Bloodstream: Under Your Skin 6/7
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PART 6:
Wait, I'm starting to suffocate
And soon I anticipate
I'm coming undone
What looks so strong, so delicate
-Coming Undone, Korn
According to Mina, she and Tommy hadn't been able to spend time together in far too long, so when Adam said that he wanted to go shopping with Brad, Tommy said okay. No arguments, no objections, no jealousy. He saw it as an opportunity to score good boy points on two fronts. Adam would see that Tommy was willing to trust that he and Brad were nothing more than good friends, and Mina would think he was clearing space to spend time with only her.
But within the first half hour with Mina, Tommy wished he'd gone shopping instead. He didn't know why his grandmother insisted on talking about people he didn't care about in the least. He supposed he should be impressed with some of the names she was dropping, vampire hierarchy, after all, but he simply couldn't force an interest. He tried to keep his own lineage a secret just because things like that never impressed him.
So when he heard the banging at his door, he wasn't upset over the interruption. He even thought about finding some way to thank their neighbor when he heard Allison hollering as loudly as she could for Adam.
"Sorry, Mina. I better see what she needs. Allison isn't the type to interrupt if it's not something really important,” Tommy said, because he wasn't above a little lying if it served to rescue him from his grandmother.
When he opened the door, Tommy pulled a startled Allison into a hug. “Adam's not here right now, but maybe I could help you with whatever you need help with,” he said before she could get a word out. “Do you need me to come over to your place? I could do that, you know. I'm sure that whatever you need is really important, right?”
"Yeah, dude, it's totally important,” a very confused Allison answered, “but it's not at my apartment. Someone from my pack-that skinny guy you saw the first day, remember him? Anyway, he just came by and told me that the council of elders for my pack wants to have a little meeting with me. Seems that they don't think I'm mature enough to be on my own. Can you believe that?” Tommy could tell from her tone that she was serious, and he did his best to keep a straight face.
"So what do you want me to help you with?”
"Isaac-the skinny dude-said that if I could bring someone with me, someone who would be willing to tell them about how amazingly mature I am and shit, they might just let me stay here without sending people to check on me all the time. I thought Adam might do it for me,” Allison told him.
"Sounds serious. We should probably take care of it right away. We wouldn't want anything to happen to this Isaac guy when he comes around at the crack of dawn, waking people up and shit.” Tommy had a few things he wanted to say to Isaac if he saw him at Allison's pack's home.
Bending down to give his grandmother a quick kiss on the cheek, Tommy said, “Sorry, Mina. We'll have to finish catching up on everyone later. This is really important to Allison, and she's a good friend and all. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't try and help her out.”
Allison gave Tommy a confused look as he took her hand and pulled her towards the door. Mina could just make out the girl's mumbled 'Seriously, dude, who are you, and what'd you do with the real Tommy?' as the two were making their escape.
"When Adam gets back, tell him where I went,” Tommy shouted over his shoulder just before he closed the door and pulled Allison into a tight hug. “I'll never complain about you being a nuisance again. Thanks for the rescue, by the way. I don't know if I could have lasted another five minutes. I think my grandmother discovered the surest way to kill a vampire: bore them to death.”
Allison was feeling a little unsettled with this new and maybe improved version of Tommy, but a girl's gotta take whatever she can, right? So she grabbed Tommy's hand and pulled him along with her, telling him, “Let's get this done before you remember how you really feel about me, okay?”
"Where the hell are we going?" Tommy asked after they'd been en route for longer than he'd been expecting. He'd agreed to this whole thing to escape from his grandmother, but he hadn't planned on the escape being even more tedious than Mina's gossip.
"It's a farm just outside of town," Allison replied. "I grew up there. There's enough privacy to have a whole colony of weres there. Learning to control your transformation can be tricky, you know. It's kinda embarrassing to suddenly sprout a tail in public. Having the farm just made growing up easier."
Talking helped pass the time as they made their way to the Allison's childhood home. Tommy never was much for sentimentality, but he let Allison go on and on, knowing that she was verbally working out her nerves. As the pace and randomness of her chatter increased, Tommy knew they were getting closer to their destination. The area was wooded and damp. It wasn't exactly at the top of Tommy's list of places he wanted to visit, but it probably suited the needs of Allison's clan.
Walking through a particularly swampy mire, Tommy and Allison both jumped when they heard a shot ring out. Tommy immediately fell to the ground, while Allison tried to find the source of the noise.
"What the actual fuck?” Tommy shouted as he pressed his hand to his thigh.
"Oh, shit! You're bleeding, dude,” Allison informed him when she saw the red seeping between Tommy's fingers.
"Ya think?” Tommy asked as he rolled his eyes. The wound was by no means life threatening, but it hurt like hell and would have to be taken care of before it became more than just a nuisance. “ Help me up before he decides to shoot again, okay. This guy is some kinda nut job, but I don't think he'll be aiming at you.”
"You know who did this? Who is it? Where are they? Why do they want to shoot you?”
"Take it easy, okay? I have an idea about who it might be, but I don't have any fucking idea where he is. Help me get somewhere with a little more cover, and I'll tell you all about it.”
Allison finally realized that Tommy not only wasn't going anywhere on his own, but he couldn't even stand up by himself. Slipping Tommy's arm over her shoulder, she helped the vampire stand. Without being able to keep pressure on the bullet wound, Tommy's blood started flowing freely from the hole in his thigh. Seeing it, Allison almost let go of Tommy. That much blood loss couldn't be good, even for a vampire.
"Fucking hell. This hurts like a son of a bitch,” Tommy hissed as the two made their way to a stand of trees. By the time they reached the tree line, Tommy was closer to passing out than he'd ever admit to Allison. There had to be something different about the bullet that was still lodged in his leg. The bleeding seemed to be increasing, and the pain kept getting worse. He was used to healing almost instantly, and this situation was outside of his comfort zone.
They were alone and unsupported out here. It might be Allison's pack's home, but the girl didn't have what you could call a close relationship with her family. In hindsight Tommy could see the foolishness in running off without thinking, but it really didn't mean shit in helping them with their present situation. If he hadn't been so anxious to escape his grandmother, he might have given more thought to what he was getting himself into. Of course, if he hadn't been so anxious to escape his grandmother, he wouldn't have agreed to accompany their hyper neighbor on this mission in the first place.
Allison helped Tommy down, letting him lean back against one of the larger trees. Tommy immediately checked the state of the bullet hole in his thigh. The skin around it was fiery red and angry. It showed no signs of starting to heal. The pain was starting to flare outward along the nerves of his leg. Tommy didn't think he'd be putting any weight on it soon.
