arm around Michael’s waist as he draped his around her
neck. It soon evaporated when Michael winked at him over
her head and mouthed “later.”
It always amused Christian how people were so wil ing
to be led around. These two women agreed to forgo the
movie in favour for a few drinks with two men they had
never met before tonight. Hadn’t anyone ever taught them
about stranger danger? He couldn’t believe they had been
so wil ing to take them back to their flat. The weird thing
was his cock had absolutely no interest in them
whatsoever; it stil lay limp and inactive behind his trousers.
Sitting on one of the couches, Christian ran his hands up
under the miniskirt of one girl. He preferred to think of her
as the girl, and not as Rachel. Acknowledging her name
would make what they were doing seem wrong. This feeling
wasn’t helping his performance any.
His gaze was riveted to Michael on the other couch
across the room. Holy hel , he moved fast — he already had
his girl’s shirt open as she was on his lap, her arms
wrapped around him. Her eyes were closed in pleasure as
Michael suckled her breasts. Christian wasn’t too sure he
liked that, but the look on Michael’s face showed he wasn’t
enjoying it at al , which almost made him burst out laughing.
Chuckling softly, he wondered how the girl would react if
she could see, but she was so caught up in everything she
had her head thrown back and her eyes closed in what
sounded a lot like lust. Now wouldn’t it just spoil the mood if
she could see the frown Michael wore? Secretly he hoped
that she caught Michael out.
It was strange feeding together this way. They had to do
things precisely at the same time so neither girl could warn
the other. Christian kissed the inside of his girl’s thigh,
staying wel and truly away from al her girlie bits—there
was just no way in hel he was going anywhere near there.
As it was she was already starting to pass out from having
had too much to drink. It would certainly make things easier
for him if she was drunk enough not to remember any of
this. He watched as Michael moved his mouth to just below
his girl’s breast. Their eyes locking for a second as they bit
and drank deeply, both stopping as Michael’s girl went limp
in his arms.
Christian felt relieved when Michael final y pushed his girl
onto the couch beside him. Shifting his girl onto the couch
Christian crawled across the floor toward Michael and
slowly slid up his gorgeous body. Leaning in, he licked the
smal trail of blood which had smeared across Michael’s
face. The intensity of the kiss they shared was purely each
of them re-staking their claim upon the other. It lasted a ful
ten minutes before either of them could move, and when
they could they went home.
§ § § §
Nothing had changed. Gypsy was stil tugging on a lock
of Doyle’s hair when they returned. With his head lying back
on her lap Doyle sat on the lounge room floor in front of
where Gypsy was reading a book with Charm. Their dark
heads together in deep discussion.
Michael was alarmed when he realised it was the
missing journal from the attic. Somehow he knew Charm
wasn’t real y reading it—unless, of course, she knew how to
read those little symbols. He wondered how she had gotten
it. Michael leaned his back against the door frame, his
arms loosely holding Christian to him as he watched. They
stayed that way until Charm had dropped the book onto the
coffee table and leaned back against the couch and stared
at them.
“Where did you get the book?” He asked calmly.
“I took it from the attic,” she pointed toward the ceiling.
“What? It never had your names on it.”
“We have been searching the house for it,” Michael said
his arms tightening slightly around Christian.
Blowing him a raspberry, Charm shrugged. “You didn’t
look too hard. I’ve had it for ages.”
“You forgot my burger,” Gypsy said with a frown as she
tugged gently on Doyle’s hair yet again.
“Sorry,” he said.
Her frown turned into a smile and Michael heard
Christian gasp out loud. Michael knew it made her
resemble him even more than she already did.
“I’ve been waiting for you;” Charm said to Michael. “We
need to talk. Our family is growing. The ‘pretend father,’”
she made air quotes with her fingers, “is not happy with
you.” Charm frowned slightly. “I’m getting sick of the damn
dreams changing. You’re changing the way this family lives,
making us more human, more like we used to be. And we
al know he doesn’t want that. Had another dream last night
that he’s going to retaliate against you and it wil hurt.”
Charm held out her hand and touched the journal. “He
doesn’t want you to have this. You have taken too much
from him already.” Shaking her head she added, “I have no
clue what it means, but it has to mean something.” Michael
glared at her and Charm cringed when she realised what
she had revealed in front of Gypsy.
