Chapter 7

"You were rather restrained back there" Mick lay back in Josef's arms and rested his head under his chin.

They had shared one quick drink, red wine with a nice side chaser of blood for them and just wine for Father Patrick and Katherine, after the end of the wedding ceremony, then decided to retire for the evening. Father Patrick had very generously offered them the use of one of the more spacious guest rooms, usually reserved for visiting high rank clergy, and, as Josef had rather devilishly whispered in Mick's ear, one hand trailing over the small of his back and along his arse, they certainly didn't want to waste any time letting the real festivities of the night begin.

"Hmm, what?" Josef replied distractedly, kissing his way along Mick's neck and caressing his chest at the same time.

"With Beth" Mick's breathing hitched in his throat slightly as Josef's hand found it's way down his stomach and gripped his erection.

"What did you expect me to do Mick" Josef gave a half scoffing laugh and wrapped his fingers tighter around the shaft of his cock, working his hand up and down it's length with slow, teasing strokes "kill Beth at our wedding, completely disrupt proceedings even more than what they'd already been disrupted? Please I have far too much class for that"

"Says the Vampire whose idea of a romantic first time was to drag me into the backroom of a club and hump my leg" Mick teased in reply.

"I didn't hear you complain at the time, Mick" Josef nipped lightly at the skin of Mick's neck with his fangs and continued to work his hand up and down Mick's cock, varying the speed of his strokes every now, bringing him to the brink of climax then dropping him back down again and again as Mick shuddered and writhed with pleasure beneath him.

"True" Mick let his mouth fall open, a soft snarl of appreciation eliciting from his parted lips.

"Mick, do you think we could possibly talk about this another time" Josef stated nonchalantly, as he disengaged Mick from his embrace and pushed him down onto the mattress below, swapping positions and climbing on top of him in one fluid movement, "I wasn't really planning on our wedding night being a threesome you know." He laughed and lowered his lips to Mick's, probing his mouth apart with his tongue as he drew him into a deep kiss, his hands caressing along the sides of Mick's body and down over his thighs as he moved his hips against Mick's, erections pressed together in a slow tantalising dance.

"Josef" Mick panted beneath him, feeling the pressure of his erection straining for release against the friction of Josef's body pressing against it, "are you planning to actually fuck me or are you just going to tease me all night"

"Why, Mick?" Josef pushed himself up onto outstretched arms and looked down at Mick with a wicked grin playing over his lips, cocking one eyebrow in a seductive challenge "do you have somewhere else to be"

"What do you think?" Mick scoffed with mock exasperation and reached up to wrap his arms around Josef's neck, pulling him back down towards his waiting lips.

"Well in that case," Josef replied salaciously, the words half swallowed by Mick's mouth pressing against his, "we've got all night then."

He broke away from the kiss and shimmied his way down Mick's body, taking his erection into this mouth and working his lips along the shaft as he swirled his tongue over the head, two fingers pressing against his perineum at the same time.

"Oh fuck" Mick snarled and reached down to clutch Josef's head with one hand, the fingernails of the other digging into the sheets of the bed as he arched his back and thrust into Josef's mouth.

Josef continued working his lips and tongue over Mick's cock, pausing for the briefest of moments to moisten two fingers with saliva before pressing them against Mick's hole and pushing them inside his passage, quickly locating his prostate gland and massaging it with firm upward pressure. As soon as he sensed Mick was close to orgasm, he backed off and waited for him to come down from the high of impending climax, keeping him hovering on a knife edge of release until Mick wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to stand it.

"Josef, please" Mick gasped, the words coming out in a half strangled sob of need. "Please for fucksake just…"

He didn't get a chance to finish the sentence, in one rapid inhuman movement Josef moved back up along his body and pressed Mick's legs against his chest, stopping for only the briefest of moments to quickly apply some extra lubrication from the small tube on the nightstand next to the bed, before he pressed the head of his erection against Mick's arse and entered him with one sudden thrust.

Mick growled and wrapped his legs around Josef's waist, hands clutching his back and fingers digging into his flesh as Josef slowly withdrew and then thrust back into him, repeating the motion over and over again, keeping the rhythm slow at first then increasing the pace faster and faster.

Mick's growls of pleasure turned to almost continuous shuddering snarls when Josef moved into a kneeling position and placed one hand under his arse, raising Mick's hips up off the bed to give him more leverage as he slammed himself into Mick's body at an ever quickening rate. He adjusted the angle of Mick's hips slightly, allowing his cock to press against Mick's prostate almost repeatedly as he held him up with one arm and began to fuck him as hard as he knew Mick could take it, his other hand reaching around to grip Mick's cock, pumping him from base to tip over and over again.

Mick threw back his head and bit down on his lower lip, fangs fully extended, drawing blood which Josef wasted no time bending his head towards and lapping up with his tongue as it ran down Mick's chin. He felt Mick's body stiffen beneath him, muscles straining desperately as he hung suspended on the brink of climax and then let out a velociraptor roar of release, sinking his fangs sharply into the side of Josef's neck as he clung to him shuddering and snarling as wave after wave of climactic pulsations tore through him and his fluid spilt over Josef's hand and flowed onto his stomach.

Moment's later Josef flew off the edge with him, the euphoric sensation of pain mixed with pleasure as Mick bit into his flesh pushing him over the brink and sending him into his own shuddering release, matching Mick's snarls of pleasure with his own as he sank his fangs sharply into the top of Mick's shoulders and rode out the orgasm that ripped through him hard enough to almost take his breath away.

"Fuck" Josef gritted his teeth and hissed under his breath when it was finally over. He let go of Mick's body, lowering him back down onto the mattress below and then collapsed on top of him, the weight of his body pressing against Mick's chest, their hearts beating together as Mick stroked the back of Josef's neck tenderly and kissed the top of his head.

