Page 5 of Vampire Lee

It started as it always did. A firm grip that soon turned to bruising. Then pain, so much pain, only to have it switch. Dillon’s brain knew there was pain, but his body reacted with pleasure.

He was bleeding, but he was craving it, at the same time as a muted voice screamed in his mind, reminding him he was dying. Nausea climbed his throat. Then Leonardo’s excited laugh filled his ears.

With Leonardo, there was never any pleasure, and he preferred it. Preferred the pain to the fake gratification. Preferred the tearing to the false euphoria.

His scream overrode Leonardo’s laugh. Blood was seeping out of his every pore, making his clothes stick to his body.

The last bit confused him. He wasn’t allowed clothes when with Leonardo.

Then the pain was back, and he screamed again. The coppery scent of spilled blood filled his nostrils.

A loud bang sounded, and he struggled, pictured Murrie, Mars, and Rei rush into the room. The voice in his mind told him it wasn’t happening now. It was a memory from before. He wasn’t on a pink bed now. He was in a brightly lit room. On the third floor. Not underground.

Another loud bang sounded, then Dillon flew out of bed. Someone was coming into his room.

His brain couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing.

The door swung open with a jarring crack, the deadbolt breaking, or was it the frame? Either way, something otherworldly had forced his door open. Ice washed over him as if the air in the corridor had turned frigid.

A tall form filled the doorway. Not freakishly big like Murrie and Faelan, but not small like Devon. And strong. Much, much stronger than Dillon.

He screamed, and the vampire closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. He recognized him now. A hand landed on his mouth, and Dillon fought. He pulled and jerked, kicked and shoved, but the hand didn’t go anywhere. He’d known this would happen. Had known he’d come back for them. Had he already taken Devin? Devin was more valuable than he was.

“Fuck. Shit. Sorry.” A frantic look took over Vampire Lee’s face. “Shh…Calm down.”

Dillon was not calming down. The room spun around him, and he couldn’t breathe.

“Fuck.” The word was nothing more than a hiss, then Lee looked into his eyes, and if Dillon believed he’d been panicking before, it was nothing compared to the foul, black fear taking over now.

“No, no, no. Please calm down. I wasn’t going to…Fuck.”

Vampire Lee moved around him, pressing Dillon’s back against his bare chest. “I wasn’t going to enthrall you.”

Dillon fought for a few more seconds, then stilled. He was no match for a vampire.

“Good. Easy.” Vampire Lee spoke right next to his ear. “If I remove my hand, will you stop screaming?”

He wasn’t screaming, was he? Maybe. He made noises with each exhale, but he didn’t want to anger Vampire Lee any more than he already had, so he nodded.

Vampire Lee made a sound at the back of his throat, it could be one of annoyance, but Dillon wasn’t sure. “I’m sorry, wee yin. I shouldn’t have come in here.” He was quiet for what felt like hours but couldn’t be more than a few minutes. Dillon focused on breathing and not allowing the shivers too much room.

“Is no one coming?”

Coming? Who would be coming? Had he brought friends? Why was he here? It had to be in the middle of the night. Murrie didn’t have meetings in the middle of the night.

“Dillon?”

He nodded and stared at the doorway. Was anyone coming?

“Won’t Rei or Murrie come?”

Dillon tried to find his voice several times without luck.

“Dillon?” Vampire Lee spoke softly, and he nodded again.

“The others, why aren’t they rushing up the stairs?”

“The others?” His voice shook, and it was nothing more than a whisper. Which others did he mean? His vampire friends?

“You screamed, will no one come to check on you?”

Dillon shook his head.

“They must’ve heard me break the door.”

He shrugged. Did Vampire Lee want them to come?

“Are you okay up there?” Rei’s voice traveled the stairs.

“Yeah.” Vampire Lee sounded weary. “I think I fucked up.”

A grunt was all the response there was. “Is Dillon okay?”

He was quiet for several seconds, but when Dillon didn’t reply he sighed. “A little shaken, I think, but physically unharmed.”

“Right, try to get some rest.”

“I broke the door.” Vampire Lee still hadn’t moved away from him.

A not-so-silent yawn sounded halfway down the stairs. “I heard. Normally, unless something shatters, we don’t break in.”

“Got it. I’ll pay to have it fixed.”

Rei grunted a reply and disappeared. Dillon didn’t hear him move away, but he could sense it.

“I’m sorry.” Vampire Lee spoke lower. “I heard you scream, and I…I don’t know. I thought you were in danger.”

Dillon wasn’t sure he believed him, but he had screamed.

* * * *

Lee had fucked up. He’d been halfway to sleep, in the dreamy in-between state, when a muffled cry had sounded. A second later, it had been a gut-wrenching scream, and all he could think of was to get to whomever was screaming before the one hurting them could do more damage.

It wasn’t until he was out of bed that he realized it had to be Dillon, and everyone else was a floor below. If someone was hurting Dillon, the team wouldn’t get there in time to rescue him. He’d thrown himself at the locked door, not thinking for a second how it would make Dillon feel. He’d tumbled into his room wearing nothing but a pair of black trunks.

“Hey.” He squeezed Dillon’s shoulder but didn’t dare turn him around to have him look into his eyes. He hadn’t seen panic like that in…maybe ever. So raw.

Dillon didn’t move or talk.

“Dillon?”

A nod.

“Do you want to switch rooms? The door won’t close.”

He shook his head, then nodded, then shook his head. Great. Lee loved a man who knew what he wanted.

Gods, he was such a wanker. This was his fault.

“Want to go to bed? I can…You can push a dresser or something in front of the door when I’ve left.”

Dillon half-turned but caught himself before looking at Lee.