“What the fuck, Charm?” Michael shook his head at her
as he felt Christian tremble within his arms, pressing
himself closer than he had been. Trying to comfort his lover
Michael tightened his embrace. His gaze locked on his
sister. She didn’t seem to be alarmed by what Charm was
saying and he had to wonder why. It worried him slightly,
because he knew if he was in her shoes he would be
crapping his dacks at this conversation. His attention
moved as Doyle sat up and stared at him. Was that fear in
his eyes?
Michael’s gaze drifted back to Gypsy and she winked at
him. “Do you even know who the father is? Whose father
are you talking about anyway?”
“I know who the father is.” As he said the words, he
thought maybe it was the truth. Somehow deep inside, he
had always believed it, ever since he first saw the
photograph. Somehow Sebastian was very much involved
in their siring.
“I’l get Kerr,” Christian said quietly.
Getting up, Doyle added, “I’l help you.”
§ § § §
It took almost an hour for them to track Kerr down. They
al knew Kerr hated getting phone cal s when he hunted, so
Christian and Doyle had to track him by foot. Seriously, the
guy needed to learn to put his phone on silent or something.
Wasting time like this was ridiculous.
After awhile, Charm and Michael fel into silence while
they waited for the others to arrive. Both were locked deep
in their own thoughts. And by the expression on Kerr’s face,
Christian and Doyle had already fil ed him in on the topic of
conversation.
Gypsy now lay on the couch with her head in Charm’s
lap. She had drifted off to sleep while Charm caressed her
temple, her breathing deep, even and content. As they al
gathered in the lounge room he just hoped she didn’t wake
while they talked about al of this.
When everyone had settled Michael began by tel ing
them the story his mother had told Christian and him in the
car. Then he explained how he first found the journal and
the photograph it had contained. He waited as the journal
was passed from hand to hand.
When Gypsy stirred in her sleep Charm caressed her
arm while Doyle moved until he was once again sitting on
the floor in front of where she slept. His head resting on her
shins, her hand against his throat. And again, Michael had
the urge to growl at them both and pul them apart.
Getting his thoughts back under control Michael went on.
No one spoke as Michael explained his theory to them
about Christian being the key to the whole business. Taking
a deep breath, he confessed how he hadn’t real y worked it
al out, though he did go into details as he told them al
about his very vivid dreams and what he thought they
meant.
Somewhere during the tel ing Christian had claimed his
hand and was refusing to let it go. And though he didn’t
want to upset Charm, Michael told them everything she had
ever told him.
Everyone took their turns at tel ing their stories, and
when it was done the house on Ambrose Street was silent
and Gypsy had slept through it al . Thank God.
§ § § §
A couple of days later, Michael came to realise Christian
had claimed the journal because he was the only one that
kind of knew some of the runic symbols. In his own way
Christian had taken it upon himself to try and decipher it,
not that he had ended up spending much time on it as they
seemed to always be distracted by each other.
Only yesterday the whole family had discussed and
agreed that from now on they would need go out as a
group. The whole “safety in numbers” thing had now
become a necessity. The only time it would change would
be when Gypsy was staying at the house.
Everyone wondered about who the next would be to join
them, as they had yet to dream of anyone new. It was
harder than it seemed because his sister was a bloody
snoop when she thought she was missing out on something
important.
The dreams were now the most important things in their
lives and everything they dreamt was now reported to the
group no matter how crazy it sounded. And Michael stil
couldn’t get over just how crazy some of the dreams had
gotten, especial y the ones about the guy who was
supposed to be the spitting image of him. Those dreams
were the ones that freaked him out the most.
It was almost a relief when his parents came for Gypsy
on the fol owing Monday. Charm made his parents promise
they would come and visit again soon, tel ing Gypsy to
come back whenever she wanted to.
In the hour before his family was going to leave, Gypsy
was free with her hugs and kisses. She gave them out
impartial y to whoever seemed to be near her. By the time
they left, Doyle and Christian had gotten more than a few,
which didn’t impress Michael one bit. What the hel was his
sister playing at?
Laughter tumbled out of Michael and Gypsy as their dad
fel in love with Drack, which he had told them wasn’t a baby
owl at al but was a frog mouth, commonly known as the
mopoke, and was related to the nightjar species. How the
hel did he even know that? With a huge sigh of relief from
Kerr, his dad wil ingly accepted responsibility for the bundle
of feathers while his mother rol ed her eyes in dismay.