"I love you, you know that don't you" Mick whispered to him, still slightly out of breath, a few minutes later.

"Yeah I kind of got that memo already" Josef laughed in reply and turned his head towards Mick's, nuzzling his forehead under Mick's chin, "and even if I hadn't the whole 'us just getting married' thing kind of gave it away as well"

"Did you mean what you said back there?" Mick asked then, his voice rising plaintively in the stillness of the room.

"What part exactly?" Josef carefully withdrew his softening cock from Mick's arse and rolled off to one side, propping himself up on his elbow and regarding Mick with deep affection as he traced a finger along the side of Mick's face and then bent his head towards his mouth and kissed him, once, lovingly on the lips.

"That you would give up everything you are and everything you own for me"

"Are you having a Mick moment my beloved" Josef let out a slightly scoffing laugh and planted a quick kiss on the side of Mick's face, then cupped his hand under Mick's chin and turned his face towards his "Mick, look at me" he said gently, "I meant every word I said, ok?"

"Ok" Mick nodded in reply, swallowing audibly and letting out a soft snarl as he felt Josef's hand reach down between his legs and begin to stroke his cock, feeling himself starting to stiffen once again under Josef's expert fingers.

"Come on" Josef whispered in his ear as he continued to work his hand up and down the shaft of Mick's growing erection, "it's my turn now"

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Mick awoke early the following morning, pushing away the bags of ice that had been packed around his body after he had fallen into a deep sleep the night before, and clambered out of bed. He stopped for a brief moment and bent down to give Josef a quick kiss, whispering a "good morning" to him and smiling fondly as he heard Josef mutter something that sounded remotely like "I love you", and then quickly dressed and made his way, bleary eyed down to the kitchen.

He was surprised to find Father Patrick already dressed in his vestments, seated at the table and tucking into a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast.

"I was planning to make that for you" Mick smiled and pointed to the plate in front of Father Patrick, "as a thank you for letting us spend the night here"

"Mick don't be ridiculous" Father Patrick laughed and shook his head, "Josef, your good self, Katherine and dear little Roisin are my honoured guests here, it is I who should be waiting on you, not the other way around. There's some blood in the fridge by the way," he indicated his head towards the large metal door refrigerator in the corner of the room, "help yourself" he looked around and then whispered conspiratorially, "I managed to swindle some from the local blood bank. It was getting to be a bit too draining having Josef feed from me all the time, no pun intended"

"None taken" Mick stated with a laugh as he went to fetch a bag of blood from the fridge and poured some of the contents into a glass he found on the side of the kitchen sink.

"Can I ask you something personal, Mick?" Father Patrick regarded Mick with a slightly curious look as Mick took a seat at the table opposite him.

"Sure, I guess" Mick smiled and shrugged, taking a sip of crimson fluid from the glass in his hand and preparing himself for the usual question of "what's it like to drink blood" that he expected was coming.

"You and Josef, those" the old Priest hesitated for a moment, searching for the right word, "noises you make, when you're…um…together" Father Patrick paused momentarily once again and offered Mick a polite smile, "do you always sound like that?"

It wasn't exactly the question Mick had expected and he found himself suddenly very interested in some imaginary spot on the table in front of him.

"What noises" he muttered half to himself, rubbing at the pretend blotch with a distracted finger, before he raised his eyes back to meet Father Patrick's and saw him regarding him with an expression that said 'come on Mick, I may be a Priest but I'm not stupid'. "I take it you heard us then" he said after a few moments more hesitation, offering the old Priest a rather sheepish smile at the same time.

"My dear boy" Father Patrick laughed and reached across the table to pat Mick's hand affectionately, "every cat in the neighbourhood heard you, old Mrs Fitzgerald's deaf as a post dog, three houses down, heard you and I believe the tigers in the zoo, three miles up the road, were particularly impressed. I'm glad the two of you had fun" the old Priest quickly added, changing the tone of his voice to a more sincere level, "you deserve it. I hope the two of you will share many happy life times to come"

"Thank you" Mick gave a brief nod and smiled simply in reply.

"You're more than welcome Mick St John, or is it Kostan now?"

"We haven't really decided that yet" Mick laughed and picked up the glass in front of him, quickly draining the rest of its contents.

"Fair enough" Father Patrick gave Mick's hand one last affectionate squeeze before he stood up from the table and politely excused himself. "I need to work on today's sermon" he said almost apologetically, feeling a little regretful that he was unable to sit and converse with the younger Vampire for at least a little longer.
"What's the topic for the day?" Mick asked after Father Patrick's retreating form with casual interest and then blushed, as much as any Vampire could blush, and let out a rather embarrassed burst of laughter when Father Patrick paused at the door of the kitchen, turned back towards him and stated with tongue in cheek simplicity, one eybrow cocked and a more than slightly teasing grin on his face,

"All creatures great and small"

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"You're awake" Mick smiled happily as he returned to the room he had shared with Josef the night before and found him sitting up in bed, back against the headboard, regarding him with an expression on his face that said "Dear god in heaven Mick you have no idea how much I love you". Actually Mick knew exactly how much Josef loved him, considering he shared the exact same sentiment when it came to his own feelings and he quickly crossed the floor of the room and joined Josef on the bed, straddling his still naked body and leaning down to kiss him tenderly on the lips as responded to Josef's unspoken declaration and whispered the word "ditto" to him.

"Where have you been?" Josef asked with casual interest, caressing his hands along the sides of Mick's body.

"Kitchen, with Father Patrick, he had breakfast, I grabbed a glass of blood" Mick shrugged then grinned down at Josef cheekily and said "Why? Are you checking up on me, husband?"

