Seth held his chest where there connection had physically manifested. Anri looked at the spot on his own chest and was surprised to see a mark in his skin. He sat up quickly, craning his neck to try and see it better.

Seth shifted next to him,half sitting up on his elbows. “You okay?” he asked with concern.

“Seth, it marked me! Let me see you,” he said nervously. He grabbed Seth’s hand, moving it from his chest. In the center of his chest between his pecs was a reddish brown braided ring about the size of quarter. He ran his fingers over it, expecting to feel ridges or scar tissue, but it was smooth.

Seth was staring at the matching mark on Anri’s chest. He reached out and touched it, and when he did power simmered through both of them like an electric arc. Seth pulled his hand back quickly and the power receded. Seth touched the spot again and the power amped up once more. It felt tingly and not unlike static electricity. Seth removed his hand again, but only after Anri pulled it away.

“What?” Seth asked, curiosity sparking in his brown eyes. “We should experiment with this, see what it means. I like it. Like matching tattoos.”

“Vampires can’t get tattoos. Our bodies heal out the ink too fast,” he replied distractedly. He was more concerned with the future ramifications this would have for them both. He had no idea what those might be, though.

“Well, now you have one. A matching tattoo with me,” Seth said with a smile. Seth’s smile, the way his one dimple perked when he was happy, was so cute Anri couldn’t stand it. He leaned in and kissed the dimple, then realized what he did. He blushed and Seth smiled again.

“Very vampire wedding indeed. Nothing with you is simple, Anri Rousseau, but I still love you.”

“Sorry, I didn’t-” he began, feeling guilty but Seth cut him off.

“No, Anri, I like it. It proves that we are bound together. That you are mine,” Seth said quietly.

Anri blushed furiously. How could Seth speak so blatantly like that? It was so embarrassing! Seth’s fingers roaming over his chest made his face burn.

“I like it when I make you blush,” Seth whispered.

His face was on fire. Even his ears felt warm. “Shut up!” he exclaimed, rolling away from Seth.

Seth snuggled in behind him, spooning his body as he tried to hide his face in the pillow.

“You can’t hide from me, Anri,” he said, wriggling in closer, burying his face into Anri’s neck. He breathed deep. “You smell so good. I wish we could stay like this, here forever.”

“Hmm…” Anri agreed, the sound muffled by the pillow. Seth laughed softly in his ear.

They lay entwined in bed for a while. Eventually Anri rolled back over once his embarrassment died down to its normal level.

Seth traced the bond tattoo on Anri’s chest. As Seth’s fingers trailed comfortably over his skin, Anri’s eyes travelled to the scars on Seth’s neck. The scars from when this all started, and the newer scars from the night Raum was summoned. From last night. It seemed like so long ago.

That first night with Seth, the first time he tasted his irresistible blood seemed like a year ago, despite only being roughly seven weeks. The last week had been one of the longest, hardest weeks of his life, with the exception of his time in Angelina’s basement.

He shook his head. He refused to think about her when he was here with Seth.

His fingers trailed over the raised scar tissue. There were several sets of paired ridges, his fang tracks, which started just below Seth’s earline and moved down in parallel tracks. One set criss-crossed at the base of his neck, just above his collarbone, and ended in a pocked dimple.

Anri’s fingers traced each track mark, guilt welling up. Seth had been a normal, geeky college kid before he had met Anri. He had taken Seth’s normal life away from him and dropped him into the supernatural deep end, wed and bonded with a vampire, and now with a bonafide demon familiar, too.

“Stop, Anri. Stop tormenting yourself,” Seth said gently, placing his hand over Anri’s at his neck. “These, these are mine and I’m proud of them. Proof that I saved your life. You marked me as yours. These are proof of that.”

“Seth, those are proof that I lost control and almost killed you!” he retorted. “If you never met me, you’d still be normal. You wouldn’t have these scars.” He trailed his fingers over the rough skin, forcing himself to feel the scars, to feel the guilt.

“And you’d be dead!” Seth replied hotly. “If the price to pay for your life was a few teeth marks on my neck, well, count me in. I don’t want to live in a world where I never met you! I have never felt this complete in my life. Don’t tell me you don’t feel the same way, cause I know you do. So, just appreciate the moment, Anri. Don’t dwell on the past. I don’t want your guilt.”

Seth sat up, his anger evident in his features. He took a deep breath, then lay back down next to Anri.

“Sorry, Seth. I…I’ll try not to…I’m sorry,” he muttered. His guilt wouldn’t be assuaged that easily, but he would try for Seth.

