Blood of the City Read online

  Jason came closer to Grant. “You’re from around here, aren’t you?”

  Grant nodded.

  “Well, we haven’t been here for some time, and things have changed.” Jason smiled. His teeth were long, pointed and white. “Since you’re from here, I assume you know the area, so maybe it was kismet that your son held us back here. Where do you think Mack could be hiding?”

  “How should I know?”

  “You can’t think of any abandoned houses? Mine shafts? Old caves? Nothing like that?”

  Grant could think of something.

  “He doesn’t need to.” Allen put a thick-fingered hand on Jason’s forearm. “I know where he is.”

  “What?” Jason asked.

  “Just trust me,” said Allen. He looked at Grant. “Where is the exit?”

  Grant pointed a trembling finger at a door with a green ‘Exit’ sign above it.

  Jason laughed and nodded at Allen. “Lead the way, then.”

  Grant whimpered. “What about me?”

  “You can go,” Jason said. “I told you. We’re not gonna hurt you.”

  Grant nodded, looked between the two of them and started backing away. He bumped into an exhibition case and jumped but continued his exit.

  Allen bowed slightly. “Thank you for your help. I’m sorry we scared you, but we would like to find my son. I’m sure you understand.”

  Grant nodded as the two of them pushed open the exit door and vanished into the night, leaving the door ajar. Grant considered the safe path he was on, but instead, galvanized by some sense of curiosity, he crept to the door and peered through the gap at the men.

  In the dim moonlight, surrounded by trees, the men were disrobing. Unbuttoning his jeans, Jason slid these and his underpants off so he was standing naked under the stars. His hairless torso gleamed white, with pink nipples standing on end. His cock was shaven and thick, half-engorged with blood.

  Grant’s body tingled as blood rushed to his cheeks. He looked away to try and curb the odd feelings rising within as he spied on the stripping men but was greeted with the sight of Allen instead. Allen’s body was larger, his nipples dark and hidden under thick hair that swirled over his muscular chest and drew Grant’s gaze down to his crotch. Allen’s cock fell between his legs. His fuzzy balls swung beneath. Grant felt his blood pressure rising, but it turned from desire to fear in a flash as he realized that both men were undergoing a transformation.

  Jason’s muscles stretched and grew darker. His bones cracked and webbing grew under his arms to connect to his legs. His body grew fur and his hands and feet, talons. His face morphed into that of a bat and he flapped his enormous wings. The gusts were fragrant with his sweat and they buffeted against Grant’s face. A couple more beats and the thing that Jason had become launched into the air and took off in the direction of the Wilder’s farm.

  Grant fell against the door, shaking in terror.

  Allen shook his body and brilliant, white feathers popped out from his pores, fluffing and settling against a changed body. He looked like an enormous, ghostly cockatoo. His face grew into a beak and his hair ruffled into plumage. He turned his head to look straight at Grant before taking a couple of ungainly running steps then launching into the air.

  He flapped his huge wings, looking like a nightmarish angel, then took off into the night.

  Grant slammed the door shut and ran through the museum in fear. He stumbled, but kept going, his heart slamming into his chest the entire way. He pelted past the crowd, into the car park and to his car where he slammed against the window.

  Inside, Michael screamed and woke up Annabel, who started to cry. Michael unlocked the door and let Grant inside before comforting his sister. Grant took a couple of deep breaths, looked at the darkness of the plateau then started the car to drive away, never to return.

  ****

  Allen’s and Jason’s flights were almost silent in the still night. With one beat of their wings, they could glide for miles through the air. Each of them swooped around the other, almost playful, but it was Jason who was leading, using his echolocation to find the missing Mack. Halfway along the plateau, the museum but a distant speck behind them, he sensed an entrance and the depths of a cave system beyond. Nothing stirred within, but Mack and they were dead, so nothing would. He squealed at Allen and headed for the area, confident Allen would follow him. He gusted over trees and past other nocturnal creatures until he reached a small clearing, fragrant with wildflowers and death.

