A laugh burst out of Jesse. Fuck me, that’s an understatement. “No,” he said. “He won’t be best pleased.”
Ian glanced up at the ceiling before facing Jesse again. “So let me get this straight. If I leave this room, there’s the VLCD who’ll probably shoot me on sight, your coven leader who’ll be mighty pissed off to see me, Peter who probably wants me dead because I’m the only evidence he committed a crime, and on top of that, I might eat people.”
“I think that covers it.” Fuck, Jesse had forgotten about Peter. This was going to be a fucking nightmare. “So, as much as it sucks to stay put for now, do you see why it’s for the best.”
“Yeah.”
Good. That was one thing Jesse didn’t have to worry about for a while.
“Tell me the rest.” Ian’s gaze pierced into his, determined and resolute, and Jesse had to look away. “Tell me what happened and why you changed me into a vampire.”
Jesse swallowed, glad he’d drunk the bag of blood Peter had thrown at him earlier but wishing he’d had more. Being on the edge of hunger amped up all his emotions, and Jesse’s anxiety spiked at having to tell Ian what happened.
What if he hates me after this?
Despite knowing how selfish he was being, now that it had happened, Jesse was over the moon that Ian was alive. That they’d get to spend years together, far longer than a human life would allow. Assuming Ian didn’t want to kill him after Jesse had told him everything.
“When Raph asked Peter to investigate you, he made me give him all the information I had on you. Address, phone number, place I met you.”
Ian scoffed. “So you handed me over on a platter.”
“I’m sorry, I had no choice but to tell him,” Jesse pleaded. “I could’ve been thrown out of the coven if I’d lied or refused.” Ian didn’t know what it would be like for a vampire out on their own, hadn’t heard the horror stories that Jesse had. Granted, most had come from Peter, so maybe a modicum of disbelief was warranted, but others had told him similar things.
It was to be avoided at all costs.
“Carry on, then.”
Jesse glanced down at his hands, focusing on them rather than look at Ian. “I followed Peter as soon as I could get away, but he had about an hour’s head start on me.” Jesse tried not to think he could’ve stopped all this if only he’d got away quicker. “Anyway, he sent me a text with a picture of you on the ground. You looked dead.”
“Was I?” Ian asked, voice quiet.
“No. Close though. Peter had already drained you.”
Ian shuddered but didn’t say anything else, and Jesse fought the urge to reach out and comfort him. He doubted it’d go down well at the moment. “When I got there, he had Michael and Simon take my phone, and yours that you’d dropped, then knock me around a little. Then they left us there.”
“Why didn’t you take me to a hospital?” Ian searched his face; whatever he was looking for, he didn’t seem to find it. “If you were worried about getting caught, you could’ve left me outside or something. At least I’d have had a chance.”
“You had a few minutes at most, I’d never have got you there in time.” Jesse did reach for his hand this time, clutching it tight. “You died in front of me. Your heart stopped, and I thought that was it.”
“So you changed me.”
“No,” Jesse whispered and shook his head. “I’d never do that to someone without their consent.”
Ian’s face scrunched in confusion. “Then what the fuck happened?”
“It was an accident, I never meant . . .” Jesse stopped, closed his eyes, and tried to calm down. Whether or not Ian hated him was the least of their problems. “My head split open when they threw me into the wall. Some of the blood hadn’t dried, the wound took a while to heal, and as I leant over you, your lips were parted, and a few drops fell into your mouth.”
“And then what happened?” Ian’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“I’m not quite sure.” Jesse remembered the raw need that had gripped him, the possessiveness that swelled up inside him. “I saw the blood stain your lips, and it was as though a switch flipped. All I could think about was turning you, making you mine. So I gave you more of my blood.” Jesse kept his gaze on his lap. “Then I heard voices coming, so I scooped you up and ran. Now here we are.” He looked up and spread his hands out, gesturing to his room.
Ian stared at him, expression hard, and Jesse braced himself for the harsh words that seemed to be coming his way.
