His Enemy Lover

The Vampire District 1

His Enemy Lover

The humans are tired of living in fear of the vampires. Hawke West, a
skilled assassin, is sent on a mission to kidnap any important member of
a rich vampire house in the hopes of finally starting an open war instead
of allowing the vampires to pick them off. The problem is that the vampire
he kidnaps is the very one who freed him from slavery as a child, and
now he finds himself not only protecting him from his vampire-hating
village, but also falling for him.

William Delany was running from an arranged marriage when Hawke
came back into his life. Though their former relationship was of a master
and servant, they were still children together, and he hasn't forgotten the
man, and Hawke has become very handsome indeed. Now, Will's only
concern is whether he should escape or stay with Hawke where his
future, and the length of his life, will be uncertain.

Genre:

Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves

Length:

36,820 words

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove
HIS ENEMY LOVER
Copyright © 2013 by Marcy Jacks
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-547-1
First E-book Publication: March 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED:  This  literary  work  may  not  be
reproduced  or  transmitted  in  any  form  or  by  any  means,
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All  characters  and  events  in  this  book  are  fictitious.  Any
resemblance  to  actual  persons  living  or  dead  is  strictly
coincidental.
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Chapter One

Hawke West kept to the trees. It was easier to get around

that way, even in the dark, and easier to see the cameras before
they saw him.

Very few vampires bothered with putting cameras into the

trees, just to point them at the branches. They tended to get
pointed downward at the paths leading to the mansion, but still, if
Hawke were to land on a heavy tree branch, his weight would
be enough to cause it to shake, which the camera would see.
That couldn’t always be blamed on the wind or a squirrel.

He avoided another branch with a camera attached to it. The

tiny light by the lens was flashing red, telling Hawke that it was
indeed active, and that he needed to avoid it.

It had been years since he’d been back on the property of

this particular vampire family, and in thirteen years, enough had
changed, more trees either chopped down or sprouting new
branches, that he couldn’t exactly find his way if he were to close
his eyes, despite what the clan leader had said.

He had a simple mission, to get in the same way he’d gotten

out, find himself a hostage, and the more important, the better,
and then get out.

The humans of the West End finally wanted to make a stand,

and considering Hawke used to be a slave to the people he was
going to attack, and a fairly decent assassin, he was the perfect
candidate to go in there and find someone.

The property was enormous. Fucking rich, evil vampires and

their vanity. So even though Hawke was still dodging branches
with cameras, and was more than confident that he’d be able to

with cameras, and was more than confident that he’d be able to
get back off the property with another person unnoticed, he
hardly expected to see someone beneath him, running like their
life depended on it, in the opposite direction of the mansion.

He watched the guy sprinting away, bag over his shoulder,

with a curious brow raised.

Definitely not a slave, unless that bag was filled with stolen

goods. It could be another vampire of the house, but what would
cause him to run away like that?

He could see none of the man’s features aside from the top of

his blond head of hair, and he was just about to turn around and
follow him when three more vampires, guards from the look of
their suits and sunglasses, chased behind the man.

“My lord! Come back!” one of the men shouted.
A flash of inspiration went off in Hawke’s mind. My lord? He

was a member of the family? That was too perfect. Normally
Hawke wasn’t a fan of things that were a little too easy like that,
but in this case, he couldn’t help himself. He kept to the tree
branches and ran after the men as quickly as he could. It seemed
he wouldn’t have to break into that huge house to get what he
wanted after all.

* * * *

William Delany ran like the devil himself was behind him.

Close enough. Those guards worked for his father, and if they
caught him then they would return him to the man, and Master
Delany was not the sort of vampire anyone wanted to displease,
especially not William, the youngest son.

The guards called after him, shouting at him to stop, as though

he would suddenly have a change of heart and do just that.

Yeah, right, like that was going to happen. He knew what

their orders were and he wasn’t about to let them catch him so
easily.

William wasn’t required to train his body like they were. They

were gaining on him, and they would eventually catch him, he
knew that much, but he was going to make them work for it.
Punishments would come later.

Or sooner than he expected. William was tackled to the

ground and he took in a mouthful of dirt and grass. A hand came
down on the back of his head and grabbed a fistful of his hair,
yanking his head back, and he screamed, pushing out as much of
the filth from his mouth as he possibly could before another hand
came around his mouth.

He tried to bite down on it, but his captor was fast, and he

got his head slammed back down onto the ground for his
trouble.

“Got him?” asked one of the other guards to run into the

small clearing where William lost the battle for his freedom.

“Yeah,” the other one on top of Will grunted. “Get over here

and grab his hands, will you? Where’s Lance?”

“He was right behind me,” the other guard said, coming down

and taking Will’s flailing hands and yanking them painfully behind
his back. “He’s probably on his way. He always was slower.”

The other vampire grunted again as they tied his hands with

something. Not a rope, but it was tight around his wrists.

Will screamed and bucked but he was trapped under the

weight of both vampires who were far stronger than he would
ever be.

“Jesus, what did you do to his face?”
“Nothing. I tackled him and he took a mouthful of dirt.”
“Master Delany isn’t going to like that we brought him back

with his face smeared in dirt and blood like that.”

Blood? Will sniffed the air, and yeah, it was there, but not a

lot. There must have been small rocks that he’d scratched his
face against when he went down.

“He’s not being sent to his new family for a little while yet.

It’ll heal, or he can heal himself.”

Bastards, Will thought.
They grabbed him under his armpits and hoisted him up. Will

kept his head down and glared at his shoes.

“Don’t have anything to say, my lord?” asked the one guard.
He glared harder at his feet. He wasn’t about to give these

men, or his father, the ammunition they required to do worse to
him by mouthing off. Slaves were tortured for such offenses, if
they were lucky. Family members could be locked away in their
rooms, denied meals, exercise, and other basic necessities.

Will was the youngest of ten children, not including the

bastards his father had sired and forgotten about, and no one
knew how many of them there were. There was no love in his
family, and being the youngest of all of those children certainly
wouldn’t help him out in any form. Especially because he’d been
running from an arranged marriage.

“Let him sulk. Where the hell is Lance?” asked the guard

who tackled him to begin with. Then he gasped, as though he’d
gotten something stuck in his throat.

“I don’t know where that lazy sack of―holy shit! Sir! What

the―?”

When both men holding him slowly let go, Will finally let his

confusion take hold of him and looked up, just in time to see an
arrow puncture through the neck of the second guard who held
him by the arms. The first one had an arrow in the exact same
spot, through the neck, and was slowly falling to his knees,
gasping for air.

He really had gotten something stuck in his throat after all.
Of course, being vampires, they didn’t die right away, even

with all the blood spurting from their necks. They grasped at
Will’s jacket and the bag that was still slung over his shoulder, as
though they were begging him for help, pleading with him to heal
them.

Despite everything, he would have, if his hands weren’t tied

helplessly behind his back.

Finally, they fell over, and a figure dressed in black

materialized from the shadows. It was almost like he’d always
been there, but Will hadn’t noticed him.

He had a long knife in his hand, and was flicking it, making

the blade gleam in the moonlight in a way that Will didn’t like at
all.

It was made worse by the fact that he couldn’t see the man’s

face, not with that black mask on him that covered his whole
head and went down his neck to the rest of the strange clothing
he wore.

It wasn’t hard to figure out that this man was an assassin.
“Took me a minute to get to all the cameras and shut them

down. No one can see us now.”

He was still tied up, and the man behind him would probably

catch him anyway, but Will started running again, back in the
direction of the mansion, where relative safety would be waiting
for him.

The man caught him easily around the waist and pulled him

down on his knees on the grass, just like Will thought he would.

Will screamed for help, but something was shoved into his

mouth and tied behind his head.

A gag. Why couldn’t he catch a break? Why did everyone in

the world want to catch him and tie him up?

The knife was suddenly in front of him, whereas the assassin

was still behind him. It was so close to his eye that he could
barely focus on it. “I’m not here to kill you. That’s not my job,
but I will if you try and get us caught. Understand?”

Will nodded and swallowed hard around his gag.
“Good,” the man said, then tsked at him and smacked the

bag he was carrying on his back. “You should’ve dropped this
the second you were being pursued. Its added weight was
probably what slowed you down enough to get caught in the first
place.”

Thank you, Captain Hindsight, Will wanted to say. He

clenched his jaw instead. The back of his neck was grabbed and
he was suddenly yanked back up.

The stranger behind the black mask then did something even

scarier than putting a knife in front of his face. He stared at him.
His face came in, close, and while there were no eyeholes or
anything, the material was clearly something that the assassin
would be able to see through, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to
do his job.

do his job.

Their noses were practically touching as Will was examined,

the man’s head turned to the side a little, and Will swallowed.

He could feel the man’s body heat, and then the

uncomfortable sensation of sweat building at the back of his neck
made him itchy, but that didn’t take away the fear.

“I know you,” the man said.
His gloved hand came up from where they had been tightly

gripping  Will’s  arms,  and  he  gently  cupped  his  cheeks.  Will
flinched a little as the man’s thumbs brushed away some of the
dirt  and  dried  blood  that  had  collected  on  his  cheeks,  but  he
wasn’t  being  rough  about  it.  If  anything,  he  was  trying  to  be
gentle.

Will wasn’t about to risk that this was some kind of trick, a

ploy that was in the beginning stages of making him trust his
captor.

“William? William Delany?” the man finally asked.
Will’s eyes widened. He tried to step back, but then the

man’s hands went to his arms again, and the grip was tight once
more.

“I’m right, it is you,” he said, and then undid the gag and

pulled it out from between Will’s lips.

Will spat out some more of the dirt that was still stuck on his

tongue and between his teeth. He knew he was going to be
feeling that terrible sensation of tiny, popping rocks whenever he
spoke for the next little while.

“Who are you?”
The assassin hesitated. Will never thought he would be alive

to get the chance to ask an assassin anything. That was sort of

to get the chance to ask an assassin anything. That was sort of
the point. They were meant to kill before the target even knew
they were there.

Finally, the man reached up and pulled the mask off of his

face, revealing himself.

Will’s heart went into overdrive, and he actually had some

trouble breathing. The darkest eyes he’d ever seen stared down
at him expectantly. He’d seen them only once before and never
thought in a million years that he would be fortunate enough to
see them again.

He was older, thirteen years older, and so much more

handsome than the dirty boy Will recalled, but it was definitely
him. Even all the years and the addition of a well-trimmed beard
couldn’t hide it. “You.”

The man gave him a crooked grin, and his blue eyes seemed

mischievous and playful. “Yeah, me. Been a while, hasn’t it?”

He didn’t have a name, back when he was just a slave boy in

William’s father’s house. Everyone had just called him Boy. That
was the way it was. He’d worked in the kitchens, stayed out
from underfoot, and was often brought in whenever someone
wanted to feed from him. Even William had tasted from his vein
before.

But he’d been just a child then as well. He hadn’t known any

better, that what he’d been doing was wrong.

They had been the same age, as far as Will was able to tell.

Of course, malnutrition could have made the large man before
him seem much smaller than he was at the time. Will guessed
them both to be about ten years old by the time the servant boy
had tried to make his escape.

had tried to make his escape.

And Will had let him go, all those years ago.
“What’s your name?” William asked. He had to know. By

now he must have taken a name for himself.

“Hawke.”
“Hawke,” Will said, testing it out on his tongue. Then he

looked down at the dead guards before looking back up into
Hawke’s nearly black eyes. “I guess it fits. You are a predator
now.”

“Only to vampires,” he said, his face twisting into a frown.

“You’re coming with me.”

Will dug his heels into the ground when Hawke tried to lead

him away, his terror suddenly returning full force as it occurred to
him that Hawke would not be his savior now as Will had been to
him back then. “Wait, where are you taking me?”

“Away from here. My clan needs a hostage, and from what

those guards were talking about, you’re still more than valuable.”

“A hostage? For what? What clan?”
“That’s enough talking for you,” Hawke said, and then the

gag came back.

Will ducked his head around, but then Hawke produced the

knife again. “There’s silver on this blade. I’m warning you. Hold
still.”

He meant it, too. His eyes were hard, and if Will kept on

struggling against him, or if he called out and tried to run, Hawke
would chase him down and cut him.

“Why are you doing this? I saved your life,” Will said, then

the gag was shoved into his mouth and tied around his head, and
he could no longer speak with his mouth full of the material, and

he could no longer speak with his mouth full of the material, and
the tie preventing him from spitting it out.

“That was years ago. If anything, you owed me that,

considering the blood you stole from me, and the shitty life I was
living right under your command.”

Will was only a child then. It hadn’t been under his command

and Hawke should know that. He wanted to argue those points,
but couldn’t now that he was bound and gagged.

Hawke turned away from him for only a second, just long

enough to put his mask back on, and Will, the coward that he
was, was too afraid to try tackling the man, or running while he
wasn’t looking.

He’d seen what Hawke had done to his father’s guards, and

he didn’t want to end up dead out here. He didn’t want to end
up dead anywhere. He was only twenty-three, for God’s sake.

“All right, come on,” Hawke said, and then did something

completely crazy. It happened so fast that Will didn’t even have
the chance to prepare for it. Hawke bent down at the knees,
looped his arms around Will’s legs, and then put his shoulder at
Will’s stomach.

He lifted Will up and onto his shoulder, and the ground

leaving his feet like that was so startling that Will made a
distressed sound through his gag.

“Try to be quiet and try not to move. I don’t want to drop

you,” he said.

Will had no idea what he was talking about until Hawke

started climbing the trees, and he knew without a shadow of a
doubt that this could be no ordinary human he was dealing with.

Chapter Two

Hawke travelled through the trees with his prize for as long as

he was able to. Will was a good captive, easily broken it
seemed, and he hardly moved while Hawke leaped through the
branches and ran away from the estate.

That was always the way it was with the rich and powerful.

They crumbled like dry mud, scattering like dust in the wind, the
second a fist squeezed just a little bit around them.

They took good care of their looks, too. Vampires aged to a

point, but even they could let themselves go if they wished.
William Delany was different from the child he remembered, but
there was enough that was the same that Hawke had recognized
him on sight. He’d never forgotten that young face that had
saved him, and William had grown into a handsome man.

Most vampires were physically attractive, he reminded

himself. That was no reason to lower his guard.

Despite his internal warnings, a quick flash of memory from

long ago, not quite forgotten, but hazy, played for him. He’d
been injured. He’d jumped out of a third-story window of the
very estate he was running away from. He’d done it during the
day, and had to break a window just to get out of the house.

He’d tried to grasp hold of one of the tree branches, but he’d

slipped and fallen.

Hawke had been so determined to get away, to finally

discover just what it was that lived outside of the property, that
he hadn’t realized he’d broken his leg until he’d tried running on
it.

The pain had been unbearable, but he’d still kept on moving.

He’d  already  gotten  out,  and  the  window  had  been  broken.
They  would  know  one  of  the  slaves  had  tried  to  escape,  and
when  they  found  him,  a  broken  leg  would  be  the  least  of  his
worries.

He had tried so hard to keep moving, but by the time the sun

had set and full dark came, he hadn’t made it very far at all.

Then

had come and found him.

Hawke jerked his shoulder to get some kind of response out

of the vampire he carried. There was a groan, but not much else.
Likely passed out due to all the excitement he was not used to
receiving. Hawke half wished he’d found someone else, but this
was too perfect to pass up. The vampires would know that he
was missing already, so Hawke hardly needed to make a scene
with that, and thanks to the clues he left behind on the bodies,
they would also know which species had done it.

A human. A human had bested some of their vampire guards

and stolen a member of their family. All without ever entering that
giant, oppressing house.

The sun soon started to make itself known, and it got to be

too dangerous to travel with his new cargo. Hawke was forced
to stop and make a small shelter in the trees. It wasn’t much. Just
a camouflaged tarp that would keep them hidden.

With William already sleeping, Hawke took the time to take a

small vial out of one of his many hidden pockets and pour it
down his throat. That would keep him unconscious and make it
safer for Hawke to sleep. Even the best assassins needed their
rest from time to time. Ignore that, and the decision making and
reflexes went to shit.

reflexes went to shit.

He used a rope to tie the both of them to the tree to prevent

either of them from falling, and only then did he allow himself a
moment to really look at the man. How thirteen years had
changed so much between them.

Hawke travelled like that for two days, always using his drugs

to keep his hostage complacent. He loved this potion. Witches
and warlocks tended to make him nervous, but they were good
in their production of potions and other things. If one could
afford them.

Sleeping death. While William was under its effects, he didn’t

need to be fed, watered, and all basic necessities were put on
hold. It was the perfect tool when dealing in hostages.

Still, when he finally arrived back at the clan, the stars and

moon above him, he was relieved. It had been a long trip, and he
was tired.

The torches were still lit, and there were men on patrol,

guarding the little shacks that had been built. There were dogs
with them, all of them dark in color to better blend in with the
night.

The dogs knew who he was, but the scent of the man he

carried was unfamiliar to them, and they growled as he
approached, which put the guards in a tense position until they
saw who was coming through the orange light of the torches.

“Hawke! You’re back!” Vaughn said.
Hawke grinned at his best friend. He should have known the

man was on guard duty tonight. He was the only one capable of
making these mutts obey him, after all.

“Yeah, and I got us a new friend, too,” he said, shifting the

weight on his shoulder. He couldn’t wait to put the man down
after travelling like this for two days and nights. His shoulders
were killing him.

“Brian’s in the main cabin. Felicia came down with the flu,

and she hasn’t been getting up lately.”

That made everything inside of Hawke’s chest freeze up.

“When did that happen?”

“Right after you left,” Vaughn said, and then started walking

with him toward his house. “She was walking around at first, fine
and normal, for her, but then she fainted dead away while
carrying the laundry with the others. Brian won’t let her get out
of bed.”

That sounded like a good plan, and Hawke was in full

agreement with it. He went to the main cabin, which was really
just a larger shack than the others that had more walls built in for
rooms, and even a wooden floor instead of a dirt floor.

“Are you going to bring him inside with you?” Vaughn asked.
Hawke stopped. Shit, he’d entirely forgotten about William.

He set the man down carefully next to the door.

“Watch him,” he said.
“Is this the, uh…?” Vaughn trailed off, looking down at the

tied-up man with a mix of fear and suspicion.

“Yeah. He’s drugged, though. Even if he starts to wake up,

he won’t be able to do anything to you.”

“Good to know. Never saw a vampire up close before. He

doesn’t look like much.”

“He’s not,” Hawke said, and then opened the door to the

house and let himself inside.

Vaughn was a guard, and he had the dogs, and William was

drugged. There would be nothing to worry about. He could put
all his efforts at the moment into seeing to the safety of his
mother.

The lamps were lit inside. There was a wooden table with

some chairs off to the right, and to his left was the stand with the
water buckets, and dishes on the shelves. Other weapons and
blades were hanging within easy reach on the rest of the walls,
right where they had always been as far back as Hawke could
remember.

There were only two rooms in the small house, and the

largest belonged to the leader of the clan and his wife.

Brian stepped out of his bedroom at the sound of someone

entering, and his worried face lifted into a smile at the sight of
him. He opened his arms, and Hawke went into them.

“I am so happy you’re back, son,” he said.
Hawke was only a few inches taller than him, and he

squeezed his father tight before pulling away. “If I’d known I
would’ve tried to get here faster. How is she?”

Brian gripped him by the shoulders, then he seemed to look

around himself, at all the walls and the things on them in his
house, before looking back up at Hawke with shining eyes.

Hawke’s heart dropped. He shook his head. “No.”
“Lilly has been giving her everything she can think of, but, it

seems the only thing we can do at this point is to try and keep
her comfortable,” Brian said. He kept his voice down, as though
careful to not disturb someone who was sleeping. Maybe Felicia
was awake and he didn’t want her to overhear how her fate was
already sealed. “The best we can do now is say our good-byes,

already sealed. “The best we can do now is say our good-byes,
give our thanks, and try to make her last days happy. She’ll be
so glad to see you.”

Brian had his hand on Hawke’s shoulder and was gently

pulling him toward the bedroom. Hawke moved without even
really thinking about it. Felicia was always prone to bad health,
but to come back from a mission and find out that this would be
the last in a long line of bad colds…he didn’t know how to take
it in.

His mother was in bed, bundled up carefully in the quilts and

pillows. There was another lamp on at her nightstand, and she
had a book lying open and facedown on her chest.

Her soft brown eyes were also open, and she had a gentle

smile on her cracked lips as he appeared in the doorway. “Hi,
sweetheart,” she said.

Hawke went to her open arms, noting how weak they were

around his back, even though she had always hugged him tight.

* * * *

Will listened with half an ear to the things that were going on

inside of the shack that Hawke had taken him to. His vision was
spinning, and it only helped if he kept his eyes closed, but his
ears still worked perfectly well.

This was Hawke’s family’s house? He’d thought that the boy

he’d rescued all those years ago had been alone in the world.
Had he escaped only to find his parents?

Will liked the thought of that. That despite what Hawke was

doing to him now, Will had not released a boy slave into the wild
for him to simply be taken by the elements. There had been
others waiting for him who had loved him and were glad to have

others waiting for him who had loved him and were glad to have
him back.

The only thing Will regretted was that apparently, the woman

inside was dying. He could smell it all over the house. There was
a sickness here, and his ears picked up an unsteady heartbeat
within. Whoever the woman inside was, she didn’t have much
time left.

