Rodolfo squealed in delight as a broadly smiling Roger lay back on the bed, lifting the baby boy into the air.
"Roger, don't get him over excited," Mimi playfully scolded. "It's his bedtime. If he gets too excited, he'll never get to sleep."
"Aw, Meems," Roger grinned, pulling himself up into a sitting position, balancing Rodolfo on his knee. "Are you really going to deprive a man of bonding time with his son?"
"And are you going to deprive your son from getting the sleep all seven-month-old babies need?" Mimi debated. "You'll have tomorrow to continue any game you want to play with him."
"Sorry, Rodolfo," Roger carried Rodolfo to the crib in the corner and tucked the boy under the blue quilt. "Mommy's word is law." Rolling her eyes, Mimi lightly slapped Roger's arm.
"Don't you make me the bad guy, Roger Davis."
"You're right, that's not nice." Roger's smile grew to a smirk, quirking his eyebrow as he tugged Mimi up against him. "I might just need to be punished."
"Not with our son watching!" Mimi half gasped, half laughed as she wrapped her arms around Roger's neck and kissed him tenderly. Roger chuckled and pretended to think.
"Well, if an audience is a problem for you, I could go see if Mark and Emily would mind rooming with their nephew for the night." Roger turned and left the bedroom, crossing the Condo, passing Wenceslas and Maya who were snuggled together by the couch, and opened the door to Mark and Emily's room. Before he could say a word, he was greeted by two startled shouts.
"Sh-t, Roger!" Mark yelled, quickly grabbing the pillow to cover himself while Emily hid behind the irritated filmmaker, holding the blanket up to her body like a shield. "Haven't you heard of knocking!?"
"Whoa! Sorry, buddy. I didn't realize the two of you were…. busy."
"Yeah, well maybe you should knock next time, and not just storm into our room," Mark spat.
"Sure, and you could try locking your door," Roger pointed out.
"Roger, just get out!" Emily ordered, glaring at the musician over Mark's shoulder.
"Okay, I'm leaving. We'll just say we're even now."
"Even? For what?" Mark's face twisted in confusion.
"The time she almost saw me in a similar situation," Roger explained, gesturing at Emily.
"That was your own fault!" Emily cried, blushing. "You were parading around the Loft in the nude, when you could have had the same courtesy as Mimi to at least wrap up in a blanket. And might I add that I bothered knocking on that occasion?"
"Okay, okay, I get the picture!" Roger raised his hands in defeat, backing out of the room. "I'm leaving." Once Roger closed the door, dodging the shoe that was thrown at him for good measure, Mark and Emily let out frustrated sighs.
"You really saw him nude?" Mark asked hesitantly. Emily bit back a laugh, laying a soft kiss on Mark's shoulder.
"I didn't see anything," she assured. "He managed to hide himself behind Mimi in time."
"Good," Mark smiled, turning his full attention back to Emily, taking the blanket from her to wrap the both of them under it. "'Cause nothing turns a guy off like knowing his wife saw his best friend naked."
Roger returned to his room to find Mimi hovering over Rodolfo's crib.
"I don't think they're willing to watch him tonight," Roger announced.
"I know," Mimi nodded. "I heard enough to gather that. Just as well. Rodolfo's already asleep."
"Yeah." Roger shrugged, walking over to the bed, hiding his disappointment. "Guess we should just get some sleep then." As Roger started to crawl into bed, Mimi nearly tackled him, grinning mischievously. "Mimi? What…?" Roger was cut off by Mimi's passionate kiss. When she pulled away, she bent over his ear.
"There is one game we can play," she whispered as she pulled out a familiar pair of handcuffs from behind her back, along with a red velvet blindfold, one that Roger recognized from the 'Naughty Weekend Kit' Maureen had given him on his 25th birthday.
"What about Rodolfo?" Roger asked, glancing over at the nearby crib. Mimi covered Roger's mouth with a hand before using the blindfold as a makeshift gag.
"That's the whole point of the game," Mimi explained in a whisper, pulling off Roger's shirt before using the handcuffs to secure his wrists to the bed. "The game's called 'how long can Roger Davis stay quiet?' Smirking seductively at the heated expression on Roger's face, Mimi went to work, covering Roger's chest with kisses and strokes from her hands and tongue, slowly moving downward towards the bulge that was rapidly forming under Roger's jeans, begging to be released.
Across the street from the Condo, the shadowy figure had his eyes focused on the Condo's fifth story window.
So. That is where he lives, the figure mused to himself, contemplating his find. He had lived for centuries, but he'd never before come across anyone like that one man. So much darkness and pain woven into his soul. Even when they were lying dormant, they still were there, easy enough to be sensed. There would never be another mortal more worthy of filling the necessary role. His decision made, the figure slipped into the shadows.
A sudden noise pulled Mimi out of sleep. A shadowy figure was moving around in the room.
"Who's that?" Mimi spoke up.
"Shh," Roger's voice whispered in response as he took a seat on the bed next to her. "It's just me."
"What time is it?" Mimi yawned.
"Almost three."
"Then why are you up?" Roger sighed heavily before replying.
"Robbie called me up. Said it was an emergency, and he wanted to see me about something."