"So, are you gonna tell me who's trying to shoot you and why? Or should we just sit here and watch you bleed? Because it doesn't look like we're gonna be going anywhere. You're kinda too heavy for me to carry your ass outta here, and it sure as hell doesn't look like you're gonna be walking on that leg,” Allison told him as she started poking at Tommy's leg.
"Ow!” Tommy hollered, swatting her hand away. “That hurts, you know.”
"I thought vamps were supposed to be able to take the pain and heal right away and shit,” Allison said as she poked at Tommy's leg again.
"Yeah, well that's usually the case. Something is fucking wrong here, though. This burns, and it's not getting better.”
Allison was just beginning to get the idea that this was maybe a little bit more serious than she'd thought when both her and Tommy's attention was drawn to a snapping twig nearby. Neither of them had noticed the approaching stranger or the group of Allison's clansmen that accompanied him.
The stranger's scent told Allison that he was human. He shouldn't be a problem on his own, but with what looked like her entire clan backing him up, she knew that she was no match physically for her opponents. That didn't stop her from launching a verbal attack, though.
"What the hell, guys? What are you doing, and why are you helping some psycho who just shot my friend?” She walked up to the clan elder and started poking him in the chest to emphasize her words. “You'd better start explaining right now, mister! I bring a friend out here because of some council bullshit, and now he's sitting here, bleeding all over himself while you guys stand around and don't even help him. He could die out here, and you wouldn't even care, would you? What kinda welcome is that?”
"Yeah, about the bleeding and helping part,” Tommy said from his place against the tree. “Maybe you could, I don't know, find a way to get this fucking thing out of my leg so I don't keep bleeding all over myself.”
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, Mr. Ratliff,” the heretofore silent stranger said as he once again pointed the gun at Tommy. “My plan was for little Allison here to bring your friend out here with her. I was going to use him as bait to lure you into my clutches. You seem to have made a few steps of my plan unnecessary, but the end result will be the same.”
"I know you,” Tommy said as he looked at the stranger. “You're the same fucking asshole who threw fucking salt covered knives at me. That didn't work then, and this is not gonna work now. Adam shoulda just killed you that night. And who the fuck actually uses words like 'lure you into my clutches'? Isn't that shit a little too melodramatic?”
"But he didn't kill me, and fortunately, I learn from my mistakes. I'm much better prepared this time. I've made some improvements to my ammunition, but I'm sure you can tell the difference. That bullet is made from an iron casing that was forged in a bath of saltwater. It's also packed with iron salts. It was designed to slowly release the salt into the body upon impact. So, Mr. Ratliff, that wound is not going to get any better as long as that bullet remains in your body. Let me introduce myself, by the way. My name is James; James Van Helsing. I believe our families have known each other for quite a while”
Allison couldn't contain herself any longer. The words almost exploded from her mouth when she said, “Oh, shit! You're like vampire hunting royalty or something, aren't you? Why do you want to mess with Tommy?”
Van Helsing turned to her and said, “Your friend doesn't like to brag about his heritage, but he is a worthy target for a Van Helsing. But now we find ourselves with a rather strange situation, young lady. Your clan only agreed to assist me if I removed the influence of both your neighbors from your life. They don't feel that soulless vampires are the proper influence for a young, impressionable girl like yourself. I will have to hunt down the other one, but not until I've dealt with Mr. Ratliff.”
Van Helsing turned to the members of the were clan and said, “I trust you to bring him back to the house. I want to keep an eye on him and make sure that he is truly dead before I leave.”
Allison started to argue but was distracted when two of the more burly looking weres roughly pulled Tommy to his feet. The look of pain that crossed his face as he had to put weight on his injured leg gave her the motivation to step in and shoulder one of the men aside. “Jeeze! You guys don't have to be so rough. Come on, Isaac, help me. We'll help him to the house.”
While Isaac moved in to help, Allison said, “Don't worry, Tommy. Adam will find a way to get you out of this.” But Tommy's pale face and the way he grimaced in pain told her that if help didn't come soon, it might be too late.
Shopping turned out to be more enlightening than productive. Adam and Brad were both more interested in their conversation than they were in acquiring new things. They caught up on each other's lives and loves. Adam was touched by the emotion that Brad displayed when he talked about his Mikey, and he spent time reassuring Brad that life with Tommy was good. Brad still felt protective of his old friend, and Adam had to admit that he thought Brad's concern was cute.
They both decided that the best way to end the evening was a late dinner at Adam and Tommy's apartment. Adam just hoped that Tommy and Mina had finished their little reunion talk. He liked Mina, he really did, but he knew that she'd judged him and found him somehow lacking in what she wanted for her grandson. It made interaction between them strained.
But when Adam and Brad entered the apartment, Mina was sitting on the couch, reading what looked to be a very expensive edition of Charles Dickens, the picture of a prim and proper lady.
"Is Tommy here?” Adam asked her. Looking around, he noticed that Mina had taken the time to rearrange some things and add small touches. The total picture looked as close to perfection as it could with their things, but something about it bothered Adam. It didn't feel like their home anymore; it felt sterile and designed for showing, not for living. He missed the careless confusion that was the usual mark of Tommy's life. Now he couldn't feel Tommy in the décor, and that bothered him more than he cared to admit.
"No, Tommy's not here. He had to go help one of your neighbors--a very animated and loud young lady--with something that is apparently more important than his own grandmother,” Mina answered with a look that told Adam Tommy would be in for a lecture when he returned.
"Have they been gone long?” Adam asked as he arranged a blanket in the more haphazard manner that Tommy usually left it.
"Much longer that I would like,” Mina answered as she neatly refolded the throw and draped it over the arm of Tommy's favorite chair. “Almost as long as you've been gone, as a matter of fact. We hardly had any time to talk when that girl with the glaringly bright hair burst in here looking for you.”
"Allison was looking for me? Did she say what she wanted?” Adam was getting a little tired of Mina's attempts to be cryptic with her answers. It was almost as if she were testing him. He could tell that she really didn't care to talk to him, but at the same time she felt there was something he needed to know.
"She said she needed you to come a meeting of her clan elders to tell them that she's capable of living on her own. Personally, I think that young lady needs to be locked in a room with a strict deportment instructor until she learns how to behave herself. Can you imagine the audacity of her thinking that her little problem was more important than my conversing with my only grandson?”
"Yeah, she is a spitfire, isn't she?” Adam couldn't help smirking as he realized that Allison had managed to annoy Mina even more than he did. “You gotta love her intensity, though. It keeps life interesting.”
