Blood Ties

Title: Revelations: Part 2
Summary: Things do not go ANYTHING like as planned.
Impliments: None *Gasp*
Feedback: PLEASE!!!!
Warnings: This is YAOI!!! Blood drinking.
Notes: Takes place a directly following part 1.


Blood Ties

Revelations
Part 2

Going through the door to the club was like being hit by a wall of
sound. They pushed their way through the dancing crowd towards the
main entrance. About halfway across the dance floor, the vampire
sensed something unusual. *Anger, hatred, need, death.* Even as he
looked around for the source of the feelings an overzealous dancer
shoved Paulos in the back, which caused him to shove Armand forward
in turn and take the place he had been standing. Pain seared into his
side in the form of a long dagger.

It twisted and gashed deeper as the owner of the odd feelings
manipulated it. Through the pain, the Sire also felt disappointment.
*He had so wanted the pretty one. Oh, well. This was better then
nothing.* The deadly stranger disappeared into the crowd, no one the
wiser, as Paulos put a hand to the now gaping and profusely bleeding
wound.

Armand knew something was wrong. The Master had been pushed into him
before he had heard a gasp of pain. Then he smelled the distinctly
sweet metallic tang of blood. Sire blood. He turned immediately to
find a very pale Sire clutching his side, blood pouring over his
hand. \"Sire,\" he shrieked in fear and surprise. \"What the hell
happened?\"

Quickly he put one limp arm over his shoulder, offering its support.
The Master was loosing too much blood entirely too fast. He would
heal from virtually any wound, but any blood he lost would have to
quickly be replaced. Very soon the hunger would be on him and it
would become increasingly hard to restrain himself from taking what
he needed from the nearest human.

They were in a crowd of humans. Armand recognized the dangers at
once. Behind them he noticed Steve, still following and apparently
not realizing what the problem was yet. \"Hurry,\" the younger boy
said, \"help me get him out of here NOW.\"

Quickly the other boy was at the man\'s free side. He saw the blood
and simply started helping his friend get the man out of the
club. \"Shouldn\'t we call an ambulance, or something,\" he asked as
they made their way to an empty ally running the length of the
club. \"He\'s losing an awful lot of blood.\"

\"No,\" came the quick response. \"Police reports are not what we need
right now.\" They settled the still silent man on the ground out of
sight of anybody passing by the ally entrance. A pool of dark blood
immediately began to spread around him. \"Back away,\" the boy said to
his friend, wanting to get him out of the immediate danger zone of
his Master\'s reach. Steve did as directed.

Finally the vampire got up the energy to speak. \"Go. Now. Call
brothers,\" was all he could manage. Armand knew that his abruptness
was caused by trying to control the hunger taking him over. The wound
would be closed in a matter of hours, and getting fresh blood into
him would increase the healing rate, but soon every human near by
would be in severe danger. His brothers could bring bags of blood,
but there was no way that they could get there in time to prevent a
disaster.

\"We\'re near hundreds of people,\" the young man reasoned with his
Master, \"I can\'t leave you here like this. Master, you must feed, and
soon.\" The last was said very quietly. The vampire cast a sharp
warning glance at him and then at Steve watching closely, rather pale
himself at the amount of blood on the ground. He didn\'t understand
the conversation but wasn\'t really paying attention.

Armand turned to face his friend as well, measuring something only he
seemed able to see. He was wondering just how much he could trust
this boy in front of him. They had been friends since fifth grade and
did everything but sleep together. After he was turned, maybe even
that would change. He made a decision.

Walking up to his friend he looked him in the eyes and spoke. \"There
are things you don\'t know,\" he began. He heard a sound of protest
behind him but ignored it for the time being. \"There is something I
have to do, and you must keep it secret forever. Many lives depend on
this. You can never tell anyone about what you\'re going to see. I
want your promise that you will keep this secret, guard it with your
very life.\"

\"I promise, Armand,\" said the young man without hesitation. A hand
grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him close to suddenly hard
lavender eyes.