“Seriously, Anri. Stop. Don’t apologize to me.” He traced the scars on his neck lightly and relaxed, a content smile on his face. “Anyway, I like these scars. I could scar you someplace visible, too, if that’d make you feel better.”

Anri sighed heavily. “It would just heal over. I…I am glad you’re here. I’m glad…This is hard. I’m not good at this. Just, I’ll try not to feel guilty,” he said with yet another heavy sigh.

“I like it, Anri. I feel amazing. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this good. I feel so…alive. And this connection to you…it’s…I don’t have the words. It’s great, and that is the understatement of the year.”

“That’s not…I feel really great, too. I feel whole, Seth. I feel like I was missing something my entire life but until I met you, I never knew it,” he agreed, smiling weakly. His hands were tangled in his hair in frustration before he could stop himself.

“What, is something else wrong, too?” Seth asked.

“No, no. Nothing’s wrong,” Anri waved away any doubt with a motion of his hand. “I was just thinking that we should go ask Raum. He might know some more about all this stuff that’s been happening, and he owes us an explanation anyway,” he said with mild disdain.

“Who’s Raum? You don’t sound thrilled about this…”

Anri paused. He didn’t know what it was about Raum that rubbed him the wrong way, but he really didn’t trust the demon. “Raum is the demon that Angelina summoned.” Anri filled Seth in on the bits of conversation that he and Raum had last night. It was time to get some answers.

Right after Anri got done with work.

Anri got out of bed reluctantly. Seth rolled over on his side, watching him pick up his clothing. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I still have to go to work,” Anri replied tiredly. All of the not sleeping he was doing was catching up to him, even after having drank Seth. “I was early because…well…I was pretty upset after you left. Thinking about how much I fucked things up again. I-”

“You can’t go to work like everything is normal, Anri,” Seth interrupted him.

“I have to work, Seth,” Anri insisted.

Seth rolled his eyes. “Think about it for a minute. You were kidnapped, and whether or not someone noticed that, they definitely noticed you were missing for a day.”

“Ah…” he hedged.

“So, maybe you should make up an excuse as to why you were AWOL yesterday that doesn’t involve being kidnapped?” Seth suggested. He rolled over in bed so that he was laying on his side, head propped up on his arm. He pulled a spare blanket over his lower half but left his torso uncovered. “Or maybe it does, I don’t know. I’m honestly surprised that the cops never showed up. I dunno, maybe they did. But…did they call you? Did Kintsugi?”

“I left my phone at Kintsugi. I tried to text Simone when Angelina showed up, but I don’t know if I did. I dropped it at some point. Or it fell out somewhere there. I could ask Simone if anyone called the apartment…” he trailed off as he pulled on his work pants, looking around for his shirt.

Seth looked at him expectantly. “So…”

“You’re probably right,” he agreed sulkily, suppressing a yawn. He found his shirt, wrinkled up under Seth’s sweat pants. He frowned at it disapprovingly. “Can I use your phone to call work?”

Seth nodded but made no move to retrieve the phone. “Sure, but when is your next day off? Maybe you could trade for tonight. You look like shit, Anri. You didn’t sleep after I left, did you?”

Anri cringed. “I couldn’t. I fucked it up, Seth,” he said as he pulled on his wrinkled dress shirt, cringing at how rumpled it had become. “All I could think about is how I always fuck up the stuff that matters. I…this is too important, what’s between us. I was trying to figure out what I did. How I could fix it. I can’t lose you, Seth. When you did that thing with our connection, I have no idea what it was, but it hurt. I felt like I lost a limb. I can’t live like that. I can’t live without you. It’s so fucking crazy. I just met you, but-”

Seth had crawled across the bed while he was babbling. He pulled Anri back down onto the bed against him. “Anri,” he said firmly, placing a kiss on Anri’s cheek. “Relax. It’s okay now. We’ll figure it out. But, you need to call work, and before you can do that, you need to figure out what your excuse is. Maybe say it was some type of family emergency that made you leave. How badly did Angelina mess up the bar?”

Anri bit the inside of his lip. “Not too bad. A few overturned bar chairs. Nothing broken. Okay, I’ll make up something about…ah…my mom having anemia? I think that would work. Like she fainted from anemia and I had to rush to the hospital? Sure. Okay. Let me use your phone…”

Seth’s face fell. “I…lost it…”

“Shit,” he swore, feeling like an idiot. “I have it. You left it at the apartment.” He found his jacket and pulled out Seth’s phone, handing it over to him shyly.

“I was thinking that I was going to start charging you to replace my phones! I thought I had lost a brand new phone,” Seth teased. Anri still felt a stab of guilt, even though he was pretty sure Seth was not being serious.

