of two vicious rips in the man's throat.

The blond was moaning, and the sounds were almost one hundred percent pleasure and only a tiny fraction disgust.

It was difficult, watching Naruto devour the man in such a primal manner; part of Sasuke was longing for the blood, of course, but more of him was longing for the killer. Nevertheless, he waited, let Naruto drink his fill. He kept his cool, leaning against the wall at the mouth of the alleyway, arms crossed and head bowed as if he were deep in thought and not trying to prevent himself from jumping Naruto.

But when the gulping sounds stopped, he couldn't resist looking over just as Naruto raised his head with scarlet blood smeared across his mouth and dripping down his chin. Some of it was even streaked through his hair in vivid smears.

Fear and excitement glowed in Naruto's eyes. "Sas... Sasuke," he choked out in a pained, husky voice that sent all the energy in Sasuke's body straight to his groin.

The dead man fell to the ground, drained and already going into post-rigor mortis. His eyes stared up accusingly at the great blond Vampire, who braced himself with one arm against the wall and looked down at his leather jacket smeared with blood in fascination, panting as though he had just run a marathon.

Sasuke licked his lips, feeling his thin fangs scrape against his tongue.

When Naruto looked at him next, the lust in his eyes was so prominent that Sasuke broke.

An unseen movement, and suddenly Naruto was the one slammed against the wall with his neck bared for consumption. Sasuke's fingers fisted in the slippery leather for a few moments before deciding Naruto didn't need the jacket and ripping it off him to reveal the broad torso beneath it. Sasuke's hands fell upon Naruto's blood-soaked face, before sliding down and drawing a crimson path across Naruto's chest.

Naruto seemed to be done with teasing and temptations and waiting though, because after only a few seconds of this one tanned hand was in Sasuke's hair and their mouths were crushed together in a painful, angry, fanged kiss that made Sasuke's knees buckle and his fingernails drag roughly down Naruto's abdomen. The blond responded with a jerking thrust forward with his hips, groaning with mind-consuming desire as his free hand worked fast to make sure Sasuke was also divested of his shirt, choosing to merely rip the material from Sasuke's very body rather than remove it normally.

Naruto's animalistic roughness and the tang of fresh hot blood on his lips was enough to drive Sasuke wild. He'd never wanted something or someone so much in his very long life. The closer they got, the more he needed Naruto, the more his body ached for satisfaction. He didn't care that the seal was throbbing so hard it was almost mind-numbing; in fact, it only added to the frenzy. He didn't care that something terrible was hiding within his companion, something that he knew he would eventually have to deal with.

All he cared about was the mindless animal devouring his body. The dark-skinned hands that slipped under the waistband of his jeans and pushed them down, the jagged teeth that scraped at his throat and shoulders, the groans that Naruto made that could have been pleasure or horror or both.

Spin and slam, and now Sasuke was against the wall and Naruto's nails were longer, sharper as they tore into his thighs, leaving vicious welts that throbbed in time with the cursed seal and his desperate erection. Naruto's mouth was on his chest now, granting the flesh no mercy as he left a bite-littered trail down Sasuke's torso, over his stomach, across one hip and then the other, around the trembling prize and down to the quivering inner thighs, where Naruto clamped down hard just as he pushed one thick, clawed finger inside Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes rolled in his head before closing involuntarily, a long hiss seeping through his teeth. "Shit! Naruto..."

Without giving Sasuke time to adjust a second finger was already thrusting in to join the first, and a hot rough tongue was lapping up the dark vampire blood that dribbled down Sasuke's thigh. Guttural moans rumbled in Naruto's throat, echoing around the alleyway with only a dead man as witness.

Naruto dragged his tongue up Sasuke's inner thigh in one final, roughened swipe before looking up with eyes as red as the blood smeared across his mouth and through his hair. Sasuke opened his eyes and met the gaze, biting down on his lower lip as Naruto's fingers surged deeper inside him, curling and scraping.

Naruto's expression was one of desire and despair. Sasuke barely lasted a minute.

TBC