***************************************************************************** Author's notes: You're lucky you're getting this. My internet server has decided to stop working, and as a result I have to pay the expensive rates of my other server, and my mum isn't happy at all. But I'm perservering, because I know how many people were sat at their computers, pressing the reload button on the Bloodlust menu, in the hope I've updated. I hope. Anyway, if you decide to e-mail me (and I think there's still some people out there enjoying this) don't feel hurt if I don't reply straight away. I'll probably be sending hatemail to BT internet, demanding my basic rights as a loyal customer. Grrrr.
PS. Please feel free to send me feedback still. It means a heck of a lot. Especially when I'm pissed off like today. And yesterday. And the day before.
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. *****************************************************************************
'With the birds I'll share this lonely view' - Scar Tissue, Red Hot Chili Peppers
********* Chapter 6 *********
Nick stared out of the hotel room window at the busy street below. Hard rain was starting to fall, the type that hurt your body like pins bearing into your skin. It splashed into puddles on the dark sidewalk, lighted up by the bright streetlights. Nick longed to be out there, with Louis, experiencing the kind of relationship he had always yearned for. The kind of relationship where you never fell into the dull trap of routine.
Where every meeting held new surprises, new discoveries, and a different kind of love.
Maybe I can go and find him, he pondered. Maybe he was just in a bad mood last night. Did vampires have bad moods? Maybe he was weak, hadn't fed in a while. That was more plausible. He would have by tonight, wouldn't he? He'd be willing to talk if he had. That was all Nick was asking for, a conversation. Or at the very least, an explanation. Surely Louis couldn't deny him that? It was dark enough outside now, Louis was sure to be out. That decided it.
Nick rummaged in his untidy wardrobe until he found a coat. He had to do this. If Louis rejected him again, he'd walk away, and that would be the end of it. He'd forget about him, carry on his relationship with Kevin, and never mention Louis again. He dropped the coat from his hands suddenly, as he remembered Kevin. Kevin, who had been missing all day. Kevin, who Nick loved indefinitely. Maybe Louis' previous rejection held a hidden meaning. How could Nick be so selfish as to try to form a relationship with someone, not even a man, when he had a partner as devoted as Kevin? He shook his head, debating. He was being torn apart by love, and there was no easy solution this time, nobody to tell him what to do. He wasn't a child anymore, no matter what Louis said. He had to take responsibility for his actions.
"Nicky?" Brian ventured nervously into the room. "You going out?" He asked as he saw the coat laying on the floor. Nick looked blankly at it.
"I don't think so." He finally answered. Brian sighed.
"Come on, Nick. Don't let this thing beat you. If you try and find Louis now, don't you think he'd try to hurt you?"
"He can't, remember?" Nick told him. He picked up his coat, and quickly shoved it back in the wardrobe. "Besides, I'm not going out, I'm tired. I'm gonna get some sleep."
"I think you should sleep in my room tonight." Brian told him softly. "You'll feel safer in there."
"I feel safe already." Nick objected. "Don't treat me like a kid, Bri. This has got nothing to do with you, okay?"
"No, it's not okay, Nick. This has got everything to do with me. I care about you, and I don't want to see you hurt. Excuse me if I'm coming across parental, but sometimes you can act like a kid, okay?"
"Just go away." Nick shook his head. "You can't help me anymore than I can help myself. The only person who can help me isn't here."
"We'll find Kevin." Brian assured him.
"I don't mean Kevin." Nick snapped, regretting the words as soon as he said them. Brian shook his head sadly before walking out of the room. Nick mentally kicked himself before flinging himself onto the bed and closing his eyes. Troubled sleep came soon after.
"You hear something?" AJ asked nervously. Brian rolled his eyes.
"For the sixth time, no." He answered.
"No need for the sarcasm." AJ pouted. "You can hardly blame me for being nervous."
"Louis probably won't even come. I mean, I doubt he knows where we are, and even if he did, he can't actually bite Nick."
"How come?"
"Nick's a virgin. Vampires can't bite virgins."
"Nick's a virgin?" AJ asked, disbelieving. "But I thought you and him, you know..."
"No." Brian shook his head. "I lied."
"Nice way to end a relationship." AJ exclaimed disapprovingly. Brian sighed.
"I could do without the lecture. Nick's already made me feel like crap about it. Let's just leave it, okay?"
AJ nodded, before realising something, causing him to look at Brian distractedly. "Hey Bri?"
"Yeah?"
"You think then, considering that vampires can't bite virgins, they're more likely to go for people with a long, um, sexual conquest list? Cos I'd be the first to go then." He fretted. Brian was about to sigh when the door to their room swung open, and Howie sauntered in.
