Smoke Dance

by Samantha Cayto

  The good news was that Harry was on his way, heading west as Will went east. They were minutes away from the Natick exit, where they’d agreed to meet. The doctor had plasma and every type of blood to aide Elliot in his immediate needs. After that? Well, it didn’t bear thinking about. Will had no idea what they were going to do. Fortunately, that decision was above his pay grade, although he had his own problem to solve.

  He glanced in the rearview mirror and looked his quandary right in the eyes. Damien sat in the back of the SUV, holding a blanket-wrapped Elliot in his arms. His lover had said little after the big reveal, only enough to agree to the plan about taking Elliot quickly and silently out of the compound. He hadn’t blinked when Will had leaped over the fence while carrying Elliot, as if the whole blood-licking event had set his bar for ‘whoa’ to a very high level. But when Will had started to set Elliot down to go back for Damien, the human had thwarted his efforts by climbing over the fence. His nimbleness and raw strength was impressive for a human his size. Will took pride in his lover’s abilities, although there was no guaranteeing that he still had the right to think of Damien in those terms.

  As a form of silent rejection, that simple act of escaping unaided by Will had cut deep. So also had Damien’s jerking his scraped palm away from Will’s grasp. The boy had wiped his hand against his jeans rather than let Will lick the abrasion closed. Damien’s reaction to learning Will’s true nature wasn’t a surprise. It had been Will’s fear all along. Perhaps there would have been no way to make that big reveal and have it go all right.

  In the heat of the moment of trying to save Elliot’s life, the information dump had been too great a shock to Damien. That had been especially true, given that Will hadn’t been able to keep his fangs from descending. Much like his dick, the damn things had minds of their own. Despite the medical emergency, all his instincts had reacted to blood on his lips and tongue. His fangs had naturally thought there was a party to be had. There had been no hiding his nature. Of course, Damien thought he was a vampire, which was bad enough. How much worse would this get once he learned the full truth?

  The one bright spot was that Damien didn’t look away. He stared back at Will with a steady gaze. His thoughts and feelings were impossible to read in those brief moments when their eyes locked. Will counted that as a small win. At least there was no obvious fear or disgust. That might be down to shock. Will hoped not. There was nothing to be done about it at the moment in any event. He returned his attention to the road, because driving was all he could do of any use.

  Elliot whimpered, incoherent words passing his lips. That was hopefully a good sign. The kid wasn’t in a coma, it seemed. He hadn’t lost a lot of blood by Will’s estimation. Damien had come back in time and had done the right thing by texting him. He’d been in the process of leaping over the fence to leave. The sound of the text coming in had been enough to have him twirl mid-jump and race to the building where he knew his lover would be. He’d read the text on the fly, although its brevity had made him more worried, not less. He was a little ashamed that when he’d seen that it was Elliot, not Damien in distress, he’d been relieved. Grateful. A living Damien who hated him was infinitely preferable to the alternative.

  Damien murmured reassurances to his friend. “We’re nearly there. Help is on its way. You’re going to be fine.”

  “No, no, no,” Elliot whined.

  Yeah, for someone who’d attempted suicide, Damien’s words were probably not that reassuring. Jesus, what had led the boy to take such drastic steps? Will answered his own question—that fucked-up place. Even if Damien’s theories about what Warren was up to with Elliot were wrong, therapy of the kind they promised in their brochures was sufficient to send a sensitive person over the edge.

  Conversion didn’t work because sexual orientation in humans was not a choice. This outcome wasn’t surprising. The inevitable failure of the program would lead the boy to blame himself. He was the defective because he couldn’t change instead of the process being a giant lie from the beginning.

  “How much longer?” Damien’s strained question had been directed at Will.

  Looking at him again in the rearview mirror, Will said, “Five minutes.”

