Both Alike in Dignity

A/N: Ughhh I am so tired. So, so tired. It was my dad's 50th bday today, so yay happy birthday to my dad. Thanks for the reviews last chapter, feedback is what I live for. Review and have a piece of birthday cake.

Word Count (overall): 7416
Word Count (this chapter): 2172
Updates: Mondays and Thursdays

Chapter Four


The spray of water was heavenly on Sebastian's bruised, battered body. The first thing he did was wash his blood away. It mixed with the water, swirling down the drain. Rivulets ran down his too-pale skin, following the contours of sleek, trim muscle. Sebastian lingered turning up the spray so that it prickled hot against his skin, tiny pinpricks of pleasure-pain. It burned a little, but he needed that to warm him up. He was too cold. He needed to feed again.

Sebastian closed his eyes and relaxed, enjoying the visceral feel of the hot water. He drowned in the comfort of it, letting it wash away all memory of his beating and the werewolf in the next room. The heat and the water pounded his muscles into relaxed submission, taking a lot of the pain away. He could almost believe that nothing was wrong, that it was just a normal day.

A heavy, urgent knock on the door made him jump. Sebastian opened his eyes. Everything came flooding back to him. “What?” he snapped. Couldn't Jasper just leave him alone for a few minutes? He needed some time to lick his wounds.

“We need to go. Now,” Jasper said, his voice low. “They're coming. I can smell them.”

Sebastian hesitated. He focused, but he couldn't hear anything. Jasper could be fucking with him. But if there was one thing that a glorified dog could do better than a vampire, it was scenting. Sebastian turned off the water with a quick flick of his wrist and stepped out of the shower.

He emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, his hair still dripping wet. No time to fuss with it or dry it. He scowled at Jasper. “Now what?” he asked, heading for his suitcase.

“No,” Jasper said, gripping his arm tightly.

Sebastian yanked out of Jasper's grip, curling his arm in close to his body and whirling on the other man. He stared at Jasper, a flash of accusation in his eyes.

“We have to go now. They're coming,” Jasper reiterated, low and urgent. He stared the other down, holding his gaze until Sebastian looked away.

Sebastian had no desire to repeat last night's beating. He doubted it would end well for him. But he couldn't just leave. All he had was the clothes on his back, he wasn't equipped to go on the run. “I need to pack a bag,” he said, forcing himself to keep his voice calm and level, not allowing himself to panic. “We can't just go.”

“Fuck your stuff,” Jasper growled. “We have to go.” He yanked the door open, and now he could hear them as well as smell them; there was a commotion at the very bottom of the apartment building, the clattering of footsteps coming up the stairs. “Just do as you're fucking told. We're going.”

Sebastian bristled, but he could hear them now. He swallowed his pride and dived across the room, grabbing his wallet and keys before stepping out into the hallway. Didn't seem much point in locking the door behind him, but he did it anyway. “Roof,” he said. “There's a fire escape. Come on.”

They ran up the stairs together. Normally, Sebastian would have been able to keep up with Jasper easily, but he found himself lagging, out of breath. Stitch stabbed into his side. Every bruise and muscle screamed at him for moving. The hair at the back of Sebastian's neck prickled, like he could feel the pack's breath there.

They finally reached the door to the roof. Jasper got there first, turning the handle as Sebastian just panted for air. It didn't budge. “It's locked,” Sebastian realised, his voice high and panicky. He stared desperately at the door.

Jasper didn't hesitate. He drew back and kicked it hard. One kick and the door buckled. Two and it broke, hanging loose from its hinges. He shoved it free, sending it crashing down to the ground as they spilled out onto the roof. Fresh air had never seemed so sweet. A quick look was all it took to locate the fire escape – he was a nocturnal animal, after all.

This time, Sebastian got there first, leaping onto the side of it rather than using the stairs. Too slow. He scaled his way down it like a big cat sliding down a curtain, falling and catching himself, teeth gritted against his protesting body.

Jasper took the hint and went down the same way, reaching the bottom just as his former pack reached the top. He looked up just in time to see Blaine peer over the edge.

“Fucking coward,” Blaine called down. “You can't fucking do this. I'll get you. You'll always leave a trail. You can't get away from me.” Other faced peered at the edge of the building, grinning, cackling. Blaine spat, missing Jasper by inches. “You're a fucking traitor, Jasper.”

Jasper looked away. He grabbed Sebastian, not wasting any more time, resisting the way the other pulled at him and dragging him down the alley.

Sebastian tried to pull his hand free frantically, putting his energy more into trying to get Jasper to let go of him than actually getting away from the danger he was in.

“Where do you keep your car?” Jasper demanded, looking over at the vampire, his natural rival. He let go of Sebastian's hand.

“Huh...?” Sebastian asked, curling his hand back, putting some space between them warily, though he still moved with Jasper. “I don't. I don't drive. Sorry.”

“You what? Seriously?” Jasper asked, shooting the other male a look.

“I don't like them. They're a little... I just don't, okay?” Sebastian answered, still breathing hard. Fuck, he hurt everywhere. The last thing he needed was Jasper judging him about his inability to drive. He was too focused on trying to stay alive to give a shit.

“Well, fuck me sideways,” Jasper murmured. A vampire that didn't fucking drive. That was just great. “Now what the fuck do we do?” He'd been counting on a quick, smooth getaway in or on some kind of vehicle. That would have been too easy. He was quickly learning that 'easy' didn't apply to anything involving Sebastian.

