Right Kind of Wrong
By: Delilah deSora

Chapter 6

The violet haired vampire froze.

“You’ve felt it,” Cain said, weaving between the chairs as he approached him, “The lost time, the occasional weakness, the feeling of panic, the coldness, the increased hunger,” he caught the younger man’s wrist, pulling him towards the bed.

“No.” Shido whispered, though his voice held no accusation, “you’re lying.”

Cain shook his head. “You know what I say is true. I’ve felt the weak moments, just as my sire did when I was growing within my father. I’ve felt your hunger, for it is for me to feed it. I’ve felt the fears that grow within you, for it is too for me to protect you. I smelled it upon you when you first came to me,” he pressed the palm of his hand against his mate’s stomach, “You are bleeding here. Our child is causing that so he may feed.”

Shido shuddered and Cain pulled him into his arms, burying his face in the violet hair.

“I know it is a strange thing to accept but it is the truth. You cannot leave for your weakness and hunger will only get worse and no matter what your desires our child must be protected. You do not know how rare it is for a child to be born to us. There are so few velassi left in the world, Shido. A new child is another step closer to keeping our race alive. That must be protected.”

Shido was silent for a time before drawing in a shaking breath. “I knew,” he whispered, “somehow I know. When you were attacked by that other vampire on All Souls night I wanted to help you but . . . something held me back. Something that told me that I should wait to see which of you was strongest.”

“It is an important instinct,” Cain replied, his deep voice holding no surprise at the revelation, “As the child grows you will get weaker and more vulnerable. It will become difficult for you to move as your body changes. You will not be able to protect yourself and no other velassi will be able to feed you but me. If I were to die while you were still with child he would die as well for he can only feed off of the blood he was created from. Therefore you would desire the stronger male.”

“But he was not velassi, was he?”

Cain shook his head. “No.”

“Then why would I want him over you if I could not have a child with him?”

“Velassi and vampires are nearly impossible to tell apart. Even I have trouble sometimes since we are but a parent and child race. You would never have been able to tell so your instincts simply assume all vampires are potential velassi when you are driven to . . . procreate.”

“So I will forever be comparing you with other vampires?”

“No. I told you that velassi mates share a bond. We have one as well but once it had been strengthened you will be wary of any vampire that may wish to take you as a mate, regardless of weather or not they may be stronger than I.”

“Oh.” Again Shido fell silent and Cain amused himself by stroking the long hair. Finally his mate shifted and he found himself fixed by the bright eyes. “What happens now?”

“We go on as we have been. Eventually we will have to leave this place and go somewhere more secluded. You needn’t worry, things will happen as they should. All you must do is rest and be patient.”

A petulant look crossed Shido’s face but before he could give voice to the sudden anger his eyes widened and his hands came out to grasp desperately at the larger man’s arm. Cain caught the flailing hands, drawing his mate towards him as he did. A tongue flickered over his neck, testing the pulse there, before fangs plunged into the vulnerable area. Shido’s mouth was a heavy pressure on his neck as were the hands that tightened in his, threatening to break the fine bones in his own.

Blood was taken from him and he allowed it until he felt his heart started to strain. Gently he dislodged his mate, laying the heavy eyed creature back upon the bed.

“Rest.” He whispered, running his hand over the sleepy eyes, using a bit of his power to make it an undeniable urge.

Shido’s head fell to the side, the perfectly crafted face coming to rest on the pillow. Cain amused himself for a few moments by brushing back the violet hair.

With a heavy sigh he rose and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. A glance proved that Adrian still sat in his preferred corner, golden eyes fixed on the small fire as though it held all the secrets his soul demanded. Lightly he laid his hand on his father’s bared arm and brushed a kiss across the black hair, laying his hand across the back of the chair. The velvet fabric sank down under his touch and he smiled.

He didn’t know what drew his father unerringly to this corner of the room when he felt lost in the present but it was inevitable. He’d replaced the stiff wooden chair with one more suited to hours of endless contemplation, though he’d been half afraid his father would move to another corner. To his relief it didn’t seem to matter what chair was there. Indeed, he suspected if he removed the chair altogether Adrian would just sit on the floor.

