Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction which will include t/t and m/m relationships, and probably some sex too. If it is illegal in your area to read this, or if you are not old enough to read this (you know who you are), stop here. Otherwise, please enjoy.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a companion story to "A Light in the Darkness." The story lines are related and the characters occasionally interact, and the frequency of this will be increasing. The stories begin at roughly the same time, and this chapter pairs with Chapter 4 of A Light in the Darkness. My sincerest thanks go out to Darryl AKA the Radio Rancher (darryltheradiorancher@gmail.com) who kindly edited this chapter. And thanks to everyone for writing such encouraging emails.
Things That Go Bump, Chapter 15
"Friends and Enemies"
A little over an hour later, a young female wizard stood by the bed, unsure what to do. "High Consul.... Sir!" Sebastian's eyes snapped open and he looked at the woman, who seemed very nervous. "Sir, the humans you asked for are here, and your prisoners are awake...."
"Thank you," he said, staring at her insignia for a moment, "Major?"
"Yes sir," she said with a weak smile and a salute. "Major Sarah Light, sir...."
"Sarah, please, call me Sebastian," he said, as he stood up, careful not to disturb James.
"I couldn't, sir...."
"Consider it an order.... Please, come with me, Sarah...."
"Yes sir...."
Sebastian descended the steps quickly to find Steve and Chris standing in the living room, flanked by strangely dressed wizard commandos. "Sebastian," Steve demanded, "what the hell is going on here?"
"I'm very sorry, and there's precious little time to explain.... My home was attacked overnight, Avery and James are wounded, Steve ... well Richard is seeing to him and that'll be explained later...." Looking around at the guards, he said with a sigh, "Leave us.... Sarah, stay, please...."
"Who are these ... soldiers? What is this?"
"These," Sebastian smiled weakly and shook his head, "are battle wizards, who serve the Queen of the Witches.... Currently, they are under the command of the High Consul of the Shadow Council...."
"Who?"
"Me.... Steve, Chris, you've been brought here because of your relationship to James, to me.... Last night, Steve was abducted because he was observed coming and going from this place, and I was worried the same would happen to you...."
Steve looked frustrated, but Chris's inquisitive eyes bore down on Sebastian. "What are you?"
"Very good.... I ... am a vampire...."
"Vampire," Steve demanded, incredulous.
But Chris stepped forward and asked, "James didn't survive the gunshot, did he?"
"How did you know," Sebastian asked with a gentle smile.
"He's lighter skinned, and when I touched him, he was almost cool...."
"Very good...."
"This isn't real, this isn't happening.... Wizards, vampires.... This shit isn't real...."
"Steve, I'm sorry.... You were never meant to know this.... We exist, and we have tried our best to make sure that humans live their lives never knowing what lurks in the shadows.... Vampires, wizards, strega, zombies, werewolves, dragons, demons, angels.... And that's just what we've been dealing with for the past few days.... But the old rules are breaking down.... Someone is trying to reveal to the world what the darkness holds.... The darkness is rising, and we're trying to hold back the tide.... At the end of the day, we may have to ally with your kind to fight back...." Sebastian looked lost in thought. He had one major point of contact in the human world, a powerful leader with many subjects. But the thought of reaching out to the man left a bad taste in his mouth....
Steve stood looking blank as Sebastian finished, but Chris again surprised. "What can we do?"
Sebastian smiled and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Thank you, my friend.... Could you gents run upstairs and wait for James or Avery to wake up.... They can fill you in on the long story.... I have some prisoners to attend to.... Sarah, remain with them and be sure that they have what they need. If they need me, you come get me...."
"Yes, sir!" She said, saluting, before remembering with a smile, "Sebastian...."
Steve looked surprised at her response to his command, while Chris remained quite curiously calm.
'Later,' Sebastian thought to himself, as he descended the stairs to find Jean sitting and watching Chang's mercenaries. "Jean, how long have our guests been up?"
"A half-hour, sir," the man replied solemnly.
"So, Martin, Vanessa, is it? Would either of you like to chat for a while, or shall we begin? Perhaps you could tell me what happened in the hangar before my men arrived? Tell me about Sammael, perhaps?"
Martin glared over at Vanessa, then spoke. "We were alone with Chang.... He blamed us and was gonna let us dangle in the wind.... A man who wasn't there before ... spoke from the shadows.... Said he held Chang responsible, stepped up behind him, and before Chang could even react, this fellow just twisted his head off.... Waved his hand over the body and it burst into flames...."
"What did this fellow look like?"
Vanessa jumped in. "He was all in shadows, then the flames blocked his face, but...."
"But?"
"His eyes," she said. "His eyes were red like blood...."