“You’re gonna call. You need it,” he said, pushing it back to Anri. “Anemia, huh?” Seth said, a knowing smile on his face, nodding. “Cause she’s a vampire? I get it.”

Anri ran his hands through his hair. “Is it bad? Maybe I should say something else…”

“No, it’s good. I just thought it was amusing,” Seth smiled, watching Anri fret.

He hated lying. His fingers tangled in his hair as he raked them through it again. It immediately fell back into his face. Lying stressed him out. He wasn’t good at it at all and it really made him uncomfortable to lie to people who treated him well. But…he couldn’t tell Hinako, the owner of Kintsugi, the truth about what happened.

Seth handed him his cell phone while he sulked about having to lie to his boss. It was still too early for the bar to be open, and he didn’t know Hinako’s number by heart, so he left a babbling voice message on the bar’s answering machine.

She called him back within minutes, apologizing for Anri’s mother’s health. The guilt ate at him as he told her that he needed one more day with his mother, apologizing for not giving any notice, that it was all so sudden. Each lie hunched his shoulders even more. Seth came up behind him and rubbed his shoulders, his strong fingers teasing away the knots of guilt. He found himself relaxing into Seth’s hands.

“I promise, I’ll be back tomorrow. I’m very sorry, Hinako. I’ll work my next two days off to make up for missing yesterday and today,” he promised. Seth’s fingers continued to dig into his shoulders, firm yet pleasant.

“Oh, Anri,” Hinako said with exasperation. “You take care of your family first. I am just so glad things are okay with your mother. Please, don’t worry. I’m sure Ginger will take you up on your offer to work some of her nights, though.”

Anri chuckled. “I will. Tell her to pick two…no, that won’t be good enough for her. Tell her she can have three nights on me in the next two weeks.”

Hinako laughed as well. “You are generous. She will forgive you twice over, Anri. Please, take care.”

By the time he hung up with her, his shoulders were completely relaxed. He also somehow lost his shirt.

“How are you so good at that?” he asked Seth, placing his phone down on the bed.

Seth continued to massage him, moving up to his neck now, his fingers finding every knot. “Hmm? Good at what?” Seth muttered, focusing on Anri’s muscles.

“You make me feel so good, Seth. You seem to know when I need something and what I need, even if I don’t,” he replied, leaning into Seth’s attention. “And, you know, all of this. Everything is crazy and you are new to all of it, and you…I dunno. You’ve been cool. You haven’t lost your shit or anything. How are you not freaking the fuck out right now?”

Seth shrugged and Anri felt it through his fingers. “I guess that I haven’t thought too deeply about much of the craziness. This feels right, being with you. I figure, I can either freak out about every little thing, or I can just deal with it as it comes and not flip out. I mean, what difference does it make if I freak out over participating in a demon summoning and gaining a demon…what? I don’t even know what kind of relationship that demon cat and I have, honestly. I haven’t had time to process it, honestly.” He sighed heavily, leaning against Anri’s back. “I think I’ll probably freak out about it in a day or two, when it really hits me what has happened.”

Anri twisted around, grabbing Seth and pulling him down into the bed again. He hugged him tightly. Seth’s body was rigid at first, and then he hugged Anri back tightly.

“What happened to us, Anri?” Seth gasped out. Seth stiffened in his arms as he experienced the full force of emotions from the last two days. “I have no idea what’s going on. Don’t leave me, Anri. I need an anchor. I need you.”

Anri pulled him closer. “Me too. I don’t know if you’ll believe it, but this is the most supernatural my life has ever been, and I’m vampire.”

Seth laughed through his tears. “Good to know I’m not the only one.”

They lay together for a while as Seth allowed himself to breakdown. Anri held him tight, supporting Seth while at the same time he was supported by him. Everything was the same in the world as it was before the kidnapping, but now everything was different, too.

Seth pushed him away first, gently removing himself from their tangle of limbs. “I’m all right. I am all sticky and itchy from our…ah…I’d like to take a shower…” he explained bashfully.

Anri’s face burned as he realized exactly why Seth was sticky. “Ah, sure…” he said, trying to hide his embarrassment. Seth nodded and rolled out of bed, disappearing into the bathroom.

His temperature flared as the realization of what they had done fully hit him. He had sex with Seth. Like, full-on gay sex. His breathing got all wonky as he really thought about what they had done. And…he was the bottom! Jesus, he should feel more upset by that fact, but it had felt so good. Much better than he would have thought it should. It felt too good. He was a little sore there, but it was more of a good-sex sore than a painful sore.

He was struck by how odd it was that it didn’t bother him that much. It had just felt right. He felt whole, powerful and connected to Seth in a way that he knew he would never feel connected to anyone else ever again. He felt something come over him when Seth had badgered him into admitting that he wanted to bite him when they were having sex.

