All Roses Wilt in Time

VERY IMPORTANT! This is the first chapter of a short-novel I plan to publish. This is the rough draft, so much feedback and suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!


Chapter One: The Blood That Scents the Night.


William had seen red, quite literally, as he fled from the Victorian-styled house. He had seen the corpses of at least seven vampires as he slipped into the shadows and out the door. Jonathan Bergue and his four sons had wreaked havoc among the party. He knew for certain that he was the only vampire able to escape.

That he owed to the youngest Bergue. Jonathan had called the boy Aidan, he thought, and had very readily forgotten to stab the stake through William's heart *before* he ran off to save his thoroughly injured son.

Aidan had slipped up, showed the mercy of the slightest hesitation as he held a stake to a young vampire's throat. The vampire hadn't wasted any time taking the opportunity for the upper-hand. It appeared Jonathan hadn't quite destroyed the boy's humanity, though it was only a matter of time before that child-like innocence and reluctance to kill transformed into a vengeful blood lust. The boy was a Bergue, after all.

He watched from the shadows as the hunters emerged into the night air. Jonathan and the three older boys were a picture of indignant fury, while Aidan strayed behind with a limp and a torn up arm. An injured Bergue... William couldn't help but smile wickedly at the possibilities.

William waited in Aidan's room for the sound of a beat-up engine in the driveway. It was less than five minutes before the dysfunctional family milled out of the ancient van. Aidan was the last to emerge, looking meek and broken. He was in an obvious amount of pain, but Jonathan was not about to let him be.

The screaming drove William to peer cautiously out the window, far enough out of sight to keep the element of surprise while still able to watch the events unfolding in front of the run-down house.

"--You could have gotten us killed, you stupid, careless boy!" Jonathan was on a rampage, screaming in his youngest's face while he held him in place with a firm grip on his jacket. Not that the whelp was going anywhere, William thought with a roll of his eyes. He could hardly walk on his mangled leg. "What the hell were you thinking!?"

The boy was quite obviously cowering, but he couldn't quite help the slight defiance that shone through. "That I'm not you!" Aidan cried. "I can't kill them!"

"They're monsters! Filthy disgusting leeches that kill innocent people just for the fun of it!" he snarled, giving a rough shake to the fragile child in his grip. "Give them pity and you're no better than they are."

Aidan made a choked noise in the back of his throat that sounded of pain and pure hatred. "Because killing for your sick obsession is so much more justifiable."

One hand untwisted itself from Aidan's jacket and squeezed his windpipe instead. "You think you can just turn your back on this?" Jonathan spat, voice lowering into a hiss of pure venom. "You can just pretend the bastards that killed your mother and sister don't exist?"

Aidan was struggling to breathe around the hand clenched at his throat. "Vampires didn't kill them," he choked out. "Your hatred did."

Seconds later, Aidan was splayed on the ground, nose broken and bleeding from his father's fist. The gravel of the driveway cut into him and his injuries flared at the sudden impact. He gasped for air under the searing agony.

And then Jonathan's booted foot made impact with his ribs, again and again. Jonathan was screaming again, but Aidan was in too much pain and William was in too much shock to identify exactly what he was saying. William thought the older slayer might kill him, as his other sons watched idly in the background. Apparently, Aidan was beginning to wonder the same thing because he no longer even tried to protect himself from the blows.

Jonathan gave a cry of rage and one last, brutal blow to the broken form on the ground before storming into the house. His sons followed, sparing a short, unpitying glance at their brother. William thought for a brief moment that the deranged zealot really had killed the teen, but after a few minutes, Aidan finally worked up the strength to pull himself from the ground and stumble onto the porch.

It was a long time before the injured sixteen-year-old reached his bedroom, giving William plenty of opportunity to blend into the darkness of a corner.

Aidan collapsed onto his bed, barely able to stay in a sitting position, but he managed to pull a small first aid kit out of his bedside table. He tried feebly to bandage up the still-bleeding gashes on his arm, but he obviously lacked the skill with or without injuries. He dropped the gauze back into the tin and laid on top the coverlet in visible misery.

William had to admit he was a pitiful sight, but that was not going to dissuade him from his goal. He stepped out of his hiding place and stalked toward the small bed at its center. Even in his condition, Aidan's heightened senses alerted him of the movement. He feebly turned his head toward William's direction, eyes widening in fear and recognition as they landed upon the dark-haired vampire.

There was none of the contempt in the teen's stare that William had seen in his father's hard, blue eyes. But there was a good amount of fear, and that suited the vampire just fine.

As William reached the bed, the scent was unmistakable. Aidan was a virgin, pure in every way. Well, he was for the moment. When Jonathan found his son tainted and turned in the morning, he knew the slayer wouldn't hesitate to drive a stake through his youngest's heart. Despite his contempt for the boy, Jonathan still loved him at least a little. That much was made clear when he jumped to his rescue during the hunt. Forced to murder his own flesh and blood might be exactly what finishes the disturbed man.

After everything, William couldn't wait to watch him crumble.

William lifted himself onto the small bed and straddled the immobile figure. He had to admit the boy was quite the looker. He was 5'9" of toned muscle and bronze skin. His blond hair was currently caked with dirt and dried blood and his nose was starting to swell and purple, but that didn't make him any less appealing. William was going to enjoy this.

He leaned down to crush swollen lips in a brutal kiss. Aidan gasped in surprise and William used it as an opportunity to push his tongue into the warm, cavernous mouth. He rolled his hips into the startled form beneath him. This jarred some of Aidan's injuries and he was torn between moaning and crying out in agony.

