was as hot as Sarah Michel e Gel ar. For a girl, she is kinda
sexy.”
“For a girl, huh?”
Rol ing his eyes, Christian shrugged and went back to
watching the TV.
They watched in silence for a few minutes. “Do you think
there is a slayer out there?” Michael asked.
He thought Christian looked at him strangely. Maybe it
was just booze, maybe it was the blood, maybe it was the
mixture of them both making him think such crazy shit, but
what if there was someone out there? Someone trained to
hunt them down and kil them. Maybe there should be
someone. Maybe what they were was against God’s nature
and they should be eradicated.
“God, I hope not!” Christian seemed to sober up at the
thought. “Now that is something to worry about. Don’t tel
Kerr. It wil give him something else to be paranoid over.”
Once again Michael got the impression Christian’s
thoughts were becoming erratic and again he wondered
what made him tick.
“Hey! There you are.” Michael grabbed his arm and
grinned as Spike appeared on the screen.
“What the hel are you talking about?”
Pointing to the screen, laughter twinkled in his eyes as
he asked. “Isn’t he the one you’ve model ed yourself after?”
“No,” Christian laughed. “What gives you that idea?”
Christian asked, as Michael dragged him off the couch and
stood him in front of a mirror which took up most of one
wal .
He grinned. One hand lightly grabbed Christian’s jaw as
the other pointed at their reflections. “This is the reason
why. See anyone familiar?”
Christian stared at his reflection. “What are you—? Oh?
Oh, oh!” Christian stopped and stared as he seemed to
realise what Michael was talking about. He shoved Michael
playful y in the shoulder. “Do you real y think I resemble
him?” When Michael nodded he added, “Wel if I’m Spike,
are you Angel?” They began laughing again.
Michael held onto Christian’s wrists as he sprang toward
him. Michael grinned as Christian pretended to bite him on
the neck. A thril of excitement ran though him at so simple
a touch and he laughed, dismissing it. He didn’t want to
think about what it might mean.
“Though, if my memory serves me correctly, you’re more
like Pike, from the original movie. You know, a bit of a
loser.” Michael chuckled as Christian pouted.
Christian made fake fangs out of his fingers, hissing
dramatical y as al those actors did in every bad vampire
flick Michael had ever seen. “The original movie has one of
the best dying scenes ever,” Christian said as he pul ed
away.
He dramatical y dropped to the floor and began rol ing
around, playing out the dying scene at the end of the movie.
“Oh-Eee-Ahh-Ooo…” his leg began shaking and banging
against the floor just the same as the guy in the movie, and
Michael started laughing as he stalked him, pretending to
be the slayer.
Christian waited for Michael to get close enough. Loving
the fact that Michael cracked up laughing, he grabbed him
around the legs and pul ed Michael to the floor on top of
him. Christian rol ed so he was on top, and before Michael
could respond he kissed his lips, fol owed closely by putting
him into a headlock. It ended up as a big wrestling match
on the floor. Their mock fight ended abruptly as they
realised they were no longer alone.
“Having fun?” Kerr asked drol y from where he stood in
the doorway with Charm watching them rol ing around the
floor like a pair of idiots.
“A blast,” Michael replied as he got to his feet. He wasn’t
going to let Kerr get to him. They wanted him in this family,
so now they were just going to have to take him as he was.
Kerr might be their leader, but he wasn’t his and never
would be unless and until Kerr proved his worth to him.
Extending his hand, Michael pul ed Christian to his feet.
When they were both upright Christian stood leaning close
to Michael as they both faced Kerr. The touch of Christian’s
hand lightly grazed his back before he moved away.
Stunned, Michael couldn’t believe the dramatic change
in Christian’s demeanour with the arrival of the Kerr and
Charm; it was as if someone had flicked a switch inside his
brain. He had gone from being someone cool Michael
could be friends with to a smal child wanting to seek Kerr’s
approval. Maybe he was schizophrenic. Once again,
Michael wondered why they al deferred to Kerr. What
made him so special?
“I only got into one fight, Kerr, and this time it wasn’t even
my fault. Tel him, Michael, tel him how we were jumped.”
So many things raced through his mind as he watched
as Christian began bouncing excitedly on the bal s of his
feet. As if he had stepped back into the insecure kid
Michael had first met, and it perplexed him. Shaking his
head in confusion, Michael turned back to watch Kerr. Right
about now the whole ‘Christian is schizophrenic’ theory was
looking good again.
Standing there, Michael could see Kerr’s anger rising,
and Michael knew it was aimed at him. Honestly, Kerr was
probably wondering why he had brought him here in the first
place, because Michael had been wondering the same
thing.
