Blueblood 5: Exposed The Secrets about V5H Revealed - 6. John's Crisis

Things were still going as it was nearly midnight now. We’d been doing this question and answer thing for almost nine hours! I saw George still talking, completely unaware of John’s leaving.

Colin and I walked over to George. “Where’s John?” I asked him quietly.

George looked quickly where he thought John was. “He’s right…” he looked around the room. “He was right here.”

“He left a few hours ago,” I said quietly. “Didn’t you notice?”

The look on George’s face was real distress! “I didn’t.” Now, his thoughts weren’t about the V5H, venom or serum, but John. Now, he was getting upset. “God, I did it again!”

I smiled at George and nodded. “You did.” I agreed. “I’d almost prefer you to forget to comb your hair.”

George gave me a look that was truly upset. “Please, don’t joke about this. He left hours ago? He could be hurt.”

I nodded hugging George. “You’re right, I’m sorry. He was hurt, but what did he say before he left?”

George was even more upset now. “I don’t know! He can’t get sick…I was talking and…” He was now moving around to see some sign as to where John had gone.

I nodded stopping George. “I saw what happened. Where would he have gone?”

George shook his head. “I don’t know!”

Colin walked over touching George’s arm. “Where does he go while you’re working?”

George shrugged again. “Home, I guess.” He sat in a chair. “That’s where he goes. He’s always waiting for me there.”

“He’s always waiting for you,” Colin repeated a little irritated. “For you?”

I touched Colin’s arm. “George is very upset, Colin,” I whispered to Colin. “He really cares for John, you know that.”

George stood. “We’ll check at our house.” He jumped up.

“Wait,” I said to George waving to his pocket. “Call him.”

“He does have one.” George opened his phone and dialed and had to dial again. “He’s not answering.” He looked again. “All these strangers…no one would take him, would they?”

I shook my head as I didn’t think so. “Easy. He walked out on his own. This is a secure building. He has that PDTU in him.” I rubbed George’s back. “Let’s look around here first. He could be doing something here. Don’t go into crisis mode until we know there is a crisis, okay?” I looked at the many guests that were still there. “These people need to rest for another day tomorrow. We’ll look for John.” I promised to George. The others at the VUN had sort of…resumed the jobs we had when we first got here those few years ago. Looking around the city for vampires. Only, now I told Stan, we needed to find one vampire. John Burke. Instead of going out, they searched the VUN to locate John by his PDTU by computer.

George took us to his home. He’d never offered for us to come there before. Space was a premium in Manhattan, but George had a lot. Three stories French looking chateau building! It was dark inside like no one home. It rivaled many I had seen pictures of the Vanderbilts or one of those railroad tycoons. He used a key and ran in his shoes echoing on the marble floor.

“John!” George called which also echoed as he took rounded stairs from the foyer two and three steps at a time. It was beautiful here. If you liked living in a museum or monument. This wasn’t a home! Colin and I followed George, a little slower, to a set of double doors which he threw open. “John!”

In this big bed, someone moved and sat up as he sat bare-chested. There was John! In bed.

“John!” George shouted and sounded a little angry. “What…” his hands open at the unbelievable and asked, “you’re in bed!? Now!?”

“Yes!” John shouted back. “I have been!!”

Colin and I froze. Things between Colin and I were fine, but…here was a moment that should be between George and John.

“I have been for hours!!” John said angrily. “I bet you just found out! That’s when you called!” He chuckled. “I’ll even bet it wasn’t you that even noticed.” He looked at me. “It was one of them. Devon, probably.”

“Why!?” George shouted not understanding. “I was worried sick!!”

John shook his head. “Go back to those doctors and scientists!” He said angrily and rolled over to go back to sleep. “Leave me alone.”

George’s face was now even redder…from anger! “You know how important this is! For us! How…”

“I know.” John interrupted as he shouted. “I’ve heard it over and over again.” He said covering his head with a pillow and pointed to the door. “Go!”

Colin’s hand came on my shoulder and he started backing us up. “We’ll…” he thumbed behind us to the door, “just be going…”

If George heard Colin, he didn’t respond to him but instead stormed past both of us.