Even more blood rushed to his face as he remembered the power that had come over him when he begged to bite Seth. When he asked for a dedication. He felt the weight of those words as they left his mouth. They popped into his mind in the spur of the moment. Now that he was clear headed enough for rational thought, he wasn’t so sure. The words had been steeped in power, even if he hadn’t know it at the time. He had, by instinct alone, instigated their bloodbond. He had needed Seth to say the words, nothing else had seemed as important as him speaking those words. And Seth had complied, giving him what he needed, completing the bond.

He should have known better. Words were power. He knew this, his mother had practically beat it into their brains growing up, that words held power, to choose their words with care.

He couldn’t bring himself to worry about it, though, as he normally worried about everything. He knew he should feel guilty, that he had somehow tricked Seth into dedicating himself in the heat of the moment. But…it felt too right. Maybe he would feel guilty later, but for now, he felt amazing. And…he had a feeling Seth would tell him that he had wanted this bond, too. It made him smile like an idiot.

Seth popped out of the shower. “Hey, you wanna take a quick shower?” he asked. “I put a towel out for you…”

Anri had showered earlier, but the thought of another one was too good to pass up. “Sure,” he said, standing up.

Seth stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a dark brown towel. Anri appreciated the view, then caught himself checking out his new lover and looked away quickly. He could hear Seth chuckling as he shut the door.

He showered quickly, jumping back into the pants and underwear he had worn into the bathroom. He thought about his wrinkled work shirt and scrunched up his face, not wanting to wear it. He stepped out of the bathroom bare chested to find Seth back in the bed. His eyes had been closed but they popped open when Anri came out, a quirky smile on his face.

Anri also saw that the spider-cat creature was laying on top of the blanket, curled up next to Seth. Seth was scratching its ear as if it were a regular housecat and not some strange monstrosity. It looked at him with its eight golden eyes and he swore it was mocking him.

“Fuck!” he exclaimed as he backpedaled into the bathroom. The Spider-cat jumped up and scurried away from Seth, twitching its tail angrily. It climbed the wall behind the bed, up to the ceiling, then back into the corner, hissing at Anri the whole time.

Anri hissed back.

Seth rolled his eyes, looking very much like a tired school teacher. He looked at Anri, then over at the Spider-cat. “You two need to learn to get along,” he sighed. “Neither of you are going anywhere as far as I can tell.”

Anri creeped into Seth’s bedroom, his eyes locked on the demon. “Was it here the whole time?” he asked incredulously. He and the creature eyed one another hostility.

Seth sighed again. “Yes, but upstairs. I told it to stay away from you.”

“You can talk to it?” Anri asked, stunned.

“Yeah, in my head,” Seth said, as if it were no big deal. “It hangs out there, sort of like our connection but completely different.”

“Oh, Seth, it’s in your head?” he lamented miserably.

“Anri, it’s not as bad as that. It’s actually kinda okay, if you can get over its creepiness. Its super helpful for moving around. That thing is what makes the stargates or whatever you wanna call them. The one I brought you here in.” Seth sat up and threw his legs to the floor, throwing the blanket aside.

Anri couldn’t help himself as he checked out his new lover’s naked body. If the Spider-cat creature wasn’t hanging out in the corner…

Anri shot the creature another angsty look. Seth stood up, walking over to Anri. He pulled Anri into his arms and he only resisted for a second.

“Anri, please try to get along with the cat demon thing,” Seth said gently. “Jeez…I really need a better name for it.”

“Jorogumo,” Anri suggested sulkily.

“Joru-what?” Seth tried to repeat.

“It’s a type of Japanese yokai, a spider demon. I just thought it was appropriate. Jorogumo.”

Seth cocked his head thoughtfully. “Joro, eh? What do you think about Joro?” Seth asked, looking over at the demon in the corner.

Anri was still a bit skeeved out that Seth could talk to it in his head. Seth cocked his head, probably listening to the creature.

“I think it likes it. I still don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. Or something else completely? I’m really out of my league with all this demon stuff,” he said with a shrug. His hands had traveled down to Anri’s butt at some point. Anri leaned in against him.

“Anri, please try to get along with it. It really does want you to like it. I think it wants you to know that Angelina made it do that stuff to you-”

“It told you about that?!” he squeaked too loudly.

Seth squeezed him tightly. “More like showed me. It talks to me in memories and pictures, not words. But I can tell it feels bad.” He shivered against Anri. “I’m cold and I need to pee. Please try not to kill Joro while I’m in the bathroom.”

