GFD 12: Blood Ties - 10. Chapter 10

Seemingly overjoyed, the Jeweler wrote back with excited text. "Excellent! We will begin making preparations for your arrival immediately. I will contact with a time and place as soon as possible."

I didn't like this. I didn't like the idea of it all. I felt as though I was being 'pushed'. Forced into a corner where my only option was to take the hand of a potential threat in order to survive. But instead of letting him on to my worries, I simply wrote back, "I'll be ready."

To which he replied, "No, Justin...you won't." And he signed off immediately.

I opened my eyes and looked over at Doc, "Well, he wants me to meet him just as soon as he..." Suddenly, a surge of energy rushed through my fingertips and a few sparks 'popped' out of the laptop before I could contain it. "SHIT!" I felt the burn of the electricity in my hands, and tossed Doc the laptop the second I was able to let go of it.

Doc, luckily, caught it..and frowned up as he saw the screen go black. "Dammit, Justin...you weren't supposed to open your eyes! Awww...my baby..." He whined, petting the temporarily defunct machine like a house cat. He sighed to himself, but..ever the cheerful one, no matter the circumstance...Doc worked up a halfhearted smile and just brushed it off. "I'll see if I can fix it. Just..keep your distance for a while, huh? Go out and do something for a change. Take your mind off of your troubles for a bit."

"I wish I could, Doc. I really wish I could." I said, and backed away from him before I did any more damage.

As I walked through the lot, I saw Jeremy pacing back and forth. Kicking up a small cloud of dust as he spoke to someone on his cell phone. "You're killing me here, Uriel! What's the hold up? Time is money, and I'm losing an awful lot of time these days!" He seemed upset, his stern words failing to hide his apparent aggravation. "No! This is unacceptable! I need this shipment to go through as soon as possible! No more delays!" Jeremy took notice of me standing not far away, and he turned his back to me, lowering his voice. "Look...just get my blood shipments in order, fix my lab, and contact our major buyers. Tell 'em we had a minor setback, but we're fixing the problem, and will be up and running again by the end of the week." There was a short silence, and he said, "Tell 'em we'll cut the prices! We'll offer a package deal! All with high adrenaline levels, untainted, low cholesterol, protein packed. My best shit, at a fraction of the price. They'll go for it. TRUST me! And DON'T take no for an answer! I'm not letting those hemoslug dealing mafia fucks slide in and take a single one of my customers! Do you hear me? Not a single one!" Then he stopped pacing, and ended his conversation. "Great. Fine. Get it done Call me back when you have some results." He hung up his phone and turned back around with a smile. "Justin, cutie...what's up, sweetheart? You change your mind about that roll in the sack?"

"Trouble in paradise?" I asked.

"Trouble? What...that? Nah, no trouble. Small business hiccup, that's all. It seems that it's going to take them a bit longer to fix my place, sunproof it, and get my blood reserves shipped out to me, than they originally thought. You know, your little 'playmate' really did a number on me. That kid needs a serious spanking!"

"I'm sure he'd love to hear you say that to his face." I said, and I heard the sounds of shouting in the background.

It looked like Rain and Gyro were having another one of their heated 'discussions', and it was escalating fast. Bryson went over to break them up the second Rain gave her little brother a shove, and attempted to negotiate some kind of truce between them. It didn't look like he was having much luck.

"Should we be worried about this sorta thing?" Jeremy asked me.

"Nope. It's an everyday occurrence. It happens so much, I doubt I could go a night without it." I told him. Then, at some point, Rain said something that must have really cut poor Gyro pretty deep. He stopped arguing, his pouty little lips stuck out and his head lowered slightly. He mumbled something to her in his defense, but when she dared him to repeated it, he walked away from her. Bryson had to hold Rain back from chasing him down and forcing him to talk, which only transferred all of her anger to him. I don't know what those two get up to, or why they can't seem to enjoy more than a few seconds together without wanting to rip one another's heads off...but Rain and Gyro are probably more alike than they'd ever want to admit. Who knows...maybe that's the problem?

I heard Jeremy's phone ring again, and he said, "Hold on, I've got to take this." He flipped his phone open, and walked away from me as he went right back to his agitated negotiations. "What??? FUCK NO they can't get the supply NOW and pay LATER! I don't have a 'layaway' plan, Uriel! What, is he fucking back-to-school shopping? Get him on the phone! And you tell that son of a bitch that if he's trying to cheat me on our arrangement, I'm gonna cover him in barbecue sauce and have Torsten and Grim chew the flesh right OFF of him!"

