Hellooooo!
I know, I'm so shamefully late, but this chapter is looooong and dense… will you forgive me? *O*
Sorry, no beta, so I hope it's not to horrible… :(
Disclaimer: the title is taken from 'I belong to you' lyrics, by Muse.
Summary of the chapter: Dominic finds the answer
Chapter XVI II : I belong to you alone
Realization hits Dominic, like a flash during a storm.
"You're Michael!" he jolts. "How did you find me?"
"Well, it was easier than stealing candies from a baby … not that I do such stuff, of course! The point is that you have Matthew's smell all around you." the vampire explains, making the drummer blush.
"Or maybe it's because Matthew happened to mention a couple of times where you live!" a female voice adds, appearing from the shadow.
"You're… that girl! That night… you took Matt away." Dom recognizes her.
"Yep, puppy, that's me. My name is Rachel, anyway!" the vampiress points out. "How can it be that you remembered Michael's name, but not mine?" she asks, a little insulted.
"Well, you know, one day I found his name on a sheet of paper, inside a pocket of one of Matthew's jackets, that's why I remember it so well!" Dom justifies.
"Were you jealous?" Rachel giggles.
"Of course, I was jealous as hell, just like I was jealous of you when you took Matt away from me … it's just that I didn't know your name back then!" he confesses.
"Actually, I wished that I had kept that phone number, because I wanted to look for you, Michael. I need some answers." the drummer reveals, inviting the vampires in his house.
"Honey, why did you have to spoil everything? The smell thing was so cool!" Michael complains.
"But the 'we perfectly know where you live' thing was so more practical!" the girl shrugs, amusing Dom, although he's overwhelmed by a soft nostalgia.
"Honey. That's the way I used to call Matt." he sighs, as they sit comfortably on the sofa.
Well, maybe Dom is not so comfortable, while he hugs his legs, trembling a little, crouching as closer as he can to the corner of the sofa.
"C'mon, puppy, be quiet, Michael and I are not going to harm you." Rachel calms him down with sugary voice.
"Just please … do not try to hypnotize me. Matthew can't, but he told me that you could." he states nervously, as he avoids looking at them.
"We won't do anything. Matthew would kill us if we dared to, and, trust me; it's not a metaphoric language!" Michael states.
"So feel free to look at us as much as you please!" Rachel smiles at him and the blond turns towards his supernatural guests.
"You said that you were full of questions, shoot it!" the older vampire incites him.
"Well, first of all, why? Why did you take my … why did you take Matthew?" he finds the courage to ask.
"Did you mean why didn't we let him free to go on walking on the path of self-destruction?" Michael growls at him, bothered.
"I didn't… I didn't mean to piss y-you off!" Dom yelps, hiding himself behind a cushion.
"Oh please, puppy, don't mind at my Sire, he has such a bad temper!" Rachel giggles, leaning on to caress Dom's hair.
"What he was trying to say is… honestly, Dominic, did you think that if nothing had happened and Matthew had gone on with his bad, horrible habits, through all these months, right now he'd be still alive?" she asks him.
Dom recalls the days when Matthew was depressed, drunk as hell, tired, always in a bad mood and in a bad shape, attempting to kill a part of himself, day by day, while Dom stared at that horrible show impotently.
"Nope, he wouldn't. Things were getting worse and worse and neither of us had the courage to pull him off that fucking shit." he sighs. "So I guess that, after all, I should thank you for that." he murmurs.
"Yep, you should!" Michael snaps.
"Now I'm going to ask you a question: saving for his new but necessary food habits… has Matthew changed so much?" Rachel asks him.
"Nope. He's still the same, but with a supernatural powers package included!" he admits, giggling a little.
"Truth is that, although I accept him, his un-life and stuff like that…"
"You're afraid of following him." Michael anticipates him.
"Yeah." the human admits, passing a hand through his hair. "I don't know if Matt told you about the nightmares."
"Yep, he did." Michael nods. "And I guess that I know what happened. Well, at least I can suppose that, since it's something that it's not related to the vampire stuff."
"Really?" Dom asks intrigued.
"You know, when it happened to me, it's not that I had the time or the change to decide, my Sire just turned me, without asking." Michael reveals.
"About me, I wasn't happy with my life and, save my sister, I had no one left. Did Matthew tell you about my sister?" Rachel asks him.