“Come back soon,” he murmured, stroking the soft black hair, “there is something we need to speak of.”

If Adrian heard there was no sign. With a sigh he straightened and returned to the court below.

Shido’s eyes opened and he found himself suddenly wide-awake. He frowned as he sat up, wondering at the sudden clarity of consciousness. He slid from the bed, tugging on the hem of his shirt to straighten it. That was when the sound of something crashing to the floor caught his attention. Frowning deeply he pushed open the door and froze at the confrontation before him.

The blond vampire he had met at the castle walls so many night’s ago stood before Adrian, the raven haired vampire’s face one of rage. He raised a hand and Adrian slapped it away, sharp nails digging into the other’s pale flesh and drawing blood that soaked through the torn white of the other’s shirt.

They argued in a language Shido did not recognize but the twisting syllables brought something to the forefront of his mind and his frown deepened as he recalled a garden. He wasn’t supposed to be there, he thought, but fascination with the whitish blue flowers that basked in the moonlight drew him forward.

There were words being spoken, so similar in sound to those being spoken before him and in his mind he recalled moving towards it. The past superimposed on the present and in his mind the firelight that reflected in the gloss of Adrian’s black hair softened to the pure white of that of moonlight. He watched as the older vampire whirled, snarling at the vampire before him.

Memory changed the blond vampire, darkening his hair until it was the warm golden of Cain’s and hung in thick locks over broader shoulders and down a proud back. The higher voice of the other deepened and when he turned Shido found himself locked with burgundy eyes rather than the cold blue eyes of the present vampire that stood before him. In his mind’s eye Shido saw the other come towards him and in fear he cringed back. He shrieked as a hand reached out to him, the stern look of the vampire in his memory suddenly changing to the covetous one of the blond vampire before him.

Before the other could reach him Adrian was there, forcibly shoving the other back.

“Do not touch him!” The black haired vampire snarled, stalking towards the other, “He is not yours, Miron.”

Thin lips curled. “He stays under my roof! He feeds from my son! The child within him is mine! It is all mine by right!”

Adrian laughed scornfully. “Old laws from bygone times! They mean nothing now! None of it is yours!”

“What was Alexandru’s is mine by default!” Miron snarled, his face losing its good humor and turning to one of petulant anger.

“What was Alexandru’s he gained by strength and cunning! What was his can only be held with such! You have none of those things, Miron! You are a weak pathetic thing who cannot even lure the stupidest of us to be his mate!”

Miron snarled, smashing a table in his rage. “How dare you? The old ways are the only ways that work! They are the only ways that keep our race strong!”

Adrian snorted. “They destroy us by giving freely to the weak so that they may lose it all! You cannot hold anything that you did not gain by yourself! Time has proven this and the old ways are gone now! They make our children weak!”

Miron bared sharp fangs in a twisted travesty of a smile. “At least they make sure there are children! You claim to want our race to be strong but you make it weak, Adrian! You, who have proven that he can create life and carry it to term! You, who have proven that you can fledge a child and protect it to adulthood! You who now refuse to do your duty to your race! You, who denies the advances of unmated males! Tell me again who fails our race, Adrian!”

“I would have none of them!” Adrian snarled, “It is my body and my decision! The old ways are gone and no one will uphold the claims of a sire too weak to attract a mate in the normal ways.”

Miron stepped forward and again caught the black haired vampire’s wrist, drawing him close. “You vex our elders, Adrian. They think you have turned your back on us all by refusing to even meet with unmated males. They won’t object when I prove that I can root life within you.”

Adrian laughed in his face. “I would tear the child from me before I allowed it to be born with such a pathetic creature as its sire.”

A look of complete horror crossed the blond haired vampire’s face. “You wouldn’t dare . . .”

Adrian captured the other vampire by the throat, pulling him close in an almost intimate manner. “Better to let it die by my own hand then by the hands of humans because it came from weak seed.”

