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My Immortal Chapter 11: A Taste of Things to Come
I stepped back from Josh with a shocked look. He just looked confused. "What's the matter?"
How do you explain to the man you love that you want to drink them? "It's... complicated."
"How so?"
"When you cut your tongue... it... excited me." I looked at him scared. "Made me hungry." I expected one of many reactions. Revulsion, fear, anger... not laughter. "Why are you laughing at me?"
"Because... it's ok that you're hungry. It's part of who you are now. You're still Blake. Anyways..." he pulled down his shirt and showed me two points, covered by makeup. "A lot can happen in a few years."
I was astonished. "You've been bitten?"
"A few times. We've had visitors from Europe. I let them feed off me once in a while so that they don't go out hunting and risk themselves." He walked over to me. "There is a group of us that do it."
"Wow."
"It's not a safe time to be of the undead persuasion." He started pulling me towards the door. "Come on! Everyone is here! Ma, Pa. My family couldn't make it, but we'll just have to call them."
I laughed as we headed down the stairs.
When we exited the store room I gasped. They hadn't just rebuilt, they renewed Serenity. It was amazing.
We moved to the roped off section and I saw three vampires. I knew David, but not the others. I did know, though, that they were old and powerful. They turned to me and looked surprised. I smiled. The age that they were, surprising them must take a lot. I also saw Jean, Bobby, Ororo, Mom and Dad. But they were all turned towards the dance floor. Devin and the Girls, though, were looking at me smiling.
Josh and I got to the group, and he yelled to be heard over the music. "He's back!" Everyone turned and opened their mouths in shock.
Mom jumped up with tears in her eyes and clutched me close. Followed by everyone else.
I was home.
We all sat together in a field of quiet I created. We talked, and laughed. I heard what everyone had done with their lives over the years, and told them a little bit about my life. We laughed, we cried. It was a great night.
Josh and I danced some. He told me we were talking more tonight. I smiled and told him ok.
I went back to the table, leaving him to speak with a couple people. It was strange. I felt that things were off with my being gone so long, and I could sense that Josh felt the same way, but we both knew that nothing would keep us apart again, and just slipped back into a feeling of completeness. I expected when I got back that I wouldn't be able to leave his side without hyperventilating. It just wasn't that way.
I sat at a table with Jean and Ororo and chatted with them for a while. Ororo said that she had brought her son with her. I smiled and said that I'd love to meet him since I had never gotten a chance to while at the Mansion.
"I'll call him over." Jean said with a smile. She closed her eyes, and I could pick up her contacting him telepathically. Moments later I saw him parting the crowd and I froze.
He was a phoenix.
Professor Xavier had never mentioned the fact to me, nor had any of the others. At first I was angry, thinking that for some reason the fact had been hidden from me. I did a quick sweep of Ororo, then Jean, careful not to set off any alarms in either of them, and found that it had just never come up.
Once again I thanked the universe for deciding to poke fun at my existence.
`You're welcome.' Floated through me head. At first I thought that it was simply my imagination, but then I felt the power behind the message. I made a mental note of it, deciding to simply enjoy the evening.
"Blake, this is my son Josh. Josh, this is Blake. You both have something in common." She said smiling.
"We're both Phoenix." He said.
"But still different." I said with a smile. His aura was pure phoenix flames, fanning out with blazing wings and a face with unblinking suns fixed on me. I wondered what I looked like to him.
"Ororo, Jean, if you could excuse us I would love to talk to Josh alone for a minute." They nodded and I led Josh to the stairs up to the roof. We got there and headed to the edge, both immediately looking to the sky.
"I always felt more at peace up there." I started. "I'm sure you get a certain sense of peace from it too." I turned to him. "So, how long have you been a Phoenix?" I asked him.
"All my life, but my powers have only really come to me in the last couple years. I was implanted with the egg of a phoenix when I was a baby." I nodded as he told me.
"I had thought that the Phoenix species only procreated as they did with me. My mother Phoenix picked me to be merged with her child." I shrugged. "I guess they are more complex then I thought."
I wasn't really at ease near him. I felt my aura rubbing against his Phoenix, and felt it pushing back.
"This is weird." I finally said with a laugh.
"I know." He said smiling, and rubbing the arm nearest me.
"So, tell me about yourself. I mean, we are sorta brothers. I'm your older... and younger brother kinda... sorta... oh goddess, this is weird." I said turning and sitting on the raised edge of the building.
He laughed, then told me about himself. About his ex-boyfriend Logan, about his team, his experiences since discovering he was a Phoenix. I learned the extent of his powers, and the outcome of his use.
He finally finished, and was a little frayed. I stood, walked to him, and pulled him into a hug. The energy fields pushed against each other for a moment, then sorta melded and almost hugged each other.
"Josh, look, I know things are freaked right now..." I started, but he stopped me.
"No, you don't. No one could know. No one knows but me." He said pulling away.
"Hey now. I'm older, and can claim a bit more life experience. I mean, I was hurtled into another universe after battling a crazed vampire bent on total world domination. While there I had to hide away completely while delving into the underworld in search of anyway to get home. I'm not even touching on what I experienced while doing that. I then had my Phoenix ripped out of me, then was turned into a cross between a Necromancer, a Mutant, a Vampire, and a Phoenix. I can raise zombies, drink blood, and have the powers of a demigod.
"I just found out that I'm destined to find the lost mythical blades of power, and that I'm caught up in things that are better left to Gods. Not to mention I've upset the balance in an ancient battle between the Phoenix species and their cousins, and that one of them is going to be coming after me."
He just looked at me. "The point is, you're not the only one that's a super powered freak. I know what it's like. I know how it feels to see everything around you fall apart. You just need to keep going. Anything is better than dying."
"Been there, done that. Not much fun." He said. I just stared at him. "Life sucks. Destinies suck. Or at least mine does."
"Tell me about it brother." I said, looking at him from the corner of my eye. He tried to keep a straight, solemn face, but we both ended up laughing. After a little more chatting, we headed back down stairs.
Josh and I went home to the loft, but without Justin and Jessica. They went to a hotel, insisting that we needed time alone. The moment we entered to house, he was on me. I think he may have said the word "Now," but he was pressing his lips against me, and his mind wasn't exactly focused on any sort of language. The problem was, I wasn't only focused on making love... I hadn't fed in a couple days.
"Josh... I need to feed." I said, breaking away from him.
"Here," he said bearing his neck.
"I... can't." I said. I turned my head and took in the wall.
"Listen, Blake, I already told you, I'm ok with it. I know you won't hurt me, and I know you love me. It's simply another way to experience ourselves." I turned towards him.
"I don't want you to be my food." I said bluntly.
"Are you kidding me? It's an honor to be a willing partner in this way. Most vampires will simply take. When a vampire asks, and you say yes, and it's consensual... it's me that's sustaining you."
"My Pomme De Sange." I said smiling.
"Excuse me?" he said with a confused look.
"It's French, as you well know Mr. Chasez, for Apple of Blood. The world I was in had vampires all over the place, running business' and even marrying mortals. Pomme De Sange's are mortals that Master Vampires feed from on a regular basis." I held out my arms to him. "Would you like to be my Pomme De Sange?"
"Yes Blake. I would love to know that it was my blood that helped keep you with me, and not just my love." He said with a huge grin.
I walked forward, my hunger in my eyes. The walls I had built up, my desperate attempt to protect myself from the possibility that the world would shatter in on itself to reveal that this is all an elaborate, dream fell. I pulled him to me and dissipated his clothing. I started kissing him and we dissolved into a heap of tangled arms and comfort.
When I drank from him I laid the first mark. We made love for hours, and hours. We were together again.