Page 1 of Inhuman Natures #1

Shrewsbury, England

Fifteen Years Earlier

Happy Eighteenth, my beautiful boy. I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight – LW

Shaun flushed as he read the words on his laptop screen.

It was far from the most explicit message Lawrence had sent him, but it held the most promise.

A long time coming, too.

No more clandestine video calls over crappy webcams with one pixel between them. After months of talking online, Shaun was getting his wish to meet in person.

However, Shaun wasn’t just about to meet his boyfriend for the first time. He’d been let in on the sort of secret that few in this world knew.

Shaun was meeting with a vampire.

It sounded fake, of course. Shaun knew that.

He’d scoffed when Lawrence had first claimed as much, presuming it to be some form of role play.

But then came the photos and the video evidence.

Elongating fangs. Preternatural speed. Claws growing before Shaun’s very eyes.

He’d even seen Lawrence drink blood from a wine glass, which was sort of disgusting, but also cool.

Shaun often thought about what it would be like when Lawrence drank from him.

He’d practiced for it by pressing the tines of a fork into his wrist to mimic the pain of a bite.

Even though he doubted the dull prongs compared to Lawrence’s sharp fangs, imagining teeth in their place always led to Shaun running to his bedroom to deal with the resulting hard-on.

He’d spent much of his last few months in a similar state whenever Lawrence sent him a new message, but one could only take so many lengthy showers before one’s dad made a pointed joke about contributing to the electric bill. So, on this occasion, Shaun abstained.

He typed out a reply to Lawrence, his fingers skittering over the worn keys as he wrote and deleted and rewrote the message before sending it off.

I can’t wait to see you either!

Shaun yanked his empty rucksack out of his closet and set it on the bed, open and ready for his things to be packed.

Lawrence hadn’t revealed their destination, but he’d promised a few nights away together for a birthday present.

He’d sworn Shaun to secrecy, which Shaun had readily agreed to, because his mum would never let him go out with his much older boyfriend.

Not that she could even know about the whole vampire thing. She would be unhappy enough that Lawrence looked around thirty—she didn’t need to know he was actually a century old. In Shaun’s view, that made the age gap more acceptable. And it wasn’t like Lawrence would ever appear any older, either.

Lawrence wasn’t supposed to have told Shaun about the paranormal world at all, but he hadn’t wanted there to be any lies between them.

According to whatever laws the vampires had in place, Lawrence would get into a lot of trouble for having revealed himself to Shaun.

But he had done so regardless of the danger.

For Lawrence to take such a risk, Shaun knew it meant something special.

“Shaun, you awake yet?” His mum’s voice through his door had him flailing.

“Just a second!” He threw his rucksack back into his wardrobe, hiding any evidence of his plans. After throwing a hoodie on over his pyjamas, he schooled his expression and opened the door.

“Happy birthday!” she said, drawing him into a hug.

He rose on his tiptoes and rested his chin on her head. “Thanks,” he mumbled into her hair. He sensed her wanting to say something, so stepped back. “Go on. Get it all out of your system.”

“You’re so grown up! How did this happen? Five minutes ago, you were a tiny little baby. I can’t believe it!” She paused. “Right, that’s all I’ve got. No more sentimentality.”

Shaun didn’t bother stifling his grin. “I bet you’ll last ten minutes.”

“At least a quarter of an hour,” she promised. “Dad’s in the kitchen getting breakfast ready. Coming?”

“Sure.” He followed her down the hallway towards the kitchen. Their bungalow wasn’t large, but his mum had filled every available space with mismatched knick-knacks and overflowing bookcases, and she’d painted the walls and doors in bright colours from banana yellow to hot pink.

“Happy birthday!” his dad called over his shoulder from where he stood at the counter, stirring something in a big ceramic bowl. Shaun noted the pile of wrapped presents on the kitchen table, but he homed in on the other presence in the room.

“Oh,” his mum said, nodding towards it, “what do you think?”

“We got the right one, didn’t we?” his dad asked.

Shaun’s mouth moved, but no noise came out.

“Was it meant to be the other one? Your mum and I were sure this was the right one. The girl in the shop said—”

Before his dad could go on any further, Shaun cut in. “That’s him.”

He went over to the life-sized cardboard cutout of a broody Edward Cullen and stared up at its face.

It was a bit creepy.

