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They put the children to bed about an hour after Brendan arrived. It was well past their bedtime by that point, and the part of Ste that was thinking like Ste again felt incredibly guilty about letting them stay up so late. Another part wanted to turn them into nocturnal creatures just like him so he'd never have to say good bye again. But he knew he'd have to learn to repress that part of him.
"We need a good talk, Brendan," he said, in a gruff low voice while they were watching Leah's eyes drop. The little girl had been very vocal about not wanting to sleep, but in the end had let her exhaustion make the decision. Ste didn't fail to spot how she just accepted Brendan as part of the family now. It kind of annoyed him. But then, nor did she care that her Daddy had turned up naked and crazed in the darkness.
"I know," said Brendan and he wound his arm even more tightly around Ste's waist. He'd barely let Ste out of his grip since he'd found him drinking imaginary tea with Leah. He was probably scared Ste was going to run away again.
And that was something else they were going to have to talk about. The bastard had chained him to a bed! Was he completely mental? Was he actually trying to kill Ste? Chain him to a bed and let him writhe around in more arousal than Ste had ever felt before? Wasn't that torture?
When Leah and Lucas were definitely asleep, they checked on Amy. She was sat on a chair in the living room, where Ste had put her when she had fainted, and held a cup of sweet tea (now going cold) loosely in her hands.
She didn't look at Ste. She addressed Brendan.
"I've lost it, haven't I?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"No, Amy," Brendan told her, kindly.
"I saw him Brendan, in the hospital, on a metal tray. They wouldn't let me see his chest because he was stabbed with a wood stick. How can he be here now?"
"It was a miracle, Amy," Brendan told her, "but he can't come here much. He's not well enough yet."
Ste gave him a nasty look. That was a lie! Ste didn't lie to Amy!
"No! I'm a vampire now, Amy," he said.
Amy shut her eyes, as though she still didn't want to believe he was there. Brendan gave him a look back.
"We have to tell the truth, Brendan!" Ste insisted, though he might be wrong. He was still very confused. He had had to work very hard to remind himself not to jump on Brendan while he was bending over to tuck the children into bed, and he wasn't entirely sure why. It was something to do with the children. Or was it because he was angry with Brendan? Or did he think Brendan was going to turn him down again?
"There's no such thing as vampires!" snapped Amy. "I'm not crazy! Is this all some big joke?"
"No!" cried Ste, before Brendan could say yes. He didn't know why Brendan might say yes, but he feared it. "I am a vampire, look!"
He put his teeth out. He had muscles in his mouth to do that now. It was effortless. But worthless. Amy wouldn't look at him.
"Steven, I think Amy needs time," said Brendan, gently. Which annoyed Ste. He hadn't been given time! He just woke up and was a vampire.
"But I'm right here! She doesn't need to be sad any more; I'm not dead!"
Except that wasn't true either. She should be sad. Ste wasn't dead, but he wasn't Ste either.
"Steven, come with me," said Brendan, gently, and Ste realised he didn't have a choice. Brendan owned him. Brendan controlled him. He would have been more annoyed, but he still owned Brendan, so it was kind of fine. Well not really, but he'd find a way to deal with it.
"Tap yourself on the head," he said, and smirked as Brendan (wearing a scowl) followed the instruction. They left together and Brendan took his hand, showing him the way as they leapt into the air effortlessly. He could probably have done it by himself but he gripped Brendan's hand anyway, hard enough to crush a human's to dust. Not even enough to hurt Brendan.
"Where are we going?" he asked. "You ain't chaining me up again!"
Brendan smirked. Maybe he was having wicked thoughts, but he only said "To see someone that might help," which Ste found annoyingly cryptic.
So Ste sulked. He stuck out his bottom lip to prove it and would have folded his arms if he hadn't been clinging on. He refused to look at Brendan for the rest of the flight and when they landed outside a house he didn't recognise. He thought about asking where they were, but decided that would undermine his sulk. So he sulked some more instead.
"Do not get more than two feet away from me, Steven," Brendan said.
