ERMES sketch page (Patreon)

POV: you’re a Vampire lusting after your Human owner, but you have trust issues and you’re afraid he doesn’t consider you “alive” enough.

Facts about Unlock: In this dystopic, vampire universe, “corpse” is a slur often used to humiliate Vampires. It’s indicative of the prejudice, the disgust some humans feel for these beings. Humans such as Ermes’s mother, Demetra Lauda.

Demetra raised her three children with unconditional, overwhelming love in a city that once belonged to Vampires. She was the leader of the insurrection that purged the city and now her power there is unquestionable, as much as her beliefs, especially regarding filthy Vampires. The young Laudas abide by them... or at least should.

For Marzio, the firstborn, Vampires are nothing more than objects he can mistreat and discard whenever he wants. Other than enjoying himself a bit too much, he makes his mother proud.

But not Artemisia, the rebellious second daughter, who greedily owns two Vampires. They’re tied to her by a passionate, morbid bond that she’s not afraid to flaunt, most of all in front of Demetra.

Ermes doesn’t understand any of this. He sees vampires as people, a bit more frightening, yes, but he’d say he’s used to fear, with a mother such as his. He’s never wanted to own a Vampire... until he had to. And now he’s resolute to show Dario respect, to maintain their relationship professional. Keeping his distance, if necessary. Sometimes even too much.

Sometimes, Dario doesn’t understand what passes through his mind and he worries that Ermes’s gentleman act is just that: a cool façade on the verge of breaking if Dario dared to touch.