Dark Temptations

by Eric Alan Williams

  “Humans can be turned, immortals can't.” She said. “I just want you to be safe and I don’t want to see you getting hurt. Yes, you are my boss, but you are also my best friend. I’m just looking out for you.” She said.

  “I want to try dating a vampire Sam. I want to find love now that I’m no longer on August’s fucking leash, alright?”

  Sam stood up. “Fine, but if this vampire breaks your heart, I don’t care if he is a prince, I am hunting his royal ass down, got it?”

  Jason laughed. “Fine.”

  Sam pointed at him. “And you need to get that alpha dick of yours under control. Don’t have sex with him Jason until he says you two are dating. I mean it. Don’t put yourself into a position where you end up bonding. You’re not a Beta anymore, remember that.”

  Brittney Ugo came walking in. She was covered in break dust, she was scoffing at Sam, and then looked at Jason. “Jason’ you don't worry about who you bond with. If you bond with a vampire, a wolf, a human, or hell, even a mer or gargoyle like Macy over at Macy’s groceries did. You being happy is all that matters. Sure be careful, and make sure you don't get too excited in the bed, because I know how some of you gay guys can be, date today and hit the bed together that night, so try and resist that temptation will you?”

  Jason nodded. “I will try my best.”

  Brittney smiled. “Good, then Sam, you get that bike ready, and I will take Jason back to his house to help him pick out what to wear.”

  Sam scoffed. “Excuse me?”

  Brittney rolled her eyes. “Sam, you will have him dressing like a biker or a country hick and you and I both know it!” Brittney smiled, batting her eyes, “This wolf is off to the city…”

  Chapter 6.3

  Xairin had finished shopping and was carrying several tan cloth bags, each almost a leg’s length, that had a bat emblem on them. He got a few interesting looks, some concerned looks, and those that just made the young vampire chuckle while he made his way through the mall. He made it back to the jeep, loaded his bags in the back and the back seat and flew off. Xairin decided he would land the hover jeep at The Haze and sit in the parking lot so he could get a view of the river. Before doing so, he flew into a fly-thru at McDonald's. As his jeep hovered, he made it to the ordering sign. "Can I take your order?" A man's voice asked.

  Xairin's eyes scanned the ordering board. Thankfully there was a vampire option at this one. "Yeah, can I get four large pigs' blood in a carrying try, please?"

  "Will there be anything else?" The man's voice asked.

  "No, that's it."

  The sign lit up with his total. "That will be twenty-two sixty at the first window." The young man's voice said as the sign displayed his currency payment amount.

  After paying, Xairin flew to The Haze. He saw a few parking spaces taken. One of which was Topher's red charger, the others must have been staff. Xairin wasn't about to go in, he just wanted to park by the river and attempt to reach out to his Thralls.

  He sat there for a moment, looking across the river from the roped off parking lot and thought about the bat that bit him. He thought about that night he was bitten by a ghoul and then battling his way into the ruins. He thought about Tobias for a moment, recalling the spat he had with the human. Xairin was processing a lot.

  "Okay, let's do this!" He said after his trip down memory lane.

  Xairin adjusted the seat so he could sit back.

  Reaching out to the fourteenth thrall made that night took little effort at all. Gary Elvik was a beautician working in Bastion City Tower, a prestigious mall with outlets that typically most people living here couldn't afford unless you were in the top ten percentile of those with six-figure incomes. Gary was a lean man with a hard part, parting his brown hair. He was in the middle of doing a color when he suddenly became lightheaded. The pull he got from him was obvious. After some programing, Xairin moved on.

  Reaching out to number fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and nineteen, gave Xairin nothing in particular other than five people who were always on the subway and worked mundane jobs in retail. About the only thing, he was going to get was lookouts.

  Xairin felt it wise to drink half of one of the large blood cups he had ordered. Once he felt a little stronger, he reached out to number twenty, Uric Hamburg.

  Uric Hamburg was an enforcer working for Interpol, a beat cop essentially. He was parked in his black unmarked cruiser looking for people speeding along the roadways when the cleanly shaven man, with a shaved blond head, felt lightheaded. He literally felt like he was going to pass out.

  Uric didn't offer Xairin anything new in weapons, nor in any hand to hand combat skills. What he did offer, was eyes and ears and a mind to relay information from Interpol. As luck would have it, he had been one of the officers on a few scenes when some of the victims from Xairin's case had turned up. This was useful. Probing the young hulky man's mind, Xairin found a few nimble targets that Uric had helped apprehend. One, in particular, liked to snatch purses around Opal park. Hander Kole's face entered Xairin's mind. At least he knew of someone he could be looking for.

  "Hander Kole, huh? That's useful." Xairin said as he took another sip, drawing blood up through the clear straw from his plastic cup.

  Xairin leaned back and focused. He reached out again.

