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Eden stood outside Alric’s office, stomach souring at the words that floated out; the heated argument Alric and Albie were having. Neither was as quiet. Though, as Eden glanced in the direction of Alric’s secretary, Mrs Walterson didn’t appear to notice the loud voices. He guessed she was either going deaf or their arguing at this level was normal. But he thought it might have at least garnered a sideways glance in his direction seeing as the subject of the argument was Eden. And that didn’t sit well with him either. Two thousand years of friendship versus a recent attachment, Eden knew who’d win and it wasn’t him.
Except Eden could have sworn Albie was defending him... no, not defending. Albie was demanding that Alric tell Eden something he’d neglected to do... and Eden’s guts soured even more as a ball of lead sloshed around in it while wondering what it might be.
He blew the bangs out of his face and pushed off the wall. Pacing the hallway, eyes darting back to the closed door of Alric’s office as he wondered whether it might be better to leave and pretend he’d never come here. Not possible - he lifted his head to stare at Mrs Walterson who caught his gaze and gave him a friendly smile - Mrs Walterson’s loyalty lay with Alric. And Alric wouldn’t hesitate to hunt him down. A shiver raced down his spine; his body thrummed to a new beat at the thought of Alric stalking the night clad streets. Would almost make earning Alric’s wrath worth it... maybe he’d throw Eden up against a wall, devouring him... the spot on his neck that Alric loved to bite throbbed as did Eden’s gums.
He ran his tongue over his teeth puzzled by the strange pain that hadn’t been there before. Confusion stepping up a notch as his tongue caught a sharpened edge that shouldn’t be there; certain he hadn’t broken one at some point. “How longs he got?” Albie’s words echoed through Eden’s mind followed quickly by Alric’s calmer reply, “One or two weeks,” and Eden’s blood chilled, tongue pressing harder against the tooth that shouldn’t exist.
Leaving wasn’t an option. Eden slumped into a chair and stared at the door waiting for it to open. Wanted it to stay closed, not sure he wanted to learn what exactly was happening to him.
Cradling his head, he dropped his gaze to the floor, not raising it again until he heard the door of the office open and Albie stepped out. His conflicted confusion must have shown on his face, Albie not speaking to him but merely squeezed Eden’s shoulder as he walked past. An apology or reassurance, Eden didn’t know. It did little to ease the confusion, the anger building inside him. He stood, gathered his anger and strode into Alric’s office intent on finding out what secrets the vampire still kept; locking the door as he shut it.
He paused as an unfamiliar smell lingered in the air, one that stirred a need within him Eden had never experienced before. His eyes drifted over the room trying to find the source of the heady metallic tang mixed with a pinot noir... a good vintage too, though Eden had no idea how he knew that, he was not a wine drinker by any stretch of the imagination. But the only bottles he could find were two small ones sitting on Alric’s desk. The dark glass bottles bore no labels, no identifying marks at all to suggest what their contents might have been, but Eden was beginning to realise it probably wasn’t just wine.
Eden sucked in a shuddering breath as a desperate hunger swept over him. He lifted his head and stared at Alric, lips pulled back as he swiped his tongue across his aching gums and the teeth he could’ve sworn had grown longer. The sour feeling in Eden’s guts grew worse, watching Alric’s expression flicker from one of hunger to that of guilt as he averted his gaze.
He wanted to shout, “What’s happening to me?” but he thought it was obvious, Eden just didn’t know if he wanted the confirmation. “I’m turning, aren’t I? You did something that is changing me into a vampire without me knowing.” He stalked across the floor to the desk where Alric sat.
“Dhampyre.”
“What?”
“You... you’re becoming a dhampyre. Surely the books you’ve studied at least mentioned the name given to humans who become vampires?”