Steps leading down caught his attention. The subway. Perfect. He grabbed Sebastian again, yanking the other toward it insistently, changing their direction ninety degrees.

“Stop touching me,” Sebastian snapped out, yanking his arm free. He took the directional hint anyway, cluing in and heading for the subway. They clattered down the steps together, moving too fast to be graceful.

There was no time to get a ticket, no time to wait. They acted as one, pushing through the crowd and vaulting over the bleeding barriers, Jasper with ease and Sebastian with a barely contained wince. They raced down the tunnels, leaving a commotion of confused security guards behind them.

Sebastian took one escalator down, Jasper took the other. There was no time to be polite about it. Jasper could hear the shouts as the rest of the pack vaulted the gates behind them. He shoved people out of the way, racing down fast.

Sebastian was hot on Jasper's heels. He shoved past someone, sending a woman flying, her bags spewing its colourful contents over the subway's gritty concrete floor.

Jasper darted onto the first platform he saw, glancing up at the waiting time for the next train – five minutes. Too long. He didn't need to touch Sebastian, this time. The other followed him without a word. They raced to the next platform, where lady luck finally smiled at them.

Losing a pack of werewolves wasn't as easy as getting lost in a crowd or hiding down a side street. Their sense of smell was acute, and they could use it to track as well as any hound dog. The only chance they had was to get as far away as they could as quickly as possible. Just as they raced onto the platform, a train pulled in with a screech of grinding metal.

Sebastian barged his way onto the train, not waiting for Jasper. The wolf would either make it or he wouldn't. It wasn't like it mattered to him. Sebastian watched with a lump in his throat as the humans piled on, smelling of filth and sweat and ignorance. His skin crawled. His eyes fixed onto the platform entrance and he willed the train to fill faster.

Blaine raced around the corner. His eyes met Sebastian's, gleaming with intent. A grin split his face in two, vicious, more like a baring of teeth than a smile. They had him.

Sebastian panicked, shoving his way to the exit of the train. He couldn't be caught on a train with them. Trapped. If he got stuck in a confined area with more than one of them, he was dead. It wasn't even death that motivated him, it was the fear of pain. They would put him through so much pain before they killed him.

He had one foot out of the door when a hand landed on his shoulder, tugging him back. Sebastian flailed, lashing out behind him. They had him. They were getting too close, he was going to die. He was going to fucking die.

“It's okay,” Jasper said, right into his ear, his voice low and soothing. He pulled Sebastian back harder, pulling him further into the train, away from the door. “It's okay. They won't make it. Look.”

The doors slid shut mere seconds before Blaine got to them. Fucking seconds away from death. Sebastian stared at Blaine, shuddering hard as the wolf's eyes flashed a gleaming, amber yellow before returning to muddy green so fast that Sebastian thought he'd imagined it. Blaine pounded once on the glass, splintering it in the middle, a spiderweb of cracks spiralling out before the train pulled away.

A bystander screamed. Most gawped gormlessly, doing nothing. Something to tell the wife and kids later.

Sebastian sagged with relief. They had done it. They were free, at least for now. He wasn't going to die. Jasper had saved his life again. Seemed like the other couldn't get enough of that.

Abruptly, he realised that Jasper's hand was still on his shoulder, warm and heavy. Non-threatening. He shrugged it off him sharply, shaking himself like he could get rid of the touch. The feel of it lingered on his skin. He took a step away from Jasper, gripping one of the subway poles and smoothing his hand down.

“Who is that Blaine fucker, anyway? Why does he care so bad?” Sebastian asked, venom in his voice.

“Someone that's very eager to prove himself,” Jasper said, rolling his eyes. He shook himself a little, straightening himself up and taking one of the handholds above his head for balance. The train hissed to a stop, but Jasper made no move to get off.

Sebastian took his lead and stayed right where he was. The more distance he put between them and him, the better he would feel. “What does that have to do with you and I?” he asked.

“Everything,” Jasper sighed out. He glanced over at Sebastian. “Letting us get away would show weakness to the other members of the pack. They might challenge him.”

“I don't get it. What does it matter? Why can't he just leave me alone?” Sebastian asked, his hand tightening on the pole. He gave Jasper a quick glance.

“He wants to finish what he started, to prove that he can.” There was no point dressing it up. Jasper peered up over Sebastian's head at the subway line map, tracing where they were with his eyes, working out where they should get off.

“Wonderful. That's just... super,” Sebastian said, sagging a little. He was exhausted, hungry, and his adrenaline high was wearing off, leaving only pain behind. At the next stop, the lady in the seat next to him got off. Sebastian eyed the sweat marks that she had left on the plastic with a sneer of disgust. Exhausted or not, he wasn't sitting on that.

“You should sit down,” Jasper said; Sebastian looked ready to drop right where he was.

Sebastian glanced down at the seat again, weakening. He scowled, then dropped gingerly down onto the side, leaning back against the glass partition behind him. He groaned. “Let's just leave it a few stops,” he mumbled. Felt like he could go to sleep right there. “Just a few.”

Sebastian forced himself to keep his eyes open.. If he fell asleep, Jasper might leave. Abandon him. The other had done more than enough already, but on his own, the pack would find him eventually. He stood a better chance with Jasper, whether he liked it or not.

“Just a few,” Jasper echoed. “Rest.”