"Don't call me that" Josef's tone was suddenly very matter of fact and Mick shot him a sideways glance, then placed his hands on his hips and demanded to know

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like it, it doesn't suit me" Josef replied in the same matter of fact tone of voice, offering Mick a nonchalant smile and a quick shrug of the shoulders as if he expected Mick to be perfectly understanding about his dislike of the term.

"Oh I'm sorry, Josef" Mick responded with mock contrition, setting his mouth into a sarcastic smile as he did so, "I was under the impression that we'd just gotten married, my mistake"

"Don't be like that, Mick" Josef laughed and took Mick's hands from off of his hips, bringing them to his lips and kissing his fingers tenderly, "I just don't like the term, it makes me sound like some sort of prize breeding bull"

Mick opened his mouth to say something and Josef quickly threw him a look which said "Don't you dare" and then gave a satisfied smile when he saw that Mick had immediately backed down. He was sure Mick had been about to make some sort of wisecrack about Josef being his prize breeding bull and he would have been right.

"What am I supposed to call you?" Mick asked then.

"Same as what you've called me for the past fifty years, Mick" Josef declared simply in reply.

"What? Beloved?"

"Well that too" Josef laughed and sat up to give Mick a quick kiss, "I meant partner though" he clarified just as he wrapped his arms around Mick's neck and laid back down again, pulling Mick down on top of him. "You know strictly speaking" he whispered in his ear salaciously, as his hands explored the muscular planes of Mick's back, "you could say we're still on our honeymoon."

Josef gripped the back of Mick's shirt with one hand then and pulled it over his head in one swift practised move, reaching between them with the other hand and hurriedly fumbling with the button and zipper on his jeans.

"You know Father Patrick heard us last night" Mick said, looking at Josef pointedly as he rolled off the bed and stood up to remove his jeans, before stripping out of the remainder of his material accoutrements and re-joining Josef on the bed.

"He did?" Josef replied with passing interest, more intent on exploring the curves of Mick's arse with his hands whilst he nipped at the skin of his throat lightly with his fangs.

"Yeah he did" Mick propped himself up on outstretched arms and gave Josef another pointed look, "So I would suggest we try and keep it down a bit, ok" he told him then and waited for Josef's agreement.

"Fine, agreed" Josef's response was slightly dismissive as he pulled Mick back down towards him and crushed his lips against his mouth. "I'll try not to fuck you so hard" he told him a few moments later with sarcastic wantonness, breaking away from the kiss and quickly rolling over, taking Mick with him and swapping their positions so that he was on top.

Mick laughed and quickly shifted Josef over to one side, before rolling over once again and moving back on top of him, "You're fucking me are you, Josef?" he teased, as he bent his head towards his ear and whispered the words to him, using the weight of his body to pin Josef face down onto the bed.

"Not by the looks of it Mick" Josef laughed back at him, as he heard Mick scrabbling with one hand on the side cabinet next to the bed for the remainder of the lubricant they hadn't used the night before and then felt some of the slippery fluid being applied around the entrance to his arse with the wipe of a finger.

Mick reached under Josef's body with one arm, raising his hips up towards him as he took hold of his cock with his freehand and pressed the head of it against Josef's anus and then pushed the full length of himself inside him with one sudden thrust, eliciting a snarl of approval from Josef's lips.

"Keep it down for fucksake" Mick hissed in Josef's ear, as he withdrew slowly and then thrust back into him, repeating the motion over and over again, each time a little faster and harder until he was fucking him at full pace and Josef was letting out deep growls and snarls of pleasure beneath him.

"How the fuck do you expect me to keep it down when you're back there doing that, Mick" Josef hissed back at him in reply, continuing to snarl through gritted teeth as Mick's cock hit against his prostate on every stroke.

When Mick grabbed hold of Josef's erection and began pumping him with firm stroked from base to tip, Josef's vocalisations grew louder, forcing Mick to clap a hand over his mouth to try and muffle the sound.

"You really know how to keep a man quiet don't you Mick" Josef scoffed and let out a snort of laughter as he pulled Mick's hand away from his mouth and then sank his fangs into Mick's wrist instead.

The sudden sharp euphoric rush of pain as Josef bit into his flesh tipped Mick unexpectedly over the edge and sent him spiralling into an almost immediate orgasm. Mick lost all semblance of control as his climax ripped through him and he let out a single loud roar of release and then sank his fangs into the back of Josef's neck, shuddering and snarling with pleasure as he rode out the orgasm and bit into Josef's flesh.

Josef had just enough time to remove his fangs momentarily from Mick's wrist and quip to him, with a slightly mocking laugh, "So much for keeping it down Mick," before his own orgasm took hold of him and he flooded Mick's hand with his fluid and sank his fangs back into Mick's wrist.

"Are we going home soon?" Mick asked quietly after the last pulses of their respective orgasms had died away and he'd had a chance to wipe his hand off on the sheets, before rolling over to lie next to Josef and propping himself up on one elbow

"Soon" Josef replied, turning over onto his back and taking Mick into his arms, pausing for a moment to kiss the top of his head as he caressed the side of his face with his hand and then added quietly, "There's just something I need to do first."

"Yeah me too" Mick swallowed a nervous lump in his throat and buried his head into Josef's shoulder, as if he could somehow hide from what he knew was coming and didn't want to face.

"Beth?"

Mick responded with a silent nod of his head and Josef heard a breath catch in his throat just as he swallowed away another nervous lump and then let out a deep sigh of breath.