Seth placed a kiss on Anri’s cheek then slowly slid out of his arms. Anri watched his ass as he disappeared into the bathroom.

He turned back to the Spider-cat, no, Joro, glaring at it. “You know,” he said to the creature, “I don’t…ug. You’re just so creepy. But, for Seth. I’ll be nice to you for Seth. But if you hurt him I will squash you.”

Seth poked his head out of the bathroom too soon for him to have gone. “Anri, please behave. Don’t antagonize Joro.”

“You heard me?” he asked, embarrassed.

“It showed me. Don’t yell at it. Be nice.” Seth closed the door again.

Anri looked at Joro again. “Tattletale.” Resigned, Anri sat down on the bed. “So, you like Seth, right?”

He felt strange, talking to the creature. It stared at him with its eight contemplative feline eyes.

“Keep him safe when I’m not around and…you and I will be okay. I know you saved his life last night. I do. And…well. Thank you. For that,” he said gruffly. “But! Don’t think I’ll just be cool with you just hanging out being creepy all the time.”

They stared at each other, then Joro climbed down the wall, jumping to the floor in a very feline motion when it was about half way down. Its tail swished with attitude as it sauntered up the steps, the stinger whipping around in an irritated cat kind of way. He waited a few seconds, then walked over to the door to the steps to make sure it was gone. He checked the stairwell and the ceiling above it. All clear. He walked back to the bed and tried to look nonchalant as the bathroom door opened.

Seth walked out of the bathroom, still completely naked. Anri couldn’t help staring, his mouth agape. Seth caught him and he blushed, looked down instead. He had never found the male form particularly attractive before, but Seth…he was a special exception. He longed to watch Seth’s naked body as the muscles flowed beneath his skin like silk.

A stab of lust drove its way straight to Anri’s groin. He had never been this lusty before, either. His manhood jumped a little and he continued staring at the floor, trying to control his desires.

“You know,” Seth said as he walked across the room over to the closet across from the bathroom, “I really want to push you down and take you again. Trying hard to restrain myself here. Can you maybe think about stuff that isn’t sex? It’s a lot harder to fight off two people’s lust than just mine. Could you, I dunno, think about taxes and baseball or something. Sorry, we just have stuff to do before you pass out from exhaustion. It would be unethical of me to make you go another round without a proper rest period. I think there’s union rules about that somewhere.” Seth’s smile was playful and erotic. Another thrill of lust pulsed through him.

Anri blushed hard. “You didn’t make me do anything!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry. You’re so damn sexy. I…”

“Anri, I promise I will fuck your brains out again. As many times as you want. But not now. Later. This level of restraint should be applauded. I’m practically a saint.”

“Seth!” he squeaked, blushing hard. “I wasn’t-”

“What? Sure you weren’t,” Seth called his bluff. “I don’t think it’s possible for you to lie to me anymore, but you can try. And, besides…I want to fuck your brains out. Many more times. All more of the times.”

Anri blushed harder and tried to focus on thinking about anything other than how nicely Seth’s ass filled the jeans he had pulled on while they were talking.

“But for now,” Seth continued, “we need to talk to the demon Raum. And I definitely don’t want to do it with half a hard-on. I don’t know if I could get hard again right now, actually. Twice in a row is probably my limit, especially when you bleed me as well. Actually,” Seth said, pausing as he pulled a black tee-shirt over his head. This one had some random colors and patterns with the words Animal Collective on it. “I’m starving. We should get something to eat, then go see Raum. Is he with your sister?”

“Can I borrow a shirt?” he asked bashfully.

Seth turned back to the closet and dug around, pulling out another black shirt. He threw it to Anri. This one had an old-fashioned looking oil can on it and read ‘Cracker’ across the top of the shirt. He could feel it had been well worn, the cotton soft and broken in. It smelled strongly of Seth as he pulled it on.

“Don’t you have any shirts that aren’t black? What’s Cracker mean?” The shirt was large on him, but not too bad.

Seth snorted. “Everyone knows that black is the only acceptable color for a t-shirt. Or a hoodie, for that matter. Cracker is a band. Most all of my shirts are band shirts. I kinda have a thing for music.” Seth pulling on some socks, sitting on the bed, added, “that’s one of my all time favorite shirts, too. You should feel lucky.”

Heat traveled down his spine in a totally enjoyable manner. “Oh, I do,” he agreed, though his response was more inclusive than just the t-shirt. Seth stood up, smiling at him, sending butterflies a-flight in his chest.

“Wanna grab something to eat?” Seth asked him again.

He hadn’t been hungry before but once Seth mentioned it, he felt hunger for food, not blood. Seth’s stomach growled from across the room as he pulled a belt through the loops of his flattering jeans.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” he agreed distractedly as he contemplated what he wanted to eat.

