Seth pursed his lips as Raum and Anri stood off in Simone’s kitchen. “Please?” he begged his boyfriend.

“He is not driving,” Anri reinforced.

“It is my turn, I believe I properly declared first right,” Raum said with a self-satisfied grin.

“What are you talking about?” Anri snapped, his anger bleeding into Seth through their connection. “You need a license to drive a car. You don’t have one, so you aren’t driving. Also, Simone would kill me. And you. And probably Seth, just to eliminate any fucking witnesses. So, no, you’re not driving.”

Raum barked out a dry laugh. “She would be no match for me,” he said, looking down at her sleeping form, a soft, fond smile on his face.

Anri laughed in a way that somehow was threatening, and Seth grabbed him by the hand. “She would fuck up your Christmas, Raum.”

Seth pulled him away from the demon. “Come on, let’s get your stuff together. And Simone’s, too, but there’s no way I’m going into her room.”

“I will bring her back tomorrow to procure her things, I refuse you entry to her private quarters,” Raum said, his voice hard.

“You refuse…why you son of a bitch!” Anri tugged him, attempting to move closer to Raum

“Oh my god, leave it,” he said to Anri. “He’s just trying to rile you up.” He addressed Ruam next, “Fine, we won’t get her stuff. Give us a minute, we’ll get some of Anri’s stuff, then I’ll just stargate us to my place,” Seth agreed.

“Stargate?” Raum asked, shifting Simone in his arms. “Is that what your vehicles are called?”

“No, not what we call cars. It’s the portals that I can make because of my bond to Joro, the englier,” he explained, pushing Anri down the hall. “We’ll be right back. Just, ah, hang out or whatever.”

Seth closed the door behind them, then leaned back on it, exhaustion hitting him suddenly.

“We can’t go by stargate, Simone will be pissed if she doesn’t have her car. We have to take her car, Seth,” Anri said, scratching his hands through his hair.

“Come here, Anri,” Seth said instead of pressing the issue.

Anri turned back to him, confused. “Okay…” He stepped closer to Seth. “Are you okay?”

“Okay?” Seth asked with a laugh. “I dunno, Anri. This is a lot of shit. I mean, we just got done with the other shit, I thought we’d get a break or something. I have to go back to school tomorrow! I’m behind deadlines on my thesis, and then you tell me that Simone is haunted, Raum comes back and murders a steampunk abomination, and you lose yourself to bloodlust, again. I’m tired.”

“Sorry,” Anri apologized, his eyes locked on the floor so that his hair hid his face.

Seth snorted. “Come here,” he demanded. Anri stepped closer, within grabbing distance, so Seth reached out and pulled him into his arms. “That’s better,” he sighed, closing his eyes and breathing in his vampire. “You’re not fully sated.”

Anri fought it, but he relaxed soon enough. “I’m fine.”

“Bull. You’re still on razor’s edge. I can feel it.”

“I said I’m fine,” Anri insisted. “I just want to get this done with. Can we go? I mean, I…shit, I’m sorry. Fuck tonight.” He sighed heavily.

Seth squeezed him hard. “Kiss me, Anri.”

“We need to go,” Anri insisted, wriggling in his arms.

“I’m not letting you go until you kiss me,” he demanded, squeezing harder.

“You know I’m stronger, right? Cause, you know, vampire?”

Seth snorted. “Prove it, I dare you.”

“You shouldn’t dare me, Seth, because then I can’t turn down the challenge. Do you want me to kiss you or not?” Anri replied, pressing himself against Seth.

“Oh, powerful vampire, I am no match for you, do with me as you will,” he replied in his best ‘maiden in distress’ voice.

Anri pressed forward, coming up on his tiptoes. “One kiss, then we get this bullshit straightened out and we can go,” he said, his cheeks turning red. He brushed his lips over Seth’s, then with that strength he had boasted about, easily broke out of his grasp.

Seth watched him escape, satisfied. Anri was still skittish and afraid, but he was adorable, too. “What do you want me to grab?”

Anri looked around, his arms full of clothes, mostly work uniforms and sweatpants. “Ah…shit. I dunno. I mean, it’s not like this is permanent, is it?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, not with Raum. You’d better take what you want to have, you know?”