"What, forever?" said Ste, sulkily.
"Until I say so," said Brendan, with what was a frustrating lack of emotion. But Ste still couldn't disobey him. So he watched Brendan's feet and made certain each of his footsteps was exactly two feet from Brendan's at any moment. He heard Brendan mutter and felt triumph at being as annoying as he could.
They went up to a flat and Brendan knocked. He still hadn't explained to Ste why they were here. Ste hoped it was an all you could eat blood buffet. He was starving.
When Simon Walker opened the door, Ste groaned. It was very unlikely Brendan would let him eat Simon Walker.
Walker's mouth dropped open as he saw Ste.
"Ste?!" he gasped. "Is it...that's not..."
"Can we come in?" Brendan asked, interrupting Walker's surprised babbling.
"Yeah," said Walker, in wonderment, still staring at Ste, "yeah, come in."
"Thanks," said Brendan gruffly and Ste purposefully tried to stay right beside him as he went through the door so neither of them fit. Brendan grumbled again and pushed Ste in first, then followed. Ste folded his arms to show everyone he was still sulking.
Walker's flat was almost empty, lit by a solitary light bulb hanging from the centre of the ceiling and with just a handful of plastic chairs and a pile of Gothic looking books that were probably guides to killing vampires. The were currently in a messy pile in the corner.
"Is he a vampire?" Walker asked Brendan; as though somehow Ste couldn't answer for himself, just because he was miraculously newly risen from the dead.
"We think so," said Brendan, and Ste glared at him. Of course he was a vampire! What else could he be?
"I thought he didn't want you to change him," said Walker, quietly
"Yeah, I remember that too, Walker!" said Ste, giving Brendan an angry glare.
Brendan rolled his eyes, "You saw it Walker, my blood barely touched his lips. I don't get it any more than you."
Ste made a disbelieving sound. Brendan rubbed his face with tiredness.
"Sit down," said Walker, "you look exhausted, even for a vamp."
"Thanks," said Brendan, dropping onto the offered chair.
Ste sat on him, and said "No where else to sit less than two feet from ya," and gave Brendan a challenging look.
"There's the floor," said Brendan, unkindly.
"Oh, did you want me to kneel between your legs, oh great Master?" said Ste, angrily.
"Jesus," Brendan grumbled.
"Right," said Walker, "so I would give you a hard time about it Brendan, but it looks like someone already took that job."
"He tried to kill me earlier," said Brendan, sadly and Ste remembered trying to pull his head off. It hadn't worked, but that still might have been why Brendan had been reluctant to sleep with him. Maybe he should apologise for that. Except it was sulking right now. For some reason that he would probably remember really soon.
"Bloody hell," breathed Walker.
"Yeah," said Brendan shortly, before continuing with renewed intent, "so, I need another favour Walker."
Walker frowned and sat opposite him. "No blood here, Brady."
"No," said Brendan, "not that sort. It's...well, you ain't gonna like it."
"Better tell me quick, then," said Walker and Ste realised quite a lot had now been said when he had been talked about but not to. It really, really annoyed him. Brendan put a strong comforting hand on Ste's waist. He should probably push it off. Nice touching wasn't allowed when sulking. He didn't.
Brendan took the vampire equivalent of a long, deep breath and said "It seems Cameron wasn't responsible for all that happened. For targeting Steven or the rest of it."
Walker surged forward. "What?" he demanded.
"You what?" Ste repeated. "I bloody died for you and it wasn't even him?!"
"It seems there was someone else calling the shots," said Brendan, ignoring Ste to focus on Walker, "and we think he might still be out there."
"Someone else wants to kill me?" Said Ste, "well that worked great for them last time."
"Who then?" Asked Walker, angrily.
"In case they haven't noticed, I'm already dead!" said Ste, putting his fingers on his wrist, "look, no pulse."
"I dunno, I've got some vampire woman back at mine who was in the middle of telling me when I had to go chasing after him."
"Who's him, the cat's mother?" cried Ste furiously.