“Good. We can eat, then we can go check in on Raum and your sister.”

“Fuck!” Anri exclaimed, remembering that he had left Simone alone with the freshly summoned demon none of them knew at all. “Shit, Seth. I’m such a fucking idiot! They seem to be getting along okay. I was a little…distracted when I left. They were eating a late breakfast. She seemed okay…”

“Well, that’s good, I guess. You think she could hold her own against him if he does some crazy demon shit?” Seth asked.

“Not when you put it that way. Jesus, Seth. We need to go now!” he said, rushing over to the stairs.

Seth held him back, stepping in front of him. He began climbing up the stairs without looking back, expecting Anri to follow him. “Anri, calm down. Eat first, then go. Let’s go upstairs and eat, then we can go. Ten minutes, Anri, to eat. Nothing too crazy will happen in just ten minutes. She’s been fine this long,” Seth said soothingly over his shoulder.

Anri hesitated in frustration. He really was pretty hungry. And…Simone really could handle herself. “Fine,” he sulked, giving in. He followed Seth upstairs, checking the ceiling and walls for Joro.

“If you’re looking for Joro, it isn’t here. I think…eww, gross. It made a nest in one of the spare rooms. My landlady is not going to like that. Anyway, that’s where it is. Sleeping, sort of.”

A shiver went down his spine. That creature really gave him the creeps. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to get used to it being around all the time.

Seth went over to the fridge. He pulled out some cheese and some salami and placed it on the counter. The fridge, an ancient mustard yellow monstrosity, swung shut as Seth pulled some apples from a basket on the counter and proceeded to cut them with skill. He pulled a large plate from the cupboard nearby the sink and began arranging the food. He looked at his work, then opened another cupboard and pulled out some buttered crackers and a bag of almonds. He arranged these on the tray as well then gave it an approving nod.

Seth carried the tray and headed for the door. “Come on,” he called to Anri over his shoulder.

Anri followed him into the attached dining room. It was filled with almost as much chachkies as he remembered the front room being filled with. There was a large table, much too big for just the two of them, directly under a crystal chandelier, the clear plastic gems dull with years of grime and dust. The walls were lined with pictures of dogs and kids and posed family photographs. There was a large curio cabinet on one wall filled to the brim with dishware. A large bay window sat in the wall directly across from the hall on the other side, creating an open floor plan connecting the front room, dining room and kitchen.

“Dinner is served,” Seth said dramatically as he placed the tray down on the table, bowing like a butler.

Anri smiled and sat in a chair close to where Seth had placed the tray of food.

“Oh, I forgot drinks! I’ll be right back. What do you want? I have, um, water, or I could make tea or coffee. Milk. I think that’s all I have. And I’m not sure I trust the milk.” Seth was already out the door, calling out the list over his shoulder as he rushed back to the kitchen.

“Water is fine,” Anri called after him. He wasn’t sure if he should wait for Seth to come back before digging into the spread in front of him. His stomach told him it would be okay if he started first, and he started snacking.

Seth came back in and they ate quickly, silent as they stuffed their faces. When only crumbs were left on the plate Anri sat back, trying to determine if he was still hungry.

“Ready?” Seth asked him as he picked up the tray, taking it back into the kitchen.

“Sure, but how are we going to go? Your car is still at Kintsugi.”

“You know,” Seth said casually, “I don’t need a car anymore. I’ll just make us a stargate there.” Seth’s grin was not dissimilar to Joro’s cheshire grin.

“That’s kinda creepy. Are you going to just portal everywhere you wanna go from now on?” he asked as he followed Seth back into the kitchen.

“It’s really easy. There are some limitations, though. Joro showed me how to open a portal. I just have to know where the place I’m going looks like. Oh, and I can’t open a portal unless it’s dark. I tried to open one in the parking lot to get to you before but I couldn’t. I could see you but I couldn’t make it work. So, I think it has to be dark. That’s the feeling I get from Joro, at least. I can stargate us to your sister’s apartment, though.”

Seth washed the tray and put it in the drainer while he talked. He wiped his hand on a small dish towel, then turned and looked at Anri.

“Ready to go?” Seth asked brightly.

Seth’s eagerness made Anri slightly uncomfortable. “You seem really excited about this whole thing. I’m not sure I’m ready to, um, do that again. It was super weird,” he hedged.

“I told you, it gets better once you’ve done it once. Come on,” Seth said, grabbing both of Anri’s hands in his and pulling him forward. “Unless you want to call a cab and wait for another forty minutes before we get there…”

Anri sighed, resigned. “Fine, you win. Beam me up, Scottie.”