  That wasn’t a reassuring underestimate, either. The exit loomed in the near distance. Will crossed lanes over to the right and picked up speed. There was very little traffic and these machines were built with humans’ slower reflexes in mind. Driving them was child’s play. He took the exit, tires squealing as he rounded the curve and merged onto the local road. The medical van that Harry had tricked out with brilliant foresight sat in the dark far back of the deserted parking lot of a big-box store. Will pulled up beside it and stood on the brakes.

  Emil was the first to come out of the van. Good call. Damien knew him best and hopefully trusted him, despite the obvious point that Emil was the same creature as Will. Harry was hot on his heels while Val stayed in the driver’s seat, undoubtedly keeping watch. As much as he wanted to keep tabs on Damien, Will did the same. The spot wasn’t that remote and there were always police patrolling the area. Too bad Duncan wasn’t with them. The cop could talk their way out of any awkward situation.

  “We’re going to take good care of your friend,” Emil was reassuring Damien.

  “Is Harry really a doctor?” Damien barked out the question in a skeptical and accusatory tone that made Will wince. He’d given fair warning to his crewmates about what Damien did and did not know, species-wise. Harry’s medical credentials hadn’t been raised, but it had been a fair question.

  “I am,” Harry confirmed. “I know how to take care of a human. I promise you that.”

  Damien didn’t say anything more. Will caught their movements out of the corner of his eye. They transferred Elliot’s still-limp form from the SUV to the van. Damien scrambled out after them. He paused outside and leaned over the front seat. Will whipped his head around to look straight at him. It was hard. He was so sure he’d see hate there emphasized with an I don’t want to ever see you again, monster! That was not what greeted him. Damien’s expression was hard to read, but there seemed to be a lot of conflict in there.

  “I have to go with Elliot. When he wakes up, he’ll need to see a familiar face.” Damien swallowed audibly. “I don’t want him to be afraid.”

  It took a moment for Will’s brain to accept that the words he’d been expecting weren’t the ones he got. Was the human explaining his choice because he thought that the alternative was to stay in the SUV with Will? Did Damien even consider that a choice? Will expected he would welcome any chance to get away from him. Then again, no matter what, the boy had to ride with monsters. What difference did it make which one? Yet, he was explaining his decision as if he wanted Will to understand.

  So, Will nodded and said, “I get it. I’ll, ah, see you soon.”

  Damien also nodded before shutting the door and climbing into the back of the van. Val took off with a spray of gravel. When the van cleared its spot, Emil was left standing there. He came over and got into the passenger’s side.

  “I figured you could use the company.”

  Putting the SUV into Drive, Will said, “Don’t you want to be with Damien? He’s closest to you and could use the emotional support.”

  “I’m not the one he’s closest to and I’m not sure how much comfort any of our kind would be for him at the moment. He’s in shock, I expect, but his worry for his friend is probably holding his meltdown at bay. For now, Harry is the only one who can give him any reassurances. I can’t even give him answers, frankly. There was no time to discuss any of this with Alex beyond the immediate need to get this kid medical care. I’m sure he’d agree, though, that whatever explanation has to be given, it’s your right and responsibility.”

  Will pulled out onto the road, heading toward the Pike again. It was the fastest way to get to Boston. The van was already a dot in the distance. “When did you get to be so smart?”

  Emil flashed a grin. “I’ve
been through this particular shitshow before.”

  “Right, with Jase.”

  “Yup. Humans are surprisingly resilient. Damien loves you. He’ll adapt to this new reality.”

  Will did a double-take. “You can’t know that—the ‘his loving me’ thing. I only heard from him tonight that he was falling in love with me. That’s ‘falling’ not ‘fallen’, and that was when he thought I was human. Whatever he felt then is surely gone, now that he knows what I really am, except he thinks I’m some mythical creature. He doesn’t even know my true nature.” He barked out a laugh. “Once Elliot’s safe, Damien is going to make like the Roadrunner.”

  Emil was quiet for a few seconds, then said, “My mistake. I thought you loved him too.”

