Wolverines

Ben woke up what felt like an eternity later, feeling groggy and boneless. At some point he’d stripped his shirt off and snuggled under the blankets, face down on the table. He felt totally boneless, as all the tension that had been building up was stroked away; even his pounding headache from earlier was gone.

“M’awake.” His voice was muffled by the face rest that cradled his head.

“Do you feel better?” The blond haired, blue eyed angel that had picked him up off the street was massaging his hand and Ben found himself unable to reply for a moment.

“… Yeah.” He admitted. And he did. Between sleep, the situation, the massage, this place… He felt a lot more clear headed, though he definitely still hurt in the one place those strong hands couldn’t reach. “I don’t suppose you can do heart massages, can you?”

Blondie laughed a little then, “We can see. Do you want to talk about what happened?”

Ben decided he did.

***

Hunter that woke up in a bedroom that wasn’t his own. A blond girl with brown eyes was staring down at him. For a moment it was all Hunter could do to stare back.

“… Am I dead?” He couldn’t think of what else to ask.

The girl snorted derisively, “No. Though I can see why you think you’ve died and gone to heaven, what with waking up to my face and all.” Her tone was sarcastic.

Hunter blinked. He knew that voice, “… Paige?”

“Who the fuck did you think?” She raised her eyebrows. She gave the human a once over. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he might be sick again.

Hunter slowly shook his head, “Where’s Amon?”

Paige smiled a little at that, “Fixing my drywall, the dick.”

“We’re at your house?” Hunter peered around. It didn’t look familiar, but then it had been dark and he’d been being chased around by Amon last time he was here.

“Yeah. Do you want me to get him for you?” She offered.

“… Yeah.” He nodded. Paige walked out of the tiny room and closed the door behind her. Hunter sat up slowly, taking stock. He was in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, and his duffel bag was sitting on the floor next to him. His brain felt too big for his head, making it hard to think or focus. Before he realized it, Amon was sitting on the bed next to him.

He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of old jeans now covered in dried plaster. Hunter stared at his chest for a few moments, not really checking him out but more or less getting a little lost in thought. Amon watched Hunter drag out the silence until finally Hunter crawled out from under the blankets and into his arms.

Amon kept the surprise from showing on his face and bundled the human close, resting his chin down on Hunter’s head. Hunter inhaled deeply, smelling the skin that was quickly becoming familiar.

“Where’s Ben?” Hunter finally asked.

“Gone. He walked out after accusing me of killing Nancy.” Amon snorted derisively. Hunter wasn’t laughing.

He turned to look up at the Vampire, “Did you?”

“Are you serious, did I kill her? No, I didn’t.” Amon frowned, “Fuck, just because I’m an asshole doesn’t mean I’m a killer.”

“That’s true… But how can I believe you? You’ve already lied to me.” Hunter pointed out.

Amon tried to sort through all the lies and half truths he’d told over the last few days to figure out what Hunter was talking about. Nothing came up. “What are you talking about?”

Hunter shrugged and rested his head back down, “Me. You. You lied when you told Nancy what happened the night you Bound me, and or you lied when you told Paige. Which was the truth?”

“Lied when…”

“I have Paige’s cell phone number, remember? We texted. While I was job hunting and you were off doing whatever.”

“… Ah.”

“Yep. Which story is the true one?”

Amon sighed deeply. When caught in a lie, not that it happened very often to him anymore, the best thing to do was just come clean. “Neither.”

“… Neither?” Hunter frowned. He hadn’t been expecting that.

“Hunter you don’t remember me, but we went to junior high together; I was two years ahead of you. And when you worked at that Taco Bell I worked at the movie store down the street… I used to come in and watch you all the time.”

“… That’s not creepy at all. I don’t-“

“Shh,” Amon put his finger to Hunter’s lips. He didn’t even want to tell this story, so he may as well get it done and out of the way. “My point is that I don’t remember my parents, I don’t remember my siblings, I don’t remember half my childhood. But I remember you. Crystal clear. That’s why… I had to find you.” Amon frowned, “And it wasn’t all that creepy. I recognized you, I was bored, I wanted to fuck you of course I stared.”

“… That makes sense. I guess. Paige said you had to feed me drops of your blood for a while before your fed on me that first time… To make the Bonding set-“

“Snuck it in your coffee.”

“… Sick.” Hunter rested his head against Amon’s chest. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know how Amon had done that. He wanted to freak out and be mad, but Nancy was gone and he was tired, so tired. Nancy was gone… Hunter wiped a hand over his eyes, “You couldn’t just tell me all this?”

“That’s not creepy at all…”

“… Right.” Hunter let all his air whoosh out in a big sigh, “Okay.”