Sebastian nodded. "Can either of you tell me about Chang's plan?"
"We don't know anything.... Take the boy, he said," Martin said.
"Tell me," Sebastian said, lifting himself up onto Martin's table like a kid sitting on the kitchen cabinet to talk to his mom. "Did Consul Chang say anything about turning the boy?"
"No," Martin said, "he said we should kill him.... But knowing how much Chang hated you ... we thought he'd like our little gesture.... It was Vanessa's idea...."
"You bastard," she barked at him.
"Oh, now? I believe him.... But tell me, Martin, did she rape my friend?"
The man glowered at him, and spat, "I may have fucked the boy, but the whore sucked him dry by the nozzle.... Now just get it over with...."
Sebastian smiled and hopped off the table. "If only it were so simple...." Grabbing a pair of scissors, he cut off their clothes, so they were both naked. "I thought I'd let Pete decide what I should do to you...." Both of them looked concerned at that thought, but positively blanched when he added, "But not before I let Richard have a go...." Then he laughed a little, "But until he feels up to it, I'll be making an example out of you...." He ran a hand up Martin's muscular thigh and squeezed a little, playfully. But again, his smile was perhaps more chilling than anything he could have said.
"Jean, give me a hand?" With Jean's help, he pinned the man's leg to the table and took a large spike, driving it through the vampire's knee, before repeating the procedure on his other leg. Again, the man passed out, and Sebastian ran a hand across his tight abs, through the light soft hair dusting his chest. "It's a shame, Jean," Sebastian smiled sadly, "he is a beautiful creature, but ... inside...." He shook his head, before moving on to Vanessa. "They aren't going anywhere, Jean.... Please, come with me...."
Sebastian stepped into his office and sent a few alerts, notifying the council of Chang's death and the capture of the kidnappers. He also ordered that the Hong Kong consul's office be occupied by a task force of trusted council operatives and battle wizards. It would take a while to sort through everything, but perhaps they could uncover the moles, or even discern what plans were underway.
He had a brief break before Colonel Fisher hurried in to announce that he had a call from a former colleague and old friend in Richmond, Virginia, Rabbi Sam Roth, who reported that a young couple and their family had been targeted in a coordinated bombing campaign. In fact, Sebastian had months earlier tried to recruit the father of one of the boys back to the Council, but before a deal could be worked out the man's home had been bombed. He was left to wonder how that attack, and now this one, were related to the present crisis.
However, Pedro appeared on the terminal. "High Consul!"
"Pedro, don't try me!"
The man laughed heartily. "Is my brother ... alright?"
"He's fine, Pedro.... The healers are taking good care of him.... As soon as he's up...."
"Thank you, Sebastian.... I'm sorry about your friend...." Sebastian nodded.
"I'll have Avery call you, Pedro.... I must go...."
Sebastian stood and walked to the far corner of the room and picked up an illuminated manuscript from the 12th century. It was written by one of the greatest church theologians of the day, a man who had delved deep into the darkest arts. He opened the book, a who's who of the darkness, found the section he was looking for, and shuddered.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Jean?"
"What is it?"
"I know who Chang was working with...."
"And?"
Sebastian slammed the book shut and shook his head in silence. "I need to talk to Avery...." He handed the book to Jean and swept out of the room with Jean hot on his tail. The wizards watched him with interest as he burst through the door and ran up the stairs. Taking a quick peak and finding James still asleep, he opened the door to Avery's room and found two healers still working on him.
"How is he?"
"He's doing well, sir.... He'll be fine.... We've made a lot of progress...."
"Can you wake him?"
"Sir, we're keeping him under.... Healing this way is ... extremely painful...."
"When can he safely be awakened?"
"We could wake him but only for a short period of intense pain.... Perhaps twelve hours and he would find it bearable...." Sebastian clenched his fist and closed his eyes. He loved Avery like a brother. "Wake him...."
"Yes sir.... You'll have about five minutes then we'll have to put him back under...." Sebastian nodded and both the healers closed their eyes and their hands glowed blue, as Avery burst into agonized screams, bringing Chris to the door.
Sebastian knelt by the bed and took the man's hand. "Avery! Listen to me, we only have a few minutes and they'll take the pain away, again, I promise...."
Avery, a man of complexity but stoic resolve, looked at him with a face distorted by unimaginable suffering, and for the first time since he was fourteen, Sebastian saw him cry. "Please, make it stop," he whimpered into Sebastian's hand. A sob caught in Chris's throat as he watched the exchange.
Sebastian squeezed. "Avery, focus! I'll make it go away, but tell me.... What does it mean that Chang was working with, or rather for, Sammael?"