  Will sputtered. “I do! That’s what makes this whole thing suck at a tsunami level. He’s not merely one more human that might try to out us. He’s become central to my life. After losing Luuk, I thought that was it—no more love, no more sex. It was all about raising my daughter, the Queen. Then Damien got under my skin, spreading through my body like bacteria that I was helpless to fight off.”

  “Wow. Here’s a little advice, Willem. Never express your love for the boy in those terms to him. It’s not exactly Hallmark-worthy.”

  Will barked out a laugh. “Yeah, no kidding. I make it sound like I resent him, and maybe part of me does. Along with the love is a terror that has me by the balls. I don’t think I could survive losing another human lover like I did Luuk. I know now that my blood is insufficient to keep him healthy.”

  “That was an anomaly, though, surely. Have you spoken with Harry about it? A changed human shouldn’t have been susceptible to cancer. It was a fluke, had to be.”

  Will was already shaking his head, clenching his fingers around the steering wheel in a death grip, all his fear and guilt vomited out of him. “But it wasn’t. It’s my blood, my genetics that did it—and can do it again. I never changed him—not completely, perhaps not at all. There was no autopsy or anything.”

  “Annika.”

  “I gave birth to her!” He pounded the wheel with one palm and his breath wheezed out of him. He struggled to rein in his emotions. Losing his shit wasn’t going to help anything or anyone, Damien included. He took in deep breaths and let them out slowly. Emil, bless him, said nothing, merely sat there until he was ready to speak again.

  “It took nearly a thousand years, but our species’ survival mechanisms finally kicked in. I have no idea if feeding Luuk my blood was a factor at all, and I didn’t realize what was happening to my own body, if you can believe that.”

  He grimaced. “No, that’s not true. I did feel the changes and ignored them. So long as my masculine traits remained visible, it was easy to pretend that my insides didn’t feel like they were being churned. As it was, it took me a couple of months before I faced reality.” He barked out another laugh. “I actually thought I was putting on weight and started running to get rid of my belly.

  “It was Annika all along, growing inside me, not that I knew I carried the Queen. I assumed it was a boy and was terrified when Luuk handed me a baby girl. I was frightened that Alex would react badly to my change and her existence.” He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “That he might kill me and my child to stop the spread of our kind.”

  Emil tsked. “How could you think such a thing about him?”

  “How could I not?” he countered. “He’d been battling Dracul with a single-minded determination for centuries to keep humans safe from our domination. My changing was reason enough to worry. When I birthed Annika, I went into survival mode. A Queen poses more risk to the humans than Dracul ever could. Despite her being a hybrid, we have to assume that she could birth hundreds more offspring from the crewmembers left alive.”

  All this had been the unspoken truth for months. When he realized he couldn’t keep Annika a secret anymore, that she herself wouldn’t permit it, he’d all but pleaded with Alex in MacLerie’s castle to trust him to prevent Annika from getting out of hand. ‘She’s a hybrid, Alex, not a full queen. And she listens to me, has never given me any worries. She’s not a danger to this world, Alex. I swear she isn’t.’ It had been the truth followed by a series of lies. He had no idea what she would do now that her maturity was nearly upon them. And he knew with certainty that his influence was on the wane.

  “Alex is a good man,” he said quietly. “I looked in his eyes and saw that he didn’t have the heart to destroy her. Not then. She’s growing, though, faster than I expected. Time has nearly run out.” He glanced at his friend. “I don’t know how this is all going to end, and loving Damien is just one more complication. Unless I’m very careful, I know that he will impregnate me the same way Luuk did. Between us, Annika and I may have the capability of populating this world with queens. That makes us more dangerous than the H-bomb.”

  They drove in more silence until Will exited off the highway in Boston.