Somehow, I don't think he was kidding about that.

"So, I hear my delicate little butterfly has been spilling the beans lately?" I heard Dion's voice over my shoulder, and turned to see him standing behind Dylan, his strong presence and broad shoulders a complete contrast to Dylan's fragile appearance. Dion had his arms draped over Dylan's shoulders, holding him against his chest...and Dylan snuggled himself into his warm embrace. So content, so happy, that he just had to close his eyes and inhale Dion's scent with a smile. Dylan couldn't be more in love if he tried. "He wasn't supposed to tell anybody, you know? I wanted to keep it between us until we got some ideas together of where we going to stay."

I looked at the two of them together, and was touched by the display of unrestricted affection. But I was also touched by a feeling of great sadness as I looked at the sparkle in Dion's dark hazel eyes. The suffering that my vision would cause poor Dylan if he were to lose the greatest love he's ever known. I tilted my glance downward a bit. While Dylan was too involved with the feel of Dion's arms around him...Dion would be able to look into my eyes and see that something was wrong. He had learned to read me so well over the last few months. Hopefully, that stupid drawing was just a fluke. Hopefully it didn't mean anything at all. Because I would hate to think that Dylan and I were in the same awful predicament...trying to defy the stars in order to protect the people we love. Fate isn't known for playing 'fair' when it comes to these things.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." I said quietly. "I still say that this place won't be the same without you here." I didn't even realize what I had said out loud until the words had already left my mouth. 'Without you here'...uglier words had never been spoken.

"Ahh, you guys will manage. You just won't have half as much fun." Dion smiled. Dylan let out a contented sigh, and Dion hugged him tighter around his soft middle. "You ok, hon?" He asked, and kissed Dylan softly on the cheek. I swear, he was so overcome with the sensation that Dylan's eyes got misty from it. He turned around, and rolled further into Dion's embrace with a soft whine, nuzzling his nose into his lover's neck as he wrapped his arms around him tightly.

"You'd better keep an eye on that one. I hear he bites." I grinned.

With a slight giggle, Dylan kissed Dion on the side of the neck, and then gave him a playful nibble that caused Dion to jump a bit "Hey now! None of that!" He said, giving Dylan a smack on the butt. "Don't encourage him. He's wiley enough as it is without your help." I looked down again, still trying to hide my expression. Should I tell him? Would it save his life if I told him? Or would it cause the prophecy to come true for sure? "We were thinking of maybe getting a small group together and maybe finding a place to hang out tonight. We've been stuck in this gloomy place for days now and we needed a little pick me up. It's going to be a while before Bernie gets his club back in working order, and I doubt he's going to be happy to let our kind in for quite a while after what happened...but I'm sure Gyro knows of a few other places that are 'vampire friendly'. We could check a few 'em out tonight, provided they're not one of those places that give halflifes a hard time. You wanna join us?"

"I don't know. I'm not really in a partying mood." I said.

"Well, that's the whole point, Justin There's too much 'misery' going around here. We need a break. The darkness can swallow you up completely if you don't take a few opportunities to remember what made life worth living. Well...so to speak."

Dylan managed to pry his sweet lips away from Dion's neck and chest long enough to say, "It'll be fun, Justin. You should go."

I thought it over, but as I saw Taryn sitting on the hood of a car by himself...leaning back and looking up at the stars from a quiet corner of the lot, I shook my head. "No thanks. You guys can all go on without me. I think I'm just gonna chill for a while."

Dion gave me a smirk as he kissed Dylan on the cheek, and the smaller boy buried his face in his chest again. "You know, Justin...there was a time when you literally begged me to take you out of here. Do you remember that?"

"Heh, yeah. That seems like forever ago."

"It pretty much WAS forever ago." He told me. "We didn't have any idea what we were in for back then, did we?" I grinned back at him as we shared the memory of him taking me out of the lot that night so many months ago. That night, Dion became one of my very best friends in the world. "Do you remember the little field trip we took, Justin? You remember what you saw?"

"The big waste?" I said, thinking back to the humans on the street.

"Yes...the big waste." He gave Dylan another kiss on the top of the head, and then told me, "It's not just a human thing, Justin. It's a problem for everybody. Don't waste too much time avoiding life. It's not going to stand still...even if you are."

