Andrew and Jamie - 3. Explanations

Jackson and Casey hurried out of the room and down to the clinic. Inside they found a small team of vampire and witch nurses working on two young vampires one male and one female, who looked as though they had been in a fight.

“What happened here?” Jackson asked with authority ringing in his voice. Being the senior elder in the vampire council meant that all vampires within the community answered to him instinctively.

The female vampire managed to raise her head and answer in a whisper “We were coming into town when we were run off the road and attacked by two older vampires with a silver knife. Henry covered me with his body so he took the brunt of the attack. They only stopped because someone heard us shouting and came to see what was going on. Sir” She added looking directly at Jackson “I recognized one of them. I saw his face during the fight. He is from the Delaney clan to the west. He is an elder there, his name is Samuel. He came to the community a while back.” After she had finished she lay back down and before Casey or Jackson could ask anything else she passed out.

The vampire nurses had started blood IV’s into both vampires to help them heal more quickly and the witches used magic to heal the deeper wounds.

Jackson and Casey returned to Andrews’ bedroom to find him fast asleep again with Jamie watching over him. Leaving them in peace Casey took Jackson to the living room where they could talk without being disturbed.

“What’s going on with this Samuel?” Casey asked as he headed for the adjoining kitchen to make some coffee.

Following him Jackson helped himself to a bottle of blood from a small marked refrigerator; he then leaned against the kitchen counter to gather his thoughts.

“Well Samuel came to the vampire council first about three months ago. His clan borders ours and their clan membership is significantly lower than ours. They wanted to know if we would be willing to allow them to hire some of our vampire members as they are having trouble with their other neighboring clan, the McClens, and they need more people to help with defending themselves.” Casey nodded thinking that few people would want to leave the community here as everyone was treated well. Jackson continued,

“When he came to the council he wanted to offer for some of our male vampires to join their guards and some witches as healers. We told him he was welcome to make his offer to some of our men but they had the choice of whether to take him up on it.

“He offered several men wealth and prestige in his clan if they would go with him, all declined and the council refused to let him approach the last two. He also approached several women as apparently he is looking for a wife as well. One was Sara, the female vampire currently in your clinic, she declined because she was promised to Henry who is her mate, the other victim in your clinic and their link had already started to join them together. Another female he offered for was Alice and when she said no he tried to persuade her by showing her what he personally had to offer. He kissed her and when she took offense he tried to coerce her. Andrew stepped in to defend her, he told Samuel that he wasn’t much of a male if he had to force women just to kiss him and he should learn how to treat women before trying with another one. I think he was acting on instinct. You know he is usually shy. And to make matters worse Samuel recognized him as Andrew transferred from his clan; he called him a few rude names and told him he was no match for him as he was an elder. A few of our other guards heard the commotion and backed Andrew up.

“Samuel was asked to leave. He left swearing we would regret our choice to not help his clan. It seems he has decided to take his vengeance the coward’s way by sneaking in and taking out his frustrations on the ones he feels have wronged him. In the case of Sara I guess he would have taken her, if Henry had not been with her at the time. And in the case of Andrew he probably meant for him to be killed as he did not like that one of his people got away even if he didn’t like him much”

Casey moved into the lounge and sat in silence digesting what Jackson had just told him. The vampire came and sat opposite him and seemed to be trying to decide something.

“There’s something you should probably know,” he took a deep breath before continuing “The last two men Samuel wanted to offer for were you and Jamie, he had heard of how good you two are at healing, especially being twins and can join your magic. But the council said no as you’re our only healers and we need you both. In addition, we believe he had an ulterior motive in asking for you two. There are rumors abroad about his sexual appetites and we believe he wanted you two so he could bed you as twins and more. He has been asking questions at the vampire research facility about how the blood bond works. He wanted to know about bonding more than one person and about bonding with someone who isn’t your mate.”

Shocked Casey stared at him; certain he must be having a joke at his expense. But the more he studied Jackson’s face the more he saw he was serious and actually seemed to be holding back some anger too.

“I know all there is to know about the blood bond. I have been doing a research project on it in my spare time, as you know because the council had to give permission for me to contact the research facility. Do you think he’ll come after us?”

