Chapter Text
Lysander’s kisses were as oppressively hot as the air in the cab. They should have taken limo back to the hotel, but Candy had dragged Nathaniel to it after the final show of their tour and taken off before the rest of the band had made it to the parking lot. And even if they had been there, there was no way Castiel was getting in the limo with Candy and Nathaniel. Likewise, neither was anyone else. Four couples dry humping in close quarters did not appeal to Castiel. At least not at the moment. If they all got turned, they could have big orgies anytime they wanted for eternity. It wasn’t like they were shy.
Case in point, Lysander’s hand was practically down his pants in the back of the cab and Castiel was busy bucking up into him. If he came in his jeans, he hoped at least the cab driver liked the show.
They stumbled out of the cab in front of the hotel. As Lysander fished some money out of his pocket and practically tossed it at the driver, Castiel kissed his neck and felt the urge to bite washing over him. It didn’t help that Lysander’s free hand was still cupping his crotch.
“Come on,” Castiel breathed. “Come on. Come on!”
Lysander kissed him roughly before pushing his forehead against him. “Patience, love.”
“No!” Castiel snapped and dragged him towards the door. They made it to the elevator before Castiel began unbuttoning Lysander’s pants.
“Wait,” Lysander breathed, but rolled his body so that he pressed up against Castiel. “Let’s get in your room.”
When Castiel tried to grab him and kiss him, Lysander held him with supernatural strength and only kissed the top of his head.
“You won’t be able to do that when I’m the same as you,” Castiel hissed with a smile.
“You plan on accepting my offer?”
“Only if you fuck me.”
Lysander smiled and pressed his mouth to Castiel’s a moment before the elevator signaled they were at their floor. In a flash Castiel found himself alone in the elevator; Lysander already far down the hallway, walking backwards, waving Castiel’s room key in his hand. Castiel didn’t bother to check his pockets. This wasn’t the first time Lysander had pickpocketed him since he and the other vampires had started following the band. Castiel simply followed with a smirk on his face.
An eternity of this didn’t seem so bad.
In the room, Lysander threw Castiel on the bed and pulled off his coat and shirt while eyeing him. Castiel stripped as best he could while staying on his back and managed to get mostly undressed before Lysander pounced on him and ripped the rest of his clothes from him. Well, that wasn’t the first time that had happened, either. Castiel would get more clothes.
Rocking as Lysander’s mouth played with the flared end of the short, thick toy Lysander had asked him to wear under his clothes during the concert, Castiel moaned. He needed Lysander. He wanted Lysander to press into him so hard it broke him.
And Lysander didn’t disappoint. The pace was relentless. Castiel could barely breathe past the suffocating ecstasy and the hand on his throat. Lysander held him down making pain blur with pleasure. The vampire was killing him. Castiel was sure he was going to die there with Lysander on top of him. And it was absolutely perfect.
Castiel screamed and felt himself come apart. His vision blackened, but he still felt everything. Lysander inside him, the vampire’s mouth clamping down so hard on his shoulder that Castiel thought the bone would splinter. And then, this terrible emptiness as Lysander pulled away washed over him.
He wanted to protest, but Castiel could only tremble quietly with need. That need was satiated shortly when he felt Lysander pick him up and press his head down into the crook of his shoulder. Castiel found the gash in Lysander’s skin without trying and felt himself drinking greedily.
The blood didn’t seem to the stop. Castiel drank blindly until he lost consciousness and fell into a comfortable, black sleep.
Castiel shifted in place. He was in so much pain. The bite mark that Lysander had used to turn him a few days earlier was still healing and it stung under the bandages. His skin was more sensitive now and the fabric of his clothes was suddenly rougher than he liked. Under all that, he ached. His muscles and bones and his head. Everything hurt. Lysander said it came with the turning process, but it didn’t make the pain any easier to bare.
“You’ll feel better when you feed for the first time,” Lysander whispered.
“When will that be?” Castiel croaked. He was so thirsty.
“We’re waiting for the others,” Lysander reminded him soothingly. “Don’t you want to see your friends?”
He might have answered, but before he could, the door opened. Leigh held the door to the suite open and Rosalya glided in, grace in her movements, but pain marring her face.
“It hurts?” Castiel called.
Rosalya smiled, relief on her features. “I thought I’d be the only one,” she whispered and as she approached it was clear she was pushing through the same pain that Castiel was suffering from.
Castiel stood and they embraced. It was torture but somehow that didn’t matter.
“Where’s Nathaniel?” Lysander asked.