\"If I even think that you might betray us,\" said the halfling in all
seriousness, \"I\'ll hunt you down myself and kill you very slowly.\"

Steve was not a little afraid of the deadly look in his friend\'s
eyes. He had never seen him like this. But he knew with out a doubt
that the threat was a promise. \"I won\'t betray you, I swear,\" he was
quick to reassure. He was released.

\"Good. Give me your pocketknife.\"

Steve was confused at the request but fished it out of his pocket and
handed it over. Armand took it and turned back to his Master. The
look he received was furious to say the least. \"I know,\" he said to
the drained vampire, \"You can punish me for it later.\" He sat himself
against the wall, ignoring the blood, and pulled the Sire\'s body so
it lay against him and he could wrap his arms around it. \"Don\'t freak
out or anything,\" he directed towards his friend who had settled
against the opposite wall, \"Just stay out of reach for me.\"

At the affirmative nod he opened the sharp knife and carefully
slashed his left wrist before bringing it near to the mouth of the
vampire leaning on him. \"It\'s too late now, Master,\" he said
resignedly, \"You might as well take it.\" He felt his arm held in a
steely grip and then cool lips wrapped around the wrist. He winced as
sharp fangs dug into the wound to widen it.

Having his blood drunk was the most erotic experience Armand had yet
come across, but he also knew that it could be very painful, though
he had never experienced it like that himself. He did now. As the
Master began to suck hard on his wrist he could feel the life\'s blood
pouring out of him, forced to the wound. He cried out and wrapped his
free hand in the Sire\'s shirt to keep from screaming. Immediately the
pull slacked off, like the Master had realized just how much it hurt
and also that at that pace he would never survive the experience.
Soon they settled down into a very slow draw, which began to effect
Armand. This time he groaned in pleasure. He kissed the black hair
before him tenderly. \"That\'s it,\" he whispered, \"nice and slow.\"

Armand looked up at his friend to see an expression of awe and
curiosity but not much real fear. That reassured him a little
bit. \"Could I use your cell phone,\" he asked.
After being given the affirmative he took the offered phone in his
unoccupied hand and dialed the number to home. Two rings later it was
answered.

\"Hello.\" The voice was Dimitri\'s.

\"Dimitri, it\'s Armand. Look, I\'m in some trouble and I need your
help.\" The vampire on the other end of the line must have heard the
distress in his voice.

\"What sort of trouble? And where are you,\" Dimitri asked calmly.

\"I\'m at a club in town with some friends.\"

\"What club?\" When Armand said the name his brother went
ballistic. \"WHAT! What are you doing THERE? If Sire finds out you
were there he\'ll half kill you!\"

\"I know! Will you please listen?\" The boy continued when the voice on
the other end of the line was finally quiet. \"He did find me. That\'s
part of the problem. We were on our way out to head home when some
asshole knifed him. They were aiming for me.\" The last was said
quietly and was answered with a gasp. Armand continued before his
brother could do much more.

\"Master got in the way. It went really deep and he lost a lot of
blood, really, really fast.\" He knew that Dimitri would understand
the implications. Any vampire possessed by the Blood Rage while in
the middle of hundreds of humans just didn\'t bear thinking about. \"I
got him out in time,\" the boy continued, \"and I\'m feeding him in the
alley to keep him calm.\"

\"Good. I\'ll get some bags and head over,\" the voice paused as a
thought struck the vampire. \"Armand, if your feeding Sire, just how
are you calling me,\" he asked suspiciously.

