by Dawn Gray
"If you believe in what you think you know, there is no other choice." Julian said, folding a key into Justin's hand.
David sat in the corner of the dark cell looking up at the ceiling. He had been given clothes to wear, but still felt uncomfortable, as he pulled his knees to his chest and sighed, loudly. The door opened, slowly, and David blocked the light that streamed in.
"David?" Justin asked, stepping into the room.
"What?" He asked; his voice a bit harsh. He tried not to look up at Justin, afraid that his close friend would see the hurt in his eyes, but instead found himself staring into Justin's hard brown eyes, even though it was obvious that Justin couldn't see him. "I told you what I remembered, what more could you want?"
"She's awake." Justin replied. David looked up at him, and then slowly, stood. Justin caught this movement and looked at him in the corner. "Sage is asking for you."
"Asking for me?" David sighed then shook his head. "After what I did to her, you would think she'd want me to rot in here."
"But she doesn't, so drop the attitude and come see her." Justin ordered. David walked up to him, stared him in the eyes and sighed, then stepped passed him and the two men walked up the stairs to Sage's second floor bedroom.
* * * * *
My eyes opened quickly as the door squeaked on its hinges and I watched David walk in, followed closely by Justin, whose eyes alone seemed to send the message to every other man in the room, that he was protecting David and would with his life. Slowly, David made his way over to the bed, glancing once at Julian, and then making a long eye contact with Michael, before stopping at the end of my own bed. I watched his lips tighten and he swallowed hard before he placed a hand on the bedpost beside him.
"Come closer." I whispered as I turned on my side and held a hand out for him. David, reluctantly, shook his head. "They won't hurt you."
How do you know? His mental voice asked me.
I smiled at him, then gestured my head towards the man standing behind him. David turned and looked at Justin, who stood no more than a foot and a half away, between David and the others in the room. Justin's eyes were set, as hard as nails, as an impenetrable deadly wall between the two of us and the rest of the occupants. David turned back to me and stepped forward, kneeling down on the floor as he got closer, then, with a childish wonder, I watched him break down and bury his head in the comforters next to my chest.
"It wasn't your fault." I whispered to him as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders the best I could and held him gently. He looked up at me and shook his head, then took my hands and kissed them both.
"How can you say that? I remember everything." He whispered.
"You were being controlled, didn't you feel it?" I questioned.
"He didn't feel anything because he was doing it himself." Quinn snarled behind him. Justin threw him a warning, using his bright red eyes to do so.
"Maybe, we should clear the room." Julian suggested, then began to usher people out of the room. Justin stopped at the doorway and Julian looked to him. "Are you staying?"
"I trust him." Justin replied, loud enough so that David and I could hear him. "There's no need to stay in here. This is between them."
He turned and looked at me, then winked and walked out. David and I were alone.
"I watched the whole thing as if I were some patron in a movie theater, captured but unable to do anything to stop it until it was too late." David whispered, sitting back on the floor. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed, then looked at him. "I tried to stop him, but couldn't. I'm sorry; there was nothing I could do."
"I forgive you." I replied and got down on the floor in front of him. He looked at me, oddly, as he checked out the light nightgown that I was wearing. "Are you uncomfortable?"
"Just...worried." He replied.
"About what?" I asked as I grabbed the light throw cover from the bed and put it over my legs. David turned away then closed his eyes.
"He used how I feel about you against me." David whispered.
I laughed at him, which made him look over. "You want to sink your teeth into my neck?"
"No!' He said, giving me as look as if I was insane, but then the look in his eyes turned to shame. "The shower, when you were naked and I kissed you, that was what he used against me."
"You want to kiss me?" I laughed, again I watched him turn his head and close his eyes, but this time he nodded. I smiled at him as his face began to grow flush, then I slowly reached out and took his hand. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Dave. It's natural."
"I don't want to feel this way, Sage." He snapped, then looked at me and sighed. "I don't want to feel this overwhelming need to protect you, from everything, sometimes even from Justin."
"That's how friends feel." I replied. David shook his head then stood up quickly.
"I tried to distance myself from you, to save you from getting hurt, but you and Justin, both of you pulled me back in." He walked over to the window and looked out at the backyard.
"Michael was the last one to accept me for me, and even then I was still feeling the darkness, but now, that darkness is gone and all I see is you."
"David, what's wrong?" I asked, standing up to face him. David turned to me and walked over, clutching my upper arms gently with his hands.
"I need you, I want you, more than you could ever imagine, but I know I can't have you and that's killing me." He whispered, looking deep into my eyes, and then he released me and walked to the door. I turned quickly and looked at him.
"David." I watched him stop at the sound of his name, and then he turned and looked at me. "I need you, too." Quickly, he walked slowly out the door. Justin walked in a short while after and looked at me as I stared out the window. "He's hurting."
"I know." Justin said softly and walked over to the bed, where he sat and looked at me. "I felt it when he walked by."
"He said that he needed me." I whispered, trying not to show him how much it affected me.