Looking up, Castiel noticed that Candy had trailed into the room behind Rosalya. She looked like she’d been crying. Castiel looked from her to Rosalya.
“Where’s the idiot?” he asked.
Candy walked unsteadily towards the group, with Leigh hovering just behind her as if she would fall, and when she got close she let out a sob. Lysander pulled her to him and held her. Leigh watched them for a moment before turning towards Rosalya and Castiel.
“He didn’t make it,” Leigh muttered softly. “He wasn’t suited for the blood and it burned him to death.”
“Burned him?”
“Didn’t Lysander explain it to you?” Rosalya asked.
Castiel narrowed his eyes and gave Lysander a flat look. “No. I’m not even sure what exactly he should have told me.”
Lysander, still holding Candy, bowed his head. “I’m sorry, Castiel. I was so eager that I got carried away. You see, when a vampire is made, their blood is partially drained and replaced with vampire blood.”
“That much I know,” Castiel sneered. When Lysander looked hurt and Candy gave him trembling stare, he softened. “Sorry,” he muttered. “So what else?”
“Vampire blood is like an acid when mixed with human blood,” Leigh continued. “It burns the human DNA out of a person leaving behind only the DNA of the vampire.”
“So vampires were the first humans, and humans are some sort of offshoot?”
“He’s clever,” Leigh commented to Lysander. “Yes, that’s possible. Probable even. Vampire blood burns the humanity out of a human leaving vampire DNA and holes. Those holes are then filled in with the maker’s blood as it attaches to the offspring’s leftover vampire DNA. But a maker’s blood can only fill in so much. If too much of the human’s DNA is actual human DNA, when the humanity gets burnt out of them, there’s nothing left for the maker’s blood to attach to.”
Candy sobbed again, burying her face in Lysander’s chest. Lysander stroked her arm gently.
“Castiel,” Rosalya said breathlessly. “Nath didn’t make it.”
“Yea,” he muttered in answer.
Castiel felt his heart sink. In spite of all their fighting, deep down Castiel had liked – no, had loved the idiot. They’d been through so much together. They might have played at rivalry, but they were each other’s support system. They didn’t sleep together out of physical need. They were rock stars; they could get a groupie if they wanted. No, it was because some part of them were in love. Castiel had gone into this thinking he would have both Lysander and Nathaniel by his side forever and now Nathaniel was gone.
Castiel felt himself holding onto Rosalya tighter and felt her tuck herself into him. That felt good. At least they had each other. They could comfort Candy too, he supposed. Lysander would know what to do; he seemed very close to her. And Iris was always good with the sad and the grieving, it was her gift. The three of them would be able to pull together, just like always.
“Where’s Iris?” Castiel muttered.
“She’s okay isn’t she?” Rosalya said with an edge of hysterics in her voice. “She made it, didn’t she?”
“I don’t know,” Leigh admitted. “I went to check on them while you were still sleeping, but they weren’t in their room. But Armin knows we have to meet here before we leave and he wouldn’t have gone too far.”
“But,” Castiel said, “are you sure Iris made it through being turned?”
Neither Leigh nor Lysander answered.
They were resting on the bed. The hotel room where they were waiting for Armin and Iris wasn’t quite a suite. It looked more like a studio apartment. From the bed they would see the rest of apartment as well as the door, which was situated across from them. They originally were going to sit on the sofa, but Leigh suggested bed and they had sort of agreed by non-disagreement to follow his advice.
Candy was too distraught to care where they sat. Lysander was busy trying to keep her from having a total meltdown. Whatever she was on verge of it was bad. Lysander kept muttering things like: “Not here.” and “Don’t show them this. Not now.” Part of Castiel wanted to ask what was happening. Most of him didn’t have enough energy to care about Candy. Rosalya was grieving for Nathaniel as well and worried about Iris. Leigh wanted to keep an eye on her. That was probably why he’d suggested the bed.
Castiel was in the middle with his legs stretched out in front of him and his ankles crossed. To his right, Rosalya was curled into him, one arm squeezing his. Castiel could see Rosalya’s other hand resting on her knee, with her fingers laced with Leigh’s. On Castiel’s other side, Lysander was sitting a little ways away. His arm was stretched out, holding Castiel’s hand, squeezing it every so often. Candy was on his lap, facing Castiel. Mostly she had her face in Lysander’s hair, but every so often she would sob and reach forward to stroke the side of Castiel’s face gently. “Poor thing,” she would mutter.
Castiel didn’t like being pitied and his body was screaming in pain at all the physical contact. But he was hurting. He’d lost his first love and now didn’t know if he was going to see one of his best friends ever again. The closeness, the feeling of being together with people who loved him and were suffering with him was more important to him than his pride or any physical pain he might be feeling.