“Semantics isn’t it? Vampires can only be created, or do you have to reach some arbitrary age to be considered a ‘vampire’. How many years, centuries, does it take to leave your humanity behind?” Anger, bitterness tinged his words and it wasn’t because Alric had started the process – or whatever it was happening to him – of turning him into a vampire, Eden having already accepted that if he wanted to stay with Alric it would need to happen someday. And that was the root of his anger, the someday he’d considered was now and Eden had had no choice in the matter. Alric had taken that from him.
“I was born a vampire.”
“How?” That didn’t make sense. Eden had read stories of women giving birth to the offspring of vampires; creatures that were part monster, part human and in most books, they were the ones referred to as dhampyres.
“The usual way. My parents had sex and I was the result, as were my siblings.”
Eden could almost accept that. Honestly it wasn’t that hard to believe vampires procreated like other species in addition to their ability to add to their population through other means. The theory only began to fall apart when Eden stopped to consider that the history books he’d read – no longer prepared to call them mythology – made very little mention of female vampires; only vague references that hinted at the possibility that they existed at all which meant Alric’s talk of parents didn’t make sense. But then it was strange he used the term parent instead of mother and father...
“There’s something you are not telling me... something important Alric and I want to know what it is. I want to know how long until I’ve completely turned into a vamp-dhampyre-” moving around the desk and getting closer to Alric, Eden’s eyes darted to the base of Alric’s neck. His flicked his tongue over his elongated teeth as the urge to sink his teeth into Alric’s flesh and dr-
Eden’s footsteps faltered, and he grabbed a hold of the desk as he tried to remain standing as waves of shame, hunger, desire and horror crashed into him. Confusing waves that sent his head spinning. All he could focus on was that spot on Alric’s neck and the desire to sink his teeth into it while Alric fucked him. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down before those thoughts overwhelmed him but Alric’s close presence didn’t make it easy. Even less so when hands cupped his face and Alric’s delicious scent swamped him pulling him away from the calm he’d been trying to reach as a soft moan rose from deep within him.
“I’m sorry... No, I’m not sorry. I do regret not explaining what would happen to you. But it was always going to happen-” thumbs caressed Eden’s cheekbones and he didn’t know if he wanted to push Alric away or tug him closer. “-and I didn’t expect for it to happen this fast.”
“Well, you’re one up on me,” Eden sneered. “This isn’t how I expected it to happen at all. The books don’t describe it like this... I thought I had to die first. This isn’t that. It’s a slower, gradual process.”
“The books aren’t entirely wrong, but we’ve also worked hard to keep most of the information our society’s structure; its inner workings out of them. And this situation is one of those pieces. It doesn’t work like this for everyone, only fated lovers like we are.”
“So, what? My being around you did this?” he gestured at the fang nubs elongating from his gums, but the guilt in Alric’s eyes told him it was more than that... cold realisation of the truth hit him hard, pushing back the desire he’d been struggling to restrain. “No... it’s because we’ve had sex without condoms. I don’t know how that works... not sure if I even want to know. But fuck Alric, you never even gave me a choice!”
“I’m so-”
“Nope. You don’t get to say that... and I need you to step back-” placing a hand on Alric’s chest and shoving him away. “-I can’t think when you are close. You smell...delicious. Why am I thinking that? Fuck, all I want to do is bite you... and that’s not good. I don’t think I should even be around you right now while I think about all this.”
Breathing was hard. Each lungful dragged in more of Alric’s tantalising, distracting and very tempting scent, ramping up the urge to taste the blood he could hear pumping in Alric’s veins. A biological imperative, that’s all it was, this very unhuman-like hunger taking over his mind and it only grew more urgent, desperate the longer he stayed near Alric. He needed distance. One greater than the size of this room; this building... however much was needed for this urge to stop and his mind could finally clear enough to think.
But Alric didn’t look happy at the idea of being separated from him. An anguished pain streaking across his face as he stumbled back as though Eden stood there with a stake and aimed at Alric’s heart. He’d almost feel sorry for Alric, if the vampire hadn’t brought it all on himself.
“But I don’t think it would be a good idea to return back to my flat alone, so I want you to get Albie back here.”