"I'll not be letting him out of my sight for a long time," said Brendan, heavily, "but he's got two kids, we can only keep an eye on them at night. We need someone..."
"Eyar, shouldn't I be picking the babysitter for mi own kids?!" snapped Ste.
"Course," said Walker to Brendan, completely ignoring Ste's words, "I've been keeping an eye on the place most nights anyway. Felt kind of... responsible you know?"
"Your brother killed me when you were babbling on about Brendan, you should feel bloody responsible!" Ste snapped.
Walker looked stricken and Ste smirked. He was speaking English after all.
Brendan still didn't look at him. "He's still confused, Walker, he doesn't blame you."
Ste glared at him. Brendan might be able to order Ste about, but he didn't talk for him!
"Pick your nose!" Ste ordered.
Brendan shot him a glare but obeyed as he went back to talking to Walker. "So just keep an eye on them," he said "but better not let Amy know you're anything to do with us."
"Bet Leah figures that out though," Ste interrupted.
"I've got some money to keep you going," Brendan offered.
Ste decided if Brendan could ignore him, then he could ignore Brendan, "Our Leah's dead clever. Well not dead, obviously, but proper clever, you know."
"I don't take money for protecting people, Brady," hissed Walker.
"And she'll have your number straight off, you know," said Ste, "she knew Brendan was a vampire straight away, didn't she?"
"I didn't mean to offend ye," said Brendan quietly, "I just meant you'd be doing me a huge favour."
"Er, they're my kids!" snapped Ste, then remembered he was supposed to be ignoring Brendan. He folded his arms again and stuck out his bottom lip.
"It's fine, Brady," said Walker, then glanced at Ste awkwardly. "So this vampire, do you think he…"
"I think he turned Cam, and Macca and the rest of them, probably. And I think he'll still be after Steven if he finds out he's...you know, still here."
"But he didn't turn me, you turned me!" said Ste.
"I don't know why he's doing it," said Brendan, "I…"
"He chained me to a bed!" Ste told Walker, angrily. Not enough had been said about Brendan chaining him to the bed.
"You tried to kill me!" said Brendan, angrily.
"And he gagged me!"
"You tried to order me to have sex with you!"
"I wanted to have sex!"
Walker coughed politely, "Do you two want to do this somewhere more... private?"
"Yes," said Brendan.
"No!" snapped Ste. "I want sex!"
"Jesus," muttered Brendan.
"Please don't have sex on my chair," said Walker.
Ste didn't care, he was already twisting in Brendan's lap. "Want sex," he said, kissing Brendan's neck.
"I thought you wanted to talk?" said Brendan.
"No, sex," said Ste, "Fu..."
Brendan pushed his hand against Ste's mouth, "You will not order me to fuck you!"
Ste sat back and sulked again.
"Er, was there anything else?" asked Walker, awkwardly.
"No," said Brendan, "come on Steven, we're going home."
Brendan stood, knocking Ste off his lap. So Ste sat on the floor, folded his arms and stuck his lip out.
"Jesus," Brendan muttered. Then he picked Ste up and threw him over his shoulder.
"Bastard!" snapped Ste into Brendan's back, arms still folded and lip still protruding.
"Bye Walker," Brendan muttered, and walked out of Walker's place.
Ste noticed Brendan's grip on him seem to loosen and that was all he needed. He twisted out of Brendan's grasp and flew off fast in the other direction. There was no way he was going back to that room and being chained to that bed. That wasn't how this evening was going to end! Brendan was going to start doing things his way now. It was high time he gave Ste exactly what he wanted. Brendan deserved to pay for ignoring Ste at Walker's, but first he needed something from the other man. Ste found the place he was looking for easily enough and landed smoothly. He slipped into the crypt and disappeared into depths, a smirk on his face.
Brendan followed him in, not realising the trap he was being lured into. Ste wiggled out of his clothes and hid behind one of the graves.
"Steven, I haven't got time to play hide and seek." said Brendan, sounding completely frustrated.