Armand swallowed hard, \"Cell phone.\"

\"Whose cell phone?\"

\"Steve\'s.\"

\"And where, exactly, is Steve at this time?\"

The boy really didn\'t want to answer, but after a moment replied in a
subdued tone, \"Sitting next to me.\"

The silence was deafening. \"Oh, you stupid, stupid boy,\" the vampire
finally whispered. \"Stay where you are. I\'ll be there in about
fifteen minutes.\"

He was about to hang up when he heard, \"Wait.\"

\"What is it?\"

\"You might want to bring the others too,\" Armand\'s voice said. It
continued in a decidedly deadly tone that Dimitri had never heard
before, \"I think there\'s some hunting to be done around here. The
vermin seem to be getting plentiful.\"

The vampire took his meaning. \"Then we\'ll all be there in fifteen
minutes.\" A certain knife wielder was sure to never see the sun rise.

Armand hung up the phone and tossed it back to Steve. His left wrist
was still firmly in the Master\'s grip, a slow suction drawing small
amounts of blood at a time from the deep cut. As the boy ran the
fingers of his free hand through silky black strands he could feel
the tremors shaking the body he held. The blood the vampire Lord was
getting kept the full Blood Rage at bay, but it was taking everything
he had to keep from drinking his lover dry.

The boy placed gentle kisses on the head lying on his chest. \"Just
ten more minutes, master,\" he murmured encouragingly. \"Hold on for
just ten more minutes.\"
Eight minutes of silence later, Armand knew he had a problem. He was
getting increasingly dizzy and knew that he was losing too much
blood. He didn\'t attempt to reclaim his hand however. There was too
much at risk to do so.

The blood he had sacrificed had helped the wound to heal quicker and
he could see that it was only seeping now and was mostly closed. Sire
would desperately need to replace all of the blood he had lost,
however, and quickly. So the boy just sat and waited. There were
things that could be done so he wasn\'t too worried.

Five minutes later, he heard footsteps. They were so faint that he
barely noticed, but he had been listening for them. They were the
near silent movements of a hunter. Steve, with his pure human
hearing, had never heard them at all and leapt to his feet when four
figures blocked what little light came from the alley entrance.

\"It\'s ok, Steve,\" the boy was quick to reassure, \"I\'ve been expecting
them.\" His voice was a little slurred from blood loss, but his friend
stepped back to allow his brothers to pass.

Armand felt a hand ruffle his hair as the four surrounded him. \"What
foolish thing have you done now, boy,\" a voice said, its tenderness
taking the sting out of the words. \"Your incredibly pale,\" the voice
that sounded like Dimitri continued, \"You\'ve let him take too much.\"

\"I didn\'t exactly have a lot of choice,\" the boy replied wryly to
both accusations. There was a grunt in return.

\"Let\'s get Master straightened out and then we\'ll worry about his
foolishness,\" Erik said.
Immediately a hand gripped the boy\'s as the vampire Lord opened his
jaws to release it. Armand gave a yelp of pain as the fangs that had
been imbedded in his flesh for almost twenty minutes came free. The
hand was passed to Arlis who tightly wrapped the wound with a bandage
as Markeen pressed a bag of blood to the Master\'s lips.

That bag was drained in less than a minute and four more followed it.
When the last was emptied, Paulos pulled himself to his feet, the
wound now closed. He grimaced at his own blood caking his pants as he
preferred cleanliness, but didn\'t comment on it.
Dimitri pulled Armand to his feet but found the boy could barely
stand without support. He was stunned when the human boy, Steve,
suddenly came and took his friends weight. Paulos looked over,
surprised as well, but nodded his approval. The four younger vampires
looked to him for direction.

He knew what they wanted and he gave it to them eagerly. Looking at
each he passed to them the feelings and emotions he had felt from his
aggressor. In seconds the four had disappeared as if they had never
been there. The human, the halfling, and the Master waited.

The four shadows entered the club unnoticed and went their separate
ways. It didn\'t take long. Markeen was the one to find him. Or
rather, the attempted murderer had been the one to find him. He\'d
almost had six inches of steel in his own gut. The battering of
emotions on his mind had warned him.