Seth beamed. “Okay, hold on.”

Anri felt Seth pull energy through their connection. It felt like warm water flowing from his chest, leaving a spot within him that was a little cooler. He hadn’t felt anything like that the first time, and he squinted a bit as he focused on the sensations, trying to understand the feeling.

“Alright, it’s open. Just…hold your breath.” The air shimmered before Seth, golden speckles dancing in the air in a straight line about as thick as Seth’s wrist. Seth dropped one of Anri’s hands, keeping the other firmly in his grasp. He reached up and grabbed the corner of the glittering band, peeling it back slowly. Anri’s ears popped with the change of pressure as it peeled away from the rest of the glittering line.

He tensed, catching a large breath just a second before the stretching happened again.

Seth pulled him forward and he felt the uncomfortably extended again, then the recoil again, like a rubber band, but then it was over, much more quickly than the last time. This time had been…not nearly as horrible as the first time. He was still skeptical that this would become his preferred method of travel anytime soon.

Seth’s smile was full of satisfaction as the glittering band faded behind him in Anri’s room at Simone’s apartment. “Shit!” he said, his face clouding.

“What?” he asked, panicked.

“I’m such an idiot. I hope I get better at this whole supernatural thing. I could have just sent Joro here to check while we were getting ready.”

“No, it’s okay. She would…it’s better not to send that creature without some type of warning,” Anri consoled him.

Seth nodded. “You’re probably right. We probably should have warned her we were going to phase in to your room, too.”

Anri cocked his head to the side, listening. “We should have called. No one is here.”

“Your hearing is that good?” Seth wondered.

Anri grabbed for his missing phone, the second time that day. He should have asked Hinako if it was at Kintsugi. “My hearing is pretty good, and the walls are thin here. I also don’t smell her. Do you have Simone’s phone number in your phone? I keep forgetting I don’t have a phone and can’t call her.”

“You can smell her?” Seth looked surprised.

“Vamps have good senses. It feels like mine are on overdrive right now, though.” Anri frowned looking away, avoiding Seth’s gaze. He wondered when he would stop feeling so embarrassed.

Seth pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial for Simone, then handed it to Anri. Anri noticed that Simone’s contact name was Elvira.

Seth blushed when Anri looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “She put her number in my phone…” Seth mumbled.

That sounded like Simone. “Somehow I’m not surprised.” He was going to have to remember to tease her that for later.

The phone rang twice. Simone answered on the third ring. “Hallo, Sethy, how ya feeling?” she answered, sounding a bit out of breath.

“Simone, it’s Anri. Where are you?” he asked, relieved that she answered.

“Oh, hi Anni,” Simone said breezily. “Did you make up with Seth yet?” She sounded a bit distracted. Anri could hear birds and wind behind her and he knew she was outside.

“Yea, what are you doing? Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m…almost home. I guess you musta made up, right? Where are you?” she asked him back.

“We are in the apartment,” he said slowly. “Are you outside?”

“My apartment? We?” Simone questioned. “You did make up with Seth! That’s great.”

“Me and Seth, and yes, your apartment,” he replied, a little annoyed. “What’s going on?”

“How did you get there without me seeing you? I’ve only been out here for like five minutes!” She sounded a little out of breath. “Hold on, I’m coming in now.” She hung up.

A moment later her key sounded in the door and she came in. She wasn’t wearing a coat and her face was pink from the cold.

“Oh my god, it’s so freaking cold outside.” She slammed the door shut, rubbing her arms as she wrapped them around her body, shivering.

“What were you doing outside with no coat?” he chastised. He pulled the small throw blanket off of the couch and threw it over her shoulders. Seth watched them interact from the doorway. He seemed uncertain about what he should be doing.

“Sorry mom, I’ll wear it next time, I promise,” she replied facetiously. “Anyway, Raum is gone. I was chasing after him.” She snuggled under the blanket, wriggling deeper into the couch. “You didn’t happen to start some coffee when you got here, did you? How did you get here?”

“Wait, Raum is gone?” Anri repeated. “What do you mean, gone? Where did he go?”

She sighed. “I take it that’s a no on the coffee. Raum…Well, you probably aren’t going to believe me. It’s kinda crazy. I wouldn’t believe me.” She shook her head. She pulled her knees up against her torso and wrapped the blanket around her like a cape.

“Try us,” Seth said gently. “It’s been a weird week. I know my faith in reality is a little pliable right now.” He moved into the room, taking a seat on the couch across from her.

She smiled softly at him. “I’m glad you and Anni made up, Sethy. Anni…he can be…difficult sometimes.”