I looked at Colin, then pointed at George. “Go after him!” I pleaded with Colin. “Don’t let him leave!”

“Yeah.” Colin nodded and shoved me back and in the room farther. “You talk to John.” He asked me and rushed to catch our friend.

“What!?” I said at the open door as Colin raced down the hall to catch George and just pointed to the room.

“Talk to him,” Colin said disappearing.

I grimaced. “I’m no therapist or a marriage counselor!” I muttered to myself. “And why is it always me?” I walked over to the big bed and sat beside John.

“Go away,” John said muffled from under the pillow, but sounded completely miserable.

I looked at the dimly lit room. It was big, just like the house and ornately and opulently furnished. “I like my house,” I said simply. “I like Colin’s and my room! It’s our room.” I grinned I saw the pillow drop a fraction. He was four hundred years old!? He wasn’t acting that mature now. “I even liked that room in Romania. In those caverns? It was cozy! I even liked that room we stayed in when in the Ozarks you put us in.” I said again looking at him. “I don’t think I’d like living here, though.”

John lowered the pillow. “It’s not a cave.”

I nodded. “No, it’s not. It could be a home here for me…if Colin is here with me. You’re here alone.”

John nodded. “I am a lot.”

“When he realized you were gone, George was very upset,” I said to him.

“How many hours later?” John asked bitterly.

I frowned. “Oh, come on now. You know George loves you. He was in panic mode once he knew you were gone.” I said. “That’s just that way George is. He gets caught up in things and can’t let go. You know that and have dealt with it before.”

“This is different,” John said sitting up more.

“How?” I asked. “I saw you at dinner, you were very quiet. I could see something was wrong.”

“George didn’t! I feel…” John began. “Stupid.” He confessed quietly.

I wanted an answer but did not expect this. “Whoa!” I said immediately surprised. “You are not stupid!”

“Yes, I am!” John said getting up, but he didn’t give a thought that he had nothing on. “Why are you here?” He demanded.

“A friend was in trouble,” I said simply.

“Meaning George.” John nodded.

“No!” I said getting up to stand next to him. “Yes, George, but I was worried about you, John! George was worried you were hurt or even taken, but I was worried about you.”

John looked surprised. “Me? I am the reason you are a vampire. We shouldn’t be friends at all! You should hate me!”

“This again? John!” I said. “I don’t hate you. I never hated you. I love you. We’re family. George is family and you are family.” I pulled him back down to the bed. “George doesn’t say you’re stupid, does he?”

John shook his head and saying that he smiled. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Can you tell me what happened tonight?” I said. “Be honest.”

“Because I realized, he’ll do it!” John shouted. “He will now do it even faster because all those people will help him. He will find the cure and reverse all of this!” He leaned forward and started to cry silently. “I’ll lose him.”

“What?” George froze at the door with Colin right behind him. “Why will you lose me?” He asked, no longer angry and walked over slowly.

“Because…” John sniffed hating he was crying, but unable to stop it. He rubbed his face with his hand. “Like that lady doctor…the pretty one from Australia? She was flirting with you!”

George sat on his other side. “She was?” He thought back. “When?” George was smart, but sometimes he was just…unaware!

“After we went down to Vamps, she was…touching you and just…” he did the light touches he’d seen, “she was pretty. I heard you talking and she was very smart. You told me about that reworking of our targets for mating. You said that some are like us…because we don’t see the goal is to produce children. I get that. When you do find the cure…you will become what you were before.” He waved. “I will lose you. I feel stupid with all of them there. They are so smart and you keep right up with them and go even further. You are so…damned smart, George!”

“No, I’m not.” George shook his head dipping his head so John would look in his eyes.

John nodded as he chuckled whipping the irritating tears that still came. “Yes, you are. I can’t compete with her!”

George touched his face gently, bringing him for a tender kiss. “Oh, Baby, you’re so wrong,” George said softly using his thumb on one of John’s tears. “There is no competition. You’ve already won.” He said as tears were coming from him now. “I didn’t even realize she was flirting with me. I didn’t even notice. She didn’t entice me because I have you. I’m not interested in anyone else.”

“But you might be…you were engaged before you were bitten.”