There were all of the things Sire had described: hatred, anger,
bitterness, anticipation and glee. But accompanying them now were
annoyance and confusion. *There had been no screams, no sirens, no
commotion to provide his satisfaction. Fucker had probably crawled
off into a corner to die quietly alone. He would just have to try
again. He\'d been disappointed when the older man had stumbled into
his way. He had so wanted to get the gorgeous little boy ahead of
him. How disappointing.*

When he saw another beautiful boy, this one seemingly alone, he went
after him. His surprise was complete however, when the prey turned on
him, like it had known he was there. The owner of the bright red hair
had the dagger from his hand in only seconds, using strength that
shouldn\'t have been in that size body. The killer now found himself
held at the point of his own knife by a man smaller than he was. He
started to struggle, but then made the mistake of looking into hazel
eyes. Something touched his mind. His anger, confusion, and now fear,
were still there, but his will to fight was gone. When the anger
roughened voice said, \"Walk,\" he moved to the door quietly.

\"I\'ve got him,\" Markeen said aloud, though no one human was likely to
hear him clearly through all the noise. Those that needed to hear it,
would. Even as he hussled his prize to the door, he saw Arlis\'s
auburn curls passing though it.

Moments later, the two entered the alleyway. As expected, Arlis had
entered ahead of them and he could feel Dimitri and Erik coming up
behind. They continued towards their Master with a now very nervous
attempted murderer. The human\'s eyes widened when he saw the man he
had stabbed so deeply standing blood stained, but very much alive. As
they moved towards him they passed two younger men, one of them the
boy he had been after, leaving the alley way.

A final shove left him standing before the bloodstained man as four
more men gathered around into a loose circle. Suddenly the compulsion
that had held him still was gone and he immediately leapt for a break
between two of the strangers. With seemingly no effort, the man with
very long pale blonde hair pushed him back into the center of their
circle. He turned, looking at the oddly menacing men as he
desperately searched for a way out. Such seemingly young men had no
right to look so dangerous.

Finally his eyes came to rest on those of the man he had tried to
kill. Again he found his body frozen, this time in fear at what he
saw in those eyes. His mind raged in terror and screamed at him to
run, but he couldn\'t bring himself to tear his eyes away from the
hard emeralds he looked into.

\"So you think yourself a hunter, do you?\" The question was asked
quietly, but there was the sound of laughter behind the words. \"With
your pitiful blade, you thought to kill ME?\" Through his fear the man
felt anger. He was LAUGHING at him! How dare he?!

\"How rare, for the hunter to become the hunted. It\'s been fun, human,
but now it\'s time to restore the rightful order of things.\"

He was startled at being called human. Weren\'t they all humans? But
the absolute menace in those final growled words brought back the
fear. Suddenly he realized, as he hadn\'t before, that he had very
good reasons for fear. Five of them. The eyes before him were no
longer the green of emeralds, but the glowing red of a nightmare. The
small amount of light that entered the alleyway was just bright
enough to show the evil grin the creature gave him. And to glint off
of the sharp fangs it revealed.

With a strangled yelp he turned away in terror, desperate to escape.
But instead of reprieve, he found four more pairs of glowing eyes and
sharp fangs. As now clawed hands grabbed him, he did what he hadn\'t
done in many years. He screamed.

* * *

Armand leaned heavily on the shoulder underneath his arm as they left
the alley. He was pleased with his friends reactions thus far, but
didn\'t want to push it with what he knew was going to happen. For all
that he could barely stand up, he tried to hurry his friend along.
They had turned the corner of the alley and were walking past the
empty building on the other side of the club when the screaming
began.

Steve stiffened and looked over his shoulder in surprise. \"Come on
Steve, just ignore it,\" Armand urged. Steve gave him an incredulous
look but continued walking with a shake of his head. Some things you
just didn\'t need to know. The screaming stopped, just as suddenly as
it had begun. He didn\'t know which was worse.