  Landing, Jason made a quick transformation back to his human form and sought out the source of the stench. To the side of the cave, a pile of rotting animals, mostly possums and small rodents, had been discarded.

  Allen landed in a flurry of white feathers. He clawed at the ground before changing back into a man. He also registered the smell, but ignored the pile of animals to make straight for the cave entrance. He started heaving at a large stone at the front, until it was far enough away to make a gap large enough for him to fit through.

  “Mack?” he whispered. “Are you in there?” Allen beckoned to Jason who came to his side. “I’m going in,” he said. Before Allen did, he took a deep breath to prepare himself for the onslaught of memories that was bound to hit on his return to this prison.

  Jason followed close behind and the two found themselves in a cave much brighter than the night outside. A fire smoldered in the middle, sending smoke up through a complex array of tunnels above to dissipate. Chains hung from one wall, rusted from disuse. Allen made a point of not looking at them for too long.

  Patterns and stalactites covered the roof of the cave, but neither looked at these, preferring instead to stare at the sleeping vampire against the wall.

  Mack was naked, as were they. Even though it had been mere days, he was gaunter around the face. His musculature was smaller, and he seemed bowed by the world.

  Jason went to say something, but Allen stopped him and pointed to the outside in silence. Jason fumbled in confusion, but followed the older man back out of the cave.

  “What’s wrong?” Jason whispered.

  Allen looked at the sky. “This is where Zoran kept me when he kidnapped me.”

  Jason glanced back at the cave entrance. “Those chains?”

  “They were mine,” Allen nodded at the pile of animals. “I had one of those as well, but it was beneath my feet. And every bone was picked clean. When Zoran left me for too long, I would crack them open and eat the marrow from inside.”

  Jason grimaced. “Shouldn’t we wake up Mack?”

  Allen sighed. “Let him rest.” He sat on the dirt. “Tell me about your life as a human, Jason. I don’t know anything about you, and I don’t want to relive my memories of this place.”

  Jason was torn between his lover and his lover’s father for a moment, but he sat down beside the gruff, introspective man and looked into the night. In the distance, the old homestead sat in pools of floodlight, cars crammed around the car park while everyone tried to go home at once. No one seemed the wiser that the two vampires had visited at all. “What do you want to know?”

  “How did you come by the vampires?”

  Jason laughed. “I didn’t.” He sobered up. “My father contracted our family to Bela. So I was born a slave, I suppose.”

  Allen said nothing.

  “It was kind of fine growing up. When I was a kid, I had a lot of fun. There were other kids too. Sometimes we had to let Bela bite us, though, and some of us didn’t like that. And some of us didn’t survive it.”

  “You did.”

  Jason stroked the scars on his arms. Bite marks from long before, when he had fed Mack his own blood to keep him sustained. “Yeah, but I didn’t in the end. In the end, I just became like them.”

  “Better than dead.”

  “Sometimes I wonder if it is.”

  Allen cleared his t
hroat and pushed his feet into the dirt. “It’s a complicated way to be. The world doesn’t know about us and calls what they do know monstrous. We can’t live there, and we can’t live as animals. We need to find an equilibrium.” He rested his arms on his knees.

  “I thought I had,” said Jason.

  Allen cocked his head. “I think you know that’s not true.”

  Jason blushed under cover of night. His heart was beating again. He put his hand to his chest in wonder then looked back at the cave holding his lover.

  “What is it?” Allen watched Jason’s movement. “When Jo was alive, she had the same effect on me.” Allen touched his still, silent chest but dropped his hand away before he would sense the quiet. “It didn’t work when I thought about her, like I’m thinking about her now, but if she was close to me and I didn’t know it, or I did, my heart would just start again.”

  “She brought you back to life?”

  Allen nodded. “I think it was love. Real love. It’s one of the good things about being a vampire.”

  Jason nodded. “Like eternal youth and immortality.”

  Allen grimaced. “Those are questionably good.”

  Jason raised an eyebrow.

  “Because we’re dead. And because some people have this ability to bring us back to life, even for a short period. It means we know without a doubt that we’re in love.”

