The Tale of Two Killers, page 23
“Ha, ha, ha!” the female vampire burst into laughter again. “Little humans are the greatest. Truthfully, I prefer my blood intake to range a bit younger in years, but you three pretty boys will do just fine if I have anything to—.”
“WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!” Julius erupted in anger, sprinting towards the woman when she dropped down from the Ferris wheel. He raised the weapon, and she stepped back, clearly stunned by his adrenaline burst. “I didn’t come here to chat, you bitch!”
Suddenly the brawl was on, Julius taking on the woman vampire, as Kingston and Samuel did their best to give one another a hand against three men with impeccable immortal capabilities. Each slayer gave it their all, Kingston landing the first kill when Samuel distracted one of their targets with a kick to the back of his spine. The vampire’s disintegrating death caught the attention of the three others, his scream like a mixture of wild animals as he crumbled from blood and bone to nothing but dust.
Kingston and Samuel worked together against the two remaining opponents, and in no time, they were victorious, sweating from exhaustion as they caught their breath.
Switching their attention back to Julius when they were finished, the two stood confused when the young Englishman was clearly struggling to take down his opponent. Kingston and Samuel could see that his footing was off, his timing not the best, and his strikes, although fierce, had suddenly become rather sporadic and predictable. This wasn’t the Julius they were used to seeing over their time training. Usually, Julius was the best of them all in every classification that made up what slayer exercises were supposed to be. Tonight, it was obvious something was either bothering him so much that he couldn’t fight to his best potential, or actual hand-to-hand combat with the enemy wasn’t something he was particularly specialized in anymore. Watching Julius, the two slayers were reminded of a brilliant mind that suddenly lost all knowledge when they were faced with an actual test.
Clear frustration flooded over Julius’ face when the woman kicked solidly at his chest, sending him flying back before regaining his previous stance. She chuckled, hands on her hips as she stared entertained by the boy’s will. “You know,” she said, “I thought my first encounter with the Public would be a lot more frightening. You…you’re nothing but a show!”
Julius growled, “Fuck you!”
“You’re a bit young for me, kid,” she said. “I like my men nice and sexy, strong, unlike you.”
Becoming more and more pissed off by the second, Julius charged for her without thought as to how he would take her down. The woman dodged his sloppy punches and grabbed his forearm, tossing him over her shoulder. When Julius landed hard on his tailbone, Samuel gasped and hurried for his teammate, taking the woman down in just a few combative moves.
When she fell to pieces at Samuel’s feet, he caught his breath and walked over to Julius, holding out his hand to help the tired boy stand.
Glaring up into his teammate’s eyes, the dark-haired boy seemed to snarl at him, swatting Samuel’s hand away with a rejecting smack. “What the hell did you do that for?!” Julius shouted, bringing himself up with the help of his own strength. “I had that bitch, Sam. I didn’t need you to step in for me!”
Kingston rutted his brow, pulling his face mask down from over his mouth. “Why are you so angry?” he said. “Sam was just trying to help. I would have jumped in too if he hadn’t.”
Storming past the two boys, Julius started towards the entrance gate they’d come from several minutes ago. “I didn’t need you guys to help me anyways. I could have taken them all on myself.”
“Sure, you could have…” Samuel huffed with obvious doubt.
Julius stopped where he was, his gray eyes like storm clouds rolling across the sky. “You want to say that to my face, Sam? I’ve trained harder than both of you combined, and you think you have the right to stand here and tell me you’re better?”
The anger on the Englishman’s face drove an uneasy feeling into Samuel. Over the numerous months he and Julius had lived and trained together, he’d become quite accustomed to the boy’s ego, but to have it thrown at him…especially in a seemingly threatening manner…it made Samuel uncomfortable. When Julius took a step towards him, the Austrian boy’s eyes moved for the stake in his teammate’s hand. He saw how the dark-haired boy’s fist tightened around the weapon, the veins at the back of his hand throbbing above his knuckles.