Anri grabbed things and threw them down on the bed, moving quickly around his room. He was nimble and fast, and it was all Seth could do to keep out of his way. “Sorry,” Anri apologized softly as he threw his laptop and charger on the pile.

“For what?”

Anri turned to look at him, the busied himself again. “For all of this, I guess.”

Seth laughed, he couldn’t help it. “You can’t control everything, Anri. This shit? Not your fault.”

Anri continued to collect things, then grabbed a duffle bag out of his closet. “I guess, but I still feel guilty. I mean, it’s my fault you’re involved in all of it.”

“Shut up,” Seth told him. “I want to be with you, and I would hate it if you were alone, dealing with all this shit on your own. Or dead. You’d be dead, so no, I’m perfectly happy. Plus…I found out I have a new fetish, and I’m looking forward to investigating that further.”

Anri’s back was to him, but his ears were bright red beacons peeking out from his dirty blond hair. He ignored the comment, busying himself by shoving everything into the duffle bag. When it didn’t all fit, he returned to the closet and rummaged for something else.

“It’s weird, you know?” Anri said without looking at him.

Seth felt useless, so he sat on the edge of the bed, trying to stay out of Anri’s way. “What’s weird? In particular, I mean. Everything tonight is weird.”

“It’s weird because you just asked me to move in with you, and I got all weirded out, but now, like, two hours later, I’m moving in with you.”

Seth snorted. “That is solely circumstantial, Anri. Once this is all over, whatever this is, you can move back here. Raum seemed really serious, so I think we should take it seriously, too, at least until we know what’s going on.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Anri replied, sounding tired.

“Hey,” he said, feeling like he needed to address the elephant in the room. “You can’t let your bloodlust get this bad anymore.” Anri didn’t respond. “I mean it, you can’t let it get this bad. Tell me, don’t hid it from me.”

“I’m a parasite, Seth,” Anri barked. Seth felt his bloodlust rise in response to his anger. “A leech. You’re not, I mean, I’m not going to be like, you know…”

“Oh my god, Anri. I’m your Wren. It’s, like, part of the job description, from what you guys have been telling me. Also, it feels really good, I like doing it. So, just tell me when you’re close. Or don’t, just, mind the time and place. I can appreciate force from time to time…”

“I’m being serious, Seth,” Anri barked, throwing his laptop and stuff into a backpack, then slinging it up on his shoulders. Seth grabbed his duffle before he could pick it up.

“I am, too. No more shit like tonight, where you’re risking losing yourself again. I’m here for you, I’m your Wren, by choice, Anri. Don’t, no,” he said forcefully, keeping Anri from interrupting. “I won’t have an argument over this. If you are close to your lust, we really will test out who’s stronger as I hold you down and bleed all over you. I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again,” he threatened.

Anri hesitated at the door. “Sorry…” he apologized again.

“Stop apologizing, for real. Just, don’t do that again. I’m your Wren, Anri. I’m here for you.”

Anri opened the door and Seth followed him out, hoping that he had gotten through to his petulant vampire. Raum had sat down on the couch, Simone still in his arms. He was pretty sure Raum had kept her in his arms this entire time. “Have you prepared? Will we travel by rift?”

“No,” Anri said. “We take Simone’s car. She’ll be pissed if she doesn’t have it.”

“Acceptable. I will drive.”

“No, not this again. You are not driving!”

Seth sighed, feeling tired. “Let Anri drive, Raum. I just want to get some sleep, and it’d be nice if we could get Simone into an actual bed.”

“I am caring for her,” Raum insisted. “I declared myself for the right to drive, I will do it!”

Was this demon lord whining? “No. Anri’s driving, deal with it.”

“He is not. I have driven with him, and he is unacceptable.”

“Unacceptable?!” Anri exclaimed. “What the fuck?”

Raum stood up, shifting Simone carefully in his arms. She slept through the entire process. “He drives as if elderly. I cannot permit him to operate the vehicle.”

“Jesus Christ. Fine, I’ll drive. Get in the car. I can’t deal with this tonight. Get in the car, now, or I’ll leave you here and you can figure out your own way to wherever you came from, without Simone,” Seth threatened, grabbing Simone’s keys from the hanger by the door. He slipped his shoes on, then his coat, and was out the door and down the apartment hallway in the next second, not even zipping up his coat.