"Good luck with that Mick, I have a feeling you're going to need it" Josef thought to himself as he ran his fingers through Mick's hair and kissed the top of his head once more. He didn't dare say that out loud though. Instead he placed a hand under Mick's chin and tilted his face up towards his lips, kissing him once softly before he whispered "I love you, whatever happens don't forget that" and then drew his arms tighter around Mick's shoulders and held him close until Mick closed his eyes and fell into a restless sleep alongside him.

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"How long was I asleep for" Mick blurted out as he woke up with a sudden start and quickly got out of the bed where he had fallen asleep next to Josef and hurriedly started getting dressed.

"A while" Josef turned over onto his side and watched Mick as he scrambled around for his clothes, "a few hours, I don't know." He shrugged then and tried to give Mick a reassuring smile to tell him not to worry about it.

Nevertheless, Mick was worried and no amount of heart melting puppy dog looks coming from Josef was going to change that fact. He wasn't looking forward to the conversation he was about to have with Beth, a conversation he was desperately trying to resist opening with "What the hell is your problem", knowing that as much as he wanted to, doing so would just make an already bad situation worse.

Doing up the last few buttons on his shirt and zipping up his jeans, before quickly stepping into his shoes, he sat back down on the bed next to Josef for a moment and let Josef sit up and wrap his arms around his waist. Josef rested his head against Mick's back and Mick reached down and gave Josef's forearm a gentle squeeze, a gesture meant to convey both his affection and gratitude.

"What are you going to say her" Mick heard Josef ask him then and it took a few moments for him to respond, in all honesty he hadn't really thought that far ahead.

"I don't know" he replied quietly, and then gave a half hearted shrug "take it as it comes I guess"

"Might I suggest" Josef offered helpfully, as if he had read Mick's thoughts, "that opening with anything along the lines of 'what the hell were you thinking' may not be a good idea"

Josef laughed only half teasingly after that and then scooted himself around to sit next to Mick, draping an arm around Mick's shoulder and guiding his head down to his lap, letting Mick lie there for a moment and gather his thoughts as Josef brushed his hand through Mick's hair and stroked the side of his face with a finger. He loved him and problems with Beth or not, nothing was going to change that. In the distant past he had often wondered, when faced with couples who had been together for decades stretched at a time, how vampires, or humans for that matter, actually managed to do it. How they managed to spend so long with the one person by their side and still fall in love with them on a daily basis. For the most part he had stopped wondering that with Mick a long time ago, but every now and then a moment they shared together gave him pause to stop and think, marvelling to himself in quiet contemplation just how it was possible to love someone so completely, even after fifty years by their side.

"You'll be fine" he added hurriedly, before Mick had a chance to respond to what he had said just before and reassuring him that he would be waiting for him when he got back

"I know" Mick sat back up again and ran his hands through his hair and then rubbed his palms over his face and then turned to give Josef a quick kiss on the cheek, telling him that he loved him and smiling to himself as he heard Josef respond with "ditto".

"Mick?" Josef called out after him, as Mick stood up and started heading for the door.

"What?" Mick turned back towards Josef and waited for him to speak, standing paused with one hand resting on the handle of the bedroom door.

"Can you be back here at eight 'o' clock tonight?" Josef asked casually, although it wasn't so much a question as it was a direct request.

"Sure. Why?" Mick looked at Josef and furrowed his brow for a moment, wondering what was happening at eight 'o' clock that Josef needed him to be there for.

"No reason, it's just important is all" Josef replied with an attempt at a nonchalant shrug.

Mick resisted the urge to point out the obvious contradiction in terms Josef had just used. Judging by the look on Josef's face, despite the casual shrug he had given, Mick could see that whatever the reason and whatever was happening eight 'o' clock that evening was very important to Josef.

"I'll be there, I promise" he reassured him once again with an earnest smile, just before he turned away again and walked out the door

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Mick hesitated for a moment, drawing in a breath to steady his nerves and then knocked on the door of the hotel room where Beth was staying with Ryder. He couldn't smell or hear Ryder though, only Beth. He wondered for a moment exactly what had happened between Beth and Ryder after Ryder had had to drag Beth off in the middle of his wedding to Josef. He decided whatever it was it couldn't have been good, or easy on either of them.

His train of thought was broken by the clicking sound of the lock on the door as it opened and Beth stood there facing him, or rather facing towards him and looking anywhere but directly at Mick's face, refusing to meet his gaze. Finally she allowed herself one brief glance into his eyes and then stepped back, holding the door open wider and motioning for him to "come in".

Mick's movements were stiff and hesitant, beneath his attempt at a nonchalant exterior, as he followed Beth into the small hotel room and took a seat perched on the edge of an armchair that stood just opposite the double bed in the middle of the room.

Beth took a seat on the edge of the bed facing him, her hands twisting in her lap as she shifted uncomfortably and waited for Mick to say something. In the end it was her who broke the silence first.

"I suppose you want to talk about what happened the other night"

Beth cleared her throat and then swallowed nervously after that, waiting for Mick to respond.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he blurted out the first words that came into his mind and then mentally kicked himself.

"Of all the things that you should have said, Idiot St John, that was probably not one of them"

Beth shot him a dark look then, the first time since he had arrived that she dared to hold his gaze for any length of time.

"I made a mistake Mick, alright" she snapped in reply.

"No Beth, not alright" Mick shot back, immediately taking the challenging position to Beth's defensive. He saw the hurt look in her eyes, behind that mask of defensive and immediately softened his approach. "I'm sorry" he told her, the tone of his voice gentler this time, "I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just…" his voice trailed off as he tried to find the words he was looking for, "it was my wedding for fucksake Beth" he finished finally, unable to keep his from rising an octave as he thought of how close Beth had come to ruining his betrothal to Josef almost completely.

"Yeah, your wedding to Josef" Beth spat mockingly in reply, fixing her mouth into a cruel line.