  “But how can we tell if the person we love, loves us back?” Jason’s face fell. “How can we really believe them if they say it’s true? If Mack forgives me, how will I know it’s real?”

  Allen waited a few moments, contemplating the darkness ahead. He put his arm around Jason and pulled him close, tucking Jason’s head under his chin and rubbing his arm. “That’s not a privilege anyone gets. It’s down to trust. Even though I feared every day that Jo was frightened of me, that she was with me out of some sense of obligation in case I murdered her or her family… Even though I was unsure, I had to accept her words. I had to trust that she wouldn’t lie to me.”

  Jason nodded and wiped his eyes, but he didn’t pull away from the larger man. His heart beat faster still at the proximity. Allen noticed Jason’s engorging cock, but also didn’t pull away. He kept rubbing Jason’s biceps, comforting him as much as he could. Under the cover of moonlight, Jason pulled away from Allen to look him in the eyes in silence. His skin was hot and flushed and his cock stood almost at full mast.

  Allen cleared his throat. “Do you love my son?”

  Jason faltered, the intensity broken and his lust forgotten. “Sorry?”

  “Do you love him?”

  “I don’t know. I have this reaction to him,” Jason touched his chest. “Is it love? I don’t know. I haven’t had it with anyone else.” He took a deep breath. “And even if I did, I don’t think he loves me.”

  “You haven’t listened to what I’ve been saying,” said Allen. “If you love him—as you appear to—you have to also figure out how to trust him.”

  “I don’t know if I can.”

  Allen cracked a quiet smile. “You may be almost as old as me, but you and Mack really act like teenagers sometimes.” He laughed again. “It’s almost comforting.”

  “Thanks?” Jason said.

  Allen laughed again. “See what I mean? Okay, let me change the question. What would make you happy?”

  Jason bit his lip and Allen nodded in unspoken understanding. “So perhaps, if the answer is what I think it is, you need to think about how to make Mack happy. What would make him happy? And stop trying to cram him and your relationship into a world and life that doesn’t suit it.”

  “Okay…”

  “When Mack became a vampire, I wasn’t supportive. I locked him under the house, didn’t visit him, didn’t feed him or communicate at all. Then before I had a chance to atone, I was chained up and enslaved by Zoran.” Allen sighed. “What I’m trying to say is, you were all the things I wasn’t. You helped him when he was down. You supported and cared for him, nurtured him and taught him a good way to live.” Allen rubbed his neck. “I’m sorry about the things Zoran put you through. Believe me when I tell you, I know how it felt. But he’s gone now, and you have Mack again. I think it’s time you remembered who you really are.”

  “Maybe this is who I really am.”

  “That’s not true. Look at Grant,” Allen said.

  “Who?”

  “That man and his children at the museum. If you were really just a murderous vampire, they would all three be dead. But you helped them, set them free.”

  Jason nodded. “I wanted to eat him.”

  “We all want things that we don’t act upon,” said Allen, stirring in place. “The difference between you and the person who killed Sparky and Antonio is that you understood what you should do. You held back. If we all just lived our lives doing whatever we wanted, the world would be chaos.”

  “And just because we’re outside society, doesn’t mean we’re outside the rules, especially if we want to live within them,” said Jason. He hung his head in shame. “How will Mack forgive me, after I did such a horrible, irreversible thing?”

  Allen rubbed Jason’s back. “You’ll figure it out. As for me, I think I’ve done as much as platitudes can do at this point.”

  Jason chuckled. “Platitudes. I think you’ve been very compassionate—and helpful.”

  “Like I said…”

  Animals ran through the underbrush around them. Mack didn’t stir in his cave. Allen took a deep breath and stood, shaking his body to start a transformation.

  “Where are you going?” Jason asked.

  “I’ve made my peace with Mack. I’ll be around, and I’ll be waiting to be part of your lives once you are… Well, once you’re happy again,” Allen said. “I can’t be in this place. And I need to visit my”—he shook his head—“Jo’s grandchildren. They’ll be wondering where I’ve gone.”

