Chapter 8
ALEXANDER
“Tobias, love?”
Alexander had realised partway through the movie that Tobias had fallen asleep, and he hadn’t had the heart to wake him.
He’d thought that this night would end differently – nights like this always did, for him – but something had compelled him to spend a little bit more time with this mortal.
He’d noted Tobias’ clear signals that he wanted sex, but instead of jumping him, he’d gone on a ridiculous errand to go get him a drink from downstairs, then gone for a movie and a…
snuggle. There was no other word for it.
The last time he’d done something like that for someone else had been…
never. At Rothburn, there were servants to tend to his every need, and his father would have positively sneered at him if he’d made a motion to go and do something as pedestrian as go to a shop.
No mortals that he’d been with before had gotten more than a perfunctory romancing before they were utilised to serve Alexander’s needs, either for entertainment or the satiating of his hunger.
He wasn’t going to draw a human into a true relationship when he’d seen how poorly those worked out for every human paramour of Vladimir’s.
Caring about a human romantically – not that that was what he was feeling, most assuredly not – wouldn’t end well for him, or them, and he’d never wanted to do that to his own heart.
Tobias was different. He just hadn’t worked out how yet, except that something about him made Alexander want to try. The feeling was so unusual that he put a hand to his chest, rubbing at the tightness there, wondering if he needed to rest more if his head was so spun around.
There was some small part of him which, after dinner, clearly wanted to take care of the young man.
It was strange, and yet Alexander had gone with ignoring it in favour of putting on one of his favourite old movies and curling up around Tobias’ narrow frame on the well-worn couch, which he was mostly sure he’d gotten from the actor in the film.
The steady inhale and exhale of Tobias’ breath against his neck, and the way that he’d reached up and threaded his fingers through Alexander’s where his hand had draped across Tobias’ collarbone, had been hypnotic.
Before Alexander had realised it, Tobias had dropped off to sleep, his body fully relaxing into Alexander’s torso.
He’d spent the next three hours being perfectly motionless so as not to wake him, scrolling mindlessly on his phone and then doing some light online shopping with the hand that Tobias wasn’t grasping, and trying not to stare at the work of art that was Tobias’ face.
The rhythmic throbbing of the jugular vein in his bared throat had, somewhat concerningly, not been much of a draw.
He’d stayed like that until Tobias had started twitching.
It was subtle at first, just a little shuffling of his arms and legs like he’d been trying to get comfortable, and Alexander had shifted just a bit so that Tobias was lying down with his head in his lap, instead of sitting curled up in a way that would surely make his neck ache.
The change in position hadn’t seemed to help, though, because Tobias had started to whimper, making noises that cut right through Alexander’s heartstrings.
When Tobias had started to cry in his sleep, tears dripping down his cheeks and dampening Alexander’s trousers, he’d decided that this must be a very human nightmare, and that the most responsible thing to do was probably to wake Tobias up.
Hence gently calling Tobias’ name, smoothing his hair back, not wanting to alarm him. But it didn’t seem to be working, and Tobias just curled up into a tight ball on his lap, shaking.
“You’re only dreaming, little deer,” Alexander said a bit louder, giving Tobias a shake on the shoulder. “Wake up.”
That did it. Tobias jerked like he’d been electrocuted and shot up so fast that Alexander was lucky that he hadn’t smashed into his face and broken his nose.
“What…” Tobias gasped out, pushing a hand through his hair. He was shaking. “Where…”
None of the people he’d slept with in the last several centuries had had such bad nightmares – none of the few he’d let stay. Alexander wasn’t quite sure how to deal with Tobias’ clear disorientation, but he figured that grounding the other man wouldn’t hurt.
He placed his careful fingers upon Tobias’ narrow, shivering shoulders and pressed him down into the couch, his head back on the plush armrest, hoping that the pressure would soothe him. “You’re in my flat. You fell asleep while we were watching a movie and I didn’t want to wake you.”
Tobias looked at Alexander as though he had woken from a nightmare to face the very beast that haunted him. Wide eyes, pale complexion glistening with beads of sweat upon his brow. It was an expression that rocked Alexander.