"Yes. My wedding to Josef, the one I'd been planning with him for the past couple of months"

He sat and stared at Beth for a moment, shaking his head in disbelief before repeating again, this time with a stabbing gesture of his finger, "My wedding to Josef" then added pointedly "Josef, the man who has been my partner for the last fifty years, Beth."

"You don't need to remind me, Mick" Beth's voice was suddenly very small then, almost childlike as she chewed on her bottom lip and fought back the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks at any moment.

"Well obviously I do" Mick was about to say, but stopped himself when he saw the look of bitter hurt on Beth's face. He moved to try and comfort her instead, getting up from the seat he was sitting on and joining her on the edge of the bed, placing what was supposed to be a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Talk to me" he told her, trying to keep the tone of his voice as reassuringly even as possible.

Beth was silent for a moment, lost in the distance as she struggled to gather her thoughts. When she finally spoke, she spat the words out with a viciousness that Mick hadn't heard from her since that night in Salzburg when he had bodily thrown her out of the house he shared with Josef.

"I hate being a Vampire" A dark look crossed over Beth's face then and she shrugged Mick's hand off her shoulder, as the floodgates of emotion opened and she hurriedly continued on, the words spilling out one over another. "I hate everything about it. I hate drinking blood, I hate not being able to stay out in the sun, I hate that I'll never have children, never get to know what it's like to grow old with someone. I hate it Mick and the only reason I've accepted it is because I was still holding out hope that we could share it together." She took a breath then and waved a hand in the air in a gesture of frustrated dismissiveness and quickly added, "There I've said it"

"Beth" Mick's expression was utterly incredulous, "We've been through this before. I thought we had this sorted out by now?"

"Yeah well" Beth offered Mick a weak smile and made another gesture with her hand in the air, as if she were trying to wave the conversation off, "I thought so too, Mick. Seeing you and Josef at your" she hesitated, struggling to repeat the word 'wedding', "well let's just say reality has hit home" she finished, letting out the breath she had been holding and getting up to walk over to the window of the hotel room, staring out over the car parks and fields that lay below.

"Maybe it was a mistake for us to try and be friends so soon" Mick turned towards Beth and tried to say helpfully then, realising his own mistake in saying those words when Beth suddenly spun around and shot back at him,

"Well you'd know all about mistakes, wouldn't you Mick"

"I didn't come here to fight with you about the past, Beth" Mick's voice was low and ridden with guilt in that moment, he distracted himself by picking pieces of imaginary lint from the quilt cover on the bed beneath him, "and I've already said I'm sorry a hundred different ways for what I did back then" he added defensively.

"Oh and I suppose that makes it alright then, Mick" Beth lashed at him, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"No of course it doesn't" Mick went on the defensive then, folding his arms across his chest, "but there's nothing you or I or anyone else can do to change what happened, so you just have to deal with the hand you've been dealt."

"What like you did when Coraline turned you against your will, Mick" Beth replied, "You used to hate being a Vampire too you know, or had you forgotten that?"

"No I hadn't forgotten Beth" Mick was starting to grow increasingly frustrated with the tone of the conversation; it wasn't getting either one of them anywhere. He stood up and walked over to her, determined to try and get her to see reason, "You're right" he told her, "I used to hate being a Vampire, but Josef changed all that for me. He made me accept what I am. I don't hate being a Vampire, Beth, not anymore".

The tone of his voice was meant to convey the sentiment that everything was going to be alright, if he could overcome his self hatred at what he was then Beth would to, in time. Beth would hear none of it though.

"Yeah well I do Mick," she spat the words out at him just like before, "I hate being a Vampire and I can't see that changing in the foreseeable future."

The conversation was going nowhere fast and Mick quickly tried to shift tactics, wanting to try and focus the discussion on something that would bring Beth out of her reverie of self loathing.

"What about Ryder?" he asked her, "Doesn't he make you happy. I thought everything was going well between the two of you?" he looked at her questioningly then and added, "Where is Ryder by the way?"

Beth offered him another half hearted smile and shrugged her shoulders as if she couldn't have cared less and at that point Mick had finally had enough.

"When did you become such a bitch?" he thought to himself darkly, quickly suppressing such thoughts and answering out loud instead with, "Ryder is our friend, Beth, Josef's and mine," he clarified, "Don't you dare hurt him. If you don't share the same feelings that he has for you then you tell him and you do it soon. It's not fair on him to be strung along like this, Beth" Mick paused for a moment and then added, as if he felt it needed to spelled out "And make sure you let him down gently"

Beth had the good sense to look at least a little guilty at the cold manner in which she'd responded to Mick asking her about Ryder. Lowering her eyes to the ground and shifting from one foot to the other she muttered under her breath, "I will Mick".

They both fell into an uncomfortable stillness then, neither one really knowing what else to say to the other. Finally Mick broke the silence, checking his watch and making the announcement that he had to go. They had been going around in circles for the last four hours, if he left now he had just enough time to make it back to the Church, and whatever it was Josef needed him to attend, by 8 pm.

"Bad things happen, Beth" he told her gently, just before he turned to leave, "It's just part of life, you learn to deal with it or you send yourself crazy"

"What life Mick" Beth snapped at him in response, her face twisted into a mask of bitterness, "I have no life Mick. You saw to that"

Mick looked at her for a moment, not knowing what else to say to her. Then without saying another word he spun heel and walked out the door.

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Mick made it back to the Church at exactly one minute past eight 'o' clock. He paused for a moment at the wooden door of the entrance, silently hoping Josef wasn't going to quibble with him over a mere one minute's tardiness, after all, he figured, Josef would surely have to understand his need to stop along the way and actually take some time to calm down after his discussion with Beth.