“Look, Julius,” Kingston stepped in front of the boy, “No one here is saying you’re not a great fighter. I mean, I think it’s safe to say you could definitely take Hamilton’s place sooner or later. Right, Sam?”
Seeing as Kingston was just trying to get rid of the tension, Samuel used the opportunity to agree to alleviate the strain built between him and Julius. “Yeah,” he said, “Kingston is right.”
As if totally satisfied by the praise of his teammates, Julius turned his back and they all headed towards their ride a couple blocks away from the amusement park, keeping to the alleyways to make sure they didn’t run into any late-night pedestrians. During the ride back to Gregor House, Samuel couldn’t help but truly wonder where on Earth Julius’ frustrations originated from. Of course, the guy had always been competitive, but to take all his pent-up anger out on them, there had to be something serious behind why the boy was so angry. Samuel wanted to ask, but…he was afraid of it being for a reason he didn’t want to hear, or perhaps something that wasn’t his fault. If there was one thing he knew though, it was that reassurance that Julius would one day surpass Hamilton was something that cooled his irritation.
Samuel couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing.
***
Dressed in just a baggy Tiffany blue sweater and a pair of black underwear, Hamilton sat on top of a dark mahogany desk, Demiesius sitting up in his imperial-like chair set between the slayer’s fair open legs. He’d just finished reading through a small stack of letters delivered to him at the beginning of the night, and the moment he’d placed the final one in a pile at the far end of the desk, he found himself greeted by the sustaining company of his lover’s eager and lustful appetite. Hamilton’s cheeks blushed a coy dash of pink, lifting his feet to the armrests as he leaned back on his palms.
Demiesius met the blue eyes looking down on him from his desk, Hamilton’s sheer aroma never failing to seduce him. Letting his gaze sweep over the slayer’s body, his eyes stopped when they reached the clear, untarnished skin of Hamilton’s inner thighs. Without speaking a word, he reached out, brushing the suppleness at his fingertips. He couldn’t quite explain what it was, or why, but ever since, well, he couldn’t quite recall when it’d started, but Demiesius had noticed Hamilton’s exclusive scent altered over the course of several weeks. He smelled richer in a manner of speaking, sumptuous, or even…the only thing the elder could compare it to was that Hamilton had the radiant scent of an expectant woman, but of course the slayer wasn’t with child. That was just the only way Demiesius could attempt to describe Hamilton’s glowing fragrance.
It was beautiful.
Now that Demiesius put a dash of thought into it, that wasn’t the only change that occurred in Hamilton during these recent months. His natural fragrance was a pleasant scent, but the elder had been able to hear an alteration in the slayer’s heartbeat. He alone couldn’t be sure if it was just Hamilton’s heart rate that picked up during their shared time together, but whatever it was, his usual rhythmic thump either became irregular whenever they were together, or it was like that all the time. Given Demiesius hadn’t seen or smelled any sickly, life-threatening change in the slayer, he pushed the occurrence aside, ignoring it as nothing.
Unable to contain himself, the elder leaned in and pressed a kiss against the inner soft skin of Hamilton’s thigh. This was already known by what could be every vampire within a two-hundred-kilometer radius of London, but Demiesius loved absolutely every piece of the slayer before him and would sacrifice anything in his power to assure the well-being of his lover. Backing off a little, he looked upon the small red mark left behind by his kiss. He didn’t look when Hamilton drove a mild hand through his black tresses, going back for another taste of the slayer’s soft skin against his lips.
“I was thinking,” Hamilton said, brushing lightly at the elder’s hair, “since I’ve been a leeway slayer for some time now, how would you feel if I moved out of Gregor at last?”
When Demiesius switched to his other thigh, Hamilton smiled, licking across his lips from the pleasant treatment.
“We’ve been talking about living together for the past couple of months, so I just thought you would be excited about it finally happening. And I think I’ve come to terms with leaving Gregor, especially now that Julius, Kingston and Samuel have all been inducted into the Public as certified slayers. I can leave that place knowing there’s no unfinished business I’m abandoning. Living here with you would also help, since it’s closer to Dominick’s coven, so Christoph won’t have to wait for me to travel anywhere when we have a case to take care of, and it’d be easier to contact me with anything.”
