**************************************************************************** Author's Notes: Sorry I took so long getting this one out. I can make excuses (too much homework, ridiculous amounts of working hours, lack of sleep, illness) but you don't wanna hear them (too late!) so I'll just get on with the story. Thanks to all of those who e-mailed me, and pleeeeeeeeeeeeease keep them coming. I've gotta feed my under-nourished ego somehow!
Standard disclaimer: You know the drill. Too young? Don't read. Too homophobic? Don't read. Too repressed? Don't read. Think this is real? Seek help. Like The Backstreet Boys? Read on. Start to believe they're actually gay? Well, just don't start stalking them. Then I guess we'll all be okay.
Oh yeah, and Anne Rice ISN'T a vampire. At least, I hope she isn't, cos I'll be first on her hit list! ****************************************************************************
"When everything feels like the movies Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive' - Iris, Goo-Goo Dolls
********* Chapter 2 *********
The day passed, and the night fell quickly, a curtain covering the whole city. Nick lay awake, contemplating. He had to see that man again, and he knew that if he were to go now, he would almost certainly find him. He couldn't explain his feelings for this man, who he knew was capable of murder, but they were there all the same, slowly rising from the pit of his stomach.
He would have gone in an instant, but Kevin's strong, insistent arms were wrapped firmly around him as they lay side by side, and it was obvious by Kevin's over-exaggerated breathing that he was still awake. Nick had tried a couple of times to roll away from him, but each time he did this, Kevin's grip grew just that little bit tighter.
Nick sighed, thinking about the man. He didn't even know his name. All he could remember was his animal-appeal, and the unnatural light that he seemed to omit. He was, without a doubt, the most beautiful man Nick had ever seen. He desperately wanted to be close to him. But how?
"Kevin?" He whispered. Kevin stirred, as if in waking, then answered.
"Yes?" He asked. Nick climbed on top of him, and lent forward, kissing him softly. Immediately, Kevin's grip loosened to make the position more comfortable. He pulled Nick further up, and then his hands travelled over his smooth back. Nick groaned gently as Kevin's hands went further down, finally slipping past his pants.
"Let me, Nick?" He asked. Nick sighed. Every time they kissed, Kevin took it as a sign that Nick was ready to go further.
"Not yet, Kevin." He told him, adamantly. He knew, for all Kevin's faults, that he would never try to force himself on him. He was the perfect gentleman in that respect.
But Nick knew that he had to satisfy Kevin if the older man was ever going to fall asleep. He began working his lips down from Kevin's mouth and past his naked chest. Kevin knew where he was going, and pulled his briefs down in expectation. Nick took Kevin's semi-erect cock in his mouth and he felt Kevin fade into a mist of euphoria.
I could sense him before I saw him. He walked aimlessly, and I followed him, amused by this mortal's lack of intuition, and at the same time ecstatic that I could be close to him again.
I watched him as he walked, lamenting the fact that I could not see his face from behind. I could, however, see the delicate, frightened way that he walked. I could see the nape of his beautiful neck. I could see his hands, curled tightly up for warmth. And I could see his golden hair, shining in the moonlight. I wondered what it would be like to run my fingers through his hair before penetrating the smooth, pale skin of his neck.
I sensed the group of men a long time before he did, but I decided to see what they would make of him, what he would do when approached by them. There was no doubt they would approach him. Their minds were heavily littered by lewd thoughts, perverse notions. I would be able to step in when they started to act out these thoughts. But for now, I wished to watch.
Although I could not see his face, I knew that fear would be registering on it as he bumped into one of the men as they rounded the corner. I stayed back, watching, waiting.
"Watch where you're going." The man pushed him back. He was extremely ugly, as most mortals are. The boy stepped back, then tried to walk round them. Six in total, and although two of them might have been considered attractive by a lesser being than myself, their faces had grown steadily unpleasant over the years, victims of a cruel age in time.
"I'm sorry." The boy whispered as he tried to walk past. A rough hand pushed him back, a flash of silver held up to his chest, as the man brought out a knife. The boy tried to back away, but one of the men had already accounted for this, and stood behind him, securing a hand on his shoulder as he backed into him. The boy spun round in surprise, and I saw his face for the first time that night. He was still beautiful, although the fact didn't come as a surprise to me.
His assailants were watching him with interest, and although four of them were only interested in scaring him, taking the small amount of money he might be carrying, two of them were disguising the fact that they wanted him sexually. It was human nature to hide such feelings, and once more I felt my amusement and pity for this race grow with my smile.