Even though Adam was quite a bit taller than her, he could swear that Mina looked down her nose at him as she said, “A good lesson for any vampire, and one that I'm surprised my grandson hasn't taught you yet, is never trust a were. They're beneath our station and it's not just their physical forms that are shifty. They are filthy animals at their core, after all. They will use you as long as it serves their purpose, and then they will betray you without a second thought. You would be wise to remember that.”
Adam could tell that Brad was trying to do his best to be a gracious guest and not insult Tommy's grandmother, but it wasn't going to work for long. Brad was about to school the woman on making blanket judgments about a whole race when Adam took Brad aside and told him, “I'm a little worried about Tommy and Allison being together for so long. I think I'm gonna go out looking for them. If you want to stay here and entertain Mina, I'd appreciate it. It'd give me a chance to find them and bring Tommy back without her interference.”
"Go do what you have to do,” Brad told him. “I'm going to call Mikey to come over and help me take care of the dear grandmother. It should be a very entertaining evening.”
"Just make sure nothing happens to her, okay? I would hate to have to explain to Tommy just how the big bad werewolf ate his grandmother.”
After calling Mikey and explaining the situation to him, Brad walked back into the living room and sat down beside Mina. Giving her one of his most innocent looking smiles, he asked, “So how does it feel? Being perfect, I mean. Is it lonely, because I think it would be very lonely being perfect. You would be the only one, after all. No one could ever be considered your peer.”
"Watch your tone, young man,” Mina answered, displeasure showing on her face. “I don't have to suffer such insolence from someone who stinks of werewolf.”
Brad shrugged his shoulders, smiled even brighter, and said, “He'll be here soon. The werewolf you can smell. I thought it might be good for you to, I don't know, maybe get to know one personally before you make judgments about them.”
"I don't have time for this!” Mina huffed. “Where's Tommy's boy? He'll make you leave if I tell him to.”
"He has a name. It's Adam. And he had to go out. My friend and I have the pleasure of entertaining you tonight.” Just as Brad finished saying this there was a knock at the door. “That's probably Mikey, now. You're gonna love him.”
When Brad had ushered Mikey into the room, Mina turned up her nose and refused to acknowledge him. She chose to only address Brad when she asked, “Just where was Adam going? I find the fact that both my grandson and his friend are willing to leave me on my own very disconcerting.”
"But you're not left on your own, lady,” Mikey told her. “We're here, unless we don't count. You know, it's just as easy being nice to people as it is being rude. Maybe you should try it sometime.”
"Adam went to find Tommy and Allison,” Brad said, hoping to interrupt the friction between Mikey and Mina before it escalated. He might have set this encounter up, but he really didn't want it to end in bloodshed. “He thought they've probably spent enough time together to get on each other's nerves.”
"That's probably the first sensible thought that boy's had,” Mina said, “and he's undoubtedly right. I think I might just go look for them, myself. Do either of you know where the weres congregate?”
"See, there you go again. Making everything either us or them,” Mikey said. “I could probably follow their scent trail if you asked nicely, but only if you admit that it's something that I can do better than you can do.”
"I'll admit that animals have a better nose for tracking, yes. So now do what you do best and take me to my grandson.”
Brad smiled a most beatific smile and said, “Oh, honey, if you only knew what Mikey really does best…”
After he'd left the apartment, Adam realized that he could feel a restlessness somewhere deep inside himself; a tight ball of jangled nerves that was growing and pulling at him. He had no idea what it meant, but it was what had made him decide to go find Tommy and Allison in the first place, so he decided to trust his instincts and follow this feeling.
The intensity of the feeling grew as it pulled him through the small town and then to the countryside beyond. It hurried his steps and directed his path. It started whispering Tommy in his mind, and the longer he followed the feeling, the longer he let it pull him, the louder it got. By the time he reached the boggy, marshy farm, it was screaming Tommy's name to him, rushing his steps as he let it pull him where it would.
He found traces of blood and knew it was Tommy's blood. He followed the trail of droplets that led the way to his mate, his Tommy. Adam could feel the demon inside trying to come out. He could feel himself giving control to his baser self, his more elemental self, and he didn't fight it. His only thought was of finding his Tommy and keeping him safe.
As he neared the farmhouse, Adam was all but taken over by the need to destroy anything that stood between him and Tommy. He could smell Tommy's blood; he could feel Tommy's pain. He could hear some hidden part of Tommy calling out to him, and it brought out the beast within.
His steps were swift and silent as he approached the sentries outside the farmhouse. The weres didn't have a chance to make a sound before they found their throats slashed by razor sharp teeth. The smell of blood filled the air, but by the time the other weres could scent it, Adam was already inside the house, making his way to where he could sense Tommy's presence. There was no time for thinking, only reacting to instinct.
Tommy could sense Adam's presence, but there was something new to it. The pain in his leg had been increasing the whole time he'd been held captive, and it was almost enough to block out everything else. He'd long since lost track of where Allison and Isaac were. He only knew the pain of the wound and the hunger caused by blood loss. His occasional forays into the realm of awareness were met with Van Helsing's face, always close, always checking the progression of his impending death.
Tommy knew he was something less than his usual persona, something resembling the desperation of an animal caught in a trap. He knew his survival instincts had brought about his transformation. He had very little control over his actions, and he knew he would feed on anything or anyone who happened to wander too close. His sentient self still existed, but it had no dominion over his actions.
When he sensed Adam's approach, Tommy regained enough ascendancy over his demon to be able to observe the entire situation. He heard the crashing of doors and the snarls of startled weres. He smelled blood in the air, but knew it wasn't Adam's blood. He saw the look of resigned irritation settle on Van Helsing's face. He felt something within himself calling out to Adam, something he knew had been working without his knowledge for some time.
Before Adam reached the closed door of the back room in which Tommy was being held, Van Helsing leveled his gun and aimed it to catch the expected intruder chest high. When the door exploded off its hinges, littering the floor of the room with wooden splinters, the hunter fired without looking, shattering the wooden chair that Adam had thrown through it.
Tommy, who'd been expecting Adam to burst through the door, found that the relief flooding through his body was as draining as the tension and fear for Adam's safety had been. His strength was finally at its terminal point, and he could only hope that Adam would find a way out before he, too, was made prey of the vampire hunter.
Adam, meanwhile, took advantage of the distraction of the exploding door and splintering chair to move into the room. Even though his instincts were screaming at him to comfort and tend to his wounded mate, he knew the hunter had to be disarmed first. Adam backhanded Van Helsing with a blow that was powerful enough to send the hunter crashing into the wall and his gun skittering across the floor in the other direction.
Allison and Isaac were right behind Adam when he entered the room, and while Adam rushed to Tommy's side, Isaac picked up the gun, and Allison bent to check on Van Helsing, muttering, “See, dude, I told you the chair was a good idea. You should always listen to me.”
