Michael also had to literally peel off his coat, which stuck to his skin. His collarbone was mended and the hole in his neck was healed shut. He turned to his team leader, standing at attention.
‘Mr Travers, organise the helicopters so that we may leave this roof. I’m not allowing anyone to catch the Tube like that. Arrange for changes of clothes for Anthea and myself to be ready on arrival. Gabriel and Doctor Sharpe will also need fresh clothing. I shall debrief you fully once we return to the office.’
Travers shuffled uncomfortably.
‘Debrief, Mr Travers, not eat. I’m fully sated, and I certainly will not be in such a perilous state of hunger again.’
‘We’ll have a routine delivery of pig’s blood established from tomorrow,’ said Anthea crisply. ‘Supplemented by volunteers. Freely given, sir, as per the manual.’
‘Yes sir. Ma’am.’ Travers disappeared to make the arrangements.
Tavisa wished she could make things happen so effortlessly. She looked at her mostly stain-free clothes and wondered how she’d managed to be the one who’d killed someone but ended up without a bloodstain on her.
James had stopped feeding. He’d been licking his fingers, his lips, smearing a hand over his chin to catch every last drop of blood, but now he was still as stone, eyes wide with distress. The thirst had passed, and Gabriel (indeed, everyone) could see that James was disgusted with himself. That he felt exposed. Filled with shame.
‘James Sharpe,’ Gabriel growled at him, ‘don’t you dare be ashamed of yourself.’
James gave him that haunted look again, the one Gabriel hated.
‘Don’t you dare. That’s what West did to you, without even giving you a choice?’ His tone was thick with outrage and compassion. ‘The fact that you remained sane at all, that you did as little harm as you possibly could, that you resisted and survived without becoming a brute, is astonishing. My God. You did that on your own, Jamie. You controlled the vampire in you on your own, without anyone’s help.’
‘Gabriel, I’m–’
‘Stop it. Jamie, you saved my life today, even wounded by silver. You keep saving my life. You’ve saved Michael twice now. You saved that Donal girl. You do nothing but save people. Don’t you dare be ashamed of who you are or of what you need.’
‘Even if what I need is six litres of warm blood straight from the source?’ James said bitterly.
‘Even then. Not that you ever will. I keep telling you. You’re the most amazing person I know. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I trust you. And I will always take care of you.’
‘Because vampires as a whole need so much protection,’ said James, moved to quiet laughter in the face of Gabriel’s impassioned declaration.
‘Some of them, yes.’ Gabriel tugged on his arms and James eased against the comfort of his chest. He caught Tavisa’s abstracted gaze, though, and the tension began to rise again, until she shrugged.
‘I’ve met court clerks with meaner streaks and grosser personal habits for a lot less reason than you’ve got for yours, Doctor Sharpe. Gabriel’s right. You’ve no cause for embarrassment. You saved lives today. I’d say you’re well ahead of the game.’
James and Gabriel were two lost men, found; Tavisa could see that now.
She remembered that flash of the future that wouldn’t now happen. James falling to dust. Gabriel murdered by his fox-possessed brother.
It occurred to Tavisa that by stepping out onto the roof, keeping Anthea from attempting to shoot Michael, and by shooting Frazer off the rooftop herself, she had saved them all. Anthea and Michael. James and Gabriel. Victor and Helene. She had saved every one of them, and there was nobody to tell her she was amazing for doing it. Nobody to tell her she didn’t have to be ashamed of murdering that wicked man and watching him fall.
But it didn’t matter. She didn’t feel amazing. She wasn’t ashamed either. She’d done what had to be done, and she didn’t want them to know how close they came to the end of the world.
‘I’ll get some water,’ she said, taking up the watering can.
‘I’ll help,’ said Anthea.
At the tap, Anthea scooped water up and over her face, throat, hands. She bathed her wounded arm and peeled out of the trousers that stuck to her skin.
She smiled at Tavisa.
‘I saw the vision,’ she said kindly. ‘Fragments. I’m not very strong, but it was a powerful vision. My hands were shaking. My shot to Michael’s head would have missed. The vision made that very clear.
