The New Generation

A/N: It seems that there are only a handful of people reading this which makes the few reviews I have very special. Hopefully the new teaser will get more people interested.

Mackie is learning the truth about himself. Truth that hurts big time.

Translation:

Palikari = Greek for \"strong young man.\" Kind of the equivalent of \"genki\" in Japanese.

Gambiso malaka = Greek for \"fucking jerk.\"

The New Generation: Part 3

\"Hey, bartender, you think you can possibly tear yourself away from your fucktoys long enough to serve me?\" a would be customer on the other side of the bar demanded.

Dimitri rolled his eyes and broke the kiss. (Gambiso malaka,) he muttered in that breathless nonwhisper.

(Don\'t worry,) Angelo told his cousin as he lifted his face from Mackie\'s chest, (I\'ll keep our new friend entertained while you serve your customers.)

(Yeah, I just bet you will,) Dimitri grumbled but walked over to the pissed off customer anyway.

Angelo stole a kiss from Mackie, who didn\'t mind it in the least. Then he grabbed the bottle that Dimitri had set on the bar in front of them. (You want some?)he asked, holding the bottle out towards Mackie.

The scent from the bottle snapped Mackie back to sanity. \"That\'s disgusting!\" he snapped in English, distancing himself from any similarity he had to Angelo and Dimitri They gave into their sickness. Mackie had no intention of doing that.

Angelo shrugged. (Your loss.) He tilted his head back and drained the rest of the bottle. (It\'s only gonna get worse you know.) Angelo gave Mackie a look of suspicion. (But you DO know, don\'t you. You don\'t seem real shocked that you\'re bloodthirsty. Just disgusted. What do you know about yourself, Makis?)

\"Mackie!\" Mackie hissed.

Angelo laughed. (Fair enough. Mackie, then. But you still didn\'t answer my question.)

\"What\'s to know? Fucked up blood runs in my family and if you both got it, we gotta be related.\"

(Fucked up blood, mmmm? Yeah, that\'s one way of putting it.)

It was Mackie\'s turn to laugh. \"How would you put it?\" Then he thought about how Fredo would put it and he laughed again. \"You think you\'re special or better than people without that fucked up blood? Is that why you drink theirs?\"

Angelo grinned. (I could always drink yours, instead,) he singsonged, and his eyes, the only eyes Mackie had ever seen that were darker than his own, suddenly glowed red, like little hot fires. (You want me to?) His finger lazily traced a line down Mackie\'s jaw to his throat and Mackie shivered because it was like being caressed by an icicle. (I could pretend I was kissing you, just like I was before, *palikari,*) he murmured, (no one would even know. It doesn\'t matter whose blood I drink, Mackie,) Angelo purred, saying Mackie\'s name with contempt, (your \"fucked up\" blood will taste just as good.)

\"That\'s it, I’m done.\" Mackie rose to get up but Angelo held him down with barely any effort. \"Big deal, you\'re stronger than I am. You\'ve proven it, now you can let me go.\"

(You think you\'ve got some kind of disease, Mackie?) Angelo mocked, (That you can go to that Healer of yours and he can just wave his magic wand and stop your blood from consuming itself?)

Mackie stared at him. \"What the fuck are you yammering about?\"

(Anything else unusual about you besides your \"fucked up\" blood, sport? How about the fact that you can hear me when most Norms can\'t.)

Mackie shrugged. \"Big deal, my hearing is a little better than normal.\"

Angelo\'s fist suddenly shot out towards Mackie\'s face and he easily stopped it midswing. \"You\'re fucking with the wrong person, asshole.\" Mackie squeezed but instead of the snapping of bones that he usually had, he had to drop Angelo\'s hand because his own hand was aching. It was like squeezing the steel door. \"What the fuck are you?\" he whispered.

(What the fuck are YOU?) was Angelo\'s answer. (If I\'d been a Norm, you\'d have crushed my wrist. And if you were a Norm, you wouldn’t have even seen my swing coming until you felt it connect. I slowed down for you but it was still faster than any Norm would see. Why do you think you\'re faster, stronger and can hear better than a Normal human?)

