Chapter 2

"I'm telling you the truth! There is a vampire in my bed!"

Matthew felt exasperated. What was so hard about the concept that a vampire was in his bed.

Oh yeah … the vampire part.

"Are you okay, Matthew?" Feliciano asked, worried. "Maybe some pasta will make you feel better, si? Should I come round later and make you some?"

"Err … sure." Matthew answered, deciding that if Feliciano was around at his place, then he could conveniently shove him in the same room as the vampire to prove that his imagination wasn't away with the clouds on this particular day.

Putting down the phone and ending the call, Matthew dragged his laptop out from under the sofa. It had taken five months of hard saving to buy it, and now he was grateful for his forward thinking, though at the time he never expected to have a vampire break into his house in need of his help.

Clicking on the search button, Matthew scrolled down the page of links. His first search was fruitless unless he was looking for completely nutty people who would 'invade his home and never leave' if he clicked on their site. Something are best not even going near.

Eventually, after several searches, he found a page that looked promising. It talked about silver bullets and how vampires fear them, stakes, sleeping patterns, diets, an in-depth tale of Van Helsing and the life story of Bram Stoker. There was even a page concerning famous (not book/TV) vampires which left Matthew blinking in surprise. Who wrote this? The only thing that kept Matthew on the website was the small amount of knowledge that he already had which matched up precisely with the information on the website. Any inconsistencies and he would have cut his loses and left.

What caught Matthew's eye though was the page concerning silver bullets. The vampire asleep in his bedroom matched the descriptions given for a vampire suffering from silver. Very fine pieces of silver ingested was a death sentence so Matthew ruled that one out. If that was the case, Matthew would have had a dead body to explain by now.

Deciding to check out his new theory, Matthew rose and went back to the vampire's side. He was beginning to get more confident in walking around the vampire now, but since he now had to lean over and touch him, this new found confidence wavered.

Matthew, taking a deep breath to steady his already frayed nerves, though more like cheese grated, leant over and pulled down the bed covers before reaching for the buttons. He couldn't help but hope the vampire slept through his search.

However, this was not meant to be as the young man grabbed Matthew's arm as he reached for the the buttons on his shirt, shocking Matthew. He didn't think he had the energy to move that fast.

"What are you doing?" He croaked weakly as Matthew flinched. The touch was too cold against his the warmth of his skin. Also, his eyes … they were lighter green than the stunning emerald green they had been when he first met him.

"I … I know you're a vampire." Matthew watched the young man flinch, a glint of fear crossing his face. Matthew didn't blame him. Weak and vulnerable. Perfect time for someone to try to take him out. His reaction also confirmed the fact that he was indeed a vampire like he suspected. "Something is stopping you from healing. It's just draining you of all your energy. Let me look at your wounds." Matthew looked at the blond haired vampire for confirmation, choosing his words carefully. Matthew only suspected that the vampire had wounds and was only working on an assumption. It seemed to pay off though.

"You would help me?" The blonde asked, his voice but a whisper.

"Yes." If asked why, Matthew would not have been able to tell. If he was honest to himself, he hadn't a clue why he was helping. Vampires were supposed to be the bad guys of fiction, so why was he helping one of the supposed bad guys?

"What's your name?" The vampire whispered.

"Matthew." Matthew told him, the softness of his eyes matching his voice.

"Matthew." The vampire repeated, committing the name to memory. He removed his hand from Matthew's wrist and allowed him to continue. He didn't believe Matthew would hurt him. After all the opportunities that had been open to him, he could have taken any one of them. No, if Matthew wanted to kill him, he would have done it by now. But what amazed him more than Matthew not wanting to kill him was that he appeared not to be afraid, but instead friendly and compassionate towards him; after all, he did give him a bed, kept the sun out the room and was now tending to his wounds the best he could.

To think that he had randomly picked the apartment to break into. He could have very easily have got someone the complete opposite to the genteel young man beside him.

Matthew, meanwhile, had unbuttoned the man's black shirt. He gasped at the sight that greeted his eyes. The vampires torso had bullet wounds all over and, by his eye, three of the wounds had something visibly lodged in them. Remembering the website he had found, he concluded without really looking that the chances that they were silver bullets were very, very high. Each had missed his heart and Matthew considered that was the only reason why the vampire was still around to tell the tale.

That, and this vampire was a very old vampire; meaning a very strong vampire.

Matthew saw out the corner of his eye that the blonde vampire was watching him. Swallowing hard, Matthew told him the plan. "I think they're silver bullets. Even if they aren't, they're hindering your healing and I need to get them out for you." Matthew had looked at the head board of the bed while he spoke, but now he looked down on the blonde vampire, compassion and empathy swelling his heart. The blonde vampire gave him a weak, tired smile. That was all the conformation Matthew needed to go ahead. He disappeared from the vampires side and re-appeared with some decent sized tweezers and tissues. He could think of nothing else. When he had offered anaesthetic, (which amounted to a bottle of whisky that had been stashed deep in a cupboard since Christmas), the vampire shook his head the best he could to decline it.

As Matthew started work on retrieving the bullets, he knew he was inflicting a serious amount of pain on the blonde vampire. Up until this, he had believed vampires didn't feel pain. Now he realised how much ignorance he actually had. Gasps and the occasional sharp intakes of breath were the only audible clues that the vampire was suffering. There were more physical signs however of intense discomfort. His hands gripped the bed covers tightly, his muscles tensed, his neck arched back and he ground his teeth hard, but never did he once try to stop Matthew as he continued to retrieve the silver bullets.

