Chapter One (Adam)
*Note: Sweet Revenge comes before this :O
There were several reasons why vampires didn't make good boyfriends.
One of them was the obvious part. They had fangs. They drank blood. If you were human, all they wanted to do was plant those fangs right into your throat and suck you dry.
The other ones depended on what vampire you fell in love with. Me? I fell in love with a tempermental vampire, a host to a demonic parasite that lived inside his brain and gave him psychic powers, like visions, astral walks, and occasionally, he'd hit me in the face with a pillow even though he was halfway across the room and there was no pillow near him.
But despite all the reasons that dating a vampire, this vampire in particular, was dangerous... It was like trying to resist double fudge ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles. You know it's bad for you. It could probably lead to diabetes or any number of health problems, even death. Yet, you can't help, but be drawn to it.
Julian Alexander Grey was my double fudge ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles.
And he took every chance he could to remind me of that. Be it in the kitchen while I was trying to make me, the only human in the house, something to eat, or showering for the next day, or just lying in bed at night. The guy would climb on top of me and flash those fangs at me in a way that would scare any normal human away. To me, it only turned me on and made me want to pull him underneath of me and take him all night long.
It was just kind of hard with his parents in the next room, his brother and brother-in-law across the hallway, and an ex-terrorist and his bodyguard in the last room.
I had come to the conclusion that the Grey house was far too crowded and I couldn't wait to get away from it all. I wanted to grab Julian and take off for Detroit or somewhere where it'd be difficult to find us again.
But I wasn't ready to face Mrs. Grey or Alexander should I lay a finger on Julian.
And that only drove me up the walls even further.
Leave the door open at night.
Shower one at a time.
Pick your clothes up!
Don't spend so much alone time together.
And most of that was coming from Alexander, who shockingly did more things with Vladimir than I cared to know and it only made me dislike him further. And while Julian acted like he wanted to punch Alexander, I could tell he was eager to get his brother's attention. I didn't tell Julian that, though. The last thing I needed was another injury.
You know, after being shot by psycho vampire terrorists.
If I had a therapist, he'd commit me to a mental institution.
But despite all this hellish nonsense that suddenly threw itself at me like a deer in the road, I was still glad that I got at least one thing out of all of this and that one thing was lying right next to me, sleeping silently with his brilliant blue eyes shut so his dark blonde lashes touched against his smooth, porcelain cheeks. His golden blonde hair fell across his face and cheeks, hanging to the nape of his neck.
And to my sweet pleasure, he was only wearing a pair of a pair of snug black boxer-briefs with little Pac-Man ghosts dancing across it.
I laid there, my arm curled under my head as I watched him sleep. He was absolute perfection. He actually looked more like a peaceful angel, like his brother, in his sleep, but when he was awake, he was a loose cannon and ready to get into a fight with anyone.
Either way, it was plain and crystal clear that I absolutely adored him.
Or maybe, it was more precise to say that I loved Julian Alexander Grey.
I loved every part about him, vampire creepiness and all.
I'm not sure how long I laid there, watching him sleep. There was no school today because of the snow storm that had struck the night before, and I was damn thankful for it as I wasn't in the mood to go to school. It had become a breeding ground for depression. People moved around like ghosts and looked absolutely miserable. They even talked about cancelling the school winter formal, but the teachers insisted it would cheer up the students.
Cheer them up seeing as Walter had been admitted into a psychiatric hospital because of his attempted suicide and his talk about vampires.
It didn't help that Seth seemed pretty weird lately. He was purposely ignoring Julian a good amount of the time and Julian acted like it didn't even bother him. And it pissed me off, especially since neither of them would talk about it and acted completely normal about it.
While things were somewhat okay with Zephyra apparently taking a short break in their attacks on us and no more bullying at school, some things just weren't right.
I sighed, frowning and reaching out to brush Julian's hair back behind his ear. He smiled in his sleep, snuggling closer to his pillow, pulling the blankets tighter around himself before he blinked his eyes open sleepily.