‘So, Sergeant Tavisa Datta, thank you for saving us all from Niall Frazer.’
Tavisa regarded her solemnly, then grinned. ‘You’re very welcome, An. The. A.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
Michael’s team airlifted everyone away from the hospital and to a modest Georgian hotel-that-wasn’t-a-hotel near Battersea Park – actually BUS’s base of operations. Besides meeting rooms, an ops centre and a few neat, functional crash spaces, it had a small number of handy iron- and silver-reinforced holding cells in the former wine cellar.
Each of them – in various states of dishevelment and blood spatter – parted to clean up. Gabriel and James leaned against each other, blood crusted in their hairlines and under fingernails. James could still not meet Tavisa Datta’s gaze and Gabriel’s arm remained protectively around the vampire.
‘I’m glad I was wrong about you,’ Tavisa said to Gabriel. ‘What I mean is, I’m sorry.’
‘Having visions must be a bitch to live with,’ said Gabriel. ‘Ghosts are easier. They mostly float around looking grotesque and put out.’
‘Yeah. Well. Things will change.’ She tugged fractiously at her hair, looking at the strands of it instead of at Gabriel. ‘I’ll clean up and head home. Look after him.’ Then she winced, because of course Gabriel was going to look after James. ‘See you around, maybe.’
Before he could reply, she strode off in Anthea’s wake towards a room where she could wash up before heading home.
Michael, shadowed by an armed guard, showed his brother and his vampire to another of the rooms in the not-hotel. The apartment was equipped with bed, desk, refrigerator, kettle and, in the bathroom, towels, shampoo, soap, and an array of bathroom items sealed in plastic hygiene-guaranteed bags.
‘Stay as long as you need,’ he said. ‘One of my staff will see you home when you’re ready. I may not be able to see you again tonight, but I’ll come by your flat in the next few days.’
Gabriel reached out for Michael’s wrist. ‘Are you going to be okay?’
Michael smiled self-deprecatingly, unaware of the traces of blood between his teeth. ‘I’m fine. All right, perhaps not entirely fine, but I will be in time. I have your Doctor Sharpe’s example to show me the way.’
James, who had sat on the edge of the bed, lifted his head wearily at the mention of his name.
‘I’ll have the staff send more blood up,’ said Michael. ‘And soup.’ He patted his brother’s fingers on his wrist. ‘All will be well. We’ve done extraordinary work today, Gabriel. For the nation and… and for each other. Your doctor is someone particularly special, as man or vampire. Take care of him.’
‘I will.’
Michael and his guard left. Gabriel sat beside James.
‘Why does everyone keep telling you to look after me?’ James asked. ‘I don’t need looking after. I’m a vampire.’
‘You are. You’re badass as all fuck.’
‘That’s me. Doctor Badass.’
‘Doctor Hotass,’ Gabriel corrected him teasingly as he slipped an arm around James’s waist to draw him near.
‘You finally found out my army nickname, huh? When they weren’t calling me Jim-Jam, any road.’
‘Come on then, Doctor Hottie. Let’s clean up.’
In the bathroom, Gabriel stripped James and then himself, though it was awkward going. An ugly black and purple bruise spread from his diaphragm to his chest, where James’s shoulder had knocked the win
d from him. It hurt like the devil, but it wouldn’t kill him. He’d deal with it later.
For now, he took James with him into the shower cubicle. He made the water as hot as he could stand it.
He soaped James from shoulders to toes, massaging a nearly scentless shower gel into foam, chasing the bubbles away with a facecloth. He unsealed a packaged nailbrush and scrubbed under James’s fingernails. He washed James’s hair. Conditioner next. He used a second facecloth to gently wash James’s face, ears and neck. James submitted, practically in his dormant state, and Gabriel’s eyes prickled with emotion at the trust it showed.
Gabriel patted James’s ribs in a gentle hushing motion. ‘Stay right there,’ he murmured, as though James would go anywhere else. Then he soaped himself up, and his hair, sluicing rust coloured rivulets down the drain until the water at last ran clear. He couldn’t help gasping in pain as he moved.