Adam, however, didn't see or hear anything that wasn't Tommy. He saw the too pale skin of Tommy's face, brought into high relief by the dark hollows beneath his eyes. He heard the quiet gasp of pain when he cradled Tommy in his arms. He felt the cold wetness of Tommy's blood soak through his own clothes as he held Tommy close. And through it all, he knew Tommy was on the verge of giving up, of finally resting, of finding out what lay on the other side of the divide that separated this world and the unknown of what came next.
Adam wasn't willing to let Tommy give up, though. Without stopping to think, he ripped the vein in his wrist open and pressed it to Tommy's mouth. Allison and Isaac watched in fascination as Tommy's coloring quickly returned to normal, and his eyelids fluttered open.
"Damn, I wish I had my camera,” Allison said as soon as Tommy looked like he was aware enough to know what she was saying. “You look like a little kitten, son. You're all curled up on his lap, and everything.”
But at that instant, Van Helsing, who had woken up while everyone's attention was focused on Tommy, made a grab for Allison, pulling a hidden knife and holding it against the girl's throat. “It's so nice that your friend decided to join us, Mr. Ratliff. It'll save me the trouble of hunting him down later. It does seem that he's postponed your own demise, though. Pity, you were so close.
"Now, however, we seem to be at a standoff. I promise you that should you make a move towards either me or the door that I will not hesitate in slitting this young shifter's throat. Her life is in your hands.”
"Leave her out of this,” Adam told the hunter. “Allison has nothing to do with whatever problem you have with Tommy and I.”
"I'll be happy to release her if you will agree to exchange yourself and Mr. Ratliff for her safety. I have no feelings for these animals, one way or another. The choice is yours, but rest assured that I will not give up until you are both dispatched from the face of this earth.”
"Who the fuck says things like 'rest assured' and 'dispatched from the face of this earth'?” Adam asked as a means of making sure that the hunter's attention remained focused on him. He'd caught a glimpse of movement outside the window that was behind Van Helsing, and he'd recognized Brad, Mina and Mikey. Somehow they'd been able to follow him here, and he wanted them to have every possible chance to end this situation without Tommy or Allison's lives being forfeit.
Adam saw a look of recognition cross Allison's face as she caught the scent of the werewolf outside. The girl was sharp; no one was going to catch her off guard again. Tommy was also aware of what was going on, and he did what he could by whimpering in pain, something Adam knew he would never let Van Helsing see otherwise.
It served to give the hunter the false sense of confidence. Van Helsing let his guard drop just enough that when Brad walked into the house, complaining of car trouble, the hunter was comfortable enough to let his attention wander to the newcomer for a fraction of a second. That fraction was all Mikey needed to break through the window and grab Van Helsing's knife wielding hand. Everyone in the room could hear the delicate bones in the hunter's wrist crunching with the power of the werewolf's grip.
"Oh, shit, that felt weird,” Mikey said as he tried to shake the feeling of the breaking bones out of his hand.
"Sounded kinda gnarly, too,” Tommy said.
Adam look down at Tommy and smiled. “Take it easy, baby. You're hurt.”
"Are you gonna take care of me and make it all better?” Tommy asked as he batted his ridiculously long lashes at Adam.
"You better fucking believe it, honey,” Adam answered “But I think the blood loss is making you kinda loopy. We gotta get you home, so we can get you back to normal.”
As Adam gently stroked the side of his face, Tommy looked up at him and said, “Have I ever told you that I love it when you take charge. Your face gets all determined, and your eyes get all dark and sexy. It always gets me hard.”
Adam actually blushed as he looked around the room. “Yeah, well, that's probably more information than your grandmother wanted to know, but we'll work on it later, okay? Right now I just want to get you somewhere safe, so we can get you well again.”
Adam wouldn't let anyone near Tommy while he took him back to their apartment. He removed the bullet himself, and made sure Tommy fed enough to regain his strength. Even Mina was banned from Tommy's room until Tommy felt up to talking to her. She did make herself useful by bringing home dinner for Adam and Tommy, even if said dinner was a college professor who'd happened to catch her eye.
Mikey left the vampire hunter in the capable hands of Allison's pack. They were none too happy about the way Van Helsing had turned against Allison when it suited his purpose.
Allison and Brad stood watch in Adam and Tommy's living room and took the opportunity to get to know each other. They not only decided that they were destined to be besties for life, but they made plans to go to the salon together the next day.
Mikey lectured Mina about the history of weres the entire time, showing her instance after instance of friendship between them and vampires.
After what seemed like an eternity, Adam emerged from the bedroom carrying a protesting Tommy. Seeing everyone still gathered in their living room, Tommy's protests increased still further. "I'm not an invalid, you know. And I'm not some fucking china doll that's gonna break."
Adam sat down on the over-sized chair and pulled Tommy's favorite throw around his boyfriend before he said, "Shhh, baby. When you're strong enough to make me let you do things by yourself, I'll stop doing them for you. Until then, I'm in charge. Remember, you said you like it when I get like this."
"Yeah," Tommy grumbled, "that was just the loss of blood talking. You know I need to be responsible for my own fate, and shit. I've always been that way. Tell him, Mina. Haven't I always been that way?"
"Indeed you have been, Tommy," Mina answered, "but I think you may have met your match in this one. I had my doubts about him before, but I think you two may be more evenly matched than I thought. You certainly deserve each other."
"Does this mean you're giving us your blessing?" Adam asked, the first real smile showing on his face since the whole nightmare started.
"Let's just say that I'm willing to be open minded about this, okay?" Mina informed him. "Now, we still have guests, and I was about to offer them something to eat. Don't worry. It's a perfectly acceptable inter-species snack. Even I enjoy ice cream. Would you two care to join us?"
Adam's face lit up at the mention of the treat. He hadn't enjoyed it since his turning. It just wasn't something he or Tommy thought of getting.
Tommy only rolled his eyes as Adam insisted on not only carrying him to the table, but feeding him as well. When he started to protest, Brad cut him off with, "You might as well not fight it. He really, really likes taking care of people he cares about."
"Yeah, well, we're gonna have a talk about this later," Tommy said before Adam offered him another bite of the treat.
"Speaking of later, it's getting quite late," Mina informed everyone. "The sun will soon be up again, and both of you still need rest. Your friends can come back and check on you at a civilized hour, preferably after sunset. You two go rest now. I'll see everyone out."
As Adam carried Tommy back to the bedroom, under protest from Tommy, of course, Tommy said, "Looks like you just got adopted by my grandmother, dude. You don't know what you're in for now."