It was too late for this shit, too cold for this shit, too. He zipped up his coat, then threw the duffle into the backseat. Anri followed him sheepishly, sliding into the front seat.

“You sure you don’t want to be with Simone?” Seth asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

“Shit, fuck, you’re right,” Anri agreed, getting out of the car again. Raum approached the car carefully, Simone’s arms wrapped around his neck and her face buried in his neck.

“Put her in the back with me,” Anri demanded.

Raum went to argue, but Seth cut him off. “Get in the goddamn car, Raum, or I will let Anri do what he wants to to you.”

“You wish to harm me?” Raum asked Anri with a smirk.

“Get in the goddamn car,” Seth threatened again.

Raum sighed, then gently deposited Simone into the backseat. Anri pulled her in and buckled her, and once the door was shut, she shifted, finding a comfortable position. Seth was already in reverse by the time Raum shut his door.

Everyone in the car, with the exception of the sleeping Simone, was on edge. The tension between Raum and Anri was nearly a physical presence. Raum, apparently trying to do something with his excessive energy, began messing with every button on the console. No wonder Anri didn’t want him to drive.

Raum pressed the defrost button and looked around, obviously disappointed that the button didn’t have an immediate effect. “This one is broken,” he affirmed, moving on to the rear defrost button. The yellow light lit up when he pressed it, and he nodded.

“You don’t have cars or anything in the demon realm?” Seth asked.

“No, nothing like your cars. Do all cars have as many buttons as Simone’s? Why are there ones that do nothing? There are so many, they cannot all be necessary?”

“They are,” Anri insisted. “Don’t touch.”

“If you don’t have cars,” Seth cut in before they could get into another petty argument, “how do you travel where you’re from?”

“In Archeron, we travel by genetically modified gates,” Raum said, cycling through all of the levels of blower on the air conditioning. Seth was pretty sure he was doing it at this point just to annoy Anri. He dampened their connection, just a little, as Anri seethed with too many emotions at once. Couldn’t Anri just pick one to focus on? It was distracting to drive someone else’s car with this much testosterone moving through the cabin, plus with all the residual stress he was already feeling. “What’s a genetically modified gate?” he asked to distract himself, trying to relax his white knuckles on the wheel.

“Gates made out of animals. Similar in build to your englier. I do not know, but perhaps they are modified engliers, in a way. Regardless, they are much larger, and unintelligent. They once were bred to favor the characteristics we needed, but there were too many variable to control, so now they are cultured in…what would you call it. I suppose the term farm is adequate.”

“You grow them? Like in a lab?” Seth asked, focusing on the road and not on Anri’s emotions.

“I do not know what a lab is. We grow them in a place where we can control the traits we desire and eliminate the ones we do not.”

“What traits wouldn’t you want?”

“Oh, I do not actually know. I would imagine that evolving unnecessary intelligence would be one of them. I know not the details, it is not my job. Useful, though. As long as your gate connects to another, and you know where you want to go, you can travel fast.”

Raum hit another button, this time for the radio. It blared to life and Simone, mumbled. He checked the rearview mirror but she didn’t seem to be awake. Def Leppard was wondering if someone could pour sugar on them as Seth rolled the dial down to a lower volume.

“Could you please stop hitting all of the buttons? I’m a bit on edge, and also navigating nearly a ton of metal and plastic that, I might add, is not mine, with two vampires, one of whom I should note is very very unhappy, and one demon at seventy miles an hour down the highway. Please keep your hands to yourself,” he said evenly, his hands white-knuckling at ten and two again.

Raum grunted, but he moved his hands to his lap. “I think I would like to drive. It looks enjoyable.”

Was the demon pouting? He focused on the road. He didn’t care.

“You aren’t driving Simone’s car without her permission. Hell hath no fury like Simone when someone messes with her stuff without her express permission,” Anri said testily.

They spent the rest of the car ride in uncomfortable silence, but thankfully Raum didn’t touch anymore buttons. Anri stewed in his emotions, and Seth kept a tight hold on their connection.

Once they got to his house it was a blur, he was so tired. He grabbed Anri, pointed to a room where Simone could be put into a bed, then fled towards the basement, pulling his vampire behind him.

“What about Simone?” Anri asked as Seth attempted to drag him downstairs.