He suddenly felt James’s hands on his waist. James was inspecting the bruise.
‘You’re hurt,’ James said. ‘I hurt you.’
‘You caught me,’ Gabriel corrected him.
James tried to spit on his fingers, but the water washed the very little saliva he was able to produce away before it could do any good.
‘Don’t worry about it now,’ said Gabriel gently. ‘We’ll see to it after the shower.’
James nodded, but slowly, so tired he could hardly move. He wouldn’t meet Gabriel’s eyes.
‘James. Look at me, Jamie.’
Reluctantly, James did so. ‘I’m fine.’
‘You’re not.’
‘I’m… I don’t know if tired’s the word. Weak. I need more blood. Then I’ll fix that bruise.’
‘Michael’s sending some up.’
‘Mm.’
Gabriel pressed a kiss to James’s brow as warm water cascaded over his back and shoulders, splashing onto James’s torso.
‘You think what happened today is going to change how I feel about you, don’t you?’
‘No,’ said James in a tone suspiciously like “maybe”.
‘You’re daft,’ replied Gabriel affectionately. ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. When we’ve had our shower, you’re going to drink, and then I’m taking you home so you can rest properly in a safe place. Tomorrow, we’re spending the day in bed, sleeping or fooling around or shagging or blowing raspberries on each other or watching something stupid on TV or whatever the fuck we want to do. Then we’re going to keep on doing whatever the fuck we want to do together for the rest of our lives.’
‘Raspberries sound fun,’ said James, eyes brightening. ‘You’ve got a terrific arse for it.’
‘So finally you’re going to kiss my arse?’
‘Kiss, blow. Lick. Whatever.’
‘Whatever sounds promising.’
‘Doesn’t it, though?’
‘Good.’
They finished bathing. On the bathmat, they dried off and then freed two clean toothbrushes from their plastic seals and brushed the taste of blood and fear from their tongues.
When they re-entered the bedroom, they found a couple of plain, dark tracksuits laid out on the bed, their stained, torn clothes having been taken away.
‘Your brother’s crew have nicked my pants,’ grumbled James.
‘We’ll have to go commando, then.’ Gabriel patted James’s backside in approval.
They pulled on the sweatpants, but when James went to the thermos on the table, which was filled with warmed pig’s blood, Gabriel put a hand on the container.
‘No,’ he said.
‘I need more than I can take from you.’
‘Then you can have it after.’ He took the thermos to the bed and sat against the pillows. ‘See? I’m not being an idiot. It’s here for you for after. But you’ll drink from me first.’
‘I can’t just take from you, Gabriel.’
‘I’m offering it.’
‘Just because you’re offering, it doesn’t mean I should accept. It’s uneven. What do you get from me in return?’
‘I know what I get. So do you, when you’re thinking properly.’
James squinted at the nasty bruise on Gabriel’s body. ‘You get… No. You don’t mean the magic vampire spit.’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘You get all of me,’ James said at last, looking into green eyes, smiling as he made the offer. ‘Everything I have. Everything I am. Everything I can ever do for you, to keep you safe, keep you happy and healthy. It’s all for you: this sluggish heart, my soul if it exists, and my body, magic spit and all.’
‘And you get all of me, too. Heart, blood, brains, art, soul. The bits that are crazy and the bits that make macabre jokes. Probably huge swathes of me you haven’t any use for.’
James crawled over the covers on hands and knees until he could stop Gabriel’s mouth with his own. He kissed, kissed again, kissed once more; soft insistent pushes until Gabriel stopped speaking and instead parted his lips. He sucked gently at Gabriel’s lower lip, then licked a line along it before brushing the tip of Gabriel’s tongue with his own. Gabriel pushed his fingers into James’s damp hair, his kisses growing deeper and more impassioned.
When finally they parted, Gabriel brushed his nose against the tip of James’s. ‘Your heart isn’t sluggish, you know. It’s slow but it’s strong.’
‘There isn’t a part of you I don’t love,’ said James. ‘I’m especially fond of the bits that make macabre jokes, as it happens.’