>>>>
PART 6:
Wait, I'm starting to suffocate
And soon I anticipate
I'm coming undone
What looks so strong, so delicate
-Coming Undone, Korn
According to Mina, she and Tommy hadn't been able to spend time together in far too long, so when Adam said that he wanted to go shopping with Brad, Tommy said okay. No arguments, no objections, no jealousy. He saw it as an opportunity to score good boy points on two fronts. Adam would see that Tommy was willing to trust that he and Brad were nothing more than good friends, and Mina would think he was clearing space to spend time with only her.
But within the first half hour with Mina, Tommy wished he'd gone shopping instead. He didn't know why his grandmother insisted on talking about people he didn't care about in the least. He supposed he should be impressed with some of the names she was dropping, vampire hierarchy, after all, but he simply couldn't force an interest. He tried to keep his own lineage a secret just because things like that never impressed him.
So when he heard the banging at his door, he wasn't upset over the interruption. He even thought about finding some way to thank their neighbor when he heard Allison hollering as loudly as she could for Adam.
"Sorry, Mina. I better see what she needs. Allison isn't the type to interrupt if it's not something really important,” Tommy said, because he wasn't above a little lying if it served to rescue him from his grandmother.
When he opened the door, Tommy pulled a startled Allison into a hug. “Adam's not here right now, but maybe I could help you with whatever you need help with,” he said before she could get a word out. “Do you need me to come over to your place? I could do that, you know. I'm sure that whatever you need is really important, right?”
"Yeah, dude, it's totally important,” a very confused Allison answered, “but it's not at my apartment. Someone from my pack-that skinny guy you saw the first day, remember him? Anyway, he just came by and told me that the council of elders for my pack wants to have a little meeting with me. Seems that they don't think I'm mature enough to be on my own. Can you believe that?” Tommy could tell from her tone that she was serious, and he did his best to keep a straight face.
"So what do you want me to help you with?”
"Isaac-the skinny dude-said that if I could bring someone with me, someone who would be willing to tell them about how amazingly mature I am and shit, they might just let me stay here without sending people to check on me all the time. I thought Adam might do it for me,” Allison told him.
"Sounds serious. We should probably take care of it right away. We wouldn't want anything to happen to this Isaac guy when he comes around at the crack of dawn, waking people up and shit.” Tommy had a few things he wanted to say to Isaac if he saw him at Allison's pack's home.
Bending down to give his grandmother a quick kiss on the cheek, Tommy said, “Sorry, Mina. We'll have to finish catching up on everyone later. This is really important to Allison, and she's a good friend and all. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't try and help her out.”
Allison gave Tommy a confused look as he took her hand and pulled her towards the door. Mina could just make out the girl's mumbled 'Seriously, dude, who are you, and what'd you do with the real Tommy?' as the two were making their escape.
"When Adam gets back, tell him where I went,” Tommy shouted over his shoulder just before he closed the door and pulled Allison into a tight hug. “I'll never complain about you being a nuisance again. Thanks for the rescue, by the way. I don't know if I could have lasted another five minutes. I think my grandmother discovered the surest way to kill a vampire: bore them to death.”
Allison was feeling a little unsettled with this new and maybe improved version of Tommy, but a girl's gotta take whatever she can, right? So she grabbed Tommy's hand and pulled him along with her, telling him, “Let's get this done before you remember how you really feel about me, okay?”
"Where the hell are we going?" Tommy asked after they'd been en route for longer than he'd been expecting. He'd agreed to this whole thing to escape from his grandmother, but he hadn't planned on the escape being even more tedious than Mina's gossip.
"It's a farm just outside of town," Allison replied. "I grew up there. There's enough privacy to have a whole colony of weres there. Learning to control your transformation can be tricky, you know. It's kinda embarrassing to suddenly sprout a tail in public. Having the farm just made growing up easier."
Talking helped pass the time as they made their way to the Allison's childhood home. Tommy never was much for sentimentality, but he let Allison go on and on, knowing that she was verbally working out her nerves. As the pace and randomness of her chatter increased, Tommy knew they were getting closer to their destination. The area was wooded and damp. It wasn't exactly at the top of Tommy's list of places he wanted to visit, but it probably suited the needs of Allison's clan.
Walking through a particularly swampy mire, Tommy and Allison both jumped when they heard a shot ring out. Tommy immediately fell to the ground, while Allison tried to find the source of the noise.
"What the actual fuck?” Tommy shouted as he pressed his hand to his thigh.
"Oh, shit! You're bleeding, dude,” Allison informed him when she saw the red seeping between Tommy's fingers.
"Ya think?” Tommy asked as he rolled his eyes. The wound was by no means life threatening, but it hurt like hell and would have to be taken care of before it became more than just a nuisance. “ Help me up before he decides to shoot again, okay. This guy is some kinda nut job, but I don't think he'll be aiming at you.”
"You know who did this? Who is it? Where are they? Why do they want to shoot you?”
"Take it easy, okay? I have an idea about who it might be, but I don't have any fucking idea where he is. Help me get somewhere with a little more cover, and I'll tell you all about it.”
Allison finally realized that Tommy not only wasn't going anywhere on his own, but he couldn't even stand up by himself. Slipping Tommy's arm over her shoulder, she helped the vampire stand. Without being able to keep pressure on the bullet wound, Tommy's blood started flowing freely from the hole in his thigh. Seeing it, Allison almost let go of Tommy. That much blood loss couldn't be good, even for a vampire.
"Fucking hell. This hurts like a son of a bitch,” Tommy hissed as the two made their way to a stand of trees. By the time they reached the tree line, Tommy was closer to passing out than he'd ever admit to Allison. There had to be something different about the bullet that was still lodged in his leg. The bleeding seemed to be increasing, and the pain kept getting worse. He was used to healing almost instantly, and this situation was outside of his comfort zone.
They were alone and unsupported out here. It might be Allison's pack's home, but the girl didn't have what you could call a close relationship with her family. In hindsight Tommy could see the foolishness in running off without thinking, but it really didn't mean shit in helping them with their present situation. If he hadn't been so anxious to escape his grandmother, he might have given more thought to what he was getting himself into. Of course, if he hadn't been so anxious to escape his grandmother, he wouldn't have agreed to accompany their hyper neighbor on this mission in the first place.
Allison helped Tommy down, letting him lean back against one of the larger trees. Tommy immediately checked the state of the bullet hole in his thigh. The skin around it was fiery red and angry. It showed no signs of starting to heal. The pain was starting to flare outward along the nerves of his leg. Tommy didn't think he'd be putting any weight on it soon.
