Page 25 of Inhuman Natures #1

DJ

Post-coital bliss didn’t last as long as DJ would have liked. He was barely over his orgasm when Shaun stirred from where he’d been lying in a boneless heap on the bed. “I should be going.”

“Are you kidding me?” DJ exploded.

Rake sat straight up in the bed. “Has nothing we’ve said or done made it clear to you that we’re in this together?”

Shaun turned onto his stomach and looked between them. Resignation filled his face. “I get that. But it’s made me realise that I wouldn’t be able to handle it if anything happened to you because of me.”

“I’ll remind you that we volunteer for whatever fate may have in store for us,” DJ said.

“It’s not fate I’m worried about. It’s Lawrence.”

DJ wandered over to the closed curtains and peeked out onto the street. He fetched his phone from the nightstand and checked the weather app. “Sundown was a while ago.”

Rake moved to lie on top of Shaun, bracketing him in with his larger body. “Don’t even think about leaving.”

DJ pounced onto the bed, throwing his arms over them both. “You’re stuck here now. I won’t let you escape.”

“Sounding a bit like Lawrence there,” Shaun said.

Rake sprang back, and DJ rolled right off of the bed and stood up. “Oh, Shaun, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s all right. I was joking.”

“Sweetheart, we don’t want to control you.

We just want to make sure you’re safe,” Rake said, then scrunched up his face.

“Okay, well, sometimes I will want to control you. But only for the fun things, like orgasms. Not about how you conduct your life. I mean, maybe some parts of that too, eventually. And only if you consent. Obviously.”

Shaun pressed his face into the covers, shaking with laughter. DJ lay back down on the bed and put his face beside Shaun’s. Shaun turned and gave DJ a shy smile that had him unable to do anything but grin back.

“So, you agree you’ll stay here for the full night?” DJ asked.

“Fine.” Shaun still didn’t seem happy about it, but DJ was over the moon.

At least, he was until Shaun spoke again.

“But you need to understand. Lawrence will spend the rest of his existence chasing me down and trying to kill me. I can’t spend my life on the run, and I won’t ask either of you to do the same. ”

“We’ll do whatever we need to keep you safe,” DJ said.

“Why would you say that? You barely know me.”

“Well. We, um—” Rake started, then broke off. He glanced at DJ, begging him with his eyes to be the one to explain.

“We like you,” DJ said simply. “We both want you. You’re worth caring about. And you sure deserve better than an arsehole like Lawrence.”

Shaun searched DJ’s face for a long second, chewing on his lip. “I like you both, too. Very much,” he whispered.

“We’ve never wanted anyone else the way we want you,” Rake said, finding his words. “I get that it’s a lot, and it’s quick. But you’re a part of us now. A part that I don’t think either of us were searching for. Yet, here you are. Fitting right in.”

“Oh my god, Rake, you’re gonna make me cry,” DJ said.

“Me too,” Shaun said with a wet-sounding laugh.

“I would rather have no tears,” Rake said seriously. “Let’s get up and get some food. DJ, you need to eat.”

DJ rolled his eyes, but did as Rake said. He would be hungry once he stopped thinking about sex and Shaun and sex again.

The door buzzed when they were in the kitchen, Rake pottering about as he made them a late dinner. DJ headed to the door, but Shaun stopped him in his tracks. “Let me,” Shaun said.

DJ and Rake both moved to the hallway to watch as Shaun picked up the receiver, placing it against his ear.

DJ studied Shaun’s face. He was trying for stoicism, and would have got away with it if it wasn’t for his expressive eyes, which were screaming out for help. Rake stood shoulder to shoulder with DJ, thick brows drawn together.

Shaun slammed the receiver down with such force that DJ expected the flimsy plastic to crack. “It’s Lawrence.”

DJ’s heart just about stopped. “He definitely can’t get in, can he?”

“Not unless you invite him.”

DJ went over and wrapped Shaun up in a hug, needing the contact. “So he can’t do anything to you?”

“No,” Shaun said into DJ’s chest. “But that he knows I’m here is bad enough. I’m so sorry. I thought it would take him longer to figure it out.”

“What did he say to you?” Rake asked.

“Nothing that needs repeating.”

“We can wait him out, can’t we?” DJ said, looking between Shaun and Rake for an answer.

“And then what?” Shaun said, stepping back from DJ and leaning against the front door. “I stay here forever and you two never venture out in the darkness again? I need to face him.”

“You’re sure he won’t just leave you alone if it’s going to be too much effort?” Rake questioned.

Shaun got a faraway look in his eyes. “If he moves on, it’s because he’ll have taken another boy. I can’t let him recreate another vampire to keep as a slave. I won’t let him do that to anyone else.”

DJ’s chest swelled with pride at Shaun’s conviction. “We’ll stop him together, any way we can.”

Instead of agreeing like DJ had imagined Shaun would, he stilled. DJ only understood why when Shaun spoke.

“He’s in the stairwell.”