"Hey guys!" He greeted them cheerfully. AJ and Brian looked at each other in alarm. "What?" Howie looked confused. "Is something wrong?"
"Um, where have you been all day?" Brian asked. Howie rolled his eyes.
"We decided to do some sight-seeing in the morning, before the interview. You know, see what the city had to offer? Anyway, there was a bomb scare at one of the malls that we happened to be in at the time. Did you see it on the news?" AJ and Brian shook their heads, but Howie ignored them. "Well, it turned out to be a false alarm, but there were a load of hysterical people, and me and Kevin stuck around for a while to help calm them down. Then we were recognised, can you believe it, by a group of schoolgirls out on a field trip, so we had to sign autographs. And then they stopped all the transport because of the whole bomb thing." He sighed, exasperated. "We've only just managed to get back. Did you go to the interview?"
"No." Brian shook his head, unsure of what to make of the story. "Mike cancelled it, seeing as there was only three of us. We've just been lazing around the hotel all afternoon."
"Lucky you." Howie smiled with envy. "That sure beats trying to get a cab all afternoon."
"So where's Kevin?" Brian asked suddenly.
"Where do you think?" Howie grinned. "Went straight to Nick to kiss and make up. I think they had an argument last night or something. We better leave them to it."
"Nick's asleep." Brian stood up worriedly. "I don't want Kevin to wake him. Maybe I should just go in there and tell him."
"Relax." Howie told him. "Nick won't mind. Besides, it's not that late." He smiled at Brian in what was meant to be a reassuring way, but in actual fact was much too charismatic for Howie. Neither Brian nor AJ had ever seen Howie so confident, so outgoing. Howie was the quiet one, by nature. This new personality bypass was defiantly not his nature. It wasn't just his words, the way he spoke; it was everything about him. The way he carried himself, his confident smile; his whole demeanour was different.
"I have to get something from their room, anyway." Brian put his hand behind his back and slipped his watch off. "I left my watch in there this morning."
"Then what's that you're holding behind your back?" Howie asked, amused. Brian and AJ looked at each other in exasperation, wondering what to do next. It wasn't until Howie opened his mouth to reveal two sharpened, deadly fangs did they know.
"Nicky?" Kevin stroked his partner's silken hair softly, tracing his fingers down his face. Nick stirred, moaning slightly in his sleep. "Time to wake up now, gorgeous." Kevin whispered in his ear. He kissed him softly on his lips, feeling Nick stir, and open his eyes. Kevin began to kiss him hungrily. After a while he pulled away.
"Hey." Nick smiled. "When'd you get back?"
"Just now." Kevin smiled back. "You would not believe the day I've had."
"What happened?"
"I'll tell you another time." Kevin whispered, before kicking off his shoes and crawling into the bed with Nick. He took the younger man in his arms, and pressed his body tightly against Nick's.
"I've missed you." He whispered. Nick giggled sweetly.
"You've only been gone a day."
"It feels like a lifetime." He smiled. He stared down at the necklace round Nick's neck. "Are you still wearing that?" He asked.
"You wanted me to." Nick looked at it, confused.
"Do me a favour, will ya? Take it off. It reminds me of that guy." He pulled away. Nick sat up and took it off, hurt by Kevin's abrupt words. After he had placed it on the bedside cabinet, Kevin embraced him again. "That's better. I'm sorry I was so off with you. But you know how jealous I get."
"Let's just forget about him now." Nick told him. "He's out of my life forever. I just want to be with you."
"You mean that?" Kevin asked happily. Nick smiled, and kissed him.
"You bet I do." He answered as he pulled away. Kevin's hands slipped under Nick's thin t-shirt, and he pulled it over his head. His hands quickly discarded it as he undid his partner's trousers, pulling them down slowly. Nick made no move to stop him.
"I love you so much." Kevin whispered happily. "You have no idea how much this means to me. I want to spend eternity with you, Nick."
Nick thought of Louis' words that he had told him the previous night; 'Go to your human man. Love him in the way you love me'. It was time to do that. Nick knew he had to put this vampire behind him, because nothing good would ever come out of his yearning. He had to yearn for Kevin now; in a way he had never done before. If that meant losing his virginity to him, then so be it. It seemed to Nick that that was all he had left to offer.
"Eternity's already gone." Nick whispered. "It's time to live our lives properly."
Kevin kissed him on his forehead. "As long as we're together, I don't care." He told him. He lowered Nick down and pushed up close to him. "Nobody's going to come between us anymore. I swear on my life."