"So, are you gonna tell me who's trying to shoot you and why? Or should we just sit here and watch you bleed? Because it doesn't look like we're gonna be going anywhere. You're kinda too heavy for me to carry your ass outta here, and it sure as hell doesn't look like you're gonna be walking on that leg,” Allison told him as she started poking at Tommy's leg.
"Ow!” Tommy hollered, swatting her hand away. “That hurts, you know.”
"I thought vamps were supposed to be able to take the pain and heal right away and shit,” Allison said as she poked at Tommy's leg again.
"Yeah, well that's usually the case. Something is fucking wrong here, though. This burns, and it's not getting better.”
Allison was just beginning to get the idea that this was maybe a little bit more serious than she'd thought when both her and Tommy's attention was drawn to a snapping twig nearby. Neither of them had noticed the approaching stranger or the group of Allison's clansmen that accompanied him.
The stranger's scent told Allison that he was human. He shouldn't be a problem on his own, but with what looked like her entire clan backing him up, she knew that she was no match physically for her opponents. That didn't stop her from launching a verbal attack, though.
"What the hell, guys? What are you doing, and why are you helping some psycho who just shot my friend?” She walked up to the clan elder and started poking him in the chest to emphasize her words. “You'd better start explaining right now, mister! I bring a friend out here because of some council bullshit, and now he's sitting here, bleeding all over himself while you guys stand around and don't even help him. He could die out here, and you wouldn't even care, would you? What kinda welcome is that?”
"Yeah, about the bleeding and helping part,” Tommy said from his place against the tree. “Maybe you could, I don't know, find a way to get this fucking thing out of my leg so I don't keep bleeding all over myself.”
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, Mr. Ratliff,” the heretofore silent stranger said as he once again pointed the gun at Tommy. “My plan was for little Allison here to bring your friend out here with her. I was going to use him as bait to lure you into my clutches. You seem to have made a few steps of my plan unnecessary, but the end result will be the same.”
"I know you,” Tommy said as he looked at the stranger. “You're the same fucking asshole who threw fucking salt covered knives at me. That didn't work then, and this is not gonna work now. Adam shoulda just killed you that night. And who the fuck actually uses words like 'lure you into my clutches'? Isn't that shit a little too melodramatic?”
"But he didn't kill me, and fortunately, I learn from my mistakes. I'm much better prepared this time. I've made some improvements to my ammunition, but I'm sure you can tell the difference. That bullet is made from an iron casing that was forged in a bath of saltwater. It's also packed with iron salts. It was designed to slowly release the salt into the body upon impact. So, Mr. Ratliff, that wound is not going to get any better as long as that bullet remains in your body. Let me introduce myself, by the way. My name is James; James Van Helsing. I believe our families have known each other for quite a while”
Allison couldn't contain herself any longer. The words almost exploded from her mouth when she said, “Oh, shit! You're like vampire hunting royalty or something, aren't you? Why do you want to mess with Tommy?”
Van Helsing turned to her and said, “Your friend doesn't like to brag about his heritage, but he is a worthy target for a Van Helsing. But now we find ourselves with a rather strange situation, young lady. Your clan only agreed to assist me if I removed the influence of both your neighbors from your life. They don't feel that soulless vampires are the proper influence for a young, impressionable girl like yourself. I will have to hunt down the other one, but not until I've dealt with Mr. Ratliff.”
Van Helsing turned to the members of the were clan and said, “I trust you to bring him back to the house. I want to keep an eye on him and make sure that he is truly dead before I leave.”
Allison started to argue but was distracted when two of the more burly looking weres roughly pulled Tommy to his feet. The look of pain that crossed his face as he had to put weight on his injured leg gave her the motivation to step in and shoulder one of the men aside. “Jeeze! You guys don't have to be so rough. Come on, Isaac, help me. We'll help him to the house.”
While Isaac moved in to help, Allison said, “Don't worry, Tommy. Adam will find a way to get you out of this.” But Tommy's pale face and the way he grimaced in pain told her that if help didn't come soon, it might be too late.
Shopping turned out to be more enlightening than productive. Adam and Brad were both more interested in their conversation than they were in acquiring new things. They caught up on each other's lives and loves. Adam was touched by the emotion that Brad displayed when he talked about his Mikey, and he spent time reassuring Brad that life with Tommy was good. Brad still felt protective of his old friend, and Adam had to admit that he thought Brad's concern was cute.
They both decided that the best way to end the evening was a late dinner at Adam and Tommy's apartment. Adam just hoped that Tommy and Mina had finished their little reunion talk. He liked Mina, he really did, but he knew that she'd judged him and found him somehow lacking in what she wanted for her grandson. It made interaction between them strained.
But when Adam and Brad entered the apartment, Mina was sitting on the couch, reading what looked to be a very expensive edition of Charles Dickens, the picture of a prim and proper lady.
"Is Tommy here?” Adam asked her. Looking around, he noticed that Mina had taken the time to rearrange some things and add small touches. The total picture looked as close to perfection as it could with their things, but something about it bothered Adam. It didn't feel like their home anymore; it felt sterile and designed for showing, not for living. He missed the careless confusion that was the usual mark of Tommy's life. Now he couldn't feel Tommy in the décor, and that bothered him more than he cared to admit.
"No, Tommy's not here. He had to go help one of your neighbors--a very animated and loud young lady--with something that is apparently more important than his own grandmother,” Mina answered with a look that told Adam Tommy would be in for a lecture when he returned.
"Have they been gone long?” Adam asked as he arranged a blanket in the more haphazard manner that Tommy usually left it.
"Much longer that I would like,” Mina answered as she neatly refolded the throw and draped it over the arm of Tommy's favorite chair. “Almost as long as you've been gone, as a matter of fact. We hardly had any time to talk when that girl with the glaringly bright hair burst in here looking for you.”
"Allison was looking for me? Did she say what she wanted?” Adam was getting a little tired of Mina's attempts to be cryptic with her answers. It was almost as if she were testing him. He could tell that she really didn't care to talk to him, but at the same time she felt there was something he needed to know.
"She said she needed you to come a meeting of her clan elders to tell them that she's capable of living on her own. Personally, I think that young lady needs to be locked in a room with a strict deportment instructor until she learns how to behave herself. Can you imagine the audacity of her thinking that her little problem was more important than my conversing with my only grandson?”
"Yeah, she is a spitfire, isn't she?” Adam couldn't help smirking as he realized that Allison had managed to annoy Mina even more than he did. “You gotta love her intensity, though. It keeps life interesting.”