  Jason got to his feet. “You can’t just leave me here. I can’t deal with this alone. And Mack won’t forgive you if you’re not here too.”

  “He’s not angry at me,” said Allen. “It’s you he needs to deal with.”

  Jason’s fury at being abandoned again flew across his face until Allen touched his shoulder and rubbed his arm. “Don’t worry. Mack loves you. You can get through this.”

  Jason nodded, unable to form words.

  “Remind him of better times and promise them ahead.” Allen changed into his avian form and nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you to get back.”

  Jason waited as Allen flew off into the night before he sat back down in the dirt, looking back at the cave, wondering whether he should wake Mack up from his slumber. He scooted a little away from the pile of animal bodies and listened to the night cries of living animals instead. They deafened the silence. Galvanized by Allen’s words, Jason got up and strode into the cave. He squeezed past the rock and knelt in front of Mack, hands on his knees. He reached out a hand to stroke Mack’s sleeping face and sighed.

  “I’m sorry, Mack,” said Jason. “I think I’d all but given up when you came back into my life. I was unhappy—a slave again, or still, I guess. These last few months have been the only time in my life I’ve ever been free.” He started to cry. “I don’t know how to do that. I thought… I guess I thought if I had you, I would be happy. Whatever happened, however weird life became, as long as it was you and me against it, I thought we could do it.” Jason got up. “But I drove you away. Then instead of trying to fix it, I made it so much worse.”

  Jason looked back at the sliver of night outside and recalled Allen’s words. “I’m gonna make it better. Please let me make it better.” Jason started to cry. He sat in front of Mack and rocked in tears for a long time. His sobs echoed through the cave and tunnels, resonating his sorrow throughout the plateau. When the tears stopped and his breathing calmed, Jason steeled himself and stood in f
ront of his lover.

  “You’ll be hungry when you wake.” He leaned down and kissed Mack on the forehead. “I love you,” he whispered.

  After a few minutes of silence from both of them, Jason crept back out into the black night. He took another deep breath and stretched out his arms and legs. His bones cracked with change and his muscles strained to rearrange themselves in a new, different configuration. His face flattened and his eyes grew large and yellow. As they did, his vision cleared and the night brightened around him. He could see small animals sleeping, birds on perches and rodents in dens. He could hear other animals feasting and hunting and grinned. His skin sprouted fur with black and white stripes and his cheeks grew long whiskers. When he padded onto all fours, he was transformed into a resplendent white tiger. He considered his new, striped legs and paws, curled his long tail around and let out a roar to awaken Mack inside before bounding into the bushes to scare up some food.

  Chapter Eight

  Reunion

  Mack snorted awake in the middle of the night. Starlight patterned the stone roof of the cave above him. Burnished firelight flickered over ancient stalactites and illuminated handprints and etchings, arguably older still. Aside from the drip of crystal water from the limestone peaks above, the cave was silent and still. His body felt weak and empty. He pulled himself up to look out of the cave at the night outside. Stars stabbed through the black sky. He walked outside, bathing his naked form in moonlight. He wrapped his arms around his legs and sat in silence, unable to muster the effort to do anything more.

  He could see the edge of the large boulder that covered the entrance to the cave throughout the day. It had been pulled aside, which he hadn’t registered at first, but the realization hit him quickly and he was on his feet, waiting for a fight. Although Mack stood, he also swayed, woozy from lack of blood. He took a stumbling step away from his resting place then laid a cold, dead hand on the cool, wet sandstone to balance himself. Wiping the grime against his bare thigh, he crossed the entrance of the cave to look down the mountain to the sprawling country below. Gridlines formed paddocks dotted with the disparate yellow lights of homes. A few of the homes had plumes of smoke streaming up from their chimneys. The cool in the air didn’t bother Mack, though. Far in the distance, floodlights broadcast the parking lots and main building of the museum dedicated to his honor. Since the events of the past few days, it had shown ever-increasing scores of visitors. But none of those visitors made it up to the cave as well, leaving Mack in relative solitude.