He needn't have worried, as he pushed the door open the first thing that struck him was an image of Josef dressed in the black cassock and cope of a Priest performing a funereal rite and chanting in a language he didn't understand, but rightly presumed was Latin, whilst making, what seemed to his eyes, a series of strange and archaic ritual gestures. Whatever it was Josef was doing it was obviously occupying his attention enough that he wasn't going to notice Mick slipping quietly into the Church a mere fraction past the time he said he would be there.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
Et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem
Exaudi orationem meam
Ad te omnis caro veniet.

"What's he doing?" he whispered to Katherine as he slid into the pew next to her.

"He's performing a Requiem mass for Miriam" she replied, bouncing the infant Roisin on her knee and trying to soothe her as she began to fidget and grizzle at the idea of having to be quiet for any extended period of time.

"Miriam, his baby sister?" Mick asked in a low voice, watching the scene in front of him with a mixture of bemusement and fascination, aware of what a Requiem mass was but never having seen one performed with his own eyes.

"No Mick, Miriam the imaginary dancing donkey" Katherine hissed at him out the corner of her mouth, prompting Mick to shoot her an annoyed look of embarrassment and fall silent for a few moments.

Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus

"What's he saying?" Mick leant over to Katherine and whispered the question to her, forgetting his momentary embarrassment from before and trying not to cringe too obviously, when she quickly translated the words of the Latin prayers Josef was chanting.

"Remind me never to die" Mick muttered under his breath and shook his head, before leaning over to ask Katherine yet another question regarding what was taking place in front of them.

"It's a censure Mick, it has incense in it" Katherine preempted Mick's question, before he could ask it.

"Oh, ok and-"

"Mick, shut up" Katherine hissed out the corner of her mouth at him as before and then changed her mind and leant over to ask, "I thought you were Catholic?"

"No, what made you think that?" he whispered back to her, at which point Josef turned around and gave both of them a pointed look to be quiet.

Mick offered him a sheepish smile of contrition then and Josef's expression immediately softened as he looked at Mick and mouthed the words "thank you" to him, before turning back towards the Altar and continuing the ceremony.

Hostias et preces tibi, Domine
laudis offerimus
tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
quarum hodie memoriam facimus.
Fac eas, Domine, de morte
transire ad vitam.
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semine eius.

Mick bowed his head at that point and pretended he was praying, crossing his legs at the same time and silently willing away the erection that has sprung unbidden the moment Josef had looked at him and his mind had immediately flashed to the time he had fucked Josef on the floor of the lounge in Salzburg…

"and he moaned to me in Latin and I couldn't understand what he was saying but dear god it sounded hot and he was wearing that costume and…Oh shit you idiot, stop thinking about it"…

Mick gritted his teeth and rested his head on the bench in front of him, concentrating on thinking of such un-arousing matters as the actual English translation of the Latin text that Katherine had given him earlier. He knew Josef would be able to smell his arousal, hear the way his heartbeat had stepped up a notch and his breathing seemed to hitch in his throat. He mouthed a quick silent prayer that Josef wouldn't make too big a deal of it when all this was finally over.

"Oh well" he thought to himself then, "at least this is taking my mind off the crap with Beth"

At the thought of the recent unpleasantness with Beth he felt his cock immediately soften, breathing a sigh of relief as he laughed to himself wryly and thought, "Well at least she's good for something, gotta give her credit for that at least"

Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna
in die illa tremenda
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra,
dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.

Tremens factus sum ego et timeo,
dum discussion venerit atque venture ira:
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra.

Mick spent a few moments more with his head bowed in a silent pretence of prayer, before sitting back upright again just in time to hear Josef chant the last words of the rite.

Chorus angelorum te suscipat
et cum Lazaro, quondam paupere,
aeternam habeas requiem.

Josef completed the ritual then, taking a moment to kneel in front of the altar and offer up what Mick rightly assumed was a private prayer for the soul of his baby sister, before he stood up and walked over to greet Mick.

"Thank you for coming" Josef said with quiet sincerity as Mick quickly from the pew and into the aisle to return his greeting, taking a quick step back when Josef went to embrace him and flashing him a look which said,

"Josef I swear to god if you touch me while you're wearing that outfit you will so end up bent over that altar up there with my cock buried in your arse, so just don't"

Josef gave Mick a knowing smile and nodded his understanding, before saying "I'd better go and get changed then hadn't I" and raising his eyebrows in a gesture to indicate that he knew exactly what effect his robes were having on Mick.

"Are you coming" he paused at the exit into the private chambers of the Church and turned back towards Mick, shaking his head and laughing to himself when he saw Mick immediately bid a very distracted and hurried farewell to Katherine and Father Patrick before breaking into a near sprint to catch up with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know that was supposed to be a solemn and respectful moment Mick" Josef chided him gently as they lay naked in bed together, still slightly breathless and sticky from the frantic and hard fucking they had just engaged in, Josef having to insist repeatedly to a rather over eager Mick that 'no he couldn't possibly wear the vestments for him, because it wasn't a costume'.

"I know, I'm sorry" Mick looked at Josef contritely, then kissed him on the cheek and asked in a simple tone of voice, "Do you feel better now that you've laid her to rest"

"Hmm yeah I guess" Josef shrugged and stared up at the ceiling looking momentarily distracted and lost in thought.

"What?" Mick turned onto his side next to Josef and propped himself up on his elbow.

"I don't know" Josef let out a breath and rolled over to face Mick, mirroring his position, "I suppose it felt like I was just reciting the words and going through the motions" he admitted.

"Well I'm sure Miriam would have appreciated it anyway" Mick tried to reassure him as he reached out to run a finger gently down the side of Josef's face.