Even though Adam was quite a bit taller than her, he could swear that Mina looked down her nose at him as she said, “A good lesson for any vampire, and one that I'm surprised my grandson hasn't taught you yet, is never trust a were. They're beneath our station and it's not just their physical forms that are shifty. They are filthy animals at their core, after all. They will use you as long as it serves their purpose, and then they will betray you without a second thought. You would be wise to remember that.”
Adam could tell that Brad was trying to do his best to be a gracious guest and not insult Tommy's grandmother, but it wasn't going to work for long. Brad was about to school the woman on making blanket judgments about a whole race when Adam took Brad aside and told him, “I'm a little worried about Tommy and Allison being together for so long. I think I'm gonna go out looking for them. If you want to stay here and entertain Mina, I'd appreciate it. It'd give me a chance to find them and bring Tommy back without her interference.”
"Go do what you have to do,” Brad told him. “I'm going to call Mikey to come over and help me take care of the dear grandmother. It should be a very entertaining evening.”
"Just make sure nothing happens to her, okay? I would hate to have to explain to Tommy just how the big bad werewolf ate his grandmother.”
After calling Mikey and explaining the situation to him, Brad walked back into the living room and sat down beside Mina. Giving her one of his most innocent looking smiles, he asked, “So how does it feel? Being perfect, I mean. Is it lonely, because I think it would be very lonely being perfect. You would be the only one, after all. No one could ever be considered your peer.”
"Watch your tone, young man,” Mina answered, displeasure showing on her face. “I don't have to suffer such insolence from someone who stinks of werewolf.”
Brad shrugged his shoulders, smiled even brighter, and said, “He'll be here soon. The werewolf you can smell. I thought it might be good for you to, I don't know, maybe get to know one personally before you make judgments about them.”
"I don't have time for this!” Mina huffed. “Where's Tommy's boy? He'll make you leave if I tell him to.”
"He has a name. It's Adam. And he had to go out. My friend and I have the pleasure of entertaining you tonight.” Just as Brad finished saying this there was a knock at the door. “That's probably Mikey, now. You're gonna love him.”
When Brad had ushered Mikey into the room, Mina turned up her nose and refused to acknowledge him. She chose to only address Brad when she asked, “Just where was Adam going? I find the fact that both my grandson and his friend are willing to leave me on my own very disconcerting.”
"But you're not left on your own, lady,” Mikey told her. “We're here, unless we don't count. You know, it's just as easy being nice to people as it is being rude. Maybe you should try it sometime.”
"Adam went to find Tommy and Allison,” Brad said, hoping to interrupt the friction between Mikey and Mina before it escalated. He might have set this encounter up, but he really didn't want it to end in bloodshed. “He thought they've probably spent enough time together to get on each other's nerves.”
"That's probably the first sensible thought that boy's had,” Mina said, “and he's undoubtedly right. I think I might just go look for them, myself. Do either of you know where the weres congregate?”
"See, there you go again. Making everything either us or them,” Mikey said. “I could probably follow their scent trail if you asked nicely, but only if you admit that it's something that I can do better than you can do.”
"I'll admit that animals have a better nose for tracking, yes. So now do what you do best and take me to my grandson.”
Brad smiled a most beatific smile and said, “Oh, honey, if you only knew what Mikey really does best…”
After he'd left the apartment, Adam realized that he could feel a restlessness somewhere deep inside himself; a tight ball of jangled nerves that was growing and pulling at him. He had no idea what it meant, but it was what had made him decide to go find Tommy and Allison in the first place, so he decided to trust his instincts and follow this feeling.
The intensity of the feeling grew as it pulled him through the small town and then to the countryside beyond. It hurried his steps and directed his path. It started whispering Tommy in his mind, and the longer he followed the feeling, the longer he let it pull him, the louder it got. By the time he reached the boggy, marshy farm, it was screaming Tommy's name to him, rushing his steps as he let it pull him where it would.
He found traces of blood and knew it was Tommy's blood. He followed the trail of droplets that led the way to his mate, his Tommy. Adam could feel the demon inside trying to come out. He could feel himself giving control to his baser self, his more elemental self, and he didn't fight it. His only thought was of finding his Tommy and keeping him safe.
As he neared the farmhouse, Adam was all but taken over by the need to destroy anything that stood between him and Tommy. He could smell Tommy's blood; he could feel Tommy's pain. He could hear some hidden part of Tommy calling out to him, and it brought out the beast within.
His steps were swift and silent as he approached the sentries outside the farmhouse. The weres didn't have a chance to make a sound before they found their throats slashed by razor sharp teeth. The smell of blood filled the air, but by the time the other weres could scent it, Adam was already inside the house, making his way to where he could sense Tommy's presence. There was no time for thinking, only reacting to instinct.
Tommy could sense Adam's presence, but there was something new to it. The pain in his leg had been increasing the whole time he'd been held captive, and it was almost enough to block out everything else. He'd long since lost track of where Allison and Isaac were. He only knew the pain of the wound and the hunger caused by blood loss. His occasional forays into the realm of awareness were met with Van Helsing's face, always close, always checking the progression of his impending death.
Tommy knew he was something less than his usual persona, something resembling the desperation of an animal caught in a trap. He knew his survival instincts had brought about his transformation. He had very little control over his actions, and he knew he would feed on anything or anyone who happened to wander too close. His sentient self still existed, but it had no dominion over his actions.
When he sensed Adam's approach, Tommy regained enough ascendancy over his demon to be able to observe the entire situation. He heard the crashing of doors and the snarls of startled weres. He smelled blood in the air, but knew it wasn't Adam's blood. He saw the look of resigned irritation settle on Van Helsing's face. He felt something within himself calling out to Adam, something he knew had been working without his knowledge for some time.
Before Adam reached the closed door of the back room in which Tommy was being held, Van Helsing leveled his gun and aimed it to catch the expected intruder chest high. When the door exploded off its hinges, littering the floor of the room with wooden splinters, the hunter fired without looking, shattering the wooden chair that Adam had thrown through it.
Tommy, who'd been expecting Adam to burst through the door, found that the relief flooding through his body was as draining as the tension and fear for Adam's safety had been. His strength was finally at its terminal point, and he could only hope that Adam would find a way out before he, too, was made prey of the vampire hunter.
Adam, meanwhile, took advantage of the distraction of the exploding door and splintering chair to move into the room. Even though his instincts were screaming at him to comfort and tend to his wounded mate, he knew the hunter had to be disarmed first. Adam backhanded Van Helsing with a blow that was powerful enough to send the hunter crashing into the wall and his gun skittering across the floor in the other direction.
Allison and Isaac were right behind Adam when he entered the room, and while Adam rushed to Tommy's side, Isaac picked up the gun, and Allison bent to check on Van Helsing, muttering, “See, dude, I told you the chair was a good idea. You should always listen to me.”