"Words to live by?" I asked.

"Merely a suggestion. Just remember that time is going to drag you forward no matter how much kicking and screaming you do to stop it. So you might as well enjoy life as it happens. You won't get a second chance" He looked over at Taryn, and then looked back at me with a wink. "He's stubborn, but he's not made of stone. Maybe you can 'soften' him up a little. Hmmm?" He made sure that I got the message, and was waiting for me to make a move in the right direction. "Don't waste your time, Justin. Not yours...and not his. If you feel the way you feel...tell him. Tell him with every breath you have. It's not everyday that you find yourself a true angel. Be thankful. I am." And with that, Dion and Dylan walked off, arm in arm, back to Dion's truck to change clothes to go out. And probably have a little 'fun' in the meantime.

I heard talking, and saw Jeremy coming closer, still on his cell. "Uh huh. Yeah. Well, listen...I want you to call up a dealer for me, goes by the name of Prince AP. He owes me a favor. Ask him to pull out of the next Maria concert, and you and me will set up a blood bar at the show. That should spike profits for us and keep us above water until we can get our suppliers moving again." Jeremy snapped his fingers a few times to get my attention and beckoned for me to come closer. "Uh huh. Yeah, well it's his birthday or something. Tell him I'll make it up to him as soon as I see him again. Uh huh...wait..hold on a sec." Jeremy took the phone away from his ear and told me, "Um...I don't know if this is one of those 'everyday occurrence' things you were talking about...but your friend Rain just stabbed herself repeatedly in the throat with a rather large shard of glass. I'm thinking that's not a good thing."

"Sighhh...and it happens more often than you would think." I said. "Just let her rest for a while. She'll be ok in a few hours."

"Riiiight." He said. "You folks have a WEIRD sense of humor, you know that?" Then he went back to his conversation. "Yeah. Well re-route the shipments from Minnesota and bring them here. No...no we can't count on the Stronghold fighting arena as a business contact right now. Huh? Well, shit, *I* don't know, some lunatic tore the whole fucking warehouse to pieces! Nobody's seen Soren since! It's like he's hiding up somebody's ASSHOLE or something! Something must have gotten him awfully spooked! And Soren doesn't spook easy, believe me!"

I looked back over at Taryn, and I know that he told me he wasn't ready...but since he was all by himself and Rain was obviously out of commission...I figured that I might as well use the opportunity to my advantage.

It was pointless to slowly zig zag my way over to the hood of the car he was laying on. It's not as though I could 'sneak up' on him. Nor could I convincingly act like I just happened to be 'passing by' without knowing he was there. Still...a steady and cautious approach was needed. I made sure to keep my head down a bit, and kick a few rocks as I bashfully stepped closer. When I got about ten feet away from him, Taryn couldn't hold in his smile for a moment longer. He snickered playfully to himself, and looked at me as though I was being the biggest dork on the face of the planet. And let's face it...I was.

"Hehehe, what the heck are you doing?" He giggled.

I started to smile a bit myself, exposing a healthy blush as I dug my toe into the dirt beneath my feet. "Umm...I dunno. I just...thought I'd come over. You know...say hi."

"You just said hi to me like a half hour ago."

"I know. But...I've missed you since then." The sentiment got Taryn to give me the sweetest smile, and I lifted my eyes to drink in the sheer beauty of him. "Do you think you might want some...company or something?" I said. Taryn's smile dimmed a bit, and he was silent as he thought it over. "We don't have to say anything, I just thought...maybe...you know..."

Taryn seemed to think that my stuttering and fumbling was adorable, and with his face turning the most subtle shade of pink, he scooted over to give me a space on the hood next to him. I was so happy to see him being a bit more open to me again, that I practically ran over there and jumped up on that hood at the speed of light. I stretched out beside him, both of us staring up at the midnight sky...and after a minute or two of silence...I rolled to my side just long enough to kiss him on the cheek, and roll back again. Taking a hold of his hand, and just....holding it. Holding it and enjoying the stars.

There was no greater feeling than having Taryn's delicate fingers wrap themselves around my hand, and losing himself in the connection. It seemed like it had been forever since we had been this close. Forever since we had shared a few true moments of bliss with one another. And now that I was getting another dose of it..it felt almost like my heart wouldn't be able to take it.

But soon, I felt Taryn's mood begin to darken. Drooping like a withering plant. And his grip on my hand got weak. "I'm sorry, Justin. I don't mean to be like this..."