“Wel ?” Kerr demanded, glaring straight at Michael.
“Somebody’s in trouble,” Charm taunted in a sing-songy
voice as she headed out of the lounge toward her
bedroom, fist bumping Doyle as they passed in the
doorway.
Not real y knowing what was expected, Michael
shrugged. “Chris told you. We were attacked while walking
through the park. Most of the attackers ran off when they
realised we were wil ing to defend ourselves.” He pointed
toward Christian’s swol en lip. “One of them managed to
get in a lucky punch.”
“You should have seen it, Kerr, Michael was so quick I
didn’t even see him move. He just disappeared and
reappeared somewhere else. It was so fricken cool. ”
Complete childlike awe fil ed his voice and animated his
face. His dimples were flashing for al their worth as he
turned and smiled at Michael.
Kerr’s voice sounded cool, calm and col ected, yet
Michael knew he seethed with rage. This gave ‘if looks
could kil ’ a whole new meaning! “How many dead?”
“None. That’s what’s so cool!” Christian laughed out
loud. “It was just bril iant.” He reached out and gave Michael
a high five. “You did some serious footwork.” Michael
couldn’t help but grin at Christian’s enthusiasm and praise.
“Ask Doyle! He was there, he can tel you.”
Trying to ignore the fact that Kerr watched them both
closely, Michael focused momentarily on Doyle as he
nodded in agreement to what Christian asked him. When
he returne
d his gaze to Kerr, he got the feeling Kerr wasn’t
sure whether or not he believed what they were saying. It
was probably hard to believe they had let the drunk guy live,
but why would they lie to him? They had no reason to make
something like this up. Kerr stared at Michael.
“Did you feed?” He directed his question to Michael, but
before Michael had a chance to answer Christian jumped in
and spoke.
“He fed,” Christian chuckled. “We left the guy sleeping
peaceful y like a baby under a tree. I bet he wil have a sore
head in the morning. Then, the coolest thing happened. You
are so not going to believe this part.” Christian just vibrated
with excitement. “His bite healed itself. I have never seen it
happen before. It was so fricken amazing. Wasn’t it Doyle?”
This was so not good. Kerr’s fury seemed to build as he
stormed across the room and slammed the palm of his
hand into Michael’s chest. “You left him alive? How bloody
stupid can you be? What the hel gives you the right to
endanger everyone’s life this way?” His fist shot out again
and connected with Michael’s jaw and Christian was livid
when he saw Michael go sprawling backward across the
floor. Michael looked shocked and then pissed off at the
ferociousness in Kerr’s words.
“It would help if I bloody knew al of the rules! Why didn’t
you tel me them al before we headed out for the night?”
Michael shouted back.
“What the fuck?” Christian felt something snap deep
inside of him as Kerr hit Michael. He hated seeing Kerr
attack another family member. Especial y when they didn’t
deserve it. They were family and family was meant to stick
together.
“Kerr, don’t!” Christian said coldly as he stepped in
between them. “Leave him alone.”
Michael watched as anger surged over Christian’s face.
He took the hand he was offered to help him to his feet.
Charm and Doyle were watching them intently as Christian
had stood up to Kerr. Michael got the impression by
everyone’s reactions that this was a first. Once more,
Christian didn’t readily let go of his hand and Michael didn’t
care.
“We don’t have lives, remember? We’re shadow
dwel ers, members of the undead. We’re already
endangered. What Michael did,” Christian advanced on
Kerr pul ing him along in his wake, “was not destroy
another’s life unnecessarily. No one said we had to kil
them. We thought this one up al on our own. We didn’t even
try to find a better way of handling things. I no longer want to
be the monster we created of ourselves.”
In the instant his words stopped, Christian stared down
at their linked hands and suddenly let go. It almost felt as
though Christian had suddenly realised he was holding a
live snake. A little part of Michael was hurt by his reaction,
especial y as earlier he had joked about holding hands.
Michael saw Kerr’s anger was growing as Doyle and
Charm began joining in the conversation. Kerr obviously
didn’t want to hear what they were saying.
“He’s right man, we don’t know if leaving them alive is
good thing or a bad thing, but we should at least give it a
go. I, for one, have never been good with the kil ing. It’s
always been wrong to take away another person’s life just
so we can live.”
Michael wondered if this was the first time they had ever
disagreed with Kerr, because he didn’t seem to be
enjoying it at al . Guilt seemed to fil Charm’s face as she
spoke. “Why don’t we watch this guy? If nothing happens to
him, then great. If he does turn, we kil him or take him into
the family. Either way we’l know. Isn’t it worth a try?”