“Firstly,” Ian began, “I know we spent a couple of, quite frankly, awesome nights together, and I liked you a lot. But I’m not yours. I want to make that crystal clear from the start.”
“Okay,” Jesse said. “Point noted.” His brain stuck on the past tense Ian had used. Liked you a lot. Not like.
But Ian was on a roll. “I don’t care that it was your blood that turned me, I don’t belong to you or Peter or anybody else in this fucking coven.” His voice rose sharply at the end, and Jesse had never been more grateful for the soundproofing.
He grabbed hold of Ian’s hand again and gave his fingers a squeeze. “I know that.”
“Good.”
They sat there in silence.
Jesse had so much to sort out in his head, he had no idea where to start. How to deal with Peter, what to tell Raph.
What a clusterfuck.
He let his head drop back against the headboard and closed his eyes, wishing he could turn back time and that they were in Ian’s bed instead of his. If Jesse had been human, none of this would’ve happened. They’d probably still be seeing each other. Meeting at the bar, maybe, or meeting in the daytime for coffee or lunch.
But he wasn’t human.
And now, thanks to Jesse, neither was Ian.
He pushed down that part of him that was happy about the turn of events. Ian deserved better.
“You have to go and check on Cate for me.” Ian’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“What?” Jesse rolled his head to the side, meeting Ian’s gaze.
“Cate. I can’t leave here, so you need to go for me. I mean, how did Peter even know we were friends?” His eyes narrowed. “Did you—”
“No!” Jesse sat up straight. “I only told Raph about you, not Cate, I swear.” Jesse shifted on the bed to face Ian more fully. “I know you have no reason to trust me but—”
A knock on the door had them both freezing.
“Who’s that?” Ian asked, glancing over to it. “Peter?” The thought of Peter seemed to set him on edge, not that Jesse blamed him.
But Jesse didn’t think it was Peter, and when a key sounded in the lock, he knew it wasn’t.
Arse.
With a groan, he ran a hand over his eyes and waited for the inevitable. “It’s not Peter,” he muttered as the door swung open and Lys barged in with a thunderous look on her face.
“Lys—”
“What the actual fuck, Jesse?” she hissed the words through gritted teeth as she shut and locked the door behind her. Her gaze shot to Ian and she pointed a finger in his direction. “Is he worth getting kicked out of the coven for? Or worse?”
“Lys,” he warned, sensing Ian tense beside him.
“Don’t you fucking Lys me. When the boys in black find out what you’ve done, they’re gonna string you up, and what happens to Ian then, eh?”
Ian glanced from Jesse to Lys, then back again. “I thought you said it was bad if others find out I’m here.”
“It is.” Jesse waved a hand at Lys. “But she doesn’t count.”
“Charming.” Lys bared her fangs at him. Then she turned her attention on Ian properly. “Did you ask for this?”
Ian shook his head.
“Then I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into this world.” She glared at Jesse. “You fucking idiot.”
“No, tell me how you really feel.” Jesse wanted to bite his tongue off after the words were out. It wasn’t a joke and he shouldn’t try and make i
t into one. “Sorry.”
Taking a seat on the corner of the bed, Lys shook her head in resignation. “Fucking hell, Jesse. If I’d known you were planning something like this, I would never have gone into work.”
“You work?” Ian stared at Lys, surprise obvious.
“Yes, I’m a nurse.”
“A nurse?” He looked a mixture of shocked and amazed. “But isn’t it . . . ? Aren’t you tempted to . . . ?”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Eat my patients?”
“Well . . . yeah. I mean, there must be so much blood . . .” He licked his lips, then looked horrified at himself.
Lys took pity on him. “I’ve been a vampire for a long time, Ian. As long as I feed regularly, I’m not tempted to eat anyone I’m treating, no. Just like Jesse here isn’t tempted to snack on any of the homeless people he sometimes helps cook for on a Tuesday night.”
Ian turned his surprised stare on Jesse.
“A story for another time.”
“Yes, quite.” Lys leant back on her hands. “Right now you need to explain to me how the hell this happened.”
