What's Love

Maddy, Augustus' niece, and Mike were sitting at the kitchen table in the home of Henry and Vicki drinking coffee and sharing a laugh over knowing the truth about vampires.

Mike took a sip of coffee and asked, "How can you stand being around them all the time? It's driving me nuts."

Maddy set her matching mug on the table, "The Augustus family has been dealing with vampires for centuries. We learn early how to block their powers of persuasion."

Mike stared down into his cup and confessed, "It's not so easy for me. I was in love with Vicki, and then found myself sexually attracted to Henry. I don't swing that way, but the more tried to deny my feelings the more worked up I got. Now when both of them are close all I can think of is menage a' trois; 'take me, do what you want.' The constant sexual tension when I'm near them is burning me up, but I can't stay away." Mike ran his fingers through his hair, "God! Why am I telling you this?"

Maddy put her hand on his, "Because I'm only person around you could tell that would understand." She picked up her mug and took a deep swallow, "Vampires give off pheromones that pull humans in like flowers attract bees. You wouldn't be human if you didn't respond. They can control the signals they give off, but they can't stop all of them. Some of us respond more strongly than others. Mike, it's not a fault to feel deeply but it's your choice to act on it or not."

Mike looked gratefully at Maddy and asked, "What's the Augustus secret?"

Henry and Vicki stood in the dining room listening to the conversation taking place in their kitchen. Vicki looked at Henry and asked, "Do you know the secret?"

Henry looked at her, shook his head and tilted his head signaling her to be quiet.

Maddy laughed, "If I told you I'd have to kill you." She paused then added, "There's no secret. Either you accept the fact your hormones will always be raging when you're around them, and you give in to them having a hot steamy affair until it cools off, or keep them at a distance."

Mike asked, "What have you done?"

Maddy laughed, "I fed a vampire for several months. One of many things can happen. Your desire for them finally burns out or they get bored and leave. Another is the risk of their exposure is too great for them to stay with one human and they leave. Love can keep a human and vampire together for only so long, if nothing else, aging and death pulls them apart or the human lover is turned vampire and that drives them apart. Vicki and Henry are an exception. They share a true love and have a connection that won't burn out. Personally, I'd avoid anything more than friendship if I were you."

Mike drank from the cooling mug, "Why do you say that?"

"Those two care deeply for you. A few minutes of their feeding and physical pleasure could leave behind years of pain. Your pain will be brief compared to the centuries of grief they will have. If you really love them, keep the friendship casual and distant."

Henry stepped into the kitchen with Vicki close behind, "Maddy speaks the truth. Not the way I would explain it, but close enough. It would be very easy for me to feed and share physical love with you Mike. You're everything I like in a man, but it would diminish all three of us in your eyes."

Vicki eyes were wide as she heard Henry's words. She had known of Henry's former loves for a long time but hearing his desire for Mike stopped her cold.

Vicki looked at the three of them, trying to sort out her own feelings about love, sexuality, and the physical expression of love. She threw her hands up in the air and shouted, "I'm so not going there." Vicki marched the rest of the way into the room grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee, "I'm going to hate myself for drinking this shit, but I need coffee." She drank the strong black brew knowing she would throw it back up later. Since becoming vampire, her stomach wouldn't tolerate the coffee she enjoyed as human. "Some things belong behind closed locked doors and that's one of them. Henry, Mike do whatever you have to do, but don't you dare, either one of you, ever tell me. Got that. I'm not playing a threesome mentally or physically. She clutched her middle said, "Oh crap," and ran out of the room.

Mike and Maddy stood watching Vicki run for the guest bathroom as Henry followed her. Mike spoke to Maddy, "Rule One: only talk about vampires at high noon on a sunny day. Rule Two: leave before Vicki gets her second wind. Thanks for the coffee. Tell our friends good night and give them the information on Brent."

Maddy placed a hand on Mike's shoulder, "Henry will never touch you without permission. Neither will Vicki. They've brought you into their lives and your well being comes before their desires. Henry is an exceptional vampire and he is the Augustus family's favorite, and because he made Vicki, she's exceptional also."

Henry leaned against the door as Vicki was violently ill. He handed her a glass of water to rinse her mouth when she finished and a towel to dry her hands. He asked softly, "Does my being bi bother you that much?"

Vicki looked at the man she had accepted as her husband and soul mate, "Not your past lovers. The thought of Mike and you, yes it bothers me. The thought of you loving anyone but me makes me crazy. That's the part of being vampire I hate." She walked out to the living room and stood by the fireplace where a few weeks before they exchanged their vows. "I can fight demons, drink blood, and love you, but I can't stand the idea of you loving someone else."

Henry stood beside her resting one hand on her arm and the other on the mantle piece. "We don't have an easy life ahead of us. The physical contact while giving and receiving love is powerful. It gives comfort and companionship, it excites and soothes, it takes the place of words and makes the soul sing.