The moment Demiesius stole his lips away and appeared to nearly return for another, Hamilton stopped the vampire with a gentle hand on his chin. “Demi, love,” he laughed. “Are you listening to me?”
Finally drawing his attention away from the persuading skin of Hamilton’s slight thighs, Demiesius sat back, circling his thumb around a mark he’d left behind. “You know I would much rather have you here with me than elsewhere. My home is your home.”
“Silly of me to ask then, huh?” Hamilton said. “I’ll speak with the Councilors to see if they will help cover my tracks. Since I have lived in Gregor my entire life, I want to make sure no one grows curious as to where I’m going. Leeway slayers don’t quite exist in the Public; everyone has always called a Public House their home, so maybe the Councilors can provide a cover-up if students or the administrator at Gregor wonders where I’ve gone.”
“That sounds promising,” Demiesius said, and before he could add on to the subject, he paused when a familiar aura began to approach his castle. “It seems we have company.”
When Hamilton raised a questioning brow, he didn’t have to ask who it was when Dominick’s voice could be heard calling for his father down the hall. The blood child suddenly walked in on the couple in the office. He wore black trousers and a dark spring green shirt that had just three buttons pinning the garment closed from the bottom, the rest showing off his toned chest, hair down like a cascading waterfall of jet-black feathers. He wasn’t alone. Christoph was standing beside him, a nervous tint in his eyes as he rubbed at the back of his hairless head.
“Father,” Dominick said, “Why have you not told me of the true relationship of vampire and slayer?”
At the question, Demiesius looked from his child to the vampire standing beside him. Christoph shrugged with an apologetic look on his face. “I apologize, Master. He was able to get the truth out of me.”
The elder raised his hand as if saying it was all right, Hamilton coming off the desk to move out the way. “Do not feel betrayed, Dominick. Only the elders and a select few carry such knowledge.”
“And Christoph,” the blood child huffed. “Did you not trust me?”
Demiesius folded his hands in his lap, “Christoph only knows everything because you once appointed him to rarely leave my side. It is difficult to hide every detail of my actual duties as an elder when you commanded him to look after me. Besides, your role as a coven leader already comes with enough work. You do not require another load on your back. I can handle my business, while you deal with yours.”
Hamilton folded his arms across his chest and started for the doorway of the office. “I’m going back to the House for now,” he called to Demiesius from over his shoulder. “I just want to check in on how the boys fared with their first mission.” Leaning back across the archway for a moment, he blew a kiss to the elder vampire. “See you tomorrow night, love of my life.”
Feeling restrained by the company in his office, Demiesius didn’t get up to kiss the slayer goodbye, and instead nodded his farewell.
When Hamilton was gone from the doorway, Dominick shook his head. “Father, you are so in love it is kind of frightening.”
Having overheard the little comment, Hamilton’s cheeks blushed, and he hurried up to Demiesius’ bedroom. Given the amount of time he’d been spending with the vampire since their affair began, he’d been given permission to make himself a bit more comfortable in the castle, adding a touch of himself here and there about the massive home. Most of the inclusions resided in the elder’s chamber.
When Hamilton turned into the room, he stood before a dresser drawer filled with several pairs of pants and undergarments. As he adorned a pair of fitting blue jeans that flared out at the bottom, he couldn’t help smiling as he looked upon what sat atop the medium dresser.
Over the nearly two years since their official journey into love began, Hamilton had enjoyed getting Demiesius to show a side of himself no others were quite familiar with. With a small handheld camera, he’d taken so many pictures of them through the several months, and his absolute favorite had to be the one he’d taken as the elder carried him easily on his back as the camera was held at a high angle. While Demiesius surely looked a bit taken aback by the flash, the photo was something they’d agreed was worthy enough for a frame and for it to be displayed before the bed.