Ste stepped out from the grave and into the light. A huge grin was on Ste's face and he was as naked as the day he was born. "I order you not to leave this crypt until I'm satisfied. What are you going to do now Brendan?" he asked smirking. "That's a direct order that you can't disobey."
Cheryl slammed down a bottle of blood in front of Mitzeee. She bared her teeth at the woman, openly showing that she wasn't very impressed. Brendan was going to kill them, last time they'd screwed up this badly he'd taken away their credit cards. She so wasn't getting that diamante collar she had her eye on for Nate the dog.
"This is your fault." moaned Cheryl.
"My fault?" Mitzeee scoffed. 'I think you'll find it's Brendan's fault.'
"Why is it?" asked Cheryl, biting her lip.
"If he hadn't buggered off and left us then none of this would have happened." answered Mitzeee.
Cheryl thought about it for a moment and then her face lit up with a hopeful smile. "You know what...for the first time in a hundred years I think agree with you."
Mitzeee nodded. "If he hadn't ordered us to stay in this house with that woman then everything would have been different."
Cheryl's face lit up. "Yeah, we could have totally gone after her. We'd have caught her dead easy in those heals."
"And..." added Mitzeee. "We'd have got the name of the vampire those idiots were working for. But no." she put on a gruff voice. "I'm Brendan Brady, I'm your master...you must do as I say because I have a moustache. Bow down to the power of my facial hair."
Cheryl let out a laugh, trying her own attempt at Brendan's voice. "I'm Brendan and I must make a dramatic exit so I can go shag Steven...but I'll pretend I've gone to do the exact opposite. I bet they're doing it right now."
"Exactly!" said Mitzeee. "Who chains a man to his bed for platonic reasons? Does Brendan think we were born yesterday?"
"So this whole thing is Brendan's fault! Him and his inability to go ten minutes without stalking and pawing Ste!" said Cheryl.
"So really we shouldn't be punished or lose our credit cards. We should be rewarded for doing a good job." said Mitzeee.
"Are they nuts?" muttered Nancy under her breath to Myra.
"They're always like this," replied Myra. "Usually with each other, unless they're teaming up against Brendan. They're quite a force to be reckoned with when they do."
"Ah." said Nancy. "How does he cope with them?"
'With long periods of solitude I imagine.' answered Myra. "Or ear plugs."
"Yes!" exclaimed Cheryl suddenly. "We're the ones who hold everything together, I think we're due a raise or some new handbags. Brendan's the one at fault here, him and his silly orders."
Mitzeee nodded. "He's the one who told us we couldn't leave, so it's his fault we couldn't go after that cheap tart. Now all we've got to do is convince him of that."
"Oi! That's my daughter you're talking about!" said Myra angrily.
Nancy raised her eyebrow at Myra. "We all know she's not going to win daughter of the year any time soon, dead or alive."
Myra bit her lip. "We all make mistakes."
"Some of us more than others." said Nancy simply.
The sound of paws on steps caused the two witches to fall silent. Myra suddenly shifted awkwardly, almost as if she wished a hole would open up and swallow her. Nate finally appeared in the sitting room, his intelligent eyes weary with the sight of so many people. The minute he spotted Myra, he ran and cowered behind Cheryl.
"Oh god," said Nancy, unable to take her eyes off Nate. "Please tell me you didn't."
"I didn't." said Myra confidently.
"She did!" said Cheryl, assuming she knew what they were talking about. "She sang to poor Nate, thinking it would heal him. It about burst my eardrums it was that bad."
Mitzeee raised an eyebrow at her. "Somehow I don't think that's what they're talking about."
Cheryl glared at her. "I'm not stupid Mitzeee, of course that's what they're talking about."
"He's no ordinary dog, is he?" asked Nancy.
Cheryl rolled her eyes. "Of course he's not, he's mine. He's my baby."
At these words Nate came out from behind her and jumped into her arms. Cheryl made loud kissing noises and once again took part in a warped version of tonsil tennis with the dog.