"Yep, he hinted something." the blond grumbles.
"Good. Well, the point is that, contrary to you I had nothing that kept me anchored to the living world. You still have your dearest ones, your family and your friends. Plus, there are your fans, the music and a lot of other stuff. And your biggest fear is to lose all this." Rachel speaks for him.
"My biggest fear is to lose Matt." Dom states firmly.
"Just like I had said!" Michael sticks his tongue out at his Childe.
"In my nightmares, in every fucking nightmare of mine, I turn against Matt and I kill him at the end. So now explain me this!"
"It's only your paranoia that makes you have such bad dreams, just like Matthew had his own bad dreams. It's because he's still so human, after all." Michael explains.
"Oh. And… how does it feel to be a vampire? Matthew says that it's so cool, but I need a little more expert opinion."
"I'm sorry, but we can't help you with his, puppy. You just have to try to find it out." Rachel winks at him.
"Anyway, blondie, we didn't take Matthew. It's impossible to take someone who already belongs to someone else." Michael smiles at him and Dom blushes once again.
"And I belong to Matthew alone; this is something that goes beyond friendship and love, life and death … or un-life. It's a sort of alchemy, a connection, something I'm trapped in, but I don't even think about running away from it." Dom declares.
"Well, Dom, you asked me why I turned Matt, but you didn't ask me why Matt accepted. Because he had a choice, he would have just died, refusing my offer." Michael informs him.
"Well, actually we've never talked about it and I didn't even know that he had this choice. Well, I can't help being glad that he didn't choose to die, it's something that would have killed me as well." Dom reveals with teary eyes.
"Do you know why he took that decision? I'll tell you why. After all, back to that night he was still human and I could read his mind like an open book. Well, Matt decided that he couldn't die, not like that, at least, because first he had to see you again, at least one more time." the older vampire confesses.
Dom gasps in surprise.
"Yeah, that was before he decided that he could do so much more than simply seeing you!" Rachel giggles, before getting up, while her Sire mirrors her actions.
"I guess we're done here, also because I'm starving!" she adds, as Michael confines himself just to nodding.
"Well, I guess you should go then. You know, I'd keep company to you, but the only vampire who I like watching as he's feeding is Matt!" the drummer reveals.
"We know it!" Michael smirks, greeting Dom with a manly handshaking.
"Do you want to know a secret? Hunting with your partner is one of the most powerful aphrodisiac ever!" Rachel winks at Dom, as she hugs Michael tight.
"Take your time, Dominic. I'm sure you'll make up your mind wisely and your heart, too." the vampiress smiles at him, before leaving with her eternal mate.
"Hey, honey, do you think that we should have told him that thing?" Rachel wonders as they disappear in the dark.
"It's not necessary. It would just scare him even more, but if Dom decides to become a vampire it's a necessary phase to cross, for them both." Michael states.
"I just want them to be happy as we are!" she comments, kissing him deeply.
"They will, my love. They will." he strikes back against her lips.
/
It's been a week since Matthew's Sire and his Queen paid a visit to him, and Dom is still unsure about what to do. He keeps thinking about what they said and what Emma said, but it's almost as if there was still a missing piece.
Establishing that he can't make up his mind inside a house where every corner reminds him of the precious and passionate moments that he shared with Matthew, Dominic packs his stuff and allows himself a little journey to a place that has something special inside.
Once he arrives, as weird it seems to him to stay in a room of a hotel in a place that has been his home for tons of years, Dominic quickly unpacks his things. He has also brought a photo album with himself, to dive inside a sea of memories, but the drummer doesn't pay attention of it, putting it on the night table and leaving the room and taking a walk around his beloved Teignmouth.
/
Matthew left Mexico after not even a week. After all, he was sick of being surrounded by people who very hard and very rarely understand his language.
This can make things very hard for a vampire when he tries to feed, but very patiently, shrewdly and gesticulating a lot, Matthew has always managed to get his goal, although 'No entiendo ' is a sentence that he has heard so many times that he could name their next album like that.
Now he has been I Ireland since three days, maybe to discover a part of his origins.
In that country is much easier to find some preys, but it remains hard to keep his mind off his main thought.