“What about her? Raum will put her to bed. I’m not worried. I need sleep, Anri, and you need more blood. Come on. I’ve got school in like,” he checked his phone, “damnit, five hours.”

“Sorry,” Anri apologized again.

Seth was worn too thin to be nice about it at this point. “Shut up, apologize again and I’m going to punch you. Simone will be fine, Raum’s watching her.”

“It’s Raum I’m worried about.”

“You should be worried about me. She’ll be fine, he swore to protect you and your kin. He can’t lie. Don’t argue with me, Anri, I’m so tired.” Anri opened his mouth again, then closed it smartly. He put his stuff down on the couch, then slid into Seth’s bed. “Thank you,” he sighed, tearing off his clothes and slipping into bed in his underwear, knowing Anri would balk if he went to bed nude like he preferred.

It had been his intention to feed Anri again before he went to sleep. Instead, apparently, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

And…had woken up feeling hungover in the worst way, and also feeling like he hadn’t actually slept at all, but his alarm was buzzing, telling him five hours had passed.

Anri’s arm was draped across his back. At least asleep his vampire could be honest with himself. He slid out from under it carefully, Anri sleep mumbled something then rolled over without waking. He crept around his room, getting ready for school, trying to be as quiet as possible, but Anri didn’t seem to notice at all. His lover’s form in his bed was a pleasant sight, and so far it was the only thing he could find to be positive about today.

He had massive headache, his head feeling muffled and throbby as if he were hungover. He wished he had been drinking, at least that meant he’d enjoyed the night before. This, this was probably dehydration. Though he hadn’t thought about it, regularly donating blood to his angsty, blood-lusty vampire really was…draining. He almost laughed at his own pun, but his head hurt too much. Water. And caffeine, he needed both, and maybe some aspirin, too.

He drank about a liter of water at the sink, the house too quiet in the early morning, then filled up his water bottle with even more before sliding it into his backpack, along with his new parking pass. Then he turned to the kettle, catching it as the whistle was a ghostly sound and not a full blown announcement. He poured the water into a travel mug, the steam lifting the smell of tea to his overloaded brain. Shaking his head, he threw another tea bag in, and then threw two more alongside it, already knowing he was going to need the extra caffeine. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and prepared a stargate.

The sun wasn’t up yet, which was helpful. Seth immediately realized the downside of travelling by stargate when going to work. Where he would be able to travel by shadow on campus without getting seen? And, if someone did see him, how would he explain it? Oh, sorry guys, just stargate-ing, you know, like I do. Nope, he needed his car even if it was just for keeping up the image. Frowning at the prospect of driving his beat up Toyota again, he opened a rift to the parking lot at Kintsugi and slipped through it.

It wasn’t any warmer out this morning that it had been the previous night. Late January winds blew harsh and cold. Shivering, he unlocked the door to his beat-up, red sedan. It had been parked at Kintsugi for over two weeks now, and he had been mildly surprised when Anri told him it was still there. There wasn’t even a ticket or warning on the windshield, though it was covered in a layer of icy snow. He chipped his way into the door, then climbed inside, tossing his backpack into the passenger seat and deposited the tea between his legs. He rubbed his hands together briskly, then slid the key into the ignition, whispering encouragement for his car to start.

The first turn had his engine rolling over sluggishly without catching. He tried again, pumping the gas pedal. It rolled over again, but with a slightly more promising noise this time. Third time being a charm, he turned the key and said a silent prayer to the car gods. The engine rolled over twice before catching, roaring to life in the early morning silence.

The car shuddered for a moment then settled down, engine running as smoothly as it ever did, which wasn’t smooth at all, but it was running. Seth turned the blowers up full blast, aiming the vents away from his face.

His car thawed slowly, and he began his ten minute drive to school as soon as a small patch of the windshield was translucent. The silence was heavy, and he wished he had a radio, or a new car, or had remembered to bring his headphones, at least. The cardboard he had cut into the shape of the hole where the radio had been mocked him silently. Lance had drawn a radio dial and some fake buttons on it with a sharpie, and a digital clock with the readout displaying 12:00. If Lance could, he probably would have made it blink on and off just to mess with him.