“Thanks,” he said. Not that he needed a fake vampire in his life anymore now that he was getting the real thing, but he appreciated his parents’ efforts to engage with his interests.

“Bit pale, isn’t he?” his dad mused.

“He’s a vampire , Jason,” his mum said. “They’re supposed to look like that.”

Shaun smiled to himself, picturing Lawrence.

His dad gestured to the table. “Open the rest of your presents, Shaun. I’m doing pancakes.”

“Thanks,” Shaun said again. He thanked them another half dozen times as he unwrapped the gifts, laughing at his mum having used Christmas paper for a few.

Shaun lifted out a glass wolf figurine from a teeny box wrapped in jolly Santas. It fit in his palm, was smooth to the touch, and whilst delicate, it didn’t feel like it would be easily broken.

“In case you were more into werewolves these days,” his mum said with a knowing smile.

Shaun placed it on the table, arranging it so the refracted light danced across the chequered tablecloth.

One of the last presents he opened had him in shock.

“A new phone?” he asked. The model from the year before, but still.

“Figured it was time to upgrade you from that ancient flip phone,” his dad said as he brought over a plate of Scotch pancakes wrapped in a dish towel. “It could also come in handy for when you’re at uni.”

“It’s amazing,” Shaun said, ignoring the comment about university. He’d told them he intended on taking a gap year to figure out what he wanted to do, but it was mainly because he didn’t want to move anywhere else without knowing what might happen with Lawrence.

Shaun spent most of the morning downloading apps and trying out games whilst stuffing torn-off pieces of pancake into his mouth. His parents then dragged him out for a late lunch at a local bistro before settling in to watch a film and devour the chocolate cake his mum had baked.

Most people might go to a pub for their eighteenth, but Shaun had stressed to his parents that he didn’t want to make a big deal of it.

Even so, his dad encouraged him to have a bottle of pear cider to at least acknowledge that he could legally purchase it himself.

Shaun only drank half of it, because he didn’t want too much alcohol in his system.

He wanted to experience every moment with Lawrence.

Shaun bid his parents goodnight as normal, though he had to keep his hands behind his back to hide how they trembled.

He’d never lied like this, but he knew it was for the best. It was a rite of passage, anyway, sneaking out from under your parents’ noses.

He was just doing it a few years later than most teenagers did.

“Love you!” his mum called after him as he legged it to his room.

“Night!”

Shaun could have gone out the front door. But he felt like being dramatic, so he opened his bedroom window wide and lowered his rucksack onto the grass. Bungalow living had its perks, namely, not having to risk breaking his neck by throwing himself from an upper floor.

That wouldn’t have been the best start to his night.

As he sat on the sill, halfway in and out of the house, he caught sight of the little wolf figurine on his desk. After a brief hesitation, he slipped back inside to grab it, shoving it into his pocket. It was childish, but he wanted to take it on the adventure with him.

He slung his rucksack over one shoulder and scurried down the garden path, past his old wooden playhouse and through the back gate. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he raced down the lane and towards the area where Lawrence had told him they’d meet.

After thirty minutes of waiting, huddled on the bench at the side of the road and wondering if he was going to be stood up, a large red Range Rover drew up alongside him.

The window on the passenger door lowered, and Shaun got his first real look at the vampire.

Even in the darkness, Lawrence’s blond hair shone and his blue eyes glittered with inhuman light. Shaun’s mouth dried up, and his palms got sweaty, and his brain sent opposing signals to every part of his body. He had no doubt that his red face matched his hair.

“Shaun,” Lawrence said, drawing his name out and making it sound like a benediction. “It’s good to see you. Get in the car.” His eyes changed colour, flaring a reflective white before going back to normal.

“Holy shit,” Shaun said, then winced. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

Lawrence’s smile allayed his fears of having screwed up. “Get in,” he repeated.

This time, Shaun’s arms and legs seemed to move of their own volition, reaching out and opening the door to climb into the car without conscious thought.

Shaun sat in the car seat and stared at Lawrence, who stared right back at him, unblinking.

“What?” Lawrence asked.

“Can I see your fangs?” Shaun blurted.

Lawrence grinned wide, showcasing two needle-sharp canines. Shaun reached a hand down and pinched himself on the inside of his elbow.

“Why did you do that?” Lawrence asked, amused .

“I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming.”