William could heal her. He was good at that. He’d never

been sick a day in his life, and every cut and scrape he’d gotten
as a child was always gone before he had the chance to bleed all
over the expensive clothing that his parents purchased for him.

There were dogs near him, and the heavy footsteps of a

man―he thought it was a man―pacing back and forth in front
of him.

Humans were dangerous. William hadn’t forgotten about

what all the texts said about them, about how they had brought
about  a  great  war  that  destroyed  everything  hundreds  of  years
ago,  before  his  time,  and  before  his  father’s  time,  even.  There
were  some  vampires  still  alive  today  who  spoke  about  how
things  were  before  the  great  explosion  that  had  destroyed
everything.  The  paranormals  had  risen  up,  taking  control  and
finally  putting  the  humans  in  their  place,  which  in  turn  created
more problems for themselves, seeing as how this was happening
to Will now.

Humans didn’t live as long as vampires or werewolves, so of

course they had forgotten, they blamed the vampires for their
problems. If this human that was pacing around so close to him
realized he was awake, and was one of the more violent humans
who was not prone to listening to reason, well, Will would be in

who was not prone to listening to reason, well, Will would be in
trouble.

He wondered where his bag was. He was getting hungry.
He realized it the second he heard the zipper ripping down,

and curious hands digging through his things.

“Ugh! What the hell?”
His blood bags had been found.
“Don’t throw them away,” Will said, chancing to open his

eyes, and then wishing he hadn’t when the dizziness came back
onto him. He shut his eyes again, but not before he saw the
human startle and jump away from him. One of the dogs came
close and growled.

Wonderful.
“You’re awake.”
Will tried to move, but he couldn’t. It took him a second to

figure  out  that  it  wasn’t  just  the  fact  that  his  hands  were  tied
behind his back that was doing that. He  felt  sluggish  and  tired,
but  there  was  no  way  this  place  had  been  anywhere  near  his
father’s estate. Hawke must have run an awfully long way with
him.

Drugs. That was the only thing that could be used to keep

him unconscious for long enough that a kidnapper could steal him
away with ease. He shivered at the thought of what had been
happening to him during the daylight hours when he’d been
entirely defenseless.

A pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, and he blinked

up at the human who was examining him. Dark-blond hair that
was shaggy around his face, and soft-brown eyes. The man was
not glaring at him, and he did not give Will the impression that he

not glaring at him, and he did not give Will the impression that he
intended to harm him, but he would still be cautious.

He was certainly not as handsome as Hawke was.
“Drugs must still be working through you,” the man said, then

he shook his head. “I can’t believe Hawke actually did it. I know
he’s good and everything, but damn.”

Will blinked his eyes, trying to will away the dizziness, but the

more he saw the world around him spin, the more he wanted to
throw up the contents of his stomach. He had to focus his
energy. He had to heal himself, but only a little. If this human
noticed, then he might think that Will was trying to cast some sort
of elemental spell to fight back, and then he might very well kill
him.

“Don’t throw away my blood bags. Need them,” he said, his

tongue suddenly sluggish as he worked his magic mostly on
healing his headache and the nausea he felt.

The human actually snorted a laugh. “Right, because you

need those to keep from putting your mouth on human necks,
right? What do you people do? Drain them like pigs and then sip
it from wine glasses?”

Actually, that was what happened, but only to the slaves who

disobeyed, or were being punished. The others went into rooms
and were hooked into machines once a month to be harvested,
and then they went on their way.

It was the only day out of the entire month when they were

given the day off, due to health reasons. It was also why not
every slave was brought in on the same day. Couldn’t have them
all not working at the same time.

He didn’t tell that to the human in front of him. No need to

give him more of a reason to be angry with him.

His silence was damning enough, apparently.
Will opened his eyes once more, feeling a little less sick as he

did so, but the sight of the human in front of him, shaking with
rage, and fists clenched as his dogs stood behind him, just
waiting for their master’s command to strike, had him wishing
that he’d continued to pretend to be unconscious.

The man didn’t come near him, however, nor did he threaten

him. He made a sound of disgust instead, and then leaned against
the wall of the house, shaking his head.

“I won’t touch your precious blood bags. Hope you have

enough to last you until your ransom is paid.”

Will didn’t like the sound of that. He’d only packed two

bags.

He wanted to tell the man that he could heal the woman

within the house, but he didn’t get the chance to before the door
opened once more, and Hawke stepped out.

He looked down at Will, and then over to the human. “Did he

do anything?”

“No. It just woke up. What are you going to do with it?”
Will felt like he’d just swallowed something bad. No one had

ever called him an

before.

“I’ll be sleeping in the barn for the next little while, keeping an

eye on him. Can’t leave him alone and there’s no way we’re
bringing him into any of the houses.”

The human nodded. “Smart move. The empty stalls should be

good for that if you keep it restrained.”

“Restrained?” Will asked.

“Restrained?” Will asked.
Both men ignored him, but Hawke pulled the gag that had

formerly been in Will’s mouth out of his pocket.

“You’re right. Have to get his jaw shut first now that he’s

awake. Don’t want him biting me.”

“No.” Will tried to turn his head away, but Hawke was as

quick as his namesake, and he had the thing in Will’s mouth and
tied around his head quickly.

“That doesn’t look like it’ll prevent him from biting,” said the

other human.

“Not really, but it’ll make things difficult. He won’t be able to

bite me at all if you take his feet.”

The other human did, and together they carried Will over to

another shack, a barn. The wood appeared old and rotting. He
feared the thing would fall down on them the moment they
stepped inside.

All of Will’s hope slowly seeped out of him when they

stepped through the doors and into the dark space.

He was suddenly questioning the wisdom of running away

from home when the doors closed behind them.

Chapter Three

Despite Will’s fears, he was left mostly alone. He’d learned

that the name of the man with the dogs was Vaughn, but it did
not make him like him any more. He insisted on calling Will an it,
and on keeping his distance whenever possible.

He was the dangerous one in this barn, not Will.
The man had also not been kind to him when Hawke

requested that he tie Will to one of the stalls while he went to
check on the animals.

The man had been rough, had brought in more ropes than

what  Will  thought  was  necessary,  and  had  tied  them  so  tight
around his wrists that the blood circulation was cut off, and he
could  no  longer  feel  them.  He  wanted  to  complain  about  his
discomfort, that a lack of blood flow to a vampire in particular
was very painful, but when he tried to speak through his gag, the
man  had  just  brought  over  more  ropes  and  shoved  them  into
Will’s mouth.

He was currently kneeling in one of the stalls, his hands

stretched out on either side of him, and tied off to heavy wooden
beams.

He supposed he should be grateful for the fact that his stall

was clean, at least. He could see only fresh hay, and scented
nothing foul.

Of course, there were also not that many animals in the barn

that he’d seen, and the few chickens and one cow that he had
seen all looked underfed.

He’d overheard Vaughn mentioning something about pigs as

well before the man left them, and then he was entirely alone with

well before the man left them, and then he was entirely alone with
Hawke.

Hawke and the curious chickens that had come into Will’s

stall to observe him.

A lamp had been lit, but Hawke was the one carrying it

around as he went about his chores. Then finally, the light came
closer. Will could hear Hawke moving things around, then he
saw what they were through his open stall.

Hawke was setting up his bed. He’d unfolded a small cot and

was placing it in front of the opening of Will’s stall. There was a
wooden crate he had as well, and he set that next to his small
bed before putting the lamp down on it.

He glanced over his shoulder once to look at Will, and then

started to rummage through Will’s bag.

Will was surprised the man had kept it.
“Let’s see what you have in here.”
Will wanted to shout at the man, to release some of his

annoyance at the complete lack of respect for his privacy, but he
could do nothing but glare as Hawke began pulling out clothing,
the two blood bags he had, a single bottle of water and wrapped
sandwich, and the books that Will favored.

When Hawke turned to look at him again, it was with a single

brow raised and an incredulous look on his face. “This is it? You
were running away to be by yourself out in the wild, and this was
what you brought for survival?”

Will glared at him.
Hawke continued to look at him and then back down into the

bag, as though he expected something else to materialize out of
thin air. “There’s not even a hunting knife in here, and don’t tell

thin air. “There’s not even a hunting knife in here, and don’t tell
me you wouldn’t need it as a vampire. Even vampires eat. How
would you have skinned anything you caught? How long would
you have lasted with one bottle of water and two blood bags?”

At the mention of the blood bags, Will’s stomach rumbled

loudly. He wanted to die of humiliation.

Hawke heard it, and he sighed before taking the sandwich

and one blood bag and then got to his feet.

“At least you brought this at all. Don’t expect very many

people to share food with you. You’ll probably be going hungry
for a while until your family finds out you’re gone,” Hawke said.

Will was apparently an idiot when it came to planning his

escapes, but he knew better than to think that these humans
would let him go free.

When Hawke came forward and pulled the gag out of his

mouth, muttering about the overuse of ropes as he pulled them
down, Will called him on his bullshit.

“You have no intention of letting me go. You’re going to kill

me,” he said.

Hawke’s hands stilled for just a moment, but it was enough.

Will  knew  he’d  gotten  to  the  truth.  The  humans  were  keeping
him  alive  for  now,  only  because  they  might  need  him  for  when
the  vampires  made  contact.  Maybe  they  were  going  to  record
some image with him tied up and send it away to his father and
fiancé before they killed him.

One less mouth to feed. Will was surprised that Hawke was

even letting him eat the sandwich. Someone else would likely
benefit from it more than he was, considering they were planning
on killing him anyway, and the vibe he was getting from this

place.

Stupid, and here he was thinking it was kind of romantic to

meet the man he’d known from childhood after all of these years
apart. He was stupid.

“That sick woman. I can help her,” he said. If he made

himself useful, then maybe Hawke wouldn’t want to kill him.

Hawke froze in the middle of lifting half the sandwich to his

mouth, his dark eyes going wide.

“Bullshit,” he said, his expression not changing.
“I can. You know I can,” Will said, and then he looked down

at the sandwich. “I’ll need the blood first. It keeps my body
going,” he said.

“I―right. I guess that makes sense. Can’t digest anything if

your body isn’t working right,” Hawke said, for the first time
sounding out of place to Will.

He reached back and grabbed one of the blood bags. He

looked it over, turning the clear plastic bag about, and then he
looked at the twin plastic inserts.

“I put my fangs in those,” Will said, craning his neck a little

closer now that the blood he needed was almost within reach.

“If you try to bite me, I’ll kill you,” Hawke said.
Will believed him. He opened his mouth and let his fangs

stretch  out,  and  as  the  plastic  came  beneath  his  lips,  he  was
careful to bite down onto on the inserts. They opened under the
pressure  of  his  teeth,  and  the  blood  flowed  into  his  mouth
through  the  holes  in  his  fangs,  allowing  him  to  suck  back  and
drink.

He couldn’t help the little moan that came out of him as he

fed. He was so damn hungry.

“How much of this will you drink? Will the rest spill out if you

don’t finish?” Hawke asked.

He was certainly more polite than Vaughn was.
Will shook his head as much as he dared, and then pulled his

teeth out of the inserts. The rubber inside them closed up the
second his fangs were free. “Blood will only leak out of the bags
if you squeeze them too tight,” he said, licking his lips. “They
should last me for a couple of days.”

“Only a couple?” Hawke said, giving him that same look that

suggested how much of an idiot he thought Will was being for
not packing the right equipment.

“I’ve never run away from home before. I only grabbed what

I thought I needed.”

“Clearly, you aren’t aware of what you need if this was all

you took. I swear it looks like you were packing like you thought
you were going out for a stroll.”

Will glared at him.
Hawke ignored it and held the bag back up to his mouth.
Will turned away from it. “I don’t need that now,” he said,

looking at the sandwich that Hawke had put back into its plastic
wrapper.

“Can you really heal her?” Hawke asked, not looking at him

in the eyes, and only staring at his mouth as he fed Will the
sandwich.

Will took a large bite, chewed and then swallowed. “I healed

you, didn’t I?”

Hawke frowned, still staring at his mouth. “That was a

physical injury. She’s sick. She gets sick at least once a season

physical injury. She’s sick. She gets sick at least once a season
and every time it gets worse, but even by her standards, this is
bad. Can you heal an illness?”

“I heal my own all the time,” Will said, taking another bite of

the offered sandwich. “I’ll save her life, and you can let me go.
That’s my deal.”

“How about you save her life, and I won’t let the other

villagers torture you to death. That’s my deal.”

Will’s eyes widened. “They want to torture me?”
“You’re a vampire. There’s not a lot of love for your kind

around here, or any of the paranormals.”

“I never did anything to them!” Will said, his panic rising up.
“I know, but that won’t matter to them.” Hawke finally

managed to look him in the eyes. Maybe he thought he owed it
to Will, considering he was talking about his entire village
murdering Will just for existing. “Why did you save me, that
day?”

Will swallowed. “I don’t know,” he lied.
“You could have bled me dry, or called to the guards to have

them pick me up. It wouldn’t have been hard, all things
considered.”

The slave boy Will remembered had his leg broken. The

bone wasn’t popping out or anything so obvious as that, but he
could still sense the damage within, and when he’d focused, he
could see it as well. There had been some blood on him, though,
from the other scratches and cuts he’d sustained in his escape,
so it really would have been only a matter of time before the
guards had found the boy. He could have walked away, but as
suddenly as the thought entered his mind, it was gone. He

suddenly as the thought entered his mind, it was gone. He
couldn’t do something like that. Not to that boy. So he’d healed
him and sent him on his way.

“I guess I wanted to see if you’d make it out. The thought of

getting away had never occurred to me until I met you, and I
wanted to give you that chance.”

“You waited thirteen years before you decided to follow my

example?”

“And considering where I am now, I wish I’d thought to get

out sooner,” Will said, glaring at him.

Hawke glared back. Clearly his mood for humoring Will was

gone. He held up the bag of blood. “How many of your slaves
did it take to fill this?”

Will winced. “That wasn’t my choice. I don’t like drinking

from them.”

“But you do it anyway.”
“I’ll die if I don’t!”
Hawke shook his head and then got to his feet. He looked

like he wanted to storm right out of the barn, but then he must
have recalled that he was supposed to be watching over Will,
and he stopped just outside of the stall.

“I’m not arguing this with a vampire,” he said, half turning to

look at him. “I can be nice to you if you let me, don’t provoke
me, and don’t try to escape, and I’ll make sure your stay here
will be as pleasant as possible.”

“Before you let everyone in your village kill me?”
Hawke turned away from him, and Will watched the man’s

shoulders rise and fall as he heaved a heavy sigh.

“I need to get some air, and I don’t think you’re going

anywhere. I’ll be back in two minutes, and the dogs are all
sniffing around outside. I wouldn’t make any noise to draw
attention to yourself while I’m gone either. Don’t want any of the
villagers to realize you’re here already and get some ideas.”

Will stiffened. The sudden thought of Hawke leaving him

here, alone and helpless, was not so appealing, especially under
those circumstances.

“You’re just going to leave me here?”
“I’ll be back. I need to speak with my father.”

* * * *

Hawke meant what he said, and that was why he needed to

be quick about this, especially with his mother’s health failing by
the second. The only reason why he’d gone away to the barn
was because he’d volunteered for the job of watcher even
before he’d left, and before she’d fallen ill.

He’d only left her side after helping her to drink some warm

water, kissing her forehead, and making Brian promise to come
and get him if there were any changes in the night.

His mother had already been half unconscious by the time he

left, and he had to wait until morning before another person
could be found to replace him, as far as guarding the vampire
went.

He really wished he’d taken someone else, but there was no

helping that now. He’d done what he’d done, and just because
he was starting to feel guilty about what was expected to happen
was no reason for him to be having second thoughts, especially if
Will was able to do something about his mother’s illness.

He opened the door to the house he shared with his parents

and let himself in.

He’d tried to be quiet, but of course, his father heard his

footsteps anyway. He wouldn’t be the leader of the clan if he
didn’t have the kind of skills that would allow him to keep
predators at bay, after all.

“Did something happen with the vampire?” Brian asked once

he saw that there was no threat. “Or did someone come to you
and take your place?”

“Not yet, but there’s something I need to tell you,” Hawke

said, sparing a glance toward the doorway to his parents’ room.
“Do you remember when I first came here?”

Brian spared him a sad smile. He was surprised the man

could muster that much, considering his wife was dying in the
other room. “Happiest day of our lives.”

Hawke pushed away the swell of affection he felt for this man

and got back to being serious. “Do you remember what I said?
How I was able to run so far, so fast, without hardly ever
stopping?”

Now Brian frowned at him. “You said a healer came to you.

One of the members of the estate you were serving with.”

“Brian, that vampire I came back with is the healer. He told

me he can heal mother if we let him go after everything is said
and done.”

Brian’s brows shot into his fading hairline. Then he rubbed his

face with his hands. “That’s…”

“It’s a lot to take in, I know, but he healed me, so do you

think we can let him try to do something with her?”

“This isn’t just some misunderstood mage you’re talking

about, son.”

“I know.”
“That’s a vampire in there, and if it were to try anything on

Felicia, even with ten men in the room watching him, there’s no
saying what it could do to her before we would have the chance
to stop him. It could puncture its fist through her chest and it
would be more than too late to save her once we managed to
pull it off.”

“I know, I’m just telling you that we might be able to do

something about this.”

Brian blew out a hard breath, and then he shook his head.

“Who is watching the creature now?”

“No one. He was perfectly restrained when I left and he’s still

got the drugs in his system. I told him I would be back in two
minutes, I just thought I’d let you know about this before it was
too late.”

“She could go any day now,” Brian said, though he seemed

to be talking mostly to himself.

“I know, so we don’t have a lot of time to decide what to

do.” Especially once those vampire slavers realized that a human
had  stolen  one  of  their  own.  They  had  so  little  time  left.  The
humans were getting ready to take back the land. This district of
it,  at  least.  Kidnapping  a  single  vampire  of  noble  blood  was
nowhere near the full extent of what was happening. Other clans
were  making  their  own  preparations  as  well,  and  there  were
other vampire estates that were being targeted.

Brian looked back toward his bedroom, and then at Hawke.

“Take me to him. I need to see this vampire healer for myself.”

Hawke was glad for this. He had to remind himself that it

might not work out for the best. Brian might decide that he didn’t
trust the vampire that they had, and Felicia might very well not
want a vampire near her.

So many people across all of the free clans had suffered at

the hands of vampires. Felicia was among them. Hawke hadn’t
known  until  only  a  few  years  ago  that  Brian  was  actually  her
second  husband,  the  first  having  been  killed  many  years  ago
while  defending  his  village  from  raiding  vampire  slavers.  It  was
no wonder the creatures were hated so much.

“Let’s go,” Hawke said.

Chapter Four

What they found when they made it back to the barn was

something that made Hawke’s stomach churn and his eyes see
red.

Three villagers had apparently discovered that the prisoner

had finally arrived, and they were having their fun with him now
that he was tied up and completely helpless.

Vaughn. He must have mentioned something in passing to the

few other farmhands he shared his house with, and with the
exception of Vaughn, they’d all come over to see a vampire up
close.

“Get away from him!” Hawke snapped, and the three men

scattered. One had been holding onto Will’s head while the other
two held his mouth open. They had been wearing thick working
gloves, but the sight of the pliers in the hands of one of the
farmhands was what really set off Hawke’s anger.

“We were just having some fun with him,” said the youngest,

Carl. The stupid boy was barely older than seventeen.

“The fun’s over. What did you think you were going to do

with that tool, Hank?”

Hank was the oldest in their group, the same age as Hawke

and a real shit disturber. The guy was never going to grow up.

The man put the pliers behind his back like a guilty child and

smiled in what he must have thought was a charming manner.
“Nothing, I just thought it would be cool to have some vampire
teeth hanging around my neck. Warriors wear things like that to
show off their kills.”

That little shit. “So, you would have taken his teeth out to

wear them, even though I was the one to capture him and bring
him in?” Hawke asked, folding his arms as he regarded the other
man. Hank was about the same size as Hawke was. Working
the land gave all the men here some muscle, but Hawke was
much more skilled in battle, and he would mop the floor with the
man if he stepped out of line again.

Hank knew it, but naturally, he didn’t want to admit to it.
He huffed in annoyance then threw the pliers down on the

scattered hay at their feet. “Fine. You take ’em then. Didn’t want
to risk that vampire would bite me anyway.”

“Which was why you had two other men helping you to keep

his mouth open, right?”

Hank glared at him, and he and the others walked out of the

barn, though Hank was the only one to keep his head held high.

Brian sighed. “That boy will be the death of me.”
“I can kill him if you want. It’ll get him out of both of our

hairs,” Hawke said, kneeling down to inspect Will. His binds
were still tight, though he was shaking in a way that had Hawke
worried.

“Don’t even joke about that, son. How is he?”
Hawke couldn’t tell. “Will? They’re gone now. It’s okay.”
“Right,” Will said, shaking his head. “Because you saved

them from ripping my fangs out just so you could do it yourself.”

Hawke rolled his eyes. “Like I would want to wear vampire

fangs after what they did to me. Are you hurt? You’re shaking.”

“M-my hands,” Will said. “I can’t move them. My fingers feel

swollen and hot.”

“Your hands?”

“Your hands?”
The lamp light came closer, and Hawke looked behind

himself to see that his father had stepped forward with the light.
He winced at the sight of Will’s hands.

They were blue and swollen. Large veins were snaking up

through the skin, and some looked ready to burst.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Hawke asked, though he

made no move to remove the binds.

