Still 99 Problems in the World of Rival Vampires
I’m not the best babysitter to be honest. Now that Ben’s been glamoured, no longer oozing that aura of all-consuming beguilement, I find it hard to watch him. He’s got a lot of energy, at almost two years old. He likes to explore, but he doesn’t seem to care for me that much. I’m too quiet and awkward. I’m not fun like Kate or ‘dada’. Usually I just bring over crayons and get him to start drawing. He doesn’t seem too bored with that. The only problem is, I get wrapped up in the sketches I’m working on while Ben is being so nice and quiet… I never notice right away when he wanders off. That’s why Leah came home one night to every wall surface covered in marker scribbles, and that’s how she and Gracen came home one morning (when I honestly thought Ben had been asleep for hours) to every kitchen drawer emptied out onto the floor and a toddler jamming utensils into wall sockets.
I got a long, stern talking to after that incident, and it didn’t seem to matter how earnestly I apologized.
Still, Leah had no one else to stay here and watch him on this most special of days. Her mother never came back from fairy land, and Kate’s her maid of honor. They’re closer than ever, now that they’re both back working the night shifts in the ER. Whereas I told Leah that I probably should not come to her wedding. Gracen and I are on pretty good terms, but it would still be kind of awkward, me standing there in the pews, watching them take their vows…
* “We should probably get divorced first, right?” I half-joked to Leah this past week. “I mean, I know Gracen’s not comfortable with…”
“Julian,” she countered, taking my hands. “I love you. I will never stop loving you, and I will never kick you out of my family, or stop giving you my blood and leave you empty inside again.”
I let out a pent-up breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding.
“And Gracen knows… He knows we’re still going to be seeing each other. He understands.”
I had my own private conversation with Gracen right afterward to make absolutely sure of that, and he shook his head with a bittersweet, “No, she loves you. She can love us both. I can actually believe that now. I understand. And I can’t give her…” He cleared his throat. “I can’t give her what you do. It’s never been right between us, so if it’s just you… It’s fine.” I didn’t mention that Luc would also, almost always be there, because Gracen was definitely aware of that. He just doesn’t like to speak about our sire, doesn’t even like to say his name. “I know you genuinely love her, Julian. I know you will always respect her, and treat her right. This wedding… I just want to show her how much I love her, that I will forever be there, be a proper father for our son.”*
It’s nice that Gracen’s been calling Ben that, acting like all that trauma with Roman just never even happened. He’s moved on in the healthiest of ways, and he really does seem happy. Leah on the other hand… Leah just seems stressed. I know it’s mostly just her job, and having a small child to take care of in her every minute at home. Now she’s planning a wedding on top of all that...
I try my best to help carry that burden. I give her as many massages as she wants, and I hold her for as long as she needs while she vents about her troubles. And when she wants to do nothing but dance and make love all night in carnal, amorous tantrums of heat and passion, I surrender to her and Luc’s every darkest whim. Then I keep him from being a manipulative asshole the next morning when all she wants is to shower and leave, not be pressured into anything further.
That’s the funnest part sometimes actually, distracting Luc when he’s fixated on Leah.
* When he went to follow her into the shower the last time to initiate more sex and keep her bound to the bedroom for another few hours, all I did was murmur softly, “You know I’m no good at talking dirty…”
His eyes were back on me in an instant, as he assured me with a smile, “You don’t need to say any of it. Just show me. I can hardly wait for you to show me. Just let me grab that soaking wet wife of ours first--”
“No,” I insisted, pulling him right up against me with my dick already hard against his thigh. “You don’t need her to see this. Keep your eyes right here, Luc.”
He did, and he didn’t even notice when Leah came out from the bathroom, grabbed her purse and slipped right out the door with nothing more than a brief glance in our direction and a shake of her head. I hardly even noticed her leaving, because Luc’s eyes and ass cheeks were becoming entirely all-consuming at that point. “I really do love you,” is all I could say to him in delirious praise.
And when all he said with a triumphant smile was, “I know.” I nipped him in the neck and thrust in writhing rhythm until he moaned those words I always need to hear. “God, do I know! And I love you too. I love you like you wouldn’t believe, you needy, glorious sap.”*
I don’t miss always Leah’s absence. Whether it’s the three of us, or the two of us… The sex is just as good either way, if I have Luc right up against me, speaking those affirmations.
There hasn’t been a night of just Luc and Leah though. They always want me there, and I’ve been figuring out slowly... Leah doesn’t like to watch Luc and I together. Kate does. She really fucking does, and Luc loves watching Leah and I go at it, even if he’s sitting on the sidelines just sipping at a sanguis cocktail. Leah even loves to have Luc watching her like that when I’m down between her legs, but when it’s just Luc and I together… She seems to feel excluded. There’s this wistful sort of envy in her eyes that I just don’t understand. She wanted to leave that morning after all, just like the other nights when she wanted to visit us but is too tired to be getting physical. She says Luc can sleep with whoever he wants, and she doesn’t get jealous about his orgies or his politics. But something about seeing Luc and I specifically, without her in between us… It just makes her sad. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how to talk about it.
I don’t know how to talk about how sad I am that I can’t connect with Ben the way that Gracen does. Luc’s thrilled he never gets stuck on babysitting duty, but it is not some dreadful chore to me. I really do want to help out, and I want to know this kid. It’s just…
I’m not his dad, and I am never going to be. Even though Leah is my wife…
She isn’t in truth. She will always be Gracen’s. The same way I will always be Luc’s.
I got lost in my thoughts again while Ben was watching some mind-numbing kids program, and now I’ve lost sight of him completely. “Ben?”
Shit! The apartment door is wide open, and if the kid found his way outside… At least I can actually follow him out there for once. It’s 6 PM, fully dark out. It has to be. Leah’s wedding starts in an hour, and with Gracen as her groom, they needed it to be a fully nighttime ceremony.
I run outside and see Ben – holding his ball by the curb and staring straight at a pair of suit-wearing strangers. They’re vampires. I can smell it on them in a second.
But these are not Luc’s vampires. They are not from our coven. They’re a threat.
I scoop Ben up into my arms, and he instantly starts crying. “Shh. Stop that. Let’s just… We’re going back inside--”
“I don’t think so,” the tallest creep rebukes, rushing right over to block me in a blur of speed. His hand is already around my throat, and fuck is he strong, lifting me clean off the ground. “Our mistress, Resa Dulce, would like to meet with you, both of you, right--”
I fire my revolver right into his heart, and Ben starts wailing all the louder. It is an awful noise, and I clamp my free hand around his ear to try and shield him, as we drop to the ground and I fire a second shot, right up under the chin of the vampire closing in at my back.
This is a busy street, with many onlooking windows and potential witnesses. I really need to call Luc and get his plants in the police department to cover up this mess. He doesn’t pick up though. I think he’s at a meeting with the Dulce clan leader, right this very hour… At least it’s just cars driving past and no pedestrians at the moment, and the corpses of those vampires’ I killed are already disintegrating.
I rush Ben right back up to Leah’s apartment and lock the door. That’s really not going to do much of anything to protect him though. Resa’s minions saw him. They recognized what he is. I could see it written on their faces.
Half-breeds are a forbidden abomination, a violation of our laws. Resa is going to want him dead. I can only hope I killed those goons before they reported this discovery to their sire… But no, that car that drove past… That was no human driver.