“I don’t know, but you need to be careful. I can have a guard assigned to you, if you want, for protection.”

“I do not want one of your guards hanging around me twenty four seven and I rarely leave the house except for medical emergencies so I should be fine. I have my magic to fall back on if I need to protect myself, Jamie works three nights a week at the guards HQ so he should be well protected there, and here he will be with me.”

“Your magic will not be fast enough to beat a vampire!” Jackson looked at him in challenge.

Casey bristled at the insult “I can take down a vampire if I need to…” he barely got the words out before Jackson had him off the chair and pinned to the floor. He stared up into Jackson’s face; he hadn’t even seen him move.

“Vampire’s move faster than magic spells can be said” Jackson sneered at him with their faces close together. Casey just looked at him with one eyebrow raised, then with a pop he disappeared, causing Jackson to fall flat on his face. Jackson spun around in surprise to see Casey sitting on a chair nearby watching him.

“How did you do that?” Jackson asked getting up; he made some show of straightening out the clothes he was wearing before picking up his drink and sitting down again.

Casey shrugged, “It is a power given to me by the witches counsel to get me to any emergency quicker. That way I can treat people on the edges of town. I am the only one with it here that I know of, Jamie only has the magic he was born with. His duties only include running the clinic here and at guard HQ in the evenings.

Jackson opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a cry of alarm from upstairs.

They both bolted up the stairs and burst into Andrew’s room to see Jamie trying to hold him down as he thrashed around in his sleep. “Help me!” Jamie called and redoubled his efforts as Andrew nearly threw him off by hitting him in the eye.

Jackson quickly went to Jamie’s side and held Andrew down easily by his arms. Jamie immediately starting chanting a simple calming spell until Andrew finally opened his eyes to focus on him.

When he stopped struggling Jackson let go of him and sat on the end of bed but stayed within reach in case.

Andrew looked at everyone crowding in his room again and blushed red, “Sorry I must have had a nightmare!”

Jamie sat at the head of the bed and when Andrew saw the bruise forming on Jamie’s eye his eyes went wide with shock.

“Oh God did I do that?” he cried in alarm, his eyes fixed on Jamie and his hand reached out to touch the bruise. The minute his hand made contact with Jamie’s skin he felt a shock go through his hand and he snatched it back quickly.

Casey saw Andrew’s reaction to touching Jamie and decided to get Jamie out so he could check his eye and fill him in.

“Jamie, I need to fill you in on a few things. Be a dear and come with me. Jackson you can keep an eye on Andrew a while can’t you? He still needs observation for another night and day yet.”

Before Jackson could answer he was pulling Jamie out the door and trying not to laugh at the furious look Jackson was sending his way, he had obviously seen Andrews’s reaction too.

“What was that all about?” Jamie asked pulling his hand back and frowning at Casey’s laughing face.

“I think Jackson is still getting used to being a sponsor to someone so young and thought I was going to look after his charge for him.” Casey chuckled heading back towards the clinic.

“What did you mean fill me in on something?”

“Jamie you know all there is to know about vampires, we both learnt from mom before taking over ten years ago. Andrew is still young by vampire standards. He was kicked out of home before he could be taught all he needed to know, so he is still learning and Jackson keeps forgetting there are things that he needs to tell Andrew. Vampire politics is one of them. What do you remember about vampire mating habits?” As he spoke, Casey sat at his office desk in the clinic and brought up the records of the two vampires that had been brought in. Jamie took a seat at his desk and looked at the ceiling as he thought.

Casey liked to test him occasionally especially about vampire physiology, so he wasn’t surprised by the random question but he felt the answer to this question was important. “When a vampire meets his or her future mate they instantly recognize them. When the blood bond is finalized there is a mind and life link between the mated pair. If one is killed the other dies too. The mind link means they can communicate with each other where ever they are”

He opened his eyes and looked at Casey, “Does that about cover it?”

He smiled and then asked “What about when one mate is not a vampire?”

He frowned, “I didn’t know vampires could mate with non vampires. I mean yes a vampire can take non – vampire lover. But I didn’t think they could be attracted to a non-vampire as a mate.”

