It only took a few minutes to get the car as near as he could to where he’d left the two vamps. Assuming he’d have to wade back across to the little island, he was surprised to see Sorley pop up from behind some shrubbery. He was more surprised to see he was naked from the waist up.
“What happened?” He strode over, noting the captured vamp lay at Sorley’s feet, cuffed and utterly still, but with his eyes wide and with an expression on his face that left Gethin in no doubt as to the murderous thoughts behind the glare. Both men were soaked through, but the smell coming off the subdued Alexander was less noxious than it had been, more fear and anger than duck shit and mud.
Sorley’s gaze flickered to his friend, then up to Gethin. “Alec and I had a disagreement about how best to help him.” His tone soured. “I introduced him to the blanket of ultimate control and he decided he’d wait quietly.”
“Yeah, it’s a nasty bit of kit,” Gethin agreed. “But what happened to your shirt?” Logic told him that a shirtless Sorley was someone Alexander had seen before, and that if Sorley had an opinion about Gethin’s reaction to his naked torso, it wouldn’t be flattering, but it didn’t stop the brief flare of jealousy at the reminder the vamp didn’t see his current sexual partner as anything more than a handy way to let off steam.
It wasn’t easy to have it confirmed. Sorley’s mouth twisted as he spat, “Let’s save the dick waving for a safer time, eh?” He sighed. “I tore my shirt into strips to wrap around the handcuffs. They work perfectly well without burning his flesh.” He jerked his chin at the SUV and bent down to his friend. “Can you walk to the car?”
Alexander shot another death ray at Gethin, but nodded carefully. Sorley chucked the backpack at Gethin and took his friend’s elbow, hefting him to his feet and guiding the suffering vamp to the car. Gethin opened the doors. He tried to look apologetic. Dawn was creeping over the horizon and they had moments left. “It would be easiest for you to ride in the Obscura,” he offered Alexander. The sack could be best described as a stretchy, light-impervious sleeping bag, with one end that fastened on the inside or the out, and with a bonus side-effect of dampening outside stimuli. As a tool for transporting vampires in daylight, it hadn’t been bettered. It was, however, both astronomically expensive, and not designed for more than one man-sized person at a time.
The vampire gave him a look that shrivelled his balls. “Sorley explained this. I will accept.Youdo not touch me.”
Gethin held up his hands in surrender. Sorley helped his friend into the back seat. Completely encased in the Obscura, even if the roof of the vehicle got torn off, he’d be as safe as if he were underground. Gethin stowed the backpack, and eyed Sorley.
“Your options are the footwell, or—”
“I’m safe until we get back to mine. I will share the back seat with Alec. His body will cover some of me. I’ll take that tarpaulin for my top half, plus your shirt, to wrap around my ankles. I didn’t stop to pull on socks.” His tone dared Gethin to argue.
He peeled off his damp shirt and held it out. “The tarp isn’t Council issue,” he said weakly.
“Then you’d best drive so as not to attract any attention. We know the windows suffice, so I would only be in peril if someone were to open a door.”
* * *
Alexander was tiny.No more than five feet five, he had all the substance of a newly-planted sapling. Close-cropped dark brown hair topped his exquisite, delicate features, the exception being his full, expressive lips. Lips which were twisted in a moue as Gethin explained the options for them all getting clean. He listened, then scowled.
“I will not run. Where would I go? I am sick and it is daylight. Nor will I attack you. I would prefer to salvage my clothing if possible.”
Gethin nodded, feeling relieved. The diminutive Black man looked exhausted. He also frankly looked like a teenager, but Gethin knew better than to underestimate any vampire, especially one Sorley had mentioned was ‘old’. Maybe his age was why he was apparently coping better than Sorley had with whatever had been done to him.
“Okay then. If you agree, Sorley will remove the cuffs in the bathroom, then you two can clean up. I’ll wait outside, then I’ll shower afterwards.” He subconsciously fingered the backpack in which the Eqwan rested in its packaging. He’d take it out just in case, ready to fling it at the vamp if he made a break for it.
Alexander rolled his eyes. “I do not object to being naked with Sorley,” he said, a whisper of amusement snaking into his expression, probably because Gethin was aware that if he felt jealous, it had to be obvious to everyone in the room. He was only grateful that the stench and feel of mud and sodden river weeds clinging to his skin meant his dick, clad only in damp boxers, was pathetically disinterested in anything right now. He and Sorley had both shed everything but their underwear just inside the front door.
“We’ll find you something to wear when we’re all clean. I doubt Sorley wants any of us trampling more of our filth into the carpets.” He nodded at Sorley. “Lead the way, please.”
Clean, they sat in the living room, Alexander half hidden in the folds of a velvet tracksuit that made him look even tinier. He was bent double, moaning softly. Sorley was encouraging him to try a blood bag.
“It’s what they want, to drive you to insanity,” he stated softly. “You’re doing so much better than I was. I’m not even sure what I was doing for almost four days. I have vague recollections of running a lot, and thirst, but being convinced I’d puke if I fed. Hughes here says I was a hair away from blood lust.”
“You were.”
“Try it, please, Alec? If you hurl, how can you possibly feel worse than you do right now?”
Alexander whimpered again. “I assure you, I don’t wish to find out.”
Gethin heated up a blood bag anyway, dividing it into two glasses. He brought them in, then went looking for a bowl or bucket. Locating a cleaning bowl, he set it on the floor at the vamps’ feet.
“Try to drink something,” he urged. “If we have to restrain you like I did Sorley, I’m going to feel like shit.”
Alexander gave him a loaded stare from under his lashes. “Please. Like you care about my feelings, M’sieur Loup.”
Sorley picked up a glass and downed the contents in two gulps. “Fuck’s sake, Alec, just try it. Hughes is hungry and tired, and he won’t cook or go to bed until he’s satisfied himself you’re either going to give us the full Exorcist treatment or the blood helps.” He batted his own eyelashes. “For me?”
Alexander reached out and picked up the glass. “Oh God, I can’t.” He gave a full body shudder.
Sorley leaned over and grasped his friend’s nose in a tight pinch. “Now you can’t smell it. Imagine it’s nothing more than red water. Down in one. You’ve never been a coward, Alec. Now isn’t the time to start.”