  Brad Boston was an athletics coach, a personal trainer working with a client. Brad was a good-looking man, handsome face, a body developed, but not over the top. He was pageant material, but not bodybuilding, just handsome all the way around. He started scratching his blond hair when the pull started. It made his head itch. Then he had to sit down really fast. Unlike Chadwick Harper, Brad had more to offer. The man competed on the side. He was a hoverboard racer, which gave Xairin the necessary skills to ride a hoverboard. Another trait he picked up from Brad was snowboarding. At least Xairin could have fun with that. Like the others, he programmed him to be a watchdog for the face he was hunting.

  There was a pounding on the glass window to his left.

  Startled, Xairin instantly withdrew from Brad's mind and looked to his left. Standing there, was Topher, dressed in a white muscle shirt, and black shorts. He had been working out apparently. Xairin rolled the window down.

  "Hey?"

  Topher gave him the look. "New jeep? And you're out here parking without coming in to say hello and show off the new ride?"

  Xairin frowned. "I figured you were busy; I was just chilling here enjoying the view of the river."

  Topher rolled his eyes. "So, are you going to show off your new jeep or what?"

  Xairin got out and leaned up against it. "It's more of a company car."

  Now Topher had to know. "A company car? Sentinels get issued a fine ass vehicle like this?"

  Xairin shrugged. "Maybe we should go inside Toph, I think, there are some things I need to tell you."

  Three hours later, Topher sat there not sure what to even say. Xairin had decided to tell him everything, everything. He left no secret out, no detail laying on the sidelines. Topher was truly at a loss for words. The only thing he was happy about was the fact that Xairin had a date.

  Topher sat there at his desk in his office looking at Xairin with a frown on his face, and body posture that told the tales of uncertainty. Xairin sat waiting patiently. "Well, what do you think?"

  Topher took a deep breath. He honestly didn't know where to start, so he picked something easy. "Should I start calling you Prince Thunder?"

  Xairin shook his head. "Has a great ring to it, but no, I'm still the same Xairin, just, well, more details about me, I guess."

  "Being the heir to basically the most badass vampires in all of written mythology is a pretty big deal Xairbear," Topher said cautiously.

  Topher just slumped back. "I have to admit, I was expecting you to tell me you got promoted or something, but finding out all of this, I gotta say this is a lot to swallow bro."

  "What do you think?" Xairin asked.

  Topher scoffed. "Well first of
f, alien invaders, you planning on a killing spree, and yeah, spiking drinks with your blood, I mean, that's some pretty shady shit bro."

  Xairin stood up and paced. "I do feel bad about it; honestly, I do. I just didn't know of any other way to try and find those assholes. I mean, they hurt me Toph, they almost killed me had it not been for that bat. And after what they did to Rory?" He looked at Topher. "If you were in my shoes, my exact shoes, what would you do?"

  Topher bit his lip for a moment. "I honestly don't know what I would do, Xairin. I don't know, maybe the same thing. I just never thought about killing anyone before, let alone six people."

  Xairin went back to pacing. "Interpol can't find them Toph. They literally haven't done jack shit."

  "Have you thought about maybe, working with them instead of going all, I don't know, killer-batman on these guys?"

  "Topher, they literally have a thrope in custody that probably killed one of these assholes, because there haven't been any murders since that wereleopard saved his boyfriend. Interpol is just twiddling thumbs."

  Topher looked at Xairin. "To be fair, they were hindered by that virus that was uploaded to the mainframe."

  Xairin put his hands on Topher's desk. "That's just it, Toph, what if there are more than six of these guys? What if one of them is Interpol? It would be the best explanation for why things are going so fucking slow? I swear man, I have a feeling there is far more to this than what's being told, or even found out yet."

  Xairin roared. “I heard my dad talk about dirty Agents all the time when I was a kid. What if?”

  Topher nodded. “I suppose it is possible.”

  Xairin leaned forward. "I hated taking things out on Ezra after Rory's murder, but something feels, elusive to me now. Like there is a much bigger picture. Why so many murders? Why the heads? Why the dismemberment? Why gay sensitives? Why people that are sensitive friendly? I mean, I get it, my dad used to tell me all the time about how prejudice people were when sensitives first emerged and how he had to live in a camp until they thought it was safe to release them all. I get it, especially since pretty much the same thing happened to me now that I'm a pureblood. But something about all of this just feels bigger than just a murder spree."

  Topher nodded. "Yeah, an alien invasion by the Cthulhu, that's the bigger picture. You need to tell your council this Xairin so that they can tell the Global Alliance."

  Xairin stood back and put his hands up. "I plan on doing that, Toph, but I don't think it is as pressing as dealing with the people that murdered Rory."

  Topher scoffed. "Look, I miss Rory too. What happened to him, was fucked up on so many different levels, but you need to tell them about the Cthulhu."

  Xairin did a hand talking gesture. "Topher, those seven comets I saw them building, were made thousands of years ago bro. I think we have some time."

  Topher sat there simmering. "Xairin, maybe, and maybe not."

  Xairin smirked. "Besides, for all we know, those slug looking things, the Golgen, and those Xenomorph looking bug people the Tak, and probably the Nos survivors probably already whipped the Cthulhu's asses for all we know." Xairin looked at him sternly.

