CHAPTER 10 - HANGING ABOUT AND HE STRUCK AGAIN

COPPER CREEHAN, IRELAND - EARLY AFTERNOON, NEXT DAY

MASTER BEDROOM

BRIAN

I look up at a pair of blazing blue eyes and smile. “Are you calm now?”

“You can’t leave me hanging fucking here! This is inhuman!” Justin’s yells and tries to get out of the bonds that I have hung him from the beam with.

“You aren’t human, so that point is moot. Let’s call it an exercise in limits. As in, you tested mine and this is what you get.” I stroll to the door. “I will be back, just need to get a couple of things.” I hear him pulling at the bonds, but he won't be able to get loose unless he lets himself or I untie him. The latter is not going to happen for a while! I come back in with a bullwhip and book. He stops struggling and stares. Good, he’s afraid. “Now I am going to read or we could chat, but every time you do something you shouldn't, I will use this on you…” I crack the whip against my thigh. “...it might tickle a bit but it won't break the skin.” 

I settle back on the bed and watch him plot his next move. He gets on his tiptoes then pushes his feet against the bed, I just shake my head, so he stops. I open the book. ‘Now you know the basics right and honed your fighting skills, but, as you have demonstrated, you have no idea of what else you are capable of…”

“Yes, I am...hey, stop that!” He yells as I crack the whip against his bare stomach.

“You were so fixated on what was happening at the coven that you paced yourself off a cliff and I had to run to catch you.” I drawl, he glowers, I crack the whip again. “This is where you ask pertinent questions, like how did I do that? Fair enough you wouldn’t have been hurt much, but I would never have let you forget it. By the way, was the store cupboard comfortable?”

“Asshole!” He snarls.

“I know. So, back to you and your lack of acceptance. I take it because you weren’t told of your parents’ sacrifice, you weren’t told anything else either?” He stops trying to get free and shakes his head. “Thought not. Oh, I forgot something, be right back.”

As I leave, I feel it ratcheting up. He is really scared...come on, you can do this! Come on!

JUSTIN

I watch him stride out and pull again at the bonds. I am on the tip of my toes and I start to walk forward and back. I can hear him coming back whistling. The thought of that whip fills me with revulsion and fear, so I start to move quicker, and before I know it I am standing on top of a beam with my tied hands between my feet. “How the fuck did I do that?” His footsteps get nearer and nearer. 

“You are not touching me with that! You are not!” I hiss pulling at my bonds, before managing to yank them off the beam. I make my way quickly to just above the door and wait for him to come in. As the door closes I leap down, but when I land I hear snickering coming from above and look up.

“How the hell...ouch!” I yelp as the whip cracks around my waist and he whips me back up onto the beam!

“Run, Forrest, run!” He orders as he uncurls the whip and shoves me away from him. “I said run...harness that fear and run!”

“I am not fucking afraid!” I snarl at him, but do back up a bit.

“Then get back where you were...nice leap!” He laughs as he cracks the whip at my ankle and I leap to the next beam. “You are afraid, or you would not be running.” He cracks the whip again and again I leap. 

“Stop it! You’ve made your point, just stop it!” I yell as he follows me, cracking the whip at my body anytime I stop moving. 

“I haven’t made my point!” He snipes and cracks the whip in my face...my face!

“Oh hell the fucking fuck no! You are not…!” I yell, launching myself at him. Suddenly we are falling...but slowly. “What is…” I begin as we land gentle as a feather on the bed. “How did you do that?” All thoughts of beating him ugly forgotten.

BRIAN

“I’m a Vamp.” I shrug. “And so are you, and…” I untie his wrists, rubbing at the marks. “...you could do that too if you just relaxed a little!”

“What do you mean exactly?” Justin gripes, clearly fed up with being so in the dark about himself.

“I mean not react like a total human, too emotional. Take Drew for example. See? Calm down!” He takes a few steadying breaths. “Much better, now let me explain him. We have known each other for almost half a century, have always flirted with each other, and that...relax...that’s all. Nothing else has happened, and nothing else will.” I trace his fangs with a smile. “And this is why.”

