With Tao's hands still on his shoulders, it was very hard to focus on anything but the living, breathing shadows in the room. They wanted to come closer, particularly to cling to Tao––Wolfram could feel that as surely as he could feel the gasp rushing through the vampire at his back and his own sigh travelling up his throat. Tao's voice was what Wolfram wrapped his attention around to drag himself back into life.
He looked down and Tao's hand was around his. He couldn't remember seeing the vampire move, but that was normal. One could concentrate on so many things at once, of course, so why was it strange that he couldn't keep his mind on two things that were the only true extremes in reality? He straightened in his seat, remembering that he had a physical body and that he was in control of it.
"I have no reason to betray you," Wolfram replied mildly before lifting the glass to his lips. He felt immediately better. It didn't help with the floating drowsiness that always came with fatigue for him, however. There was nothing to be done about it. He just needed to leave soon. Placing the empty glass on the table, he said belatedly, "You are the only one left, I see that now. They trail after you. Lost souls. Can't you feel them? I don't think they see anything but you." One followed the other, every single one of them never seeing that they could move on. Tao probably seemed safer in all his familiarity than going to the wheel. The headache made sense now––Wolfram simply hadn't been prepared. "Very few of the crows are sensitive to death like this. You've seen the void, now - that couldn't have happened if it had been any other crow. I didn't know what I could do, then. There was only one other crow who had the same abilities then."