He leaned into Rosalya. His newly heightened senses could smell the scent of her body, not her perfume or her shampoo, but her skin and sweat. He let it engulf him. And he squeezed Lysander’s hand as if it was the last thing he would ever do. There was a steady thump-thump under the vampire’s skin that was soothing.
He could have gone to sleep. That would have been nice, actually. To sleep for a while and forget would mean he’d get to see Nathaniel again and maybe get to say goodbye. He hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye the last time he’d seen him. Castiel had been too preoccupied with Lysander; Nathaniel had been too wrapped up in Candy. They hadn’t even said goodbye.
Castiel wondered if Candy had gotten to say anything to him before he was gone. Did she try to turn him like Lysander had successfully turned him? Had she crushed the human out of him, burnt the mortality out of him, without so much as a word of comfort or promise of being there for him. It had worked out well for Lysander, but what if it hadn’t? What if Castiel had slipped away? Was that why Lysander was squeezing his hand? Was it why he seemed to glance at him with guilt? Maybe vampires weren’t supposed to turn humans that way, with force and brutality. Maybe Candy had laid Nathaniel down after ripping him apart to turn him and it had never occurred to her that he would never get up.
Suddenly Castiel let go of Rosalya and Lysander. They both made a noise like whining animals, but he ignored them and put his hands on either side of Candy’s head. His body screamed, but he pulled her forward and pressed a kiss to her mouth. He felt her kiss him back and felt her tears on his face.
“Isn’t that sweet?”
Candy and Castiel parted and whole group looked towards the door. Dake stood there smiling by the open door.
“I’m glad everyone is getting along,” he said. “It’s so important for a family to be cohesive.”
“You’re not our family,” Rosalya muttered.
Castiel smirked. Well at least there was some fight left her.
But Dake laughed. “Boys! You haven’t taught them the rule and reason yet? Tsk, tsk. Up, up. Everybody up.”
To Castiel’s utter shock Candy got off Lysander’s lap and they both got up. Lysander reached back for him and pulled him off the bed by the arm. A squeak caused Castiel to look back. Leigh had hauled Rosalya to her feet on the other side of the bed.
The Lysander, Candy and Leigh herder Rosalya and Castiel to the front of the bed and stood them in the middle of them of them. Dake smiled in approval.
“Now,” he said sharply. “There are two things you need to know in this family. The first is the rule. Not rules. Rule. One rule. The second thing, is why that rule is present. The reason. Okay? Ready? The one rule is: I rule you.”
“The hell you do,” Castiel spat only to have Lysander squeeze his wrist so hard he whimpered.
Dake made a tsking sound again and shook his head. “I thought you might say that, Castiel. Some offspring do and I figured you’d be one of them. It’s probably why Lysander didn’t tell you the two things you need to know before he turned you. He probably knew you’d never agree to the change if he had. Well, what’s done is done. So here’s the reason the rule is in place. Armin!”
From outside the door, Armin walked into the room. He looked like Candy had looked when she had opened to the door, only worse.
“Iris?” Rosalya asked.
“She isn’t coming,” Dake answered. “Armin tell them why.”
Armin trembled and swallowed, his bloodshot eyes darting from Dake to the group. “Dake killed her,” he muttered.
Castiel felt himself flying forward practically before the words left the air. He was going to kill Dake. It was the only thing in his mind. He was going to kill him.
“Castiel, stop!”
Suddenly he pinched forward. Castiel’s legs just gave out from under him and he ended up on the floor. For a moment he struggled with the shock, but after a couple of seconds he turned around on the floor and looked at Lysander. It was his voice that had called out to him.
Lysander looked like he was in pain. His eyes were wet. “It won’t do you any good,” he said. “Get up and come back here.”
Immediately and without wanting to, Castiel got up, walked back to the line and took his place between Lysander and Rosalya.
“See?” Dake said. “This is why you need to understand why the rule is in place. You see, when a vampire is made they become linked to their maker. They can’t hurt them and they have to obey them. Not forever, mind you. But for five hundred years from the night of their making. And, anyone made by a vampire still under their maker’s control, can’t hurt their grandmaker. Now a grandmaker can’t hurt their offspring’s offspring. But to their own offspring they can do this.”