"What's so important that it couldn't wait 'till morning?" Mimi frowned.
"Who knows with Robbie?" Roger shrugged. "I won't be long, though. You just go back to sleep, okay? I'll see you in a few hours."
"M'kay," Mimi mumbled sleepily. "Just be careful, okay?"
"Hey, there's no question of me not being careful," Roger cooed, kissing her lovingly. "Not when I've got a beautiful wife and son, who I both love more then my life. I'm not going to risk loosing that for anything."
"Good," Mimi smiled, falling back asleep. "Love you, Rog." Roger smiled to himself, stroking her cheek.
"Love you, too, Mimi."
Roger silently headed up the street, making his way to the subway that would bring him to Robbie's pad. As he walked, he breathed in the unseasonably warm night air, grinning widely, and thinking about how lucky he'd become these past few years. At times it was easy to forget about the deadly virus that existed inside his body. In the year that followed his diagnosis, he'd believed all luck had left his life for good. Sh-t, was he stupid thinking that, especially considering who he was surrounded with. He had friends who loved and cared about him, and stood by him through everything. And now he had Mimi and Rodolfo, the two people he'd gladly die for. As bad as things were before, that's how good they were now.
Chuckling to himself, Roger paused in his journey to the subway to pull out a cigarette. As he started to light it, he heard a low, stony voice calling his name from an alley.
"Who's that?" Roger spun around instantly.
"Roger," the voice called again, a little louder this time. Roger inched forward, squinting into the ally.
"Robbie, I swear, if that's you trying to scare me or something, I'll kill you," Roger warned. When no one answered, Roger started to think about moving on, but suddenly found himself walking into the alley, completely against his better judgment. "Seriously, this isn't funny!" Roger called out to no one. "I'm leaving now, so you can fu-k off and creep out some other loser." Roger turned to leave, but when a low laugh reached his ears, his legs stopped obeying him, and he was rooted to the spot. Roger looked over at the entrance of the alley to see the same man in the trench coat he'd bumped into hours earlier, after the Bohemians had left the costume shop.
"You!" Roger blinked. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"I have many names," the Trench Coat Guy replied in a voice that easily turned Roger's blood to ice. It was like nails-on-chalkboard, combined by steel-scraping-rock. "And as for what I want… just you."
"Not interested," Roger shot back, trying not to show this guy how uneasy he was making him feel.
"Oh, but you're just perfect." The Trench Coat Guy gripped Roger's chin in his hand as he spoke.
Sh-t, his hands are freezing. Roger was starting to get very scared now. Why weren't his legs listening to his head when it was screaming at him to get out of that alley now?
"I don't get you," Roger forced his voice to remain calm.
"I can see inside your heart," the Trench Coat Guy was almost purring now. "So dark. So much anger. With a little nurturing, who knows what the possibilities could be?"
"I'm warning you once, pal," Roger growled, his fear now replaced by annoyance. "You get out of my way."
"No, I don't think so," the Trench Coat Guy laughed. "Why would I do that, when I've been looking for someone like you for so long?"
"I don't give a fu-k about how long you've been 'waiting,'" Roger shouted, shoving The Trench Coat Guy back. "Get out of my way, or I'll kill you."
"Ah, I'm afraid there's a little problem with your threat," the Trench Coat Guy hissed, now towering over Roger. "You see, how can you kill me, when I'm not alive to begin with?" As this was said, The Trench Coat Guy discarded his fedora and sunglasses, revealing his pale grey face, currently broken into a pitiless smile, and the cruel red and yellow eyes. The sight of the terrible face effectively made Roger's heart stop, especially when he noted that the merciless smile revealed a pair of jagged fangs.
"No," Roger whispered. "You're… you guys aren't real. You're just stories."
"Oh," the vampire clicked his tongue in cruel sympathy. "I'm afraid that all 'stories' have a basis in fact, as you will find out." Roger made one final attempt to run, but before he could reach the lit street, he felt the strong, cold hands on his arms, followed by a sharp pain in his neck.
This is a dream, Roger thought desperately. This has to be a dream. Meems, Mark, someone, wake me up, please! Even as these panicked pleas filled Roger's mind, he could feel his body slowly growing numb, as if it was being lowered into a tub of frozen water. But even stronger then the sensation of his life slipping away was the feel of moisture on his face as hopeless tears began falling from his eyes. Why'd he leave the Condo? He should have turned down Robbie's request and just stayed in bed, with his friends, his family, close by. Stayed with Mimi in his arms and Rodolfo asleep in the crib. He was even starting to doubt that even was Robbie on the phone, suspecting that it was just a trap to lure him out.
The icy coldness had almost consumed him completely, but the throbbing pain in his neck remained. It was getting hard to think, and even harder to keep his eyes open. Before Roger was completely lost to the darkness, his mind focused only on his small family who were waiting for him to come home, and the anguish he felt at the knowledge that they would be waiting in vain. Then, with a weak sob, Roger gave in to the darkness clouding his mind, and he remembered nothing.
AN: You can refrain from the angry, abusive reviews. This isn't the end of the story. Far from it. There's still quite a few more chapters to go. So please do not worry. At least, not too much.