Avery clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth and struggled to laugh a bitter laugh. He reached out and put his hand to the back of Sebastian's head, drawing him in close, whispering in his ear. Sebastian kissed him on the head gently with a nod and indicated to the healers that it was time.
Sebastian knelt by the bed for a long time, and only Chris heard his whisper, "O God, O God...."
Chris knelt down at his side and put an arm over his shoulder. "Come on, Sebastian.... Come with me...." Sebastian stood almost numbly and walked with the soft-spoken boy, who led him down the hall to his own room. The healers were gone and James was resting. Chris sat down with him on the edge of the bed and squeezed his hand, whispering, "Rest with him for a little while...." Sebastian squeezed back and laid down, rolling over and cuddling into James, laying his head on his muscled chest.
James wrapped an arm tightly around him and moaned through his artificial sleep, mumbling, "Sebastian?"
"I'm here, baby.... Just rest...." Sebastian shut his eyes as he felt Chris leave, closing the door behind himself. 'What are we going to do,' he wondered. He had lived and been active for too long as it was, except, when he thought what he had already done to keep James with him, he knew he would do anything not to lose him now. But as his hand caressed the soft skin of the boy vampire's tight belly, his mind drifted to pleasanter things, and he did nod off for a bit.
Wind caused snow to swirl in the air outside the arctic outpost. Once it had been a scientific outpost, but it had been purchased by a private corporation years earlier. The Thorpe Corporation, was a subsidiary of Taft Pharmaceuticals, the majority shareholder of which company was Shujang International Holdings. Shujang was the major financial vehicle of the deceased Consul Chang. Sammael stood in the arctic winds contemplating the fate of this world, dressed in a fashionable modern suit, looking every bit the dashing young executive. But a normal man wouldn't have survived minutes in those temperatures in those clothes.
Inside, the outpost had been expanded, spreading many stories down into the ice. The complex housed scores of dark wizards, guards, and prisoners. By and large, the prisoners were traditional witches -- the missing strega, medicine men and women, seers. The Oracle was meant to be among them, but the old woman put up too much of a fight. Many men had been killed before Sammael had done her in himself. He had left a few feral dragons behind to greet Avery.
"Silly mortals," he muttered to himself, holding in equal contempt those creatures who served him an those who opposed him. If anything, he respected those who opposed him more, for they were fighting a hopeless battle. Those inside, those around the world, who had any inkling of his designs, who served him nonetheless, were to the last creature, dupes. They did not yet understand that they sealed their own fates by their actions.
His mind drifted to his major foe, the creature they called Sebastian. He had a pleasing form, to be sure, and among the ants who populated this earth, he was perhaps the single most powerful, if only he harnessed the will to power. But he was weak -- his worldly attachments, his love for the boy, his friendships -- sentimental as any human. Sammael hadn't intended to reveal himself so early, but the incompetent Chang and his incompetent servants had felt the need to prod the tiger. "So be it," he muttered to himself as he walked toward the door and stepped inside.
Seeing the project manager, he demanded, "Progress!"
The man could not, or would not, look at him. "Wwwe have all the pieces, sir, except the head.... We have all the necessary knowledge and magical objects assembled.... But we need...."
"The head," Sammael shook his head. "Where the fuck is his head!?!" The lights throughout the complex flickered, and the manager flinched. But when he opened his eyes, the man was gone.
Sebastian was awakened by a soft hand on his cheek. "Are you okay," James asked, looking concerned.
Sebastian laughed. "I'm not the one who passed out and hit his head...."
"That's not what I mean...."
Sebastian sighed. "I know.... No, I'm not...." As he curled up in the boy's strong arms, he told him all he'd missed, excluding nothing, including how he banished a vampire to Ashaer and how he was torturing the two in the basement. He did not, as yet, mention Sammael.
"I'm so sorry," James said, stroking his cheek and leaning in to kiss him softly. His kiss grew more passionate as his hands embraced the smaller body of the ancient vampire. "I hate to mention it, Sebastian, but I'm ... hungry...."
"I've got to keep my strength up as well," Sebastian said. Then he smiled. "Come with me...."
James and Sebastian went downstairs all the way to the basement, where they found their two captive vampires. "He is hot," James said, immediately zeroing in on Martin.
Sebastian stood at his side and advised, "Drink your fill, James.... You won't kill him, but he'll be tremendously weakened...." For his part, Sebastian roughly pushed Vanessa's head to the side and ripped into her throat. James teased Martin before lowering his mouth to the man's muscular thigh and sank his fangs into the femoral artery. Despite his pain, Martin groaned in pleasure and would have run his fingers through the boy's hair if he could. But as James kept drinking, the pleasure passed and he began to feel weaker. Indeed, as he weakened every pain in his body was heightened. James could feel this, as well as the man's power, course through him, and he was deeply satisfied when he pulled away.
