Archive of Our Own

Dominic finds himself by the sea some time after midnight. He likes the way it smells along the beach, the harsh salty scent overwhelming his heightened sense of smell. For a moment, he can close his eyes and forget, until the wind changes direction and carries to him the warm, heady scent of someone nearby. He growls.

It’s been a few days. His hands ball into fists, before he tells himself to relax. This is perhaps the fifty fourth or maybe even fifty fifth time he’s tried to go clean, now; he lost count somewhere after miners’ strikes in the eighties. All Thatcher’s fault. Although, then again, he’d lived through worse Prime Ministers. A lot of them, in fact.

He opens his eyes, looking out to the horizon and the full moon above him. That’s another reason he’s out tonight, at this hour. He feels a sort of duty for the population of this little seaside town, even though he’s been collectively ruining their lives for the last five years now. He’s genuinely surprised he’s managed to stay in one place for so long. They’ve normally sniffed him out by now, or he’s fucked up in a way that forces him to flee for his life. The life he didn’t even ask for, at that.

This is the last one, he tells himself. He’ll move south, tomorrow, another seaside town to terrorise.

Full moon means bad things. Big, bad things. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Then again, Dominic knows they are much rarer than his own kind. He’s only met a couple in his life, and the last time he did was 1941, or maybe 42, the dates get a bit muddled when you’re over one hundred years old. He’d killed it, of course. He killed most things that crossed his path. He still has some of his restraint, though, he wasn’t a newborn after all. Fucking Box Tunnel Twenty. Amateurs. Dominic rolls his eyes.

The wind persists and his stomach rolls as he smells that warm, overwhelming scent again. He could get drunk on that. He had, in the past, multiple times. He can’t even remember why he was going clean this time. Or maybe he does; maybe deep down, he’s so jaded by this existence that he wants to starve himself to death.

He’s too proud to admit that to himself, though.

He doesn’t even think about it. His boots are crunching back up the beach, his all black outfit making him almost invisible. His mind is already working out his plan of attack. Surprise, perhaps, or seduction? He is king of both of those, well practiced in any method available to him. The human is a woman, perhaps going home from a night out. Not drunk, though, he can smell that much. Dominic smiles to himself, he does quite enjoy a virgin cocktail every once in a while.

She turns to look at him as he steps onto the pavement, pulling her bag tighter as Dominic smiles at her. She hurries faster and Dominic rolls his eyes, quickening his pace. They always presume he’s going to mug them. If only they knew.

She turns a corner and he follows her down a small side street, one street light out, shrouding them in darkness. Now. He reaches and grabs her shoulder, spinning her around and sinking his fangs into her neck.

The last thing she sees are his jet black eyes.

*

Dominic finds himself standing outside a bank in a brand new town on a cloudy day, wearing Ray Bans and his leather jacket, even as the humans walk around in t-shirts and shorts. He pulls a passport out of his pocket for a Mister James Jones, born in 1990, almost a hundred years after he was turned. Perhaps even more, Dominic doesn’t particularly care for dates anymore. He walks inside the bank and to the pretty receptionist, feeling nice and calm after a splurge on five students a couple of nights ago. Diets were for the weak, he’d decided a few weeks ago when he’d broken his fast.

“Hi,” he says to the receptionist, flashing a grin and making her blush, the red filling her cheeks in such a wonderful way. “I would like to talk to someone about a mortgage?”

“Of course, sir. Follow me.”

Dominic follows her and the swing of her hips into an office, where she sits him down and tells him to wait a few moments for the mortgage advisor. Dominic admires the passport again as he is left alone, the work of craftsmanship that is perhaps his seventieth counterfeit ID. 1990. It was ringing a bell in his mind but he couldn’t quite place why.

He hears the door open and he turns around, remembering himself. A slim man enters the room, dressed in a black suit and a blood red tie. He’s brunet with blue eyes, perhaps Dominic’s type. He’d met a charming man like him back in the 1930s, before he did his usual thing and accidentally ripped his throat out.

Dominic flashes him an easy smile as he’s so accustomed to doing, and the man smiles nervously in reply. “Hello,” he says, making his way around to his seat. “My name is Matthew,” he says, reaching across the table to shake Dominic’s hand. He remembers his manners, and takes his hand; warm, a strong pulse.

Dominic also remembers his mannerisms, sucking in a deep breath as any human would.