It lasted long enough until Tobias shook his head and blinked at Alexander hovering over him, their faces close enough that if he leaned down just a bit or Tobias leaned up, they’d be kissing.
Alexander could see the moment Tobias came back to total wakefulness, his eyes widening in the dim flicker of the television and the lights from the street outside.
“You’re safe with me, little deer.”
Tobias’ expression morphed from fear to fury. In a blink, he bolted up and kneed him in the stomach, hard – for a mortal, at least.
“What the fuck?” Alexander reared back.
Tobias didn’t respond, merely darting to the rack where he’d left his coat like he was being chased, grabbing his shoes, and literally sprinting out the door.
“Don’t touch me,” Tobias shouted, words frantic. His brow was creased with panic, his eyes wild. “And don’t call me that.”
Alexander sat back on the couch, dumbfounded. “Have I missed something?” he muttered to himself again.
There was no reply. He watched Tobias tear out the door faster than Alexander could gather his thoughts and ask him what was wrong.
Tobias Osian was, without a doubt, the strangest human that he’d ever encountered, and it was impossible for Alexander to predict his reactions.
From the banter they’d shared when he’d gotten back from the shop to the sudden exit, everything about Tobias left him off balance.
He wondered if something was very wrong with Tobias, or if this was just a sign of the mortal fragility and flightiness that Vladimir was always going on about.
The strangeness of the boy was probably why he’d been so intrigued in the first place, those angelic features clearly hiding a mind that wasn’t nearly so easy to understand.
When he checked the time on his phone, it was three in the morning.
He groaned as he stood up, shucking off his vest and suit pants and crawling into bed without even bothering undressing further.
His clothes smelled faintly of Tobias, a subtle hint of flowers and something warmer and smokier making him harden against the sheets.
Alexander forced his mind to quiet and his body to still.
He needed to get some rest if he was going to spend tomorrow dealing with the aggravation of going to the sites of the attacks, now that a morning trip to the bookstore with Tobias didn’t seem to be in the cards to start the day off right.
When he slept, he could almost have sworn he dreamed of Tobias, curled up against his chest.
The morning dawned with a rainstorm that Alexander already knew was going to turn his day from annoying to heinous.
Unlike some of the vampires in the clan, who had practically grown up feral in the woods because they preferred not to blend in enough with the human world to pass for mortal, Alexander had always preferred the comforts of modern society, which included never needing to get wet if he didn’t want to.
Unless, that is, his father had called fifteen times before seven in the morning, clearly not getting the message that his son wasn’t that early of a riser, and had left increasingly irritated voicemails to the effect of get looking for that rogue or I’ll have you flayed alive.
Which would be awfully painful and inconvenient. The one time he’d seen it done had been horrific. Skinning a vampire couldn’t kill them, but growing said skin back took an incredibly long time, and the vampire had gone mad from the pain in the meantime.
When the phone rang yet again, Alexander decided to get it over with and just answer.
“Father.” He didn’t bother to include any kind of good morning or how was your night. He knew Vladimir wasn’t calling for pleasantries.
“Alexandros.” His father’s voice was clipped. “What progress have you made?”
“I interviewed a mortal who might know something.” It was true – theoretically Tobias could know something, by virtue of living in Oxford and watching the news, and they could speak a bit of the attacks if Tobias ever wanted to see him again.
“And before you ask, despite the pouring rain, yes, I will go to the scene of the first attack today and sniff around like the good dog I am.”
Vladimir made a noise that sounded like a cat choking up a hairball, but was probably made to signal some kind of approval he couldn’t bear to verbalise, and mercifully hung up without another word.
“Controlling bastard.” Alexander pulled his phone off the charging cord and swung his legs out of bed, wondering if he had any clothes in this flat appropriate for the weather or if he’d have to ruin a perfectly good suit.
He found some jeans, sturdy boots, and a well-worn jumper, pulling on a trench coat before grabbing his wallet and keys. He didn’t think there’d be an excuse to come back here tonight, not if Tobias wasn’t interested in him at all. Not if he had somehow scared the poor boy away.