Between the Times - 5. Dante

After one last sideways glance at the Legends Never Die booth overflowing with artwork, Dante moved on. He had already bought a few things here yesterday, but he couldn't get enough of some of the pictures.

"I really wonder what you see in it," Alice said from beside him. "The style is... nice, I'll admit, but why this Jayce of all people?"

"I just like him," Dante returned simply, having no real answer. Or rather, all the answers he could have given were very vague and probably Alice wouldn't understand them anyway because she had no idea about the show.

"You like him," Alice repeated dryly. "You were almost drooling over the poster yesterday."

"Alice..." He rolled his eyes.

"What I don't understand... how can you pine over this guy- cartoon character or not- when he and Matt look so much alike?"

"I never said Matt was ugly or anything." He gave her another eye roll. "Make him a head taller, dress him nice..."

She snorted, half disbelieving half amused.

"Soberly, Matt's a good-looking guy."

She said nothing to that.

That Matt looked absolutely ridiculous in his cosplay character's clothes and with his hair tinted a matching orange-red was a different problem.

And anyway, what fault had Dante for looking so stunning himself in his incarnation as vampire Etienne Delauney? He didn't usually run around in leather gear and biker boots, and he found the painstakingly styled mohawk a bit annoying, not to mention the artificial vampire fangs, but he thought his reflection in the mirror to be very appealing.

He didn't manage to wipe the slightly smug grin off his face as they returned to Alice's booth, where Matt greedily emptied one of the countless water bottles. Dante had left his leather jacket over the back of a chair, partly because the sweat stains were barely visible on his black shirt.

Great Mother, what a face he had pulled when he had entered the freezing cold expo hall for the first time yesterday morning. Then had come the realization that yes, all those people were producing a hell of a lot of body heat and warming up the chilled down halls tremendously. And this morning, part of the air conditioning had failed and they'd been sweating waterfalls ever since. At least the organizer was gracious and provided free water for the publishers, authors and their teams.

"Be right back," Matt muttered, slipping out of his so-called college jacket, giving Alice a kiss on the cheek and hurrying away. The water had to get out.

Dante leaned against the table where autograph cards, books and such lay, and smiled encouragingly at Alice, who had slumped exhaustedly in her chair.

"What a relief that they didn't extend the Fa-Fi to three days," she murmured, briefly placing a hand on her belly. It could not be hidden and many fans were quite excited. Alice, on the other hand, was exhausted.

Before Dante could answer, two young women approached the booth and chatted a bit, then came two slightly older women who wanted a photo with Etienne, giggling like little girls, and so it went on and on.

Matt had returned from the restrooms relatively quickly- his interest in books was on the low side, so he certainly wouldn't volunteer for an extended stroll- and so vampire and werewolf were available together again.

Most of the cosplayers running around were fans. Dante chatted with some of them, asked about their characters and costumes, and collected some photos. Then, however, he froze as a Jayce became visible.

The golden hextech hammer was visibly mere plastic and the tie was attached to the open shirt collar in such a way that the slave collar could be seen, but that didn't change the fact that Dante's stomach suddenly went on a roller coaster when Jayce turned to their booth with an almost dreamy smile.

Jayce was chatting with Alice about her "Blue Hour Chronicles" series, but Dante didn't get much of that. Though he was standing right next to them, the powerful voice, which he thought suited Jayce much better than the series' chosen voice actor, really lulled him in. When the man turned openly toward him, however, all his systems shot into alert mode.

"Somehow I imagined you taller," Jayce said with a wry grin. They were about the same height, but that was probably just because of the biker boots with their thick soles and faux heel.

"I hear that a lot," Dante returned as calmly as he could, though the remark annoyed him every time. "But I kind of imagined your hammer to be more impressive, too."

Grinning broadly, Jayce switched the hammer from one shoulder to the other. "I appreciate quality in other places a bit more though."

The remark sent a very strange tingle through Dante. "If you think it helps."

"It doesn't do any harm, anyway." His counterpart's gray eyes sparkled.

Part of Dante knew he was in over his head with this very obvious and very public flirtation from his favorite character, and another part gave into it shamelessly. He licked his lips, but got caught on one of the canines- plastic or not, but they were sharp and he winced.

"Sharp, huh?" remarked Jayce mockingly, passing over the fact that Dante had hesitated a moment too long.

"Sure. Wanna try them?" A little surprised by his own words, Dante presented his fangs- it might sound silly, but he had actually practiced that in the mirror.

Jayce laughed in amusement. "Vampire with bite kink? Classy."

Rolling his eyes, Dante replied, "I only bite when it's wanted."

In the background, Matt made a strange sound, whether disgusted or amused, Dante didn't have the mental capacity for that right now.

"And if it's wanted?", Jayce wanted to know challengingly though, and Dante raised a brow.

"Who's got a bite kink here now, huh?" He was definitely getting warm as Jayce leaned closer.

"Might be interesting to see what your 350 years of experience have taught you."

"346," Dante corrected a little breathlessly, his mouth staying open a bit and one of the fangs digging painfully into his lip.

Jayce smiled mockingly. "Four more or less..."

"It makes a big difference elsewhere." What kind of nonsense was he talking here?

"I told you to wait for me!"

The woman's voice was familiar and so completely unexpected that Dante involuntarily searched for the speaker. His aunt Dionne was heading straight for them. Although both she and her two bodyguards were wearing jeans and T-shirts, they were still noticeable.

"Dionne." He inclined his head in greeting, while Jayce half-turned and screwed up his face.

"Nice teeth you got there," Dionne greeted back, then turned to Jayce. "You should-"

"Mother!" he groaned. "Please. I'm not a little kid."

"What?" Stunned, Dante didn't even realize he was squealing.

"What?" echoed the guy, whose name was definitely not Jayce.

Dionne looked amused and put a hand on his shoulder. "My son Dylan." Then she nodded to Dante. "Danica's son Dante."

"Oh," they made more or less simultaneously.

Matt now seemed to be half choking on his laughter and Alice hissed something at him.

Dante's face was burning, but Dylan was flushed, too. He swallowed hard and with his mouth suddenly very dry, then held out his hand to his cousin. "Nice to meet you."

Dylan reached for it, but merely nodded mutely.

Praised be Alice for saving the day, "Forgive me for saying so, Miss Sapphire, but I didn't expect to see you here."

"Oh you know, there's nothing like enjoying a well-deserved evening off with a good glass of wine and an even better science fiction novel," Dionne cheerfully returned.

To avoid looking at Dylan, Dante instead gave Matt a grim glare.

"I can't help with that," Alice replied with regret in her voice.

"I know. But Dylan really likes the Blue Chronicles."

He promptly cleared his throat. "Uh, Mother... Dante represents Etienne... can I have a photo?"

"But of course."

It felt very strange that they were now each putting an arm around the other for this photo and smiling happily, but judging by Alice's wink, Dante was probably in control of his face.

Then Dionne smiled at her nephew and wandered on with her bodyguards and Dylan.

"Oh Great Mother," Matt blurted out, while Dante still looked after them, completely caught off guard. "I can't wait to see Frank's face when I tell him this."

"Matt..." it came from Alice, half annoyed, half admonishing.

Dante ignored him, it was for the best. He was counting on Frank's humor outweighing his jealousy given a situation like this.

And how much his stomach had been tingling, he really didn't have to tell him, right?