“Didn’t think it mattered, or that it was so bad,” Will said,

and then he squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled a shaking breath.
“It fucking hurts.”

Hawke hated how his heart constricted at the pain he was

seeing here. It shouldn’t matter. Will was the enemy, a slave
owner and a vampire. He shouldn’t care if the rich kid was being
humbled like this, but he did.

He was never really into torture.
“If I let your hands loose, will you try to run?”
Will looked up at him, the shock in his eyes telling about how

he hadn’t expected the offer. “I won’t run. I swear I won’t do
anything.”

“Be careful, son,” Brian said, though he didn’t give Hawke

the command to walk away, despite his promise.

Hawke pulled out his knife, ignoring the way Will flinched at

the sight of it, and then he began cutting at the ropes that were
keeping him in place.

Will released a long sigh and fell forward when his hands

were free. Hawke stepped back and away from him, watching
the man carefully in case he tried to do something now that he
was out.

The only thing Will did was get off of his knees to lie on his

back, and it occurred to Hawke that he’d likely been suffering
from a lack of blood flow to his legs as well.

“I never knew a lack of blood circulation could have those

kinds of effects that quickly on a vampire,” Brian said.

Neither had Hawke.
Will just nodded, rubbing his still-blue wrists on his chest,

probably because his fingers were still numb and swollen.

“Yeah, well, we kind of live off of blood. Needs to get

everywhere, right?”

Hawke really was going to punch those three idiots in the

back of the head for this. He moved over to his pack which was
next to the cot he’d set up. There was a jar of cream inside, and
he pulled it out, uncapped it, and walked back over to Will.

The vampire could barely sit up after all of that, so he was

hardly worried about an attack.

He would keep on his guard just a little, however, just in

case.

Will looked at him with equally cautious eyes as Hawke

applied the salve to his wrists and hands.

“That’s―it feels cool,” Will said.
“It’s meant to. I imagine it still burns, having all that blood

suddenly flowing back into your hands.”

Will nodded.
He was clearly still in pain, and would be until the swelling

went down. There was nothing Hawke could do for him other
than apply the salve. Perhaps the only reason why he was
comfortable touching a vampire like this was because of who the
vampire was. Hawke was not an uncaring monster, despite how

vampire was. Hawke was not an uncaring monster, despite how
the image sometimes helped. He didn’t want Will to suffer, but it
would have been better if being so close didn’t make his heart
race the way it did. “What about your legs and feet? Will they be
needing treatment?” he asked, trying to focus on something else.

Hawke felt the vampire shift beneath him, and looked down

quickly to see that he was simply wiggling his toes and testing his
legs. “No. I think they’re fine on their own.”

Hawke was glad for that. The thought of having to take the

man’s pants off and apply the salve to his bare legs and feet was
suddenly giving him mental images that he shouldn’t be having.

“My son said that you are the healer that rescued him some

years ago. Is it true that you could do something for my wife?”
Brian asked.

Hawke looked down at him, waiting for his answer.
Will sighed. “I want to say yes, but I don’t know what’s

wrong with her, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything right now
anyway. At least not until my hands are healed.”

“You’re a warlock then?” Hawke asked, stunned.
Will frowned. “No, I’ve never been able to cast spells, but I

can heal myself, and others.” Will looked at him pointedly when
he said this. “I’ve never caught a cold before in my life, so I’m
only assuming that I can help with her illness.”

Hawke turned to look at his father. The man had a hand on

his chin and was clearly thinking it over. Hawke wanted to know
what was on his mind, but he wasn’t sure about talking in front of
the prisoner.

Brian, apparently, had no such reservations. “I could always

assume that you are attempting to make yourself useful to keep

assume that you are attempting to make yourself useful to keep
us from harming you, but I believe my son when he says you did
what you did, and you’re being honest enough with me about not
being sure you can even do something for her at all, instead of
making promises you might not be able to keep.”

Hawke hadn’t even thought about that, and it was true. Will

was being honest and respectful here when he had every reason
not to be. It made Hawke wonder about him.

“If you’re not a warlock then at the very least you’re a healer

mage. If you can heal yourself then I’ll expect your hands to be
in decent enough condition to try something by tomorrow
morning.”

“Morning?” Will asked, his eyes widening fearfully.
“We’ll bring you in before dawn, keep the shutters closed,

and bring you back with something to cover you so you don’t
get burned,” Hawke said, knowing that Brian had forgotten
about those details when it came to thinking about the health of
his wife.

Brian nodded. “Exactly.”
“Until then,” Hawke said, putting a hint of a warning in his

voice, even as he held Will’s hands and massaged that salve into
his  skin,  salve  that  was  becoming  more  and  more  rare  as  the
farm ran out of supplies and money to have it made. “You will
not  try  to  run  away,  you  will  not  try  to  attack  anyone,  and  I
promise  you,  in  return,  I  won’t  let  anyone  touch  you  or  try  to
hurt you again.”

“And if I heal his wife, your mother, what then?” Will asked.
Hawke looked to Brian. That was his call, after all.
“If Felicia gets out of bed tomorrow in perfect health, when

“If Felicia gets out of bed tomorrow in perfect health, when

all this is said and done with the vampires, we will set you free to
go off wherever you like.”

Will didn’t even think about the deal he was being offered,

another sign that he was going to be no good out on his own if he
was in the habit of accepting the first good thing to come his way
without ever questioning it.

“Deal.”

Chapter Five

Will spent the night focusing his energy on healing his hands.

He was going to need them if he planned on getting out of here
alive, and now that he had the word of the leader of the clan, he
was in much higher spirits than he was only a few hours ago
when he’d woken up in this strange human village.

He’d always known about the human villages. They were

hidden places, usually situated near the very edges of the
districts, so that if the humans needed to run, they could always
cross the borders where other paranormal creatures ruled, and
the vampires had no power.

Could Hawke really have taken him so far away from home

that he was on the borderlands? The thought was frightening as
well as interesting. Will would never have to go back, his family
nest would never find him, so long as he got out of here alive.

Hawke went back to his cot after he finished coating Will’s

hands with so much of the salve that they were slippery and felt
odd when he rubbed his fingers together. At least the pain was
gone, and he could move his hands now, so there was always
that to be thankful for. The leader of the clan had gone back to
his house to watch over his ill wife, and that left the two of them
alone here in the barn once more.

“I didn’t know you had any family when I let you go,” he

said, and Hawke turned to look at him sharply.

Will couldn’t help the small, stupid smile that was no doubt

on his face. “I’m glad I didn’t send you off to be killed by the
elements.”

The human looked at him from his seat on the cot. Since his

father had left, Hawke had to tie him up again, only this time, the
rope was like a loose leash around his neck that was not tight,
but too small for Will to get over his head, if he was interested in
attempting something like that, which, at the moment, he was not.
His hands remained blessedly free, and he started to see some
color returning to his skin, and his legs were no longer tingling.

“You did more than save my life that day,” Hawke said. “I

don’t know if you know this, but when you healed me,
something passed between us. I had so much energy that I ran all
the way here, almost without stopping, and I wanted to keep
running even after that.”

Will blinked. “Really?”
Hawke nodded. “I’m guessing this isn’t a side effect that

you’re aware of.”

Will shook his head. “Of all the times I’ve healed myself over

the years, I’ve never felt a rush of energy like that. How long did
it last?”

Hawke leaned back and regarded him casually. He was no

longer  wearing  the  setup  that  he’d  been  in  when  they  came
across  each  other  on  Will’s  family  property.  Now  he  looked
more like a farm boy. Torn jeans and a thin, white T-shirt and
boots  were  the  only  articles  of  clothing  on  him.  Though,  Will
could  still  make  out  the  straps  and  small  bulges  beneath  his
clothing that suggested he was hiding weapons.

Did the man go to sleep like that?
“I think it’s still working through me. I’ve always had a lot of

stamina, and can run farther and faster than anyone else in the
village before I need to stop. I don’t have quite the amount of

village before I need to stop. I don’t have quite the amount of
energy I did on that day, though.”

“Is that why you are sent on…missions? Was that why you

were chosen to get me?”

“I wasn’t chosen, I volunteered, and yes, that is why. I’m

better at killing vampires who get a little too close to our
territory, looking for stray humans to take back to their estates.”

Will flinched at the harsh tone in his voice, and he looked

away.

Hawke sighed and rubbed his face. “I can’t apologize to you

if I seem a little rough. Everything I say is true, but I promise I
will do my best to keep the others on the farm from hurting you.
You don’t seem like a particularly violent vampire.”

“I’m not,” Will said, then he grinned a bit. “The vampire

warriors of my house, even my older brothers and sisters, tend
to make fun of me for that one.”

Hawke frowned a little. “I see.”
Will kept on thinking about what Hawke said about having so

much extra energy. “I didn’t know…I never thought a transfer of
that kind of power was possible. You might want to keep an eye
on your mother after I’m done with her, to see if she shows any
similar symptoms that you did that day. Then maybe we’ll know
if this is just part of my power, or a fluke.”

“Something that happened between you and me alone?”
It did sound kind of ridiculous, but it was all Will had to go

on. “I guess so, yeah.”

Hawke made a grunting noise that Will guessed was

supposed to be a sign of agreement, but then he didn’t respond
other than that.

Will waited for him to say something else, and when he

didn’t, he assumed that was to be the end of their discussion,
and he decided he might as well make himself comfortable on his
bed of hay.

It wasn’t the end, it seemed. “They aren’t really my parents.”
Will looked back at the man who was still sitting on the edge

of his cot. “They’re not? But I heard you say―”

“I know, but humans are different from vampires. They can

take other children in who aren’t their own if they want. Blood
doesn’t have the same meaning to us that it does to you.”

Will frowned and looked away before facing his captor once

more. “I wish you would stop grouping me in with other
vampires. Hard as it is to understand to you, but I get it. They
are a couple without children, so they took you in and raised you
as their own. You were what? Ten? Eleven years old?”

“Twelve, and they did have a child, a boy nearly my age. I

never  met  him.  Vampire  slavers  came  and  took  him,  and  I
showed  up  after  they  gave  up  the  hope  of  ever  finding  the  kid
again.” Hawke’s eyes became hard as he stared at Will. “Which
is  why  I’m  going  to  give  you  a  fair  warning  on  this.  Vampires
have  hurt  them  enough  already.  If  you  try  anything  at  all
suspicious when you have your hands over my mother, if you try
to  hurt  either  her  or  Brian,  I  will  not  hesitate  in  putting  a  silver
knife through your throat.”

Will nodded, but he returned the glare. “Understood, but I

wish you would stop threatening me. You must see by now that
you don’t need to do that to get what you want.”

“Sure,” Hawke said, leaning back in his cot and putting his

hands behind his head.

Now Will wished for something else. He wished that a pose

like that didn’t lift Hawke’s T-shirt up enough that he caught
sight of the muscle on his stomach. The man was very beautiful,
and nothing like the scrawny child Will remembered.

He wondered if Hawke would still have the scars in his neck

from the monthly bleedings.

He felt instantly ashamed for thinking such a thing, and he

banished the idea from his head.

“What were you doing out there? So far away from the

house?” Hawke asked after another period of silence.

Will sighed. “You know what I was doing.”
“Yeah, but.” Hawke sat up again and regarded him. “You

were running away from your family. Your blood. I thought that
was important to vampires.”

“Not all vampires think it’s worth being married off for.”
“What?”
Will rolled his eyes. He rubbed his wrists a little more. The

healing energy was becoming stronger as his hands mended.
Provided he still had some of that energy left, he should definitely
be able to do something for Hawke’s mother. Maybe.

“My parents were arranging for me to be married into

another vampire nest. I am a younger son, so my presence
would have hardly been missed, and the family had an even
larger slave den, and was wealthy enough in their blood supply
that they could even sell it, while still maintaining a comfortable
enough amount for themselves.”

“Sounds like the perfect setup. Why run from something like

that?” Hawke asked.

“I know that it was many years ago, but I would have hoped

that saving your life would have been enough to show you that I
am not like other vampires. I don’t approve of slavery,
regardless of what your species has done.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Hawke shot up

from his cot and was on his feet, fists clenched and body
trembling. “What

species did?” he all but yelled. Will

suspected that the only reason he was even attempting to keep
his temper in check was to keep from scaring the animals, few
that there were in this barn.

Will could not back down on this. “Our history texts state

very plainly―”

“I know what your worthless texts say,” Hawke cut him off.

“I was brought into your estate and raised a slave so young I
can’t even remember the face of my real mother. We were all
taught about that garbage you vampires pass off as history.”

“How do you know if it’s garbage?” Will asked. “You

humans have such short life spans, but some of my kind who
were around before the first bomb dropped are still alive today.
They tell the stories.”

The story about how humans first discovered the existence of

paranormal creatures just over four hundred years ago, how the
paranormals, vampires, werewolves, warlocks, mages, ghosts,
and then later the fae, had all tried their best to make peace.

It ended in a civil war for every country on Earth. Some

paranormals had gone so far as to take themselves out of the
human society once more, creating whole cities where vampires
and werewolves and other creatures lived in peace.

and werewolves and other creatures lived in peace.

Bombs had been dropped on these cities, and then when the

paranormals decided to fight back, bigger bombs had been
dropped.

What happened was the destruction of the known world, and

the building of an entirely new one.

Vampires had taken the land to the East, a lot of it, while

werewolves had claimed a small patch of their own in the West.
The South was mostly considered to be territory for the
warlocks and mages, though it was said that they would
welcome anyone, so long as there was some magical talent.

The North was a wasteland. A giant graveyard where the

ghosts roamed. Only mediums and the fae dared to go into that
place. Will would have gone to live with the mages, if he’d been
able to make it that far.

All of this was just what was happening on the lands that

were formerly the Americas. He wasn’t sure how the rest of the
world was dealing with this.

“I’m not arguing this point with a vampire,” Hawke said. “Try

to sleep or don’t. I can stay awake long enough to watch you so
it doesn’t matter, but I will be bringing you to see my mother
early tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it. Then maybe you will see that I’m not

the monster slaver that other vampires can be. You seem to have
forgotten it.”

Hawke crossed his arms and put out the lamp. Will could see

perfectly well in the dark, and he noted with an eerie sort of awe
the way Hawke’s eyes remained firmly on him, even in what
should have been a blinding darkness for a human.

should have been a blinding darkness for a human.

Hawke could see him, as clearly as Will could. He really

would  watch  him  the  whole  night  if  he  decided  not  to  sleep.
Vampires usually preferred to stay awake during the dark hours,
but even with all the time he’d spent passed out over Hawke’s
shoulder,  Will  thought  he  could  use  a  nap.  With  the  man  here,
guarding  him,  and  protecting  him,  it  might  be  one  of  the  last
peaceful sleeps he ever got while he was in this village.

As he turned over and made himself comfortable in the hay,

he still felt the burn of Hawke’s stare on his back. The man
would watch him long after Will fell asleep, he was sure, but at
least he’d given him something to think about, if he was really
planning on spending most of the night awake and staring.

Chapter Six

Hawke woke before the sun rose, and was stunned to see

that the vampire, Will, was already awake. He was sitting in the
pen, knees up and hands folded around his ankles, regarding him
curiously.

“How long were you awake for?” Hawke asked, fully awake

at the thought that he’d been sleeping unguarded in front of the
enemy like that.

“About an hour. I slept as much as I could, but I’m used to

sleeping during the day.”

An hour. The thought made Hawke’s stomach churn. He was

excellent at tying ropes and knots, but with an hour
unsupervised, Will should have been able to free himself from the
makeshift collar around his neck, chew through the rope,
anything. He could have killed Hawke if he really wanted to or
escaped before Hawke noticed. Instead he’d stayed.

He was either incredibly stupid, too trusting, or both. Hawke

certainly would never have passed up the opportunity for
freedom, but that was just one more difference in the way they
were brought up. Will did not yet truly fear the humans he was
with, regardless of what had nearly happened to him last night.

“Yes, well,” Hawke said, getting up and out of his cot. He

stretched his hands about his head, listening for the satisfying pop
in his lower back, and then lit the lamp. “Thanks for not killing
me in my sleep. I’m assuming you have enough energy in you to
see to my mother now?”

Will held his hands up a bit and looked down at them as a

soft blue light, so pale it was nearly white, encased his hands. As

soft blue light, so pale it was nearly white, encased his hands. As
quickly as the light was there, it vanished. “As ready as I’ll ever
be,” he said, his voice sounding off. Maybe he was sick from
spending the night in a barn. He was raised to be used to better
accommodations than this.

Of course, at one time, even Hawke had known better living

than  this.  The  slaves  were  mistreated,  but  they  didn’t  sleep  in
barns with the animals. Some of them did, but not all. That was
only  because  it  wouldn’t  do  to  have  a  filthy  slave  serving  a
master  his  breakfast  with  hay  in  his  hair.  In  a  strange  way,
Hawke  had  been  lucky  like  that.  He’d  been  a  server,  and  a
feeder, so he got to sleep in the main house. The servers were
treated reasonably well. The men and woman who took care of
the animals, for the vampires who owned stables, and the cars,
that was an entirely different story.

Hawke shook the thought from his head. What a stupid thing

to be thinking about. It didn’t matter if Hawke got a clean attic
room that was warm to share with the other boys. They had still
been slaves. Allowed to own no property, sold and bought as
the vampires saw fit, and even killed when mistakes were made.

Just because Hawke had been one of the lucky few to be

able to avoid all of that did not mean he should be thinking upon
any small kindnesses warmly, or about the boy vampire who
used to sneak him food while Hawke hid under the table, like a
dog.

Did Will remember that?
Hawke untied the knot at Will’s neck, but he made sure the

other man could see the knife at his hip as they walked out of the
barn.

barn.

“How did you do that so fast? I couldn’t even get it loose.”
Hawke glared at him as Will rubbed his neck. It seemed that

just because the rope had not been tight, did not mean that it
didn’t itch. “You were trying to escape?”

“No, but I did want to test out what you’d done,” Will said.

From the sound of his voice, one would think that he wasn’t
aware of how close to trouble he’d come with a revelation like
that.

If those other idiots from last night had been escorting him

when he’d said something like that, they would have made him
pay for it.

Hawke sighed and shook his head. “I’m good with knots.

That’s all you need to know.”

“Okay,” Will said. God, did he have to be so trusting? “Is this

it?”

The main house where Brian and Felicia lived was close to

the barn. It took less than a minute to walk there. The sun was
not yet over the horizon, but it was no longer pitch-dark. It was
coming, and some of the farmhands were awake and moving
about, seeing to their chores and the animals.

Hawke got a lot of strange looks from people as they passed

by, and he was aware of the way Will inched closer to him.

So he was aware of the danger he was in after all. “I won’t

let them hurt you,” he said.

“Can we just get inside? It’s starting to get hot out here.”
Hawke thought it was still a little chilly, but he wasn’t a

vampire.

He didn’t see Hank or Carl or that other kid they’d roped

into  tagging  along  with  them.  Which  was  good.  Vaughn  was
walking around with his pack of hounds, and he waved a friendly
smile,  letting  Hawke  know  that  he  wasn’t  aware  of  what  had
happened  the  previous  night. Anderson  was  limping  around  his
house,  likely  getting  set  up  to  work  early  repairing  the  metal
frames for their carts and the one truck that was in the village.

Everything looked normal.
“Let’s go,” Hawke said, opening the door and letting them

both inside before others came out of their houses and noticed
there was a vampire walking around.

A couple of people stopping in their tracks was one thing, so

long as Hawke was there, but he didn’t want the whole village
muttering about this just yet.

Will was as polite as could be when he entered Hawke’s

parents’ house. He took his shoes off at the door and followed
him across the small kitchen to the bedroom in only his socks.

Hawke grimaced at the sight of the dirt even on them. They

both needed a bath and a change of clothes.

The thought of that, of Will, naked and relaxing in one of the

wooden tubs that was shared by the village, should not have
made his blood rush the way it did. Especially since Hawke
would have to be there watching him. For protection.

“Brian?” he called, again, making his voice low with just

enough strength to travel as he walked through the small house.

His father heard his call and appeared through the door. He

looked like he hadn’t slept all night. The sight of Will, unchained
and walking in his socks beside him didn’t even seem to make
the man worry.

“I was thinking about going and getting you for the last hour.

Her breathing is getting weaker,” he said, reaching for Will,
gently taking him by the arm, and he hurried as he led him into his
bedroom.

Hawke watched that with a sad grimace. His father, who

hated vampires more than anything else in the world, eagerly
leading one into the room where his ill wife lay dying. It must be
getting desperate.

The lamps inside were lit, and against his better judgment,

Hawke stood back while Will moved to the other side of the
bed. Brian stayed on one side, clutching Felicia’s small, pale
hand. Hawke could see the blue veins under her paper-thin skin.

She wasn’t awake, and her breathing did sound painful, like it

was scratching the inside of her throat just to be able to do it.

“Can you help her?” Brian asked.
Will frowned as he stared down at the woman in bed. “I

don’t know. I can tell what’s wrong with her, but I don’t know
the name for it. It’s her lungs. The damp weather has taken its
toll over the years.”

The fact that Will couldn’t diagnose the problem by name

made Hawke suspicious. “You’re a healer mage. Why can’t you
tell what it is?”

“I have the natural magic for it, but I’ve never been permitted

to study it. My family wouldn’t allow it. Is there a place where I
can wash my hands?” he asked, rolling up his sleeves.

