The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (28 page)

David walked over to the bed and looked
at the two sleeping people; he noticed that each one had bruises
the same as his, one from each person. David had cornered Justin,
just before it had all ended, which was when he had finally worked
up enough nerve to take from another male vampire, but Sage seemed
to have, not only the two on her neck, but also little other bites
that both men had afflicted on her over the course of the
night.

David backed away from the two and
grabbed a turtleneck from the closet and a pair of jeans from his
dresser, then, once dressed, he made his way down to the patio,
where he found everyone else already in the middle of
breakfast.

Julian looked up at him, caught the
strange attire and watched him sit down, but said nothing until
everyone else had gone their own way. Julian sat forward as David
started his second cup of coffee, but looked quite sickly when he
glanced at the pastries.

"Are you feeling well?" Julian
questioned. David looked up at him quickly, and then shrugged. "You
look quite pale."

"I'm fine." David assured him. Julian
nodded and sat back in his chair.

"Are you sure? I mean, it has to be
seventy-five out here already and you're wearing a turtleneck."
David looked up at him, over the rim of the coffee cup, asking him
with just his eyes to please drop it. "Oh, by the way, have you
seen Sage and Justin this morning. I stopped by their room to
invite them for breakfast and their bed hadn't been slept
in."

David cleared his throat and set the
cup down, then sighed loudly as he looked up at Julian. "They
stayed in my room last night?"

"Really." Julian smiled, as if it
weren't much of surprise to him.

"We were discussing our plans to defeat
Victor and it got too late, so they stayed." David
continued.

"Oh, well, then." Julian smiled, but
David caught his sarcasm and raised his eyebrows, as if to tell him
to just ask whatever was on his mind. "Okay, are you sure that last
night was the right thing to do?"

"Julian," David said leaning across the
table, getting close to the other man, "until about five minutes
ago, when I looked in the mirror, I wasn't even sure that last
night happened."

Julian nodded then sat back as if it
weren't a big deal that David had just told him both Sage and
Justin had spent the night in his room, but, David couldn't drop
it.

"I'm not strange for giving into this,
am I?" He questioned. Julian suddenly laughed and looked at him
from his newspaper.

"You're not strange, David. It happens
a lot to vampires, gender sometimes doesn't matter." He answered,
"but, listen, a bond like this that the three of you now share is
strong, and unbreakable, you'll feel things from the others and
they'll feel things from you, sometimes you'll even see things that
they've done. Maybe you should speak to Justin about his past and
discuss yours with them before you see things that you don't
understand, and get some cover-up, you can't wear turtlenecks all
the time, you know."

With those words, Julian stood up and
left the table, leaving David to sit there alone. Slowly, he
glanced upwards, toward the windows that looked out from his room,
and he wondered if they were still sleeping. As he thought about
this, and even as the uncertainty of the new bond that he shared
washed over him, he smiled, knowing that he had finally gotten
passed his past.

Chapter
14

I couldn't help the groan that I let
out as I turned over to look at Justin, who was standing by the
window. My body was sore in places where I hadn't realized I had
things that could get sore, and even though they were fading, the
love bites that I had gotten from both of them still hurt. Justin
smiled as he walked over to me, in just his jeans, and sat on the
bed.

"Hello, love." He smiled.

"Who were you watching?" I asked as he
helped me sit up and kissed me quickly on the cheek.

"David." He smiled, then walked back
over and grabbed his shirt. "He's wearing a shirt that hides his
marks."

"Maybe you should too." I smiled as I
pulled the gown over my head. "They look a bit dark."

"I'm not ashamed, Sage." Justin walked
over and sat in the chair, placing one leg over the arm. "I don't
believe that the two of you should be either."

"I'm not ashamed." David said as he
walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Just a bit
unsure. Things weren't all that real to me when I woke up this
morning."

"So, now what happens?" I asked,
looking over the two men in the room, who shrugged. "Well, I
certainly don't feel odd about it."

"And, you shouldn't." Justin smiled. I
looked at him, then up at David and back.

"Have you done this before?" David
asked before I could get the question out.

"Not quite this way." He said softly,
then looked up at them, and stood. "I'll explain it more later; if
that's all right with you two, right now, I'd like to get something
to eat."

I watched Justin walked out then I
looked at David, who crossed his arms over his chest and went to
the window. "Are you feeling all right?"

"You're the second person to ask me
that in the last half an hour." He replied, and then looked back at
me. "No, I feel strange, not quite normal, but I can't put my
finger on what it could be?"

"Is it about last night?"

"It could be something about the whole
blood exchange, but, like I said, I can't pinpoint it." David
walked over and stood in front of me, and then he squatted down and
put his hands on my knees. "How are you?"

"Weak, but otherwise, fine." I answered
and watched him reach out and touch the spot on my neck where he
had bitten me, and I watched the pain in his eyes as he tried to
look away. "David, don't do this. If I didn't want you too, I would
have never come here to begin with."

"It's just..." I put my hand over his
mouth and looked deep into his eyes.

"It's just nothing, Dave. Relax." I
replied, taking my hand away. "So, what would you like to do
today?" I smiled, but his response caught me off guard as he
reached out, cupped my face between his hands and kissed me hard
and passionately. What I felt when his lips touched mine was
nothing that I had ever felt before, and what I saw was much more
intense.