He shoved Miron and the other vampire fell back, crashing down amongst tables and a pair of chairs. Before he could get up the black haired vampire was upon him, tearing at him with sharp nails. Shido clung to the doorframe as he watched the two fight. It was obvious that Adrian was the stronger for Miron soon bore a myriad of wounds while his attacker only had a pair of marks high on his arm.

Miron tensed and finally managed to shove Adrian back a few steps. The black haired vampire moved to lunge forward but before he could shift his weight Miron had dragged him to the ground. He snarled and bit deeply into the arm that tried to pin his hands to the ground. The blond vampire winced but refused to be dislodged.

“Alexandru was a fool,” Miron growled, “On his death all his earthly possessions became mine! And when I have proven that my seed grows within your body no one will argue my claim on you!”

Adrian met this claim with a snarl and another vicious bite but still Miron refused to be dislodged. Blue eyes came up and Shido stiffened as they caught his gaze. A feral smile crossed the blond vampire’s face.

“Did you know,” Miron murmured softly, as though Adrian wasn’t trying to bite through his arm, “that once, when our kind lived together, it was thought that drinking the blood of one with child would stimulate others and increase the likelihood of the creation of life within them?” Blue eyes flicked to the vampire frozen beneath his hands and the serpentine smile widened, “Shall we see if it is true? I would do anything to get you with child and bind you to me as you were to my brother. Even force the blood of an unwilling sacrifice down your throat. He is weak; I can sense it. It will be an easy thing to bring him under my control for just a taste. A bit of blood to share between new mates.”

Adrian shrieked and managed to slip his hands free of Miron’s hold. Claws racked the blond’s chest as he struggled to trap the other beneath him. By the door Shido trembled, his own nails digging into the soft wood. He tried desperately to stand, to help the raven-haired vampire and prove that he wasn’t weak but his mind worked against him. Half formed memories trapped him in a strange semi-lucidness as his body refused to move. He knew that if Miron moved against him he would fight, his instincts, strung so high that he shook from the adrenaline, told him this but Miron had not moved towards him and he couldn’t bring himself to join the fight for something whispered to him that it was not wise to interfere.

He struggled with himself for a few long minutes while Adrian managed to free himself and beat back his attacker. Miron knelt, his pale flesh covered in blood and wounds but his blue eyes stubborn as he stared up at the stronger vampire he wished to claim. Before the fight could begin anew the door was flung open and Cain stared down at all of them. Miron growled, showing long fangs as he shrank back from the other vampire.

“I told you never to come here again!” Cain snarled, stalking towards the other.

Miron rose and moved away, circling around the younger vampire warily. “It is none of your affair!”

“This is my territory!” Cain snapped, moving towards Miron.

“It will be mine!” Miron hissed, disappearing in a ripple of air.

Shido sighed as the tenseness drained from him but Miron’s departure did nothing for the memories that still plagued him. He felt hands on his waist and smiled weakly as he was lifted up. Soft words were murmured into his hair. He shook his head as Cain laid him back upon the bed but a hand pressed against his chest, forcing him back against the soft blankets.

“Must I tell you again?” Cain growled, though there was no aggression in his voice, “You must rest!”

The tone sparked a new set of memories and Shido cried out as his mind once again provided him with an image of a man he did not know. A cool hand touched his forehead and he felt a heavy weight press against his mind, dragging the past away and clearing his eyes so that there was only the present.

“It hurts.” He whispered, closing his eyes against the pain in his head.

“I know, lovely.” Cain replied, pressing a kiss where only a moment before his hand had rested. “You are strong, Shido, you will survive even this.”

“Who is he?” Shido asked, peering up at his mate. He caught a lock of golden hair between his fingers. “He looks like you but is different. He . . . frightens me, this man in the past. I saw . . . remember him arguing with Adrian.”

Cain smiled sadly. “It is my sire, Alexandru, you see. He and Adrian always argued for both were very strong willed.”

“But there was no hate between them.”