Hawke wanted to yell at him to just get on with it, clean

hands or not, but Brian was quick to give him the order to get a
bowl of water.

Hawke rushed to do as he was told only to speed along the

process.

Clean water was kept in plastic jugs in the cupboards under

the counter. It came from the well that had been dug, and was
routinely pumped, boiled, and then put away in containers like
these in all the houses. Hawke grabbed a salad bowl and poured
the water inside. He took a bar of soap and a rag with him when
he came back into the bedroom.

It smelled stuffy in here, he realized, compared to the rest of

the house, or even the air outside. Will was speaking with his
father when he came back into the room.

“I assume she told you about pain in her chest?”
“Yeah, she has been complaining about trouble breathing for

the last several years, but it only got especially worse last winter.
Before that I thought she just had some mild asthma.”

“I’m sensing that in there as well. It could only have made this

worse.”

“Here’s your water,” Hawke said, setting the bowl down on

the nightstand. He watched as Will went quickly to it and started
to wash his hands, his individual fingers, and almost all the way
up to his elbows.”

“Is that really necessary?” Hawke asked.
Will sent him an annoyed glance over his shoulder. “I haven’t

bathed in days and slept in a barn last night. Do you really think I
should put my dirty hands on a sick woman? Even I know better
than that and I’m not a trained physician.”

“It’s fine,” Brian said. “Do whatever you can.”
He would be devastated if Felicia didn’t pull through. He

might also kill Will in a blind rage that was hiding beneath the

might also kill Will in a blind rage that was hiding beneath the
surface. Hawke wouldn’t be able to protect him from that.

Will made quick work of his wash, and then he dried his

hands on the rag before returning to Felicia’s side. He pulled the
heavy blankets down off of her chest, and then blushed and
looked at Brian. “Would you be so kind as to…” He trailed off
and motioned to the buttons on her damp nightshirt, then looked
away.

Brian didn’t even question him. Hawke worried that he might

have to look at his mother’s naked chest, but Brian only opened
the nightgown enough so that the area between her breasts was
exposed, and then he fanned it out enough so that her stomach
was also revealed.

She was so much thinner than Hawke remembered.
“Thank you,” Will said, turning back to his patient. Only then

did he put his hands on her.

Hawke remembered those hands so very well. The way they

had glowed when Will had touched him, and the soothing
sensations he’d felt, the coolness of it, when the burning pain had
been replaced by health and vitality. Even his hunger had been
sated.

“What are you doing?” Brian asked when Will’s hands

started to glow, though he didn’t look like he was getting ready
to step in just yet.

“This is what I use to find injuries that aren’t obvious. I did

this with Hawke, too, that day, and found some internal bleeding.
For her, I can sense all of it in her lungs. There’s water there, but
I don’t know how it got there. The weather hasn’t been making
it better, and she’s got a little something else growing inside.

it better, and she’s got a little something else growing inside.
Lumps. Lots of little lumps are in her lungs.”

Brian sucked in a breath, and Hawke’s heart hammered as

he rubbed his jaw. His and his father’s eyes met.

Lumps. That usually meant cancer, and with so many…could

Will even heal something like that?

The richest human villages could only make sure that all their

houses had running water, and maybe more than one truck and
some horses. None that Hawke had ever heard of or seen would
have the resources to treat a patient with cancer. None of them
had even been able to tell what was wrong with Felicia whenever
Ben had managed to convince a healer to make the dangerous
trip for a visit.

“Is there anything you can do for it?” Brian asked. He had

tears streaming down his worn face, as though he was already
sure of the answer he would get. Hawke had never seen the man
cry before.

“I’ll try,” Will said.
Not for the first time, Hawke was struck with the realization

that if Will was only doing this for his own sake, he would be
lying through his teeth, and not giving such honest and not entirely
hopeful answers.

The glow around his hands became brighter, brighter than

even  what  Hawke  remembered  as  he  trailed  his  hands  up  and
down  her  stomach  and  chest,  noticeably  avoiding  her  breasts.
He  let  his  fingers  drift  across  her  prominent  ribs,  and  then  her
throat, before returning to her chest. His hands stayed there the
longest.

Brian did not let go of his wife’s hand once.

Brian did not let go of his wife’s hand once.
Hawke timed it. An hour went by before Will pulled his

hands away and stumbled back, exhausted. With the light of his
hands gone, all that was left was the pale orange coming from the
lamps. The windows had been shut up, so there was no natural
light to come into the room, both for Will’s sake and Felicia’s.

The improvement in her color was noticeable nonetheless, as

was the fact that it was much quieter in here than it had been
when the three men entered the room.

Brian put his shaking fingers under her nose, and then he sank

to his knees next to the bed, holding her hand tightly in his.

Hawke could see the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She

was alive. There was an improvement in her condition. She
would live.

“Thank you,” Hawke said right away, not taking his eyes off

of his adoptive parents.

“I’ll need to keep seeing her. I had to leave some of the

lumps behind. I couldn’t pour all of my energy into her without
passing out.”

“How many more times?” Brian asked, lifting his face from

the bed. His cheeks were still wet, but he hardly seemed to mind
that he was showing this kind of weakness in front of another
person, even as he wiped away the tears with the palm of his
hand.

Will shrugged. “Can’t be more than two or three more times.

But I’m pretty sure I can get the rest out in one more go. The
other sessions are just to be safe.”

Brian nodded. “Thank you. Thank you for this. I can’t release

you now, but I will repay you for this.”

“You’re welcome. I know you can’t let me go yet, but, ah, so

long as you do, and that no other farmhands want to pay me a
visit, I promise I’ll be a well-behaved guest.”

Brian nodded. “Hawke will stay with you. You’ll have to stay

in the barn until this is over, but only because there’s no other
place to put a vampire. I’ll get a bed ready for you, and when
the boys come back from their next hunt, I’ll make sure they
save the blood of the animals.”

Will just nodded and smiled politely, as though he really was

just a guest in another rich vampire’s house, and that no one here
meant him any harm.

“I’ll make sure to stay with you, too. I won’t leave like

before. I don’t trust that one of the other men might not try
something,” Hawke said without thinking.

He wouldn’t look at Will when the vampire turned suddenly

to him.

Brian nodded, agreeing with the decision. “That’s fine. Is she

safe to be by herself now? Do you need to be here?”

“No, I don’t think so, but you can call me back if you think

there’s a problem.”

Brian nodded and sat beside his wife, stroking her hand.

Hawke wouldn’t be surprised if she woke up today and wanted
to go for a walk. He hoped to be around when that happened.

He had to grab a spare blanket out of the closet to put over

Will when he walked him back to the barn, but the whole time he
had thoughts and ideas swirling around his head that, until
yesterday, had never been there before, and he wasn’t sure if he
liked them.

Chapter Seven

Will needed to drink some more from one of the blood bags

after they returned from Hawke’s house. He polished it off and
began sipping on the other, trying to save it, but unable to stop
himself from taking just one more tiny drink.

“Does healing really take that much out of you?” Hawke

asked. He’d allowed Will to sit on his cot this time, instead of the
bed of hay in the stall, and Hawke was sitting next to him.

Will pulled his teeth and lips away from the bag and wiped his

mouth, certain that even a compassionate man like Hawke would
not appreciate seeing blood on a vampire’s lips.

“Not usually, but the last time I ever did anything remotely

that big was you.”

He noted the way Hawke turned away and fiddled with his

hands. Very odd for such a sure man.

“Was what you said true? I had internal bleeding? Not just a

broken leg?”

Now Will was able to pull his mouth away from the bag. He

took the water skin that Hawke had brought with them and took
a long drink from it, hoping that would get the blood off of his
teeth and gums as well. Hawke hated vampires, and Will wanted
to remind the man of what he was as little as possible.

“I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but yes. I thought it was

just your blood pulsing through your veins, but there was
something off about it, about how it didn’t flow the way the rest
of your blood did. Maybe that was why I focused some of my
energy onto it. Later when I realized what it was, when I was
older, I hoped I’d done enough so that you didn’t just bleed out

older, I hoped I’d done enough so that you didn’t just bleed out
somewhere in the woods. I was tired after that. Drank more than
my share of blood for the day. Father wasn’t happy with me for
that one.”

Will blushed and looked away, realizing what he’d said and

how Hawke would interpret his words. Where else would he get
the blood but from a human slave?

So much for not bringing up his vampire status.
Hawke said nothing. He seemed intent on staring at Will,

when he wasn’t checking on the animals, or turning away curious
villagers who knocked on the barn doors, that is.

He was protecting him, a vampire, and a former member of

the house that had him as a slave. He was warmed by it. It didn’t
help at all with his attraction to him.

“How did you get a broken leg and internal bleeding anyway?

Did you jump out one of the windows?”

“Actually, yes,” Hawke replied.
Will flinched, but he could not look away from the other man.

“I am sorry for what my family has done to you. For what they
do to all humans. It’s not right, punishing the men of today simply
because of what your ancestors, uh, allegedly did,” he said, still
hoping to keep the peace on that subject.

Hawke didn’t so much as glare at him, for which he was glad.

“I  suppose  this  all  explains  why  you  have  a  different  mindset
from  other  vampires,”  Hawke  said.  “You  let  me  go,  fed  me
when  I  otherwise  would  have  starved,  healed  my  mother,  and
then ran away from your nest.”

“Yes,” Will said. So Hawke did remember that day under the

table. Will had been sitting with his family, enjoying their evening

table. Will had been sitting with his family, enjoying their evening
breakfast meal when his foot touched on something that should
not have been there. When he looked under the cloth, there was
Hawke, hiding and shaking with terror.

Will hadn’t known why a servant would be hiding under the

table at the time. It wasn’t until years later when he realized what
the boy had been there for. He’d been trying to steal food before
the masters of the house came in, and instead of taking his
whipping, he’d hidden away beneath the table, the only hiding
place in the room.

Will had snuck him toast and bacon.
Hawke released a choked sort of laugh. “You’re making this

very difficult for me, you know.”

Will blinked at him. “Making what difficult?”
“Just, the way you are. You don’t have enough fear of us,

considering  what  we’re  doing  to  you. You  trust  us  too  much,
which  makes  me  worry  about  your  survival  instincts,  especially
with the meager belongings you packed away, and now I have to
deal  with  the  fact  that―”  Hawke  stopped  himself,  then  he
looked  away  and  stood  up  from  his  cot.  He  began  pacing
around the stalls.

The cows continued to eat their food, watching the two men

in the barn with little to no interest, as though Hawke did not
appear completely conflicted.

Will could hardly believe it, but he knew it to be true the

second the scent hit his nose.

“Are you in lust with me?”
Unbelievable, how could he have not noticed it before? Or

was this something more recent?

“It doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to come of it,” Hawke

said, his mouth twisting, almost as though the fact disappointed
him.

“Why not?” William asked before he could stop himself.
Hawke froze on the spot, then stared at him hard with those

deep blue eyes that seemed so much more intense than they had
previously. “Did you really just say that? Do you know what
you’re suggesting?”

Will glared at him. “I’m not a child, no matter what my

parents think. I know what I’m suggesting, and now that I’ve
noticed it, I can’t ignore the way your blood is calling to me.”

Hawke’s face twisted with outrage.
“Not to drink. You clearly don’t know this, but blood and

heartbeats can tell a lot about what a person is feeling or
wanting. Yours is rushing, and it smells hot. Your heart is beating
fast and now you’re all that I can think about.”

“It doesn’t matter.”
“I’m attracted to you, too, you know. Maybe it’s our history

and this weird relationship we have that makes me trust you even
when I shouldn’t, but if you want me, then I won’t lie and say
that I don’t want you either.”

“I’m not sleeping with a vampire. You could bite me, or

attack me.”

“Put me on my stomach then, or on my knees.”
He noted the way the barn seemed to heat up with the thick

smell of Hawke’s lust and hot, pumping blood. It rushed to his
cheeks, as though trying to escape it.

“I am curious about what you would taste like after all this

time, but I would never bite you if that’s something you didn’t

time, but I would never bite you if that’s something you didn’t
want.”

“I don’t want it,” Hawke said, shaking his head and taking a

step back.

“I believe you. Clearly you don’t want a pair of fangs in your

neck or thighs, but you still want me. You can’t hide that.”

Hawke didn’t take another step back. He was still staring at

Will curiously.

“You could still attack me,” he said after a time. “Regardless

of whether or not you’re on your knees.”

“Tie me up then,” Will said. All this talk of sex, and how

close he was to the man who seemed to want him the most, only
made  Will  more  aware  of  his  own  growing  desires.  His  body
was  pulsing  with  Hawke’s.  His  cock  ached,  and  there  was  no
way in hell he would able to stand it if Hawke denied him and
sent him back to the clump of hay that was his bed to be alone.
He wouldn’t be able to handle the embarrassment of wrapping
his  fist  around  his  throbbing  dick  and  stroking  himself  while
Hawke lay in his cot barely more than ten feet away.

He’d do it, though. He’d have to. There would be no way he

could ignore what was between his legs. His erection wasn’t
going away until he dealt with it. Or until Hawke did.

“You would let me…?” Hawke’s jaw dropped. His lips

twisted in a crooked grin as he shook his head. “You’re either a
lot more naive than I thought, or you’re just plain stupid.”

Will frowned. “What?”
“You’re a prisoner here, and you would be perfectly fine with

allowing me to tie you up and have sex with you? What if I
turned on you? There would be nothing you could do about it.”

turned on you? There would be nothing you could do about it.”
He stopped talking for a second, as though something were
occurring to him. “And what about your wrists? What about
blood flow and all that?”

“It won’t matter so long as you don’t leave me like that for

several hours, and I like the idea of being tied up. I want you,
and you want me, and I trust that you won’t let anyone else
come in here and try to hurt me while I’m, uh…” Will blushed
and didn’t finish.

His blood was thrumming through his veins. He was starting

to get twitchy and angry with Hawke’s indecisiveness. He just
wanted an answer here. Yes or no.

“You wouldn’t be forcing me to do anything, and I like the

thought of you tying me down, doing whatever you want to me.”

Hawke was already blushing, but his face got brighter, and

the color travelled all the way into his neck and ears. It was
working. What Will was saying was making Hawke want him
even more than he did now.

“Admit that you like the idea, too. You want to see me naked

with my hands above my head, beneath you, legs spread.”

“And here I pegged you for some kind of virgin.”
Will scowled at him. He didn’t really give off that vibe, did

he? “Come over here and I’ll show you virgin.”

Will stood up, and he waited for Hawke to make the next

move.

* * * *

Hawke didn’t have to look very far to find the ropes that had

been used on Will the first night he was here. They were still
clean, and he was glad when no distaste showed up on Will’s

clean, and he was glad when no distaste showed up on Will’s
face when Hawke grabbed them.

He wouldn’t mind wearing them again, it seemed.
“Lie down,” Hawke commanded. “Take off your shirt first,”

he added.

He would’ve liked to do that part himself, but unless he was

planning on pulling his knife out and cutting the material off of
him, it wouldn’t work out.

That, and he was pretty sure Will wouldn’t appreciate having

a knife anywhere near him while they were doing this, regardless
of how much he claimed to trust Hawke.

Will did as he was told, unbuttoning the silk material and

letting it slide from his shoulders. Hawke had felt his body during
the two-day journey back to the village, but now that he was
seeing the pale skin for himself…if anything it made his heart and
lungs speed up even more. The sudden head rush he got and the
throbbing in between his legs was delicious. He wanted to put his
mouth on Will’s skin. He wanted to taste the man.

“Like what you see?” Will asked, a catty smile on his lips.
“Yes,” Hawke said, seeing no reason to lie or play coy about

it. His attraction to Will, which before now had been mostly
made up of mild curiosity, flared to life. He’d just crossed the
point of no return. “You’re doing very badly on the lying down
part,” he admonished.

Will smiled and raised his hands a little. “Right, right. Sorry.

Getting right to it.”

He turned around and lay on his stomach on the cot, then

reached above him to the metal frame and gripped it.

“Here all right?” he asked, referring to the position of his

hands.

Hawke grimaced at the sight. It was still sexy as hell, seeing

this vampire, who used to be a former master, putting himself in a
vulnerable position for Hawke to take, but there was also
something unnerving about it. He didn’t want to hold that kind of
power over Will. He didn’t want to take him like this, without
seeing his face while he was tied up on a cot.

It wasn’t like Hawke hadn’t ever taken lovers from behind

before, but none of them had been tied up. Some of his arousal
actually left him, the more he thought about it.

“That’s not going to work, now that I think about it. Turn

around.”

Will looked over his shoulder at him, clearly not

understanding what the sudden change of heart was about, but
he did as he was told anyway, exposing his naked chest and the
growing bulge that was beneath his pants.

Hawke’s blood hummed again at the sight. That was better.
“I’m still going to tie your hands,” he said, but it wouldn’t be

so bad because at least this way Hawke would be able to see
him. He would be able to tell if Will was getting uncomfortable,
or wanted to change his mind. “Let me know if it gets to be too
tight.”

Will nodded, and Hawke wrapped the ropes around his

wrists before lifting them and tying them off to the metal frame.

He watched Will’s face intently as he did this, searching for

any outward sign that he’d changed his mind, and that he didn’t
want to do this anymore.

Hawke fully expected it, but it didn’t come. Will even smiled

a little and looked up at Hawke’s handiwork, tugging his arms
gently to test out the knots when Hawke finished. “You’re good
at this.”

“Why do I get the sudden feeling that you’ve let others do

this to you before?”

Now Will’s grin was the kind that said he’d been caught with

his hand in the cookie jar. “Guilty. It’s actually very nice. I should
try it on you one day.”

Hawke felt his already warm face go incredibly hot. Will’s

cheeks were splashed with pink color, as though realizing what
he’d just said.

Implying that this could go even further than it already had.

That was dangerous. Would Will even want to stay? Would the
villagers allow it?

Hawke allowed his hands to travel up the muscles of Will’s

chest, letting his fingertips move over the ridges and brush against
his hard nipples. Will shuddered and inhaled a sharp breath at
the touch, and his back arched into it just a little.

Hawke would’ve had to be blind to not see the way that pale

skin went flush under his touch. It was strange, the way it
seemed to follow his hands. He moved his fingers down to Will’s
pants and let them curl under the waistband before pulling away.
He stroked his palms down Will’s thighs and then ghosted a
hand over his swollen crotch. The entire time, Hawke made sure
to look at the vampire’s expression.

Will groaned and bit his lip. He was looking at Hawke’s

hands, waiting to see what he would do. After the third stroke
over his still-clothed cock, Will looked up at him, annoyance

over his still-clothed cock, Will looked up at him, annoyance
flashing over his features when he realized that Hawke was
teasing him on purpose.

“Will you get these pants off of me already?” he demanded,

shifting his hips, but with Hawke sitting on his legs, there wasn’t
much he could do.

Vampires were strong and everything, but they weren’t that

strong. Hawke would have him here, and he would do whatever
he wanted to him, for as long as he wanted, and Will had given
him permission to do it.

“You think getting them off you means I’ll let you come any

faster?”

Hawke felt Will’s whole body shiver beneath him as he

stared up at him with those wide amber eyes.

Hawke shook his head. “This would’ve been so much easier

to avoid if you were ugly or something. Why did you have to
grow up to be so damn gorgeous?” Hawke asked, pulling the
button and zipper down on Will’s pants and slowly shifting the
material down. He didn’t take them all the way off. He wasn’t
ready to move from his warm spot on Will’s lap so that he could
get the jeans down his legs.

“Oh? Think I’m good looking, do you?”
“I’d have to be an idiot to not notice it,” Hawke said.
“Shallow,” Will replied, but he hardly seemed to mind as his

mouth fell open and his head dropped back onto the cot as
Hawke took his cock in hand. He was cut, and at the head there
was a drop of cum building at the slit.

Hawke had his trysts with men before. He tried not to have

any relationships inside of the village. It was too small, and he

any relationships inside of the village. It was too small, and he
didn’t want to be the village whore, so unless there were visitors
from another village, or Hawke had to go travelling, he kept
mostly to himself.

One man had licked away his pre-cum that had been building

on his dick, much the same way Will’s was doing now. Hawke
dropped his head and gave it a try, if only to see what sort of
reaction he would get.

Will shifted his hips, canting forward, trying to thrust against

his hand and mouth. “You are such a fucking tease,” he
complained.

Hawke pulled his mouth away and smiled up at him, feeling

entirely like the predator Will had told him he was. “What sort of
jailor would I be if I didn’t torture my prisoner just a little?”

“Evil, evil jailor,” Will said through panting breaths, and then

he did nothing but moan when Hawke bent down and put the
whole head of his cock inside of his mouth.

He had to admit, there was something about doing this to a

vampire that got his adrenaline going, and the fact that they’d
somehow managed to turn the actual situation they were in into a
roleplaying sex game only made Hawke want the man even
more.

He was wearing entirely too many clothes.
Will cried out in what could have been despair when Hawke

pulled his mouth away. “Don’t you worry,” he said, planting a
kiss on his thigh. “Not going anywhere.”

Will nodded as Hawke pulled himself out of his shirt and

began fiddling with the button and fly of his own jeans. He
kicked them off, and when he had so much more bare skin on

kicked them off, and when he had so much more bare skin on
top of the man, he began to tremble.

This was very nice.
Hawke hesitated when he started to pull at the fingerless

gloves he wore. The infinity symbol was only tattooed on his
right hand, and he wasn’t sure he wanted Will to see it.