‘That’s lucky,’ said Gabriel, ‘Because that’s a big bit. Here. Cuddle up. I don’t want to be clinical about this. I want to hold you.’ He opened his arms in invitation and parted his knees to make room. James inched into the warm crook of his body, arranged himself carefully so that he didn’t press on the bruise, and rested his head on Gabriel’s shoulder.
‘That’s it,’ murmured Gabriel approvingly. One arm was tucked around James’s back, a hand resting on his hip. He brushed his thumb along James’s jaw, and over his lip. Then he bent to kiss him.
James took his time, first running his fingers down Gabriel’s free arm, shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist. Then he raised Gabriel’s hand to his mouth and kissed it, knuckles and palm, then the wrist, then a line of kisses towards the crook of his elbow. At the softest, plumpest part of Gabriel’s arm, he pressed three reverent kisses, and then bit down, piercing the skin, before sealing his mouth over the wound.
Gabriel hardly felt a thing except the sensuous pull of James’s mouth sucking at his arm. A few seconds passed and then James was licking the wound, lapping up blood and encouraging the small holes made by his teeth to heal. Gabriel ran his fingers through James’s hair as he did so.
He’d never seen James drink while semi-naked before, and he could see now how his pallid skin grew faintly warmer in hue. Gabriel traced his fingers down James’s spine, then up again. He repeated the gesture, a gentle, reassuring stroke against his skin.
‘Sit back,’ James encouraged him, moving to his hands and knees between Gabriel’s legs. Gabriel reclined on the pillows. James nuzzled at Gabriel’s chest, then softly licked at the edge of the bruising. He pressed his curled tongue to Gabriel’s sternum, allowing saliva to pool there before licking a long wet stripe up towards Gabriel’s neck.
James huffed self-deprecatingly. ‘It’d be more efficient to do this with my fingers.’
‘Sod efficient,’ breathed Gabriel. ‘That’s brilliant.’
James hummed and kissed Gabriel’s chest. He allowed the saliva to pool on his tongue again, then licked Gabriel wetly from belly to sternum.
Gabriel feathered his fingers over James’s cheek and jaw as James repaid the gift of lifeblood with a gift of healing.
When he was done, James lay wearily curled in the shelter of Gabriel’s arms. Gabriel opened the thermos and held it to James’s mouth.
‘Sip. Don’t give me that look. I keep telling you; I don’t mind. And even if we’ve just promised e
ach other everything, I don’t think I can persuade you to drink from me again. No, I didn’t think so. So have this until you’re stronger, and then we’ll go home.’
James drank the flask dry. As he licked the last of it from his lips, Gabriel kissed the top of his head.
‘The answer is still yes, by the way,’ said Gabriel.
‘What was the question again?’ James asked warily, though he knew the answer.
‘The contingency plan. If there’s no other way, the answer is still yes. I’ve seen what happens, like you wanted me to, and the plan holds.’
James nodded.
‘You’re not going to ask me if I’m sure?’
‘No. You couldn’t see that, and tell me it’s still the plan, if you weren’t sure.’
‘No doubts of your own?’
James smiled crookedly. ‘Plenty. If we have to do it without planning and we’re not near a convenient blood supply, it’ll be spectacularly awful. But for about three seconds today, I thought you were dead. You weren’t breathing. I couldn’t stand it. When I realised your heart was still beating, it was…’
He trailed off, unable to find words to adequately express the relief. ‘So. The plan holds.’
‘Good. Because James Sharpe, I aim to keep you. Forever, if possible.’
James shook his head, but he was smiling. ‘You’re stealing my lines again.’
‘It’s still not mutually exclusive.’
‘I guess it’s not, at that.’
While Dare Minor and his vampire paramour tended to each other’s post-fox-hunt needs, Anthea Webb, after a quick stop to freshen up and change into clean clothes, directed her attention to numerous other mop-up tasks.
She arranged for a thermos of warm blood and a simple change of clothes to be sent to their room, and sent blood to Dare Major’s private chamber, where he stayed on those frequent nights he worked late and already had spare suits in the wardrobe.
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