\"Because I\'m not a \'Normal\' human,\" Mackie retorted. \"I\'m….\" he trailed off, wondering if he wanted to tell Angelo about Fredo\'s theories.

(Not fully human,) Angelo finished. (I know all about your leader, Mackie and your little gang of \"superhumans.\" But they\'re only human. And you\'re not.)

Mackie blinked. \"You\'re like my father! You believe your fevered blood makes you a monster. Dimitri\'s the same way. You probably think I killed my mother too.\"

Angelo grew grave. (I don\'t think it, I know it. Our mothers die having us because we consume them. Drain them of blood then eat them from the inside. And you need it now but if you take too much, it\'ll make you as sick as food does.) His eyes gleamed. (When was the last time you were able to actually eat something and not toss your cookies?)

\"How\'d you know about that?\" Mackie demanded.

(Because it\'s part of the change. Your body is changing. Maturing. And the first thing that happens is that your stomach shuts down because you don\'t need it anymore.)

\"I take it back Angelo, you\'re not only fucking nuts, you\'re a certified psycho whose making up things to give you the excuse to be a blood drinking freak.\" Mackie got up and to his surprise, Angelo didn\'t stop him. Fucking good. \"You did give me a good idea though. My brother can heal me and fix me.\" Mackie laughed. \"Maybe if you\'re good, he can fix you and Dimitri too. Something tells me you don\'t wanna be fixed, though.\"

Angelo shrugged. (Do whatever you like. But heed this warning. Any of your \"brothers\" start anything with any of MY brothers and sisters, they\'ll find out just how human I\'m not.) Angelo bared his teeth threateningly, revealing the same kind of teeth Mackie saw in Dimitri\'s mouth.

The icy skin. The lack of breath in Dimitri and Angelo\'s weird whisper. And their teeth. Flashes of tales Mackie\'s father told him when he was a child of why his family left Greece in the first place. The deaths of the people in the town. All drained of blood.

And the stakes.

\"You\'re not Mutants,\" Mackie hissed, \"you\'re fucking vam-\"

The word was cut off by Angelo\'s hand covering Mackie\'s mouth. (Close but what does that make you, sweetling?) He smirked. (The only difference between us and you is that we\'re not Breathers and you are. At least for now.) He released Mackie with amusement.

\"For good,\" Mackie growled before he stalked away, walking to the back of the club and leaving the way he came in, wrenching the steel door open and slamming it shut behind him.

Dimitri shook his head at the boy\'s abrupt exit and walked over to Angelo. (You know he\'s a timebomb. You shouldn\'t have let him go, Angelaki.)

Angelo\'s lips curled into an evil smile. (I know he is, Mimis. In fact I\'m counting on it. We won\'t have to kill the superhumans, Mackie will do it for us.)

* * *
Morgan hoped that Mackie and Brodie had better luck than he did so far. The most he was able to learn about the Underground was that they often dropped people off at the Nightingales\' clinic to be healed. Also, the Nightingales\' sometimes pointed people towards the Underground for Sanctuary, the protection they offered. He didn\'t want to have to go that route but maybe that could use the need for protection to get into the Underground. Hell, Morgan knew that was what Fredo would ultimately have either Mackie or Brodie do, be the innocent in trouble and in need of protection. Mostly likely it\'d be Mackie, so Fredo would have his weapon in place when he started harvesting Omegans. Some strategic shows of force and not only would the field be open for Fredo to harvest the cream of the crop, he could be the new leader of the Underground.

In the meantime, he was just spinning his wheels here. Maybe Brodie, or even better Mackie, would be back at the hotel already. Both would be definite bonus and if Fredo wasn\'t there, maybe they could… compare notes.
The thought made Morgan grin to himself and he was so lost in his reverie of flashes of himself and a naked Mackie with or without a naked Brodie that he walked right into a wild eyed Mackie.

\"Hey,\" Morgan smiled, \"I was just thinking of you.\"

Mackie grinned back, that small quiet grin that Morgan loved. \"Hopefully good thoughts.\"

\"You must have had better luck than I did.\"

Mackie looked puzzled. \"Luck?\"

\"About finding out where the Underground is? Or any other information about them?\" Morgan clarified, playfully chucking Mackie under the chin.