  “I expect,” Emil said finally, “that Alex has worked this out already. He’s the smartest drone I’ve ever met, and now that you say it, it all seems obvious that you birthed Annika. I’m frankly embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself.” He turned to look at Will directly. “Every one of us loves Annika. She is our Queen, but we would love her, no matter what. We will not hurt her. I promise.”

  Will made himself shoot his friend a reassuring smile. It was hard, because while he wanted to believe him and he didn’t question his sincerity, he also knew that under the right circumstances, anyone could justify doing anything. And he very much suspected that his adorable little girl was going to push them all to their limits.

  Chapter Nine

  “He’s sleeping normally now.”

  Damien made himself look at Harry. It was hard, given what he knew about him, about all of them. “Thank you.”

  Elliot still looked way too pale against the oddly black pillowcase. They’d been brought to a medical suite on the top floor of the family’s building. Damien had never seen any part of it other than the open living area—and Will’s bedroom, of course—and was surprised to learn how much of a fortress the place really was.

  They could survive a nuclear war here.

  He’d been allowed to stick by Elliot’s side during his care, which had involved a blood transfusion to replace what had been lost. It wasn’t surprising to see that they had a supply of it in all types handy. Vampires needed it to survive, after all. And didn’t modern takes on the tale show ‘good’ ones using blood banks instead of sucking humans dry?

  Harry interrupted his thoughts. “He’s safe here. You both are. I’ll be in my office. If you need me, please press that red button.” He pointed to the same kind of device for calling nurses that one could find in any hospital bed.

  Not trusting his voice to say more, Damien simply nodded. The chair he sat in was wide and comfortable. He leaned forward, however, in order to take Elliot’s hand in his own. He wanted the boy to know, even in sleep, that he wasn’t alone. It wasn’t a sufficient distraction to keep Damien from thinking of Will, of how vulnerable he’d been each time they’d made love. And he thought of those times in that way. It wasn’t only fucking. He knew the difference, despite never having fallen for another man. Sex with Will had felt different than any other experience in his life, because there had been feelings involved right from the beginning.

  He instinctively put his free hand on his neck. Had Will ever sucked his blood? He didn’t think so, unless vampires really did have the ability to erase memories. There was no scar there or any kind of mark. From what he’d seen of Elliot’s wrist, Will’s saliva had taken care of the worst of it, but Harry had still used butterfly bandages to bind the cuts more tightly. Surely there would be some remnants if Will had pierced Damien’s jugular.

  “I never fed off you.”

  Damien jerked in surprised and turned to see Will standing a few feet away on the opposite side of the bed. God, they’re fast and quiet.

  “It requires
consent. At least, that’s how Alex and the rest of us have chosen to conduct ourselves.”

  Damien knew he should be afraid, and yet somehow he couldn’t quite work up that emotion. He was mad, yes, because he’d deserved to know such fundamental information about his lover. He felt not so much betrayed as disrespected.

  “You should have trusted me with the truth,” he found himself saying, quietly because he didn’t want to disturb Elliot.

  Will nodded. “Yes, although it wasn’t my secret to tell without permission.” He pulled up another chair and sat so that they were speaking across Elliot’s limp body. “I really should have resisted getting involved with you at all.”

  Those words stung. “I don’t think you get to resent this situation. I’m the injured party here.”

  Will looked surprised. “I agree. I merely meant that I shouldn’t have put you in this position. I’m sure it’s frightening and confusing…”

  “I’m more pissed than anything else. Not as much as I could be, though, given that you saved Elliot’s life. Thank you for that,” he added more primly that he’d intended. He sounded like a prat.

  “Helping humans has been our mission for a very long time.” He seemed tired, in more than a physical way.

  “How many years is in a ‘long time’?”

  Will hesitated before answering, making Damien believe that he would lie. If he did, it was a whopper and the complete opposite of what he expected. “A thousand years.”

  Damien sat with his mouth open for a few seconds before closing it and swallowing past his heart, which had become lodged in his throat. “Seriously?” he croaked out. “Vampires live that long?”