“I know it’s there,” the other man said, completely ruining his

hopes of keeping bad memories out of their bed. “Are you mad
at me for it?”

“You didn’t put it there,” Hawke said, and just because he

didn’t want to look like he was having some kind of issue with it,
he took his gloves off, revealing the tattoo on the back of his
right hand.

The infinity tattoo was put on all the slaves. It marked them as

what they were and reminded them that they would be serving
vampires for all of eternity. Because humans didn’t live forever
like vampires almost did, it was sort of a stupid thing to put on a
mortal, but that wasn’t the point.

With his hands now bare, Hawke began stroking Will’s cock

once more, noting the difference in texture now that he could
actually feel the swollen prick in his palm, and the bulging veins
on its underside.

“Put my cock in your mouth. Suck me,” Will commanded,

apparently forgetting all about the guilt he felt over Hawke’s
slave tattoo.

Hawke wasn’t about to have any of that bossiness. “Say

please,” he said, and just to be an even bigger tease, he trailed
his tongue up the underside of Will’s thick and heavy dick,
watching the man’s eyes go wide as he did so, and then as they

watching the man’s eyes go wide as he did so, and then as they
squeezed tightly shut when he began playing with the strip of
flesh just under the head of his prick.

“Urgh! Why are you even doing this? Someone could walk in

at any minute, you know?” Will said.

“They could, which means that if you want this to go

somewhere, you’d better hurry up and say please.”

“You’re enjoying this way too much. All right, fine, please!

Please!”

“Please what?”
“I’m going to kill you when I get out of here.”
Those words should have put him on edge, considering what

they were to each other but they didn’t. Hawke recognized the
empty threat for what it was, and it pleased him that he could
make Will this out of control. He’d known Will since he was a
child, after all. There was no way the boy who’d fed him or
healed him would mean something like that.

“Not what I wanted to hear,” Hawke said, and just to be a

bastard, he sank his mouth sound around the entire length of
Will’s prick, contorted his mouth in one long suck, and then
pulled away.

“I’m actually really liking that you suggested tying you up. I

can see the appeal.”

Will was panting hard. Hawke couldn’t tell if the man had

even heard his words. “Please, Hawke, put your lips around my
dick and suck me. I want you to blow me, please.”

“Much better,” Hawke said, and then he lowered his mouth

back around Will’s prick. It was becoming a little discolored.
Maybe he’d been a little too cruel in his teasing.

Will didn’t seem to mind it that much at the moment now that

he was finally getting what he wanted. He kept shifting his hips,
trying to hump into Hawke’s willing mouth. Occasionally, Hawke
would look up and see Will staring down at him, his mouth open
and his chest rising and falling as he struggled to keep control of
himself.

“You’re so good. That’s so nice. Keep doing that. So

fucking good,” Will said, and then continued to let out a string of
compliments as Hawke wrapped his tongue around the base of
Will’s prick.

Hawke reached for Will’s testicles, and found them drawn up

and tight. The man was close, and only when he began thrashing
around in ecstasy did Hawke quickly grab the base of his cock
and give just enough of a squeeze to prevent an orgasm.

Will moaned and continued to jerk around on the cot, unable

to come but still lost in pleasure.

“What are you doing? Let go! Let me come!”
He was being too loud. Someone might hear him and then

they would both be out of luck. Hawke gripped Will by the hip,
keeping his other hand still firmly on the man’s prick.

He dug his fingers into the tight flesh so hard that he hoped

the pain would be enough to center the man and stop him from
yelling out like that. “Not until I’m inside you. Understand?”

“Oh God, you’re so mean,” Will complained.
His mouth was still open. Hawke’s eyes were continually

drawn  to  his  lips.  They  were  pink  and  plump  and  looked  so
amazingly  soft.  He  wanted  to  kiss  them,  but  every  time  Will
spoke or panted or let his jaw fall like that, Hawke was given a
view  of  those  fangs,  and  a  reminder  of  why  kissing  was  still  a

view of those fangs, and a reminder of why kissing was still a
bad idea, no matter how much they were both enjoying this right
now.

Hawke put the thought away. No kissing, but they would

need something else if they were to get this show on the road,
and  all  of  Will’s  moaning  and  thrashing  had  taken  its  toll  on
Hawke.  His  body  felt  like  it  was  on  vibrate  and  his  cock  was
throbbing  almost  painfully,  and  if  he  stayed  on  top  of  Will  any
longer  while  he  was  thrusting  mindlessly  against  him,  he  was
going to be in danger of coming, too.

“Where are you going?” Will asked when Hawke got off his

legs.

Hawke stood straight and stretched out his legs, feeling his

knees pop. The way he’d been positioned on top of Will on his
small cot had not been comfortable, but he’d barely noticed the
building pain with what they were doing.

“We’ll need something to ease the way,” he said, moving to

his own bag of supplies and searching around through it.

“You keep lube with you all the time?” Will asked, his voice

still deliciously deep and aroused.

Hawke sent him a half-hearted glare over his shoulder. The

little shit actually smiled back at him. He looked so sexy like that.
Smirking like he had all the control in the world while tied up to
Hawke’s cot.

“No, but I have something that will be just as good,” he said,

pulling out a jar of salve.

“What is that?” Will asked.
The jar was handcrafted and made out of wood. It had no

labels on it, and only the carving of the leaf on the dark wooden

labels on it, and only the carving of the leaf on the dark wooden
lid gave any indication of what was inside.

“A health salve. It’s basically the same thing I put on your

hands. I did a job for some mages a while back and part of their
payment was to give our village loads of the stuff. Good for
rashes, minor cuts and scrapes, that sort of thing. It’s also slick
as hell.”

That knowing smile never left Will’s face, though now his

eyes were moving between the jar and Hawke’s face. “You’ve
been using it to touch yourself, haven’t you?”

“Purely for curiosity’s sake, and it worked well enough, so I

keep it with me. Pretty valuable, having something like this that
has so many uses.”

Will made a noise of agreement as Hawke set the jar down

beside his stomach, and then started to pull away the pants that
were still around his knees.

He didn’t tie up Will’s legs, he realized at the last second. He

should  have  thought  to  do  that,  but  Will  was  not  making  any
sudden movements, and aside from lifting his feet to help Hawke
get  his  jeans  off,  he  wasn’t  making  any  movements  that
suggested he was trying to attack or escape. He was just staring
up  at  him,  waiting  and  eager.  Hawke  definitely  couldn’t  tie  his
feet down anyway. He wouldn’t be able to do it without making
it completely uncomfortable to do what he was about to do.

An epiphany came to him right then as he stared down at his

soon-to-be lover. When they did this, because there was no way
he was turning back now, nothing would ever be the same
between them.

“What is it?” Will asked.

Chapter Eight

Will shivered at the sensation of cold and slick lubricant, or

what Hawke was using as lubricant, being smeared and rubbed
against his asshole. It took a second before it warmed up on his
skin, and when it did, he sighed. He’d lifted his knees up and
spread his legs wider, and now Hawke’s fingertips weren’t just
touching him, they were sinking inside him, preparing him, and all
the while the other man had a look of absolute, beautiful
concentration on his face.

It was lovely as fucking hell.
“Bet you never thought you’d be in bed with a vampire,” Will

said.

Hawke’s wolfish grin never left his face. Maybe he should

have named himself after the wolves instead. It would have been
so much more fitting.

“Bet you never thought you’d be in bed with a human.”
“You got me there,” Will said, panting as the sensation of

those fingers inside of him got to be too much.

Hawke hooked his fingers inside of him, searching for his

prostate, and then like a tracker dog he found it. Will’s eyes flew
wide and for a split second he couldn’t see as he turned his face
against his arm and bit down on his skin. Not hard enough to
break the flesh, but it did stifle his moan and help to center him.

Hawke had mentioned the possibility of other hired hands

coming in here if there was too much noise, and there was no
way Will was taking the risk of this being interrupted.

He was just starting to really wish the man would hurry up.

He was apparently one of the few in the world who had some

He was apparently one of the few in the world who had some
real patience when it came to his lovemaking, but then he felt the
fingers gently pull out and the blunt head of Hawke’s dick
pressing against his pucker.

“Ready?” Hawke asked, shifting into a more comfortable

position.

“If you wait any longer, I will have to start making a serious

effort to get out of these ropes, and then I’ll have to ravish you.”

“We’ll try that later. I seriously doubt you can get free of any

ropes I’ve tied.”

Smug prick. “Just―”
He didn’t get the chance to finish what he was about to say

as Hawke pushed forward, sinking himself inside of Will.

It had been way too long since he’d done this. The wonderful

burn, and the sheer fucking pleasure of it was so much that he
nearly came like he was still eighteen.

Hawke must have seen this, because he reached down and

took hold of his cock, gripping it at the base as he held still and
stared down at him.

“Do you have a hair trigger in there or what?”
Will’s body was bowstring tight, and he glared up at Hawke,

not daring to move or say anything just in case that would be
enough to make him come.

Hawke gripped him, but that apparently was not enough to

keep himself from moving for very long. He started to slowly
cant his hips. He bit his lips together and moaned softly as his
eyes fell shut.

That was so not helping Will to keep from spilling his load,

but he had to admit it was good. The combination of the sight of

but he had to admit it was good. The combination of the sight of
the man above him, as well as the moving cock inside of him,
was still working to make him feel like he was having the best
sex of his life, only Hawke’s hand was making sure that it wasn’t
about to end prematurely.

“That’s good,” Will moaned. When Hawke had tied his

hands, he’d left enough slack in the ropes that he could still move
them just a little, and he grabbed the frame and gripped it tight as
Hawke touched his prostate deep inside him on his next thrust.

That time he’d forgotten to bite down on his arm to keep

from moaning too loudly, but Hawke no longer seemed to notice
as he started to move like a man possessed. His thrusts were so
hard and fast that, had Will not been gripping the frame of the
cot, he would have been pushed upward, and then his wrists
would really start to hurt from the ropes.

He couldn’t keep himself quiet, especially when Hawke

finally released his dick and put his hands on either side of Will’s
head and just moved like a wild animal in heat.

They were so close. Will could feel the man’s breath on his

face, and he was so powerful between Will’s legs as he thrust
faster.

Will couldn’t stand it anymore, and he moaned out loud as he

came. His orgasm seemed to go on forever as he spilled warm
semen onto his stomach as he arched his back. His whole body
throbbed and hummed in continued pleasure even after he
finished, made better by the fact that Hawke was apparently not
yet done with him.

He kept right on moving, panting and moaning. He was

beautiful. Will was so glad he’d escaped his family’s house.

Caging such a handsome creature was too wrong.

Will was still thoroughly enjoying the show, even after his

pleasure turned into a mild discomfort, but then he both felt and
saw Hawke go still between his legs. He released a choked grunt
and then collapsed on top of him.

He was heavy. Will had been brought up to believe that

vampires were stronger and more superior to other species, but
more and more he was learning that there really wasn’t that much
of a difference. Not if two hundred or so pounds of muscle was
enough to make Will have a hard time breathing.

He didn’t complain, though. He liked the warmth and the

closeness. It allowed him to lie to himself about what had just
happened. Hawke liked him and desired him. That would have
to be enough. There could be no more while they were both on
the run from creatures who would rather see them caged.

“Tell me we will be doing that again,” Will asked. He might

have to live with the fact that they weren’t even friends, but there
was no way he was letting that be a one-off.

Hawke blew out a deep breath against his chest. Will’s nipple

hardened under the onslaught. “Definitely.”

Unexpectedly, Hawke stiffened and pushed himself away

from Will. Will hissed at the sudden discomfort of cold air
against his warm flesh, and he squirmed in his restraints.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Hawke stared down at him. The suspicion was back in his

eyes, and Will didn’t like it. “You didn’t bite me,” he said.

“What?”
“I was so close. My face was right next to yours, my neck…

but you didn’t try to bite me.”

Will didn’t get the chance to be offended that Hawke still

apparently thought he was that kind of vampire when a loud
banging sound pounded on the other side of the barn doors.

Hawke none too gently pulled his now-soft prick out of

Will’s body, scooped up his clothing, and then ran to the door,
hopping into his pants along the way.

“Wait!” Will called.
“Stay there!” Hawke called back, barely glancing over his

shoulder, and apparently forgetting that Will was still tied to the
cot.

* * * *

Hawke ran out of the barn, stumbling into his shoes as

awkwardly as he’d hopped back into his jeans. There was no
one outside of the doors like he thought there would be, but then
he realized why, and he quickly locked the barn behind him,
hoping that would be enough to keep the assassins from wanting
to get inside. Right away, at least.

Assassins. Vampire assassins, if the tight black suits that clung

to the skin and dark goggles were anything to go by. The village
was  in  chaos  as  men  and  women  ran  and  screamed  while  the
vampires  pulled  out  their  guns  and  blades  and  began
systematically hunting down their prey. The people running away
were  either  shot  or  netted,  and  the  men  and  women  who  got
close enough to fight were quickly cut down.

Brian was among those fighting, but he was at the front door

to his house, refusing to leave it as he hid behind a turned-over
table and picked off any of the assassins who dared to get too
close with his rifle.

close with his rifle.

There was a butterfly knife in his pocket, and that was about

it because he’d been too stupid to grab any of his other weapons
from his bag, and even then it wasn’t like he’d had a whole lot of
heavy-duty stuff in there anyway. He was guarding a vampire,
and it was considered better if there wasn’t a whole lot on hand
that the hostage could get his hands on.

Hawke ran to his father, and was grateful that the man had

such steady hands and good nerves that, even though he was
running toward him like mad, Brian didn’t just shoot him in a fit
of blind panic.

He did curse at him a little when Hawke landed next to him.

“Jesus! Don’t scare me like that!”

Brian positioned his rifle and fired off another shot. It struck

the man in black square in the head, blowing a hole as well as
pieces of his cranium all over the place, and he went down.

Those suits were reinforced, but their main purpose was to

protect against the sun, and there wasn’t anything on earth that
could be worn that could stop a well-placed shot from
penetrating the skull like that.

Hawke helped himself to one of the guns that was in the bag

beside his father, and then he took hold of another holster that
contained several slots for holding sharp blades and other
poisons. That was his. Brian must’ve pulled it from the hidden
compartment under the chest in case Hawke would need it.

They worked together fairly well like that.
Hawke put the holsters on. His own goggles weren’t inside

the bag. That was fine. He couldn’t use smoke screens while
these vampires wore their masks. They would be able to see

these  vampires  wore  their  masks.  They  would  be  able  to  see
through any smog as clearly as Hawke would anyway, negating
any  advantage.  The  poisons  were  out  as  well.  The  vampires
would  be  too  fast  to  inhale  them.  Hawke  quickly  worked  on
opening his capsules, and then wet a few of the blades with his
tongue, careful of the sharp edge, and then sprinkled the powder
over the metal.

“What are you doing?” Brian asked, watching him with wide

eyes.

“Keep your eyes on the enemy, father. How many?”
Brian was the leader of the village, but in battle, he and

Hawke were both equals. “There were at least a dozen on my
count. I managed to kill five of them, and some have already left
with full nets.”

Those poor people would be turned into slaves and used as

fountains for the vampires to drink from. Hawke only hoped that
Vaughn or Anderson would not be among the taken. “So how
many are left?”

“Four or five,” Brian said.
With all the chaos happening around them, as well as how

skilled these vampires were, that was still more than enough to
make a village pay for kidnapping a vampire from a wealthy
house.

“Can you keep them distracted?” Hawke asked.
Brian huffed. “What the hell do you think I’m doing now?”
Hawke grinned at his father, and he palmed his now-

poisoned blades. The vampires were fast, these ones especially
since, unlike Will, they had been trained for this line of work.

Hawke was just as fast, if not faster, and they wouldn’t be

expecting the sort of attacks he was going to be giving them, not
because of his human status.

He leaped back over the rail of the small deck and

overturned table where he and his father hid, and began to
quickly circle around to the back of one attacker who caught his
eye in particular. He just needed to land one cut, and the poison
would do the rest.

Chapter Nine

Will struggled against the ropes that held him in place, which

only seemed to make them tighter around his wrists, and then
they started to hurt again from the lack of blood flow.

He was going to kill that idiot for leaving him like this. For

real, he meant it this time. There was nothing more humiliating
than being tied naked to a cot like this, fluids drying on his
stomach and between his legs, not even hidden from sight should
anyone come in here.

He’d thought he’d heard the click of a lock from the outside,

maybe a padlock or a bolt, but that didn’t mean someone
couldn’t still get in here.

Then a masked face appeared right in front of him, and Will

screamed. He tried to, at any rate. A cloth was stuffed into his
mouth, and then he really started to flip out. He used his fangs
and sharp teeth to try and bite through it, but the material was
tough, like something that would be given to a powerful dog.

The thin face of the stranger in front of him with the large dark

goggles was an eerie sight, and Will knew exactly what this was.

A vampire. Likely sent by his father, or his fiancé’s family.

The man was an assassin and dressed to be working in the
daylight hours if the full-body black suit, mask, and goggles were
anything to go by.

Will kicked his legs and tried to twist his body around, but

the vampire jumped on him, held him down, and then the knife
was pressed to his throat.

He went absolutely still, and then the man lifted his mask up

just enough for Will to see his face, but nothing else. It was no

just enough for Will to see his face, but nothing else. It was no
one that Will recognized from his home, so there could be no
mercy from this stranger, or any kindness, should he decide to
simply kill him right there. His features were hard and suspicious.
He had a jagged scar that ran down his mouth, giving him the
impression of a permanent scowl, as well as another scar that ran
down his right eye.

That right eye was a pale blue, and the other was a dark

brown. Whether that difference had anything to do with the scar,
Will couldn’t be sure.

The man’s angry eyes squinted down at him, and then his

blade moved to Will’s lips, the sharp edge moving at a sideways
angle so that even though it scraped his skin, it didn’t cut.

It itched, however. There must have been silver on the blade.

It was not uncommon for even vampire guards or assassins to
carry blades made of silver, just in case they had to fight off their
own, or even werewolves, as unlikely as that last one was.

Will was not about to struggle with a knife pressing so close

into his skin. His body shivered, he couldn’t stop the trembling,
or wishing he could scratch at the building rash on his throat, but
he did his absolute best to hold still, even when the knife pressed
between his lips.

Will opened his mouth, and the cloth was pulled out. The

man’s other hand came down to peel his lips farther apart, and
then he began to examine Will’s fangs.

“You’re the one,” he said, nodding to himself. He sat up then

stared down at Will with disgust, as if only just noticing what was
still stuck to his stomach.

Will was hot with embarrassment, but he only cared that this

man was no longer lying flatly on top of him and that the knife
had been pulled away.

That relief lasted all of two seconds before he reached up to

the radio on his shoulder, pressed a button, and then called for
his backup.

“This is Noir. I found the target. He’s in the barn and

restrained. Out.”

When there wasn’t a response right away, Noir put his hand

back to the radio and called out again to whomever else might
be out there. Again, there was no answer.

Will didn’t know if that was normal, nor did he appreciate the

calculated look Noir was giving him now.

Noir reached into one of the many pockets that were all over

the dark costume he wore, and when he pulled out a vial, Will’s
eyes went wide.

“Draught of sleeping death,” he explained, as simply and

easily as if they were discussing the weather over biscuits. Likely
it was the same thing that Hawke had used when transporting
Will away from his family estate.

Will didn’t care. He didn’t want to be put under and hauled

away like a sack of potatoes.

He shook his head, and when the assassin, Noir, pulled the

rag out of his mouth, he turned his face away quickly before the
stuff could be forced down his throat.

“I don’t want to go back. I want to stay here!”
Noir’s hand had just gripped his chin and turned his head, but

then he stopped at Will’s words. “With the humans? Look at
you. You’re naked in a barn and clearly someone sexually

assaulted you.”

Will shook his head, still staring down at the vial in Noir’s

hand. “That’s not what this is. I’m making a choice and I want to
be here.”

“You’re deluded.”
“How do I know that’s not poison or something?” Will

demanded.

“It’s not. Don’t bite me,” Noir said, and then gripped Will’s

jaw and cheeks so tightly that it hurt, and his mouth was forced
open.

Using his thumb, Noir popped off the cap of the vial and then

forced the contents into Will’s mouth. Noir held Will’s lips shut
and put his other hand over his nose to keep him from breathing.

This was really happening. Will could already feel his lungs

burn since he didn’t even have the chance to take in a proper
breath of air before the potion was poured into his mouth.

He struggled against the sensation for as long as he could, but

then as his throat constricted, trying to force air down, some of
the potion went down instead, and he immediately felt the sleepy
sensation of the drug working through him. He swallowed the
stuff, and Noir pulled his hands away now that Will was no
longer a danger to him. Not like he ever had been to begin with.

Everything was suddenly foggy and hazy, and as though it

weren’t happening to him at all, Will was aware of Noir untying
his hands before hoisting him over his shoulder.

Hawke. Will wanted Hawke to rush through those barn

doors and save him. Will had thought it was romantic that they
had met up after so many years apart, and considering their
history together. How romantic would it be if Hawke were to

history together. How romantic would it be if Hawke were to
burst through those doors while Noir was in the act of stealing
him away, and then rescue him?

That didn’t happen. Noir climbed up to the rafters above the

barn, and only then did Will become aware of a sliver of light
that was coming between the wooden boards. A loose board.
That was how he’d gotten in.