“Well I’ve been doing some research,” Casey sat back comfortably in his seat. “A vampire can mate with a non-vampire and feel the same recognition as they would with a vampire mate. However, the non-vampire half of the couple would only feel a subtle attraction and it would be up to the vampire to convince the other person they are meant to be together. Once they are blood bonded they have the same abilities as a mated vampire couple with the mind and life link and as an added bonus the non – vampire’s life expectancy is extended to the life of the vampire without them having to be changed. In addition, the non – vampire will get better health and much faster healing capabilities.

“The down side is that the vampire will feel the recognition strongly and want to act on it, but the other person will not realize what they’re feeling and either ignore it or misread the situation. Of course if the vampire is still young then they may feel the recognition and not know what it is. They may be afraid to act on it but that is a whole other problem.

“The last and most important point though is that vampires can blood bond with others who are not their mates and they can bond more than one person as the emotional bond that causes the vampire to be protective of their mate is not there to prevent it. That means the vampire can control their mate telepathically by punishing behavior they don’t like. A forced blood bond is illegal within vampire culture but it does happen occasionally.

“Now lesson over, I need to bring you up to date on a vampire who is intent on doing an end run around mating law and is forcing the issue with a few females and males, us included.”

***

While Casey was filling Jamie in on Samuel, Jackson was filling Andrew in and giving him a lesson in vampire mating habits at the same time.

“So you see,” Jackson continued “Samuel is angry at you for showing him up and so is trying to save face with his clan by having you beaten up or possibly killed.”

“That is not the only reason he hates me, you know!” Andrews head was still throbbing and all his joints were stiff and aching. All he wanted to do was pull the duvet over his head and go back to sleep but instead he had to sit and be told a crazy vampire wanted him dead.

“What do you mean?” Jackson asked.

Andrew looked at him and took a deep breath before continuing. “When I applied for a transfer to this clan I told the council my family had disowned me due to the fact I was gay.” Jackson nodded and motioned for Andrew to continue, “That was the truth but I was not asked how they found out I was gay. I had been a junior admin assistant for the elders of our clan from the time I was sixteen. When I turned eighteen Samuel requested I join his admin team. He said he wanted to help me advance in the admin department, said I had potential.” The curl of Andrew lip as he said ‘potential’ gave Jackson a bad feeling about what was coming next.

Andrew saw the look in his eyes and nodded “I can see you’ve probably guessed what came next, Samuel tried to seduce me, said he liked young pretty boys. When I continued to refuse his advances he tried to blackmail me by saying he would ruin my career if I didn’t do what he wanted. When I still refused he tried to force me to submit. He had me trapped in a closet (Ironic I know) in the council building, and had me half undressed when a female colleague found us. To save his reputation he had it put out that I had seduced him. When my parents found out they disowned me and threw me out with only the clothes on my back and the money in my account.” When he finished his tale Andrew hung his head as he did not want to see pity in Jackson’s eyes.

Jackson was furious; the abuse of power Samuel had used was massive and had ruined this young man’s life. At only 19 Andrew should still be at home with his parents until he decided to travel for work or education, or until he met his mate. A vampire does not choose their mate, fate does and that means their mate could be male or female. This usually means that vampires are more amenable to all relationships regardless of the sexes of the couple.

“Why would your parents worry about you being gay? A lot of vampires are.” Jackson asked frowning.

“I am the only male child (I have an older sister) and they were banking on me to carry on the family name by marrying and having male children of my own. My family is very old but my parents only had me recently and they had already picked out a mate for me from another old family.”

“Your family may be old but your parents have not been taught much about vampire physiology. Only destined mates can have children together, it was a precaution placed on us by our creator to ensure we didn’t just go around impregnating everyone to increase the vampire race. Also, if your mate is a male, as you believe he will be, and he happens to be a non-vampire, there is still a chance you could have children.”

“How?” Andrew asked, finally looking up.

“Well, when a male vampire blood bonds with a male non vampire the exchange of blood sometimes has an extra effect. The non-vampire will sometimes develop a womb and will therefore be able to bear young, although delivery is messy and is usually done by c section. It has not happened for about five hundred years but it is possible.”

Andrew face went through a range of emotions from hope to relief, to many others that went too quick for Jackson to name. Eventually it all seemed too much and Andrew broke down. Jackson held him until he finally cried himself into a fitful sleep.