Peggy smirked, "Just think it is only Wednesday."
"Ah shit, that reminds me, that means I have to go for a tour on the 20th. Damn it!"
Ethan smirked. "Tired of being a Sentinel already?"
Xairin rolled his eyes. "No, not at all, I just have places to go and people to kill and not enough time to get it done when I want it."
"Kill?" Peggy asked.
Xairin rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips. "I'm joking."
"By the way, I want a private room," Xairin asked.
Ethan crossed his arms. "We can look into that."
"Well, in the meantime, this vamp is passing out." He walked, passed them, and made it twenty feet before remembering something. He turned around. "Oh yeah, thralls, how do you, you know? Connect with them? I've only connected with one, is it the same with each of them? I have made a few and haven't really done anything with them yet."
Peggy became giddy. "Oh, sweetie that is easy peasy, you just reach out with your blood sweetie, it will connect you."
Ethan smirked. "The lawyer?"
Xairin shrugged. "Her and about fifty others that I added some of my blood to some drinks I made when I got put into a bartending spot at the Haze a few nights back right before Rory… Passed."
"FIFTY?!" Ethan yelled.
Xairin smirked and pointed at Ethan. "Hey, I took your advice, you're the one that taught me how to do it, you said biological surveillance cameras, so I made a bunch."
Xairin smiled. "Goodnight!"
Ethan was at a loss for words as Xairin trotted off to the Mansion. Peggy came around the front of him and stuck her finger into his chest. "What is going on?"
Ethan shrugged. "I don't know, but I have a feeling."
"What kind of feeling?" She asked.
Justin put his hand on Ethan's shoulder. "Ethan?"
"It would seem our new prince is either looking for someone or going hunting."
"Who would he hunt?" Justin asked.
"Peggy blurted out. "Well, there are those guys that did what they did to him."
Ethan frowned. "And his ex-boyfriend that made the scene at his friend Topher's bar."
Peggy inquired curiously. "How are the nestmates working out on that detail?"
Ethan shrugged. "Fine, they needed jobs anyways, and for the most part, they like it, but no problems. This, Cale Moors has been rather elusive, he hasn't been seen since the club."
Peggy nodded. "Then we should ask for a sentinel team to track him down. Our house cannot always play monster hunters."
Justin nodded. "She's right. We need to report it."
Ethan let out a long drawn out sigh as he crossed his arms. "It has been reported. Sentinel teams are being pulled in all directions, still dealing with the monsters that the Aeon Strain created, plus any additional focus has been shifted to finding Lilith. There are simply not enough recruits for new teams to be hunting down a single lowly individual that has no real ties to any immortal of power. As far as they are concerned, he is not worth the hunt. So, our house will do our duty in protecting the mortals."
Peggy perked up and grinned. "Okay, then. By the way, Sara wants us to expand our housing again. More displaced vampires are ending up everywhere."
Ethan nodded. "There is one in particular. Xairin's friend, Rory, was looking into adopting a young vampire displaced from the scavs that were taken in. Lord Winters has asked if we will take in a teenager."
Peggy looked at him, curiously. "A displaced teenager?"
Ethan nodded. "I spoke to Damien myself while Xairin was off visiting the werewolf's resting place. A boy named Reese Lawndale. From what I gather, he was in the same group of scavs that Xairin helped save from the bat that bit him. He had been infected and managed to hide it until he was in quarantine. Anyhow, the boy was rejected by the group he was living with for being both gay, and a vampire."
Peggy nodded. "Then let's go get him?"
Ethan looked over at Peggy. "I thought you might say that."
_____
Inside the Mansion, Xairin had made it to his room, where he had to stop at the door bearing his way. Inside he could hear Griffin, being, Griffin. The ass slapping thrusting noises that were so loud you didn't even need an enhanced hearing to hear, was a bit overpowering. Xairin just rolled his eyes. "Okay, this is my room too." He also had to think about Griffin's situation, he probably had no idea Xairin was coming. Knowing how voyeuristic Griffin was, Xairin, at this point in his life, didn't care. It would either be a temptation to watch live action porn while he did his own thing, tried to ignore it and rest, or just find another place to sleep. Either way, he needed to take a shower.
Xairin opened the door and walked right inside without a care in the world. Griffin had installed a sex swing and was going to town on a black guy he had recently enthralled. The man was as buff as Griffin was. Xairin couldn't help but look over. Griffin noticed and grinned. "I didn't realize you were coming home."
The thrall didn't seem happy. He tried to talk while Griffin didn't miss a beat. "You said you… Uhhhh. O.H. god… Not so rough…"
Griffin just kept up his pace. "Just relax."
Usually, seeing two people as physically fit going at it would have been a turn-on for Xairin. It was the sex swing. Those were a major turn off for Xairin. It made him think of Cale. "You two, don't mind me, I just need a shower, and I'm going to bed."
Griffin looked over. "My thrall was asking about a threesome earlier, want to join?"
Xairin had taken off his shirt and grabbed a grey towel. He even stripped down in front of them, he didn't care. He turned around with a flaccid cock, uninterested. "Dude, I won't lie, it is very tempting, but sex swings just wig me out a little."