"Where's your money?" The knife-wielder shouted. The boy flinched, and backed away as far as he could without touching the man standing behind him.
"I haven't got any." He told them truthfully.
"Are we gonna have to search you?" The man standing behind him whispered in his ear. He grabbed the boy suddenly, and pushed him against the wall of the alleyway. I knew that now would be a good time to intervene, but I was curious to see what they would to him. Perverse thoughts filled my mind, but unlike these oafish men, they did not affect my demeanour.
"Please, I swear to God." The boy sobbed. "I haven't got any." I was suddenly aware of how chaste and pure he sounded when upset. Now it become obvious as to why I could not make him one of my own. I wondered why it had not struck me before, but I never was the most intuitive of my kind.
"Look, guys, why don't you go on?" The man that had pushed him against the wall told his friends. "I'll see if he's lying or not."
"I don't know." One of them snickered. "He could get nasty."
"Go on." The man told them, gesturing towards the streetlights that illuminated the high street at the end of the alleyway. "I'll meet you later."
The men glanced warily at each other, and the other man who I recognised as having sexual feelings for the boy spoke. "I'll stay with you. More fun with two, isn't it?"
The other men shrugged, and slowly walked past me, as I immersed myself into the shadows. I could feel the small amount of blood inside of me echo loudly in my head. I hadn't fed tonight, and I knew that these two remaining men would be a worthy treat. But I had to contain myself, attack when they thought they had won.
A part of me wanted them to rape this innocent boy, because then I could take him, in a much more rewarding way. But I knew I would save him. It was too cruel, even for me, to let him lose his virginity like this.
"You look scared." One of the men laughed. Terrified would have been a much more fitting word, but I refrained from saying that out loud.
"What are you going to do to me?" The boy whispered. He looked startlingly young in this light, with only the moon to cast a light on his fearful face. I wondered how old he was, unimportant as it was. I consider any human to be a child next to me. Some explored this frame of mind better than others. Although the boy was no older than twenty, his mind remained youthful. That was all that mattered.
"What do you want us to do to you?" The other man asked. He pushed some hair away from the boy's face, and his hand travelled down to his cheek, lingering there softly.
"Leave me alone." The boy told them. His voice never rose above a whisper, and I wondered what he would sound like when angered. As of yet, I had only ever seen him fearful.
"Sorry, wrong answer, you lose." The two men laughed, and I cringed at their attempts in humour. Suddenly, the boy made a break for freedom, pushing past them and promptly falling to the floor as one of the men grabbed him and tackled him down. He laughed as the boy writhed underneath him, his face streaked with tears. I suddenly wanted to taste those tears.
"Please get off me." The boy pleaded, but the man was no longer listening to his cries, as his clumsy hands explored his victim's body. I decided that now would be a suitable time to approach, and I stepped lightly out of the shadows, in front of the other attacker who was keeping watch. His face grew distorted with anger, mixed with fear, an emotion I was used to seeing.
"Paul." He shouted at his friend. "We got a spectator."
"Tell him to pull up a chair then." The boy's attacker pulled his lips away from the boy's mouth long enough to answer, before forcing himself on him again. He didn't once look at me. I grew angered by this. His friend's death would be quick, merciful. But I would enjoy taking my time with the ignorant one.
With lightening quick reflexes I pulled the scared watcher to my teeth, and plunged my teeth into his neck, lost in a world where the blood flows freely, and the heart slowly dims to a terrifying speed, before beating it's last beat. The man died quickly, and fell to the ground beside the scrambling pair on the floor. It was only then that the attacker realised there was something wrong, and looked to his friend, and then up at me in confusion.
"What the...?" He trailed off as he saw me, blood drenching my mouth, as I neatly wiped it off in preparation for my next kill. The boy looked at me too, and I saw no fear, only deep relief.
"Please don't kill me." The man pleaded. "We were just messing around, I swear."
"You would relish taking this innocent boy's chastity, but you would not be able to face death?" I asked, my voice dripping with fake confusion. "I do not understand men with morals such as yourself." I pulled him up, a simple gesture for me that would dislocate a weaker man's arm.
"You know I didn't mean it." He turned to the boy, desperately, who had backed against the wall, his hands gripped tightly around his withdrawn legs.
"And you would ask the same innocent boy to lie to me, in order for you to stay alive?" I taunted him. The man rolled his eyes helplessly. I roughly pulled the collar of the man's shirt down, and I felt my lust rise as I focused on his neck.
