Page 62 of Resurrection

“Not all vampires are brutal assholes,” Gabe said. Though he had to admit, he’d met a fair share. It sort of came with the whole having to survive on blood thing. Blood made everything seem more savage.

“That makes it sound like you were a bloodthirsty asshole when you were alive.”

Gabe’s memories of that time were vivid, but skewed, broken up by facts and things he now knew were reported wrong in history. Hehad beena bloodthirsty asshole, though at the time he hadn’t thought so. He’d been on a quest for knowledge and world domination, proving to everyone that he could. Until he met his end. “I was.”

“Were you someone famous?” Seiran wondered.

“Aren’t we all in history?”

Seiran narrowed his eyes and Gabe held up his hands in defeat. “We don’t share our names from before the change. It’s like deadnaming a transperson. That person is gone. We are reborn.”

“You weren’t Gavriil?”

“That is my reborn name. It’s evolved to Gabriel over the centuries.”

“Titus… Max had another name too?”

Gabe nodded, seeing for a moment all the way back to those final days of mortal life. His lover had already been taken from him for the first time. He hadn’t realized he’d get another chance after crossing over, but it hadn’t been a choice he’d made either way. “After we are changed it can actually take a few years to remember our mortal lives. Most sires don’t encourage the memory. Sometimes it triggers the revenant to want to go back and feed on those we loved in life.”

“Twisted,” Seiran said.

“Yes.”

“Sam didn’t forget.”

“Sam is a witch. He had also been bonded to two vampires prior to his change.”

“Don’t call him that to his face. He hates it.”

“He has a lover who is a witch,” Gabe pointed out.

“Con hates the Dominion. They’d kill him if they could. It was you who kept them from taking him when they put down his sister.”

“Me?” Gabe tried to recall that and came up blank. He remembered the tall lanky man who kept his distance from the vampires when Gabe had first reawakened, but nothing from the past. “Guess that memory isn’t back.”

“Maybe you have to touch him? Meet him up close?”

“Maybe,” Gabe agreed.

Seiran’s phone buzzed back from Page. He frowned at it. It was a response to his question about how well Page knew his cousin. The reply only said,I’m sorry.

Apologize for knowing him? Or not knowing him? It seemed weird.

Seiran made his way to a private corner away from the group and dialed his phone. Gabe could hear it just fine, both sides of the conversation, but didn’t think any of the other vampires, including Sam, were close enough to catch it. Though in a space this quiet, sound echoed a little. Gabe put his back to Seiran, hoping to shield some of the sound.

“Page,” Seiran said.

“I’m sorry,” Page said rather than a greeting. He actually sounded like he was crying. “I’m so sorry.”

“I know this is bad,” Seiran started slowly, seeming to catch something in the young man’s tone, “A terrible thing.”

“I didn’t know…” Page said, sucking in air and voice trembling. “I wouldn’t have…”

Seiran paused, and Gabe tensed as he caught a nuance in the tone. Guilt? Had Page been part of this?

“Page, I’d like to talk to you,” Seiran said quietly. He turned away from everyone, pacing further from the group. Gabe followed, keeping a slow pace that made it look like they were talking rather than trying to cover up a conversation. Fuck. What did Page do?

Page was sobbing now, babbling apologies, sniffling and muffled. Gabe listened intently. “I didn’t know…”