Seth parked in the faculty lot and trudged his way to the Life Sciences building. His lab was on the second floor, but he was teaching early this semester. His first class, Ecology 201, was in one of the smaller lecture halls in the basement, followed by the lab portion of the class right afterwards in the next room. He wasn’t fond of the idea of teaching the 8:15 class, but he didn’t really get to pick when his classes were scheduled. Thankfully, he didn’t have any other lectures this semester, but he was in charge of two separate labs, the one for his Ecology class, and another one, Biology for non-science majors and freshmen. At least he was done with his upper level classes.

Preparing for the first Ecology 201 helped him focus on being back to school, despite his head being full of hamsters, all scratching in random places. The room smelled dusty and unused. He pushed his fingers against either side of the bridge of his nose and the hamsters calmed ever so slightly, wishing he had remembered to take the aspirin earlier. He finished his incredibly bitter, highly caffeinated, quadruple-strength tea before the first of his students shuffled into the room, steeling himself for the first three hours of the spring semester.

He handed out the syllabus at 8:20. Two minutes later, the students groaned, some silently and other aloud, as they realized he wasn’t going to dismiss them in the typical first day of class standard. A majority of them scrambled to get their notebooks out of their bags as he began the lecture.

His headache became something in the background as he settled back into the routine of teaching. It wasn’t that he particularly enjoyed teaching, he just enjoyed explaining things he thought people should know. It wasn’t the same. And…he thought he might be kinda good at it. Eventually he wanted to be a professor, not because he wanted to teach undergraduates for the rest of his life, though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but he looked forward to spending his life performing research. Finding questions and searching for the answers.

The morning, which he had had definite reservations about, actually went by pretty smoothly. He only felt mildly hungover by the time lunch rolled around, but he was still really dehydrated, despite the tea and water.

Lance met him for lunch in the food court, waving him to a table in a quiet nook, although the term quiet was relative. Seth grabbed a greasy burger and fries, nestled in a bright red basket lined with white wax paper. Lance had a particularly fancy salad with slices of hard boiled egg and grilled chicken on top of it, because of course he did. Seth knew for a fact that it hadn’t come from any of the shops in the food court.

“Heya, Seth,” Lance said gaily as Seth scooted into the booth, sliding his basket full of greasy goodness across the table.

“What gives!” he exclaimed in mock disappointment. “You went out and got real food and didn’t get me any?”

“This is waaaay too healthy for you, Seth. Eat your McGrease Burger before it congeals. Besides, if I was nice to you, you’d be wondering if there was something wrong. No reason to make you worry.”

“I eat healthy! Usually…” he replied. His head throbbed, agitated by the bright and noisy food court. He put his fingers to the bridge of his nose and squeezed hard, releasing the pressure behind his eyes a bit. Picking up his burger, he took a huge bite. Eating would help, he knew it, but the food didn’t really taste appealing.

Seth pulled his water bottle out of his bag and was disappointed to find it empty. He looked over at the water fountain longingly but couldn’t find the motivation to cross the noisy food court to fill the bottle. He sighed and popped two fries in his mouth at once. He barely tasted them.

“You okay?” Lance asked, watching him carefully. He hadn’t touched his salad, the lid still on, the little plastic fork still enclosed within its cellophane bag.

Seth sighed. “Yeah. I’m just really tired. Not really feeling super great today. I’ll be fine. I just need more water. And food. Greasy, delicious food. Not rabbit food.” Seth picked up his burger again and took another bite, another one he didn’t really taste.

“Last time I checked, Seth, rabbits don’t eat chicken. Even if they are perfectly grilled.” Lance grinned wolfishly. He’d watched girls fall to that grin, and he wasn’t swayed. “Seriously, though,” Lance continued, the smile disappearing, “you look like shit.”

“Had a rough night,” he confirmed. He filled his mouth with another bite of burger to avoid saying more.

Lance watched him eat for a minute. “This is domestic violence or something, Seth. Aren’t you his Wren? He’s supposed to take good care of you, not drain you to the brink and then leave you on your own to recover.” Concern wrinkled the skin around his eyes.

“That’s not how it was, Lance,” he mumbled between bites.

“No? Cause that’s how it looks to me,” Lance said. “It looks like he takes what he wants and ignores your needs. He also marked you, quite visibly, as his.” Lance pointedly rubbed his hand on his neck, over the same place where scars marred Seth’s. “That’s pretty much the definition of domestic violence. Or, whatever. I don’t know that supernatural domestic violence has much of a definition.” He sighed, rubbing his chin in the way he did when he was agitated.

