Page 36 of Lucien

“Love. Virtue. Purpose.”

Luc laughed bitterly. “I’m afraid I can’t offer any of that. How about another cocktail instead?”

“Don’t you ever feel…tired? A life with no end. A life with no meaning.”

So it was going to become one of those nights. Existential debates. The question of their damnation. Luc wasn’t wholly opposed to it, when he was in the mood.

But he wasn’t in the fucking mood.

He gave a prolonged and appropriately dramatic sigh. “Goddamn it, Roman. Tell you what—” He leaned across the table, catching his friend’s eye. “—if it’s that terrible, we can make a pact. We’ll both end each other one day down the line, when it all becomes too much to bear.”

Roman’s blue eyes narrowed. “Do you mean it?”

Did Luc mean it? He wasn’t even sure. He just wanted an end to the maudlin mood that had overtaken their night.

He was saved from answering as Roman inhaled, his head swiveling to peer around the speakeasy. “He has returned tonight. The little blond one. I can smell him.”

Luc could too. A refreshing pine scent, incongruous with the smoky bar. “By all means, invite him over.”

“I do not see him.”

“Evening, gentlemen.” A melodic voice, from Luc’s left. Soren.

He was a lovely man. Delicate stature, a beautiful face. The kind of face Luc might try a seduction on, normally. But something about him warned Luc off of any sort of romantic pursuit.

That eerie fucking smile, for one.

Even so, it was rare enough he and Roman met others of their kind they both liked enough to speak with more than once.

“Take a seat,” Luc offered, pushing out the chair next to him with his foot. “We were just discussing a brotherly pact. Mutual destruction, should we tire of this fate before we reach eternity.”

Soren sat in the seat next to Roman instead and giggled. “How dramatic. And unnecessary. You’ll go mad long before then, I’d expect.”

Luc and Roman shared a glance.

“Pardon?” Luc asked.

“You’ll turn feral.” Soren looked carefully at each of them, at their blank faces. “Christ, do either of youeversocialize with other vampires? Who raised you?”

“We raised each other,” Roman said, casting a glance toward Luc as he did.

Luc loved him very much in that moment.

And then Soren explained it to them. The fate that awaited them with time, their inner beasts taking over slowly but surely.

“Well.” Luc kept his voice light, even if his mood had turned unbearably dark. “Hear that, Rome? We won’t need to do it ourselves.”

Roman looked back at him with horror in his eyes.

“Maybe you’ll get lucky and find your mates first,” Soren said cheerily, waving down the waiter.

“Our what?” Luc asked, intrigued in spite of himself.

Soren sighed, muttering something about sheltered vampire babies. But, after ordering his drink, he then explained dutifully. He told them the other half of the brutal equation.

He gave them hope, however unlikely.

Tethered souls. A way to keep their humanity, their extended lives.

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