"I hope so" Josef nodded in quiet reply before changing the subject and asking, a little too eagerly, "Hey do you want to do something with me tomorrow?"

"Of course" Mick laughed at Josef's sudden enthusiasm and leant in to give him a quick kiss before asking, "What did you have mind?"

"I don't know" Josef shrugged again, "I just thought we could spend a day actually enjoying each other's company, out of bed" he quickly added when he saw the bemused look on Mick's face that said "and what do you think we've been doing these past days, Josef"

Mick laughed then and gave Josef a slightly sheepish lopsided grin "Alright, sounds good to me" he told him and then bought the conversation back to the previous subject of Josef's performance of a Requiem Mass.

"Josef please promise me if I ever die that you won't perform that mass for me"

Josef looked taken aback for a moment, regarding Mick with a sideways expression of curiousity before he furrowed his brow and asked "Why?", not that he expected to ever be performing such a rite for Mick, he had just been under the assumption that Mick hadn't been able to understand the actual words that he had chanted earlier.

"Katherine translated some of it for me" Mick quickly explained, looking at the slightly confused expression on Josef's face, "it was just rather…"

"Morbid?" Josef finished for him.

"Yeah that" Mick laughed and looked relieved that Josef didn't seem to take his assessment of the Requiem Mass as an insult.

"I suppose it is" Josef gave another shrug and them smiled at Mick gently, "but you needn't worry" he reassured him, "First of all I doubt you're going to shuffle off the immortal coil anytime soon and second of all," he paused for a moment and held Mick's gaze with his own, "if you died I wouldn't be performing anything for you"

"What are you planning to die alongside me" Mick scoffed at him and rolled his eyes, making a joke about "throwing oneself on top of funeral pyres" at the same time.

"Maybe" Josef smiled casually and offered yet another halfhearted shrug of his shoulders before laying his head down on the pillow next to Mick's and closing his eyes.

"Oh come on Josef," Mick blurted out, as Josef opened his eyes to look at him for a moment, "nobody loves someone that much, not even you"

"It was quite a common practice in India at the turn of last century" Josef stifled a yawn and closed his eyes again.

"Well we're not in India at the turn of last century, Josef" Mick stated with rising annoyance at what he considered to be a complete lapse of reason on Josef's behalf, "so I will repeat that again, nobody loves someone that much, not even you"

The only reply he received was the sound of Josef's quiet rhythmic breathing as he fell asleep.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Where have you been?" Mick sat up and blinked the sleep from his eyes the following evening at dusk, trying to focus his still rather bleary vision on the image of Josef standing in front of him, immaculately groomed and looking like he'd already been up for hours.

"Nowhere in particular, just out" Josef shrugged dismissively, and then cleared his throat. "Here, these are for you" he muttered the words almost as a statement, as he rather haphazardly shoved a bouquet of roses under Mick's nose.

A momentary look of surprise passed over Mick's face as he took the roses from Josef's hand. He muttered a quick "thanks" and then raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a sideways questioning look at the same time. Josef could be very romantic when he wanted to be, Mick had seen that demonstrated more times than he could remember in the fifty years they had been together, but the whole hearts and flowers routine wasn't his usual manner. Of course in true Kostan style he hadn't done anything by half measures either. The roses were two dozen, all told, of the most exquisitely formed and brilliantly red coloured blooms that Mick could remember seeing, off hand, and no doubt they had cost Josef a small fortune.

"Thank you" Mick repeated again, a little clearer that time. Looking at Josef as he pretended to pick bits of non existent lint of the sleeves of his suit coat and then adjusted the sleeves of his shirt, it was obvious to Mick that he wasn't supposed to make a big deal out of this; even so he couldn't resist ribbing him about it just the tiniest bit.

"So when was the last time you bought me roses, Josef" Mick grinned and cocked his head to one side, eyebrows raised, "It was 2014 if I remember correctly?" he reminded him, still keeping the same, ever so slightly teasing, grin on his face, "I believe we were living in Hungary at the time. We had a fight. You went on a nice little chemical freshie bender and staggered home at 4 am clutching an entire rosebush in your hand and trailing dirt and petals all over our nice hardwood floors."

"It was a very nice rosebush, Mick" Josef protested, looking perfectly indignant, "and I did clean up the mess. Look" he huffed and went to snatch the bouquet from Mick's hands, "if you don't want these, just say so."

"Don't be like that" Mick chided him with a small laugh, quickly moving the bunch of roses in his hand away from Josef's grasp before standing up to plant a quick kiss on the side of his face and saying, "I love them and thank you, again"

"Yes, well" Josef cleared his throat once again and waved a hand dismissively to say, 'really Mick it's not a big deal'. "I just figured you could do with something nice to cheer you up after yesterday. How did that go anyway? You haven't spoken about it yet. I figure it didn't go well?" he asked after a moment's pause.

Judging by the dark look of annoyance that flashed over Mick's features, Josef knew his assumptions were correct.

"Go have a shower and get dressed" he told him gently, indicating his head towards the ensuite bathroom adjoining the room and trying to offer Mick a reassuring smile. "We'll go out and find something nice to do, take your mind off things."

"What did you have in mind?" Mick asked over his shoulder, as he quickly stripped off his clothes and headed into the shower.

"I don't know" Josef replied after him, with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, "grab a couple bags of blood and some Scotch and find somewhere nice to sit and have a drink, I guess"

"Sounds good to me" Mick's voice drifted out of the bathroom, slightly muffled by the sound of running water.

"I'll just put these in some water," Josef half mumbled in response and picked the bouquet of roses up off the bed, where Mick had left them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I just don't get it" the frustration in Mick's voice was clear as he sat with his back resting against one of the many old oak trees, that dotted the Irish landscape, with Josef sitting in front of him and reclining back in his arms.

