Neil Franklin
Eunice answered a knock on the door, and Phillip straightened and smiled as Albert entered—finally—with yet another man.
“Boss man,” Eunice said. “Right on schedule. And Marshall, good to see you, too. Come in and meet Phillip.”
“Neil.” Albert handed Phillip a folder with the name “Neil Franklin” on the tab. “Your new identity.”
“Me?” Phillip wheezed. Damn it. He’d neglected to breathe again. He sucked in a lungful and continued. “That’s my new name? Neil Franklin?”
“It is. Take your breath away, did I?” There was a glint in Albert’s eye, and Phillip—Neil—relaxed. At least Albert wasn’t disappointed in his failure because Neil still had that freaky unnatural desire to please the man.
“That’s what it was. I’ll blame it on you.” Neil grinned—a bit too widely—as he beamed back. Hopefully his performance lapses were typical for this stage.
Marshall shook Neil’s hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, young man.”
Neil blinked. That statement seemed so odd coming from someone who appeared to be a teenager.
“Marshall is our resident linguist,” Albert explained. “He’s going to help you develop a rural Texas accent.”
“Wow. You guys don’t leave any stone unturned, do you?” That would make three of the five senses covered—sight, sound, and smell—and it wasn’t like people on the street would feel or taste him.
“Our lives depend upon it,” Albert replied.
“Southern American English,” Marshall stated, apparently giving a technical term. “Neil grew up outside of Sweetwater, Texas.”
Neil warily eyed the folder in his hands. “So, I’ve got to memorize this, huh?” That had never been his strong suit, but he understood the importance of knowing his own background, so he would devote himself to it.
“You haven’t noticed it yet,” Albert said, “because your existing memories didn’t suddenly become clearer, but what you still remember of your life, you won’t forget, and new things you learn will be easily retained.”
“Oh, good.” Neil blew out a sigh. “Except I can’t seem to remember to breathe.”
“Not the same thing,” Marshall said. “You don’t actually ‘forget’ that you need to do that. It’s just not continually at the forefront of your mind, and it needs to be in these early days so it becomes ingrained.”
Albert nodded. “It’ll never be truly involuntary again, but it’ll become such a deep-seated habit that it might as well be.”
“Oh, good.” Neil peeked in the folder with maybe five typed pages. Truly typed, as in with a typewriter, not printed from a computer. No digital trail for this document. Would it self-destruct when he was done reading it? “Piece of cake, then, right?”
“Sorry to interrupt, Albert,” Mona said. “But unless you need me for anything else, I’m going wardrobe shopping to complete Neil’s needs.” She held the large laundry bag she’d brought, now full of the rejects, but gestured to a small stack on the table. “Take those when you leave, Neil. That’s the keeper pile.”
“When you leave” chilled him—where would he be sent?—but he managed a calm reply. “Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it.” Albert had seemed to intuitively understand his concerns in the park yesterday, so perhaps he’d clear that up.
A corner of Albert’s mouth quirked. “Now that your appearance transformation is complete, and unless you object and would prefer to be given other options, you’ll move in with me this afternoon.”
“I don’t object.” Dammit…again with the breathless wheezy speech. And he really needed to stop gushing at Albert, although the man didn’t seem to balk. In fact, he appeared to be pleased by Neil’s responses, both verbal and non.
Albert nodded to Mona. “You’re free to go. Thank you.”
“Are we leaving now?” Neil turned to Ivan. “Do you have a bag I can put those in, please?”
Ivan nodded, and Marshall said, “Sack.”
“I’m sorry?”
“‘Bag’ isn’t wrong, per se, but many rural Texans would likely say ‘sack,’ rather than ‘bag.’ In fact, go with, ‘We fixin’ to leave? Y’all have a sack I can put those in?’” Which sounded more like “Y’all have a sack ah kin put those in?”
“Jesus Christ.” Neil shook his head. “There’s so much to learn.”
“Jeezuus H. Kee-riist.” Marshall winked.
