The next morning when Nathan woke up, he grabbed a change of clothes from the suitcase and got dressed. He headed to the front door, but was stopped by Levi.

"Where are you going?" Levi asked. "To go get food. You three are vampires and only need to drink blood once a day, but I'm half human, remember? I'm hungry." Nathan said.
"You can't just go out there though!" Levi said, worried. "Yes, I can. I can blend in with humans, remember?" Nathan reminded him. "Yeah but.."

"Actually, I agree with the newborne. True, you may not get caught immediately, but how do you expect to continue paying for human food? Going back to your human life is ill advised, because sooner or later, a hunter will figure you out." Mace says.

"So, what? Am I just supposed to starve?" Nathan asked. Mace rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't be dramatic. Are you capable of drinking and gaining sustenance from blood?" He asks.
"Well, yeah, but it's not like I can feed on someone; I don't exactly have fangs." Nathan responded. Levi just stood there, listening to them talk like a dog that wanted attention.

"You don't need fangs to drink blood, halfling. Do you really think I like to hunt?"

Macier took Nathaniel to the kitchen (and of course, Levi followed. They don't like being away from Nathan, if he can help it).
Macier had Nathaniel sit down at the table while he grabbed a cup, filling it with some blood that he kept in the fridge. It was usually for Macier, since he doesn't like to hunt humans himself, but he figured it can't hurt to share with his half-brother.

"Here," Mace says, giving Nathan the cup. "Ooo.." Levi said curiously, peeking over Nathan's shoulder. Nathan turned red, almost like he was embarrassed. "Levi, can you not-"
Levi took that personal, turning the chair so that Nathan was facing him. "Nathaniel Reed, now is not the time for eating disorders!" He chides, shoving the cup into Nathan's hands.

Levi had a point; Nathaniel had an issue with eating around other people. It always made him feel akin to ashamed, or embarrassed. So much so, that as a child, he wouldn't eat unless he was alone.

Nathan groans, still not drinking, and his face turned completely red. "Eating disorders?" Mace asked, taking mental note of Nathan's name. "Yeah, Nate gets shy eating around people cuz he thinks everyone's judging him or something. He got used to eating around me, so no offense, it might be cuz you're here, your highness -"

"Nathaniel," Mace started. "If it would help for me to leave the room, I will. But you don't have anything to be wary about; we're all vampires here. Nobody is going to make fun of you for drinking blood, like a vampire."
"... It's not just that." Nathan responded, looking down into the red liquid. "I'm not used to it. I lived with my human mother until she died, I grew up human-.. I-i guess I've just never really.. indulged in my vampiric side.."

"Well, no time like the present. C'mon, Nate, please? It's pretty much your only option right now." Levi said, brushing Nathan's bangs out of his face. Nathan looked at Levi, then back down at the cup with a sigh.
Levi frowned, then stood upright and covered his eyes. "Here, I'm not looking, okay?" Nathan smiled a little; that's what Levi did to initially help him with his eating habits.

Nathaniel had drank blood a few times before, but both times, it was from his human mother when she cut herself cooking.

Nathan let out a breath, bringing the cup up to his mouth. He smelled it first, maybe out of curiosity. It didn't smell bad to him- actually, quite the opposite; it smelled good. Eventually, he took a drink from it.

Vampire eyes are a bit different from human eyes; usually, if a human is turned, their eyes will change to red or yellow, a sign of their vampirism. Nathaniel's eyes, naturally, are a hazel color. Unbeknownst to him, though, his eyes turn red when he drinks blood. And, depending on how much blood he drinks, his eyes stay that way for a maximum of 6 hours.

Nathan was surprised at just how good blood tasted to him. He hasn't had it since he was really young, and he barely remembers that. He almost even found himself craving more. Apparently, this did not go unnoticed by his boyfriend or the prince.

"Nathan, are you.. okay?" Levi asked, putting their hand on Nathan's shoulder. Nathan looked at him. "Y-yeah. Yeah, no, I'm okay. Why?" He asked. "You kinda.. zoned out." Levi responded. "And your eyes turned red.."
"What‽" Nathan said, touching his cheek briefly before standing up, going to the bathroom and looking in the mirror. Not even a dark red- no, his eyes turned had turned red. "Wh-.."

"Well, this is certainly.. interesting. You definitely don't want to be walking around during the day, now. Hunter sees your red eyes, you're as good as dead." Mace said.

Nathan groans, sinking down so that he was sitting on the ground against the sink. "This is some kind of karma, or joke from the universe.." he mumbles.

Macier wasn't exactly used to emotions- he's a prince, and he's expected to "act like one". Still, he couldn't help but frown a bit; Nathaniel seemed very distraught, and.. he felt bad. Nathaniel is his brother, after all.

"What do you mean by that?" Mace asked quietly, leaning in the doorway next to Nathan. "I mean that... Since I can eat and sleep like humans, maybe I wouldn't get roped into the vampire world.. then, go figure, my partner gets turned by one, and now look at me; bastard son of the vampire king, talking to my half-brother who probably sees me as some.. kind of scum, I don't know- I just..."

"Nathan.." Levi started, but stopped when Mace held his hand up to them. "Nathaniel, I don't... See you as a lower lifeform, I'm just lost and confused. All my life, I was told that it was forbidden for humans and vampires to mate, and to find out my-.. our, father did, after I was born, even..." Mace trailed off, thinking for a moment.

"I don't see you as 'scum', Nathan. Actually,... I'm a little afraid of you." He admitted. "Ha, now that's hilarious-" Nathan said, standing up and looking at his brother. "Afraid of me? Why? I don't even have fangs, I can't see in the dark- I'm half human. I sleep at night, I eat human food- usually-.. Why are you, the vampire prince, afraid of me?"

"... You really haven't explored this side of yourself, have you?"