Page 46 of Inhuman Natures #1

Shaun

Shaun barely listened to Lawrence’s words as he spoke down the phone to Lynette. He was too busy concentrating on stopping Rake from leaving the club right then and there, pinning him onto the sofa to prevent him from running off. Kit hovered nearby, ready to provide support if needed.

Ever since being recreated, Rake’s anger point had been tested.

They’d spent the day sleeping in a couple of rooms normally used by club members, and Rake had held Shaun as if he was all that anchored him to the earth.

And now, the threat to DJ from Lawrence only minutes after waking up on Rake’s first full night as a vampire had sent him well over the edge.

Lynette continued her back and forth with Lawrence, but Shaun was too preoccupied with sitting on a spitting-mad Rake.

“Shaun, if you don’t let me go, I swear I’ll—” Rake broke off mid-sentence, shame filling his face.

Shaun cupped a hand around Rake’s stubbled jaw, making him meet his eyes. “I would be out that door in a second if I thought it was a good idea. But it’s not. Lawrence has the upper hand. He’ll hold DJ’s safety over our heads, and he’ll finish the job he started.”

“I…know,” Rake said.

Lynette hung up the phone by hurling it against the wall, shattering it into pieces. They all waited for Lynette to speak, but she folded herself into an armchair, crossing her legs and then uncrossing them again as she glared at nothing in particular.

“So, I guess this means we’re all going up against him,” Shaun said, breaking the silence.

“Well, I’m not about to hand myself over to him,” Lynette said. “Boris, tell the others to come here now. No exceptions.”

Boris took out his phone and shoved it to his ear as he left the room.

“Who, pray tell, are the ‘others’?” Kit asked.

Lynette shot him a pissed-off look, but answered. “My creations and any others that reside in Brighton. Lawrence will be answered with force.”

“So, we’re going to, what? Invade his house?” Shaun asked.

“We outnumber him,” Lynette said dismissively. “It won’t be hard. Do you have any idea where he’ll be keeping DJ?”

“Most likely in the basement,” Shaun answered, trying not to dwell on his own time spent in there.

“Such an obsession with basements,” Kit muttered to himself.

Lynette pursed her lips. “We should go to Weston as he’s asked, but with enough of us to take him down easily.”

Rake cut in. “Good. I don’t want Shaun to sacrifice himself.”

“I have no intention of either of us sacrificing ourselves,” Lynette said. “Weston will face justice.” With that, she left the room, most of her creations following suit.

Kit shuffled over to Shaun. He still appeared aloof, but Shaun could tell he was more uneasy than he let on.

“You know, I wasn’t sure you’d still be hanging around once you convinced Lynette of my innocence,” Shaun said.

“I owe it to myself. And to you,” Kit said.

“Why is that?” Shaun asked.

“Because I’m the one that taught Lawrence how to use the internet.”

This revelation left Shaun a bit cold. “I see,” he said.

“He asked me to show him,” Kit said defensively, as if Shaun had criticised him. “So I did, and then he used it to draw you into his web—pun not intended.”

“I had to talk my mum through sending an email once,” Shaun said. “It was a horrifying experience I would never like to repeat. Can’t imagine quite how awful it would have been to teach Lawrence how to use social media.”

Kit let out a hysterical laugh, then looked horrified that such a noise had passed his lips.

“It’s all right,” Shaun said. “I forgive you.”

Kit picked at his lips as he spoke. “I didn’t know what he was going to use it for, but once he started showing interest in you, I saw my chance to leave. It was cowardly, but I feared he would dispose of me once I was no longer useful to him.”

Shaun gave Kit a grim smile. “He often threatened me with the same.” At that, Rake’s fingers flexed where they held him at his waist.

“He never got what he wanted with me,” Kit said. “I’d been spending more time in the basement than in the rest of the house for a couple of years by then.”

“Oh, does he have a torture basement in all of his houses?”

“Didn’t you know,” Kit said dryly, “that no home for a sadistic vampire is complete without one?”

Shaun laughed. It was refreshing, even in such dire circumstances. “If you don’t mind me asking, why weren’t you what he wanted?”

“I’m not submissive in the way you are,” Kit said, pursing his lips.

Shaun didn’t think Kit had meant his words to come across as scathing, but they stung.

Rake jumped to Shaun’s defence. “There’s nothing wrong with being submissive. That didn’t give Lawrence the right to treat him how he did.”

Kit shook his head. “That’s not what I’m saying. I am submissive, just differently to Shaun.”

Rake still didn’t seem happy with that explanation, but when Kit refused to elaborate further, Shaun moved on. “Do you think you’re ready to face Lawrence?”