Neil burst out laughing. “Correction. There’s so much to learn, but damn, it’s gonna be a fun journey.”
“Good attitude.” Albert laid a hand on his shoulder. “If you’re ready, we’ll head home. Marshall will stay with us around the clock until he declares you’re believable to present to the human world.”
“I’m ready.” He was more than ready. There was a lot to learn, but for the first time in years, he truly looked forward to facing it.
Being a vampire was nothing like what he would have expected—if he’d ever actually thought about the concept before. Which, of course, he hadn’t. But he was still just a regular guy, only…new and improved.
* * * *
Neil put the folder on a small table in the remarkably modest apartment. The size was notable, considering Albert was the leader of a faction of a huge city’s worth of vampires. It was a vast improvement over the tiny studio he’d lived in until yesterday afternoon, but small compared to what people would expect, until they understood the reasons behind it.
“Done with this?” Marshall asked. “Got it committed to memory?”
“Yeah. You fixin’ to burn it or something?”
Marshall laughed. “Shredder is good enough.”
Although they used computers for much of their business, and had experts keeping their data safe, they still took precautions to avoid a digital trail wherever possible, particularly for any information that would raise immediate eyebrows.
The identity Neil had assumed hadn’t been created out of thin air today. Albert had explained that they played a long game with those, just as they did with everything.
The vampire collective was flush with cash, much of it in Swiss bank accounts. Each faction, as well as the overall organization, had a team of accountants and finance experts whose job was more to make sure every last dollar passing through the hands of their businesses and members was processed in a way that wouldn’t raise any red flags, rather than to maximize profits.
They put a lot of time, money, and effort into education and research, to make sure they stayed on top of technological advances. And they’d developed a few of their own that weren’t shared with humans.
Their members were everywhere they needed to be. They kept an eye on many things using their advanced technology, but they also had members in key public service jobs. Doing what, specifically, was need-to-know information, and Neil, apparently, did not need to know.
Lounging in the chair, Neil ran his backstory through his mind. He’d remembered it after a single read, just as Albert had indicated. Neil cast a quick glance at Albert, his feet on an ottoman as he sat typing on a laptop.
Neil wasn’t sure if Albert was working on faction business or his “regular” job that gave him the appearance of normalcy. Although Marshall was the one assigned to teach new dialects and languages to vampires in fresh identities, many of the vamps, Neil had learned, particularly the older ones, were multi-lingual. Emphasis on multi. So Albert did written translations quickly and easily, giving him a regular outside income that kept authorities from taking a second look in his direction, and left him with plenty of flexible time to deal with faction business.
Leaning in Albert’s direction, Neil drew in a deep breath. But the heady scent that sent a delicious shiver through him whenever they sat close didn’t reach him. Yet. Albert looked up and winked.
Neil jumped when someone rapped on the door. It wasn’t a hard thumping, although it seemed…not louder, precisely, but stronger and sharper than it probably was. Something else to get used to. Albert sat calmly through the noise, although his hearing was far more acute.
Marshall answered the door and thanked a deliverywoman for a small box.
“Ah, good.” Albert turned to Neil. “How do you feel now?”
“Depends. Compared to yesterday morning, I feel amazing. Compared to two months ago, I’d be fixin’ to call in sick to work.”
Marshall smiled his approval of the accents Neil had applied to the sentence.
Albert chuckled. “Sounds about right. Our dinner just arrived. Last night was too early for you to feed, but you’re ready now. This should do the trick to help your body complete the healing process.”
The thought of drinking blood had sounded awful yesterday, but he sat straighter at Albert’s words today. “That’s what’s in the box?”
“It is.”
“I can’t believe how…good that sounds.” He glanced at Marshall. “I sure ’nuff could eat the ass end out of a dead rhinoceros. If that ain’t a fact, God’s a possum.”
Marshall laughed and put down the box. “Easy there, cowboy.” He carefully drew a box cutter across the top seam, then lifted out two plastic bags of blood. One looked like it contained more than the other.