I get my strength and courage to face the world from loving you. You fill my heart and soul by being you. If I could think of any other way for us to feed, I would."

Vicki said, "We're pretty much stuck, aren't we?"

Henry's hand traveled up and down her arm, "Pretty much. It doesn't help that our hunting so often involves sex. But that's not love, Vicki. If you want to share time with Mike, I won't be happy, but I'll understand."

She batted his hand away, "You can be such an ass sometimes. I had my time with Mike. It was over before I met you. I... " She stopped, thought a moment, then ran to the bathroom slamming the door in Henry's concerned face.

He could hear her retching and saying "Oh God, Oh God," over and over again.

He pounded on the door and said, "Vicki what's wrong? Let me in."

"Oh God Henry. Leave me alone, PLEASE!"

He rattled the handle, testing the lock, "Victoria, let me in. Tell me what's wrong."

She flushed and ran water trying to drown out her tears, "Math. I can't get the numbers out of my head."

Henry stopped, "Math? What the bloody hell does math have to do with anything?"

Vicki gulped down some air and said through the door, "Do the math! Hundreds of feedings with sexual encounters a year for five hundred years. Oh God, how can you live with those numbers?" She started retching again, "Damn coffee!"

Henry turned his back to the door and slid down with his head resting on it.

Maddy came forward, " Henry? Can I get you anything?"

"Thank you, no. Go to bed Maddy. This is going to be a long night."

Finally the noises stopped on the other side of the bathroom door and Henry said, "Open the door Vicki. We need to talk this out." He felt more than heard the door being unlocked and unlatched. He had braced himself so that he didn't fall in, then turned around to see her sitting in the corner between the toilet bowl and the wall.

Henry shrugged his shoulders and started holding up fingers saying, "First, only about half that number were sexual encounters. Second, of that half, most of the encounters were with the same women. I'm not that promiscuous. The bisexual encounters were few and far between. I had one long term male lover and I'm not ashamed of that. There is comfort in the human touch, male or female. I'm not making excuses for my life. I did what I had to do to live. As the years go by, so will you. How do I live with the numbers? I don't think of them. Of my lovers, I honor their memories and their gift of life to me. Don't ever throw this in my face again."

Vicki looked at Henry and said, "I'm not judging you. It hit me all at the same time, the visuals and the numbers. Mike and me, then the possibility of Mike and you. I'm afraid of what I'll be in five hundred years".

"You will be you, and we will still be together. The past, yours, mine is just that, the past. We can't change it. So learn from it and let it go."

Vicki moved out from behind the toilet, made her way to where Henry was sitting and rested her head against his shoulder and said, "That's easy for you to say."

Henry stroked her hair and said, "No, it's not. There's a lot of past for me to learn from and forget. I'm not proud of all the things I've done to live. I've had to push the memory away so I could live with myself in the present. Taking five hundred years of love and putting them together doesn't equal one drop in the amount of love I have for you. If you'd been at my side at that banquet five hundred years ago, Christina would never have had a chance to take the first bite."

Vicki stood up and said, "I hate math. I always have and I always will." She held out her hand for him and added, "I know it's not going to be easy for us, but every hour with you is worth it."

Henry took her hand and stood, "I can't give you a monogamous relationship."

"I never asked that of you."

"No you didn't. I wish we could be exclusive, but as long as we feed from humans, on occasion, sex will be involved."

"Let's get all the BS out of the way. We feed, we touch and get touched but we keep the details of those encounters to ourselves."

"Exactly." Henry pulled her away from the bathroom door and added, "Mike brought some information about the neighborhood stalker, let's look at it."

Vicki started toward the kitchen and turned back to smile at Henry, "One other thing, don't ever let me drink coffee again."

Henry laughed, "Sweetheart, some things you have to learn for yourself."

Vicki snapped back, "Don't call me sweetheart, lover boy."

Henry caught her around the waist and rested his forehead on hers saying, "Don't call me lover boy." After a shared kiss or two they made it to the kitchen and found the folder on the table.

Skimming through it quickly, Henry and Vicki learned that Brent had been a busy boy in his youth. There were several complaints from women regarding unwanted attention. He would back off on stalking if confronted. In the past few years the complaints had dwindled in number and Brent was no longer watched as closely. No one in the area had been reported as missing so it was thought by law enforcement that little Brent had given up his habit of annoying women.

Vicki closed the folder and said to Henry, "Something's changed in Brent's life. He's active again, and I'm betting I'm not the only one he's paying attention to. Do you feel like doing a little stalking of your own?"

Henry's eyes darkened as he said, "I'm more than willing."

Brent stood across from the house watching the windows as his girl walked with that man from room to room. The electronic device that was guaranteed to pick up voices wasn't working right and he couldn't hear a word being said. Soon though, he would have her in his arms and the annoying man would be dead.