"You need him, too." Justin replied. I turned towards him and then leaned forward, looking him in the eyes, then I watched him smile. "Don't look at me like that, Sage, I'm not being controlled. I just know how you feel."
"Should I feel like this?" I asked, stupidly. "Can I love you and want him at the same time?"
"We're connected, sweetheart, there's nothing that you or I can do about it." Justin replied, leaning towards me. "Actually, there is one thing."
"Which is?" I smiled.
"Go to him." This made me sit back.
"Okay, I know you're kinky, but what are you trying to pull here?" I questioned.
"It's simple really." Justin smiled and took my hand. "Usually once you start, you'll realize how wrong it is."
"And, what if I don't?" I questioned. "What happens if it goes too far?"
"You'll be fine, we will be fine." He laughed. Shaking my head, I stood and walked to the door.
"I think you're nuts." I told him. Justin walked over to me, quickly wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me, wholeheartedly on the lips, then he let me go, smiling.
"Just as long as you know that, you'll be okay." He winked and walked back to the door, gesturing me out with his hand.
* * * * *
David lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. Slowly, he drew in a deep breath and, just as slowly, let it out. Sage was going through his mind, the way she looked, the power she gave off, but the connection with him and Justin also seemed to be there and he couldn't shake the strange image of him taking blood from Justin from his head.
David rubbed his bare stomach; something he did out of habit each night, feeling the invisible scar that once was there from a stake that had missed its target. Tonight, as he withdrew his hand from the cool skin, hot wet lips replaced it and this made David open his eyes and looked down quickly at the pair of blue ones that were coming closer to him.
David sat up quickly, grabbing Sage by the lower arms as she straddled him, giving him a look of tenderness.
"What are you doing?" He asked as he licked his lips, trying to regain control of his body. "Justin's going to kill you if he finds you here. Hell, he'll kill me three times over for just thinking about you like this."
"He told me to come." She whispered to him. David let her go and leaned back on his elbows as she moved closer to him.
"He told you to come to my room?" She nodded. "And, he told you to do this?"
"David, please, don't make this any more awkward than it is." Sage whispered and sat up. David breathed in quickly as she touched his skin and began to caress him. "It was Justin that told me to come here, he wasn't being controlled."
"Oh, God." David whispered softly, trying hard to keep the control that was slipping away from him. His body was already responding to her, growing ready for whatever might happen next. "I don't want to hurt you." He swallowed hard, then reached out and touched her cheek with one hand as he sat up, and ran his other through her hair. "I don't want to hurt Justin. It's just so...hard to resist."
"Don't." She answered as he brought her to him and kissed her wantonly on the lips. This set off the sparks that ignited the fire that burned, quite hot between them.
David gave into whatever she did to him, as he laid there on the bed, and it felt like an eternity of her fiery kisses before he suddenly felt the bed move with extra weight. David opened his eyes and looked over Sage's shoulder as Justin moved into view. His hazel eyes widened at the young man, who was obviously naked, as Justin leaned down towards the back of Sage's neck.
Justin made eye contact with him, and kept it as he pushed the hair away from Sage's neck. Sage stopped, glanced up at David, who looked down at her, then up at Justin, who had closed his eyes and was now caressing every part of his girlfriend's body. David was frozen, unable to move, to respond, and suddenly, that cold feeling that had run through his body was replaced, only at his wrist, but Justin's large fingers as they wrapped around his flesh.
David, unsure of how to react to the other man's grip, relaxed his arm and let Justin guide his hand to warmth between Sage's bare thighs. David closed his eyes, feeling the heat of her sex near his fingers, and took Justin's invitation to heart as he penetrated her gently. Sage let out a loud moan then bit David, viscously, through the skin nearest to his heart. The rest of the night seemed to fade into an endless stream of want and lust, where blood was exchanged between the three of them more than once.
It was hard to adjust to the light that seemed to stream into his window, and the events of the night before were just a blur, until, of course, David looked down at the arm draped across his chest and the fact that he was totally naked.
David followed the arm up to the person it was attached to, and looked at Sage's sleeping face. David slide out from underneath her, trying to comprehend what had gone on and why Sage was naked and sleeping in his bed, but it all came back to him when he looked beyond her at Justin's sleeping form, also naked, who lay on the other side of the bed.
David sat down in the chair across from the sleeping pair and shook his head, which made him aware of the pain in his neck. He walked over to the oval mirror that sat on the dresser, and looked at the two large black and blue spots on his neck that hadn't faded in the least. The one on his right side had been made by Sage earlier in the evening, in the midst of their foreplay, but the pair on his left was from closer toward morning when Justin had snuck up behind him, as he made love to Sage and bitten into his flesh.
David walked over to the bed and looked at the two sleeping people; he noticed that each one had bruises the same as his, one from each person. David had cornered Justin, just before it had all ended, which was when he had finally worked up enough nerve to take from another male vampire, but Sage seemed to have, not only the two on her neck, but also little other bites that both men had afflicted on her over the course of the night.
David backed away from the two and grabbed a turtleneck from the closet and a pair of jeans from his dresser, then, once dressed, he made his way down to the patio, where he found everyone else already in the middle of breakfast.