Matthew tried to lesson the pain as best he could, but he found that no matter what, the vampire suffered. He was becoming attached to he vampire. He didn't want to see him hurt, let alone be the one to inflict pain upon him. He thought it was strange as he worked and found his mind wondering, so he chased the thoughts away till another time.

When he had extracted the last bullet, Matthew exhaled heavily. He watched the blonde vampire relax. He could see that his actions had had the desired effect and now the vampire could heal like he should have done already. The vampire's head had come to rest on one side and though he still remained pale, his expression was a little easier around the eyes, meaning that he wasn't experiencing vast amounts of agony any more.

Matthew was about to ask if he was alright when he noticed he had fallen asleep again. Matthew could not help but smile. The vampire needed it. Also, he had read that during the day when they slept, they healed. It was only just past lunch. Matthew thought that if he healed fast enough he might be walking by that evening. He didn't know though. He wasn't a vampire expert. He only went on the little the internet had given him.

As he was about to leave, Matthew found himself thinking that the vampire was a very handsome vampire, but immediately gripped himself. Why was he thinking like that? Sure the vampire was attractive, but was it right getting attached to a blood sucker?

Shaking his head, Matthew left the bed room and started getting ready for Feliciano's arrival.

...

Matthew was laid dozing on the sofa when Feliciano knocked loudly at the door. "Matthew!" He cooed. "I brought paaaasssstttttaaaaaa!"

Matthew removed his arm that was covering his eyes. "Coming." He muttered, not caring if Feliciano heard it or not. Just as he sat up with intentions of climbing off the sofa, Feliciano materialised by his side, cooing pasta still. Matthew yawned before standing and stretching.

"Do you feel better now?" Feliciano asked, a smile lighting up his face as he referred back to their previous conversation earlier that day.

Matthew rubbed the side of his head with his hand. "Have a look if you don't believe me." Matthew pointed towards his room. Feliciano smiled his naive smile before practically skipping into the room. Matthew had always been amazed at his constant happy mood. He never appeared to be down at all. Maybe it was all that coffee he drank and all the pasta and pizza he ate? Did anybody look upon Italian food to be happy food?

Matthew followed close behind, not wanting Feliciano to startle the vampire if he chose that exact moment to wake up to find a grinning Italian inches from his nose. When he walked into the room though, he noticed that Feliciano had dropped his merry attitude and was standing quite a distance away from the bed. The vampire was staring at him.

Matthew noticed that the young man's eyes had turned from a deep emerald green to a pale, sickly green. His harsh breathing was also audible to his ears and there were those teeth again. He knew that Feliciano had seen them as he had gasped and hid behind him. On the sight of those teeth, the pale eyes and the harsh breathing, it all culminated into extreme relief that made Matthew incredibly thankful that the young man could not move. He couldn't even raise his arms. He could barely move his fingers.

Matthew ushered Feliciano back out the room and told him to make some pasta just to keep him busy. Feliciano nodded and retreated into the kitchen, grateful for the excuse not to be near the man in Matthew's bed. The eyes and the fangs made him incredibly nervous.

He started busying himself in the kitchen with boiling water for the pasta when a brief but definite knock came from the door. Feliciano went to answer it only to be confronted with a huge, blonde haired man dressed smartly with a long black over coat resting on his shoulders. Feliciano was hypnotised by the man's incredible blue eyes.

"Invite me in?" Asked the man, a thick German accent lacing his voice.

"S … s … si." Feliciano nodded like a nodding dog in the back of someone's car. The man stepped across the threshold. He didn't need to be invited in like the myths said; he was just being polite. He didn't stop in the kitchen but instead walked through the living room and into Matthew's bed room. Feliciano followed him, captivated by his presence, despite that he knew that the German was a vampire. He had seen his fangs when he spoke to him.

When Feliciano had left to go and make pasta, Matthew had retreated back into his bed room to see if the vampire needed anything. He knelt down next to him, studying him. He was having to learn fast, but he didn't read anything about this on the internet. The internet at present was coming across as being pretty ill informed if he was honest.

"I never asked what you're name was." Matthew spoke.

Just as the vampire was about to answer, the German walked into the room, closely followed by Feliciano. Matthew gave a start and retreated from the vampire he had been playing host too in the sight of the new, bigger vampire. He didn't need to be told the man was a vampire too, it was all in the presence.

"Ludwig. What took you so damn long?" The smaller vampire asked.

"You were hard to find." Came the gruff reply.

"Fucking slow poke." The vampire retorted but then left it at that as fatigue engulfed him again, sending him teetering back towards the abyss of oblivion.

With the conclusion of what proved to be pleasantries between them, Ludwig lifted the young man from the bed into his arms. The young man, despite being awake, was as limp as a rag doll. His eyes met Matthew's before they closed and remained that way, relief that he was now safe being immense and over whelming. Matthew felt that the vampire had intended on saying something to him, but as the stern vampire with shocking blue eyes glided past him carrying the now unconscious vampire, Matthew resigned himself to never knowing what he wanted to say.

The stern vampire never looked back as he disappeared out the apartment, leaving Matthew and Feliciano stunned and a little shaken.

Matthew could only think of one thing to say to end the silence that had descended on his home.

"I'm going to have to replace that door."

TBC...