The scent hits him like a crashing wave.

The man before him, Matthew, keeps on talking but Dominic isn’t listening anymore. He feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up instinctually, and he fights the tingling in his gums. Barely suppressing a hiss, his eyes rake over Matthew.

Surely not.

“Do you have any questions?” Matthew asks, Dominic having absolutely no idea what he’d just being saying. Gripping the arms of his chair, Dominic tries to control himself.

“You’re a werewolf,” he says bluntly.

Matthew’s eyebrows shoot up before he blinks, looking around the room. After a pause, he laughs a forced laugh. “I’m sorry, James, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Dominic stands up from his chair in a flash, putting it between himself and the werewolf. “Don’t lie to me. You fucking reek of it.”

Matthew sits back in his chair, cocking his head slightly at Dominic, mouth falling open in shock. “I don’t... I don’t understand,” he stutters. “Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“I had wanted a mortgage,” Dominic hisses, “but right now I want to know what the fuck a werewolf is doing posing as a banker.”

“I honestly have no idea what you’re on about,” Matthew says, and Dominic can tell he’s lying, fuck, he can smell it. “Are you okay, sir?”

“Stop fucking lying to me,” Dominic growls, and within a moment he’s reaching over the desk with his hands buried in the banker’s jacket. Being the old-fashioned gentleman he is, Dominic momentarily forgets about panic alarms, and within seconds he’s being pulled back off of Matthew and out into the corridor. “Get the fuck off me,” he hisses, so close to manifesting that he’s in physical pain, but he lets himself get dragged out of the building.

The last thing he sees are Matthew’s worried blue eyes.

*

Dominic’s in the mood for a fight as the sun goes down. Hands thrust deep into the pockets of his skinny jeans, he kicks an empty can of Coke down an empty road. His mind is still reeling from having met that lying son of a bitch the day before, and it’s set him on edge. Why was he lying? Is he trying to cover up the existence of a pack nearby?

The thought turns the blood in Dominic’s stomach cold. He knows he’s the only vampire in this sleepy seaside town after scoping it out well over the last couple of weeks, and a nearby werewolf pack would be bad news. Very bad news. He’s angry too, though. Surely the man must’ve worked out who he was, if he’d been able to sniff him out? Why didn’t he bother asking?

Dominic forms fists with his hands, flexing his fingers. He wants a fight, a proper fist fight. None of this knife shit that had spread around the country in the last decade or two. Back in the day, real men used to split each other’s lips open with brute force, knocking men out cold with their bare fists. You only ever won if your hands were coated with blood at the end. Dominic sees the image in his mind and sniffs the air. He could do with another meal, and he can smell young humans nearby. He can hear them shouting, and he speeds up his pace, leaving the Coke can behind.

Turning the corner, he sees a bunch of young guys in tracksuit bottoms, laying into someone crouched on the floor. Dominic feels that bizarre sense of duty to protect the victim, if only to drain them once he’d scared off the others. He storms over to the group, who are shouting and laughing as they beat their victim up.

“Anything to say, faggot?” one of them says, kicking a groaning man on the floor. Dominic sees that he’s wearing some kind of suit. “Last fucking time you’ll ask me out for a drink, yeah?” he laughs, spitting on the man. He turns to Dominic, face cold.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asks, his cronies stopping and turning to Dominic. The man on the ground groans, Dominic only able to see the back of his head, brown hair matted with blood.

“Your worst fucking nightmare,” he smiles, before stepping forward and casually tearing the bully’s throat out with his teeth, the body crumpling to the floor. His cronies stand there for a moment, paralysed by fear, until Dominic turns his head and hisses with fangs bared, blood dripping down his chin and eyes entirely black.

They run.

The man on the ground rolls over slowly, unfocused blue eyes staring up at Dominic. He weakly squints, trying to bring Dominic into focus, before Dominic shakes his head, about to scoop the body up in his arms before he coils back suddenly, noticing the blood in the man’s hair once more.

Dominic carefully prods the banker’s side with the tip of his boot. Matthew groans. “Get up,” Dominic hisses, pulling his own t-shirt up to wipe away the blood from his mouth. He lets it fall again, zipping his jacket up over the stain. “Get up you cunt,” he growls once more, prodding him a bit harder and looking at the nearby corpse with panic tingling in his veins. Matthew looks up at him with a question on his face. “I’m trying to help you but I can’t touch your blood, it’s toxic to me. Come on, we need to move, the police will be here soon.”