- It's been nine days and still no news from Dominic. I don't even know if this is a good sign or not. And to think that I have to wait until the end of the break. I never missed touring so damn much!- he muses as he wanders through the main streets of Dublin, looking for his dinner.
He doesn't have to wait for long.
"Oh, God! Matt Bellamy!" a shrieking, female voice exclaims.
Turning his back, he sees a blonde girl, with hazel eyes, petite but with the right curves, around twenty –two years old.
"Yep, it's me, lady, but let's not make it a public affair!" he winks at her.
- Dinner is served! – he smiles at himself.
"Can I have an autograph?" the girl asks politely, as she's already immortalizing him with her i-Phone
"Why should you get content only with an autograph when you could have so much more?" he smiles at her with his sexiest tone. "Do you want to take a walk with me? You know, I don't know anyone here and I need some company tonight." he adds, playing perfectly the part of the tourist who feels lost.
And, as always, it works brilliantly.
"Sure, don't worry. I know this town as the back of my hand. I'll show you the best places. Let's go!" she grins at him, linking arms with him.
"No doubt about the wonderful places, sweetie, but I definitely prefer that ally." he murmurs.
"Geez, you go straight to the point, don't you? Well, I like it. Let's go!" she strikes back, thrilled, following him there.
Matt congratulates with himself.
- Irish girls seem to be much more lucid than the English or American girls. They don't waste time screaming or doing stupid stuff! – he ponders. – Well, this means less work for me to do!-
Matthew takes his first victim of the night to the alley, as his mind is still obsessed by one thought only.
"Would you like to stay with me forever?" he asks her, unbuttoning her jacket.
"Oh god, yes!" she squeals in delight, but Matthew doesn't even hear her.
"Wouldn't you like to keep your beauty unaltered in time, protected from every sickness?" the vampire goes on, unbuttoning her shirt.
"What… what are you blathering about?" the girl frowns, but Matthew pushes her against the wall.
"Wouldn't you like to share the magic appeal of the night, without renouncing to the daylight for that?" the singer goes on, as he looks for his favorite spot on her neck.
"Matthew... although I don't know what you mean, I would like to do everything with you!" she smiles at him.
"Shut up, I'm not talking about you!" he hisses.
"If for you it's so easy to say 'yes', why does it have to be so difficult for him?" he mutters out loud.
"Who are you talking about? What are you talking about? Whatever, I don't mind!" the girl strikes back, electrified. "Oh, Matthew, I knew that it would have happened. It's a dream that comes true. If only my friends could see me now! You've fallen in love with me, it's love at first sight, but I've been loving you for ages!" she exults, ready to wrap her arms around his neck, but he backs off promptly and not only thanks to his supernatural reflexes.
"What?! Wait, no… I already told you that wasn't talking with you, it was just… " Matt tries to cut her off, but she doesn't even listen to him.
"If only those stupid girls could see me now. You know, they were all convinced that you and that hateful, damn blondie who is always stuck to you like a stupid magnet were in love with each other! I mean, ok, he's so plainly gay that it disgusts me, but not you! You know what? My stupid friends do nothing but writing stories where you and he are together, as lovers!" she informs him.
Matthew already can't stand that girl a minute more, and for once it's not because of his demon.
"Really?" he asks her, intrigues by the last part, as he takes a satisfied look around.
- As isolated as a bloody desert! –
"Yes! Aren't you shocked and horrified? But let's not talk about it, let's talk about us." she says, grabbing his hands, without minding at the fact that they are very cold.
"I know I'm not the first one to say it but I'm deeply in love with your eyes. And you, Matt? Which is the part of me that you prefer?" she meows.
The vampire's patience is definitely running out. He frees his hands from her grip, kind of rudely and stares icily at her.
"Actually… your veins!" he sneers, licking his lips in anticipation.
"W-what?" she looks at him, deeply confused.
"You heard me. About my eyes … do you think that they're beautiful even now?" he asks her, as they flash from their awesome sapphire blue to an unnatural, electric blue, almost white.
She's going to scream, panic-stricken, but he anticipates her, tapping her mouth with his hand, insensible even at the sight of her terrified tears.
"Look at me." he sooths her, showing her his dark blue spirals, and she instantly calms down.
"Now I'm going to feed from you and you will let me do that. You know, usually I'm very gentle with my victims, even pleasant, but you won't get the same treatment; I can't be gentle with whoever insults my boyfriend!" he goes on and she jolts in surprise hearing that news.