DJ couldn’t stop the mortifyingly high-pitched squeak that escaped his lips.

As much as he promised Shaun to be behind him all the way, facing the wrath of a vampire hell-bent on hurting them wasn’t something he was adept at dealing with.

DJ was the sort of person who watched horror movies through his fingers on the rare occasions that Sophie convinced him to watch one together.

But, until that moment, DJ didn’t think he’d ever known true terror .

“Lawrence can’t get in,” Rake repeated, as if to reassure himself.

Shaun moved in front of DJ and Rake in a millisecond, back to them both, facing the door. Despite his smaller stature, he seemed larger in the defensive stance he took up. The tips of his fingers were now talons, and DJ knew if Shaun turned to face them, they’d see his fangs and flashing eyes.

Their very own creature, ready to fight for them against the monster at the door.

DJ strained to hear Lawrence’s footsteps. It was only Shaun’s flinch that alerted him to the fact that Lawrence was right outside before his voice sounded through the door.

“Pet, it’s time to come out.” Lawrence’s voice was deceptively calm.

DJ shuddered. He grabbed Rake’s hand, wanting to reach out to Shaun as well, but afraid any sudden movement would scare him further.

“You’re not welcome here,” Rake called.

There was the sound of muffled laughter. When Lawrence spoke again, his words dripped with condescension. “You have no right to get in between a Master and his pet, Rakesh. Tell Shaun to get out here, or I’ll be taking it out on your boy.”

DJ’s stomach roiled at the threat. He gripped Rake’s hand tighter.

“This is between you and me. Leave them out of it,” Shaun said. He sounded so, so young—like the teenager he’d been when Lawrence recreated him.

“Ah, you’ve found your voice after all, pet. Open the door for me.” There was something odd in the way Lawrence said the last part, the command seeming to echo through the flat. DJ whipped his hand out, grasping Shaun’s shoulder to stop his movement when he twitched forward.

“I can smell what you’ve been getting up to in there,” Lawrence said. “You little slut. Bending over for the first humans who show you a lick of affection. It’s desperate and tragic.”

“Ignore him,” DJ said to Shaun.

“Come out here, Shaun!” The hissed request was even eerier this time around. DJ swore he could feel the words wrapping around his insides, trying to get him to comply, even though they weren’t for him.

Shaun stumbled back into Rake, who wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. “Do not listen to him, sweetheart,” Rake said close to Shaun’s ear. “Focus on my voice. I’m telling you to stay here, with us.”

A shiver-inducing scratch sounded from outside the door, like nails on a chalkboard. The image of the prim vampire attacking an inanimate object as if it had personally wronged him might have been funny if DJ wasn’t so terrified.

Shaun let out a wounded little sound, and DJ moved to stand at his other side. Shaun looked up at DJ, eyes spilling over with red. If Rake hadn’t warned DJ of how Shaun cried, he’d probably have fainted at the sight.

One bloody teardrop escaped and ran down Shaun’s cheek. DJ brushed it away, heedless of the stain it left on his hand.

The noise outside the door stopped. They all stood still, waiting.

“You know,” came Lawrence’s voice, casual and conversational, as if he hadn’t been scratching at their front door like a feral alley cat. “Fires aren’t all that uncommon in Brighton. An old building like this? It wouldn’t take much for the whole thing to go up.”

Shaun’s eyes went wide. “No.”

“Or perhaps I should start picking off the neighbours,” Lawrence continued. “The flat on the top floor has a couple of toddlers that might do for a midnight snack.”

“No!” Shaun shouted. He pushed past DJ and went right up to the door. His hand hovered over the handle, but he didn’t make the final move to turn it. “Lawrence, you can’t do that. You know you’ll just expose yourself. The others won’t stand for that in their city.”

Lawrence laughed, low and mocking. “They can’t stop me. Neither can you, or your little human protectors in there. Shaun, I’m going to take them apart right in front of you.”

“I’ll never let you touch them.”

“You cannot watch them all the time.”

“If that’s what it takes, I will,” Shaun promised.

A loud bang shook the door on its hinges and Shaun leapt backwards. DJ yelped in surprise as he found himself with an armful of shaking vampire.

An honest-to-god cackle came from the other side of the door.

“Leave, Lawrence!” Shaun spat out.

“You bore me, Shaun. I’ll find myself another plaything.”

A few seconds of silence passed. DJ braced himself for another attack.

“He’s gone,” Shaun said.

“ Gone , gone?” DJ asked. Not that he didn’t trust Shaun’s senses, but Lawrence seemed like the sort to trick them into relaxing before taking another strike .

Shaun shot over to the living room window, DJ and Rake following behind at a human pace. The three of them stood at the glass, watching Lawrence’s back as he strolled down the middle of the road away from the flat.

“He won’t give up,” Shaun said.

Rake placed a hand at the back of Shaun’s neck, then hooked the fingers of his other hand under DJ’s necklace at his nape. “We’ll be ready,” Rake said.