Finders, keepers - 10. Unprompted

George's and my lives were moving in a steady rhythm, making up new lies to ward off suspicion, finding new homes when needed. George was aging, but somehow I couldn’t see it. Maybe I didn’t want to see it. We had our lives together, a sort of harmony that comes from knowing each other so very well. It was getting increasingly difficult to keep people from wondering though. George was over 50 years old by know and I was still looking like a teenager, even though I was much older. If we forgot ourselves and kissed in public, we no longer needed to worry about the police since our love was no longer outlawed. However, the way people stared at us had an almost worse effect. I couldn’t stand them all thinking such horrible things about George. I didn’t care about myself, but to know many thought George was a pathetic and possibly disgusting old man made me infinitely sad. He tried to laugh it off, but I could tell it was beginning to get to him.

I sometimes spent time in his practice, just to get out of the house and see some people. From a far was more than enough for me, but it still helped me pass the time waiting for George to come home. At one time, he was working with a younger doctor called Damien Fenner. A nice enough looking guy. I guessed he did ok with the ladies. Or rather guys as it turned out in his case. I didn’t particularly like him, since he was always watching me in a way I could only describe as creepy. Whenever he was in the practice, I could feel his eyes on me. I tried to avoid him as much as possible, but he had a knack for cornering me and very obviously tried to chat me up. In a twisted way, I almost longed for the days when our kind of love was forbidden. I knew it was a terrible thing to think, but at least then I hadn’t had to worry about other men coming on to me. Now, it seemed everyone wanted to make the most of their newfound freedom and a few weren’t all that keen on listening to what the object of their attention had to say. Damien Fenner was one of those people. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer.

One afternoon, he came in to find me reading on the sofa in George’s office. His eyes lit up and he smiled, but it wasn’t a very pleasant smile. More like predatory.

“Hey, Levi! This is a nice surprise!”

“Hello, Damien.” I tried to show him I wanted to continue reading, but he plopped down next to me pulling the magazine out of my hands. He threw it on the floor. Licking his lips, he moved closer to me. I tried to move away as inconspicuously as possible, but he soon had me up against the armrest. It wasn’t that he held me down or even really touched me, but I got extremely uncomfortable with him being so close. When I made to stand, he put his arm out, putting his hand on the armrest and thereby blocking my way.

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. Wouldn’t you like to hit the town sometime? A few drinks, a little dancing…?” His tone indicated just what type of dancing he had in mind. I shuddered at the thought of doing anything of the sort with him. With anyone but George.

“Well, Damien, I don’t think so. I’m really busy and…”

He didn’t let me finish. Just smiled in that smug way of his.

“Oh, right. Busy…” He leered at me. “So very busy ‘studying’ or helping your ‘uncle’.”

The way he said it made it clear he knew I wasn’t actually studying or living with my uncle, meaning George. I blushed, even though I had done nothing to be ashamed of. I just wasn’t very keen on having this conversation with someone like Damien. He somehow made everything seem sordid and dirty.

“As I said, I’m really busy…”

Suddenly, he shifted on the sofa next to me, putting his legs on either side of mine and boxing me in with his arms. He leaned in closer and I could feel his breath on my face. His eyes were piercing and gave me shivers, but not of the good kind.

“Come on. What do you see in that old man? Wouldn’t someone so young and pretty rather be with a man who won’t embarrass you in public? Someone who can treat you right? Show you a very good time?”

His words made me angry and I could feel my powers stirring within. I clamped down on my feelings, not wanting to lose control. Nothing good ever came from me losing control. I didn’t wish that even on a sleaze like Damien.

“Damien, please move out of my way.” I tried to sound unaffected, but I couldn’t stop a slight tremble to my voice. He heard it and of course misinterpreted it.

“Oh, don’t be like that… I know you want to get to know me better. I’ve seen you look at me. Wanting something other than that old geezer. I can make you feel so good, beautiful.”

“I told you I’m not interested!” Now, I was getting really mad. My anger was swirling around inside, itching to get out. This could get dangerous if he didn’t stop. But he didn’t relent. Instead, he moved in even closer, almost touching my lips with his.

“No, no, no… I’m not letting you go now. Who knows when I get another chance like this…?”

Then he tried to kiss me. My anger flared hot and searing. I grabbed his shoulders and threw him clear across the room, making him smack into the wall on the other side. He yelled out in pain, but didn’t seem actually hurt. We stared at each other, him not believing it actually happened, me instantly regretting losing control. We both knew this wasn’t normal. What I had done wasn’t normal. When he could get up, he got out of the room as quickly as possible; staying as far away from me as he possibly could, never taking his scared eyes off me. I just sat there, feeling my world crumbling down around me. I tried to figure out what to do but my fraught mind came up with nothing.