Another item featured in their bedroom that never failed to catch Hamilton’s attention, was the two flowers once given to them by the coven leader Kanna from Japan. Since they’d been snipped and were something that should have wilted within the same month they’d been received, still — strangely enough — the individual red and white higanbana flowers still retained their flare after all this time. Hamilton and the elder hadn’t been the kind of people too familiar with receiving such a gift as flowers but were positive the fact that the two hadn’t wilted yet was an odd occurrence.
Even with the time that continued to pass, Hamilton loved the two flowers. In his heart, at least, he’d come to view the higanbana as a symbol of what he and Demiesius were to one another. Although death had gripped the elder so long ago, here they were starting this life together as two men who simply found a bit more purpose in their already occupied lives. And that purpose surely had to be finding one another.
Reaching a hand out towards the red spidery petals reaching upwards toward the ceiling, Hamilton withdrew his fingers before they could graze the thin streaks of red and shook his head. Whatever was keeping these two flowers alive long after they should have curled down and dried out, he didn’t want to risk interrupting it.
Instead, he hurried into the closet to finish getting dressed.
***
When another team of slayers and vampires had failed to stop a small string of murders taking place in central London, former students Samuel, Kingston and Julius were tasked with stopping the culprit. Watching them develop over time, Hamilton was confident they all had their own set of skills and were strong enough to handle this type of challenge, but as someone who cared about them, he only wanted to be certain the boys returned safe to Gregor without having to suffer from any obtained wounds. Especially Julius.
In the very beginning of their training days, Hamilton would have put all his money on Julius being the one to take his place as the best slayer of the Public, but as time went on, he’d begun to notice something missing from Julius as an up-close and personal fighter.
While Kingston and Samuel were well schooled in purging all thoughts, Hamilton learned over his time watching the boys that Julius was an immensely emotional guy. Some people would say drive was a good thing to have when faced with competition, but Hamilton believed his fellow Englishman cared too much about the competition to focus correctly. After discovering this, the thirty-one-year-old was sure if Julius couldn’t get rid of that mindset, Samuel or Kingston would be the ones to take his place as the face of the Slayer Public.
Arriving at Gregor House, Hamilton parked in his usual spot in the lot. With the transportation van already there, he guessed it was safe to assume the boys had returned by this hour. Reaching their room door in the student dormitory, he knocked and waited for someone to open it for him.
Samuel appeared on the other side when he peeked out looking half asleep. “Oh,” he said, “Hamilton. Hi.”
Letting himself in when the boy stepped aside, Hamilton smiled towards Kingston who was passed out and snoring on the couch. “You guys look exhausted. Where’s Julius?”
“In the gym,” Samuel said, tossing himself down into a recliner. “He’s upset so he wanted to let out some steam for a while.”
“What happened?” Hamilton asked.
“He didn’t fare too well against our opponents tonight. The vampire girl mocked his masculinity, so his ego is feeling a little bruised. If you ask me, I think he’s overreacting. All that matters is that we’re alive.”
“Be careful,” Kingston’s groggy voice rose from the couch. “These walls have ears, Sam. Julius might lose his cool if he hears you talking about him like that, especially in front of Hamilton of all people.”
Confused, Hamilton knitted his brow and took a seat on the cushion beside Kingston when the boy sat up. “What did you mean by that? Is there something wrong with Julius that I should know about?”
The two boys gave each other a look before Kingston jumped up to lock the door to the room. Samuel then said, “Yes, there is something you should probably know about Julius. He’s been acting stranger than most nights lately. For the past couple of months, he’s been keeping a close watch over you.”
“Me?” Hamilton suddenly felt a cloud of dread drift over him. “W—Why?”
“We don’t know,” Kingston said. “He doesn’t talk to us about it anymore. Before our blind training went into affect last year, Julius would sneak into your room while you were away and go through your things. He had no choice but to give up once the blind training began, but I think he’s started it again. By the way he’s been acting, I think it’s safe to say he doesn’t much like what he’s been finding in your room.”