As if reading his mind, Albert explained, “At a blood bank, they usually draw four-hundred-fifty milliliters, but when it’s drawn outside of the hospital, like at a traveling blood drive, it’s more like three-fifty milliliters. Smaller vamps need less, so the smaller bags go to them. Each bag lasts a single vampire two days. We’ll get another delivery tomorrow, because today Marshall and I will share the large bag, and since it’s your first feeding, and you’re healing, you’ll get the entire smaller bag.”
“Ah.”
Marshall handed it to him. It was cool to the touch. “Your teeth will extend automatically when you feed, but there’s less waste if you suck it out of one of these ports rather than puncture the bag. Think you can handle that without tearing it?”
“Did Rose Kennedy own a black dress?”
Albert snorted. “That poor woman.” He got up. “Tell you what, let’s hold a bowl under your chin. This will be tricky your first time.”
“Like puttin’ socks on a rooster?”
“Don’t overdo it,” Marshall said. “Let the occasional colloquialism slip, but remember, you’re trying to assimilate. You dress to fit in with your contemporaries here in the city, and though it’ll take some time to lose the accent, you’ll be conscious of the expressions. Let them out on occasion, but dial it back a notch. Heck, even back home you wouldn’t use that many.”
“Sorry. Got it.” That was almost too bad, because they were fun.
Albert returned with the bowl. “Ready?”
“Uh-huh.” Neil bounced on the balls of his feet.
Albert attached a gadget to a port. “We’ve developed our own adaptors since what’s manufactured for human use wasn’t designed for using blood in this manner. You’re not really likely to tear the bag with your teeth, but they’ll make it awkward until you get used to it.”
“So, dribbling?” Neil’s face scrunched. Great. That was just the sexy impression he wanted to make on Albert. After two thousand years, the vampire must have had countless lovers. Suave, smooth men—or women?—of experience. Much as Albert was kind and seemed to be humoring him, the powerful faction leader couldn’t possibly return his budding interest.
“It happens to the best of us,” Albert said. “No need to feel self-conscious.”
“Maybe one of you could demonstrate first?”
Albert nodded at Marshall, who picked up the larger bag and exhibited how to attach the drinking device to the port. With a cocky flourish, his wickedly sharp teeth extended with a click. Clearly the fangs’ purpose was for direct feeding, and they would get in the way of any attempts at a more civilized approach.
Even so, Marshall had a talented—or experienced—tongue, and managed to manipulate the incoming blood without any drippage. Damn him.
Neil set his jaw. Dribbling like a toddler or not, he wanted that damned blood.
“My teeth have never popped out. Maybe this won’t be so hard.”
Albert just grinned, and Neil narrowed his eyes. He took a deep breath and the metallic tang of the blood hit him. His hands trembled as he lifted the bag, and snap, his fangs burst out.
Neil froze, his eyes wide, as he stared at Albert. Obviously the man had once again anticipated what he would want in this moment—how many times had he helped a new vampire through this?—and held up a hand mirror.
The lethal-looking teeth appeared out of place in his startled face, but his lips curled into a proud smile. His teeth were every bit as impressive as the sets Albert and Marshall had displayed. This was one thing that didn’t improve over time. They were the real deal from the word “go.”
He raised the bag to his mouth. All thoughts toward attempting this with decorum flew from his mind as he gulped like a starving three-year-old.
Albert held the small bowl under his chin, thank goodness, or all Mona’s efforts would have been ravaged. How the hell was it possible to do this without slobbering half of it? Albert had downplayed the beginner’s-messiness aspect. That or Neil was a barbarian.
When the bag was empty, Albert tipped up Neil’s chin to pour the not-insignificant amount of blood from the bowl into his mouth. Marshall disappeared into the kitchen with the empty bowl, and Albert leveled a penetrating stare directly into Neil’s eyes.
Neil stopped breathing as he returned the stare. Heat rushed through his veins as Albert’s fangs snapped out before he licked Neil’s chin. Licked and nipped, then dragged his tongue to Neil’s mouth for a kiss.