"We can switch to the bed… O.H., god, not too rough, Griff." The thrall said.
Xairin shook his head. "No, after seeing the swing, I just want to take a shower and die for two days, maybe three. It has been a hell of a week." He motioned with his hands. "Carry on."
Griffin pounded the man harder, looking into his eyes as he moaned louder with his deep voice. Xairin managed to tune it out once he was in the shower. He kept his back to them and let the water relax him as best as it would. He leaned against the tiled wall and kept his head down, letting the water massage his smooth muscular back, rinsing down to his slightly fuzzy ass and hairy legs.
Xairin stood there for almost an hour, waiting for Griffin and his playmate to stop. The thoughts of the swing drowned out his desire to jack off while hearing them go at it. There was just something about seeing a sex swing that was a powerful turnoff for Xairin.
The sounds of sex and panting and heavy sexual breathing stopped. The sounds of thrusting against the man's body stopped. Xairin stood there another ten minutes until he opened his eyes. They were red, nearly an inch away from the tile. His biosonar revealed Griffin and his playmate sleeping in each other's arms.
Xairin looked at them, snuggled up together. He used the towel to dry his hair, then his chest and back, followed by his glues and legs, finishing with his groin. He tossed the towel in a hamper. He wasn't as shy as he once was, he looked upward and noticed the hanging bar installed at the foot of his bed. With his eyes’ solid red, his fangs bearing, he flipped into the air, his feet morphing and catching the bar. Once his body stopped swaying, his right-wing emerged, flexed and opened up, followed by the left. They stretched for a moment, and then wrapped around him, keeping him concealed.
_____
Saturday, July 9th, 2118.
Xairin was true to his word, he joked about sleeping for two days, he ended up sleeping for three. Between mental and physical exhaustion, Xairin had experienced a brief hibernation. His body needed it. Pushing himself as he had, coupled with the mental and emotional stressors, his body forced it.
Waking, His wings burst open. Xairin's eyes glowed with red electricity for a brief second as he did a backflip to the ground. His feet resumed human shape upon landing. He felt stronger, not an evo
lution, but stronger. His arms had more definition, his chest was slightly enhanced on a muscular level.
Xairin flexed his arms, feeling the difference. He made a fist, then looked at his other side. Somehow, he knew he had been sleeping for three days. His cells made him aware of it.
Xairin got dressed, putting on a silver t-shirt with a unicorn on the front of it. He put on a pair of black jeans, black combat boots, did a few shoulder rolls and neck rolls. "Okay." He said.
Xairin went into the kitchen. He passed by several vampires lounging around the Mansion. He paid them hardly any mind. Xairin went straight for the refrigerator. He opened it, found exactly what he was looking for, and put it in the blood warmer. A moment later, Xairin was quickly chugging down an entire sixteen-ounce bottle of pigs’ blood.
He didn't get anyone his shirt, but a little on his lips and chin began to absorb into his skin. After a quick lick of his lips, he felt better. Xairin reached for a second sixteen-ounce aluminum bottle of blood and did the same again.
Xairin didn't want to wait around for Ethan or Peggy to slow him down. He figured they would have an idea about what he was up to based on his reply the other night. Part of him didn't care, another part of him knew he had to be cautious.
Xairin never cared about power before, but tonight, he was going to embrace a part of him that he hadn't really tapped into when he was mostly mortal. He was going to use every ounce of his sensitive side to fuel his vampiric powers to reach out to every person he had enthralled that night he was working the bar for Lucretia.
The determined vampire went outside and went behind the Mansion. There was a maze of shrubs out back that he had seen through the windows on a few occasions. He figured this might be the best place to give him some privacy. Using his echolocation, he found the center quickly. Ethan was waiting for him. "You really took a long nap, Xairin?"
Xairin shrugged. "What can I say, I needed a nap."
Ethan smiled as he got up off of a stone bench, dressed to kill. "Nice shirt."
Xairin looked at his chest then at Ethan. "Just keeping it real."
Ethan smiled. "Damien called to check on you, so did Sara. I told them you were, in a brief hibernation. Which wasn't a lie, I could sense it." He stalled. "You've been pushing yourself rather intensely."
"Not much choice, seeing that I'm the prince of darkness and all," Xairin said with a chuckle.
Ethan rolled his eyes. "So… Now that you've trained up a bit, what are your plans?"
Ethan walked around him. "Places to go, people to kill. Is it your ex, or the men who hurt you?"
"Does it matter?"
Ethan nodded. "It does if it causes a scene and makes issues for public opinion."
Ethan walked around him. "I told you once, in that class, back at your quarantine."
Xairin crossed his arms and took a curious stance. "You said a lot of things. The first thing I remember you ever saying, was when you looked at that woman, I think her name was Piedmont and asked her if she knew what happened when you sired a corpse."
Ethan smiled. "You do have a photographic memory. So does Sara. It got annoying at times when I was a younger vampire."