"There goes my dinner," said Mitzeee, looking as if she wanted to throw up. "He was gorgeous as well."
"He's not a dog," said Nancy suddenly. "He's...he's a person."
Cheryl stopped fussing Nate, her heart sinking in her chest. She lowered him to the ground, suddenly unable to look at him. "What do you mean he's a person?"
Nancy looked at Myra, trying to force her to explain herself. "Are you going to tell them, or am I?"
"There's nothing to tell." said Myra, crossing her arms stubbornly.
Nancy let out a sigh. "Nate used to be a human, I can read it from the magic signature he's giving off. I'm guessing Myra did a spell and it didn't quite work out to the way she wanted."
Myra looked at the floor. "I thought I could fix him."
"So..." started Cheryl. "He's not really a dog?"
"No." answered Myra.
"So let me get this straight." said Mitzeee interrupting the two. "Cheryl's finally managed to attract a man after all these years, but he's stuck being a dog?"
"Pretty much." said Nancy.
"This is delicious!" said Mitzeee. "Better than that Jeremy Kyle that Cheryl records every morning!"
Nate the dog let out a whine and all the women looked at him with sympathy.
"Why did you do it?" asked Nancy. "You know you're not very good at this type of magic."
Myra looked guilty. "He begged me to help him, wanted a woman who would love him for who he is. Apparently his mother is a bit overbearing."
"How did you go from overbearing mother to fluffy canine friend?" asked Mitzeee, her eyes bright with amusement.
Myra scratched her head. "I got the spells mixed up."
"Is he...Is he good-looking, you know? When he's human." said Mitzeee.
"Reminds me a bit of Hugh Grant really." answered Myra. "A bit posh and looks a bit like one of those heroes out of those strange period dramas our Carmel's Jim watches."
"Can't you change him back?" asked Mitzeee.
"No!" said Cheryl suddenly.
The women and Nate the dog all looked at her.
"I don't want you to change him back," said Cheryl, her eyes filling with blood red tears. "He'll leave me just like all the other men. I love him, even if he is stuck forever being a dog."
Mitzeee's eyes filled with understanding. "Cheryl..."
"No, I don't want to hear it. Just do it and go." she walked out the room and into the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of blood and then added a large amount of vodka to it.
"Myra said she can't change him back." said Mitzeee gently.
Cheryl jumped, not noticing the other vampire's presence. She really was a rubbish vampire.
"I think he'd stay with you, you know? Even if he was human again." said Mitzeee. "He's stuck being a dog and yet he choose to stay around and protect you. He could have gone anywhere really and yet he's chosen to stick with a frizzy blonde haired vampire with a voice that could break glass. That's commitment."
"You really think so?" said Cheryl, wiping away a few stray tears.
Mitzeee nodded. "Now lets get back in there and show those witches who's boss."
"Okay."
The two vampires walked back into the living room, it only took them a moment to realise the two witches had gone. They looked at each other and began to laugh.
"We really are bad at this, aren't we?" said Cheryl.
"Well if Brendan wanted a job doing well, he should have done it himself." Mitzeee let out a yawn. "The sun will be up soon, I'm going to go to bed." she pulled a face at Nate the dog, who was watching the two quietly. "Make sure you perve on Cheryl while she's getting ready for bed, she loves that."
"Mitzeee!" shouted Cheryl, throwing a cushion at her. It missed its target, as Mitzeee was already half way up the stairs.
Nate the dog wagged his tail at Cheryl, his eyes revealing he had so much to say to her but no way to do it.
Cheryl sighed and kneeled down to pat him. "I don't care if you never become human, I love you just the way you are." she kissed him tenderly on the head.
A rapping on the front door caused Cheryl to stand up. She sighed, guessing it was probably one of the witches...most likely Myra. Only she would be stupid enough to come back to a house where she was meant to be held captive, after she'd escaped. She opened the door and gasped. It wasn't one of the witches, it was an older looking man. Not just any man...
"Daddy!" cried Cheryl as she threw herself into his waiting outstretched arms.