<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'">"Different enough." There were many things that had changed since the time he'd been human. Himself most of all. The man that he used to be now a stranger, a distant memory faded at the edges. It never failed to warm him drawing a smile, a laugh, a spark of joy from the younger male and this time was no different, the vampire's smile soft as Carter playfully nudged him. He didn't try to argue the point, Carter was entitled to his opinion. That Carter's affections hadn't changed given what he now knew, pleased and unnerved Asa in equal measure. Carter's question drew Asa's thought away from <i>why</i> it bothered him, "It's like you've said, charms wear off eventually. Not to mention my blood does more than just keep you alive." An unexpected side effect Asa had noted and tested overtime. A pleasant side effect no less. Given some vampires had higher influence over humans and he was in the company of quite a few, the discovery had given him some peace of mind.<br/>
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"It shouldn't, but such is life. You lose some, you keep even less." He'd come to learn that some things you loved, you'd be forced to let go. A painful experience he'd lived through, again and again. There had been times when he'd been at his weakest, driven by selfishness and had held on longer, harder. Those moments never ended well for all parties involved. One would think he'd have learned his lesson by now, but here he was doing it again with Carter. Were he a better man, he might have fixed his broken wing and set his little bird free, helped him find his own way in a world that was as beautiful as it was cruel. Instead he kept his bird in a gilded cage, to sing for him, and only him. <br/>
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Setting him free, it would have been the right thing to do. <br/>
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But after all that had happened with Selena and Otto, Asa refused to entertain the possibility of changing Carter. He might hide behind excuses: not wanting to sentence Carter to an eternity of insatiable blood lust, or the curse of watching time pass and being nothing more than a bystander, forever forced to witness an ever changing world, but you never changing. But the truth was much deeper than all the excuses. His true reasons more self-serving. The fear that Carter would no longer need him. That he would leave just as the others had. Maybe not in the beginning, maybe not for a long time. But he would, eventually. Inevitably.   <br/>
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And yet his world was no place for a human. His past would come knocking as it always did and Carter would be caught in the crossfire. Of that Asa had no doubt. Still, he held on even while keeping Carter at a distance. There was no rational or selfless reasoning for his contradictions. Fighting the pull he felt towards Carter only made it that much worse. <br/>
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He was tired of fighting it.<br/>
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Leaning into Carter's touch, he gave the male a slow smile. An indescribable weight had been lifted with the exposure of his secret, regardless of the eventual fallout. Even if he did disagree with the other's words. Asa may not have to hide himself anymore, not from Carter at least, but he'd hidden such a large part of himself for so long that not having to hide left him wary. Exposed, vulnerable. Something he never allowed himself to be. Not in a world of predators where the first sign of weakness spelt one's untimely demise.<br/>
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"I've nothing left to hide." Nothing that Carter would stumble upon in the house. What Asa did and his role within the supernatural council, the constant research on a cure for Carter. The work that he didn't bring home. Given Carter's reaction to the boy in the dungeon even after what had almost happened to him, Asa  couldn't say how Carter would react to discovering the lengths Asa went to searching for a way to cure him of his condition. To prolong his life expectancy. "Now if you have any other questions, ask away. We're not spending the whole of the day locked away in your room as you interrogate me," he turned his face into the younger male's hair, inhaling his scent and simply letting himself be. Not worrying about the shit show he would no doubt have to curb come tomorrow.</span>