\"So, am I crazy, or is your friend back there a vampire,\" he finally
asked to fill up the silence.

\"No, you\'re not crazy. They are vampires.\"

Steve froze for a second before continuing. \"They?\"

\"Yeah,\" Armand answered dryly, \"they. My so called \'brothers\' are
vampires too. I\'m the only one that\'s not yet.\"

\"You mean you WANT to be a- a vampire... thing?\"

Armand didn\'t answer the tone, but instead said, \"Yeah, I do.
Hopefully I\'ll be changed not long after graduation. I\'ll be 18 by
then too, which will make Sire that much happier. I can hardly wait,
knowing I\'m so close. It should be weird or something, I know, but
it`s all I`ve ever known.\"

Steve didn\'t comment on what he just couldn\'t seem to understand. He
shook his head and knew it would take some thought before he could
even begin to understand. Trying to put it out of his mind for now,
he focused on something he COULD do something about.

\"Hey, you don\'t look very good Armand,\" he said to his friend. \"How
much blood did you lose, man? You\'re pale as.... Well, as one of your
vampire friends back there.\" Armand chuckled at that, but it was weak
and more breath than sound.

\"Should I, you know, call an ambulance, or something?\"

The black haired young man immediately shook his head no. Armand
looked into Steve\'s eyes and saw concern and also a bit of rebellion
there. He realized his friend\'s cell phone was in his hand and
grabbed his wrist. \"Think about it S,\" he said, using the short form
of his name that only he used. \"I know how much blood I\'ve lost. I am
well aware that if I don\'t get a transfusion or some other help soon,
I\'ll die.\" He saw in his friend\'s startled and scared visage that he
hadn\'t known in just how much danger he was in.

\"It\'s ok,\" he was quick to reassure, \"Paulos can help me and a lot
quicker than any modern medicine can.\" Steve looked skeptical but
before he could continue to explain, a throat was cleared behind
them. They turned to find Paulos standing in the shadows of the
building.

\"No, ambulances and human medicine are not what we need here. Don\'t
worry boy, I take good care of my childer. Even if they\'re not fully
made yet.\" Looking into the eyes of his halfling he said, \"Come to
me, my love. I have what you need.\" Lifting a hand with nails that
were long and still incredibly sharp, he carefully sliced a small
wound into his own neck.

Once again the sweet tang of his Sire\'s blood filled the night air
and Armand pulled away from his friend. He walked, or more
accurately, stumbled, the few steps into his Master\'s arms. As Paulos
held him to his chest he clamped his mouth over the wound and drank
that sweetest of nectars. The blood wouldn\'t replace what he had
lost, as it did for a real vampire, but its healing properties would
cause his body to create replacement fluid at an incredible rate.
Already Armand could feel his body getting stronger.

After only a few minutes he felt the wound beneath his lips begin to
close and whimpered, wanting more. Paulos caressed his hair
saying, \"Enough little one. Any more and you\'ll make yourself sick.
Your body is still human, remember, and I\'m not ready to change you
yet.\"

With a moan he obediently pulled his mouth away and rested his
forehead against a strong shoulder, allowing the blood to do its
work. He felt like his entire body was humming with energy and knew
it would continue for some time yet. He loved it when Sire allowed
him that particular treat, though preferably not in such dire
circumstances. When he felt strong enough he turned away from his
Master to again look at his friend.

And for the first time, saw fear. He was confused for a moment until
Paulos tilted his face up and meticulously licked away the blood that
remained on his lips and had dripped from the corner of his mouth.
With lips and face stained red with blood that wasn\'t his own, Steve
had finally seen his friend as something other than human.