"No. I understand. It's...it's ok." I said. I held his hand tighter, and brought it up to my lips to give the back of his soft knuckles a kiss. "You don't have to be happy for me, Taryn. You don't have to be anything more than what you are. It's more than enough."

Taryn's alluring features began to wrinkle up slightly, and two small rivers of tears leaked from his emerald green eyes. He rolled away from me, his reddish brown locks of hair sliding forward to cover his face and further hide his pain from the rest of the world. "All I ever wanted to do was make things right. To 'fix' what needed to be fixed." He sniffled. "And I ended up destroying everything."

I rolled to my side, and moved up behind him to lay my arm across his chest and hold him close to me. "Shhhh...don't say stuff like that."

He took a hold of my hand and pulled it tight to his chest. "But it's true. He hates me. He hates me soooo much. Look at what he's done. Look at what he's become!"

"Taryn, I don't know what happened with your brother, Alec...but I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with you..." He stopped me cold.

"Yes, it does." He whimpered "Because I left him behind. I knew what was going on in that house. I knew. And I abandoned him. I abandoned my baby brother when he needed me most." Taryn's body began to tremble slightly as he tried to hold his sobs in long enough to speak. I used my other hand to gently pet the top of his head, my palms gliding over the shiny strands repeatedly as I tried to soothe his wounded heart. He was silent for a moment, and I pulled his hair back to deliver another soft kiss to his cheek. And that's when he told me. "Do you wanna know why I left, Justin?"

"Shhh...you don't have to tell me. It's ok." I said. Although we shared just about everything else, Taryn has always been extremely guarded about his humanity. His past was always something that he seemed miserable talking about before.

I guess things had changed. "After my father died...my mom went through a bit of a rough time. Working a full time job, keeping up with the house work, keeping up with me and Alec...some days she just...she looked so exhausted, you know?" I didn't say a word. I could tell that it was taking a lot for him to say this...and I didn't want to interrupt. I just stayed close, ran my fingers through his hair, and tried to give him all the strength and support that I could. "She started...hanging out with this...'guy'. Chuck. He offered to help with some of the bills, look after us when she was out of town...he was there to console her when she was feeling down." He sniffled a bit more, and I gave him a squeeze, kissing the back of his neck. "I don't even know when they actually started dating. She didn't tell me anything about it until they were practically engaged. Then...they got married, and he moved in. Just like that, I had a stepfather sleeping in my dad's bed. Sitting in his seat at the head of our dinner table. I hated it. I HATED it!" Taryn balled up his fists in anger, and the tears kept coming, as the words got harder to say.

"It's ok. Go on." I whispered. And he reached for my hand again to hold it even tighter than before.

"About a month or two after they had been married...things began to...'change'." He said, and although I was confused by what he meant...I could tell by the way he said it that it was a bad change. "Chuck used to..." He sniffled a bit more, a lump in his throat. "...He used to...look at me funny. He used to call me....his 'pretty little China Doll'." Oh my God. No. No this isn't happening. I tried to be strong, but suddenly I didn't know whether or not I was ready to hear this. "He would come into my room at night...and he'd...he'd touch me. And I told him NO! I told him I would scream if he didn't leave me alone. But...he didn't care. He threatened me. He hurt me. He would bang my head and slap me and call me names. I've never been so disgusted in all my life, Justin. I never wanted anybody to ever touch me that way ever again."

As Taryn wept openly in my embrace, I spoke up with a soft, trembling, voice. "Did...did he...?"

Taryn rolled back over and looked me in the eye. "No. I never gave him the chance to. My mother was leaving town...he would have raped me for sure if I didn't do something. I tried to tell my mom, I TRIED, but...she wouldn't believe me. Nobody would." He wiped his eyes, and then sat up, turning his back to me once again.

"So..what did you do?"

"I did the only thing I could do. I took Alec...and I ran away. I brought him out into the streets and we tried to make it on our own. It was only supposed to be for a week or so. Just long enough for my mom to come back and help me get that sick pervert out of the house before he did something to my brother. But...that's just not how things turned out. Somewhere along the way...everything went wrong. The whole situation began to spiral out of control." Taryn looked at me over his shoulder. "I had to take Alec back home, Justin. I HAD to. If I hadn't taken him back when I did...who knows what would have happened. I was just...I was trying to look out for him. I never meant for him to get hurt." He sobbed a bit more, and lowered his head. "I NEVER would have hurt him, Justin. I loved that boy with everything I had. It just wasn't good enough."