Michael snuggled against Christian’s side as mother also
talked with Kerr about coming around to inspect the attic in
about a month’s time, depending on her work
commitments, and promised to tel them any stories about
the house she could remember. Love fil ed him as Michael
hugged his parents tightly as they final y made a move to
leave, and he promised them both this time he would stay
in touch and not just drop out of their lives.
Earlier, Michael had taken Gypsy aside to make sure
she understood not to tel their parents too much of what
she had seen and heard in case they worried. She had
hugged him and told him they were al bloody strange, but
she loved them al anyway. Punching his arm she told him
she would come to stay again soon and he didn’t complain
as she smothered his face in kisses. It was times like this
he almost forgot that they were twenty-two. Somehow the
more affectionate she was, the faster he tumbled back into
their teen years, when she had ruled their worlds.
“I love you Mikey, so no more being a dumbarse,” she
said as they hugged one last time. “I can’t lose you again.”
“I promise,” he mumbled into her hair.
Standing at the front window Michael watched his family
drive away. They hadn’t even turned the corner and already
he missed them but was glad they would not be there for
the next part of the discussion.
As Michael walked back over and col apsed on the
couch beside Christian, their talk turned to what was
coming next. They were just deciding to test the theories
surrounding the myth of the vampire world and picking
which theories they should test first. Since Michael and
during daytime in the rain without bursting into flames, this
would make them seem more human and give them al a
greater sense of freedom. Funnily, Michael got the feeling
that their discovery kind of shocked them more than excited
them.
They listened as Kerr talked about how Michael and
Christian had also discovered they could interact social y
with humans without wanting to rip their throats out.
Michael’s family was testimony to that. Even though it had
caused some controversy in the beginning they had also
found out they didn’t need to kil their prey to feed, even
though for some it was accidental. Sometimes it was hard
to satiate the thirst. It stunned Michael beyond belief when
Kerr had held out his hand and apologised for the way he
had treated Michael.
§ § § §
Later, as Christian and Michael lay in bed holding each
other, they discussed the dying premonition, or whatever
the hel the dreams had suggested was going to happen. It
tore at Christian’s heart as he begged Michael not to do it,
while Michael comforted him and said he would have to. It
was a discussion which lasted most of the day and by the
end of it al he stil hadn’t convinced Michael to change his
mind.
“Please! Can’t you see this is what he wants? He wants
you to die. He wants to destroy you himself.”
“You’re wrong,” Michael kissed him lightly on the
forehead and it frustrated Christian to
no end. “Sebastian
can’t kil me himself. He needs you to do it,” Michael said
as the thought seemed to click into place in the puzzle his
mind had become.
“That’s it!” Michael sat up quickly. “Sebastian said he
made you what you are and he would destroy you for
making me.” He turned to face Christian, placed the palms
of his hands on either side of Christian’s face, and stared
into his eyes. “He can’t kil me. That’s why he needs you to
do it. This is why he has given me the choice — either he
kil s you or I save you by al owing you to kil me.”
Christian’s thoughts raced through his head as he
wondered if the creators could only kil their own creations
and not anyone else’s. Was this what Michael was trying to
say?
“I don’t understand.” Christian felt his tears starting to
overflow. “If we can only kil our own creations then how wil
we defeat him? How wil we win?” Nothing was making
sense.
“We already have.” Michael crowed in delight, kissing
Christian hungrily, before he could continue. “You’re mine! ”
He kissed him again. “We gave ourselves to each other
completely. Body, heart and soul, we belong to each other.”
This time his kiss was gentle, loving. “Charm was right
about one thing: you’l do anything for the ones you love, al
but one thing. If you love me anywhere near as much as I
love you,” Michael’s next kiss was lingering, “then you’l
never be able to kil me.”
“Never!” Christian said throatily. “Charm asked if I would
tel him no?” Christian stiffened. “Wil I be one of the ones
who die?”
“You’re mine. I won’t let you die.” Michael brought
Christian into his embrace, “I’l find a way to stop him. He
can never have you back. You gave yourself to me.”
Christian held tight to Michael and prayed Michael was
right.
“I’m yours,” Christian agreed. “I’l always be yours.” He
snuggled deeper into Michael’s arms. Right now he
needed only Michael.
Gently caressing his lover’s back, Michael pul ed him
closer. He never wanted this moment to end, but he knew
they would have to tel the others about what they had
discovered. His thoughts drifted to what the others must
think of them as a couple. “Christian, do you think the others