Leigh screamed. Rosalya gasped and jumped back from him. Castiel heard Lysander moan behind closed lips under Leigh’s screaming. Leigh’s knees buckled and he ended up on the floor, holding his hand in his hands as he roared in what must have been torturous pain. After several agonizing seconds, he stopped screaming, lurched like he was going to throw up and fell forward only to catch himself on his hand so that he was on all fours. He was shaking and Rosalya approached carefully.
“Leigh?” she muttered.
“Don’t be such a baby, Leigh,” Dake muttered tiredly. “Get up.”
With a groan Leigh pushed himself up and got to his feet. Castiel wasn’t sure what happened or how Leigh was standing after it.
“See? A maker has almost complete control over their offspring. No maker tells a human they want to turn about that, for one reason or another. I didn’t tell Leigh because … well because I never spoke to him before I turned him.”
Dake laughed and his fangs showed for the first time.
“I saw him walking down the street. He was so pretty. It was already night. Vampires may only be as strong as a human during the day, but at night we’re supernatural – if you’ll excuse the pun. I grabbed, pulled him away to where no one would hear him screaming, held him down and … well the rest is very private. Isn’t it, Leigh?”
Leigh stood there and said nothing.
“Believe me, he agrees. He’s never even spoken of it to Lysander, and I never even told him not to. In fact I once almost told him to tell him and Leigh begged me not to. He just doesn’t want him to know the intimate details. He can be so shy. Anyway!”
Advancing on the group, Dake pointed at Leigh. “I turned Leigh.” He moved his finger over Rosalya and Castiel and stopped on Lysander. “And Leigh turned Lysander. See after I made him I told Leigh we were going away and he begged me to let him see his little brother before we left. He wanted to tell him some story so that he wouldn’t worry about him and wouldn’t come looking for him. It was the first time he ever begged him for something.”
Stopping just in front of Lysander, Dake stared at him silently for a moment.
“Well, it was the first time he begged me for something as a vampire. As a human … ahaha, as I said that’s private. And I’m nothing if not generous. I let him see his brother. How was I know he’d turn him? Leigh didn’t know the reason behind the rule, so when Lysander asked to be turned and come with him, he was just grateful to be bring him along.
“That brings us to Candy. Poor Candy. Lysander found her in a brothel, a real brothel, when he was looking for food and he just couldn’t bring himself to drain her dry like he should. I was going to have Leigh punish him. Leigh! Eight seconds please.”
Now it was Lysander’s turn to scream. He hunched over in agony and Castiel grabbed him and held him up. He could feel something running under Lysander’s skin, like a current of electricity making his muscles jump. After what must have been eight seconds and Lysander stopped screaming with a little groan and stood up straight. Castiel didn’t let go of him.
“But,” Dake went on, “Leigh loves to beg me. He begged for his brother and for Candy, too. Lysander had fallen in love with Candy, how sweet. And I made them a deal. They could try to turn her. If she turned, she would be part of our family. If she didn’t … well you know what happens to humans who don’t make good vampires, don’t you?”
He paused. “Well, maybe you don’t know actually. Leigh tell me if they know.”
“They don’t know,” Leigh growled. It was clear every word was being dragged out of him against his will.
“Aha! They don’t! Well, I’ll tell you. Vampire blood burns the humanity out of human and leaves behind vampire DNA for the maker’s blood to attach to and BAM! Vampire. But if there’s nothing for the maker’s blood to attach to, it just keeps burning, and burning, and burning.”
He grinned and took a step towards Castiel.
“Can you imagine a human being boiled alive from the inside out,” he whispered. “Their eyes explode as the water in them turns to steam, and then run out of the sockets. Their cheeks sink it as the moisture in their mouth disappears. They’re all covered in sweat and the sweat smells like burning flesh. At the end, even though they’re unconscious, you can see their muscles jerking around as their brain liquefies in their skull.”
Dake laughed as he backed up. “I heard the sloppy mess that’s left over is actually delicious. I swear I’ll try it one day. Anyway! I offered my babies a deal and I made sure they’d agree. I told them, if they refused to try to turn her I’d torture her to death. And I can make torture last for days or weeks. I made them sit through a two week demonstration, just to prove my point. So Lysander went and made her and here she is!”
Dake threw his arms out in a flourish and turned in a circle. When he stopped he was standing between the group and Armin, looked from side to side, first at him then at them.
“Armin, if you can believe it, was suicidal. His twin brother had just been murdered by some very religious men with strong opinions about who men should and shouldn’t have sex with, and Armin was so upset. Candy - stupid, stupid, selfish Candy - loved him and decided she’d rather have him with her than dead. She knew the reason behind the rule, but she loved him and couldn’t see him die.
