Chapter 30 #2
After several seconds, the pain subsided to a dull throb in his neck. Ethan closed his eyes and tried to recall every time he heard Marcus play the piano. He concentrated on the way his fingers flew across the keys and the amazing music that drifted up from the instrument.
Ethan didn’t know how much time passed before he felt his body being handed off to someone else. Probably Bel. He felt about as tall as Rafe. Ethan didn’t bother to open his eyes. He just smiled and kept thinking about Marcus’s music. The memory was strong enough that he swore he could hear it.
He was sure no time passed before he was handed off again. This one was definitely Winter. He and Winter were the same height, though Winter was stockier in build. Ethan was struggling to stand on his own. The room felt like it was spinning, and he was just so tired.
That thought had barely formed in his head when he was moved again. But this time, he knew these arms. They were home. Marcus.
“Open your eyes for me, Ethan,” Marcus said calmly.
It was a struggle, but Ethan finally managed to look up at Marcus. He was surprised to find that Marcus was seated on the couch and Ethan was lying across his lap.
“Tell me if you still want this.”
“Yes, please,” Ethan said, wondering why his voice sounded so slurred.
“Yes, my heart,” Marcus murmured against Ethan’s neck.
Ethan let himself sink into that touch, the familiar smell of Marcus, his encompassing warmth.
He could no longer remember why he’d been so worried before.
Marcus was holding him and he felt so safe, so protected. And all he wanted to do was sleep.
Ethan was sure that thought had barely formed in his head when someone was shaking him awake, but he couldn’t open his eyes. Something wet and sticky was being pressed against his mouth. He tried to turn his head away, but it was too heavy, and he was too tired. He just wanted to go back to sleep.
“Ethan, you need to drink.” Marcus’s harsh voice finally penetrated the fog. He sounded angry, or maybe he was worried. Ethan wasn’t sure. He couldn’t open his eyes.
“Ethan, you promised me you would drink. You must drink,” Marcus said again, his voice growing more desperate.
There were other voices. They sounded farther away, and he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but he did hear drink over and over again.
Fine. He could drink a few sips. Then maybe they’d let him sleep again.
He swallowed the liquid that had already begun to coat his tongue and fill his mouth.
He winced at the thickness and coppery taste.
His brain kept shouting that it was wrong, but Marcus sounded so happy he’d taken that first swallow.
He wanted Marcus happy. He wanted the fear and panic gone from his voice, so he swallowed again.
The other voices disappeared, but Marcus continued to talk to him.
His deep voice was coaxing, reassuring. He sounded so proud of Ethan.
“I think that’s enough, Marcus.” That voice was clearer. Possibly Bel.
“He can have it all if that’s what he wants,” Marcus growled. His arm tightened around Ethan, and he just wanted to snuggle into Marcus’s warmth.
“Yes, but he doesn’t need you weak. You’ve already given him more than was given to Winter.”
“And look at how Winter turned out,” Rafe teased.
“You need to stop so he can wake up,” Winter said, seeming to ignore his brother’s comment.
Whatever had been pressed against Ethan’s mouth disappeared and Ethan felt his body relax again. Sleep beckoned. Maybe they were done with him now and he could sleep. Yes, that sounded wonderful. Asleep in Marcus’s arms.
“Ethan?” Marcus’s voice had returned, but it sounded farther away than before. “Open your eyes.”
“I don’t understand,” Bel murmured. “He should be awake.”
“Maybe he’s a slow riser like Winter,” Rafe said. But he sounded worried. Rafe was never worried. Rafe joked and teased.
“Don’t go to sleep, Ethan!” Winter shouted. “You fight it!”
Arms tightened around him, threatened to break bones. Marcus’s voice was strong now, but the panic was clear. “Ethan, come back to me! Don’t leave me, my heart. You promised to open your eyes. Please, don’t leave me.”
Marcus thought he was leaving him. Never.