I could see images of his past, the
darkness that he had been in and all the pain that he had been
going through, but it didn't stop there, because I also saw a part
of David that was far more devilish then I thought even he could
be.

I saw his face, distorted by evil as he
tortured young men and women letting them bleed to death from small
gashes all over their body, but it was the way he looked that
seemed to frighten me the most, because he looked almost possessed,
nothing like the David I was holding tightly to at that
moment.

David pulled away, with tears covering
his cheeks, and then he turned quickly and looked away from
me.

"I'm sorry you saw that." He whispered,
trying to hold back the stream of tears.

"What happened to you? What did she do
to you?" I asked him as he moved away.

"She did nothing." He replied, as he
stood and looked out the window. "It was all me. I had power and I
was going to use it."

"Why didn't you try a different way?" I
questioned, sitting there in disbelief. David walked over and knelt
down in front of me.

"There was no other way, Sage." He
answered. "Not for me, not then, anyway."

David licked his lips as he reached out
and pulled me closer to him. I closed my eyes, letting him see that
I wasn't afraid, no matter what he had done in the past. Gently, I
began to feel the warmth of his face and lips against the skin of
my neck, nuzzling against me; so, I wrapped my arms around him and
brought him in closer, as his teeth caressed the bruised skin,
where they had penetrated me the night before.

The hot, lusty feeling that I had
always felt towards Justin, whenever he touched me in that way flew
at me so unexpectedly that I gasped whenever David's lips kissed
me. It was then, as things began to heat up, that we both heard the
voice in our heads and felt the familiar tickle of the mental
connection.

Whatever the two of you
are doing, knock it off!
Justin's voice
whispered, with surprisingly not an ounce of jealousy in its
tone.

I’m sorry, Justin.
David's voice answered back, as his body
continued to make mine react.
You don’t
know how much I want your girlfriend right now.

Trust me,
Justin replied,
I most
certainly do, but you two can wait.
Michael and Julian are headed up to talk to you, Dave. So,
stopping now would be a good idea.

David backed away from me, gently
breaking the connection, and then we both got up and moved to
different parts of the room. It was then that there was a knock on
the door. David looked at me quickly as I grabbed a pair of his
sweat pants and pulled them on, and then he got up and answered the
door.

"Come in." He told the two men outside
the door. Julian walked in first, nodded towards me and then stood
over in the corner as Michael came in and made his way towards me.
I smiled at him, without a response, and then glanced at David, who
shrugged.

"We need a few moments alone with
David, if you don't mind." Michael asked. I looked at him, trying
to figure out what was going on, and then slowly I slid off the bed
and made my way towards the door. David stopped me, by taking my
hand, and then he kissed me quickly on the lips and let me go. I
turned away from the dark brown door as it closed slowly, and
walked down the hallway, hearing as I went Michael's firm words.
"We have to talk to you about Sage and Justin."

* * * * *

Justin smiled to himself, as he stared
out the window, having just broken the connection he found he had
with Sage and David, telling them about their expected guest, when
he turned to look at Cristian, who stood in the doorway.

"Can I help you?" He asked, turning
back to the beautiful view of the back yard.

"What the hell is going on here?"
Cristian asked, stepping into the room and up to his
brother.

"Why? Do you still think I'm evil? Do
you still feel the need to protect Sage from me? Anyway, what
business is it of yours?" Justin asked, glancing at the man who
stood beside him.

"This," Cristian said as he poked his
finger against the visible bruise on Justin's neck, "this is my
business. You're tainting the girl with your blood, with Devon's
blood, don't you care?"

"Get away from me." Justin pulled back
from his finger quickly, as he snarled at the man in front of him.
"Get away, and stay away, before you make me do something drastic
to you."

"Are you threatening me?" Cristian
laughed. Justin crossed his arms and stepped away, heading for the
door. "Did you threaten her or David for that matter? Did you
threaten them last night when you made them sleep with one another,
and then exchange blood with you?"

"Shut up!" Justin whispered, getting
angry, but Cristian proceeded.

"You're sick, do you know that?"
Cristian asked, stepping closer to his brother. "Did you even think
about Sage or your unborn child, and how this would affect them
before you pushed her on David? What do you think Michael is doing
up there right now? How long do you think you can keep up this sort
of ‘Good Guy’ charade?"

"That's quite enough!"
Sage's voice boomed through the room. Cristian turned and looked at
her, as she stared him down with angry eyes. "It would be in
your
best interest,
Cristian, to shut your mouth."

"Are you threatening me?" Cristian
asked, laughing. Sage stepped further into the room and looked at
the strange expression on Justin's face. He looked quite ill, as
his eyes went down to the floor.

"Leave." Sage ordered, looking back
towards Cristian. "Leave now or I will threaten you, and I can go
through with my threats, you know that."

"I think you've made the wrong choice,
Sage." He said as he walked passed her. "I tried to protect you
from his evil, but you insisted on going to him, now look at the
destruction you've brought on to yourself."

"
Get out
!" She snarled, pointing to
the door, and watched him leave the room. Sage walked over to
Justin, who suddenly collapsed onto his knees, and she knelt down
in front of him. Justin coughed, and then took a ragged breath
before almost choking on the thick black liquid that seeped from
his mouth. "Justin, what is it?"

He looked up at her, as his eyes began
to roll back into his head and he reached out for her, the black
puddle under his chin began to grow, quickly.

"Justin?" She asked again,
as he slowly fell face first into her lap. "Oh, no!
David
!"