Will giggled drunkenly, and then everything went dark as he

was placed in some kind of bag. Then the drug took complete
effect and he was out.

* * * *

Hawke wiped his bloody butterfly knife in the grass, then

flicked it shut and put it away. The holsters that had contained his
other blades were all empty. He’d had to throw most of them in
order to strike at the vampires who were too far away or already
running with their nets of drugged children. Only three adults
were missing, Carl was among them, and it was debatable on
whether or not he even qualified as an adult.

The scary thing was that he still wasn’t sure if he’d gotten

them all. The other farmhands were coming out, searching
around with their weapons in case anyone was missed, or
finishing off the poisoned vampires that Hawke had gotten with
his blades.

They would have to be cleaned later.
A quick glance in his father’s direction told him that the man

was all right. Brian waved him off before rushing into the house
to check on his wife.

Hawke was certain she would be okay since he hadn’t seen

anyone trying to sneak inside, and Brian had been guarding the

anyone trying to sneak inside, and Brian had been guarding the
only door.

He rushed back to the barn, glad to see the padlock still in

place and unharmed. There was going to have to be a search
party for the people who had gone missing, and right now they
could use Will’s healing powers to help the injured.

Hawke opened the door a crack to prevent any sunlight from

streaming in and let himself inside. Then he stopped cold at the
sight of his empty cot.

The ropes he’d used were still there, tied to the cot’s frame,

and with a sudden panic, Hawke couldn’t remember if he’d been
the one to untie the man. They weren’t chewed through or cut.
Someone had been in here.

Then he heard the long groan from the wood above him.
Hawke looked up just as a dark figure vanished through a set

of loose boards in the barn’s roof. The assassin had a large sack
over his shoulder.

“No!” Hawke rushed back out the barn’s only doors and ran

around to the other side of the barn.

Some of the farmhands stared at him as he ran like a crazed

man  through  them,  even  pushing  some  of  them  out  of  the  way
when  they  tried  stepping  in  his  path  for  whatever  help  they
wanted. He ran into the trees where the  assassin  was  trying  to
disappear and Hawke used every last bit of speed he possessed,
and he paid no attention to the angered shouts behind him.

There, he saw him. The vampire was good, jumping through

the trees like that, a tactic that even Hawke used, but he was
being slowed down by his heavy cargo. Hawke deftly climbed
the next tree he came upon with branches that could hold him yet

the next tree he came upon with branches that could hold him yet
still allow him to keep sight of the vampire slaver. Within seconds
he was on the man’s trail again, and he was catching up.

“Get back here! Stop!” he yelled. He was painfully aware of

the knife still in his pocket, but he didn’t dare throw it, not while
Will―he assumed it was Will inside of that bag―was hanging
over the assassin’s back like that.

Of course the stupid man didn’t listen, but he must have

realized that there was no way he was outrunning this human,
regardless of how fast he was.

The man jumped down from the tree branches, and Hawke

suddenly  had  a  terrified  mental  image  of  the  assassin  dropping
the  bag  in  midjump,  allowing  himself  to  land  gracefully  while
letting the person in the sack land painfully,  even  fatally,  on  his
head or something.

He didn’t. The vampire landed on his feet, but still kept the

bagged individual safely over his shoulder.

Hawke kept to the trees as the assassin continued to run.
The stupid bastard thought he was going to lose Hawke if he

was on the ground and didn’t have to worry about catching
himself on the tree branches. Hawke worked better in the trees,
and if anything, he only got closer.

One well-placed jump and he would have him.
Finally, the assassin must have realized there was nothing to

be done for it because, without stopping or slowing down, he
dropped the bag and kept going on his way.

Hawke’s first instinct was to chase him down and catch him,

to kill him for what he’d tried to do, but he stopped and let
himself drop to the ground. He quickly ran to the bag and

himself drop to the ground. He quickly ran to the bag and
dragged it over to a pine tree with low-hanging branches. The
shade wasn’t perfect, but it would have to be enough.

There was a set of metal buttons that he pulled apart, and

then a heavy zipper beneath them. Hawke quickly felt with his
hands what was inside, and when he found the head of the
person within, he unzipped the bag to have a look.

He breathed a heavy sigh. It was Will. He was pale and still,

but when Hawke touched his shaking hand to his chest and put
his fingers under his nose, he could feel that his heart was
beating, and he was breathing. He was alive.

Thank God.
Hawke pulled the man closer to him and hugged him. He

couldn’t even stop thinking about how close he’d come to losing
him and never seeing him again.

He said it out loud this time. “Thank God.”
It might’ve only been a minute or two, but considering the

danger he and Will were both still in, that was an embarrassingly
long amount of time for him to have been sitting there hugging the
vampire close. He was acting like a child who was afraid he
might lose his favorite teddy bear or something.

Hawke wiped his eyes and looked up. The tree branches

kept him from seeing too much, but there was no way the
assassin had left, not after Hawke had stopped like that, and the
vampire would have realized that Hawke had chased after him
alone, like a lunatic.

To be safe, Hawke zipped the bag back up to keep any stray

beams of sun from sneaking through the pine needles and
branches. Will’s heart and breath hadn’t exactly been coming at

branches. Will’s heart and breath hadn’t exactly been coming at
a normal rate, but his skin tone clearly said that he wasn’t about
to die from it. The assassin had likely given him a sleeping
draught, just like Hawke had done, and he wanted to see the
bastard for himself.

He stepped out and away from the branches and stood

straight. He strained his ears and kept his eyes peeled. All the
while, his fists were clenched and ready. “You might as well get
out here. I know you’re there.”

It didn’t startle him when the vampire leapt down from one of

the tree branches and landed gracefully only ten feet away from
him. Hawke had been expecting something like that, but he was
a little shocked that he hadn’t heard the man running around
back in the trees.

The assassin’s knees bent on the landing, but then he stood

straight. He was a little taller than Hawke, but he wasn’t worried.
He pulled his butterfly knife out. Would there still be poison on
the blade after he’d stabbed other vampires with it? Either way,
a vampire could still bleed to death if cut in the right place.

Surprisingly, the vampire in black didn’t pull out a knife, or a

pistol with a suppressor on it. He raised his hands only a little,
and took one step forward.

“I am not here to fight with you. I just want my cargo.”
It enraged Hawke to hear another man refer to Will as cargo.

Hawke used to be referred to as cargo. Property to be worked
and bought and sold, like he was a mindless drone, or even a
piece of furniture. Will had mentioned that he was going to be
married off if he hadn’t run away. Was Will really treated with
little more respect than the average human worker?

little more respect than the average human worker?

“He wants to stay with me,” he said, not at all sure if that was

true. “You’re not taking him.”

“I’m being paid a large amount of money to return him to his

family. More than what I would get for just bringing in another
human. Your men managed to kill the others that came with me,
but you and I alone? I doubt there would be much you could
do.”

Hope filled Hawke’s chest. The other vampires who had

kidnapped the three men had been caught and killed? Already?
Good. That was very good. It meant that the location of this
village would stay safe for a while longer.

“I took a vampire right off his family property and then ran all

the way here with him. I’m pretty sure I could take you just fine.”

“Were you the one who raped him?”
Hawke’s eyes flew wide. “What?”
“I found him tied down. Clearly someone had forced

themselves onto him.”

Hawke couldn’t see the vampire’s features because of that

damned mask, but the voice he used was enough to give him the
impression that he was being glared at.

“He was with me because he wanted to be with me,” Hawke

said. “I’m not a rapist.”

“Well, too bad he’s not awake so we can’t ask him.” The

vampire was clearly taking offense to the fact that someone may
have done something so terrible to one of his own kind. Hawke
couldn’t blame him, but he wasn’t about to let himself get killed
over it. He dodged easily out of the way when the assassin
charged him, blades popping out from hidden compartments

charged him, blades popping out from hidden compartments
attached to his wrists.

Because of the mask again, all Hawke had to work with as

far as what the vampire was thinking was his body language, and
he got the impression that he’d stunned his opponent with the
speed he’d used to get out of the way.

“Those are some pretty cool toys,” Hawke said, looking

down at the long blades. They were as long as his forearm.
“When I kill you, I think I’ll take them.”

“You’ll kill me with what? That little knife you have?”
“I did manage to get out of the way of your attack before you

could slice me open.”

“Dumb luck. I know your kind. I see the infinity tattoo on

your hand. You’re out to avenge yourself by taking your
frustrations out on a vampire. Can’t say I blame you, but I won’t
let you keep him to torture him. Better he goes back to his kind.”

That nearly made Hawke lose it altogether, and it took

everything he had to keep himself from going completely mad
and just charging the presumptuous fucker right there. He had to
stay calm. If he lost his focus, he was as good as dead.

“Not that I don’t want to kill every single vampire slaver in

the world, but what do you know about it? You have no idea
what humans go through at the hands of your people.”

Will knew. Will was different, and Hawke wasn’t about to let

this asshole take him away.

The assassin straightened his legs, coming out of his

defensive, nearly crouching position, and with the sun at his
back, he lifted the glove on his right hand just enough without
removing it entirely, and he showed the tattoo to Hawke without

removing it entirely, and he showed the tattoo to Hawke without
putting any of his skin in direct sunlight.

Hawke couldn’t believe it. The infinity tattoo. “That’s

impossible,” he said, shaking his head. “Vampires don’t enslave
their own.”

“And thus, you prove your ignorance of my people,” said the

assassin as he pulled his glove back down. “It’s not merely inked
there either. It is a genuine tattoo, and a brand. Even if I were to
remove the tattoo itself, the scar would remain.”

Christ, even vampires could be slaves? There were hows and

whys to that, but that was for a later time.

“If you’re a slave then you might as well give Will to me and

then run free somewhere. Go to the North or to the South, out of
the vampire lands. You could be free.”

“I already am. I earned my freedom and now I put my skills

to good use. Though I am curious as to why you would care
about a vampire’s freedom when you had one tied up in a barn.”

Hawke clenched his fists. “I don’t give a shit about you. I’m

against slavery on principal, and I told you, he wanted to be
there. He asked me to tie him up.”

Now the assassin was rubbing his chin and looking over

toward the tree with the heavy branches where Hawke had
hidden his lover.

“He did mention something about that.”
Hawke blew up on the man, losing all of his focus and yet

allowing his anger to flow out of him now that he was sure they
were only having a conversation and not about to fight to the
death. Yet. “Then why the fucking hell did you take him?” he
screamed.

screamed.

The assassin shrugged. “Several reasons. I had a job to do,

for one. You also could have brainwashed him for all I knew.
Made him sympathize with you until he would allow you to do
whatever sort of twisted thing you thought up for the moment.”

Hawke wanted to start yelling at the man again, but then he

stopped himself as the realization hit him. That was exactly the
kind of thing that happened with most slaves. They grew to love
their masters, in some sick and warped way. Most would never
leave if given the option, and they would defend the very people
who jailed them.

“Would it matter if it was really his choice to stay and not

some trick? Or would you still try to take him for the sake of
your job?”

Again, the assassin seemed to think about this. “The rest of

my  team  is  dead.  That  was  a  lot  of  valuable  men  your  village
killed. If I returned alone, the sole survivor, I doubt there would
be  much  of  a  punishment  for  me,  and  now  the  house  I  serve
would  be  much  too  weak  to  send  another  group  of  attackers
after your village even if I told them where it was.”

Which meant that he probably would tell them. He would

have to, eventually. Unless he made up some story about being
the only surviving warrior from a human ambush that had taken
place outside of the village, and even then the vampires in charge
would still have an idea of where to send their next batch of
troops.

“There are villages that aren’t hidden from the vampires’ eyes

and they do well enough.” Only because they had enough
numbers that the vampires chose to treat those areas with
caution. “We’ll be fine, so long as you go.”

caution. “We’ll be fine, so long as you go.”

Still, the assassin continued to stare at him in a way that was

starting to get under Hawke’s skin. He would feel much better
about this whole thing if the man would just stop that already. It
was worse than being in a fight to the death.

“I can’t in good conscience leave him here. Not unless I hear

for myself one more time that he is not in danger.”

“How about I just kill you and that will be the end of that?”

Hawke demanded.

“You could try to kill me. Maybe you will even succeed, but I

am very skilled. Even if you have the luck to end my life before I
end  yours,  do  you  really  think  you  would  get  away  without
injury?  The  smell  of  blood  would  draw  predators,  and  you
wouldn’t  have  the  energy  to  return  to  your  village.  Maybe  you
would  bleed  out  before  you  made  it,  and  then  what  would
happen to him?” Noir pointed with his hand to where Will was
still drugged and sleeping.

Hawke clenched his jaw. The stupid bastard had him there.
The man pulled a vial out of one of the seemingly hundreds of

pockets he had on himself and tossed it to Hawke.

He caught it, taking his eyes away from the man in front of

him for only a split second, not wanting to risk that it was a
distraction.

The vampire held perfectly still.
“That’s a vial of beauty’s kiss. It should wake him if you put it

under his nose.”

Hawke shook his head at the name, but he moved toward the

tree, keeping one eye on the assassin who may or may not be a
threat any longer.

threat any longer.

Beauty’s kiss. The mages and warlocks who made and

named these potions weren’t exactly known for their creativity in
certain departments, but still…

“Don’t you dare move from that spot,” Hawke said, letting

his threat stay silent.

The man just crossed his arms and planted his feet. Lovely.
Just to be on the safe side, when Hawke put himself under

the shade of the pine tree, he popped off the cap and held the
vial a little ways away from his nose. He slowly brought it
forward, inhaling deeply as he did before the strong citrusy scent
came onto him. The scent seemed to fly up his nose, making the
inside walls of his nostrils tingle and gave him a bit of an energy
boost, even when the vial was still a good twelve inches away.

He’d heard of beauty’s kiss. It was supposed to smell like

citrus, and he didn’t feel sick, or like he was about to die or
anything, so this must be the real deal.

“I wouldn’t trick you into poisoning him simply because I

would not be able to take him. You do not have to fear that from
me.”

Hawke didn’t answer. He would rather have taken the risk

on himself than let Will be hurt.

He opened the bag that Will was still inside and then waved

the vial beneath his nose.

He pulled it back again and corked it when Will jerked up

with a panicked start. Hawke put his hand down against Will’s
chest, even as his arms flailed.

“It’s me. Will! It’s me,” he said, his voice getting calmer when

recognition lit up behind the man’s eyes.

Hawke braced himself for attack when Will threw himself at

him, and he raised his arms instinctively to ward off punches, but
the fists didn’t come. Will wrapped his arms around Hawke’s
shoulders and clutched him so tightly with that vampire strength
of his that Hawke actually had trouble breathing.

He trembled bodily, but he wasn’t crying. It didn’t take

Hawke much to realize, however, that he was still scared out of
his mind and slipping into shock.

He ignored his breathing problems and put his fingers through

Will’s dark, honey-blond hair, petting him and making soothing
shushing noises. He hoped they were soothing, anyway. He
didn’t know if he was making an idiot out of himself and there
was still the fact that the crazy former slave turned assassin was
still looking at them.

“You came. I can’t believe you’re here,” Will said.
That sent a lance straight through Hawke’s heart. Of course

he came. Why wouldn’t he? Though maybe Will still had some
doubts based on how they’d come together, but that was going
to have to get sorted out later. There were still other matters that
needed taking care of.

“Will, I need you to do something for me, and then we can go

back.”

“Go back?” Will looked up and around, and his eyes

widened as he realized that he was outside and only being
protected by the flimsy shade of tree branches, but then he must
have seen who was waiting on the other side of those tree
branches and he started to panic again.

Hawke had to hurry and grab him before he could scramble

back and out of the safety of the shade. Luckily, Hawke’s own
speed and strength, as well as the fact that Will’s lower body
was still trapped in the large black bag he’d been stuffed into,
prevented him from getting out into the sun and frying himself in a
panic.

Hawke shook him. “Listen! I need you calm right now. He

and I, we…worked something out,” Hawke said, not entirely
sure what it was they had come to an agreement on, other than
they both thought slavery was wrong, and that the assassin might
leave without any more problems if he could just see that Will
was better off here instead of with whatever vampire family he
worked for.

Will looked over at the man through the tree branches.

“Really?”

He nodded. “I know that even the masters are not always

free, and my comrades are dead. I could say whatever I like and
make up any excuse I see fit for our failure. I will not, however,
leave you here if you are being abused. Say the word now, and I
will deal with this human, or I will go. I leave the choice to you.”

“You didn’t leave it to me when you took me. How long was

I even out for?” Will demanded, and Hawke was painfully aware
of how the man did not stop shaking, or loosen his grip once he
decided to hold onto Hawke for all he was worth once more.

“Not long,” Hawke said. “That’s all you need to know. What

do you want to do?”

Will looked up at him, his amber eyes bright and wide, and

Hawke was left with the strong urge to just kiss him senseless.

“What…you, too?”

“What…you, too?”
Hawke bit his lips together. “The whole point of taking you

was to exploit a weakness in some of the more powerful vampire
families. This wasn’t the way we thought it would happen, but if
you  count  the  dead  assassins,  then  we  still  succeeded.  They
know we’re a force to be reckoned with.” He wasn’t about to
mention the fact that other villages would also be sent out to deal
with the vampire family who had lost their warriors and then try
to  claim  the  house  and  all  of  its  assets.  Not  with  an  assassin
standing  right  over  there  who  might  very  well,  in  all  likelihood,
decide  not  to  keep  that  particular  bit  of  information  to  himself
when he went back to his employers.

Hawke didn’t care if he was a former slave. He still worked

for vampires now, and he didn’t trust the bastard to not leak that
information.

“You can go if you want,” Hawke said. “I’ll send you on your

way to the South where the mages are if that’s where you want
to go. No one in my village will follow you.”

For the second time in the day, he felt a spear sail through his

chest and heart. The thought of Will leaving now…no, he was
being sentimental and stupid. And clingy. If Will wanted to go,
then Hawke would wish him well and hope for the best. Will had
let him go all those years ago, the very least Hawke could do
right now would be the same.

“What do you want to do?” Hawke asked again when Will

gave no answer.

It was hard, trying to not get lulled in by how deep Will’s

eyes were, the feel of his warm body safe in his arms, or the
nerve-wracking decision he was about to make, all while a

nerve-wracking  decision  he  was  about  to  make,  all  while  a
vampire  assassin  stood  only  feet  away  from  them,  ready  to
swoop  in  and  kill  Hawke  when  he  was  distracted,  take  Will
away either back to his family or that nest of other vampires he
was  supposed  to  be  married  into,  or  leave  them  alone  and
disappear forever. Because in some odd fantasy land, the third
option  involved  Will  wanting  to  stay  because  he  was  madly  in
love  with  Hawke,  and  not  because  he  wanted  to  travel  to  the
southern lands and disappear forever.

Chapter Ten

There was something in Hawke’s eyes that made Will pause

when he was about to admit to what he wanted out of all of this.

Of course he didn’t want to go. He wanted to stay. Going to

the district occupied by the magical folk had been the point, but
now Will thought he would be most happy if he stayed in
Hawke’s village with him, healing the sick and injured.

That wouldn’t be enough to get the other humans to

completely trust him, but he liked the little imaginary land where
he was a welcome member of their group, and if he and Hawke
wanted to start something, well, then…

Will cleared his throat. “I don’t want my family to find me. I

want to go to the mage district,” he said.

It was stupid of him to be having the thoughts he was just

because he and Hawke had gone to bed together and it had
been great.

Hawke nodded and then turned to look back at Noir. “You

heard him. He wants to be free. Go away.”

Noir stayed staring at them through the tree branches, which

was kind of an odd effect, but then he nodded his head a
fraction, turned around, and walked away.

He was probably going to wait until he was out of sight

before he started doing his whole vampire-assassin, great-
stamina, flying-squirrel thing.

“I’m surprised you let him go,” Will said. “What if he tells his

employers where your village is?”

“Then we’ll move. Besides, I doubt his employers will have

the strength to send out any kind of attack after the massive shit

the strength to send out any kind of attack after the massive shit
kicking we just gave to all the men they sent.”

Will’s eyes widened. “They’re all dead?”
Hawke face remained hard. “Apparently. I need to get back

to confirm this, though, and considering it isn’t exactly a cloudy
day…” Hawke trailed off, his fingers back on the zipper of the
claustrophobic bag Will had been stuffed into. He glared at
Hawke, even as he started to zip the thing back up.

“This would almost be better if you hadn’t woken me up.”
“I know. Don’t move around too much. Don’t want to risk

dropping you.”

* * * *

Will was relieved when Hawke didn’t take them into the

trees. He could tell by the easy way the man ran, and there was
no sensation of climbing coming from him either.

It made the ride easier, but now Will was perfectly awake

and breathing in the hot and stale air of the bag he’d been stuffed
into. That was uncomfortable enough, but he was still fully
conscious, and he could hear the anger of the villagers well
enough when they returned.

There were angry-sounding grumbles and the like, the kinds

of things that Will couldn’t make out through the sack but was
still aware of.

This was the reason he couldn’t stay. Hawke had run off and

risked himself to rescue a vampire, when there was still so much
that needed to be done in the village after a group of vampires
attacked. One woman had actually come right up to Hawke, and
if the sharp sound of flesh on flesh was any indication, she’d
slapped him, too.

slapped him, too.

“My son Carl was taken by one of those things, and you ran

off to get him? What if he hadn’t come back? How could you
live with yourself?”