The kiss was brief but powerful, with Albert’s tongue sweeping in between their sharp fangs. Then Albert resumed licking his face like a mama cat cleaning her kittens. Caring, and in such stark contrast to the sensual kiss they’d just shared.
Albert finished with a lingering tender kiss, nibbling and teasing at first, then deepening when Neil pressed against him, shuddering against Albert’s body, and wrapped his arms around the vamp.
When Albert broke the kiss, he buried his face against Neil’s neck. Albert groaned when he inhaled deeply, then mumbled something in a language unlike anything Neil had ever heard.
Neil gasped when Albert nicked his neck and dragged his tongue across the wound. Albert spent a moment trailing toward Neil’s mouth, then leaned back as if inviting the same actions.
Finally thinking to breathe, Neil drew in a deep gulp of Albert’s scent—an aroma that had already tugged at him, but it had subtly changed, now positively enthralling him.
Neil bent his head and quaked as he sucked in another breath with his mouth hovering over Albert’s neck. The vamp angled his head more, and Neil obeyed the silent request. He scraped too carefully with his first pass, but when Albert moved a hand to Neil’s head and applied pressure, he bit down.
Albert’s other hand landed on Neil’s ass to pull him in for a not-so-gentle grind as Neil slurped, then nicked again for another drink. Finally, his sex drive was back. The human blood had given him a huge and immediate health boost, but Albert’s had zeroed in on his flagging libido.
Albert gave him another kiss before stepping back and raising a single finger, as if requesting a moment’s reprieve. Neil’s heart raced as Albert picked up the remaining half bag of blood, then drained it without spilling a drop.
Breathing great gulps of air as if he still needed oxygen, but instead being drawn by Albert’s alluring scent, Neil stood transfixed. When Albert dropped the bag on the table, he exchanged it for the clothing Neil had brought with him from Eunice and Ivan’s apartment.
Neil had left the clothing on the table because Albert hadn’t specified which of the two bedrooms he would occupy. Or whether he’d be relegated to the sofa, since Marshall was also staying with them until he deemed Neil’s accent acceptable. Neil had been afraid to ask, yet not entirely sure which option he’d hoped for.
With the clothing in Albert’s hands, Neil instantly knew the answer that had eluded him earlier. He beamed when Albert lifted a free hand for him to take, then led him into the master bedroom.
Barely inside the room, Albert settled the clothes on the dresser and backed Neil against the closed door with a thump. Albert placed one hand on the door next to Neil’s neck. Neil shivered as Albert trailed a finger along his jaw, all the while staring into his eyes. “Do you want this?”
Neil’s heart raced no differently than it would have done when he’d been human. “Yes,” he whispered, clutching Albert’s waist. “Please.”
“With me? I mean, if anyone else were standing in front of you, would you want them equally?”
“You.” Neil shook his head and quivered as he breathed in Albert’s intoxicating scent. Nobody else had ever affected him like this. Ever. His attachment seemed peculiar, considering he’d known Albert less than twenty-four hours, but he felt powerless against its force. Nor did he want to block it.
Strangely enough, the attraction went beyond the physical. Maybe it was a Florence-Nightingale thing since the man had literally saved his life, but he felt a…budding connection of sorts.
Albert’s lips quirked around those fangs, which days ago would have terrified Neil, but right now, heated his blood as it raced through his veins. Albert’s voice sounded husky as his mouth slowly descended toward Neil’s. “Nam quamdiu tibi expectabam.”
* * * *
Albert proved an enigmatic blend of the gorgeous, yet thoughtful and attentive lover Neil had always dreamed of having, and at the same time, he seemed the ultimate grandpa’s grandpa, trumping the most exaggerated “I walked two miles through three feet of snow to school every day” stories, with his tales of migrating across Europe and through the Americas.
Pushing a thousand years old, Marshall had more than earned the right to call Neil, “young man,” and he had plenty of his own stories to tell.