"Don't." I suddenly heard a sweet voice plead. I looked down to the boy, who was standing up shakily, his hand put forward in a gesture of pleading. "Don't kill him. Please, he doesn't deserve to die like this." An unrecognisable emotion was being thrust in front of my face, one I didn't recognise. This boy was pleading for me not to kill a man who would have raped him with no opposing thoughts? I desperately searched for a motive for the boy doing this, but none came to mind. Surely he, more than any, would want this man dead? Bemused, I released my grip on the man. He looked at me, and then the boy, only slightly more confused than me, and proceeded to run in the direction his friends had gone.
"We've gotta stop meeting like this." The boy managed to laugh softly, as he gestured to the dead man on the floor. True, this was remarkably similar to our first meeting. But then, I suspected that the majority of our meetings would take place like this.
"Your trust is endearing." I told him. "Don't you realise how dangerous I really am?"
"I kind of got the feeling that you wouldn't hurt me." He shrugged. "But maybe that's way off site."
"Not entirely, no." I shook my head. "I could not hurt you, even if I felt the need to."
"How comes?" The boy asked. "Don't you go for blondes?"
"Oh, if I was to only kill on the basis of hair colour, you would be first against the wall." I told him, smiling. "But the truth is that, as much as I would like to feel your warm skin tear underneath my teeth, you have a deficiency that stops me doing so."
"And that would be...?"
"Your virginity." I smiled. The boy's lips parted in shock.
"Some people would call that an efficiency." He finally exclaimed. "So why didn't you let those men rape me?"
"You would not understand even if I were to tell you."
"I didn't think that vampires existed." He said after a long pause. "Although I did think that there was something going on."
"Suspend your disbelief. It's not an attractive quality for anyone." I advised him. "This world is full of possibilities."
"There's so much I want to find out about you. I've never been so..." He shook his head, "obsessed."
"You will learn it in time, child." I assured him.
"Please don't call me that." He urged me. "I'm not that young." I smiled at his naivety.
"To me, you haven't even been born yet."
"What's that meant to mean?" He asked. "I'm almost twenty."
"And I am older than this world." I told him. His eyes opened wide, crystal blue in the moonlight. I sighed.
"Yeah, that's old." He agreed. "But please, call me Nick."
"If that's what you wish."
"It is." He nodded. "But now you have to tell me your name. It's only fair."
"My name?" I sighed thoughtfully. "The vampires of my kind, the ones born before the birth of time were never given names. We were... we are the nameless ones."
"But you must have told some people your name?" He asked in disbelief.
"Never." I shook my head. "I have never had the need to."
"Well, can't I call you something? Just so I don't have to think of you as 'the man'?"
"What do you wish to call me?" I asked. His mouth opened, and I stopped him before he continued. "But please, not Angel. Contrary to popular belief, a vampire cannot acquire a soul, under any circumstance."
He laughed, and it was like sweet music ringing in my ears. "Well, can I call you Louis?" He asked. "You know, like in Interview with the Vampire? Did you ever hear of that?"
"The book was most insightful." I smiled. "Anne Rice is most certainly a vampire."
"I only watched the film." He admitted sheepishly. "But it was quite good."
"Well, if you wish to call me Louis, then I will not stop you." I told him.
"It makes no difference to me."
"Fine." He smiled, with a decisive nod of the head. "Louis it is." I felt him recount the situation suddenly. He was confused. Here he was, a boy who had been protected all his life from the evils of the world, now talking with the very incarnation of evil, more intimately than he would with a friend he had known all his life.
"You do not need to worry. I will appear to you only at night. I will be part of your dreams, disappearing with the sunrise." I assured him. "If you wish to remove yourself from all thoughts of me, leave now, sleep soundly and I will have passed from your thoughts like ghosts fading into the morning mist." He opened his mouth to say something, but I held up a hand to silence him. "Or stay with me tonight, and I will show you more wonder and brilliance than your human heart could ever contemplate." I waited for him to make his decision, reluctant to intruding in his thoughts.
Finally he spoke. "You're all I can think about. I know it's wrong to be obsessed with someone like you, but I can't help myself. I would love to walk away from you now, and never think of you again, but deep down I know I'm not strong enough to do that."
"Then your choice is made." I kissed him softly on the forehead. "You will accompany me now?"
"I..." He sighed. "I don't wanna go back and forget about you, but I really do need to go back."
"I will not push you, Nick." I told him, but my voice revealed my disappointment. "I will guide you back, nevertheless."
"Thank you." He whispered. I stared at him in amusement.
"Whatever for?"
"For letting me into your life."
"Letting you in was not a difficult task." I told him. "But I grieve the day that I have to let you back out."