Armand felt fear of his own. He desperately didn\'t want to lose his
oldest friend. \"Steve, it-- it\'s still me,\" he said in a small
voice. \"Please, don\'t turn away from me now. Just-- just give me time
to explain.....\"

Steve didn\'t quite know what to think, but he did know one thing.
Armand was right. He was still the person he had known for almost
seven years. He was just... more. Taking courage from the worry he
saw in his friend\'s face he took the three steps that would bring him
within touching distance. Deliberately he made himself put a hand on
Armand\'s shoulder and looked into his eyes. \"Ok,\" he said simply. The
joy filled smile he received in return was more than worth it.

\"Umm, hate to interrupt such a touching moment,\" a voice said from
behind them, \"but can we go home now?\" They turned to find Arlis, who
had spoken, grouped with his brothers and looking impatient.

Paulos chuckled and said, \"Yes, let us return home. There is much yet
to be done with before the sun rises. Isn\'t there, Armand?\"

Suddenly the halfling remembered the events from before the stabbing
and groaned. He sighed and replied, \"Yes, Sir,\" with resignation.
Seeing his friend looking confused he thought he might see a brief
reprieve. \"What about Steve,\" he asked, \"he\'s my ride home.\"

Paulos gave his halfling a bland look that said he saw right through
the question before answering, \"You know very well that I could carry
you if I intended to return quickly. But you\'re right in that your
friend is a consideration. You have a vehicle here, correct?\" He
addressed his question to Armand\'s fair-haired friend.

\"Uh, yeah,\" he answered readily enough, \"it\'s in the lot behind the
club. But if Armand has a ride already, I can just drive myself
home.\"

Paulos began walking back towards the club, pushing the two teenagers
ahead of him. \"Ahh, but you misunderstand,\" he said. \"You are going
to be returning with us to our home for the remainder of the
evening.\" He saw the startled and suspicious look that Armand threw
him, but the halfling didn\'t say anything. Steve looked somewhat
suspicious himself, but he didn\'t dare contradict someone that could
cause the kind of screams he had heard earlier. Besides, he trusted
that Armand wouldn\'t put him in a bad situation.

\"We shall meet you at home,\" the Master said to his other childer,
and they swiftly disappeared into the shadows surrounding them. They
rounded the building and Steve led them to a slightly beat up blue
car. Thankfully they had avoided the other patrons thus far leaving
the club due to the back exit into the main parking lot that most
people used.

\"Ummm, where did your brothers park,\" Steve asked.

Armand laughed as he walked to the passenger side of the car. \"They
didn\'t bring a car.\"

Steve stopped and stared at his friend in consternation. \"Then how
did they get here?\" He wasn\'t sure he wanted to know the answer, but
asked anyways. \"They didn\'t, like, fly did they,\" he added hesitantly.

\"Nah, vampires don\'t really fly,\" he responded. \"Well, most of them
don\'t,\" he amended with a glance towards his amused Sire. \"They have
to reach almost 1000 first.\" He conveniently ignored the wide-eyed
look of amazement he received at the figure he treated so callously
and continued. \"Until then they kind of run and jump from place to
place. It\'s rather hard to describe. You\'d have to see it to
understand. But it\'s FAST. You know it will take us almost an hour to
get home from here, even without traffic, but they got here inside 20
minutes traveling their way.\"

Steve blinked at him a moment before saying, \"Oh. I guess I just
thought they were nearby in town or something. I didn\'t realize they
had come all the way from your place.\" The blonde shook his head and
pulled out his keys before unlocking the door.

Before he could open it he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to
find Paulos standing behind him. \"I\'ll be driving,\" he said matter of
factly. Steve hesitated, but the vampire raise his eyebrows at him in
clear warning and he slowly placed his keys in the outstretched hand
before getting into the backseat with Armand who had already gotten
in.

Looking at his clock as the car started up, he saw that it was after
one a.m. and hoped that the night wouldn\'t last much longer. He was
TIRED. Given the nervous glances that Armand was throwing both him
and the man driving, he didn\'t hold out much hope. He sighed as he
realized this was going to be a very, very long night.

*To be Continued*