There was no getting out of it, and besides, Jesse wanted to tell her. Lys was his best friend; he loved and trusted her above anyone else. He was going to need her help.
So he told her everything, and Ian sat and listened to it all for a second time.
Jesse wondered if it was any easier to hear this time around.
“THAT BASTARD,” Lys spat. “I knew he had a special dislike for anyone you showed an interest in, but I never thought he’d go this far.” She put her hand on Ian’s ankle, and Jesse swallowed the possessiveness that welled up inside him. “I know this life isn’t something you wanted, Ian, nor did you ask for it. But I know Jesse, and please believe me when I say he would never have set out to do this.” She didn’t look at Jesse as she spoke, but he felt her love and her strength despite her being angry at him. “And I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen, but we’ll both be here to help you through it.”
“Thanks. I think.” Ian licked his lips.
Jesse had notice him doing it while he’d been talking, getting more frequent. He’d started to fidget too.
Another sure sign.
Ian was hungry.
“Lys—”
“I know.” She stood, glancing towards the door. “I’ve not fed yet, so it makes sense for me to go. I have a good excuse to be in the kitchen if I run into anyone.”
“Thank you.” Jesse’s shoulders sagged in relief. He didn’t want to leave Ian for even a second. Which was going to become a problem at some point, but he refused to think about that now. “Watch out for Peter. He’s gone to find Michael and Simon to make sure they all have their stories straight.”
“You know he’s going to try something, don’t you?”
“I know.”
Lys shot Ian an apologetic look. “I don’t mean to make you even more anxious than you must already be, but we need to be prepared. Peter only has his own best interests at heart. Ian is a threat he can’t afford.” She stood and smoothed out her jeans. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”
The door clicked shut behind her, and Jesse hurried to lock it again.
“How come she has a key to your room?” Ian asked, expression curious. “Are you and she . . . ?”
It took Jesse a second to realise what he was getting at. “What? No. No way.”
“Thank fuck.” Ian gestured towards the door. “I really don’t fancy getting on her bad side.”
Jesse smirked. “It’s not pleasant.” For a moment he’d thought, hoped maybe, that Ian might’ve been jealous, and wanted to kick himself. Ian’s world had been turned upside down, most of it due to Jesse. He was lucky Ian hadn’t tried to rip his throat out. “But you’re safe. It’s me she’s angry at.”
Ian smiled, and Jesse remembered having that look sent his way when the only thing on their minds was sex. “No, she’s a bit pissed off with you, but she’s furious at Peter.”
“That’s true,” Jesse conceded and hoped Lys didn’t run into Peter on her way to get more blood. Nothing good would come from that encounter, not when her anger was still so raw. Lys had been killed and changed without her consent, not an uncommon occurrence back then, but she’d held on to her resentment all these years. She never mentioned the vampire who’d sired her, but Jesse had always presumed he’d paid for it. She’d never approved of changing people against their will, even before they made the agreement with the VLCD, and Jesse was so fucking thankful she’d believed him when he said he’d never meant to turn Ian. He wouldn’t survive without her friendship.
“What about you?” Jesse forced himself to ask, even though he didn’t particularly want to know the answer. “Anyone going to be missing you tonight or tomorrow?”
Ian studied him, eyes dark and intense, and Jesse wanted to look away under his scrutiny, but he held his gaze. “Are you asking if I’ve started seeing someone else in the five days since you did a runner and ditched me via text?”
Jesse winced. “I’m sorry, I know that was a shit thing to do, but I’d never have been able to end it if I had to look at you, and I was trying to avoid getting you involved in my world.”
“Didn’t work out too well in the end, did it?”
“No,” Jesse conceded. In hindsight, maybe he’d have been better off telling Ian what he was. But then again, just because Ian knew about vampires didn’t mean he’d want to fuck one. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “No, there’s no guy waiting for me, no one expecting my call.” He frowned. “Apart from Cate. I’m supposed to be away with work tomorrow—well maybe today, what time is it?”