“… Okay?” Amon questioned.

“Yeah. Okay.” Hunter shrugged a little and pressed himself closer to the Vampire, trying to give him the hint to hold him tighter.

Amon got it, and wrapped his arms tighter around the human. He buried his face in Hunter’s hair and inhaled. “I didn’t kill her.”

“I know.” Hunter sighed as Amon rocked him a little. He was so tired… He inhaled Amon’s scent again and closed his eyes.

***

“You’re sure you don’t think I’m psycho?” Ben asked for the third time as he and his new confidant walked out of the massage clinic.

“I don’t think you’re psycho.” Lysander smiled mildly. He’d surprised Ben when he’d changed out of his scrubs and changed into torn up, tight plaid pants, combat boots and a long sleeved black sweater covered in safety pins. Given how sweet and soft spoken Lysander was, Ben had expected… Maybe khakis and a sweater vest. He rather liked this look better, though.

“I know it sounds crazy…”

“I don’t think it sounds crazy.” Lysander insisted.

“But you don’t understand… For a while there I was seriously considering, well… Hurting him.” Ben sighed and scratched at the back of his neck. His skin felt soft and moist from all the lotion.

“It was in the heat of the moment… Things got crazy. You don’t feel that way now, do you?” He questioned.

“No. But I’m sure he had a hand in Nancy’s death. It’s too much of a coincidence. I need… I need to do something about him, dammit.” Ben seethed. All the tension Lysander had worked out of his shoulders was coming back. “But I don’t know what. What are the police gonna do? He’s an adult, if he wants to disappear from his family he can… And I know he killed his dad, but I don’t have any proof.”

“Why don’t you go online?” Lysander suggested, “Post his photo all over those weird forums where people like to pretend they’re Vampires and who knows, maybe someone will take note.” It sounded like a stretch even to Lysander, but it was an idea. Something. And it would let Ben let off enough steam that maybe he wouldn’t try anything foolish. Maybe he’d forget about it.

Ben didn’t seem to notice how silly an idea it was, “Yeah… Yeah I’m gonna do that. I should run back to my – shiiiit.”

“What?”

“My computer is back at my apartment… With him. I don’t want to see him again. If he killed Nancy, I don’t know what he’s capable of. Fuck! What if I’m next? That doesn’t sound paranoid, does it?”

Lysander shrugged a little, “No. Anyways, paranoia can save lives, right?” He smiled a little. He thought it likely Ben was just very upset and needed someone to blame for everything that was going on right now, but Lysander didn’t know the whole story, so who knew? For all Lysander knew, there really were Vampires. He’d certainly come up with stranger things himself on his bad days.

But that was beside the matter. What counted was that Ben needed someone to support him, and given what he needed support with someone that could give him that would be hard to find.

Lysander knew all too well what that was like. Some days he believed in fate, and some days he didn’t. Today, he decided, he did. Meeting Ben couldn’t be an accident. He was supposed to be helping him, he knew it.

“Right… Right.” Ben frowned, deep in thought.

“Why don’t we go to an internet café? There are tons open late down here. And if anyone questions you we can pretend to be role playing dorks.” Plus it would give them more time together, and hopefully Lysander could find out the odds of getting a phone number from him. Coffee would be a good first step. Lysander could always offer his own number in friendship afterwards anyways.

“Yeah…” Ben nodded slowly, mind already plotting what he was going to do, “I can just email the pictures from my phone to my inbox… Make a few accounts, hell, maybe pretend to be him. I can post what I know about him and Vampires up… Which isn’t much, but… If any real Vampires are reading I should be able to provoke them.”

Ben looked up at Lysander smiled. His hair was glowing like a golden halo in the street lights. Angel was right.

“Exactly.”

--

A/N One character leaves, and a new one marches right on it? =) This chapter probably needs a lot of editing, so if anyone sees anything, let me know. They're done sitting around in an apartment for ten chapters! The plot is moving! Woo! Thanks for reading everyone!

@GrimReaper: Thank you! I didn't think that many people reading liked Nancy, but I always did. She was a very sweet, simple girl that loved and laughed and lived. I'll tell you the truth though, killing her feels a little bit like a cop out at this point. Buuut we'll see =) Hahaha, I really like Amon too, the big dick. He's a lot of fun.

@JtheChosen1: Yeah Ben definitely, out of the three humans, was always the most stable and level headed one. Usually it's Hunter that looses his shit while Ben calms the situation down, so it seems they're having something of a role reversal this time. As for Amon... Well, his hands definitely aren't blood free, but don't forget, as of right now there are only suspicions and no actual proof that he committed either of the murders Ben accused him of... We'll just have to wait and see =D