“That’s when I first met Albert,” Marshall said, after telling the tale of a barefooted, hundred-mile trek, half-starved, after an unnerving escape from a medieval band of vampire hunters. “He went by Barric, then. He worked as a physician and hired me as his assistant.” Marshall sank back in his chair, giving a sigh and a relaxed grin. “Ah…bloodletting times were great centuries for us.”
Albert nodded. “I was glad of the company.” He tightened the arm he had around Neil’s shoulders and landed a kiss to his forehead. “I’m not proud of many of the things I did in the past, but at the time, bloodletting was a common practice, thought to be helpful.”
Marshall snorted. “The fact so many vamps figured out it was a great source and got into the medical business probably dragged out the practice longer than it might have done otherwise.”
“It must have been hard,” Neil said. “Continually having to come up with schemes to get the blood y’all needed without attracting attention.”
“It was.” Albert stared at an abstract painting on the wall opposite them. His chest expanded and contracted as he continued to steadily breathe. He landed another kiss to Neil’s forehead. “One of my particular regrets was working as an orderly in a lunatic asylum about eight hundred years ago.”
Neil cringed, but it said a lot that it continued to weigh on Albert’s conscience even centuries later. Neil squeezed Albert’s knee. “I suppose nobody would take their rantings of vampires feeding on them seriously. Bet you did your best not to scare ’em.”
A corner of Albert’s mouth quirked. “I brought them treats.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t as if I needed to buy ale or meals for myself, so I could spare some of my wages for that. But still…”
“We did what we had to do,” Marshall added. “But our lack of ruthlessness is probably while we’re still around.”
“Cruelty would have drawn attention, right?” Neil asked.
“Exactly,” Albert said.
“What were your original names?” Neil bounced his gaze between them.
“Tarquin,” Albert said.
“Oenghus,” Marshall said, then spelled it out. “The modern equivalent is Angus.”
Neil tilted his face for a proper kiss, then patted Albert’s thigh. “So, y’all have known each other for hundreds of years? Since those bloodletting days?”
“We have.” Albert placed his hand over Neil’s. “We’ve traveled together ever since.”
“Besides enjoying each other’s company,” Marshall said, “we discovered people were less wary of us when we weren’t total loners. We paired up with a couple women vamps, too. That gave us more respectability.”
Neil nestled into Albert’s side. With two thousand years of living behind him, of course Albert had been through many relationships. But realizing that didn’t make it any easier to hear the evidence of it, especially since it felt like confirmation of his fears that someday it would be his turn to be discarded.
When would that day come? With the next new recruit?
As if sensing the change in Neil’s mood, and the reason for it—something his lover was expert at doing—Albert tipped up Neil’s chin and trailed a finger along his jaw. “I have you now, dilectus meus.”
It was virtually impossible to feel dejected when Albert treated him like the center of his universe. If Albert wasn’t worried about it—as if he somehow knew it would all work out—why should he be?
Neil drew in a deep breath of Albert’s scent and burrowed deeper into the crook of his arm. That always settled his worries.
“I think,” Marshall said, “that Neil could use an outing.”
“You agree he’s ready?” Albert asked.
“For a first phase excursion, yes.”
Neil’s head swiveled between them. “Seriously?” He wasn’t sure what “first phase excursion” meant, but despite dozens of visitors that had come to Albert’s apartment to visit and welcome him this past week, he still felt the closeness of his confinement bearing down on him.
Albert nodded. “Are you a Star Wars fan? The latest installment is out now.”
“Seriously?” Neil repeated. “We can go to the movies?”
“Of course.” Albert’s eyes widened in surprise. “We don’t live like hermits.”
“Trust me,” Marshall added. “Immortality would be vastly overrated if we couldn’t enjoy ourselves.”
“But what about y’all’s rule against socializing?”
“We can party to our little hearts’ content,” Albert said, “so long as it’s with our own kind. Preferably we gather in our own homes where we’re free to be ourselves, but there’s no reason to completely cut ourselves off from public entertainment. We’re not interacting in any significant way with the other movie-goers.”