Seth bristled, wanting to argue, but not knowing what to say. What Anri had done last night was out of neglect, not to him. He gave to Anri freely. He was pissed, partially because Lance was right. It wouldn’t have happened, the bloodlust part, if Anri had just asked for what he needed. He wanted Anri to be more honest, to be more open with him, but he knew they weren’t there yet.

Angry at himself, and at Anri, he took another bite of his burger to keep from saying anything. Chewing, he realized that this wasn’t all his anger, but it was something else, too. Perhaps it had something to do with Anri waking up alone in his bed. He swallowed hard, then kinked their connection slightly. Even with it kinked, he still had plenty of anger leftover.

“Shut up, Lance. Seriously. Don’t come in acting like Dear Abby just because you know all this supernatural shit and I don’t. I don’t have to tell you what happens between me and Anri. And you don’t get to judge his actions, you don’t even know him. So, just shut up.” His face burned with anger.

His fingers went back to the bridge of his nose as he throttled his connection to Anri, their emotions creating a feedback loop. He pulled out his phone, pointedly ignoring Lance, and sent Anri a quick text apologizing for not texting sooner. He needed to calm Anri down or he was going to have to close their connection, he was too tired to deal with his shit and Anri’s this morning.

“Seth-” Lance began.

“No,” Seth interrupted. “You don’t get to criticize my relationship with Anri. You, I recall, kept me ignorant for my whole freaking life of what I am and what that means. Do you really want to have that conversation now?” He kept his voice low and sharp. Lance visibly flinch as his words cut him.

“No, Seth. I don’t. We will, though. Soon. I…uh…I’m just worried about you. You look bad. I shouldn’t have left, shouldn’t have gone home. I wouldn’t have, if I had known what would happen, but I had to go. But, shit, if I hadn’t of left, you wouldn’t have met him, wouldn’t be like this. You’d just be Seth, normal Seth, not Seth the Wren.”

“Really, Lance? It seems like you wouldn’t have been able to protect me from what I am forever. Wasn’t it just a matter of time? Anri and Simone both seemed to know what I was right away. I’d imagine that other vampires would know, too.”

“Oh, they knew. I just made sure they knew not to mess with you, or they’d have to deal with me,” Lance said, waving his hand as if pushing the hypothetical vampires to the side.

“How, Lance? What did you do to let them know not to mess with me? Who are you, that they would give a fuck?” he nearly growled. His phone vibrated under his hand, Anri’s response. He didn’t look away from Lance.

Lance looked away first, watching students meander through the food court. Seth rolled his eyes checked his phone. Anri’s response was pouty. Was it weird he found a man’s pouty text cute? He was pretty sure Anri wouldn’t appreciate it. He quickly texted back the time he would be heading home. Anri was off tonight, and Seth looked forward to spending time with him.

But…not so much with Raum and Simone. It seemed like there was always something going on to keep them apart. It was so much easier to be with Anri when they were alone and they both could let down their walls.

Lance turned back, but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Well?” he prodded, raising one eyebrow. “Why did vampires in the past know not to mess with me, Lance?” Yesterday Lance had spent all day distracting him from asking difficult questions. Not today. His days of being in the dark were past, he would be getting answers. He would start now, with Lance.

Lance turned away again. “I marked you,” he said, barely a whisper.

“What?” he asked piercingly. “What did you say? Because I’m pretty sure you said you marked me, like I’m supposed to know what that means.”

“I knew you’d be mad if I told you. I wasn’t going to tell you. I didn’t want to. But, you have to believe me, I totally did it to protect you! I had to keep you from getting involved with vampires.” He picked up the plastic fork and took it out of the cellophane wrapper, rolling it over his palm.

“You marked me? How did you mark me, Lance?” he badgered. “What does that even mean? I’m not even going to get into how much I hate this shit, the not telling Seth things he should know shit. Not even gonna start.”

“Magic markers.” Lance waved his hand in front of him as soon as he said it. “No, not like that. I didn’t mean it to sound glib. A bit of magic, applied by touch. Something I prepare beforehand and then transfer by touching you. It marks you as under my protection. It needs to be reapplied regularly.”