Julian looked up at him, caught the strange attire and watched him sit down, but said nothing until everyone else had gone their own way. Julian sat forward as David started his second cup of coffee, but looked quite sickly when he glanced at the pastries.
"Are you feeling well?" Julian questioned. David looked up at him quickly, and then shrugged. "You look quite pale."
"I'm fine." David assured him. Julian nodded and sat back in his chair.
"Are you sure? I mean, it has to be seventy-five out here already and you're wearing a turtleneck." David looked up at him, over the rim of the coffee cup, asking him with just his eyes to please drop it. "Oh, by the way, have you seen Sage and Justin this morning. I stopped by their room to invite them for breakfast and their bed hadn't been slept in."
David cleared his throat and set the cup down, then sighed loudly as he looked up at Julian. "They stayed in my room last night?"
"Really." Julian smiled, as if it weren't much of surprise to him.
"We were discussing our plans to defeat Victor and it got too late, so they stayed." David continued.
"Oh, well, then." Julian smiled, but David caught his sarcasm and raised his eyebrows, as if to tell him to just ask whatever was on his mind. "Okay, are you sure that last night was the right thing to do?"
"Julian," David said leaning across the table, getting close to the other man, "until about five minutes ago, when I looked in the mirror, I wasn't even sure that last night happened."
Julian nodded then sat back as if it weren't a big deal that David had just told him both Sage and Justin had spent the night in his room, but, David couldn't drop it.
"I'm not strange for giving into this, am I?" He questioned. Julian suddenly laughed and looked at him from his newspaper.
"You're not strange, David. It happens a lot to vampires, gender sometimes doesn't matter." He answered, "but, listen, a bond like this that the three of you now share is strong, and unbreakable, you'll feel things from the others and they'll feel things from you, sometimes you'll even see things that they've done. Maybe you should speak to Justin about his past and discuss yours with them before you see things that you don't understand, and get some cover-up, you can't wear turtlenecks all the time, you know."
With those words, Julian stood up and left the table, leaving David to sit there alone. Slowly, he glanced upwards, toward the windows that looked out from his room, and he wondered if they were still sleeping. As he thought about this, and even as the uncertainty of the new bond that he shared washed over him, he smiled, knowing that he had finally gotten passed his past.
Chapter 14
I couldn't help the groan that I let out as I turned over to look at Justin, who was standing by the window. My body was sore in places where I hadn't realized I had things that could get sore, and even though they were fading, the love bites that I had gotten from both of them still hurt. Justin smiled as he walked over to me, in just his jeans, and sat on the bed.
"Hello, love." He smiled.
"Who were you watching?" I asked as he helped me sit up and kissed me quickly on the cheek.
"David." He smiled, then walked back over and grabbed his shirt. "He's wearing a shirt that hides his marks."
"Maybe you should too." I smiled as I pulled the gown over my head. "They look a bit dark."
"I'm not ashamed, Sage." Justin walked over and sat in the chair, placing one leg over the arm. "I don't believe that the two of you should be either."
"I'm not ashamed." David said as he walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Just a bit unsure. Things weren't all that real to me when I woke up this morning."
"So, now what happens?" I asked, looking over the two men in the room, who shrugged. "Well, I certainly don't feel odd about it."
"And, you shouldn't." Justin smiled. I looked at him, then up at David and back.
"Have you done this before?" David aske
d before I could get the question out.
"Not quite this way." He said softly, then looked up at them, and stood. "I'll explain it more later; if that's all right with you two, right now, I'd like to get something to eat."
I watched Justin walked out then I looked at David, who crossed his arms over his chest and went to the window. "Are you feeling all right?"
"You're the second person to ask me that in the last half an hour." He replied, and then looked back at me. "No, I feel strange, not quite normal, but I can't put my finger on what it could be?"
"Is it about last night?"
"It could be something about the whole blood exchange, but, like I said, I can't pinpoint it." David walked over and stood in front of me, and then he squatted down and put his hands on my knees. "How are you?"
"Weak, but otherwise, fine." I answered and watched him reach out and touch the spot on my neck where he had bitten me, and I watched the pain in his eyes as he tried to look away. "David, don't do this. If I didn't want you too, I would have never come here to begin with."
"It's just..." I put my hand over his mouth and looked deep into his eyes.
"It's just nothing, Dave. Relax." I replied, taking my hand away. "So, what would you like to do today?" I smiled, but his response caught me off guard as he reached out, cupped my face between his hands and kissed me hard and passionately. What I felt when his lips touched mine was nothing that I had ever felt before, and what I saw was much more intense.
I could see images of his past, the darkness that he had been in and all the pain that he had been going through, but it didn't stop there, because I also saw a part of David that was far more devilish then I thought even he could be.
I saw his face, distorted by evil as he tortured young men and women letting them bleed to death from small gashes all over their body, but it was the way he looked that seemed to frighten me the most, because he looked almost possessed, nothing like the David I was holding tightly to at that moment.
David pulled away, with tears covering his cheeks, and then he turned quickly and looked away from me.