George kissed him gently. “No, I won’t change. We’re open to changes, but I found my target. You.” He chuckled. “I was engaged because being what we are now…” George smiled as he thought of what to say and how to say it. “In the twenties and thirties…where I was. Guys like us had to hide what we were. I was engaged to keep what I was hidden. I was attracted to men.” He chuckled. “I hate to break it to you, but I had boyfriends before.”

“You did?” John asked having a little hope in his voice. He then frowned. “Is that what I am to you? A boyfriend? Just a plaything?” John said sadly. “The thing is…I don’t want to just be your boyfriend.”

George wasn’t too shocked as he smiled now. “No? What do you want?”

“I want you, George,” John said. “I want to belong to you. I want you to belong to me.”

“We are together. We do belong to each other.” George said softly.

“Do we?” John asked. “I’ve never done this before.” He said. “You mean so much to me. I’ve had people in my life these past few hundred years. I know you have in the past, but I want everyone to know you mean that much to me.” He looked at George now. “Is that too much to ask?”

George smiled. “You want to marry me.”

John wasn’t too sure how George would react. “It’s sort of what we do, isn’t it?” He shrugged. “We find someone that means a lot and we tell the world we belong together. I wait for you every night because you are important to me. I just…want everybody to know. I’m yours, but also want them to know, you’re mine.”

George smiled. “That requires a wedding.”

John chuckled. “It does.”

“Who’s asking who?” George asked. “Will you marry me?”

John smiled. “Yes. Will you marry me?”

“Absolutely.” George nodded kissing him more.

“It was stupid of me to leave like that,” John confessed. “Centuries of life doesn’t make some things easier.”

“It was my fault,” George said. “Life with me is a challenge. I miss things. I’m so busy with my thoughts…I don’t see what’s right in front of me. You keep me grounded, you know that.” He shook his head. “Keep me grounded?”

“You’re too busy looking into microscopes.” John chuckled. “Just…once in a while…look up and see me?”

George nodded. “Colin basically told me that downstairs.” He chuckled. “You might have to tap me on the shoulder, but…” he shrugged. “I’ll look up and will see you.”

I got up quickly, already feeling like a voyeur. “Okay, we have another wedding to plan for,” I said to Colin who was now smiling. “But I think we should go for now.”

George turned quickly. “It’s late. It’s a few blocks back to the VUN. There’s a spare bedroom just down the hall.” He smiled. “Stay?” He asked.

Colin nodded. “Sure.”

“What time are you starting again in the morning?” I asked.

“We have lunch for them,” George said. “Eleven o’clock?”

We did locate an empty bedroom on the same floor as George’s and John’s. Colin pulled me to him as we chose the room, kissing me deeply, but I had a feeling there was more to it than a simple kiss. It was a good kiss! I’ve never had a bad one from Colin. His arms came around me as I felt his hands come up around me as they moved over me. He had left me breathless a few times in the past, but this was just…more! I don’t know how long it was…I sort of lost track of time and I let it! This was a consuming kiss which I gave back with no question. I think I groaned a little when it sort of…just lessened, but still tender.

“I’m not stopping…” Colin assured hearing my groan. “It was nothing short of miraculous that we met. Destiny or fate…I think it was almost planned by someone.”

I chuckled. “Someone like God?” I smiled at his words. “I feel the same way.”

“In the past few years, I began to really live,” Colin said. “I said it before, I say it again. Thank you for being in my life. Since we met…I found my daughter, she found Alex and married. You brought your mother here, she married Willie. We went out and sought others, now George is getting married to John. Vlad is marrying Gaius. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Devon. I love you.” He pressed his cheek to mine and slowly moved up kissing lightly. “This isn’t new. You know I love you.” I pressed his lips to my forehead. “In the past several years…things had just gotten…” He stopped. He looked at me. “Well, the serum got better, we don’t hurt anymore. Think about it. I come back to Charleston, I rebuild Wentworth and fall in love. We get married.” He waved at the door. “Everyone’s getting married!”

I nodded. “Isn’t that what we do?”

“Really?” Colin asked. “I say it’s you!”

“Me!?”