  Topher took a deep breath. Topher loved Xairin, like a brother. Given this overload of information, while Topher agreed, something needed to be done about the people hurting the gay community's sensitives, Topher felt a bigger threat loomed and needed to convince Xairin to at least consider making the world aware, or at least the world leaders, and he had the chance to do that since Xairin was part of a council that now had political ties to the Global Alliance. Topher stood up and looked at Xairin. "The Cthulhu needs to be addressed Xairin. They are a threat, a galactic weed that has needed to be plucked out of existence for longer than you know."

  "Huh?" Xairin asked. Topher seemed a bit off. "What do you mean? Longer than I know? I'm the one having fucking blood memories of an alien named Yamug that as far as I can tell lived thousands of years ago."

  Topher sighed. "Okay, I have pretty much told you every secret I have ever had, but one…"

  Xairin cocked his head. "Topher? What are you talking about, man?"

  Topher closed his eyes. "I'm talking about Aliens Xairin."

  Topher was known to be a little eccentric at times, and occasionally, he loved the limelight, but this had Xairin laughing. "Aliens? Yeah, aliens made the Aeon Strain. I'm not worried about them right now, I am worried about some human scumbags that need to be turned into bloody confetti."

  Topher stood up placed his hands on the desk as he leaned forward and started glowing. His skin lit up with pink light and a second later, wings, wings much like that of a honeybee, sprouted from his back, there were two sets of wings, a larger pair and a smaller pair on each side of his shoulders. He hovered off the ground. Xairin gasped and fell to the floor. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

  Topher landed back on the wooden floor. His skin stopped glowing, and his insect-like wings absorbed back into his body.

  "What the hell kind of Immortal are you?" Xairin asked.

  Topher came around the back of his desk and set on the front of it. "Xairin, little buddy, I am not an immortal. I am not an Immortium or an Aeonian. I'm an alien dude, I'm a Bori." Topher scoffed, "well, half bori, my mother was a Bori, and my dad was human."

  Xairin was fucking speechless!

  Topher explained. "Fairies? The Fae? Humans made those words up. We call ourselves the Bori. We are aliens that fled a galaxy nearly two thousand years ago, thanks to the Cthulhu."

  Xairin scoffed. "You're a fucking fairy?"

  Topher rolled his eyes. "Bori. humans made up the fairy word, and as I said, I'm only half bori."

  Topher looked at him. "Bori are just like humans, we age slower, well a full Bori does, as for me, I might be lucky to make it to somewhere around two hundred or so, but yeah. Our race ended up on earth some two thousand years ago, the few of my ancestors that escaped an attack on my ancestor's home world. My mother told me all the stories about what had been passed down. It was Cthulhu."

  "How come I never picked up on you being, well, an alien?" Xairin asked.

  Topher shrugged. "We Bori are immune to telepathy, and since I'm half bori, I can mask my scent with my human side."

  "And that pink glowy thing you were doing?" Xairin asked.

  Topher grinned. "You know how lightning bugs can light up?"

  Xairin nodded.

  "The same biology basically. My ancestors lived in caves. We have bio-illuminance, and we can light up when we want. We can teleport also. When humans started hunting my species, we started shifting between the planes, much like you Immortium can slip."

  Xairin stood up. "So, all this time, you've been hiding the fact that you're an alien?"

  "Half alien, and yeah. I don't want to live the rest of my life in area-51 or some crazy crap like that. I figured since you have your blood memories about alien races, I could come out of the galactic closet with you."

  Xairin frowned. "Well, we know that the Aeon Strain was alien in the first place, so I guess I should have figured aliens have been on earth before."

  Topher nodded. "My mom used to tell me stories about how the Bori were miners, basically bioengineered by some other race and rose up against their creators. We were a slave race, designed to mine the darkest depths for some other species. We fought back, took a planet for ourselves, and for a hundred generations, lived in peace until the Cthulhu showed up and almost annihilated all of us. My mom said only about a couple hundred of them made it out, teleporting across several different galaxies until they found, well, earth."

  "So, why not hide with the other Bori? Also, you said you guys can slip between the planes?"

  Topher shrugged. "Are you familiar with multidimensional theory?"

  Xairin shook his head.

  "The Astral plane is vast, having layers, which I'm sure you already know. In some of these layers, there are other versions of this Universe, alternate dimensions if you will. Some of us have been hiding in th
em. There is one that basically nothing existed in. The earth there never evolved humans in that dimensional version. It's where most of us ended up. While my family traveled to this one."

  Xairin was comprehending it. "So why not stay with the one where humans never evolved? Why not just stay there?"

  Topher shrugged. "My mom liked humans, so did several Bori. Since our biological diversity was compromised by the Cthulhu, we had to breed with another race to prevent inbreeding man. We do travel back on occasion. We call it Earth-19."

  "Standing for a numerical count of how many dimensional versions there are of the earth?" Xairin asked.

  Topher nodded. "As far as we can tell, there are just as many dimensions of alternate galaxies, as there are layers of the Astral plane. Our guess was when the big bang happened, it created far more than just this dimension, and the astral plane, but everything else."