Chapter 4-Cadenza
Author's note: Well, this is turning into an epic! I hadn't anticipated it lasting this long, and I'm still figuring out a way to end it, but here's the latest helping. There won't be much more after this, I promise! I know I've strayed from canon a bit here in the manner of Michael's turning, but I think it's justified as he's been turned once before, so this time I felt he needed a little extra to be turned, hence David taking his blood rather than the "before you make your first kill" thing. Hope this doesn't ruffle too many feathers!
They lay entwined for a long time after their passion had ceased. David, subdued but still exuding the power that reminded Michael of a tiger at rest; Michael, calmer, more relaxed but still questioning. It was as the sun was waning once more, and the light from the cave mouth had turned from bright yellow to a warm orange glow, that Michael chose to speak.
"Turn me," he whispered, deep into the burgeoning night. "Make me yours again." He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at the blonde vampire. Leaning forwards, he kissed David hard on the mouth. It was a reminder of what they had shared that day.
When they broke apart, David considered the younger man who lay by his side for a long time before he spoke. "You don't know what you're asking," he rasped. "This is not some pick and choose Bela Lugosi film, Michael; this is real. It's blood, shit, sweat, fever, craving, killing. Are you sure you can handle the reality of being a bloodsucker?" His eyes were simultaneously mocking and hungry.
Michael looked back at David, his gaze challenging the vampire to argue further. But before David could continue his line of argument, Michael spoke. "I've made peace with the human world," he began. "Everyone I've ever loved is moving on, forgetting that night. I can't. The reason I can't do what my whole family is managing to do is because I can't fool myself." He paused, and searched David's face. As if he sensed that Michael was looking for answers, David kept his features carefully controlled, a mordant mask. Drawing breath, Michael went on. "I loved the feeling of power you gave me when you offered me your blood. I loved the way your life force fought with mine when we went to bed together. You half-turned me, then fucked me and made me want more. And I do want more, David. I can't be this son, this brother that the family wants. I want to feel the power, and the pain of being a vampire. And this time, I want it to last."
David remained silent throughout Michael's speech. His face gave nothing away of the feelings, if any, he felt at Michael's words. He looked deep into Michael's eyes, willing the words that Michael had spoken to be true. And indeed, it appeared that they were.
"You're asking to give up the daylight and abandon everything you know for a lifetime of darkness and blood," he finally, quietly said. Michael leaned closer to him, straining to hear his words. The vampire continued. "No-one asks to be taken, Michael. We are turned because our sires desire it. Children of the night have very little idea what it is they are committing themselves to until it's too late. Even Star had no full realisation of what the vampire life was. She was deluded into thinking we would accept her, that she would have a place if she took my blood; and yet, ultimately, her body and her soul rejected what I offered her. How can I be sure you won't just do the same?" For a fleeting moment, David's careful mask faltered and he looked vulnerable. "I didn't ask to be taken, Michael. Max took me. He fucked me as hard as he could and he took me without warning. It was bitter, painful and tawdry. And yes, I devour the night now as I devour those who sacrifice themselves to my hunger. I relish the pain and the blood and the foreplay that goes with it. It is my way of life and I don't know how to live any other. But given the choice…"
The last sentence hung in the air, and Michael knew better than to get David to answer it. He gently brushed his warm hand against David's pale cheek and brought his eyes level with his own once more. "I want you, David," he began. "Not just now, but for always. I fooled myself when I fought back against the taste of your blood and the feelings it awakened in me. I don't belong in that world anymore. Yes, if I hadn't been half-turned by you and I hadn't felt the power of what being a vampire means, then I would have, no doubt, lived a perfectly fine life and raised a perfectly good family of my own. But that's over now. That life isn't possible any more. And I wouldn't want it, even if it were. We can rule the night together; we can make this work. But only if you turn me."
David laughed then, a harsh, prickly sound without humour. "Michael Emerson," he mimicked "Come on down!" He looked away, and then back at Michael, a knowing glance in his eyes. "Prove that you can do this," he said softly. "Kill them all." David the player was back.