Matthew manages to sit up, and Dominic closely inspects the elbow of Matthew’s jacket before deciding that it’s safe to help heave him to his feet. Matthew sways, latching onto the arm of Dominic’s leather jacket so he doesn’t fall. With a sigh, Dominic pulls his hand back into his sleeve, wrapping his arm around the man’s shoulder to try and keep him upright. They shuffle down the road slightly, Dominic’s eyes alighting on the public toilets near the entrance to the park. With words of mild encouragement, Dominic heaves the man into the disabled bathroom, sitting him down on the lid of the toilet and locking the door behind them.

Matthew appears to be a bit more coherent; at least, he’s managing to sit up straight and not fall over sideways. Dominic reaches for him as his eyes close, tipping his head up so he can open his eyes to check his pupils. Immediately, pain flares in his hand and he jumps back from Matthew, staring at the small burn on his finger.

“Fucker,” Dominic says, rushing to the tap to wash away the blood on his hand. “I told you you’re toxic to me but you didn’t listen, did you,” he mumbles under his breath, wondering why on earth he’s bothering to help a human, a werewolf at that, the sworn enemy of his species. They were dogs, they were nothing, they were worse than nothing. So why was Dominic so concerned about him?

He turns back to Matthew, who is tugging at the toilet paper, forming a wad to press against the cut on the back of his head. “Are you bleeding anywhere else?” Dominic asks.

Matthew shakes his head. “It was just kicks, mainly. This is from when they pushed me to the ground,” he says in a meek voice, and Dominic feels a pang of some emotion he hasn’t felt in at least a decade. “I’m sorry I burnt you,” he says to his knees, not daring look Dominic in the eyes. “That’s never happened to anyone else before.”

Dominic sighs, putting a hand on his hip. “I can’t say I’m surprised,” Dominic laughs. “Do I have any blood on my face?”

Matthew squints, pointing idly to the corner of his own mouth. Dominic turns to the sink, rubbing away at the area with some water. He turns back to Matthew who nods. Sometimes, he misses his reflection. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Matthew’s eyes flicker upwards again. “Um. James Jones, you wanted a mortgage? I’m sorry I pressed the panic button, I got nervous, I didn’t know what you were talking--”

“Of course you knew what I was talking about,” Dominic interrupts, impatient with Matthew’s meekness about the subject. “You’re a werewolf, aren’t you? Admit it,” he demands gruffly. Matthew’s head dips, before he nods.

“I just... I just don’t understand how you worked it out,” he says, looking up at Dominic with big blue eyes full of questions. “You said you smelled it... are you some kind of hunter?”

Dominic smirks. “Worse,” he says, watching Matthew’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. That action would’ve normally caused him to jump any other human, however with Matthew it didn’t provoke that reaction in the slightest. It was almost a relief, for once, to be in such close confines with a human and to not have the immense desire to kill them.

Although, Matthew was getting on his nerves.

“Who are you, then? What’s worse than a hunter?” Matthew asks.

“You asked me this in your office,” Dominic says, continuing to pace the bathroom. “But then you started lying to me again. Why should I tell you who I am if you can’t even tell me the truth?”

Matthew lowers the paper from his head, before chucking it in the bin and making himself a new dressing to press against the wound. “Alright, alright,” he says, raising his other hand as he talks. “I’m sorry. I am a werewolf, I guess.”

“You guess?” Dominic allows himself to smirk, and to his surprise Matthew lets out a true laugh.

“Yeah, I guess,” he says with a smile before it vanishes. “I mean... I guess I’m a baby werewolf, if that makes sense. I only got infected six months ago. I’m trying to keep my normal life, you know? It only affects my life once a month, which isn’t enough to justify not trying to live like a normal human being. So I kept my job at the bank, and my little flat because it’s better than... whatever a true life of a werewolf is, according to you,” he says, placing a bit of emphasis on the last word. “Now, will you tell me the truth?”

Dominic’s mouth twitches up in a half smile before he lets it fall again. “I’m a vampire,” he says calmly, Matthew’s eyebrows raising as he exhales a breath he didn’t realise he was holding.

“At least you got the cooler one,” Matthew jokes, but Dominic doesn’t laugh.