"Morning." He murmured tiredly. I smiled, dropping my arm to the bed.
"Morning. Ready to get up and do something useful?" I asked. Julian wrinkled his nose cutely and shut his eyes again, groaning as he rolled over to give me his back. I smirked and scooted closer, pausing to glance toward the door, but nobody had gone by. So I took the risk and scooted so I close that I was spooning Julian from behind, my arm around his waist. I could see him trying to hide a smile as he kept his eyes closed.
"It's almost noon." I told him, glancing at the alarm clock that glared the time in red blocky letters. Julian peeked an eye open to look at it, then closed his eyes again, snuggling back against me, his hand holding onto mine.
"Good for noon. Going back to sleep." He murmured. I rolled my eyes and heaved myself up over top of him, pausing at the dull throb in my shoulder where I had been shot a few weeks before. While it still ached every so often, I was just glad to be out of the sling. I made a mental note to not get shot anymore and find a bullet proof vest.
I hovered over Julian, who kept his eyes squeezed shut in denial. I jerked the blankets off him, making him gasp and his eyes fly open as he grabbed for them, but I pulled them away from him. I could see the goose bumps on his skin from his arms all the way down to his perfect legs.
"It's freezing! Gimme the blankets back!" He cried, lunging up to grab them, but I caught him around the waist, making him yelp as I sat up, dragging him along with me. He tried to grab at the bed, but I jerked him away before he could cling to the sheets. I stood up, still holding him in my arms as he wrestled to shove me back. He wasn't trying his hardest, I knew. If he had, both my arms would be broken and I would probably have to kick his face in.
But it would be a battle of love... Somewhere in there anyway.
"Shower so you can warm up and we can go do something. It's a snow day." I added, setting him on his feet and steering him toward the bathroom. Julian made a face at me, but went into the bathroom anyway. I had already showered the night before, so I just pulled on a pair of black jeans and a sweatshirt before I went out to the kitchen.
There was a note on the counter top from Mrs. Grey that I peeled off and scanned over.
Boys,
We're heading to Lansing to visit Amber and Mary-Kay. We're also going to file for new equipment for the hospital, so don't expect us back until the end of the weekend. There's money in the safe and food in the fridge for Adam. Please don't burn our house down either.
With love,
Mr. and Mrs. Grey.
Judging from the way the letter was written, Mrs. Grey wrote it and just signed Mr. Grey's name so she didn't get all the blame for being rude to me, but I didn't care. In fact, Mrs. Grey's jabs at me were somewhat refreshing and helped me brush up on my own sarcastic retorts. Although, Newell and Julian were pretty good at that already.
I sighed and went to the fridge, placing the note down as I got out the carton of eggs and started making some breakfast. I made sure to get out a bag of blood and warm it up for Julian, who came trudging into the kitchen a few minutes later after his shower. His hair was still damp and he had just thrown on a long sleeved black shirt with a low cut collar to match his plaid pajama pants.
"Are Newt and Xed still here?" I asked, handing him the cup. Julian made a face at it, then glanced up. He looked like he was staring off into space and for a second, that made me nervous until he nodded and silently sipped his glass. He'd been doing that a lot lately, as if he were having quick visions, but he never said anything about it. While I was curious, I wasn't going to bug him about it.
He'd tell me eventually. He told me everything after he had it sorted out and was ready to talk.
Except that thing about Seth.
That pissed me off.
"We should probably go practice," I said at last, frowning as I popped a forkful of egg into my mouth, chewing before I spoke again, "Seth said he's really close to getting us a gig at that bar. We'll need to be even better by the time we get to Detroit." Julian hesitated for a moment, then nodded quickly, swallowing another mouthful of blood.
"Sounds good. I'll get my keyboard out into the living room." He replied. I paused, watching him drink before I narrowed my eyes a bit in suspicion.