Things didn’t make any sense to him, but the idea that he’d ever leave Marcus was absolutely ridiculous. He needed to open his eyes, if only to reassure Marcus that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Ethan fought against the cloying darkness trying to pull him into slumber. He was sure he’d never been so tired in his life, but this was more important than sleep. He needed to tell Marcus that he wasn’t leaving him, that he was fine.
When he finally blinked his eyes open, his first sight was Marcus’s pale, tear-streaked face. Sounds of relief and joy exploded around the room, but his gaze never wavered from Marcus.
“There you are,” Marcus said in a choked sob.
“Never leaving you,” Ethan said thickly. Now that his eyes were open and he’d spoken, the last tendrils of fatigue were burning away faster. He felt alive and completely rejuvenated. Old aches and pains were gone. He felt…new.
Marcus helped him sit up on the couch, and Ethan looked around at his companions, surprised by their intense relief.
“What happened?”
“You wouldn’t wake up,” Rafe said. “Lazy just like Winter.” But for all his playful words, even Rafe looked exhausted.
“I remember the drinking part, but that stopped just a minute or two ago. I couldn’t have been asleep that long.”
Marcus touched his cheek, a slight tremble to his fingertips. “Ethan, that was an hour ago. We’ve been trying to wake you for an hour. You scared me to death.”
Ethan lunged at Marcus, wrapping his arms around him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to scare you.”
Marcus held him tightly. “I know, my heart. I know. It’s just how it goes sometimes. I have you now. Forever.”
Ethan was about to ask him if it had worked, but the most wonderful smell hit his nose. Turning his face into Marcus’s neck, Ethan nuzzled him more, trying to get closer to that amazing aroma. He moaned loudly and he didn’t care if the others laughed at him.
“You smell amazing,” he moaned again. “How have I never noticed that you smell so good?”
“Awww…the baby is hungry,” Rafe said, but Ethan couldn’t lift his face long enough from Marcus’s neck to make a snarky reply.
“Feeding time,” Winter chimed in.
Marcus gently lifted Ethan out of his lap and smiled at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ethan interrupted him with a cry of pain. There was an intense ripping in his mouth. Ethan cried out again as the pain increased for a second and then faded to a dull ache in his teeth.
“There they are.” Bel sounded quite satisfied.
“What?” Ethan asked, looking over at Marcus.
His lover smiled. “Your fangs.”
The realization hit suddenly, knocking the air from his lungs. It wasn’t just the fangs or the fear that Ethan had come so close to death. It was what had started all this in the first place. The transformation. The rebirth.
He was a vampire.
“It worked,” Ethan said, though the statement could have easily been taken as a question.
“Yes.”
Ethan shoved off the couch and took a few drunk, stumbling steps before he finally got his balance.
He ran to the mirror hanging on the wall.
His reflection looked the same, though his hair was sticking up in every direction, and there was a definite red smear around his mouth.
He still looked like Ethan Cline, occasional college student.
But then he parted his lips and there were a pair of perfect fangs curved down into a frighteningly sharp point.
“Holy fuck,” he breathed. “I’m a vampire.”
“My very sexy vampire,” Marcus said. Ethan shifted his gaze to find his lover standing behind him, a slightly worried look in his eyes as he watched Ethan.
“Thank you, Marcus. Thank you for this,” Ethan whispered. He understood now the risk that Marcus had taken in changing him, and he admired his lover all the more. The gift he’d given Ethan was immense.
“Anything for you.”
Ethan turned and hugged Marcus tightly again, but the hug was brief. He shoved out of Marcus’s arms, giving a somewhat unsteady chuckle. “You also smell really amazing, and I keep thinking about biting you.”
Rafe clapped his hands together and jumped up from his seat. “Well then, let’s get this baby fed. I know just the place to try out his new teeth.”
Ethan winked at Marcus before turning his attention back to Rafe. “All right old man, let’s go do this.”
His new brothers laughed, and Ethan felt at peace. He was home.
He was a Varik.