She was screaming and crying, too. Fantastic. Will made sure

to breathe as little as possible. It was cowardly, but the hot and
murderous sun was still beating down just outside of the safety of
the bag he was in, and the last thing he wanted was to remind
these people that he was there, alive, and very capable of being
pulled out of the bag by an angry mob and left to fry like
barbecue that had been so overcooked it had lit on fire.

The only thing he regretted was that it meant leaving Hawke

alone to deal with the angry villagers.

“We needed him for just this reason. He is our bargaining

chip against the vampires and they have already wasted valuable
men trying to―”

Another slapping sound cut him off. Will winced in sympathy

pain for the man. That sounded like it really hurt.

The woman who was dishing out the abuse spoke again. Her

voice was low, and it trembled just a little. Will wondered if her
body  was  trembling  as  well  with  the  rage  she  no  doubt  felt.
Nothing  other  than  that  could  make  anyone  continually  hit  the
son  of  the  man  in  charge,  especially  considering  the  talented
fighter, tracker, and killer that Hawke was.

“Don’t you ever try to tell me something like that again. I

don’t want to hear those excuses if my child goes missing.”

From the sound of it, Will was getting the fearful impression

that more people were on their way, shuffling closer and
muttering their agreement with the abusive woman.

Will had heard the name Carl mentioned. Wasn’t that one of

the bastards that had tried to torture him while he’d been tied up
in the barn?

Will was going to have to have a talk with Hawke about the

dangers of constantly leaving him bound to things unsupervised.
Clearly that was a sign of trouble.

He was only just starting to wonder if he would get the

chance to have that kind of conversation with him when Brian’s
voice broke through the angry rumbling of the crowd.

“That’s enough! Margaret, Carl is back so I would

appreciate it if you kept your hands off of my son. The rest of
you back away and get back to cleanup. We’re not done yet
and I’ll need a chance to speak with my son.”

Will was surprised when the villagers moved on, back to

tending to their wounded or whatever else there was that needed
to be done, considering all that had happened. He didn’t know if
he would be the kind of man to simply walk away if he had so
many questions of his own flying around inside of his head.

It only went to show how much the people in this village

respected their leader.

“Is he okay?” Will heard Brian ask, and he was actually a

little touched that the man even remembered him.

“Yeah, awake, too, unless he fell asleep on the walk back.”
Will’s face went hot. Hotter than it already was inside of the

suffocating bag with the sun beating down on it.

“I’m fine. Can you get me out of here?” he asked, humiliated

and wondering how pathetic and muffled his voice sounded from
within the wretched bag.

There was no chuckle at his expense. No sign that, at least

amongst them, things would be fine. Both men were silent, and
then Hawke began moving again.

Will thought they might be going back to the barn when he

heard the clomp of Hawke’s booted feet against a wooden floor.
Up a couple of steps, and then, from the sound of it, a normal-
sized door was opening for them.

“Can you get the windows, Dad?” Hawke asked.
They were in his parents’ house.
There was a shuffle and the sound of shutters being closed,

just like they had been the last time Will had been brought here.

Finally, he was set on the floor, and the buttons and zipper of

the bag he’d been forced to stay in opened, and he breathed in
some fresh air. The first thing he noticed after three wonderful
breaths of clean air was the red splotches on Hawke’s face
where he’d been slapped.

Hawke’s eyes on him were sad. “Fuck, I forgot your clothes.

Wait here. Dad.”

“I’ll watch him,” the other man said as Hawke practically flew

out the door, almost forgetting to not open it so much as he left.
Luckily the sun wasn’t in the right position to get directly in to the
house from the door.

Will told himself to not be embarrassed, and to not take it

personally that he was still apparently under guard.

He didn’t want to do it, but he couldn’t help but look at the

other man in the room who was staring down at him curiously.
Probably wondering why Will was naked inside of the bag he
was wearing.

He looked down at it instead, if only to keep from looking at

Hawke’s father. Only then did he notice how much the thing
resembled a body bag. He shivered and wanted to hop out of
the thing. His muscles twitched and jumped, begging him to do
just that, but he held perfectly still.

The only thing worse than being naked in a room with the

father of the man Will had just had sex with would be if he’d
stood up and entirely exposed himself to the guy, too.

Then he really would need the body bag because he would

die on the spot.

Thankfully, Hawke returned not too much longer later, though

it had felt like hours. He held Will’s now extremely dirty clothes
in his hands, and Brian muttered something about giving them
some privacy.

“Come on, I’ll take you into my room,” Hawke said.
At least Will could now walk there on his own, though when

he stood up, despite how eager he was to forever be away from
the body bag, he awkwardly wrapped the bag around his middle
to keep from walking around completely buck-ass naked.

Hawke’s room was even more sparsely furnished than that of

his parents, and less than half the size. There was a steel frame
bed  with  a  nightstand  that,  on  a  closer  inspection,  had  paint
peeled off most of it, and was missing a stumpy leg and was kept
steady  by  a  brick.  The  window  was  shut,  just  as  all  the  other
windows were when Will came to visit, but the nightstand was
beneath it, and there was a solar-powered lamp sitting on top of
it. Aside from some books on a shelf nailed to the wall, that was
the extent of the furniture. Honestly, this room looked like it used
to  be  the  closet  for  the  entire  house,  though  maybe  that  was

to be the closet for the entire house, though maybe that was
stretching it a little. Closets weren’t built with windows, after all.

It made Will feel like a complete ass for never appreciating

the little things he had, like central heating in the winter and air-
conditioning in the summer. New furniture, soft rugs beneath his
cold feet, and a wall of books in the family library to read, or
even old videos to watch on the television.

He’d never thought about having all of those things, things

which were rare and expensive to come by, even by a vampire’s
standards. It was hard to keep the electricity going in certain
areas when there weren’t enough people to work in the places
that produced it, and Will was ashamed to admit that he didn’t
know how that worked either.

He felt the need to give his compliments to the room. “That’s

actually very smart,” he said, nodding to the bed that was vertical
of the window. “I guess when the shutters are open, it gives you
good light to read in during the day while charging the lamp for
night?”

“Um, yeah,” Hawke said, clearly feeling a little awkward

about the whole thing.

Maybe Will shouldn’t have said anything at all. He wanted to

slap himself for drawing attention to what was likely the most
valuable thing in the room.

“I’ll let you get dressed and see about maybe finding you a

spare change of clothes. I didn’t see your bag but I’m guessing
you’ll want blood soon.”

Will reached his hand out and snatched Hawke’s wrist before

he could vacate the room. “Where are you going?”

Hawke didn’t even turn to look at him, and that hurt almost

as much as the cold shoulder he was getting. “I just said I was
going to bring you your blood bag.”

“No, I mean, what’s wrong? You seem different.” Something

had changed. They hadn’t exactly snuggled up by the fire on a
tiger skin rug or anything like that, but Will had come to believe
that they were getting close. Now, while he was not hostile
toward him and still showing him an inkling of trust, offering to
leave him alone and all that, Hawke seemed determined to get as
far away from Will as he possibly could.

Now Hawke did turn to look at him, and his face was colder

than anything Will had ever seen on him. He dropped the man’s
hand, not afraid that Hawke would hurt him. He was fairly
confident they were past that point, but just…wow.

“Is it because you don’t need me anymore?”
Hawke’s eyes widened a little. “What?”
“You said to that woman that you needed me to get the

vampires’ attention. You have it, so you don’t need me
anymore?”

Hawke bit his lips together. “We both knew how this was

going to end. You want to go to the mages. That’s fine. I’ll try to
get you some supplies together, maybe some animal blood and
food you can take with you before you head out.”

“I wanted to go there,” Will said, “I still do, I guess, but I

can’t leave now. What about your mother? I still have to see her
at least a few more times, and there are people in the village I
can heal. You said some people got injured in the attack.”

“I doubt anyone will let you near them.”
Will winced.

Will winced.
Hawke sighed. “You said you wanted to leave. Don’t make

this harder than it needs to be.”

Wait a minute. That sounded an awful lot like Hawke was the

one in pain, not Will.

“Do you want me to leave?”
“I want you to be free from your family if that’s what you

want. I especially don’t want you near any estates after what
happened.”

“Because they’ll be attacked?” Will asked, not knowing why

he bothered since he already knew what the whole point of all of
this was. The humans were going to try and take back some land
of their own to claim, and they were going to go to war with the
vampires to do it.

“Yes,” Hawke said.
A strong happiness that Will had never felt before started to

bubble in his chest. “You’re actually worried about me?”

Hawke threw his hands in the air in the classic fashion, his

face showing all kinds of what-did-you-think-this-was-about?
“Of course I am. I don’t want to see you getting picked up by
bounty-hunting vampires and I don’t want any humans to find
you and throw you in a burning fire.”

That was a scary thought, but it didn’t stop Will from feeling

happier than he ever did in his life.

“Will you stop looking at me like that?” Hawke snapped.
Will shook his head. “I can’t help it. You chased down Noir

even when you didn’t need to because we were done, and now
you’re talking about keeping me safe. I can’t exactly help it if
those are qualities in a lover that I like.”

those are qualities in a lover that I like.”

Hawke crossed his arms. “Noir? That vampire who walked

away I guess? Whatever, that doesn’t matter. Fine, yes, I do like
you, it’s kind of impossible not to after everything that’s
happened, but it doesn’t mean there’s anything between us.”

No, it didn’t, but Hawke caring about him was the strongest

emotion anyone had ever admitting to having for Will. He was so
stupidly giddy with pleasure that someone could look at him and
think that Hawke had professed his undying love for him or
something.

“I ran away from my family because no one cares for anyone

in  that  house.  My  mother  could  be  murdered  in  front  of  my
father, and he wouldn’t care so long as the man who did it paid
to clean up the carpet she’d bled all over, and she feels the same
way about him. My brothers and sisters? Forget it. They were all
ready to sell me off to the next nest of vampires who wanted me
just  for  some  more  land  and  blood. You  care  about  me,  and
your family cares about you. I bet even  that  woman  who  gave
you  that  cares  about  you  a  little,”  Will  said,  reaching  out  and
gently pressing his fingertips against the red splotch on his cheek.

Hawke didn’t move away from his touch. He stayed

completely still, however, watching Will like he was a predator
about to pounce.

“You’re saying you’re jealous of me? I remember what your

house was like. There’s nothing in here to be jealous of.”

“The Delany vampires do have a lot more possessions than

you do, but if it was worth it, I wouldn’t have left.”

Will poured a little of his healing magic into Hawke’s face.

The redness vanished, and he probed deeper to soothe any

The  redness  vanished,  and  he  probed  deeper  to  soothe  any
future  swelling.  There  were  also  some  minor  aches  and  pains
from having run after him in the forest, and Will put some of his
energy  into  those,  too.  The  whole  time,  Hawke  continued  to
stare at him like there was a broom handle stuck up his ass.

He really needed to relax. “Let me stay, for at least a little

while. I can help heal your mother and the people in the village,
then what you want with me is up to you. I can stay or I can go.”

Hawke’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “That’s a generous

offer. Thank you.”

Whatever small bubble of joy that had been building in Will’s

chest burst at the casual tone in Hawke’s voice. Either he was
purposely misunderstanding, or he was just trying not to hurt
Will’s feelings by outright telling him that it wasn’t necessary for
him to stay with a village full of humans.

Will was offering to stay, permanently. If Hawke so much as

whispered that he wanted him, then he would do it. Hawke
didn’t seem interested in opening his arms to Will and telling him
how much he wanted him to stay, how his life hadn’t been
complete without him, and all that other romantic nonsense.

Honestly, Will didn’t know where he got some of these ideas

from.

He didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself or his

idiotic near-declarations of love, so instead, he nodded. “Right,
I’ll get dressed, pay a visit to your mother, and then if anyone’s
feeling  well  enough,  or  brave  enough,”  Will  said,  recalling  that
most  of  the  people  in  the  village  were  against  his  existence  on
principle.  “They  can  come  and  see  me,  or  wait  until  nightfall
when I can go to see them.”

when I can go to see them.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Hawke said, shifting awkwardly, like he

couldn’t wait to get out of the room. “I’ll go and tell everyone
about the offer. Ease them into the idea of being in the same
room as a vampire. Some of them won’t want to come and see
you, you know.”

Will sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
In his romantic fantasy, he would have been brave enough to

grab hold of Hawke and maybe even kiss him senseless before
he  had  the  chance  to  escape  the  room.  He  would  have  pulled
him  down  onto  the  bed  and  they  would’ve  made  love.  His
fantasies  were  ignoring  the  fact  that  they  were  both  still  in
Hawke’s  parents’  house,  and  that  the  walls  were  so  thin  that
there was no way they’d be able to get away with something like
that without letting his father and mother know about what they
were doing, but even the realist in him would still have enjoyed it.

Instead he watched as the other man left the room, closing

the door gently behind him, and Will was left with the feeling that
a closed door between them had a stronger meaning than the
obvious.

Chapter Eleven

Hawke was still busy working out how he felt about Will’s

continued presence four days later, and like a pussy, he was still
avoiding the other man.

He’d had a scare, come to realize that maybe he was starting

to fall too hard, too fast for the vampire, and to top it all off, Will
was apparently dealing with his own insecurities about what to
do.

He’d told Noir that he still had plans to go into mage

territory, but then practically offered to bind himself to Hawke
and the whole village if that was what he wanted.

Of course it was what he wanted. He didn’t want Will to go

anywhere. In a way, meeting the man was like finding that other
piece of himself that had been missing ever since he ran away
from his life as a slave. Then they found each other, like in some
cliché romance novel, and of course Hawke had to give in to the
temptation of having sex with him because that certainly seemed
to seal the deal as far as his feelings went.

He waited for night to come, every night, with dread that it

would finally be the night when Will decided he’d done all that
could be done, and was tired of being glared at by Hank and his
band of dipshits, and then finally leave.

Hawke had made sure to not so much as touch him. He

didn’t want to even brush elbows with him in a tight space by
accident in case it led to him throwing the other man down and
having his desperate way with him. He really was pathetic.

The only thing that was bothering him now, stupid as it was,

was the complete lack of antagonism from the village toward

was the complete lack of antagonism from the village toward
Will.

Again, it was a stupid thing to annoy him. It was great that all

the  villagers  weren’t  lining  up  with  torches  and  silver  blades  to
gang  up  on  him,  but  their  growing  acceptance  of  him,  and
outright  gratitude  for  his  healing  gifts,  was  only  making  things
worse for Hawke.

Thinking like that from the small population that made up their

village only got him to thinking how easy it would be to allow
Will to stay, to ask him to never leave. They could live happily
ever after, humans and vampires.

The only thing that reminded him of how stupid that was, was

when his own inner voice sounded sarcastic when he thought up
scenarios like that.

Will wanted to be free. It wasn’t right that Hawke would try

and tie him down just because he was suddenly suffering from a
case of Stockholm or something.

The problem was that every time he thought about Will

leaving, he wanted to punch a wall.

The only bright light in all of this was that his mother was

finally out of bed. Will had made the habit of checking on her
every day, and putting at least some of his healing energy into
her, whether she said she needed it or not. Brian was only too
happy to threaten to tie her to the bed if she didn’t let Will use
his talents on her.

Now she was actually walking around the house, making her

own tea, or reading happily under the light of the only other
solar-powered lamp in the house.

She was currently enjoying those activities now, curled up on

an old sofa in his father’s robe and with her braid hanging over
her shoulder. With Brian gone, having travelled with some of the
other elder members of the village as well as a few younger men
for protection to the nearest village for a progress report, or
whatever it was the people in charge liked to do, that left Hawke
to protect her and the village.

“You don’t have to stand over me like that, sweetheart,”

Felicia said, sipping at her tea and turning the page to a romance
novel so old and yellowed it must have come from before the
war that screwed everything up for the humans.

It didn’t even have a cover or a spine and was only held

together by flaking bits of old glue. Felicia was always gentle
with whatever books Hawke managed to bring her, even when
they looked like they were better suited for a fire.

“I just want to make sure you’re all right,” he said, and then

had to look away when she gazed up at him, lifting an eyebrow.

He had been watching her pretty close, lately. He worried

she would relapse back into her illness, but there was also the
concern that she would suddenly jump up with an
overabundance of energy and start running around and not stop
for several days.

The sight of her calmly reading and drinking tea made Hawke

a little less worried about that. Maybe Will had been right.
Maybe that energy transfer only happened because it was
something special between the two of them.

He would keep watching for now, just in case.
“You’re my son, not a bodyguard. Have some tea for God’s

sake. You’re making me feel strange in my own house.”

Hawke muttered to himself and moved to the kitchen to pour

a cup, even though he hated the stuff, and decided to only sip at
it just to placate her. He was still watching her closely. He
searched for any signs of a relapse back into her cancer and the
other things that had been plaguing her. They’d always known
she’d been sickly, but just how sick had scared the living hell out
of him. He was surprised that Brian even left her alone.

The man had a lot of faith in Will’s ability, it seemed.
She looked fine, good color, lots of energy, and she wanted

to get back to doing her part to help out around the village. That
was  where  Brian  drew  the  line,  and  Hawke  agreed  with  him.
Hawke lived in a world where the prepared and the careful were
the  ones  who  survived.  In  this  case,  he  and  Brian  wanted  to
make  sure  Felicia  would  survive  for  another  thirty  years  after
Will left.

The reminder of the other man brought a pang in his chest,

and he was suddenly aware of how silent it was in the room.

Felicia was looking up at him, her brown eyes soft, and for

the first time in a long time, not because she was sapped of
strength and tired just from being awake.

“What?” he asked, suddenly feeling a little too self-conscious,

but he managed to resist the urge to look himself over to see if
there was something on him that shouldn’t be.

“You’re different now,” Felicia said, setting the scraps of

paper that were supposed to be her book down on her lap.
“Ever since the healer came here. You’re different.”

“The healer” was what the village had taken to calling Will.

No one was on the first-name basis with him that Hawke was,
and everyone seemed to think it an insult, except for Hank, to

and everyone seemed to think it an insult, except for Hank, to
call him

the vampire. Calling him a healer seemed much more

appropriate to the people who decided that Will wasn’t so bad,
and that there must have been a fluke in nature somewhere to
have produced a vampire as nice as Will was.

“I’m not different,” Hawke insisted. He was just antsy as hell,

that was all. All this waiting around to see what would happen
when he was so used to going out and getting things done was
practically killing him.

When his father came back, would it be with the decision to

have the village stay where it was? Or that the risk was too great
and they would merge with another? Would Will follow them if
they all picked up and left? Or would he take that as his final cue
to leave Hawke forever?

He’d never been this depressed at the thought of any of his

former lovers moving on to better things. That’s what they did.
No one wanted to stay and settle down with him when they had
their lives and their own fights to deal with in their own villages.

Hawke had never really wanted them to do anything else

either. He’d been fine by himself.

He would be fine knowing that Will was going to be with

other people with magical talents as well. Everyone knew that
the mage district was the one place where the only prejudice
anyone had was against people with no magic.

“Was there something going on between you and that boy?”

Felicia asked.

As was natural in the world, being asked a question like that

from his mother only resulted in his face turning molten hot, and
of course, she knew what that meant.

of course, she knew what that meant.

She smiled. It went right to her eyes for a split second before

a worried suspicion took over her features. “What’s the matter?
Is it because he’s a vampire? The villagers are coming around,
and his healing powers are very helpful.”

“It’s not that,” Hawke said, then had to keep on going when

she gave him a look. “No, really, it’s not.”

In fact, Will had run dry of blood from the blood bags he’d

packed two days ago, but Hawke had gone out hunting.
Because of the size of the village, small as it was, someone was
always hunting for something, or a pig or chicken was being
slaughtered, but either way, that meant that the village had blood
to give to its visiting vampire.

Hawke nearly smiled as he recalled the look on Will’s face

when he handed the man a glass of blood that he’d drained from
the rabbits he’d caught.

Will had taken the glass and sniffed it suspiciously, and just in

case Hawke had offended by bringing him such a small bit of
blood from a rabbit of all things, he’d promised to bring him the
blood of a buck the next time.

Will had barely heard, and he’d put the glass to his mouth

and sipped at the blood as though he were getting ready to sip
on soapy water.

Then his eyes had lit up, and he’d drained the glass and

asked if there was any more.

Apparently, vampires were taught from birth that animal

blood tasted foul and held no nutritional value to them
whatsoever.

When Hawke asked him about this, because he’d thought for

sure that Will would have to drink animal blood at some point,
considering the journey he was on, Will only responded that he
would have been prepared to drink it to survive, but he’d
doubted he would have enjoyed it so much.

Ever since then, Will had been constantly hounding the man in

charge of most of the slaughtering on the farm.

“The blood tastes different. I didn’t know there were

flavors,” Hawke had overheard him explaining to another
farmhand. Anderson was formerly from the werewolf district,
and his belief was that wild werewolves were a thousand times
worse than any vampire. Because of this, it seemed the two had
become easy friends.

“So you’ve only ever drank human blood before? Nothing

else?” Anderson had asked, and Hawke noted that there was no
scorn in his voice, and he wondered if he should be worried
about Anderson’s friendship.

“No, if I had I’d’ve been drinking pig’s and cow’s blood a

long time ago. The squirrel I didn’t like so much, and Vaughn
seems to think I want to taste one of his dogs now, which I
don’t, but I’m glad I figured this out.”