In the end, the pain won out in a choked sob. William broke off the kiss, shocked at the amount of despair in the little whimpers escaping Aidan. The soft, gray eyes were still plagued with fear, but underneath there was a glimmer of defeat.
“Please,” he whispered, voice raw with pain. “It hurts.” Whether he was asking William to stop or to kill him, William couldn't be sure.

“Shut up,” William snapped, though it lacked some of the venom it should have held.

There were red stains gathering under Aidan's mangled arm and leg. The boy's breathing was becoming harsh puffs of air. Curiously, William lifted the ruined t-shirt up to the teen's chest to assess the extent of the damages, and promptly swore.

Large bruised were forming along his stomach and ribcage from Jonathan's earlier beating. William was surprised the boy managed to make it upstairs unaided. “Well, this changes things.” William snapped.

If Jonathan could hurt the boy so badly with nothing even akin to remorse, there was no chance of William's careful revenge that would work. Jonathan would kill Aidan without batting an eyelash, and be rid of a hindrance in the process. William wasn't about to do him any favors.

Aidan's eyes were wide and pleading. He tilted his head to the side. “You can have it. All of it, if you want.”

“You want me to kill you?” amusement colored William's tone.

Aidan bit his lip and nodded. “I—I hear it's kinda nice, you know? They don't even try to get away when vamps bite them... just sort of sigh and lean into it,” he whispered. “My dad is gonna kill me. He almost did tonight... almost did at least ten other times, too. One night he's going to go too far and kill me, and it's going to hurt like this hurts now.

“So, just do it, okay?”

William laughed. “What makes you think I will?”

Aidan swallowed visibly. “That's what you came here for, isn't it?” the catch in his voice betrayed his cool tone. “Why else would you be here? We killed your friends tonight, and you want revenge... or maybe just the glory of killing one of the greatest slayers' sons.”

William had to admit he was grudgingly impressed with the boy's perceptive nature. “Giving you what you want isn't going to much help my revenge.” he said dryly. “But since you asked so nicely, it would just be rude of me to refuse.”

Aidan's face was torn between relief and apprehension. Again, he tilted his head to the side, exposing the long line of his pale neck. It was a tempting treat, but William had other things to attend to first. “Ah-ah-ah,” he tsked, leaning in to lick a path along Aidan's jugular. The rush of blood beneath his tongue sent a shiver coursing through the vampire. “Patience.”

Aidan's fingers twisted in the sheets in obvious restraint. William smirked at the pained expression crossing the boy's face. “Please,” he said, voice raw with physical pain. “Stop playing games and just do it.”

William narrowed his eyes. “I'll do as I please,” he said, hands snaking around the boys legs, hoisting them up. He slid down Aidan's silky black boxers and discarded them carelessly Aidan gave an agonized hiss as his injured leg was jarred around. That made William smile. “You're not in any position to be demanding, anyway.”

“I could scream,” Aidan said, face contorted into a wince. “My brothers are just down the hall. You'd be dust before you even made it across the room.”

William tilted his head in feigned thoughtfulness. “A convincing argument,” he said solemnly. “But of course there is the part after I'm dust, when your father realizes you were careless enough to let a vampire get the best of you in your own bedroom.”

Aidan made a choked noise in the back of his throat. A sign of defeat. “Good boy,” William purred, hands sliding down the teen's lean torso. He felt every ridge of the toned muscle, the touches becoming feather-light as they ghosted over the bruised ribs. Aidan bit his lip, head lolling against the pillows as he left the older man to use his body in any way he pleased.

Aidan's shirt, still bunched against his chest, was swiftly pulled over his head. His arm was bumped in the process, but only slightly. Left completely naked in front of the vampire, Aidan's cheeks burned, but he made no move to stop the caressing hands.

William smiled mirthlessly and leaned down, his mouth attaching to a nipple. His tongue swirled around the small nub until it pebbled in his mouth and the body underneath his writhed in surprised pleasure. William lifted his head, giving the other the same treatment as his hands continued to explore. Aidan was panting and whimpering beneath him, fingers twining into William's short brown hair.

The erection pressing against his stomach, coupled with the delicious little noises of the hunter below him were enough to make him painfully hard. Aidan's body was all hard muscle and toned planes, his unruly blond locks fanned against the pillow and his bright grey eyes widened with each swipe of William's tongue or caress of his hands.

“Please,” he cried out, eliciting a smirk from the teasing vampire.

“Please, what?”

“More,” Aidan panted. “I need more.”

William shucked off his jeans and boxers, too impatient to worry about anything else. He stroked Aidan's cock, pulling a string of breathy moans from the teen. He wrapped his hand around his own erection, stroking them both together.

Feeling his climax coming, William nuzzled the crook of Aidan's neck and bit down. Sweet-tasting blood filled his mouth and made him come violently. Moments later, Aidan cried out as his own orgasm hit.

William fed for a few more moments, savoring the taste before he gently pulled his mouth away. Aidan looked up at him with a dazed expression. “Why'd you stop?”

William brought a wrist to his mouth and tore a large gash with his fang. He pressed the leaking wound to Aidan's mouth and ordered, “Drink.” Still reeling from the afterglow of an orgasm and William's bite, Aidan complied with no argument.

Vampire blood was the sweetest thing Aidan had ever tasted, and he groped blindly for the wrist when William tried to pull away. “That's enough for now,” the vampire murmured, amusement coloring his tone.

“I thought...” Aidan struggled for coherency. “You said you would kill me.”

William chuckled. “I found a reason to keep you alive,” he said nonchalantly. “For now at least.” Aidan opened his mouth to argue, but William cut him off. “Sleep now,” and for some unfathomable reason, Aidan had no choice but to comply.