"Yeah, since you will forget everything, I can tell you. Guess what? Your friends are right. I love Dom like I've never love and I'll never love anyone else." he reveals. "Now get ready, this is going to hurt … just a little bit!" he sneers, discovering his razor-sharp canines, delighted when he hears her yelping scared against his hand.
"Just one thing again, before we start: where can I find those stories?"
/
After feeding and erasing every suspicious trace, Matt leaves the girls, passed out, on the street and goes finding his next victim of the night.
Actually, he fed from her more than usual on purpose, sure that someone will eventually help her, but without giving a real damn to that.
- She insulted my Dom, she just deserved! – he justifies with himself-
- Anyway, I can't remain here anymore, if I can't come back home to him, in London, at least I can go to a place that, at the very end, will always be home! – he takes his decision.
/
Matthew doesn't waste any time and after completing his dinner, he catches the first flight to London and then from London he arrives to Teignmouth at half morning.
Contrary to Dom, he can't get content with a hotel; he needs something more and knows very well how to get it.
When he arrived, he was just too busy with his own stuff to notice that, but when he talks a walk in the afternoon it takes Matt only a sniff in the air to realize that.
- Dominic is here! – he rejoices in his mind.
His main goal becomes to find the gorgeous blond, but no matter how hard he tries, he miserably fails and goes back to his temporary house kind of upset.
- And yet I'm sure that he's here. My senses can't be fooled, but I didn't see him anywhere. I'm going to try harder this night! – he decides.
* (In the meantime)
Truth is that Matthew didn't see Dominic around anywhere, because of the simple reason that for that day Dom chose to remain in his room.
- I've been here for more than a week, but it's useless, I still don't know what to do , probably I've not made up my mind hard enough … - the awesome drummer ponders, as his eyes fall on the photo album on the night table.
He takes it and starts to skim through the pages, chuckling or sighing according to which picture of Matt and him together he's staring at.
As he turns the pages, something falls from the end of the album.
He smiles softened when he realizes that it's the Narcissus that Matthew has brought to him when he came back from the States.
Dom has exsiccated that flower in the pages of that album and he didn't even remember it.
He caresses delicately the petals of that beautiful flower, recalling how happily his heart had sung when Matthew had confessed his true feelings towards him, and then he skims his lips with the petals, just like Matt had previously done with him.
- I've wanted Matthew for so long, I've had him for such a little time, few but precious, very precious months, the best months of my whole life … and now I've got the chance to have Matthew forever. Can I really be so bloody stupid to refuse? -
All of the sudden, the blond starts to laugh, because to take that decision seems to him the easiest thing he has ever done.
/
At night, after feeding in the most discrete way possible, Matthew takes a walk around the Den and then to the beach.
It's only early spring, so that town is not very touristic yet and there's almost no one around, because the climate is not very gentle, so the singer can walk around freely.
He can't believe it when, from afar, he finally sees Dom, sat on the coast as he stares thoughtfully at the horizon.
- I knew he was here! – the vampire rejoices, approaching to his mate a little, still unsure if he should show up or not.
Out of the blue, his mobile starts to ring and he smiles when he looks at the display.
"Dominic!" he cheers, picking up that call, as he remains hidden from him.
"Hi, Matthew; well, I guess that it's useless to wait until the end of the break. I've already taken my decision and I won't change my mind." the drummer informs his best friend.
"Really?" Matt asks for confirmation, agitated as his typical pessimism gets in the way.
He has waited so long for that moment that now that he's almost terrified to find out the truth.
"Yep, but it's definitely not something that I'm going to tell you on the phone!" the blond points out.
"I was sure that you would not." the brunet murmurs, while he gets closer and closer to Dom, as silent as he can.
"I guess you should reach me here, in Teignmouth." Dom goes on. "When do you think that you can be here?"
"Sooner than you can guess!" the brunet smiles and, as strange as it can be, although Dom is still on line with his best friend, it's almost as if he wasn't talking on the phone.
All of the sudden, Dom hears the typical noise of hanging up and stares puzzled at his mobile.
"What the fu… ?"
"Turn." a very familiar voice whispers, leaning his chin on his shoulder.
Dominic almost screams, jolting and turning.
"Oh my God! Matt!"