He leaned in so that his lips grazed the man's ear as he whispered. "I hate to cause pain to others.... I get sick when I see a dead animal in the road.... But if I get my way, you'll suffer endlessly for what you've done...."
He stood up and walked up the stairs to find Steve and Chris, while Sebastian went to consult the wizards, who transported him to Richmond for a brief trip to visit Sam Roth and the young wizard.
Chris, Steve, and James would talk for hours while Sebastian attended to his business, James bringing them up to speed on all that had been happening in the world of the dark. When they had heard about as much as they could handle, James made dinner for the expanding household, the wizards providing their own sustenance and eating in their little military encampment in the yard, hidden from passers-by with an advanced cloaking spell.
After dinner, Steve and Chris went to their guest room and cuddled up to talk. For them, one benefit of the arrangement would be that they could spend the night together, do what they wanted, and no one would notice or care. Sebastian returned to his office to handle report and send out orders and plot with his allies, so James sort of wandered around, watching all the new people -- the wizards, Jean, Sarah -- but at last he went to the place he had been drawn to but avoided.
He knocked softly as he pushed the door open. The man scarcely looked up at him before his eyes returned to the face of the dead boy in his bed. He looked so peaceful, washed and nude beneath white silk sheets, his lover by his side, sitting attentive. Richard hadn't moved in hours and his mind was still mostly blank. James sat down next to Richard on the edge of the bed and put a hand on his shoulder.
Richard shuddered for a moment, before collapsing back into his arms, his tears renewing. James wrapped his arms around the man and held him quietly for perhaps half an hour, before whispering, "Go, take a shower.... Feed.... You'll need your strength for him when he returns to us...."
Richard wiped his eyes and nodded. "You ... won't leave him?"
"I won't leave his side.... I promise...." The man nodded and smiled weakly as James stretched out on the bed next to his friend, taking Pete's cold hand in his own. Richard left the room and presumably went looking for his next meal.
James felt Sebastian calling to him and tried to project the thought, "I'm with Pete.... I convinced Richard to get out and feed...."
He heard in the back of his mind, "Good," and felt warm feelings of love washing over him. "I'm back from Richmond.... Join me in our bed when he returns?"
Rather than answer, James concentrated on the feelings he felt, and felt ever stronger waves wash back over him. He stared over again amazed at the peaceful look on his friend's face. Pete had always been one of the most handsome of the rugged boys he had known, and he looked almost angelic now. It pained him deeply to imagine that his friend would return not to the sweet memory of his lover's embrace, but to memories of a painful violation.
He put his head on the boy's chest and his tears fell on the cool skin, rolling along the ridges of muscle, as he wrapped his arm around him. Suddenly, he felt another warming wave of pure affection, and the thought, "We'll be with him...."
When Richard returned, he smiled at James and stripped naked, stepping into his small bathroom and turning on the shower. Shortly, he emerged toweling himself off, and James had to admire his physique. He was surrounded by beautiful men, he thought with an inward chuckle. When Richard sat down next to him, he was still naked.
"Thank you, James," he said. "I'm feeling ... better...."
"Good.... We all have to be strong...." James leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips, intimate but in a brotherly way. As he stood, Richard slipped beneath the sheets and cuddled into the young man he so tenderly attended.
James hurried upstairs to find Sebastian naked in bed, and began ripping his clothes off immediately. When he climbed into bed, Sebastian was on him instantly. They made sweet, leisurely love for hours, enjoying their supernatural stamina, nipping and nibbling at each other, passing blood back and forth through passionate bites. When they at last collapsed under the weight of their pleasure, James wrapped his arms around Sebastian and they relaxed, enjoying an increasingly rare moment of peace.
"How were things in Richmond?" Sebastian filled him in on his encounter with old and new friends in Richmond, William's recent tragedies, and his suspicions about the relative importance of the two boys in the grand scheme of things. "William could rival Avery one day, but Chase.... He's just a boy, best I can tell.... But there is something about him, something familiar but something I can't place.... He's the one to watch out for...." Sebastian explained what happened to him when the boy touched him, and thought he caught a hint of jealousy at first, but it passed quickly. "In any case, you'll meet them.... We're going to Richmond on Sunday...." James raised his eye, questioningly. "He invited us to his birthday party...."
James didn't know what made it funnier, the innocence of inviting someone like Sebastian, knowing who and what he was, to a birthday party, or that the ancient vampire had been entirely powerless to refuse the invitation. In any case, they laughed in each others' arms for a long time.