“Obviously we avoid anything where we’d stand out if we didn’t eat or drink,” Marshall said.
Neil winced at the thought. Albert had explained the eating and drinking issue to him. It wasn’t anything that would kill them, but their digestive and renal systems were no longer set up to process food and water the way it had when they were human. Their systems were optimized for blood, and blood alone. Anything else they consumed was quickly liquefied and rushed through their digestive track for a ridiculously hasty exit.
Eating and drinking were highly inconvenient, and he took their word for it that the end result was “unpleasant,” to use Albert’s term, or “vile,” to use Marshall’s.
“I am so chuffed to get to see this.” Neil gave Albert’s hand a squeeze. In the big scheme of things, knowing he would miss the opening of this movie had been a small concern. Even so, he’d been looking forward to this next episode in the popular series for months, and it had been one more thing to depress him when he’d felt so horrible and thought he was going to die.
“We do insist that freshly turned vamps go out only in the company of an experienced one, and regardless of age, we find there’s safety in numbers,” Albert said. “And this will be a good experience to prepare you for next week.”
“What’s next week?”
“You’re ready to ease out into our workforce. You never neglect to breathe anymore, and Marshall says your accent is close to perfect.”
Neil puffed out his chest. “It sure’nuff is!”
Marshall laughed. “I’m going to miss you, kid.”
Neil was going to miss Marshall, too, but not so much the lack of privacy created by his constant presence in Albert’s apartment. Besides, it wasn’t as if they wouldn’t see each other again.
“I’m really lovin’ this new lease on life.” Yes, life. Neil refused to think of himself as not alive, or use that “undead” term that had long been used in vampire lore. He was differently alive. His heart beat. His brain functioned. How could that be defined as anything other than alive?
Marshall snorted. “Good to know.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “I know…understatement.” Simply still existing when he’d thought he’d be ashes blowing in the wind by now was wonderful. Sex with Albert and his two thousand years of experience was amazing, and being the center of that man’s undivided focus was incomparably glorious. Add in resuming the kind of routine things he’d never again take for granted, and yeah, he was loving this new lease on life.
“Meus dulcis, innocens vir.” Albert’s voice caught as he cupped Neil’s jaw and dipped his head toward Neil’s neck.
Marshall stood grinning and snagged a book from the shelving before heading to his room.
A tremor rippled through Neil as Albert nibbled and sucked along his collarbone. Neil arched and gasped as waves of delicious heat flowed from Albert’s touch, straight to his achingly rigid cock. The man knew the exact location of all his buttons, and precisely when they needed to be pushed.
When Albert pulled back to gaze inquiringly into his eyes, Neil smiled and followed the man to whom he owed—quite literally—everything, as if he had no worries in the world.
With the door closed securely behind them, Albert pulled off his shirt with a smooth, practiced grace. His gaze traveled up and down Neil’s body as Neil sagged onto the bed. The sight of Albert’s bare torso, with that sprinkling of chest hair leading toward the thicker trail downward, would never get old.
Albert’s fangs glimmered through his mischievous grin. “You are decidedly overdressed.”
Speaking of understatements…
* * * *
The “men in black” frowned. The grave-looking vamps from the security team weren’t actually wearing black—or suits for that matter. They weren’t even both men. Like the rest of the vamps, they had their own styles meant to make them blend seamlessly into the general population. But they had the “men in black” demeanor down pat. “It’s not optional,” the shorter one, Cristine, said.
Neil rubbed the top of his head where they’d indicated they would essentially scalp him—well, peel back a two-inch-wide patch so they could insert some kind of tracking and bio monitor—and appealed to Albert. “Does everyone have this? Even you?”
Albert nodded. “Even me.”
“But…” The whole thing had a very “big brother” vibe to it. “Don’t you trust me?”
“It’s not so much a trust issue, as it is a matter of safety,” Albert said. “For all of us.”
“We can’t exactly leave bodies dripping black blood lying around, can we?” Cristine said.