I sat up, and shuffled over to hold him once again. It was like his heart had collapsed in on itself, his emotions drowning in quicksand. I had never seen him so tortured inside. Never once. And there was nothing I could do to help him feel better.

Then, I felt a shiver go through his body. A vibration that got stronger and stronger for a second, and then disappeared "Owww..." Taryn groaned, crossing his arms over his stomach.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I'm...hungry." He said, with some hesitation. "I've been fighting off the pains for a day or two, but that one hurt a little bit. I'm going to have to feed before they get worse."

"Oh..." I said. "...Do...do you want me to come with you?"

He paused. With the exception of the few times he tried to 'train' me to hunt for myself, Taryn never let me see him hunt for a donor. In fact, he's hunted five or six times since I've been here at the lot, and I hadn't accompanied him on a single outing. He would sneak off and sneak right back in before I had a chance to find out where he had trotted off to. Looking at him now, I could tell that he was struggling with the idea.

"Justin...you don't have to..."

"I want to." I said quickly. I was going whether he liked it or not. If for no other reason than to protect him from any and every wandering threat that might be out there. His maniac brother included.

"It can wait. I'll...I'll fed tomorrow night instead."

"You said it hurt. You should replenish your supply, don't be stubborn."

"I'm not being stubborn, I just..."

"Good. Then grab an extra shirt and I'll meet you by the front gate in five minutes. K?" I said, and even through his tears, eyes red and swollen, Taryn sniffled and gave me a warm smile.

"You suck. You know that?" He grinned sadly.

"So do you." I replied. "What do you know? We're made for each other."

Taryn and I both hopped down from the hood, and he took a few steps away before turning around...and walking back to hug me lovingly around the neck. "Thank you. Thank you for being the grace and perfection that I needed you to be." I could feel his warm tears soak my shirt as I snaked my arms around his waist. Taryn had moments of extraordinary vulnerability that somehow made him even more beautiful than one human heart could stand. Moments when he just melted into your arms and made you want to turn the whole world upside down just to protect him. Just to love him. There was something about his exposed underbelly that mirrored my own suffering and insecurity. We were the missing pieces of each other's lives. And as long as we were together...we'd never be incomplete again. "I'll meet you by the gate." He said, letting me go and walking back to Rain's car to grab some extra clothes, just in case.

I waited for a minute or two for him to come back...but as I felt a gentle 'ripple' in my senses, I knew that I was going to have to move. And fast.

It was Chad's speed that got me to the hidden exit of the lot's outer fence about a block away. I ran so fast that it took the following leaves and debris a second or two to land on the concrete behind me. I folded my arms and waited. And sure enough, a few moments later, Taryn came sneaking out with an extra t-shirt in a plastic bag. He was being extremely quiet about it, but as soon as he stepped through the hole in the fence, he looked up and saw me standing there. "Ahh, shit..." He said with a smirk.

"Caught red handed! You tried to cheat me!" I giggled, and his smile got wider.

"You're so damn...'efficient'."

"Yeah? Well you're stuck with me, so deal with it." I told him. "Shall we go, Houdini?"

"Hehehe, shut up." He started walking, and I made sure to follow him close. Knowing how hung up he was on hunting without me there, he might ditch me the first chance he gets.

You know...even with his cheeks still a bit puffy from crying, his voice a bit hoarse from the build up of emotion, Taryn seemed to be pretty 'normal' as we walked the streets that night. It was a vibe that I had missed between us. Our conversation caught us up on a lot of things, but he was still working hard to avoid talk of his brother. Whenever he touched on it, his shoulders would sag, his mood would change, and he'd almost be on the verge of tears again. Whatever happened between them ten years ago must have truly been a tragedy. It was a series of events that haunted him without end, and his mind kept going over the details again and again...infiltrating his thoughts every five minutes or so. But at least he was talking about it. And it filled me with SO much joy to know that he was finally allowing me to be in on the secret. To finally get to know him on a whole other level...peeling back some of the thin layers of pain to truly give me a better, more unrestricted, glimpse at the heart that I had fallen so madly in love with. Just having him talk to me at long last was the greatest gift that I had ever known.

