Love Bites

Silence. There was only silence. Among the carnage lay Alex’s cold, unmoving body. As Jack came down from his state of frenzy, the realization that his lover had taken the stake to the chest for him swarmed his brain and he began to sob uncontrollably. He collapsed to his knees and Anna gripped him into a bone-crushing embrace.

“He loved you so much, Jack,” she whispered, attempting to console the younger. “In all my years of knowing Alex, I never saw him love another being as much as he loved you.”

The two sat in the middle of the basement, holding each other in silent mourning. A noise broke the silence.

“Damn straight,” came the strained whisper of Alex.
Jack’s head whipped around so quickly it could have snapped his neck.

“Alex?!”

The elder vampire let out a horrific groan as he rolled over to his back and began to slowly dislodge the steak from his chest. He pulled it out and chucked it aside.

“Stupid dog had terrible aim. Just grazed my heart,” he feebly joked.

Both Jack and Anna were at his side in an instant. The younger boy carefully assisted Alex in sitting up and promptly pulled him into a tender embrace.

“Alexander, don’t you ever leave me again,” he sobbed.

Alex winced in pain but relaxed into his lover’s grasp, nuzzling his face in the crook of his neck. “I told you, everything would be fine,” he replied.

Anna laughed incredulously. She gingerly smacked Alex on the back of his head.
“You asshole! I thought you were dead!”

“They were all idiots,” Alex sassed.

Jack released his grip on his lover and helped Alex to his feet.

“Baby, are you ok?”

Alex nodded. “One inch to the left and I wouldn’t have been. I think I’ll make it.”

The trio of vampires surveyed the scene. Body parts and blood were scattered about the basement. The alpha wolf’s body lay still and pale in the center of the room, having returned to its human form when the silver blade had been thrust through his heart. Their former neighbors were in pieces. Miraculously, the three immortals had come out not only on top, but with everyone intact.

“What a fucking night,” Anna mused. “We take out an entire pack of dogs and Alex comes back from the dead. I haven’t had this much excitement in over three centuries.”
Her face seemed to drop as the high wore off and she remembered the only casualty. “Although I must tell you, I wish I’d never been apart of it.”

Jack and Alex both sat in silence, holding each other. The younger boy now knew the pain Anna was experiencing. Had Alex perished, he didn’t know if he could go on. The emotional turmoil would have been too severe and he likely would have offed himself rather than spend an eternity grieving his soulmate. Alex was his everything - he wanted nothing to do with a world without him. They belonged together. The three vampires helped each other up and strode out of the house of horrors together, victorious and unscathed. Time would only tell what was to happen next.

Six weeks passed and the boys found themselves settling into their new home in Europe. Essex, England, to be exact. The same place that Alex had been born over three centuries ago. Anna had parted ways with the boys after they’d left Canada. She promised them she would return - she just needed to grieve in solitude. Both boys, though they had no physical scars, were still recovering from the psychological toll that their experience had taken on them. They had yet to leave each other’s side. It took time for them to finally loosen their grip on each other, and after many weeks of hiding out, they came to the conclusion that the danger was no longer there and that they could integrate themselves back into society.

Things were finally starting to calm down, and their existence returned to its normal rhythm. Alex, with his many college degrees, had decided to return to teaching in a small, public high school. Jack decided to resume his own education and was now pursuing a degree in sound engineering. Days turned to weeks, and then weeks to months, and the two had finally found the simplistic bliss in each other’s arms they’d originally sought before things went to hell. Life was going smoothly once more.

“Hey, baby,” Alex called, closing the front door behind him and hanging his jacket.

“In the back,” came the distracted voice of his lover.

Alex rolled his eyes fondly and ventured toward the back of the house into their newly renovated studio, where Jack sat, concentrating over the latest song he’d been mixing.

The elder wrapped his arms around the boy and pressed a loving kiss to his temple.

“How’s it going?”

Jack paused his work and looked up at his mate. “Almost done,” he replied. He stretched and got up from his chair, tangling himself in Alex’s arms and kissing his neck.

Alex chuckled. “You have no idea what you do to me, love.”

“I think I do,” came the muffled response of the younger.

The two laughed and exchanged more kisses between them, hands roaming and bodies swaying.

“I was thinking,” Alex began, earning a disappointed groan from Jack as he broke the kiss.

He laughed and ignored him. “Let me finish! I think this will make you happy.”

Jack huffed and stepped away from his companion. “And what is it that you were thinking, hm?”

“I was thinking that today might be a good day to finally get married.”

Jack shot Alex a puzzled look. “You know, what with all the insanity that’s unfolded this last year, it completely slipped my mind that we never officially tied the knot.”

“Well, let’s tie that knot today,” Alex casually replied.

“Lex, are you sure? You know what we have goes way deeper than some conventional human wedding.”

Alex shook his head, slipping the silver band off Jack’s finger and dropping to one knee. The younger vampire was met with a sense of deja vu, flashing back to when Alex proposed when Jack was still human. They’d certainly come a long way.

“I already know what you’re thinking,” Alex began. “But I want to do this right. So much has happened since I originally proposed to you. We’ve grown, we’ve almost lost each other, we’ve killed werewolves and we’ve had...so much sex.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Is this funny to you? You almost died, you ass.”

Alex chuckled. “But I didn’t. Here we are, both still very much alive. Anna was right. I have never loved anyone or anything so fiercely in my three centuries of existence. Before you, I never put anyone before myself. You’ve shown me what it means to be selfless and genuine. I would die for you without a second thought, just like I know you would do the same for me. Jack, I never thought I had a soul until you grasped mine and fused it with yours. I want to be tied to you in as many ways as I can, and that includes marrying you. And I will drive us down to that courthouse right now if you’ll say yes and be my husband.”

Jack was grinning at this point. So much time had passed and he would have never imagined his life like this before. As he gazed into his lover’s hopeful eyes, he knew that he wouldn’t have it any other way. Alex was his future, Alex was his soul - Alex was just his. They were meant to be together. And god help whoever tried to get in their way.

“Yes.”