Neil winced at the visual, but it was a valid point. If he—or any of the vampires—were killed without warning, the implant would detect that and immediately send an alert to the security team. They would have the fallen vamp’s location, and they had trained team members spread throughout the city. They could swoop in and handle the situation before it got out of hand. Precisely how they’d “handle” it was still above his pay grade, but Neil was pretty sure the vampires had more gadgetry up their sleeves than they were sharing.
“And having the ability to prevent becoming said dead body is preferable, right?”
“Right,” James, the taller one, said. “Think about it. Sure, we take every precaution, and rarely face danger, let alone get ourselves killed, but it can happen. What happens if you’re out alone and get approached by a mugger?”
Okay, sure. And Neil had to admit the beyond-James-Bond technology incorporated into the device sounded amazing. “But what happens if the mugger gets this ring before I have a chance to activate the zombie thing? Or the police confiscate it for some reason? What if they analyze it?”
“The ring itself is very low-tech,” James said. “Swipe your thumbnail through the groove on the underside and all it does is send out a unique, harmless wave. It would mean nothing to anyone who discovered it. The ring must be within an approximate arm’s length from your implant to activate the catatonic effect on nearby humans.”
“And triggering that also sends out an alert to the security team.” Neil repeated the information they’d given him earlier. He could swipe right to temporarily zombify the humans around him and send an alert, or swipe left for alert only. If he were ever in a situation dire enough to require sending the people in his immediate vicinity into a catatonic state for a few seconds while he made his escape, he’d probably be glad to have these guys following up.
“Correct,” James said. “Help is never very far away.”
Neil turned to Albert. “I just…” He grimaced and dropped his gaze to stare at his hands. He was being a big baby. He did understand the logic behind using this technology. Heck, he even appreciated it. Although he’d now been out in public a few times as a vampire, it had always been in the company of Albert and others. This safety net took the edge off his fears of going out alone.
It was the whole “anesthesia doesn’t work on vampires” thing he was balking at. Neither topical nor general anesthesia worked on them. Nothing for the pain. Sure he’d heal quickly, but damn.
“I know.” Albert picked up Neil’s hands and squeezed. Of course he knew. He always read between the lines and understood Neil’s needs. “I’ll be right here with you.”
At Albert’s nod in their direction, Cristine and James unfolded what looked like a portable massage table, only modified, because no massage table Neil had ever seen had heavy-duty restraint straps.
Neil bit back a whimper and closed his eyes. Albert hadn’t even flinched when he’d sliced open his own arm. His expression had been tight, but if Albert could do that to himself without turning into a sniveling mess, then Neil should be able to endure this.
Albert helped him onto the table. “It’ll be over before you know it.”
“Sure.” Neil kept his gaze locked with Albert’s.
“Cristine and James are efficient and experienced.” Albert’s words were superfluous as the two quickly and competently strapped in Neil until he couldn’t move anything except his eyes. He shivered when Cristine inserted a soft, rubbery bite guard into his mouth.
Albert gripped one of Neil’s hands, and placed the other on his jaw, gently tracing his thumb along Neil’s cheek. Albert’s face hovered over Neil’s as that tantalizing light touch distracted him from noise of the preparations taking place outside his field of vision.
Neil kept his eyes open and squeezed Albert’s hand when fingers raked through his hair, separating it. His whole body tensed and shook as searing pain tore across the top of his head. He focused on the intense empathy in Albert’s eyes but wasn’t able to prevent a warbling sob as his scalp peeled back with a sickening squelch.
And just like that, it was done. The implant was slipped in, the flap was flipped back into place, and the self-healing properties in his body took over.
The pain didn’t instantly disappear, but rather, the sharpness faded quickly to a deep ache. The torture team was as efficient in removing his restraints as they’d been in securing them.
Neil threw himself into Albert’s open arms, burying his face in the man’s neck. Albert rubbed tender circles on Neil’s back. “Dilectus meus. All is well now, yes?”
Neil nodded, although it wasn’t entirely true. The ache was still there, although slowly fading. The memory, apparently, would never go away.