\"Oh yeah,\" Mackie said, \"luck.\"

Morgan took a good look at his Omega brother and friend with benefits. He didn\'t look sick but he didn\'t look good either. No, correction, Mackie\'s face looked tired and drawn with starvation but instead of making him look bad, it somehow looked sexy on Mackie. Maybe it was the hungry dark eyes that looked like they wanted to devour Morgan whole. Or the moisture shining on Mackie\'s lips from his own tongue as he licked them. Still, it wasn\'t typical Mackie behavior. \"You all right?\"

Mackie\'s answer should have been a huge tip-off that no, he was as far from alright as he could be but Morgan didn\'t care because of the way Mackie was kissing him; swallowing his mouth as if he could swallow down Morgan with it. Of course, the feeling of Mackie\'s erection grinding against Morgan\'s leg didn\'t hurt either.

The small part of Morgan that wasn\'t in a fog of lust remembered that Mackie never initiated sex with either him or Brodie and it wasn\'t until Mackie was actually having sex that he even seemed to care one way or the other but that part was quickly being overridden by Morgan\'s own hard-on and he matched Mackie\'s movements, breathing in between kisses, \"Maybe we better stop until we know Fredo\'s not back at the hotel, Mackie.\"

Mackie shook his head violently and moved away from him. \"Not the hotel, man. They\'ve got pay and lays all over the Old Quarter.\"

Morgan peered at him as if he was crazy. \"You mean pay by the hour?\" Now Morgan knew something weird was up with his younger friend. Since when was Mackie so horny that he couldn\'t wait.

Mackie deflated at Morgan\'s tone, looking more like he usually did. Like it didn\'t matter whether or not they had sex or not. \"Forget about it,\" he muttered.

He must be crazy? For a change, he had a hot and bothered Mackie and Morgan was turning him down? \"No,\" he whispered. \"Let\'s go find a place.\"

The name of the place didn\'t matter. Fifty credits later, they were in a room, on a bed with just changed sheets and they couldn\'t get out of their clothes fast enough. The usually reticent Mackie was nonexistent now; the other boy was all over Morgan, touching him with eager hands and kissing him with a hungry mouth. Morgan writhed under Mackie\'s needy touch, extreme pleasure flowing through his whole body and as Mackie grew even more aggressive, Morgan couldn\'t get enough of it. Tongue and teeth, tasted Morgan\'s skin and when Mackie bit down on Morgan\'s throat, the pain only added to the pleasure, the warm blood flowing contrasting with Mackie\'s lapping tongue. Then the slight pressure of Mackie\'s mouth sucking and Morgan suddenly realized that Mackie wasn\'t sucking at his skin.

Instant flashback to Lila and the baby. The loss of blood from Lila\'s blood and the baby glutted on blood. Mackie\'s anemia.

As if he was suddenly aware of what he was doing Mackie pushed Morgan away with such force he almost fell off the bed. \"I can\'t believe I just… \" Mackie uttered in horror but Morgan had the feeling Mackie was talking to himself. Then he seemed to snap out of it and his eyes pleaded with Morgan. \"I need you to fix me up, guy,\" he begged, \"to stop it,\" he babbled, \"I can\'t stop it.\"

Morgan stared at Mackie, trying to ignore the blood still running from his neck and covering Mackie\'s lips. \"Is that why you got all hot and heavy on me? You thought you needed to bribe me into helping you, Mackie?\" he demanded softly, far from happy at that theory but it was better than the possibility that Mackie only had sex with Morgan to get close enough to take Morgan\'s blood.

\"No,\" Mackie said a little too quickly and it made Morgan really wonder.

Then Mackie turned away from Morgan, holding his head in his hands in despair and Morgan decided it really didn\'t matter. He sighed. \"Lay down, Mackie and I\'ll see what\'s going on.\"

Mackie followed Morgan\'s instructions and the gratitude in his eyes killed any more thoughts of Mackie\'s motives. \"Thanks, man, I knew if anyone could fix it, you could.\" He shut his eyes, confident that Morgan would make it all better. And there was nothing Morgan wanted to do more.