JUSTIN

The small part of my human heart is hammering in my chest right now as his mouth comes closer. He must have just fed as his lips are warm and soft, but also hard and demanding. “A little reciprocation, please, think back to the gazebo, and…”

“You arrogant pig!” I say as my eyes start to close and my teeth retract. “So warm…”

“Mmmm, I know. Can you imagine how hot this will be during a blow job?” I snicker as I wind my tongue around his mouth, delighted to find a few droplets. 

“What is this called?” I groan as I shuffle further up.

“Kissing.”

“Seriously, what is it?” I pull my mouth from his and wait.

“As pureblood Vamps, we have the power of telekinesis and telepathy…”

“I’m telepathic?!” I exclaim, he jumps to the beam directly above me.

“We both are, we can read anybody, but it takes a special bond for the other side of telepathy...the ability to ‘talk’ to each other.”

“Oh.” I think for a few seconds, look at the beam and join him. For a few minutes there is silence. “So, the leaping thing?” I question.

“Basic. As is the hearing, the speed, sense of smell, the strength, the stamina...”

“Speed? So I could run away from here...” I jump down to the door. “...I could go back to...how the hell?!” I exclaim as he smirks in front of me. “How did you get here so quickly?!”

“You speed up as you get older and I am older.” He replies leaning against the door.

“I see that.” I snark. “So now what do I do?”

“For...with me!” He orders, and we fly back to the bed, he's frowning as he checks my neck and wrists.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re a virgin!” He declares, and returns to the beam as if I’m a garlic laced stake.

“Wow, that doesn’t feel like an insult!” I grumble.

“What? Oh. Oh...shit. No that’s not what I meant about the gay virgin thing. I mean you’ve not been bitten. You are totally pure.”

“Gay virgin thing?” I repeat.

“Yeah. Heightened sense of smell, you have never been touched sexually by anyone but yourself. When I smell you...I smell just you. I don’t think you’ve even kissed anyone. But as for the totally pure, some parents allow a ceremony whereby you are bitten and you get your first pure bliss orgasm. Generally, a birthday present when you are 210.”

“You’re right about the kissing thing. It’s the teeth. But pure...wait, I have had plenty of orgasms, thank you very much!”

“But a pure one after you’ve been bitten, or even better bitten during sex, is the most intense feeling in the world.”

“I feel all the time!” I huff as I stand on the beam opposite.

“Not like that.” He sits down and pats the spot next to him. “Now, can I ask why you hate Michael so much?”

“You know why!” I exclaim leaping to the floor. “It’s because of what he did to Ben.”

“Can we not lie to each other?”

“I am not lying!”

“Yes you are.” His voice is quiet but not angry. I sigh and am surprised to see his feet in my face. “I would rather you said than I read.”

“How are you doing that?!” I ask as he holds me floating in the air.

“Once again, not me.” I take a breath and start to float up, not leap, float. “You are starting to accept all of yourself, when you do that, your traits come through.”

I settle back opposite him and can’t help the small smile of pride, but then remember his question. “His name is Ethan Gold. He was a halfblood, made the mistake of crossing sexual paths with Michael…” I tamp down my annoyance at his raised eyebrow. “...he got sick with hematemesis…”

“Whoa!” He gasps. “The blood vomiting disease?!” 

“Yeah, and you know it kills Vamps, pure or half quicker than humans. So again, because of the sexual voracity of him, he was turned back human to save his life. At least as a human he had a chance…”

“You said ‘is’, so…”

“We promised to never see each other again once he was turned back. He would be at least 90 now.”

“Did you two ever hook up?” He asks.

“No, did nothing for me. Just friends.”

“Oh, so what are we going to do about Michael?”

“There is nothing we can do.” I look round the room. “This is nice, where exactly are we?”

“Ireland. This is my home.” He grins with pride. “Nobody but the Aldermen know about it. And you are right about Michael, there is nothing we can do about him for now, but he will be dealt with.”

“They.” I assert. “I can’t help but feel that his Mother knows, and...oh that crone!”

“What? Oh surely not, the absolution ceremony?! That’s why she wants him to accede?”

“So we have two questions: who or what is coming that is making her act this way; and, um, wanna fight?”

BRIAN

“I thought you would never ask, let’s go!”