Page 108 of By the Pint

Brother, right. Killian was my brother. That would take some getting used to.But you never told him we knew each other?I asked.

Fuck no, I needed to keep myself out of it. I didn’t want him figuring out my ulterior motive and getting suspicious. But time was running out. I promised him five years, and at the beginning of every single month over those five years, Casey would sit me down and give me a very stern lecture about ‘wasting his time’, and to ‘just get on with the turning already’.

I fought back a smile. That was the Casey I fell in love with. The bossy as fuck, never take no for an answer guy.

I fobbed him off with the excuse of needing the money back. Which he bought into. And then one day when I was on one of my online deep dives trying to figure out why Casey, a human, was telepathic, I read an article that said it could be inherited. And the first thing that went through my mind was, “Shit, are we related?”

Imagine finding out you were fucking your great great great times, like, twenty grandson?He shuddered.I mean, it’s probably not that bad, but— He shuddered again.No. It’s gross. So, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, Casey didn’t inherit his telepathy from… Killian bounced a finger between us.Though, from what I’ve learned, neither of us had kids before we were vamped.

I didn’t realise it would be, but that tiny throwaway comment was a weight off my shoulders. I hadn’t known it existed, but I was glad it was gone. The possibility of fathering a child I never knew.

So, I sent off his bloods. Easy enough to get. I asked the Assembly clinic to take an extra vial. Apparently, a very commonly requested thing, so they were more than happy. For a cool thousand silvers, though. Then, as you know, they came back with an ‘anomaly’, and they suggested an MRI to rule out anything nefarious. We went to Bordalis to this specialist human cancer place—

Okay, you went to an oncologist. But how did Casey not notice that?I asked. Casey was a smart guy, nothing escaped his notice.

Ah, well, here is the first part of my plan where I thought I’d be fucked, but beautiful, sweet, wonderful fate had other ideas. Because right outside the clinic, who should we see? You. Your adorable little oil-painted face staring up at us from a flyer for the Bloodsuckers in Business conference.

Let it never be said that I am not super smart,he said.Okay, I am not, but I concocted the entire plan there and then, and Casey was so distracted by the idea of you, and finally meeting you, he paid fuck-all attention to anything else that happened. That night, and for the next week or so, until the conference. There was no way you would have given him the time of night if we’d arrived together, so I dropped out at thelast minute. Gave Casey some bullshit reason about getting your business secrets, and told him not to return to me until he had them.

But I could see inside his head,I said, choosing not to think about Casey being starstruck because of me. So much so it made him overlook details he ordinarily wouldn’t have missed. I could ruminate on that later, lean into the heartbreak later. I knew instantly he was your familiar.

Come on, D.Killian placed his hand on my forearm. I didn’t shrug it off.By the time you got a decent look inside his mind, you were already hooked, no?

Of course I was. I didn’t say this or think this, though.

Killian continued.My plan was you’d meet him, want him, see into his mind, want him even more, because maybe now you could fix him a little. Maybe you go to the Bloodbath with him. Maybe you take him back to your room. Orgies never were your style.

“No, they weren’t,” I said, my thoughts racing over that night we first met. The sweet way Casey had been nervous to meet me. His usual tough-guy, confident exterior armour absent. What I wouldn’t give to go back to that moment.

Killian placed his other hand on the glass and stared through it at Casey.All the doctors I spoke to said it was unlikely to be anything serious. Chances of a fit, healthy guy his age, suffering from anything worse than a cold, were slim. The plan was still in full force. ‘Operation Get Dima to Fall in Love with my Familiar’. Couldn’t think of a catchier name.

“I never sought forgiveness,” he said aloud. His voice was soft, like a whisper, but it cut through the air like a whip crack. “Only atonement.”But by the time the letter came through confirming the cancer, you guys were already like four weeks deep into your ‘quilting retreat’. And this was when I really started freaking out. What if I had been right all along? Whatif my plan was successful, and you fell in love with him and melted his cold human heart, and the guy’s now decided to just live the rest of his human life with you? Only now his human life isn’t fifty years, it’s five, and … I held the fucking solution in my hand.

Killian bowed his head. His lank black hair swung forwards. After a second or two, I realised he too was crying. “I’m really … going to miss him.” He spoke between sobs. “I loved him too … like a friend. Obviously, like a friend. But … Guy was so good to me. Only had one other friend like that. I … fuck everything up. Every single fucking time. Think I’m fixing things … but all I do is …” He broke off, his shoulders shaking with his sobs.

Despite everything, despite fucking everything, I found myself reaching across and pulling his body to mine.

“How is it we don’t even breathe, yet we can still cry like this? Still feel pain like this?” he whispered. “Make it make sense.”

I wish I could,I whispered back, and together for what felt like hours, we silently watched Casey through the two-way mirror.

The room was shrouded in complete darkness now. When Casey did open his eyes, which might be soon, or it might be months in the future, his eyesight would be more sensitive than a bird of prey’s. His hearing more acute than a bat’s. Sense of smell like a bloodhound. Everything so finely attuned to any tiny movement. For a short while, or maybe a long while, he would become one of the deadliest predators to walk this planet. Add to that his size and sheer muscle mass, and he might just be the most lethal of all vampires. His first instinct upon waking would be to claim dominance of his surrounding areas. To eliminate any other apex predator in the nearby vicinity.In a building full of other vampires, it made the silver infused restraints a necessity.

Occasionally, Casey’s body convulsed, making Killian and I hold our non-existent breaths. Sometimes doctors would cross in front of us, write something down on a clipboard, and leave.

And other than reacting to Casey’s infrequent movements, Killian and I stayed perfectly, vampirically, still. Like the undead night-stalkers we were.

The door opened at the end of the corridor. A triangular wedge of orange hallway light blossomed on the floor, and Dr Nina the Wrecker stepped in.

She cleared her throat. “I hate to break up this intimate moment of … reflection, and I really hate to be the one to tell you this, but procedures must be followed.” Her tone was respectfully hushed. “The authorities have been called. They will be here in less than an hour. It’s not my place to ask questions, but I thought I should warn you both that they will, most certainly, be bringing a hacker with them. A mind reader,” she clarified, as though the term hacker was new to us. “To extract the truth quickly.”

Killian swallowed. His eyes flicked briefly in my direction.Oh, fuck,he said.

Nina continued. “I don’t need to tell you that turning a vampire outside the regulated facilities, even accidentally”—my stomach swooped—“comes with a pretty hefty gaol sentence, if not termination.”

36.

Dima

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