“Simone!” Anri barked out embarrassed. “We aren’t talking about me! Where’s Raum?”

She rolled her eyes at him dramatically. “So, um, yeah. A ghost girl crawled out of the floor right over there,” she said, pointing to the space between the kitchen and living room. “She crawled out of the floor and skipped over to Raum. Did I mention she skipped? Because she freaking skipped. She whispered something into his ear, but I couldn’t hear anything. He ask her something in a language I didn’t know, maybe demon language? I dunno. He said something to her and she nodded once.”

She got up, the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. She poured herself a cup of coffee out of the carafe and sipped it slowly, frowning. “It’s too old, and it’s cold,” she said as way of explanation. She eyed a corner of the kitchen warily as she made her way back to the couch, where she immediately wriggled back down into it. She held the mug in both hands, eyeing it with disappointment.

Seth walked to the kitchen. Anri could heard him moving stuff around, and a moment later, he heard the beginnings of a new pot of coffee. Simone perked up a little at the sounds as Seth returned to the living room.

“Coffee will be up in a minute. So, the ghost girl…” Seth lead. Anri was slightly astonished at how fast Seth could adapt.

“Ah, yeah. She skipped in here and told him something, then Raum got up and just walked out. I called after him but he didn’t even turn around, like he couldn’t hear me. Or he was ignoring me. He walked out the door and I chased after him to the park outside. And then, Anni, I shit you not, he turned into a black crow the size of a dog. It was the weirdest thing. One minute he’s a man, the next minute feathers and flesh and then he’s a huge bird. Not a small dog, no teacup chihuahua, he was a freaking great dane sized crow. And then…he flew away.” Simone finished her story by chugging her cold coffee. She made a sour face at the coffee as if she had forgotten it was old and cold.

She nodded as if punctuating her story, staring at her empty cup. She walked to the kitchen and, just as the last sputters of the coffee pot were receding, refilled her cup. She looked up over the rim at Seth and Anri, blowing over the steaming liquid.

Seth looked at him, one eyebrow raised. He shrugged, then they both looked back at Simone. Seth’s emotions were coming through their connection, he didn’t need speak for Anri to know he was just as uncertain as Anri was feeling.

Simone tilted her head, staring at them both quizzically. “Something happened between you two,” she observed. “You seem…”

He looked over at Seth. They shared a look, him trying hard to tell Seth that he was not quite ready to share details about their bloodbond. He looked back to Simone, nodding once.

“Yes,” he said simply, then he changed the subject. “So, a ghost showed up, delivered a secret message, then Raum ran outside, transformed into a crow and flew away?”

Simone narrowed her eyes at him, obviously not happy about being redirected. She rolled her eyes when he didn’t say anything, then looked to Seth. Seth shrugged apologetically.

“Fine,” she said, shaking her head as she let it go. The look she gave him, Anri knew she would be forcing him to tell her later. This was a short lived reprieve. “Yeah, he just flew away. I know it sounds crazy,” she said a little defensively.

Seth laughed. “Definitely not as crazy as it would have sounded to me a month ago. Sounds kinda believable now.”

She smiled sweetly at Seth and he blushed under her attention. He was comforted that Simone liked Seth. She always had been good at judging a person’s character.

“You’ve really been through a lot, eh Seth? You’ve been taking it like a champ. I think you’re cut out for this paranormal supernatural stuff,” Simone praised him.

Seth blushed harder. His pride at her statement bled through their connection, flooding Anri with pride for him, too. He knew he was smiling like an idiot but he didn’t care. To hide his embarrassment he went into the kitchen and grabbed himself a cup of coffee, too. Mostly to hide behind, but coffee was always welcome.

“Seth, do you want some?” he called from the other room.

“Nah,” Seth replied. “I’m good.”

Anri returned to the room with his favorite cup in hand. He stood next to Seth, leaning comfortably on the arm of his couch. “Raum didn’t say anything to you? Before that? Did he fill you in on any of the ‘details’ he was promising to tell us?” he asked as Simone took a careful sip.

“Not a word, not even a thank you for a shower and breakfast,” she sulked.

“So, Raum is gone. And…we don’t know why he left. And…he didn’t answer any of your questions. What do we do now?” Seth’s disappointment was palpable. He noticed that Seth’s fingers were laced in between his own. He wasn’t sure when that happened. He squeezed Seth’s hand reassuringly.

Simone glanced at their interlaced fingers, a smile on the corner of her lips. They all looked at each other. No one seemed to know what to do.

He squeezed Seth’s hand in his own. “I guess things go back to normal?” Anri finally responded, unsure himself.

Previous: Chapter 22: Bloodbound and Soulbound