Realisation

Pairing: Star/Michael, Michael/David

Feedback: fayzalmoonbeam@hotmail.com

Summary: Star realises that she's not the only vampire Michael has

slept with. Sequel to Bloodlust and Heat, a missing scene from the

movie (although that's getting a bit tenuous now!)

"Hold me. Please, just hold me for a minute and then I'll..."

Michael's voice was breathless, with a touch of panic that Star

instinctively didn't like. She wrapped her arms around the trembling

man in front of her, and could feel his fear emanating like the

embrace of a cool winter's night. The sea beat time with her heart

as it caressed the warm sand of the Santa Carla beach, but she

barely noticed it.

"Michael, I'm going to ask you one more time; tell me what's wrong."

Star pleaded as she too began to tremble. She had never seen Michael

so scared.

"Star, I can't tell you," Michael whispered. "I wish I could but I

can't." He pulled back from her once more. "All I know is he's got a

hold on me, and I can't get away."

Star knew, without asking that Michael was referring to the

sadistically beautiful and untamed vampire David. Beloved. Seducer

of minds and bodies alike. And then, she realised something else.

"He's taken you, hasn't he?" She whispered, unconsciously moving

away from him. "He's made you one of his own."

Michael looked at her face fearfully, expecting to see disgust and

revulsion, and indeed, these things were present in her eyes. But so

was something else. Understanding. She knew what it was to be taken,

consumed, temporarily adored and then cast off by the one they

called David. His eyes filled with ears, and he blinked to see more

clearly. "I don't know what to do, Star," he murmured. "Help me,

please." He reached out to bring her closer to him, but she shied

from his touch.

"I get it, Michael," she said softly, but with an undercurrent

of bitter comprehension. "But don't ever ask me to like it." She

sighed. "He takes us all, devours us, brands us with his mark and

then abandons us. Marco, Paul, even me." She laughed, the bitterness

coming through more clearly. "Don't be fooled into thinking you're

not just one in a long, long line of conquests."

"Star, please, you don't understand..." Michael tried, but it was

hopeless. The perverse thing was that he knew Star did comprehend the

feelings he was going through. And the knowledge that the understanding

brought was tearing her apart. Michael could see it in her eyes.

"I have to go," Star said softly, turning away from Michael.

"No, please, don't leave me," Michael replied desperately. He was

afraid to be alone. His body might be crying out for David, but his

mind feared the solitude that doomed him to David's touch. Or did he

just fear an eternity without the blond vampire's intimate caress?

He no longer knew. All he did know was that if Star left him now, he

was perpetually vulnerable.

"We all have to face it Michael," Star muttered. "All of us need to

come to terms with the fact that once we've been with him, we are

never truly safe." She paused, as if reflecting on her own

words. "Nor do we truly want to be." She leaned forward and kissed

Michael full on the mouth. "I have to go."

"Star!" Michael cried as she turned away from him. But it was no

good; she, it seemed, was resolute. As he watched Star walk away

from him, he knew that he was now compelled, like an addict, to seek

a hit of his own personal addiction. Michael began to tremble,

knowing that he was unable to refuse his own body's desires. He

began to walk in the opposite direction from Star, drawn to the cave

and the source of his desire.

He got exactly three and a half strides before David came. The

spellbinding immortal appeared in less than a heartbeat; his

sardonic smile made an already heated Michael blush. The faint

breeze rustled his greatcoat and caressed his white-platinum hair as

he looked his latest conquest straight in the eye.

"Going somewhere, angel?" David rasped, his voice as darkly abrasive

as raw silk in the night air. His lips were clothed in a mocking

smile as he surveyed his latest conquest.

"Leave me alone, David," Michael replied shakily, refusing to call

him by his "real" name, as David had done. He tried to turn back

away from the vampire, but David's presence was too intense.

"You will never be free of me," David whispered, so low that Michael

only just heard him. "We are linked eternally, you and I." He

reached forwards with one pale hand and stroked Michael's trembling

mouth. He smiled as he felt Michael's shaking response to his

nearness.

"No," Michael whispered, his voice barely audible above the rush of

the waves on the shore. "Not this time...beloved." With an effort of

will borne more of desperation than desire, Michael moved away, so

that the physical connection between the two men was broken. Feeling

a jolt of surprise, he stepped back further, shocked at his

ability to do so.

"You will come to me again, Michael," David purred, never once

breaking eye contact with the other man. "You will be mine again."

He smiled suddenly, disarmingly.

"Not tonight," Michael said softly. "Tonight you are not going to

win." Reaching deep into the recesses of whatever determination he had left,

he looked away from David and turned to walk away from the beach.

"Not tonight, angel, but again," David reiterated as he allowed

Michael to leave. He was not yet finished with this particular

conquest; nor did he feel he would be for a time to come.