"Dunno. Was thinking we could have rehearsal at Seth's place today." I answered slowly, taking a gulp of juice. Julian made a weird choking sound, then quickly swallowed before coughing and clearing his throat. He shifted a little, frowning.
"Ah, well, why not here?"
"Because we have a group of psycho terrorists after us."
"Yeah, but Xed's here."
"Seth and Kipp don't know Xed's here."
"Well, we can just say he's my eccentric cousin."
"Seth can smell a lie from miles away." I drawled, watching Julian grimace and mutter something under his breath that I didn't catch before I set my glass down rather loudly. He jumped a little, shifting uncomfortably as I rested an elbow on the table, leaning forward to frown at him.
"And so can I. Seriously, what is up with you two? Did you fall out while I was away or something?" I asked, seriously. Julian made an expression of distress, searching the ceiling as if it had the answers before there was a crack and I looked at Julian's mug. I frowned, watching a steady stream of blood spurt out across the counter and right into my food. I made a face and pushed the plate away from me as Julian yelped, setting the cup down.
Instead of grabbing napkins, he just licked the counter. I rolled my eyes and got up quickly to grab a moist towelette that Mrs. Grey kept handy for accidents like this. I pushed Julian's head back, making him scowl as I mopped up the mess.
"That's wasting food, you know." Julian muttered.
"Think of it as me punishing you for not telling me anything." I answered heatedly, throwing the blood soaked towels into the toxic waste bin under the sink. Julian blinked, then looked a bit offended as he walked over to lean on the counter beside me as I washed my hands.
"There's nothing to tell. And you know everything about me anyway. Right down to the beauty mark on the inside of my thigh." He added, his cheeks tinging pink as he averted his eyes. My cock jerked at that, but I mentally scolded myself.
Ohhh no.
Not falling for that face.
That beautiful, rosy-cheeked face and pretty blue eyes and--
Son of a bitch, get away from me when I'm pissed.
"Fine, I'll just go to Seth's. Alone." I told him, pushing away from the sink and shutting it off. Julian looked hurt now, but I fought the urge to look at him as I went to his room to grab my army jacket that I threw on over top my sweatshirt. Julian looked like he was fighting himself to say something as he followed me around his room as I tried to dig under laundry to find my motorcycle boots.
"Where are my boots?" I demanded, kicking a pile of dirty clothes away from the foot of the bed.
"No idea." Julian answered instantly. I gave him a suspicious stare and he just stared back at me. I looked away to look under the bed when there was a loud thump from inside the wardrobe.
"Stop it!" Julian snapped suddenly. I looked at him, confused. He blushed, hard.
"Not you. I mean, just..." His voice trailed. I went to the wardrobe, spotting my boots that had toppled over to the second step inside. I took them out and sat on the bed, tugging them on angrily. I purposely did it so Julian knew that he was driving me nuts.
Don't get me wrong.
I loved the shit out of him and I would happily fuck his brains out all day long, but he was really good at pissing me off too. I was getting angry that he was hiding things from me. How were we supposed to date and protect each other if he wasn't going to tell me what was going on inside his head?
"W-Wait, Adam! Wait!" Julian pleaded as I got to my feet to leave the room. I sighed, leaning on the doorframe and shaking my head. I'm gonna regret this. I turned to see Julian looking at me, his expression still hurt.
"Seth is just being really..." He paused. I frowned.
"Really...?" I gestured with my hand for him to continue. He took a deep breath and went on quickly in the way that meant he didn't want me to get mad.
"He's really impossible about this whole thing between us. And... And he's suspicious about me. He knows there's something up and I'm sorry I didn't say anything before because I didn't want you to get mad at him or at me because I probably fucked up and just sorta did what I'm doing right now instead of coming up with a totally cool lie, like, you're interested in paranormal shit and we're hunting vampires, which kinda isn't a lie now that I think about it and I'm talking stupid shit again... Sorry." He tacked on at the end, looking distressed.