“Come on, we marry, Gabriella and Alex marry, Willie and Mom marry, Vlad and Gaius, Stan and Mark and how George and Burke!” He grinned waving at me. “The only common new element…is you!”

“No, you started Wentworth’s reconstruction before we even met!”

“Something I planned for decades before you, but finished for you so we could get married!” Colin pointed out shaking his finger at me as he was backing me…somewhere. “You’re the key element. Face the facts. Every one of us had been around decades…centuries and now…getting married.”

“Gaius and Vlad were together before any of us…” I patted Colin on the chest, “including you…were even born.” I said as my leg hit the side of the bed. I looked back at the bed’s edge. “I was backed here. Why?” I grinned back at him as he pulled his suit jacket off and let it fall.

“Because you and I are going to have sex.” He said simply pulling on his tie and let it fall and began unbuttoning his shirt.

I nodded grinning. “You know that,” I confirmed as he pulled his shirt off and began pulling his t-shirt over his head.

“Yep, you love this.” He ran his hand over his hairy chest.

I chuckled as my hand ran over his chest. “No. I like that…a lot. I like every inch or centimeter of you, but I love you, Colin.”

“I know you do,” Colin said a little lower in octave pulling me in his arms kissing me. “You know, I love you.”

I nodded. “I do,” I said as he began undressing me. “Where is…” I waved about the room, “anything?”

He grinned. “We’ve done it without before.”

“And it wasn’t as nice,” I said patting the chest of hair again and smiled. “I’ll look.”

Colin pushed me back toward the bed. “No, get that ready.” He pointed to the bed and lowered his pants and kicked his shoes off as we went toward the bathroom. “I’ll look.”

I smiled as I pulled the cover down and got things ready as Colin came back sniffing something in his hand from a bottle. His silk boxers loose around his waist which he pulled off to add to his pile.

“This will work.” He smiled reading the front. “I guess…it’s…well,” he read, “in French.”

I looked around what I could see of the room we were in. “It’s pretty here,” I said.

Colin chuckled. “It was an investment.” He shrugged. “He bought it and I said…live in it.” He leaned in kissing me. “Do you wish to discuss it more?” He asked as he did the trail from my lips over my cheek toward my neck. “So, what do we do?”

I smiled as my arms came about him. “No unnecessary talking.” I fell back bringing him down with me as hands knew where to go to bring him closer now. I don’t need to say now, it was as always…glorious. Having that one human on the earth that mattered, with me, touching me, loving me…connecting with me. No description needed. Who did what to whom, you know, but we did make love. It was at first fast and more urgent, then again slower and more…methodical, more…loving. It was all love, but…we were solid again.

I woke as Colin’s emerald eyes did what they did often. Just looking at me. It never bothered me…that much. My hand touched his face lovingly.

“You are so beautiful,” Colin said smiling as he kissed me. “My husband.”

I kissed him back. “I am your husband. You are mine. We’re one soul in two bodies.”

Colin nodded chuckling. “That explains all the sex.”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Yesterday went well…” Colin said. “Even with Burke’s problem…which did you find out what it was?”

I nodded. “I did. You heard him. He didn’t think he was good enough, he was afraid of losing George. He thought he was stupid.”

Colin frowned. “Stupid!?” He waved at the door. “After everything, he’s done!? He was the one that created that rapid-fire serum gun! That was genius and it worked well!”

I nodded. “He was having other issues…George is attractive and well…he thought he’d lose someone he saw as George’s equal.”

“That’s Burke!! He’s George’s equal!” He blew a breath. “I told George, he needed to set his watch to remind himself to tell Burke he loved Burke.”

I grinned. “John knows what George is like. He just felt a little threatened last night.”

“My original point was…this went well, so far. We’ll give these doctors the needed information. It’s the countries they’re from I question.”

I nodded. “We brought these doctors here to be able to explain their countries the science of this. I don’t know what will happen if they can’t.”

“We’ve opened Pandora’s Box,” Colin said sadly. “Now we deal with what comes out.” He looked at me smiling. “Together. I love you, Devon.”

I smiled as my fingers ran over his sensitive lips. “I know. I love you, Colin.”

“I know.” He said kissing me gently.