A Vampiric Love Story (manxman)

Vlad & The Family

Eric nervously wrung his hands as he walked down the empty hallway, using most of his willpower not to go into Nick's room before heading to Mark's study.

Eric breathed in deeply, knocking gently, pushing the door open to the study slowly. He saw Mark scribbling away on a piece of paper, a small pile of books and letters on his desk.

Eric slowly walked to the desk, standing a few feet away wondering how and if he should make his presence known.

Mark breathed in deeply, putting his pen down, looking up at Eric.

"Yes?" Mark asked softly, hating that his future mate just pushed him away even though they were going through the same thing.

"I-If you're busy I-I can come back o-or n-not... d-didn't mean to b-bother you," Eric struggled through, his nervousness making his voice shake and for him to stutter.

Mark combed his hand through his hair, sighing once more before standing, arms behind his back, walking in front of his desk.

"I can spare a moment," Mark said stiffly, Eric really seeing a soldier in front of him.

"Look if you need your space I get it, it's fine," Mark mumbled but Eric could see hurt in his eyes, making his heart ache.

"I-I wanted to ap-apologize," Eric wrung his hands again swallowing thickly.

"I've n-never had s-someone like you th-there f-for me and I-I p-pushed you away anyw-way," Eric dropped his gaze to the floor no longer able to look at Mark from the guilt he was feeling.

"Y-You've been s-so nice to m-me a-and I kn-know we n-never officially s-said we-we were d-dating, b-but I wo-would have l-l-liked to have th-thought so," Eric was holding in his tears at this point not noticing that Mark had loosened his stance and took a step towards Eric.

"I-I kn-know you und-understand how I-I f-feel about our s-sons a-and I th-think I kn-know h-how you f-feel to-too. I should have b-been th-there for yo-you inst-instead of try-trying t-to go thr-through this a-alone ca-cause you wer-were alone t-too. I-I'm so so-sorry f-for not being th-there for yo-you a-and I-I'm so-sorry f-for pushing you aw-aw-away. I-I'm n-not goo-good at th-this, s-so I m-meant wh-what I sa-said be-before ab-about n-not being able t-to m-m-make you hap-happy. Th-That's all I wan-wanted to-to sa-ay.  S-Sorry f-for both-bothering y-you a-at w-w-work."

Eric turned quickly, leaving the room, running down the hall and outside to the open stone path that had trees on both sides of it.

He hunched over, hands on his knees feeling himself shake from the tears leaving him silently. He didn't know if his son was alright or even alive for that matter or if Vlad was okay too or not. His heart hurt from failing Mark as a possible boyfriend and for failing Nick as his makeshift Dad.

Eric felt like a complete moron for stuttering his explanation to Mark, his head pounding since he had been crying since he was forced to leave Nick's room. He hadn't been eating much and James was having a hell of a time trying to get Riley to eat too.

Eric was shaking and trying to breathe before gasping hard, being lifted into the air.

He was being held in strong arms, held against a hard chest, said person smelling like chocolate and coffee.

Eric blinked in confusion, looking up at Mark's very blurry face which stilled looked so attractive.

"Moy svezda (my star) shouldn't cry," Mark said softly, looking straight ahead as he carried Eric bridal style back inside to Eric's bedroom since they slept in separate rooms.

"Pretty fast for a human," Mark grumbled, setting Eric on his bed, sitting next to him before wiping his tears and getting some tissues.

"You should wait for me to say something before you run off you know," Mark said gently since he had grabbed a cool wash cloth, dabbing it at Eric's red swollen eyes.