Ethan looked at him with black eyes. "I have lived for over a hundred years. I have seen human prejudices lurk their way into the present more than I care to recall. I have seen people abused, murdered, and all for what? Human prejudices! I have seen everything from oppressive acts ladened in religious babble to the onslaught of innocents, all in the name of lesser ideologies, political agendas, and good ole fashioned hand me down hate." He continued to glare. "All it takes is one of us to give the rest of us a bad name, Xairin."
Xairin smirked. "Well, then you should probably be hunting down my ex-boyfriend before he makes a mess now that he has the power he's always craved."
Ethan shook his head. "Revenge is a slippery slope Xairin. Cale, your ex, has no reason to be enacting revenge on the scale you are."
Xairin rolled his eyes. "Ethan. I promise I will be subtle as can be. I know to make sure whatever I plan on doing, looks like accidents, or make it look like someone else did it. I don't plan on feeding on any of them. I just want to what Interpol failed at. They killed my friend Rory, and raped me, leaving me to die. I owe some payback, so don't get in my way."
"Excuse me?" Ethan said.
Xairin nodded. "You heard me, Ethan. You have been good to me. But now, I can't afford anyone to get in my way right now. So, I am saying this, as, a council member. Do not get in my way."
Ethan put his hand on his shoulder. "Xairin, there is a right way, to do the wrong thing."
Xairin gently brushed his hand aside. "Enthralled watchdogs, check, superhuman training, check, control over my powers, double-check. Oh, and yeah, I don't leave fingerprints, I can turn invisible, I have superhuman strength, walk through walls, yeah, I think I got this."
Ethan grasped his shoulder again. Xairin grabbed his hand. "They killed Rory Ethan. You should have known after that happened; I would be tempted to go all blood-sucking-super-bitch-vigilante on their asses."
"Xairin, just be careful," Ethan said.
Xairin nodded. "Oh, yeah, sure."
"So, are you going to give me some space and let me attempt to reach out to everyone I enthralled or what?"
Ethan shrugged. "If you're going to do this, you need to be closer to the city."
"Why? Because I'm like, a delta and all?"
Ethan nodded. "Yeah."
Xairin smirked. "I'm a vampire, an original vampire, reforged and shit, and oh yeah, I've got fucking Dracula and Lilith genes amping everything about me. I think it will be okay."
Ethan rolled his eyes. "Just get into the city and be closer. Especially if you plan on reaching out to, what? Fifty people?"
"Okay, the city it is," Xairin said. His wings unsheathed through the wing slits in his shirt, and before Ethan could say a word, Xairin's mighty leathery wings flapped powerfully. He was into the air and gone before even an Alpha could catch which direction, he flew off too."
"XAIRIN?!" Ethan yelled.
_____
Xairin flew gracefully up above the clouds where hardly any aircars went. His eyes were glowing, his claws bearing, and his fangs ready. This flight wasn't one of those magical moments for him that awed him. He was on instinct, flying on rage and raw emotion...
He flew quickly and gracefully for several miles as his pointed ears and biosonar led him to where he wanted to go. After a few spins in the air avoiding normal bats, he reached precisely where he wanted to be. He descended almost as quickly as he took off, landing beside Rory's grave. He saw the tombstone, someone had defaced it with green spray paint, painting the word, "Faggot Witch-loving Whore."
Seeing that set of words on Rory's headstone caused his jaw to quiver and tears to stream. The amount of hate in this world was soul smashing. He knew it had to have been one of the protesters to double back afterward.
He had done a fantastic job reigning in his emotions, but he was tired of that. Here, with no one around, he could mourn, and no one was there to whisk him off to something else to distract him. Xairin felt the loss, growing.
Xairin sat down and looked at the spray paint. It caused him to look off to the side. It took him a moment before he looked back at the brown marble headpiece. He looked at the dates, Born January 1st, 2085, died June 22nd, 2118. He traced with his fingertips, over Rory's name. Rory Alexander Winstead. Xairin wept.
He got up and stood there looking up at the sky. "God, if you really are real, and not some Aeonian douche twinkie. Why the fuck do you let things like this even happen?"
Xairin grieved his friend. He knelt down sobbing. Every memory he ever had about Rory came flooding back. Xairin hadn't had the time to really grieve. Seeing the tombstone defaced tonight, it was crushing him. Xairin was at his breaking point. He started yelling out, screaming. His hands gripped the grass as his claws dug in deep. He kept yelling. His human voice transitioned to something else on the thi
rd scream. It didn't sound at all human. "RORY!"
He fell over onto his side and sobbed. "Rory…" he whimpered in a dark guttural voice. "Rory…"
"Why did it have to be you?!" He whimpered in a distorted inhuman voice. "Why you?" He cried again.
Xairin's eyes kept watering, he kept wiping away the tears, but it was useless. He kept sobbing. He pushed himself up off the ground and went over and sat against Rory's headstone. He drew his knees upward and hugged them as he sat there. "Rory." he sniveled out.
Xairin rolled his lips inward to keep them from quivering. He hugged his knees tighter. He sat there just trying to compose himself. It took him a few minutes to calm down.
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