BOYS OF THE NIGHT - #16


"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" he yelled, his eyes wide with confusion. They all looked from Barb and then to Kevin, simultaneously.
Kevin slammed the door shut and grabbed at his head, his hands dug into his hair. "WHO DID THIS?!"
All eyes turned to Nick. He stammered a second under Kevin's angry stare.
AJ leaned over to the blonde and said quietly, "Nick, bud, I think you'd better forget about the girl and try to save your own ass."
"SHUT UP, AJ!!! YOU'RE IN THIS TOO!" Kevin boomed.
The Gangrel recoiled fearfully as Kevin walked towards them. "Nick, you... you did this?" he asked, motioning with one hand in the girl's direction. He studied Nick's tear-streaked face intently. "Did you?"
"I- she-"
"ANSWER ME!"
"Kevin, I'm sorry! Please-"
Kevin held up a hand, silencing Nick, his attention now turned to Barb, lying on the floor. He furrowed his brow.
All of them had been too busy being terrified to notice that she was waking up, moaning quietly as she curled into a ball. Her small body was in terrible shock from the blood loss. She shivered, as if cold.
"She's still alive? She's not turned yet?" Kevin asked, looking at Nick.
"No," he replied between sniffles, leaning over her, touching her cheek. "She's still alive. I couldn't embrace her."
Kevin crouched down. The others backed up, all except Nick. He stayed by her side, watching Kevin with his stony blue eyes. For this, the Ventru gave him credit. One thing he'd taught Nick was persistence, and to take credit for what he'd caused.
Kevin lifted her chin towards him to get a better look at her. He smiled amiably at her youthful beauty, her now peaceful expression.
"She's very pretty, Nick," he said softly as after a period of silence. The group gathered around, assuming the fury was gone. They were wrong.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" Kevin growled, his face mere centimeters from the blonde's. Nick stood his ground, unwavering, unbreaking. He wasn't intimidated in the least.
"I love her," he stated.
Kevin snorted, a half-laugh and half-grunt. "Love? Is this what you do to people you love? Put them in comas? Is it? She's human Nick! She can't take things like this and live! Why did you want to kill her?"
"AJ was human! I was human! You murdered me! You didn't even hesitate, just so I could stay this way forever! Perfect and blonde and young! To forward your stupid group! And I don't even wanna be here!" Nick yelled back, standing up. Kevin's jaw tightened, giving away his anger and pain as he literally bit it back.
Liking the reaction he got, Nick continued to accuse him, his eyes slitting with the release of pent up rage. "You can't love! Your heartless! You wouldn't know love if it bit you! How could you kill me?! I HATE YOU!"
Kevin scowled back at him, swallowing hard. He didn't reply. His anger faded to pain, and was apparent to them all. His teary eyes went to the girl lying on his wood floor, dying. She was helpless, and being so, triggered sympathy in Kevin's icy heart.
"Nick," he started, restrained, "please listen to me. She will live, but only if you let her get the rest she needs to replenish what you took from her. Take her to your room, let her sleep there. We'll discuss what to do with her tomorrow."
With that, he stood and walked upstairs, keeping his calm, not really able to react from his exhaustion of emotions. So much had happened in the past week. There was nothing left in his body hurt with.
AJ turned on Nick. Despite how he felt they were drifting apart, he still loved him. And the past events had made him jump-start his emotions for Kevin. "How could you just say something so... so cruel to him? How... how can you judge? Look what you did. You're a real dick, Kaos," he said disgustedly over his shoulder as he walked after his mate.
Brian and Howie looked to Nick, not taking sides. Tears formed in the corners of Nick's eyes. He already regretted saying that. Slowly, he bent and picked up the girl, and began to trudge up to his room, leaving the impartial two alone. They stared at one another uncertainly.
"Dude, this is gonna suck," Brian commented after a few seconds of complete silence.
"Yeah. Definitely," Howie replied.

"Train?" he called quietly into the darkness of Kevin's room.
His eyes locked on the bed over in the right corner of the room, where Kevin lay, underneath the heavy covers, even in the heat of Florida. "Go away, Alex," a muffled voice said.
"No. Don't take what he said to heart, Kev, he-"
"He's my son, AJ. How am I not supposed to? I made him, I raised him, we're one. He has my blood coursing through his veins as we speak. It isn't supposed to be like this. He's not supposed to hate me. I never meant for it to be this way."
AJ was silent. There was nothing to say.
"So, how are the bites?" Kevin asked, switching the conversation over to a less delicate subject, his voice still low.
"Better. I'm not dead, so, that's good," AJ chuckled. "Or is that bad?" He looked down to his wounded arms, covered in teeth and claw marks. Just some more battle scars to add to the list. It hadn't been his first fight, and it definitely wouldn't be his last, both of them were sure of it.
Kevin laughed. AJ waited until they'd both stopped before moving on.
"Thank you. For helping me, I mean."
"That's okay. We can't lose you now. You're one of our leads. You go and we lose our baritone anchor."
"Okay. I see how it is," Bone smiled. "Kevin?"
"Hmm?"
"Despite all that's gone on between us lately. I still... I still feel it, ya know? The chemistry, or whatever. When we hunt together, it's like, whoa, the rush is great. It's still there, man. I can feel it. I don't wanna get too far from you. I'm not trying to push you away. You know?" he asked solemnly, taking a seat on Kevin's bed.
"Yeah. I DO know, Alex. I know more than you think." Kevin tossed him a pillow. "Sun's coming up. Go to sleep, asshole."
AJ smiled. "Peace?"
"Peace," Kevin replied. They touched hands, playfully doing their secret sports-fan-like-our-team-just-scored handshake. Laying down on the opposite side of the King-sized bed, AJ slept soundly next to his mate, revelling in the comfortable companionship he knew would never die.