Jesse reached for his phone, then remembered Peter took it. “Sometime around five, that’s when Lys usually gets home.”
“Well I should’ve been in St Austell today and tomorrow. Work are going to be pissed off when I don’t show, but I’m not entirely sure what the protocol is there. Cate’ll start to get concerned if I ignore her texts. I don’t normally answer when I’m at work, but at night I would.”
Bollocks. Jesse had forgotten all about Ian’s work. Of course they’d miss him as soon as he didn’t show up. But he doubted they’d call the police. At least not straight away anyway. “We need to get our phones back from Peter.”
“If he’s not destroyed them by now.”
He better bloody well not have done.
A soft knock on the door, followed by the key in the lock signalling Lys’s arrival, put pay to any further conversation. As soon as she entered the room, Ian’s entire focus shifted to the bags of blood she carried in her arms.
“Any trouble?” Jesse asked, finding his own gaze drawn to them.
She shook her head. “The house is quiet. I think most of them are in their rooms by now.” Dumping her cargo onto the bedside table, she then threw a bag to Jesse, one to Ian, and picked up one for herself. “If we’re going to be doing this a lot, you really need to get some cups and a microwave in here.” She glanced around, then pulled a face as she looked down at the blood in her hands. “Drinking it cold isn’t something I enjoy.”
They both turned to Ian as he ripped the corner off his and started to drink, obviously not put off by the temperature.
Lys chuckled. “Oh to be newly turned again.”
Jesse shuddered. “No thanks.” He had no wish to revisit those years.
“Yeah, me neither when I think about it.” Carefully she tore the corner off her own bag, frowning down at it, before raising it to her lips. “Bottoms up.”
Ian had finished his before Jesse had even started, so Lys threw him another bag. At this rate, Raph was going to notice the sudden increase in consumption sooner rather than later. Would he really feel the need to report Jesse to the VLCD? Jesse mulled it over as he drank, the cold blood not the most palatable, but it hit the spot.
As Ian polished off bag number three, Jesse settled back against the headboard. “Peter’s got
mine and Ian’s phones, and we need to get them back off him.”
Lys hummed. “D’you think he still has them?”
As much as Jesse didn’t want to think about it, he knew Peter well enough to know what he’d be doing with them. And then the penny dropped as to why he’d chosen Michael and Simon to go with him. “Yeah, he does. He’ll be looking through them now, you know what he’s like.”
“Ugh.” Lys made a face. “He’s such a creepy wanker, I don’t know what you ever saw in him.”
Ian’s gaze snapped to Jesse, and he wanted to kick Lys. “You and Peter?”
“It was a long, long time ago,” Jesse said quickly, hoping to cut off whatever thoughts might be forming in Ian’s head. He shot a glare at Lys, slightly mollified when she mouthed “sorry” back at him. “When I was young, vulnerable, and clearly a shitty judge of character.”
Silence settled between them, as Ian went back to drinking.
When he’d finished, he set the empty bag down and met Jesse’s gaze again. “My phone’s fingerprint protected.”
“Mine too, but Peter chose Michael and Simon for a reason. Other than the fact they kind of share his views. They’re good with technology.”
Ian frowned. “As soon as someone reports me missing, the police will try and track my phone, won’t they? They’ll get my records and see who I called and texted.”
“Shit.” Jesse’s number would be in there. And for once it was registered in his actual name—well the one he was using this time around, anyway. He’d used the address of the flat in town, and his name was on the lease. But Jesse wasn’t the last person to message him. “They’re going to question Cate.”
“Bollocks.” Ian scrubbed both hands over his face. “And Peter said she probably wouldn’t remember their conversation; he said he deleted the texts from her phone. She’s going to look suspicious as fuck.” He looked frantically between Lys and Jesse. “We have to do something.”
“First thing we need to do is get your phone back,” Lys said. “You can text everyone you need to stop them worrying. That should buy us a few days at least while we figure out what to do.” She put her hand on Ian’s ankle again. “I know we’re asking you to lie to the people you care about, but for now it’s the best way. Is that okay?”
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