But there was this nagging feeling that had been gnawing at Morgan since Mackie first started getting sick that there was a reason Morgan just couldn\'t diagnose and this time would be no different.

Sighing, although he didn\'t need to do it, he put his hands on Mackie\'s bare belly, hoping the physical contact would help him \"see\" more. Then Morgan shut his own eyes and began his psionic lookover of Mackie\'s body.

At first, everything looked as if he just had a touch of the flu. His body temperature was highly elevated and his body was badly dehydrated, probably from all the vomiting. Then he noticed something that made him almost fall off the bed.

Mackie\'s stomach had atrophied into a huge lump of desiccated, dead, muscle tissue. The small and large intestines, along with the colon, pancreas, kidneys and every organ and muscle involved with digestion and waste removal, were all non-functional and for all extents and purposes, dead.

Morgan didn\'t know how to tell his friend that half his organs were failing and didn\'t even know why Mackie was still alive. With no kidneys, toxins from waste should have filtered into the bloodstream, eventually poisoning and killing Mackie. Yet, here he was, lying down quietly and waiting for Morgan\'s diagnoses. He took a deep breath. \"Well I\'ve figured out why you can\'t keep food down, Mackie,\" he began, trying to keep it light.

\"Yeah?\"

\"You, um,\" There was no way to put this that would not sound as horrible as it was. \"Your stomach, along with the other organs and muscles necessary for digestion have shrunken to the point of uselessness.\"

\"Oh.\" Mackie seemed to digest the information, then smiled a little. \"How long will it take you to fix?\"

Was he joking? \"I\'d have to rebuild half your body Mackie and I\'m a Healer, not a miracle worker.\"

Mackie nodded and muttered something like, \"He was right, he was fucking right.\"

Morgan blinked. \"And \'he\' is?\"

Mackie shook his head, obviously not wanting to deal with it. \"That wasn\'t the important thing anyways.\"

How can that not be the important thing? Well there was the anemia, which seemed to be the least of Mackie\'s problems now.

Unless it was the reason Mackie was begging Morgan for help because Mackie couldn\'t stop-

Morgan shook that thought out of his head and focused on Mackie\'s bloodstream, on the red and white blood cells and this time he had to bite his lip to stop himself from screaming.

Almost all of Mackie\'s red blood cells were gone. In their place were these…. Morgan didn\'t know what to call them. They looked like cells of some type but they seemed to be absorbing what was left of Mackie\'s red blood cells and forming more of those strange pale cells. Parasitical cells bleeding Mackie dry. And no white blood cells whatsoever.

\"Mackie,\" Morgan began.

Mackie\'s eyes snapped open. \"You can\'t fix this either,\" he accused in a flat tone.
\"I\'ve… never seen anything like this, Mackie,\" Morgan admitted. \"Your blood has mutated into a deviation that is rapidly absorbing all the old blood in your bloodstream.\"

Mackie sat up and stared at Morgan with haunted eyes. \"Stop it,\" he demanded weakly. \"Please, man. Stop it before I can\'t stop myself. Before I don\'t want to stop myself.\"

But Morgan couldn\'t stop this when he didn\'t know how it started.

He reached out and held Mackie\'s feverish cheek. \"Mack, I can\'t fix this. I\'m sorry.\"

Mackie just nodded, as if he expected it and grabbed his clothes. \"Can you at least not tell Fredo?\"

Morgan didn\'t care for Mackie\'s tone at all. A tone that practically declared that Morgan was incompetent. But he remembered, Mackie was suffering in a way no human being should ever be forced to suffer. He had a right to be cranky. \"I won\'t.\" Not yet anyway.

A thick tension settled into the air as the two boys got dressed in silence until Mackie said softly, \"Thanks for trying, man. Take it easy.\"

Take it easy? Oh no! \"Wait, Mackie! Don\'t go anywhe-\" but it was too late, Mackie was already gone. He hadn\'t earned the nickname of \"Shadow,\" for nothing. Soft in speech and silent in movement, Mackie was never noticed unless he wanted to be. Or until he did his damage.

Morgan hoped like hell he was going back to the hotel to wait for the others in their Omega family but he knew Mackie well enough to know that the Shadow wouldn\'t be there. Tonight or any other night.


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