“Want to take my bed instead? I’m in the room next to this, and it has a working door.”

“Is someone coming?”

Lee listened for steps, but he couldn’t hear anything. “I don’t think so.”

“You said someone was coming.”

Had he? “No, I asked you if anyone was coming.”

When Dillon didn’t reply, he squeezed his shoulder again. Fuck, he should stop touching him, but his hand didn’t want to move.

“Do you want to stay in this bed, or do you want to go crash in mine?”

A headshake.

“I’m pretty slow, so it’d be better if you spelled things out for me. Do you want to sleep in this bed?”

Dillon shook his head again.

“Come on then, let’s go to my room.”

Another shake of the head.

“It’s like three in the morning. We’re not getting up now. Pick a bed.”

No reaction.

Lee took a deep breath before pushing Dillon forward. He didn’t struggle, didn’t scream, didn’t try to get away, but Lee wasn’t sure he was all there. It was as if a shell was moving out the door. He didn’t turn on his own, so Lee did it for him. Yup, he’d tucked himself away.

The door to his room was open, and he gently shoved Dillon inside and closed and locked it behind him. He waited for a moment to see if a new bout of panic would set in at the sound of the lock clicking shut, but nothing.

“Come on. Crawl into bed.”

To Lee’s surprise, Dillon did. Maybe it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. He didn’t know what had happened to him, but since he was a human in a supernatural world, it must be connected to shifters or vampires. And judging by the reaction to Lee trying to make eye contact, he could only guess. Fucking shit.

“I’ll sleep on the floor.” Lee eyed the dark floor. He didn’t think it had been vacuumed in some time, but it didn’t matter. He needed to get a few hours’ sleep, or he’d be useless at work tomorrow.

“There are enough monsters in my head. I don’t need one under my bed too.”

Lee huffed a laugh. A coherent sentence.

“I’m the least monstery monster there is, sweetheart. Promise.”

No reply. Lee waited for a few seconds, but when Dillon didn’t speak again, he neared the bed.

Dillon shuddered and curled into himself. Lee swallowed a sigh and stretched out on the bed on top of the cover, then turned around, so his back was toward Dillon.

It was a queen-sized bed. Two could sleep in it without touching. Dillon would be okay. He hoped.

* * * *

Dillon didn’t move. There was a vampire in his bed. Or more accurately, he was in a vampire’s bed.

“Breathe.”

He jerked at Vampire Lee’s softly spoken word. He’d turned his back to him, no scary eyes in sight. Dillon let out a shaky breath.

“There you go.”

Silence descended again and tension crept into Dillon. Waiting was the worst.

Vampire Lee made a sound at the back of his throat, one of dismay, Dillon believed.

“Look.” Vampire Lee started to turn, only to abort the motion and continue to have his back turned to Dillon. “I won’t touch you. I won’t bite you or do…whatever you think I’ll do.”

Dillon should be quiet. Talking back never got him anywhere. Once he’d been a person who talked back. Before. He had been someone who expressed his opinions, argued his beliefs, took charge when it suited him, but somewhere during the memory gap, he’d lost the ability.

Now he wasn’t sure he had opinions.

“How would I know? You’d wipe my memory, and I wouldn’t have a clue what you’d done.”

Another sound left Vampire Lee. “I won’t gore my eyes out. I like them too much, but I can promise not to look into yours.”

“I wouldn’t know if you did.”

“Right. Sorry.” Vampire Lee blew out a breath. “I’ll stay right here, turned this way, and you can relax on your side.”

Dillon snorted, then regretted it. What if Vampire Lee got angry with him? “You can turn around faster than I can blink. And I know you don’t need to look into my eyes. Maybe to wipe my memories, but not to…do other things.”

“Move closer then, so I can’t turn around in the blink of an eye.”

“Are you insane?” Dillon bit his tongue. He hadn’t meant to say those words out loud. He could keep commentary up in his head all he wanted, but speaking never did any good.

Vampire Lee chuckled. “Only a little.” He reached behind him and patted the mattress. “Come on, sweetness. Cuddle me.”

“No way.”

“The older a vampire is, the more powerful they are.”

Dillon gave a minuscule nod. He hadn’t been sure, but he’d guessed it was the case.

“Mars is pretty old.”

Was he? He didn’t look old. Dark and broody unless Devin was nearby, but Dillon wouldn’t describe him as old.

“I’m not. I’m one hundred thirteen. Which I would guess is about one-third of how old Mars is, maybe less. You trust him, right?”

“No.”

Lee grunted. “You can trust him. Deep down, I think you know you can trust him.”

Dillon had sent him a text. He’d turned to Mars when he was afraid of going out on the patio when he feared someone would get to Devin.

When Dillon didn’t reply, Vampire Lee continued. “I’m not nearly as powerful as he is. I’m not saying I can’t control your mind, but I need eye contact to do it. Mars can influence you without looking at you. I could maybe nudge you if I tried, but I can’t make you do something you don’t want to do without looking into your eyes.”

It didn’t matter, since he could make Dillon forget he’d looked into his eyes.

“Come on, snuggle up, and let’s get some sleep.”

“Why would I cuddle with you?” He was insane.

“Because if you come closer, I can’t turn around and look at you without rolling over you, and you’d notice.”

“But it wouldn’t matter since you’d look into my eyes a second later and make me forget all about it.”

Vampire Lee moved toward him, back first, until he was in the middle of the bed and Dillon could pick between falling off the mattress or touching him.

He sighed and rested his forehead between Vampire Lee’s shoulder blades.

“Good boy.” Vampire Lee didn’t move. “Now sleep.”

Dillon snorted but closed his eyes.