Instinctively, the blond gets up and throws his arms around the guitarist's neck, hugging him tight.
"Matthew… how exactly is fast your super-quickness?" he asks stunned, as he parts from him.
"Ahahah, no! Truth is that I was already here, I've arrived yesterday. You know, I always come back here when I need some quietness not to think about everything."
"So did I, but because I needed quietness to concentrate on one thought only: you." the drummer smiles at the pianist, while they walk together around the coast.
"You know, Dom, I've immediately felt that you were here, but I couldn't find you."
"I stay in a hotel room, actually a bed and breakfast!" the other reveals.
Matt bursts out laughing.
"You? Mr. Five Stars and Extra Luxury … in a bed and breakfast? No wonder I couldn't find you, I would have never look in a place like that!" the vampire makes fun of his best friend.
"Hey! Deep concentration requests simplicity and minimal stuff!" the blond justifies, punching Matthew's shoulder playfully.
"I missed that so much!" the brunet reveals.
"Me punching you?" Dom stares puzzled at him.
"Nope, you , ninny!" the singer giggles, ruffling his golden locks. "I meant the joking, the teasing, the acting dumb with you… our connection!" he clarifies.
"Well, I missed that, too, a lot." Dom confesses, squeezing Matt's hand.
"So can we resume the hugging part? I was enjoying that a lot!" the vampire murmurs and Dominic immediately pleases him, pleasing himself as well.
"You know what? I think that we can add the kissing to the hugging!" Dominic whispers at Matt's ear, nibbling his lobe softly.
Matt parts from the blond, staring at him with sad eyes.
"Will it be our last kiss?" he asks him with broken voice and a tear that falls from one of the two limpid skies that lodged it.
Dominic does nothing but collect that tear with his finger, staring deeply at his mate, before showing a mischievous smirk, as a lustful light shine inside his two little storms with indefinite color.
"Well, kiss me as if it was!"
Just the time to say that and Matt smashes his lips against Dom's, so impetuously that they both fall on the ground, rolling on the cold sand as their kiss grows more and more passionate.
Their fingers entwine, their breaths melt into each other, their tongues battle fiercely, the exposed parts of their skin rub against the other, and there's no trace of nightmares or bad feelings, for once.
Maybe it's because it's the moment of the truth and nothing matters anymore.
After a long, long time, with their lips pleasantly aching, Matt and Dom part and get up, very satisfied.
"It's time for your answer." the pianist asserts.
"Let's sit down." Dom says and Matt obliges. "Don't you also think that Teignmouth has never been so beautiful as it is tonight?" the blond murmurs, resting his head on the brunet's shoulder, as they both stare at the immensity of the sea, surrounded by a rare starry sky with tons of lights of the houses that shine from afar.
"Yes, it's beautiful, but I can't be impartial, since every time you are with me every corner of the world becomes more beautiful." Matt murmurs, kissing Dom's temple.
"Adulator!" Dom giggles, pinching the singer's hip affectionately.
"You know, Dommie, I can hear every fish swimming in the sea, every cloud moving in the sky and every grain of sand blown by the wind." Matt goes on as he caresses Dom's hair, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment better.
"And… will you teach me to listen to all these things as well?" Dominic whispers to him, his lips a few inches from the brunet's.
Matthew immediately pops his eyes open and stares at his mate in a mixture of surprise, incredulity and joy.
"Are you really telling me that you… that you decided to... to…" he wavers, too thrilled to end his sentence.
Dominic chuckles, cupping Matt's face and kissing him, shortly but deeply.
"You know, Mattie, I made a list with pro and cons, and no matter how many cons I found in that, every pro was related to you and you only." Dom explains, wrapping his arms around the vampire's neck.
"Matthew, you're my pro. Fuck the rest!" he states with a huge grin, not as big as his listener's grin.
TBC
See? Dom made the best choice ever, did you have any doubt? ^^
so I can say that this is the end of Act II. Are you ready for Act II? Let me warn you, it's the darkest… and my favorite one ^^ and in Italy I reached chapter XXI so far ^^
Please, feel free to tell me whatever you like ^^
p.s. right now 'Just ' and 'Change ' (in Itlay I'm working on chapter XIII) are the only Muse stories I'll go on translating, so I hope I'll be quicker next time ^^