I blinked. I hardly caught any of that and even if I did, it didn't make sense. Seth was suspicious about him? About him what? Being a vampire or possessed?
"Wait, you told him you were a vampire?" I asked, frowning. Julian looked angry now.
"Oh yeah! I just blurted out everything like it was a goddamn science fair project, Adam! You're the one who slipped up and asked him about killing vampires! And why would you want to kill a vampire anyway, huh? Do you want to kill my parents or something? Cuz, I know my mom can be terrible sometimes, but she's still my mom." He explained in irritation.
Whoa. Wait, Seth took me seriously?
Oh yeah, sure. He beats Kipp all the time thinking he's being made fun of, but he takes me of all people seriously? Of course, that's my kind of luck.
"Of course not," I snapped, annoyed at his last suggestions, "I was asking because I wanted to kill your ex-fiance. You know, Mr. Creepy Pedophile who dressed you up like Tiffany from Bride of Chucky? And it's kinda useful to know now in case Zephyra comes after me again. Next time, I'll just lop their head off or set them on fire." Julian blushed.
"Stop bringing that up!"
"What part? The fact that you chose a pedophile as your ex-fiance or the fact that you pull off a dress better than a Victoria's Secret Model?"
"Fuck you!" Julian barked and started to lunge at me, but I caught him in a headlock and held onto him. He squirmed, but he wasn't fighting with everything he had and I knew it. Which meant, he wasn't exactly angry at me, he was just angry at the situation. I sighed in frustration, letting him go so he stumbled back, rubbing his neck and glaring at me.
"Why didn't you tell me this before? Then we wouldn't be arguing." I muttered, folding my arms over my chest. Julian was still blushing in shame as he looked anywhere, but at me.
"Cuz. You'd probably think I was stupid for not lying to him." He responded under his breath. I pushed off the door frame, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jacket.
"Pretty sure we made it a rule in our group to not spew bullshit. They were bound to find out sooner or later. And Seth probably doesn't understand it yet. He probably thinks you have me under some mojo spell or something." I explained flatly. Julian grimaced and from the look on his face, my joke was real and I rolled my eyes.
Seth, you could be one smart little fucker, but you could also be really stupid.
"Look, let's just head to Seth's and talk this out. We can't do anything, including gigs, with this shit in the way, hear me?" I asked sternly. Julian nodded glumly and I nodded back slowly, gesturing for him to grab his coat. He obeyed as I stepped out into the hallway in time to see Newell coming down the hallway.
While Newell was supposedly a super dangerous ex-terrorist and an utter genius, he looked nothing like it at all. In fact, he looked like a puny little eight-year-old with jet black hair that was a bit too long, his bangs brushed toward the center of his face. It was his eyes that told you he wasn't a child. Icy cold blue and practically spoke his age.
It didn't help that he was wearing an oversized black t-shirt that literally hung down to his knees as he approached me in the hallway, narrowing his tired eyes that held visible circles under them from his late night research.
"Why are you yelling this early in the morning?" Newell demanded in irritation, his voice more mature than his actual body. I frowned.
"Nothing. And it's almost noon. Shouldn't you be up already?" I asked dryly. Newell shot me a deadly glare that dared me to chide him again before he rubbed at his eye, peeking into Julian's room as Julian walked away from his wardrobe in his jacket.
"Where are you going?" He asked, sounding almost like Julian's mother. Julian scowled, closing his door behind him as we came into the hallway.
"Band practice. We'll be fine. Seth just lives a couple blocks down." He told him. Newell looked even more irked at that, but at the same time, too tired to even argue. All he did was yawn and turn away, heading back to the room he shared with Xed.
"I should be able to hear your bloodcurdling screams from here should you be attacked." He answered sleepily, then slammed the door shut to his room. Julian scrunched up his nose, looking at me.
"He's really not a day person." He told me.