“Yes.” Kit’s voice didn’t waver. “You?”

Shaun searched inside of himself. There was still a tendril of connection between him and Lawrence, but by now it was so warped that it didn’t resemble the bond it had been when Lawrence first recreated him. “Yes,” Shaun said. “Fucker needs to die. Permanently.”

“Mistress, you need to hear this.” Boris’s words cut through Shaun’s concentration as he stood with Rake at the end of Lawrence’s street, readying himself to face his creator for what would hopefully be the final time.

They’d cleared the street of onlookers, but the noises of evening revellers down on the beach drifted towards them.

Shaun turned his head to watch Lynette accept the phone from Boris, whose expression was inscrutable.

Rake let out a deep groan of frustration. Shaun gripped his hand tighter lest Rake decide to ignore the plan of attacking Lawrence as one unit and instead attempt the solo mission he’d been threatening to undertake with every delay.

“Steve?” Lynette prompted. Lynette had left the other bouncer and a few others with Julia back at the club to provide protection for her new creation, not wanting to put her in danger.

Shaun would have suggested to Rake that he stayed behind too, but Rake never would have gone for it.

And Shaun couldn’t deny that he felt better having Rake alongside him for this.

“There are vampires flooding the west side of the city,” Steve said, his voice faint where it reached Shaun’s ears.

“Ours?” Lynette asked.

“They’re new. Under compulsion and high on bloodlust. Too many for us to deal with, and they’re out of control.”

“That bloody snake.” Lynette gripped the phone so tightly that Shaun thought she’d break this one like she had her own.

“Fucking Lawrence,” Kit mouthed to Shaun, before his fingers trailed back to his lips. Shaun understood the need to self-soothe. He hadn’t let go of Rake once, not even when they ran through the streets of Brighton.

“How many of us do you need, Steve?” Lynette asked.

“All of you. People are dying, Mistress. ”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” She hung up, fury on her face.

“Boris, take everyone and go. Stop them. Be careful.” She turned to Shaun.

“We’ll deal with Lawrence ourselves.” Boris began to argue, but one hard look from Lynette had him speeding off with the dozen other vampires she’d assembled in tow.

“You’re not going just the two of you,” Rake said.

“There’s no way of knowing whether Lawrence will have sent DJ with the other new creations or kept him close,” Kit said.

Shaun was glad at least one of them had the capacity for rational thought at that moment. It was bad enough what Lawrence made DJ do to Rake, but imagining DJ not in control of himself was sickening.

“I’m not letting you go alone, Shaun,” Rake said.

“But what if DJ’s not with Lawrence?” Shaun asked, gathering himself. “He could be out there, hurting people. He’d have no choice but to follow Lawrence’s command.” Shaun felt torn in two, half of him desperate to storm Lawrence’s house, the other half needing to run towards where DJ might be.

“Fuck,” Rake swore, gripping his hair with both hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“I second that notion,” Kit said.

“The longer you delay, the more chance there is that Weston will hurt DJ,” Lynette said, more softly than Shaun might have expected. “Weston wanted Shaun and I to give ourselves up. We should go. Shaun can search the house whilst I do what I should have before now.”

“And what should we do?” Kit asked, pointing between himself and Rake .

Lynette addressed Rake. “Follow Boris. If DJ is one of the compelled creations, he’ll need you to help him.”

Rake looked seconds away from having a meltdown. His frantic eyes met Shaun’s. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Go,” Shaun urged. He put a hand on Rake’s chest, right over where his heart was no longer beating. “If DJ’s in the house, I’ll get him. And if he’s not, I’ll come find you as soon as I can.”

“Time, boys,” Lynette said.

“ Fuck ,” Rake said again.

“You’re gonna owe yourself so many spanks,” Shaun said, putting on a brave face.

Rake leaned his head down so that their foreheads touched. “Be careful. That’s an order, sweetheart.”

Shaun gazed back into Rake’s eyes. “Yes, Sir.” Shaun pressed their lips together for a second. “You both look after each other too,” he said.

“I’ve got his back,” Kit said. “Now go make sure Lawrence doesn’t see another sunset.” With one last weighty look, he ran off. Rake hesitated, but an encouraging nod from Shaun had him chasing after Kit.

“We can handle him, Shaun,” Lynette said. “Come on.”

They walked at a human pace down the street, Shaun’s legs growing more wobbly with each step he took.

When he reached the familiar front door, he wondered how he’d even be able to step over the threshold.

He’d spent so long wishing to be anywhere but there and yet found himself following a route he’d taken every night for years.