Cocking his head, he considering what Lance had said. Lance had always been very physical with him, always a bit more touchy than other people might have found comfortable. He had just assumed that was who Lance was. He never would have guessed that it was Lance using the physical contact to mark him with some sort of ‘anti-vampire’ spell. What else had Lance done to him all these years?

“Your protection, Lance? What does that even mean? Magic? Are you a witch?” he sighed. He really was out of his element. “How much of our friendship is based on lies and secrets?”

“My protection, Seth, means that messing with you means messing with me. Any vampire who would harm you would have a personal invitation to experience my wrath. Which is considerable,” Lance said dangerously. Seth could tell he meant what he said.

“Who are you, Lance? Really?” he challenged.

“I…it doesn’t matter. Not really. I’m not a witch. If you hadn’t…I wasn’t ever going to tell you. You’re special to me, Seth. I really wanted to keep you safe, that’s all,” Lance said, fiddling with his fork.

“I don’t get it. Why, Lance? Why am I special to you?” he asked.

Lance looked up at him, his ice blue eyes penetrating deep. “Because, Seth, you’re my friend. My best friend, and my only true friend. You’re the only person in my life to accept me for me, not because of my family, or my birth, or who I was going to grow up to be. You’ve never idolized me. You liked me because of who you knew me to be. I can’t charm you the way I do everyone else. It’s…refreshing. It means something to me, Seth, even if you’re angry and confused right now and completely pissed at me. I don’t want you to know who I am now. I don’t want that to change how you treat me. With you, I can just be me. The me I want to be. Not the me I’m expected to be elsewhere. Seth, you were my innocence. That, and the fact that I love you like a brother. Hell, I love you more than I love my actual brother.” Lance stopped, then stabbed a piece of chicken, though he didn’t bring it to his mouth.

Seth had never seen him so passionate. His anger abated, and he felt Anri’s anger abate, too. Apparently he had been feeding his anger to Anri…that was something to mull over later.

“Lance…I don’t know what to say. I don’t hate you. I can’t hate you. I’ve just been thrown into the middle of a bunch of supernatural shit that you seem to know all about. How could I not feel betrayed? You kept me in the dark because you felt the need to protect me? You never once thought about telling me? Why not? Don’t you trust me? It just makes me think that you don’t trust me. You must think I’m stupid.” He caught his lip ring under his top teeth and dragged it into his mouth, chewing on his lower lip.

Lance scowled. “You are the smartest person I know, Seth! I never thought you were stupid!”

He snorted. “You lied to me for years and I never figured it out. You didn’t trust me!”

“It was never about trust. I had to promise not to tell you, I had to swear it to my parents, way back when I first brought you over, when we were kids. I didn’t know why at the time, I just wanted to be your friend. But I promised on my house I wouldn’t tell you. Promised my parents on blood. I think that you know how serious that is now. I…I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t. I wasn’t supposed to interfere with the vamps. It violates…I’m not allowed. I don’t…this isn’t the way I wanted to tell you.” Lance continued to pick at his salad without actually eating any of it.

“No, you weren’t going to tell me at all. You were going to leave me ignorant for the rest of my life, if you had your way.” His hand went to the basket for a fry but they disappeared while he wasn’t looking. He growled in frustration. He glanced at his water bottle but it was still empty, too.

“Seth,” Lance whined. “I couldn’t! I wasn’t supposed to interfere at all. But…you’re…I just couldn’t let you get involved with vampires. Not you. I was playing a dangerous game just marking you. We aren’t supposed to interfere. I wish you weren’t a Wren!” Lance finally took a small bite. He was sure Lance didn’t actually taste his food, either.

“If I wasn’t a Wren, you probably wouldn’t have cared about me at all,” he retorted matter-of-factly.

“That’s not true!” Lance almost yelled. He flinched at his own reaction and continued in a smaller voice, “Maybe. I don’t know. But, you are special to me, and I protect what’s mine. So, Wren or not…”

“Yours?” he repeated, one eyebrow raised in question.

“So, I’m a little possessive, you knew that. Mine, like my brother. Like my family.” Lance angrily picked some more, bringing a fork full of hard boiled egg and salad greens to his mouth, chewing and swallowing before he continued. “I want to mark you again.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Seth, I can smell two different vampires, your demon pet, and something else I can’t place on you right now. It’s driving me crazy, the need to place my mark on you.” Lance shifted uncomfortably.