"I think I was just having trouble trying to find an identity, you know?" He said. "I mean...when I was 14...coming out of the closet wasn't really as common as it is now. I mean, sure there were some party kids that did the whole androgynous thing and followed a few trends, but...your era has it so much better, Justin. Trust me."

I scoffed at the idea. "Heh...yeah, you'd think so. But...it's just as scary for us to admit now as it would have been for you to do it back then. The fact that it's a bit more accepted doesn't make it any easier. To be honest, there are asshole homophobes everywhere. I doubt we've come as far as you think we have in the last ten years. The only difference is they found a way to televise and exploit the whole 'gay' culture in order to tap into another money making demographic. It's nice to be 'targeted' for a change though. Lots of cute boy celebrities to look at too." I grinned.

"Hehehe, if you say so."

"So what about you? Are you hiding a few old school teeny bopper magazines in your stuff like Trevor does?"

"Hahaha! I remember finding those when I first crossed over. Trevor mad me SWEAR to never tell another living soul, or else!" He laughed. "But to answer your question, no. Not at all. That stuff's not for me. Especially back then. I was head over heels for somebody at the time, and he just kinda...took center stage for me, you know?"

I raised an eyebrow. "THIS I've gotta hear."

But he just shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, there's really nothing to tell. LESS than nothing, actually." He said, his eyes looking upward for a moment. "God...you know...now that I think about it, I can't even remember his name. He was SO cute though! Ugh! What was his name? Man, I'm getting old. It's been a long time. It doesn't matter anyway."

"So...what happened?" I gave Taryn a flirtatious smirk, but his smile began to shrink as he recalled the memory.

"He uhh..he didn't feel the same way." He said, despair and regret creeping into his tone. "We got into...a fight when he found out I liked boys. Him and his friends...they uhh..." He stopped talking, and then gave me a fake smile to cover the soured expression he had just a moment before. "...It's not important. Fact is, I haven't seen him since. Probably won't ever see him again. Good riddens."

"Who needs him?" I said, and put an arm over my boyfriend's shoulder to give him a kiss. It brought a certain genuine glow to his already award winning smile. "Maybe you'll get the chance to feed on him one day. You might be able to take him now. Hehehe!"

"Hey! I could have taken him back then if he didn't have a bunch of his friends helping him beat me up."

"Whatever."

"No, I'm serious." He said. "I may not look the part, Justin..but believe it or not, I used to be quite the rebel back in my day." I snickered a bit, and he gave me a shove. "WHAT?"

"Nothing. You just...don't strike me as the 'rebel' type, that's all."

"Well, I was. Late night parties, broken windows, ditching school...gave my my mother pure hell growing up. Probably would have ended up in juvie if I had ever gotten caught for half the shit I got into." He looked at me as I bit my tongue and kept my mouth closed. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Hehehehe, I'm trying. I swear."

"Fine, don't believe me. Hehehe, but I swear to you, I'll never be able to say that I didn't have some fun in my human life." Then, his voice faded slightly. "I think I was just going through a tough time. Losing my dad, trying to figure the world out, trying to figure myself out, trying to figure my sexuality out...I was looking for a map that didn't exist." Then he added, "I think taking care of Alec was the only thing in my life that gave me a center. A purpose. He was the only person in the world that depended on me to be special. That needed me to be there for him. And that made me feel like I finally had a reason for existing at all." The pain moved in on him all over again. He simply couldn't let go of it. "I remember...he used to get sooooo mad. He would throw the wildest tantrums whenever one of us pissed him off. He was just a little boy, but...the damage he could do was astonishing. I'll never forget the look he used to get on his face when he was REALLY angry and ready to smash something. Never." He turned to me and said, "That look was the first thing I recognized...when we saw him in the club..."

His mind began to wander, ad I just wanted to say something to keep him from sinking even lower in the emotional quagmire he had gotten himself stuck in. But luckily for the both of us, we heard a sound coming from one of the emptier streets up ahead. There's always something that sounds a bit 'different' about a potential donor. A mixture of being in the wrong place, at the right time. Mixed with a certain level of deadly silence that provides the perfect opportunity for one of our kind to quench our thirst. I could see Taryn already locking himself in to another frame of mind, and as I watched from the side...his body began to tremble turbulently from the temptation of being so close to his late night snack.

He was still beautiful...but in a much more menacing way. Even though he held on to some of his humanity for my sake..my sweet sweet 'angel' was about to quickly take a significant fall from grace.