“So in the end what have we learned, children? That love is a weakness. And you’d think my line would have learned that, but they didn’t. They found your little band and they fell in love. Poor selfish babies. They didn’t even tell you what they were doing to you. Well, it was for your own good. Because when they left to go after you, Candy said they were going to kill you. But I knew better. I knew love when I saw it. So I let them go and made them the same deal I had made Lysander with Candy. Take it or leave it. They didn’t want you all to be tortured to death so they took it.”
Pointing at Castiel then Rosalya, Dake smiled.
“It turned out okay for you two. They have you and you have them, and you will for the next five hundred years. Isn’t that wonderful? Well even if you think it isn’t, you’re stuck now! They own you!”
He laughed.
“Poor Nathaniel wasn’t so lucky. I went to find Candy and Nath after I dealt with little Iris, and found Candy crying over his body.”
Reaching out, he pant Candy’s head.
“It was so hard for you to see him like that, wasn’t it? It hurt you so much, I didn’t even taste his boiled brain liquid. That’s how much I care. Castiel, Rosalya, my babies. I hope you don’t have to see a human burnt out from vampire blood until you’re grown up and mature, maybe with some offspring of your own. It’s not a very pretty sight. Good thing I saved Iris from that fate. Didn’t I, Armin?”
“Why did you kill Iris?” Castiel growled. He felt Lysander’s hand on his wrist, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew he couldn’t do anything. But he had to know.
Dake smiled. “She wasn’t fit for the blood. Unlike Candy, Armin came to terms with that. He knew he couldn’t turn her, and that to try would be agonizing for her. He begged me – oh how fond all my line are of begging – begged me to have mercy. And I did. I told him to just kill her. And when he said he couldn’t, that he just couldn’t, I did it for him.”
He chuckled.
“Of course, I took a fee for my favor. I won’t tell you about it. I know Leigh would be jealous, since he guards the knowledge of our intimate time with such fervor. But it was wonderfully passionate. Armin could tell you. He was there. I asked him to stay and he knew the rule. He wouldn’t want the order to go down the chain and get Candy hurt. So, there is. The whole matter. Now, we’re leaving, my babies. I have a new home waiting for us. Oh! Leigh, remind me how long ago I turned you.”
“In two months it will be four hundred and ninety-seven years.”
“That long?! I really only have three more years with my little family? I suppose you’ll be taking them all away when you're all grown up and they’re officially your line, won’t you, Leigh. Ah, such is the way of the world. Babies grow up. But until then, I’ll be waiting down stairs. I got us a car to take us to the airport. Be quick! International planes don’t wait on stragglers.”
With that Dake turned, waltzed passed Armin, who flinched at his approach, and left the room, closing the door him.
Castiel stared at the door. He felt numb.
“I’m sorry,” Lysander murmured.
“Can you read my thoughts?” Castiel asked absently.
“God, no! Our minds are the only thing that’s still our own.”
Castiel looked at Lysander. Suddenly, he didn’t look dark, mysterious, sexy or powerful. He look broken.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated.
“For falling in love with me?” Castiel asked and when Lysander laughed bitterly then went to say something, he cut him off. “That’s what happened. The rest, the rule and the reason and everything else, that doesn’t matter. You loved me and you couldn’t control that. We were both doomed as soon as it happened. No matter how things played out afterwards, as soon as you fell in love with me, as soon as all of you,” he glanced quickly around, “fell in love with us, we were all going to suffer. None of you could have stopped it if you had tried. Why cry about it? It won’t change anything.” Castiel clenched his fists. “It won’t help,” he whispered darkly.
Rosalya let out a sob next to him, and Castiel reached for her hand. She took it, but pulled him towards Leigh as she closed to the distance between them.
“Three years isn’t so long,” she said. Her voice was cracking. “You’ll take us away after that, right?”
Lysander and Leigh closed around them on side of them closest to the bed. Suddenly, Candy and Armin were on their other side, boxing Rosalya and Castiel in. Somehow, Castiel was unsurprised at how safe he felt, if only in the knowledge they wouldn’t be alone.
“Dake is a psychopath,” Lysander muttered into Castiel’s hair. “But he has little company.”
“Normal vampires aren’t like him,” Leigh went on. “There are places we can go, people who’ll take us in, once I’m free. I know people who hate Dakota, who’d love to have us.”
“It’s only three more years,” Candy breathed. “We’ll be free in three more years.” She turned her head and kissed Armin’s cheek who gave a little grunt in response.
“See?” Rosalya muttered on the verge of hysterics. “We’ll be okay. We’re going to be okay.”
They stood together trembling.