That’s how George found me. He noticed right away something was wrong and crouched down in front of me. He put a hand on my knee.

“Levi…?” Hearing his concerned voice, I lunged forward and clung to his neck, sobbing.

“I made a mistake. A terrible mistake… I’m so sorry, George. So, so sorry…” He let me cry for a while.

“What happened?” The concern in his voice made everything even worse. His hands made soothing motions up and down my back. I had ruined it all and just because I couldn’t control my anger.

“I did something. Something horrible. Damien…” When he heard this, George pulled back and I could see his eyes turn cold. Something was wrong. He never looked at me like that.

“Oh…? So something happened between you and Damien?” He didn’t sound like my George at all. I stared at him in confusion. Then it dawned on me what he was thinking. He knew all too well about Damien’s interest in me and had asked me about it. Asking if I really wasn’t interested in exploring life with someone younger. We had a terrible row and I had shouted at him, yelling he had nothing to worry about and the fact that he did pissed me off. He should know I couldn’t very well simply change partners. Still, his jealousy was perhaps not so strange, considering how other people saw us and our relationship now. Maybe he had been worrying all this time without telling me.

“No, no! George, it’s not what you think!” When he heard that, he snorted and I realized of course I would say that if I had done something wrong.

“I mean he tried to attack me and I fought him off. I swear! Please George, you have to believe me. I have no interest in that man.”

George seemed to think this over, taking his time, making me sweat.

“If you fought him off, why are you so upset? Nothing happened?” He still sounded distant and cold, but at least he was talking to me.

“I fought him off when I was angry. I… I threw him across the room…” I fell silent, waiting for a reaction from George. The implications of what I was saying were suddenly clear to him.

“We have to move again.” George said this as if he just noticed it was starting to rain. Simply a matter of fact. He had missed one big detail though.

“But he knows! George, he knows about me! At least he suspects. I could see it in his eyes!” Now, I started crying again. George took a moment to think about what I had said.

“You say he attacked you?”

I nodded.

“And you told him no?”

I nodded again, getting nervous since I didn’t understand what he was getting at. Did he still not believe me?

“Then I think I’ll be able to get him to shut up. Not really beneficial for a young doctor building a practice of his own to be known as a person committing sexual assault.”

I thought about this. Sexual assault. Yes, if I hadn’t been for my powers, who knows if he had stopped at all until he had his way? It was a good plan given the circumstances, using his actions to balance out mine.

“But you believe me, right?” I had to ask.

George gave me an almost sad smile.

“Yes, Levi. I believe you. It’s just hard to know you could have anyone and you spend your time with me. An old man…”

I cut him off with a kiss.

“You’re not old! George, I love you more than words can say. I don’t want any other man in my life. I have no need for any other man in my life. Only you…” I kissed him again and his eyes were finally back to normal.

It was a tense few days, until George managed to settled things with Damien. We moved, Damien got the practice, both parties swearing to keep quiet about the events that afternoon. We never heard from Damien again. Perhaps I really scared him more than I realized.

As the years moved on, our lives changed little by little. As George got older and retired as a doctor, the physical aspect of our love changed. He wasn’t as strong as he used to be. I tried to feed less and less, without saying anything. He noticed, but didn’t argue. He knew he wasn’t strong enough. We both knew where we were headed, but didn’t want to talk about it. At one point, he tried to bring up the issue of me turning him, but I flat out refused to even discuss it. No one should have to live like I had, least of all George.

I went from his lover to his caretaker, but our love never changed. In my eyes, he was still that beautiful boy who had saved me all those years ago. The handsome man who had taken care of me through the years. Now, I could return the favor and I did so gladly. Watching him grow old wasn’t easy though.

Then one day I woke up and George didn’t.

I was crushed, heartbroken, devastated. He had been my world, my air, my sun and now there was only suffocating darkness. I even tried to kill myself again, not succeeding this time either. Life without George was empty, hollow. I tried to keep up some kind of semblance of a human existence, but all too soon I felt the hunger, the urge. I realized I had to feed. It scared me, made me despair, but in the end I had no choice. I was so scared of losing control for real and actually killing someone. So I resigned to my fate, my horrible fate. Feeding was once again a degrading must to be endured. Not the sign of a beautiful relationship.

The years went by and I merely existed. My life had ended the day George left me. I almost lost my mind, desperately holding on to the last of my humanity. I fed off animals and the occasional human I could get close to without raising suspicions. I became that animal from all those years ago. Living in the shadows, trying to not be noticed.

Then one day I saw him. Matt.