"I guessed." I responded before Julian and I headed out the door, pausing to wince at the icy cold air outside. It nipped at our noses and cheeks, knocking up the dusty layer of snow off the thicker parts of it. It swept around us and flew down the street, revealing the icy patches that dared drivers to go out.
"The only thing I like about winter are snow days." Julian grumbled, stepping close to me for warmth. I laughed quietly and reached out, taking one of his hands and shoving it into my pocket with my own, our fingers laced together. He glanced at me, then smiled before we started down the sidewalk toward Seth's house.
"Next time," I said after a while, making Julian glance at me, "Tell me if something's bothering you. I want to sort it out. And I don't like arguing with you." Julian nodded, looking down at his feet as we crunched over patches of ice on the sidewalk.
"I just.... feel like it's hard to tell sometimes. And... I think it's the thing inside me." He admitted quietly, looking sick to his stomach. I frowned, squeezing his hand in mine.
"You think it's telling you not to tell people?" I asked. Julian gave a slow nod as if he was trying to sort out his thoughts. Or maybe, the thing in him was actually talking to him. Could it do that? I imagined it more like a tick, not an alien.
But then, ticks never gave people terrifying visions or super powers.
"He... keeps saying that I should pay attention to getting rid of Zephyra, not anything else."
"He? It's a guy?"
"I'm guessing... Honestly, I'm not even sure.... I just know his name."
"And that's...?"
"D..." Julian hesitated, looking like he was struggling to speak before he blurted out the rest of the name, "Daimonas."
"Daimonas? Like, some kind of Greek name or Latin?"
"He says its Greek."
"Seems like those guys like to fuck with your people a lot."
"Tell me about it," Julian sighed miserably, shaking his head as we paused before crossing the street to Seth's block, "And this guy won't leave me alone. I keep getting headaches and I accidentally talk to him out loud and get weird looks in class. I even got a detention last week for it."
"That's weird," I admitted, but frowned even more, "Don't like the idea, though. After this whole thing with Zephyra is over, we need to get it out." Julian looked relieved at that.
"I like the sound of that."
"Good. And after that, we can start looking for jobs."
"Ew, don't like the sound of that."
"Well, too bad. If you want that penthouse, you gotta work for it."
"Yeah, but my mom and dad--"
"Aren't going to be thrilled when they find out we're moving in together. And judging by the fact that I haven't woken up to your mother disemboweling me, I take it you haven't told her about it." I drawled, watching Julian blush as he cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably.
"I'll tell her when I have a good getaway. Like, maybe when we graduate. I'll be like, Hey, mom. Adam and I have been working for a while now and we decided we're gonna move to the city and live together. And then while she's gathering up her rage, I'll take off running." Julian explained slowly. I had a strange comical image in my head of that and barked a laugh, making Julian grin.
We settled down, though, as we approached Seth's house. Seth's parents were pretty loaded so the house was a two story suburban house with a wraparound porch and columns along it that were wrapped with Christmas lights. Judging from the bare driveway, Seth's parents were away at work, which meant only Seth and Kipp were there.
We came up to the porch, pausing as one of Seth's four cats darted across the porch, his white body almost blending in with the snow. I knocked the brass knocker that was in the image of a fae with butterfly wings. It didn't take long for Seth to answer the door, revealing the large gray staircase that went up and abruptly turned to go to the second floor; a fire place warming the huge living room.
"Oh." Seth greeted me, looking a bit annoyed to see Julian, who stood safely behind me.
Jeez, I finally found a vampire that was terrified of a human.
And a human as small as Seth no less. Not that that didn't mean Seth could kick ass because he could and most people were stunned by it.
"Came over for a little practice... and a chat." I added, stepping inside, relieved by the toasty warmth of it. Seth said nothing, just stood to the side as Julian and I came inside. He shut the door behind us and shuffled into the living room where Kipp was sitting on one of the two L-shaped sofas, playing some violent video game.