Seth thought for a minute. “How’s it work, the mark?”

“Supernaturals can sense it and know that you are protected by me,” Lance said simply. It sounded too easy.

“Again, Lance, who are you? Why would your mark make someone like Raum think twice about messing with me?” he demanded skeptically.

Lance’s eyes went large and he dropped his fork mid bite, choking a bit on his food. He coughed, then cleared his throat. “What did you say?”

“Huh? I asked who you really are?” he replied, confused.

“No, someone like who? That part,” Lance demanded, leaning across the table.

“Raum?” he replied as if it were a question.

Lance sat still for a moment, completely and unnaturally still. It made him uncomfortable. His personal headache hamsters were back, scratching at the back of his skull now.

“Raum?” Lance asked carefully. “Did you say Raum? Because I thought I heard you say Raum.”

“Yeah? It’s not that big of a deal,” he shrugged.

“Not that big of a deal? How do you know that name?” Lance demanded.

“Is it a big deal, Lance? I really can’t tell what’s important and what isn’t, you know, since I have to be protected from my life,” he snapped. “I him because I met him.”

“You met Sigaliansadine Raum and you don’t think it’s a big deal?” Lance hissed.

“Lance, how would I know? I’ve almost died twice, so maybe meeting Whatever-his-name-is Raum doesn’t seem like that big of a deal in retrospect,” he snipped.

Lance ran his hand over his hair, his face scrunched up with frustration. “I was only gone for like, four weeks, right? How did you manage to get fully bloodbound and wed, which is super rare, even in the supernatural world, gain a creepy-ass demon familiar, and meet Sigaliansadine Raum? Jesus, Seth. If I had known…” Lance trailed off.

Seth rolled his eyes, tired of this conversation. “Hey, as wonderfully enlightening as this lunch has been, I have a meeting with my advisor in like five minutes. I’ve got to go.”

Lance reached out to grab his arm and he reflexively pulled out Lance’s reach. Lance grabbed his hand back as if he had been burned, his face falling, rubbing his hand over his arm protectively.

“Please, Seth, let me put my mark on you. Please,” Lance pleaded.

He sighed and shook his head. “No, Lance. I can’t. It would drive Anri crazy.” Anri would not tolerate something like that. Not with how fragile their relationship currently was. Maybe not ever. Seth was becoming intimately familiar with Anri’s possessiveness, not that that was a bad thing.

Lance frowned. “Fine. Let me come over and meet your vampire tonight. If you don’t invite me I’ll come over anyway,” he said, jutting his chin out stubbornly.

Seth sighed again. He knew that Lance would show up regardless of an invitation. “Fine. Fine! But you need to stop saying ‘vampire’ like it’s a bad word. And if you piss Anri off, I’m kicking you out. For real.” He glared at Lance to drive the point home.

“You make it sound like he’s more important to you than I am!” Lance exclaimed, pretending to be offended.

“He is.” Lance pouted even harder. Seth rolled his eyes. “You said you felt like we are brothers. I feel that way, too. But Anri, he is a part of me. I can’t explain it.” He struggled for the words.

Lance went from playful to serious again. “IText me a time later today. I’m coming over.” He shook his head as if clearing it. “Now, go get your marching orders before you get in trouble, you goodie two-shoes.”

He appraised his best friend, feeling like he missed something important, feeling like it was close enough for him to realize, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Lance gave him that wolfish grin again before he slid out of the booth. He put his fist up between them with the expectation of a fist bump. Reflexively, Seth put his fist up, then pulled it back again before he touched his to Lance. “This isn’t a trick, right? To mark me against my will?”

Now Lance sighed. “I’m sorry, Seth. I won’t do it without your permission. I promise. This, sir, is just a normal exchange of greetings and partings between dudes.” He waved his fist in the air and Seth lightly bumped it with his own.

“I mean it about behaving tonight, Lance,” he warned. “Best behavior.”

“Best behavior,” Lance agreed, trying not to grin wolfishly, but failing. “I didn’t even cross my fingers this time.”

Demonbound Chapter 4: Midnight Dismemberment

Demonbound Chapter 6: Taking Care of the Essentials