Again the bittersweet smile came. “No. They loved each other very much and argued as equals. It is what made them strong for each respected the other. They would argue when they felt the need but always they would listen and weigh the other’s opinion. They played upon each other and where one failed the other excelled. It was a rare love between them. It was a trusting love, without the need of one to dominate over the other. It was never master and servant between them, only Adrian and Alexandru as one.”

“Miron doesn’t want that, though,” Shido mused, “He spoke of old ways and duty.”

Cain’s face turned serious. “I know. There was a time in our kind’s history when the desire to have more children sired caused us to turn upon those who could carry them. It was a cruel time when those we should have protected lost all rights and were forced to be malleable and weak. Those days are gone now for soon we all realized the folly of such a thing. Valassi were forced into bonds with other velassi they did not even know. There was no sense of family for how can one who has been used without regard to his own wishes share the closeness required of a mated pair with another who has used him against his will? How can a parent give up his child to the cruelties that he once faced? An entire generation was raised in this way before the protest grew too strong and the elders were forced to rescind the laws though there are some even now who refuse to admit that we are all equal, regardless of the type of mate we are attracted to. They would force us into the molds of black or white without regard to the truth that we are all simply shades of grey.”

“Will he come again?” Shido asked.

Cain shook his head. “Not for a while. He always slinks off after Adrian has proven his dominance over him.”

“But he will eventually come back.”

A sigh escaped the golden haired vampire. “Undoubtedly. He is obsessed with my father and all that my sire built, he always has been. It is no matter and you must not concern yourself with it. Rest, lovely. I will come back to you soon.”

Shido watched as his mate left, closing the door firmly behind him.

Cain picked through the broken bits of wooden furniture and smashed glass to stand before the dark haired vampire who sat proudly in his velvet chair. He reached out and brushed his fingertips over the parallel marks on his father’s arm.

“You’re bleeding all over your chair.” He pointed out lightly.

Adrian snorted. “It will come out and if it doesn’t I’m sure you’ll get a new one.”

Cain shook his head. “Once you used to worry about things like that. I can remember you scolding me for feeding on the couch.”

There was a very faint smile that crossed his father’s face but after a moment it slid away and was replaced with a melancholic sadness. “I thought that mattered once. I know differently now.”

Cain frowned. “If it makes you happy it matters still.”

“There are very few things that make me happy anymore. Furniture is not one of them.”

He gently touched the top of his father’s head. “I wish you would go out and find new happiness.”

Adrian sighed. “I wish I could as well.”

Cain bent his head and licked at the bleeding wounds until the blood slowed and finally abated. “Fool.” He snarled under his breath. “That he and my sire could come from the same circumstances . . .”

“We must leave here.” Adrian interrupted, staring beyond him at the banked fire.

Cain sniffed disdainfully. “He is not that much of a threat.”

“Not to me, no, but he is endlessly obsessed with claiming all that he believes made Alexandru strong. I do not believe it was a coincidence that brought him here at this time. He came because of Shido. He believes that Shido can help him solidify his claim on me. He truly believes the old stories and I fear he would do harm to your mate, Cain. We must leave. Now more so than ever!”

He sighed and nodded reluctantly. “I know. I would have you go to the manor now, if you will, and get it ready. You know better than I what Shido will need to make him comfortable.”

Adrian nodded. “I do not mind. You will bring him soon?”

“Yes. I just need to utter a few excuses to make sure I still have a court to return to later on and I want to give him time to rest. I told him of what we were and his memories are coming back. I want to make sure he’s over the initial shock before I try to move him.”

Long fingers brushed his cheek. “Was it your choice or his to return them?”

“His.” Cain replied. “Personally I would keep all of those memories from him but . . .”

“There would be no trust between you,” Adrian finished for him, “I’m glad he wanted them back. He cannot hide from them forever. How will he teach your child to live when he himself remembers only half a life?”

Cain smiled in answer. “Will you tell me before you leave?”

Adrian nodded. “As you like. I will probably be gone by tomorrow evening.”

“Then I will see you on your way.”