"Didn't know you were gonna come over," Seth said, trying to sound casual as he picked up the pillows that were tossed around, "Otherwise, I woulda gotten dressed." Not that it mattered. Seth wore a baggy college sweatshirt and navy pajama pants. He plopped on the sofa near Kipp, gesturing for us to sit. Kipp only murmured a quiet "hello" as he beat the controller. He was wearing a gray snowflake designed slip-beanie over his dark hair, a long sleeved shirt with two bunnies trying to kill each other on the front, and a pair of baggy jeans that showed off his cow printed boxers.
Julian and I sat on the sofa adjacent to the one Seth and Kipp were sitting on, taking our jackets off to enjoy the warmth and the view outside Seth's windows. The windows that looked out onto his back porch revealed a winter wonderland that looked perfect for snowmen. We used to build when back in middle school and practice beating the crap out of 'em.
'Course, Mrs. Zeggers, Seth's mom, was never pleased when we came in with bloody knuckles and snow in our clothes.
But we didn't need snowmen anymore.
We had vampires to fight. At least, Julian and I did.
"What're you playing?" Julian asked at last, probably uncomfortable with the unnatural silence that had fallen over the room. Kipp kept beating the controls and tried to eat a handful of M&Ms at the same time, letting a couple blue ones fall into his lap.
"Some game that Seth bought the other day." He answered. I glanced at the screen in time to see the character Kipp was playing as whip out a stake and drive it into the chest of one of the things attacking him. It took me a moment to realize they were vampires jumping him, baring their abnormally huge fangs at the screen, hissing. I looked at Julian, who looked at the floor.
Great.
Well.
We're here. Time to make things even more awkward.
"So, Julian tells me you know he's a vampire." I started. Julian choked on his breathing, wincing and snapping his head to gape at me. Kipp spat out his M&Ms and hit the pause button, dropping the controller to the floor and holding his hands up in defense. To his credit, Seth didn't answer.
He remained seated on the sofa, one leg folded over the other and his arms folded over his chest as he stared at the paused screen where a vampire was about to sink its fangs into the main character's throat.
"Yup." Seth said at last, his voice eerily calm. If you knew Seth as long as I did, you would know that he was fighting as hard as he could not to explode and punch someone in the face.
"Is that why you won't talk to him?" I asked.
"Nope." Seth answered curtly. Julian looked confused now, looking at Seth. Kipp wiped his mouth of saliva and M&M remains, looking at us all as if we were insane.
"Wait, what? What's going on?" He asked. Julian looked between Seth and I. Kipp joined him as Seth and I locked eyes. He was lying. I knew he was pissed that we were hanging out with a vampire.
Seth was as superstitious as they got. He believed in ghosts, gouls, goblins, vampires, werewolves, and even fairies. It was something he'd grown up believing because of his grandparents, particularly his grandfather, who insisted that all things unnatural existed; they were just hidden from us.
And without a doubt, Seth's grandfather probably told him vampires were evil.
"Julian won't hurt you, Seth," I began calmly, watching a muscle twitch under Seth's eye, "He doesn't drink from unwilling humans. He's never even bitten a human before. He drinks from blood bags."
"A-Adam." Julian managed, looking horrified.
"Wait, vampire? Are you guys seriously fucking kidding me right now?" Kipp demanded angrily, looking annoyed that we were discussing something that he wasn't about to believe. I ignored him, though, because right now, Seth was my problem.
He was bullshitting me when he said he wasn't expecting us. How he knew we would show up, I would never know, but he knew we were. He purposely let Kipp play this game to scare Julian.
"Julian can control himself, so quit being a coward." I told him firmly, narrowing my eyes. Seth's eyes glinted and he reached into the pocket of his sweatshirt, taking out a silver butterfly knife. I didn't even have time to move as Seth flipped it open and cut it across his palm, making Kipp yelp in horror.
Seth held his hand out to Julian, who stared at it stiffly.
"Then prove it."