Michael's eyes widened momentarily but he was in control. "No David," he replied calmly. "That's not part of the game. If you want me, then you can take me, but my family stays alive."
"You think you're so ready?" David spat back angrily. "You really think that you can become one of the undead without proving you can make that sacrifice? You're wasting my time!" He pulled away from Michael and started to pull on his black jeans.
"David," Michael's voice was low, his tone deathly calm. "You're not taking my family. They will live with the pain of losing me, and that is enough guilt for me to carry. Watching them grow old and die as I live on is punishment enough. I will not kill them to prove some macho point to you."
"And I suppose you'll drink from rats and the blood bank to stay alive as well, will you?" David paced angrily, impatiently brushing his hair away from his eyes.
"I never said I wouldn't feed," Michael replied. "But I will not murder my mother and my brother just to satisfy some primal urge for revenge."
"But don't you see?" David countered, still angry. "Primal is what we are. We are the top of the food chain on this world, and we function on revenge, and guilt and pain."
"We?" Michael said softly. "Then you'll turn me?"
Pause.
David looked back at Michael from where he stood. The pacing had ceased. Michael knew David well enough to decipher the emotions that flitted, in a matter of seconds over his face. He sensed, and saw, the vampire's fear, anger, lust, and, most telling of all, hope. Finally, David spoke. His voice was low, steely, but with an undercurrent of feline silk.
"If you want this, if you truly want this, then yes, I will turn you. But once you are turned, you become the darkness, Michael. You live by its rules, abide by its customs and religion. That night we attacked the Surf Nazis on the beach, the night you fought back against the darkness, that is what you must face if you become a vampire. Are you sure you want that?" David's eyes held the other man's gaze for a moment, as if he was willing Michael to take back his previous words. He assumed the stillness that only the undead can master, watching, waiting for Michael's response.
Michael remained silent. He thought he had moved on from his own mortality, but David's soft voice, harsh but with the barest trace of compassion touched his humanity and made him hesitate. Rising from where he had been sat on the bed, he walked over to where David stood. Tenderly, he brought his fingertips to the nape of David's neck, caressing his cool flesh in a gesture of comfort. Eventually he spoke.
"Beloved," Michael murmured, drawing David closer so that their foreheads touched. "I know what I want, and you are the only one who can give it to me. So make me yours, now, for always."
The moment seemed to last an eternity. The two men stood together, caught up in the intimacy of touch. David took hold of Michael's shoulders and pulled him closer. As they embraced, David whispered into Michael's ear, making the other man shudder in anticipation.
"If you truly want this, Angel, then it will be. But this time, you must feed directly from me to turn yourself fully."
"I'll do anything," Michael replied "If it means I can become what you are."
Wordlessly, David led Michael back to the bed. The two men stood for a moment, relishing the timeless hush that descended like threads of gossamer over the chamber. David looked deeply into Michael's eyes not for reassurance but as an act of dominance. He, as sire was making sure that his mark would be clear, and desired. "You are mine, Angel," he said softly as his cool fingertips traced the two marks on Michael's neck. "This time, when I feed from you, there's no going back."
"Your blood will run through my veins again," Michael replied huskily. "And this time it will stay there." He bared his neck to David a little more, relishing the hungry look in his lover's eyes. He knew that the next time he saw him, he would see in greater colour and detail. The vampire dipped his head and with a precision that was truly otherworldly, he opened up the two puncture wounds once more.
Michael gasped as the pain mingled with the seductive pleasure of bloodletting. He knew he should have felt afraid, but he instead felt a liberation that he had only sensed the last time he had taken David's blood. He fought to stay conscious as David took more blood from him, knowing that to be truly turned he needed to drink from David. His previous turning had only been dependent on his making a random kill; this time it had to be David's blood he drank, and David who killed him, and brought him back. Desperate for air, he could feel his heart pounding, trying to claw back the blood that his body so urgently needed, but before long his heart began to give up. He was barely conscious when he felt and tasted the dull, coppery slickness of David's blood slake his lips and throat, and he knew that when he awoke it would be to a different world.
Ending coming soon! Return to Fayza's fanfic page.