Anger was evident on Kerr’s face and he glared wildly at
each of them. Kerr’s gaze turned to Charm as she walked
over and stood behind Michael and Christian. Each of her
hands rested on one of their arms.
“If they are left alive, they wil know what we are. Can’t
any of you see how bad this could al turn out to be? They
wil tel the police or someone of a higher authority. How
long wil it be before they hunt us down?” Kerr stared at
them al . “People fear what they do not understand. And we
wil end up dead.”
“This is the reason we watch him. In this day and age,
who is going to believe he got attacked by vampires? We
don’t exist,” Doyle said quietly.
It seemed to Michael that Doyle felt guilty because he
was joining the fight against Kerr.
“We are just a thing of myth and legend, or a very bad
horror flick — you choose,” Doyle continued. “Al anyone wil
think is we are a figment of his very overactive
imagination.”
Everyone fel silent as Charm spoke. “Our lives became
real when the creator crossed your paths and slowed your
heartbeats, forever leaving you walking through the dark.” A
surreal voice came out of Charm; she spoke as though she
didn’t remember the others were stil in the room with her.
“One watches from the shadows and we are just pieces in
this game. At the appointed time the children wil learn his
name.” She shook her head. “Is it just me or is this whole
undead thing just getting weirder by the day?”
No one was game enough to speak. After a moment
Charm’s face cleared and she appeared embarrassed by
why they were al staring at her. “Why is everyone so quiet?”
Michael got the feeling they were frightened of her. She
walked over to the couch and sat down, worry fil ing her
eyes as she waited for them to talk.
Taking the lead as usual, Kerr crossed his arms in front
of his chest. “Are you al right?” He enquired.
“Of course I am. What’s going on?” She studied his face.
“What do you mean, ‘What’s going on?’” Doyle asked a
little shakily. “What the hel was with the weird bit of poetry?”
Laughter fil ed Charm’s eyes. “It wasn’t poetry. Just
something I remembered reading somewhere from when I
was in school.”
Michael thought Charm was real y having a lot of fun
taking the piss out of them and he was almost positive she
acted weird on purpose because she knew it freaked the
others out.
“You can real y be a bitch sometimes, Charm. You
scared the crap out of me.” Christian said, his hands
fluttered around his throat.
Laughter bubbled out of Charm as she winked at
Christian. “Sorry, it just came to mind and fel out my
mouth.”
§ § § §
Moving as quietly as he could Michael left the remainder
of the group as they discussed the odd occurrence which
had taken place over the bite marks fading away. Heat
rushed through his veins as he pretended to be asleep
while Christian changed into his boxers, though he watched
through his lashes — he just couldn’t help him
self. The little
voice in the back of his head wanted to ask Christian about
the scars covering his body, but he got the feeling they
more than bothered him. He closed his eyes again as
Christian climbed into bed beside him, not wanting
Christian to think he was some sort of a pervert. It was hard
to feign sleep as Christian ran his fingertips along his scar.
It seemed that Christian just couldn’t help himself —
Michael knew Christian had done the same thing last night
as wel . It took al his wil power not to brush away his touch,
because it would only prove he was stil awake. And
Michael didn’t want to talk about the bite mark on the drunk
guy, and he definitely didn’t want to talk about the fact he
enjoyed the sensation of Christian touching him. He just
needed time to think about what was happening. Even
though he knew what Charm had quoted was an old poem
or something, could Charm be right? Was their sire out
there right now watching them? Were they just a twisted
joke to their creator?
With his skin tingling, Michael found it hard to
concentrate with Christian being this close to him. As he
heard Christian’s even breathing of deep sleep he turned to
face his strange bed mate. Michael wondered where
Christian had come from original y, because he didn’t
seem to be Australian. Sometimes he would do something
or say something that seemed so out of character.
His thoughts came back to the many scars running over
Christian’s bare chest. It real y wasn’t fair that Christian had
been through something terrible in his life. The scars
weren’t raised and puckered, but felt smooth as his
fingertip traced over them. Michael thought Christian may
have been burned and branded by something smal . How
many times must he have suffered to get so many scars?
Michael knew there were just as many on his back and
legs. His face, throat, and hands held none at al . Leaning
in, Michael inhaled deeply, taking in Christian’s scent with
the slight tinge of blood from his split lip mixed in. It was
intoxicating. His scent was permeated with the smel of
honey and ginger. Michael was surprised when his tongue
darted out and lingered on the cut on Christian’s lip, tasting
him. Lowering his lips until they moulded themselves to the
shape of Christian’s, he stayed there for but a moment
before pul ing back in shock. He stared at the stil sleeping
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