They had wandered the streets of the city together for an hour or so, before stopping off to savour the sights and sounds of an Irish pub in full swing, before picking up a bottle of Scotch to mix with the blood Mick was carrying in a small satchel bag slung over his shoulder and heading up one of the local hills to spend some quiet time sitting against an oak tree under the stars and enjoying each other's company.

"What don't you get Mick?" Josef sipped the glass of blood scotch he held in one hand and absentmindedly stroked Mick's forearm around his waist with the fingers of the other.

"Beth" Mick spat the word out in a sigh of frustration, "I really thought we'd moved past all the 'I still have feelings for you, well you can't have me' crap."

"Ah" Josef nodded and smiled to himself knowingly, "I see. So that's what's going on"

"Yeah" Mick admitted reluctantly, after a few moments hesitation. "And now she's decided she hates being a Vampire as well" he added bitterly, a distinct edge of guilt and self reproval creeping into his voice.

"Hey, come on" Josef turned around to face Mick, straddling his lap and reaching up to hold the sides of his face in his hands "stop that. We've been through this before ok. You might have turned her, but it is not your fault that she's now decided to carry on like a prize brat and refuses to accept the situation she's in. I mean it's not like we haven't bent over backwards to try and help her" he added with a distinct note of annoyance, lowering his hands and wrapping his arms around Mick's waist instead.

"I know" Mick went to say then, but his words were cut off by the sound of Josef's voice telling him, "Besides, Beth isn't our only concern right now"

"You mean Katherine's situation?"

"Exactly" Josef responded with an almost reluctant sigh of his own and then made a dismissive gesture behind Mick's back with his hand, "let's not worry about it now though. We're supposed to be having a pleasant evening together, not worrying about the women in our lives" he told him, adding more than a slight dose of irony to the word 'women' as he said it.

He leaned forward then and pressed his lips against Mick's, probing his mouth open with his tongue as he caressed the planes of his back with his hands. Off in the distance, coming from one of the farmhouse residences that lay sprawled around the Galway countryside, the strains of an old song by the band Garbage, faintly reached Mick's ears.

"I will sell my soul for something pure and true, someone like you"

"Would you?" Mick asked, just as Josef broke away from the kiss and began to tease the skin of Mick's neck with his mouth and fangs, nipping gently at the sensitive underside of his jaw, before running the edge of his tongue along the side of Mick's throat.

"Would I what?"

"Sell your soul for me?"

"Probably" Josef responded with casual distraction, as he began to move down Mick's body, undoing the buttons of his shirt and kissing his way along his chest and abdomen as he did so, stopping when he reached Mick's lap and working on the buttons and zipper of his jeans.

"What? Is that before or after you throw yourself on top of my funeral pyre" Mick scoffed at him teasingly and reached down to stroke the top of Josef's head with one hand.

"Oh shut up, Mick" Josef muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes in faux annoyance just as he managed to release Mick's cock from the constraints of his pants and then wrapped his lips around the head.

Mick let out a snarl of appreciation and closed his eyes, resting his head back against the trunk of the tree behind him. He stayed like that for a few moments, letting out small growls of pleasure as he felt Josef's tongue swirl over the head of his cock and his hand gripped the shaft and pumped him with firm even strokes, until a sharp cracking sound, that seemed to come from somewhere in front of him, snapped him out of his blissful reverie.

He opened his eyes only to be greeted by a rather unexpected sight. It was a cow, the sound Mick had heard having been one of its hooves stepping on a pile of fallen twigs. It stood in front of him now, its big bovine eyes looking vaguely at him as if he, as it lazily chewed a mouthful of cud.

"Bessie" Mick hissed at the beast, using the only name he could think of to call a cow off the top of his head, as he tried to get its full attention so that he could shoo it away.

"What did you just call me?" Mick heard Josef blurt out then, as he stopped his administrations on Mick's cock and sat up to confront him with hands on hips, a more than slight look of shocked indignation on his face.

"Not you, that" Mick rolled his eyes and pointed to the farm animal standing in front of them.

"It's a cow, Mick" Josef deadpanned with mock seriousness, after he turned his head towards what Mick was pointing at.

"I can see it's a cow, Josef" Mick gritted his teeth and hissed in response, "What the hell is it doing standing in front of us though"

"It probably wandered away from one of the local farms, there are at least half a dozen around this area somewhere" he shrugged dismissively and then stifled a laugh and added in a completely insincere tone of voice, "It's alright my love, Josef will get rid of the scary cow for you", just as he reached out to pat Mick's arm with false reassurance.

Mick let out an indignant huff of breath and rolled his eyes as Josef turned his head back towards the beast and gave a single sharp snarl to get it to leave, watching it turn tail and start to wander away back to wherever it had come from.

"See, all fixed" he turned back to Mick and grinned, just before he shook his head and muttered "I don't know why you couldn't have just done that yourself" and then cocked his head to one side and asked "Now do you want me to continue what I was doing or not?"

Mick rolled his eyes once more and then pushed Josef's head back down onto his lap, letting out a snarl of pleasure when he felt Josef wrap his lips around his erection once again. A few minutes later he was clutching the top of Josef's head with one hand and thrusting his cock deep into the back of his throat, as he growled with release and grabbed for Josef's arm, sinking his fangs sharply into the flesh of his wrist and snarling blissfully as he rode out his orgasm.

"Come on" Josef instructed him softly a short while later, as he stood up and held his hand out for Mick to take; helping him to his feet once he had given him sufficient time to recover his senses after his climax, "We should go try and get some sleep, we've got some long days ahead of us"