Hawke had been glad for him, too. He’d quickly vanished,

secure in the knowledge that Will was safe in Anderson’s
company, even if he was suspicious about Anderson’s intentions
with him.

Hawke explained all of this to Felicia, leaving out the part

where he was worried that Anderson might be interested in
stealing his kind of former lover.

Felicia listened and nodded, as though he’d said those things

to her anyway. She had a creepy power to always know things
like that. Maybe he should stop bringing her romance novels
from the raids he went on.

“If you like him, you need to tell him before he leaves. It

looks like he wants to stay. I thought it was because he had
nowhere else to go, but now that you say he had plans to go to
the mages it makes me think he wants to be here for you.”

This was why he should never tell his mother about anything.

The only thing that kept him inside the room was his childish fear
that she would choke on her tea or something when he wasn’t
watching her.

But he couldn’t leave. He was trapped here and now that

she’d smelled blood she was going in for the kill by demanding
why he didn’t man up and just do something about the only
person she’d ever seen him show an interest in.

She only started to get into the part of her argument where

she wanted to see him happy and how he should start taking
romantic risks when he put up his hands in defeat.

“I’ll talk to him and find out what he wants. I won’t promise

anything, though. If he still shows even a remote interest in going
to the mage district then that’s where I’m sending him.”

Felicia glared at him, shrugged, and then went back to her

book, as if that was supposed to convince Hawke that she no
longer cared about the subject matter.

She didn’t understand. Not the way he did. Hawke knew

what it was like to be tied down to something and want out. Will
had felt that sort of misery, and just because the walls closing in
around him had been painted prettily didn’t mean that it was any

around him had been painted prettily didn’t mean that it was any
easier to deal with than what Hawke had to go through.

Forced marriages, forced to drink from humans when he

disagreed, and an entire family who only cared about what his
monetary worth was.

Hawke refused to trap him and take away his choices, even if

his intentions would be good.

* * * *

Will was shocked when Hawke actually approached him.

He’d been leaving the barn, and because it was still clean and he
found something oddly soothing about the scent of clean hay and
listening to the animals, he had stayed there after leaving
Hawke’s parents’ house five days ago.

The villagers didn’t seem to mind that he was in there with the

animals. They encouraged it even. It meant that there was now
someone else available to take care of the stalls and make sure
the animals were fed.

The other farmhands, who also lived in the barns they tended,

remarked that it was a sneaky way to make sure no one ignored
their duties. It was hard to relax and lounge around when the
smell of animal feces was in the air. Because of this, the barn that
Will tended to was always squeaky clean, even if it meant
cleaning it ten times a day.

“Are you okay?” Hawke asked. The man was staring at him

with worry on his face.

“Fine,” Will said, and then cleared his throat because his

voice didn’t come out quite the way he’d wanted it to.

He couldn’t let his mind wander. Getting lost in other thoughts

would be preferable to listening to whatever dismissal Hawke

would be preferable to listening to whatever dismissal Hawke
had come here to give him, but he needed to hear this. He
wouldn’t run away, and he would take whatever the man had to
say with dignity.

They hadn’t spoken in days, and Will was pretty sure he’d

worn out his welcome by now, especially because he’d pretty
much finished tending to the wounded in the village. There was
no other reason for him to stay. Hawke knew this.

Hawke actually looked behind him to the barn doors, then he

smiled down at him.

He was so handsome that Will’s breath got caught in his

throat.

“I’m surprised you’re still in there, after what happened…”

Hawke trailed off and then did a little throat clearing of his own.

He could have been talking about anything. About how he

and Hawke had made love in there, or the way Will had been
harassed by some locals and then kidnapped by a vampire
assassin.

“It’s actually pretty comfortable,” Will said, thinking of the

cot he’d kept that he and Hawke had made such good use of, as
well as the stall he’d cleaned out and turned into a cozy sleeping
area. “And it isn’t like there’s a whole lot of animals in there
either, so I can’t really be bothered by them.”

They had certainly gotten used to him, and by basically living

by lamplight during the day until one of the other farmhands came
in to let them out for some sunshine.

Those were the moments when the tarp Will had put over his

stall came in real handy.

“Yeah, about the animals,” Hawke said. “How much longer

do you think you’ll be staying? There aren’t many in there, and I
know it’s not like you’re keeping the barn in pitch darkness
during the day or anything, but they could still use more sun than
they’re getting.”

Will bit the inside of his cheek and hoped that Hawke didn’t

notice it. Right. He’d known this was coming. The only thing he
could do was make sure it was as painless as possible and go
quietly when he was ready.

“I was saving some of the blood and putting it into the bags

that I brought with me for when I go. They keep it fresh even
without refrigeration,” he explained, not knowing why.

Hawke nodded. “Yeah, I’d guessed that. You just need

some more?”

Will nodded.
“I can help you get it, if you want.”
“Oh, sure, that would be great.” He hated the idea and didn’t

want Hawke to help him leave at all.

“Did you hear anything from your father yet?” Will asked, just

hoping to change the subject and get out of this awkward air that
surrounded them.

“No messenger yet, but he’ll be back in a couple of days

anyway. There’s usually no point in sending messengers for the
short trips,” he explained. “But when he gets back the village will
know whether or not to pack up and go, or stay here.”

“Well, I hope you’ll stay safe wherever you go. Your job is

pretty dangerous.”

Hawke smiled at him, and Will wanted to melt into a puddle

at his feet. Why did he have to be so handsome, and nice, and

at his feet. Why did he have to be so handsome, and nice, and
honorable, and just everything? If he’d stayed a self-righteous,
vampire-hating prick, then this wouldn’t be nearly as hard as it
felt like right now.

“Will, about what happened, between us, five days ago, I

mean,” Hawke started.

“I know what you’re talking about,” Will said quickly, not

certain whether he should be annoyed or not that Hawke felt the
need to skirt around the act while giving so many hints as to what
he was talking about, as if Will might not know what he was
getting at unless he described it as much as possible.

“Right, well.” Hawke actually shifted his feet and almost

looked uncertain, and for a man of his size and skills, that was
saying an awful lot about what was going through his brain. “I’ve
been thinking about what happened, and I wanted you to know
that I’m glad we met again.”

“I’m not giving you one for the road, if that’s what you’re

after,” Will deadpanned, suddenly a whole lot more annoyed
with the man than he had been before.

“What? No! I mean, not that it wouldn’t be nice,” Hawke

said, easing some of the tension in the air with his smile.

Even Will couldn’t help but be charmed. “Right, but, uh, not

going to happen. To be honest it’s going to be hard enough
leaving you behind.”

Will bit his lip and turned away when he said that, cursing

under his breath for being a complete idiot as he tried to go
anywhere but where Hawke West was.

“Wait, Will,” Hawke called, and of course he had to follow

him when Will was still trying to get ahold of his emotions.

“Please just leave me alone.” Maybe he could leave tonight.

The night was still young, so he had plenty of time to travel as far
as he could and make a camp for him to stop during the day. He
already knew the basics of hunting and could easily catch his
own animals to drink from at this point.

“No!” Hawke reached his hand out and snatched Will’s

elbow, jerking him to a stop. “Do you want to stay?”

Will blinked. “What?”
Hawke clenched his jaw, and Will was struck with the

sudden knowledge that Hawke wasn’t struggling with what he
was about to say because it was awkward being around a
former prisoner whom he’d had sex with, but because he might
just have some emotional stake in this, too.

“Do you want me to stay?” Will asked. He barely dared to

hope for such a thing, but at the same time he couldn’t keep his
voice from sounding small and expectant as he waited for
Hawke to give him his answer.

“I know you want to go and find other mages to live with,

and if that’s where you want to go then I’ll wish you well.”

“That’s not what I asked you, Hawke,” Will said, cutting him

off. “I don’t want to hear any of this circular bullshit. Either you
want me to stay or you want me to go. I would like to stay
because I love you.”

Will clenched his fists when he admitted to the feeling that had

been building within him in the short time he’d been in this village.
It was hard, admitting to having emotions as strong as that for a
man who might feel little more than friendship for him, but this
needed to stop. Will was done dancing around this issue and he
wanted to know where Hawke stood.

wanted to know where Hawke stood.

The man was staring at him stupidly, as though Will had just

admitted he was in love with the cow in the barn.

“You do?”
“Yes, I do,” Will said, feeling his own defensiveness rising up

inside of him. He did love Hawke, and he wasn’t about to let
anyone, not even Hawke himself tell him that he was wrong to
do so.

The breathy exhale that Hawke released, coupled with the

bright smile on his face, took away a good chunk of Will’s
paranoia in one fell swoop. He didn’t move as Hawke’s hands
quickly reached for him and brought his mouth forward for a
long, wet, completely unromantic but entirely enthusiastic kiss.

Will was so caught up in the whirlwind of the thing that it took

him a good three seconds before he realized that this was the
first time he and Hawke had ever kissed. He liked it.

“You know this means we’re both a couple of saps, right?”
“Just keep doing that and I won’t care,” Will said, breathless,

and he began tugging Hawke backward to the barn, and his bed.

Chapter Twelve

Hawke was pleased with the energy that Will used to pull him

backward and to the cot that had been put in a clean stall for
him. He hadn’t been in here since that day when he and Will had
first made love and then Will had been taken, and now that he
was back, he was surprised at how downright cozy it looked.

It was almost nicer than Hawke’s bedroom, but that still

wasn’t saying much. It was definitely warmer in here, and much
more preferable to being dragged off somewhere to have sex
outdoors. Hawke wasn’t really into that. Not in the village he
lived in, where, if he was walked in on, it would be by someone
he knew.

“You’ve settled in nice,” Hawke said and then didn’t struggle

when Will pushed him back on the cot and lifted his shirt off over
his head.

“I’m assuming you mean the bed and the nightstand?” Will

shook his head and smiled as he made the cot creak by putting
his knee up onto it and climbing the length of Hawke’s body.

He was hard. Hawke could feel him the instant their hips

touched, and it only served to make Hawke’s blood sizzle as it
flowed straight to his cock.

“You can sweep the floor of a cave and hang some nice

pictures and it will still look homely,” Will said.

Hawke wasn’t entirely sure about that. In fact he rather

doubted it. Most caves were wet and had all kinds of crawling,
squeaking life living inside of them. Maybe he only thought it was
so nice in here because Will was with him.

“Before we do this,” Hawke said, knowing he was about to

risk having the sex he’d wanted so badly since that moment
when he’d rescued Will, and his balls and cock were practically
yelling at him to shut his mouth, but he couldn’t. “I need you to
know that if you do decide to go to the mages, I will follow you.”

Will blinked down at him. “They wouldn’t have you as

anything other than a slave. You have no magic in you.”

“I could be your slave. I trust you won’t abuse that power

over me.” Hawke grinned at the sudden dirty thought that
entered his mind. “Unless I wanted you to.”

Will slapped his arm, but it was an entirely playful gesture that

only made Hawke laugh even more.

“I wouldn’t want to take you away from your family. My

plans were to go to the mages, but plans can change, and if your
father comes back and says the village needs to pack up and go,
then I’ll go with you.”

“I just don’t want you to feel trapped with me,” Hawke said,

voicing the fear that had kept him from this position for the past
five days.

“What? Like my family?” Will raised a brow at him comically,

but Hawke could see it in the man’s gorgeous amber eyes when
he realized that Hawke was being perfectly serious.

“You’re nothing like them. You’re not a slaver and you have

a heart. I want to be with you because I want to. Understand? It
has nothing to do with my loyalties suddenly changing because I
need a master or a head of house to follow. Considering how the
hierarchy of this village was set up, if that was something I
wanted I would have latched myself onto your father.”

Hawke shivered at the image that put into his head. “Please

don’t ever say something like that again,” he said with a groan
that made Will laugh.

“Do you believe me now?”
“Yes, yes I believe you and I was an idiot for doubting you.”
“Good, and now that we’ve both established that, and that

we will follow each other to the ends of the Earth, I would like to
get back to declaring my love for your body.” As if to prove this,
Will thrust his hips forward a little, and Hawke’s cock, which
had softened slightly in the wake of their serious conversation,
perked up again in interest.

He threw his head back and hissed at the pleasure being

bestowed onto him through his jeans. “Yes, please.”

“While we’re together, I won’t try to stop you from running

off into whatever dangerous situation your talents demand of
you,” Will said.

Hawke shook his head, keeping his eyes firmly on Will’s as

he fumbled with the man’s button and zipper of his jeans. “No.”

“And you won’t stop me if I’m required on one of your

missions as a healer?”

That was something that made him want to bite his tongue.

The odds were against them that Will would be required to go
on many missions, but Hawke knew better. A vampire healer
would be too useful to be kept sheltered at home, and because
of Will’s eagerness to use his powers to help others, he did seem
like the type of man who would want to go. He would be
needed. Sometimes.

“I promise I won’t tie you to our bed to keep you from

coming with me,” Hawke said, and then reached into Will’s

jeans and slid his cold hand over Will’s hot erection.

It was a tight fit, getting his hand in there, and Will hissed a bit

at the cold, but he surged his hips forward and closed his eyes at
the pleasurable contact. “Good,” he said then gripped Hawke’s
shoulders and thrust gently against the hand that held him.

That wasn’t exactly the main event that they had come in here

for, but it was sexy as all hell to look at, and Hawke found
himself pressing his hand harder against Will’s hips just to keep
him moving like that.

“Holy fuck,” Will gasped. “I can’t believe how I almost left.”
“Me neither,” Hawke said. They’d both come so close to

losing each other, and it would have been no one’s fault but their
own for the stubbornness they both suffered from.

He was suddenly too eager to be inside of the other man. He

wanted to see that look on Will’s face because Hawke had his
cock buried deep inside of him, and not because he was just
giving him a fantastic hand job.

“Lift yourself up a bit. Get your pants off,” Hawke

commanded, pulling his hand away.

That seemed to be all the signal that Will needed to get his

mind in proper working order, because he practically jumped off
of the cot and started pushing down his jeans. He kicked off his
shoes and got his pants down, and then he was finally naked.

It took some effort on his part, but Hawke was able to throw

away his own clothes into a pile in the corner even as he
watched Will strip for him.

“Next time we’ll have to go slower,” Hawke said. “You can

make a nice little show out of that for me.”

Will gave him a calculating look. “Why am I the one dancing

around and stripping in your fantasy? You could be doing that
for me.”

Will immediately bit his lips together, realizing what he’d just

said, and clearly worried that Hawke would take offense to it.

Hawke laughed, reached for him, and then pulled him back

down onto the cot. “We can switch up the roleplaying, sexual
servant thing if you want. I trust you.”

Will breathed a heavy sigh. “I’m glad. I’ll make sure I don’t

break that trust either.”

“Well, can I trust that you’ve kept some oil under the cot for

us to use?”

Will blushed and reached under the cot for the vial of oil. It

was clearly different from the stuff that Hawke had used on him
their first night together, but he was going to wait before asking
where the other man got it from. All he cared was that it would
work when he put his fingers into Will’s asshole.

Will even seemed a little shocked, like he was waiting for

something else when Hawke coated his fingers and reached
around to brush his fingertips against his pucker.

“You, uh, aren’t going to tie me down this time?”
Hawke pressed a kiss to the man’s chest and then gently bit

down on his hard nipple for good measure. “No, I told you, I
trust you. I know you won’t bite me unless I ask you to.”

That made Will’s eyes fly wide, and Hawke was more and

more proud of himself that he could surprise the man.

“You would let me do that?”
“Well, not today,” Hawke admitted. “We can work up to

that.”

Will wouldn’t stop smiling. “You really do trust me, don’t

you?”

“Yeah,” Hawke said, dipping his fingers a little deeper, until

they popped past the ring of muscle. Using two at first was
rushing it, but so far Will wasn’t telling him to stop. He seemed
to be really enjoying himself. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do,” Will said, his eyes so full of lust as he

pushed himself farther down onto Hawke’s fingers it was a
wonder he could see straight.

That was good. Will would need that trust, and so would

Hawke, if this was going to survive. Having a healing vampire as
part of the village was one thing, but for Hawke to take him as a
partner was something else entirely. Then there was the potential
backlash they would get if the village had to merge with another
one for safety reasons, but so long as they both trusted each
other and stayed together, everything would be fine.

“I’m gonna come if you keep doing that,” Will said, even as

he continued to thrust lazily back against Hawke’s fingers.

Hawke wanted to make him do just that, because there was

nothing he wanted to see more right then than the sight of Will’s
face as he completely let go and shot his load with nothing more
than Hawke’s fingers to aid him.

Better things came to those who were patient. “Are you

almost ready?” Hawke asked, adding a third finger and
stretching out Will’s asshole, but now doing his best to stimulate
the man as little as possible.

“Y-yes. I want it. Fuck me,” Will said.
How could Hawke deny him that request?

How could Hawke deny him that request?
He removed his fingers, noting the sound of longing that Will

let out when there was nothing inside of him.

“Hurry, Hawke,” Will begged, shifting himself a little farther

up as Hawke grabbed himself and lined up the head of his aching
prick with his hole.

“I think I should warn you that you’re about to have the

worst sex of your life,” Hawke said, groaning as the head of his
dick pushed past the ring of muscle with surprising ease. “I’m not
going to last long.”

“It’s a good thing you teased me almost to death then,” Will

said, then pushed his hips down until Hawke was balls deep
inside of him. By then, Will was gripping his shoulders so tightly
that Hawke was probably going to have finger-shaped bruises in
the morning.

“I’ll make it up to you the rest of the night then,” Hawke

promised, and then started shifting his hips, gripping Will’s ass
and thighs to encourage him to do the same.

He did. So, so well, too. Will moved and moaned and kissed

with all the energy of a virgin. It had been a mistake to tie him up
the  last  time,  and  it  had  been  a  mistake  to  not  kiss  him  either.
Even  when  Hawke  pushed  his  tongue  into  the  other  man’s
mouth, he felt no danger of sharp teeth that wanted to bite down
on  him.  He  tasted  like  any  other  man,  only  better,  because  he
belonged to Hawke now.

Maybe he was going to have to start reading some of those

romance novels his mother liked so much if this was the result of
being romantic and taking chances with the heart and all that.

Hawke was more concerned with the needs of his cock, at

the moment, however, and was too busy delighting in the moans
that Will let out as well. The sound of his voice, completely lost
to pleasure, only served to make Hawke’s body crave him even
more.

He was glad that Will was on top of him, because that meant

Hawke could use the man’s body weight against him as he
adjusted himself onto his knees and started to pound into him.

There was no way this barn was containing the sounds they

were both making, and Hawke didn’t care. Better if the village
found out about them like this than if Hawke and Will were
forced to stand in front of everyone, hands held awkwardly,
explaining that they were both in love and that Will was going to
stay permanently.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck!” Will said, and then kept right on saying

that another dozen or so times as he held onto Hawke’s
shoulders for dear life.

Hawke reached down between them, only wanting to tease

his lover a little more by stroking him, but the second his fingers
touched the man’s cock, warm semen shot onto his hand as
Will’s body tightened around Hawke’s prick, and that sent him
over the edge as well.

They were both tight and twitchy for a minute or so after that,

and Will had sleepily seemed to decide that Hawke made a
good body pillow, because he was determined not to move off
of him.

That was fine. Hawke was good right where he was.
“You told me to prepare for bad sex,” Will said, his eyes shut

and a smile on his face as his cheek was pressed against

and a smile on his face as his cheek was pressed against
Hawke’s chest. “Either you suffer from false modesty, or you’re
a liar.”

“Aren’t they both the same thing?” Hawke asked, lifting his

hand and noticing the way Will’s cum looked on his palm.

“I guess they are.” Will turned his head up just as Hawke

took an experimental lick, and he shivered at the sight.

“Don’t do things like that in front of me,” he complained, his

eyes bright with excitement. “You’ll get me going again and I’ll
be forced to ravish you before you’ve even recovered.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Hawke said, enjoying the

reaction he was getting out of his new lover.

“I love you, you know,” Hawke said.
Will smiled at him. “I love you, too.”
“I know, and you said that, but I want you to know that I’ve

loved  you  ever  since  we  were  kids.  I  don’t  want  to  scare  you
away or anything, and I guess I thought I forgot about it until just
now, but that’s what it was. You fed me and you healed me, and
I  never  forgot  you  for  it.  I  thought  I  hated  you  for  being  a
vampire,  and  maybe  I  did  a  little,  considering  your  family,  but
I―”

Will kissed him before he could keep talking and embarrass

himself even more. “I love you, too. I wish I could say I felt the
same then, but I didn’t know, but I feel the same now and I love
you. I’ll follow you wherever you go, no matter what.”

Hawke reached down and entwined their fingers together.

Will loved him, and he would follow him. On the dangerous
missions when a healer was required, or into other human
villages, where the danger to vampires was just as great.

villages, where the danger to vampires was just as great.

Hawke didn’t say it, because he’d already told Will that he

would go with him into the mage district if that was where he
wanted to go, but he mentally confirmed the promise to himself
and added another one.

He was going to protect Will from any and all threats that

came their way. He would never leave his side, and God willing,
they would both be made happy by it, even with this stupid war
that was building between the vampires and the humans.

“No matter what,” Hawke said, and he pulled Will toward

him for another kiss.

THE END

WWW.MARCYJACKS.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada, where she

is fervently pursuing the writer’s life while writing about lots of
gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers and you can
reach her at authormarcyjacks@gmail.com.

For all titles by Marcy Jacks, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/marcy-jacks

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com