Adam, however, didn't see or hear anything that wasn't Tommy. He saw the too pale skin of Tommy's face, brought into high relief by the dark hollows beneath his eyes. He heard the quiet gasp of pain when he cradled Tommy in his arms. He felt the cold wetness of Tommy's blood soak through his own clothes as he held Tommy close. And through it all, he knew Tommy was on the verge of giving up, of finally resting, of finding out what lay on the other side of the divide that separated this world and the unknown of what came next.
Adam wasn't willing to let Tommy give up, though. Without stopping to think, he ripped the vein in his wrist open and pressed it to Tommy's mouth. Allison and Isaac watched in fascination as Tommy's coloring quickly returned to normal, and his eyelids fluttered open.
"Damn, I wish I had my camera,” Allison said as soon as Tommy looked like he was aware enough to know what she was saying. “You look like a little kitten, son. You're all curled up on his lap, and everything.”
But at that instant, Van Helsing, who had woken up while everyone's attention was focused on Tommy, made a grab for Allison, pulling a hidden knife and holding it against the girl's throat. “It's so nice that your friend decided to join us, Mr. Ratliff. It'll save me the trouble of hunting him down later. It does seem that he's postponed your own demise, though. Pity, you were so close.
"Now, however, we seem to be at a standoff. I promise you that should you make a move towards either me or the door that I will not hesitate in slitting this young shifter's throat. Her life is in your hands.”
"Leave her out of this,” Adam told the hunter. “Allison has nothing to do with whatever problem you have with Tommy and I.”
"I'll be happy to release her if you will agree to exchange yourself and Mr. Ratliff for her safety. I have no feelings for these animals, one way or another. The choice is yours, but rest assured that I will not give up until you are both dispatched from the face of this earth.”
"Who the fuck says things like 'rest assured' and 'dispatched from the face of this earth'?” Adam asked as a means of making sure that the hunter's attention remained focused on him. He'd caught a glimpse of movement outside the window that was behind Van Helsing, and he'd recognized Brad, Mina and Mikey. Somehow they'd been able to follow him here, and he wanted them to have every possible chance to end this situation without Tommy or Allison's lives being forfeit.
Adam saw a look of recognition cross Allison's face as she caught the scent of the werewolf outside. The girl was sharp; no one was going to catch her off guard again. Tommy was also aware of what was going on, and he did what he could by whimpering in pain, something Adam knew he would never let Van Helsing see otherwise.
It served to give the hunter the false sense of confidence. Van Helsing let his guard drop just enough that when Brad walked into the house, complaining of car trouble, the hunter was comfortable enough to let his attention wander to the newcomer for a fraction of a second. That fraction was all Mikey needed to break through the window and grab Van Helsing's knife wielding hand. Everyone in the room could hear the delicate bones in the hunter's wrist crunching with the power of the werewolf's grip.
"Oh, shit, that felt weird,” Mikey said as he tried to shake the feeling of the breaking bones out of his hand.
"Sounded kinda gnarly, too,” Tommy said.
Adam look down at Tommy and smiled. “Take it easy, baby. You're hurt.”
"Are you gonna take care of me and make it all better?” Tommy asked as he batted his ridiculously long lashes at Adam.
"You better fucking believe it, honey,” Adam answered “But I think the blood loss is making you kinda loopy. We gotta get you home, so we can get you back to normal.”
As Adam gently stroked the side of his face, Tommy looked up at him and said, “Have I ever told you that I love it when you take charge. Your face gets all determined, and your eyes get all dark and sexy. It always gets me hard.”
Adam actually blushed as he looked around the room. “Yeah, well, that's probably more information than your grandmother wanted to know, but we'll work on it later, okay? Right now I just want to get you somewhere safe, so we can get you well again.”
Adam wouldn't let anyone near Tommy while he took him back to their apartment. He removed the bullet himself, and made sure Tommy fed enough to regain his strength. Even Mina was banned from Tommy's room until Tommy felt up to talking to her. She did make herself useful by bringing home dinner for Adam and Tommy, even if said dinner was a college professor who'd happened to catch her eye.
Mikey left the vampire hunter in the capable hands of Allison's pack. They were none too happy about the way Van Helsing had turned against Allison when it suited his purpose.
Allison and Brad stood watch in Adam and Tommy's living room and took the opportunity to get to know each other. They not only decided that they were destined to be besties for life, but they made plans to go to the salon together the next day.
Mikey lectured Mina about the history of weres the entire time, showing her instance after instance of friendship between them and vampires.
After what seemed like an eternity, Adam emerged from the bedroom carrying a protesting Tommy. Seeing everyone still gathered in their living room, Tommy's protests increased still further. "I'm not an invalid, you know. And I'm not some fucking china doll that's gonna break."
Adam sat down on the over-sized chair and pulled Tommy's favorite throw around his boyfriend before he said, "Shhh, baby. When you're strong enough to make me let you do things by yourself, I'll stop doing them for you. Until then, I'm in charge. Remember, you said you like it when I get like this."
"Yeah," Tommy grumbled, "that was just the loss of blood talking. You know I need to be responsible for my own fate, and shit. I've always been that way. Tell him, Mina. Haven't I always been that way?"
"Indeed you have been, Tommy," Mina answered, "but I think you may have met your match in this one. I had my doubts about him before, but I think you two may be more evenly matched than I thought. You certainly deserve each other."
"Does this mean you're giving us your blessing?" Adam asked, the first real smile showing on his face since the whole nightmare started.
"Let's just say that I'm willing to be open minded about this, okay?" Mina informed him. "Now, we still have guests, and I was about to offer them something to eat. Don't worry. It's a perfectly acceptable inter-species snack. Even I enjoy ice cream. Would you two care to join us?"
Adam's face lit up at the mention of the treat. He hadn't enjoyed it since his turning. It just wasn't something he or Tommy thought of getting.
Tommy only rolled his eyes as Adam insisted on not only carrying him to the table, but feeding him as well. When he started to protest, Brad cut him off with, "You might as well not fight it. He really, really likes taking care of people he cares about."
"Yeah, well, we're gonna have a talk about this later," Tommy said before Adam offered him another bite of the treat.
"Speaking of later, it's getting quite late," Mina informed everyone. "The sun will soon be up again, and both of you still need rest. Your friends can come back and check on you at a civilized hour, preferably after sunset. You two go rest now. I'll see everyone out."
As Adam carried Tommy back to the bedroom, under protest from Tommy, of course, Tommy said, "Looks like you just got adopted by my grandmother, dude. You don't know what you're in for now."
>>>>