“Yeah, tell me that when you’ve been stuck as a twenty one year old for the last hundred and thirty years,” he sighs. Forever twenty one, oh the irony. Matthew’s shocked expression remains on his face.

“I’d thought you were so young, yesterday,” Matthew admits. “Well, I can hardly talk, I’m only twenty four myself. I was probably going to reject you for a mortgage. Looks are deceiving, aren’t they?” he laughs, but this time Dominic laughs along.

“You can say that again,” Dominic says, leaning against the wall. “How’s the head?”

Matthew pulls the bloodstained tissue away from his head, grimacing. “I might have to go to hospital.”

“Have you ever had any problems, in a hospital?” Dominic asks, genuinely curious. “I mean, I try to avoid them at all costs, mostly because of the whole one heartbeat per minute thing,” he says, Matthew laughing at the casualness of his tone. “But have you...?”

“I went just after I got infected,” Matthew says. “The scratch was huge and wasn’t healing by itself, I didn’t know what to do. I told them it’d been a bear, but...” he shrugs a shoulder. “Apart from that they didn’t notice anything untoward, I don’t think.”

Dominic unlocks the toilet door, peeking outside into the darkness. “Come on, I’ll walk you there,” he says, gesturing at Matthew to get up off the toilet. He gets up, now capable of walking on his own. “You never know what kind of dangerous creatures are lurking around at this time of night,” he says with a wink, and Matthew laughs; nervously or not, Dominic can’t quite work it out.

They set off down the road, Matthew with his makeshift bandage still pressed against the back of his head. Dominic walks with an air of confidence; the night is his by rights, and he is always in his element in the darkness. He’s surprised to learn that after a short amount of time in his presence, he’d already gotten used to Matthew’s scent. It wasn’t quite wet dog as he had remembered from years ago, but more of a woody, earthy scent. He almost liked it.

“So...” Matthew starts to ask, turning to Dominic. “How long have you been in town then? I mean... I don’t know if that Twilight shit--”

Dominic groans loudly.

“--has ruined my perception of vampires, but, do you age, do you have to move around a lot? Can you walk in the sun?”

Dominic laughs, embracing the fact that for the first time in too long, he can talk about who he is freely. “Don’t go telling anyone any of this, by the way,” Dominic preludes, “or I will quite happily rip your throat out, even if I die trying.”

Matthew nods unsurely, before Dominic continues.

“I’ve only just gotten to Teignmouth,” he says. “If there’s a clan nearby I might stay in a city, but normally I like to be in towns, especially at the seaside. I was born in London, and even though that’s where most of the vampires are and there’s safety in numbers, I try to avoid it at all costs,” he says, his nose turning up at the very thought of the city he lived in as a human. “I was turned when I was twenty one, in 1888, and haven’t aged a day since. I move around every five years or so, I try to age from 19 to 24, if that makes sense.”

Matthew nods.

“And yeah, I can walk in the sun,” he says as they come to the busier part of town near the hospital. “I don’t sparkle or any of that tripe. Those films actually helped us, they put the humans right off our scent,” he laughs darkly. “You won’t find me sunbathing though, I definitely prefer the night.”

“So no sleeping in coffins or anything like that?” Matthew asks with a tinge of excitement in his voice.

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Dominic offers with a shrug. “Threshold and reflection rules still apply though, annoying bastards.” He falls silent, feeling a strange emotion bubble around his veins. He realises, belatedly, that it’s contentment. “Six months, then? Just a little cub. I suppose I’m the first one of our kind you’ve met?”

“What do you mean, our kind?” Matthew asks curiously. Dominic’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Of course, I forgot that werewolves don’t stick around to look after their cubs like our makers do,” he says with the smallest touch of venom to his voice. “There are other supernaturals like us, as you humans would say. Vampires and werewolves, ghosts, demons, succubi, fuck, even zombies. Absolutely gross though, they are. There’s more, but they haven’t been seen for a few hundred years. History does tend to repeat itself though,” Dominic says with an air of mystery.

Matthew hums. “Yeah, the guy who got me didn’t really stick around. I don’t think it’s physically possible, really. Nor did my boyfriend,” he says sadly, Dominic turning to him with a shocked expression.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. He stuck with me for the month after the attack, really caring and all that. As soon as I told him about my first transformation, which had been bloody traumatic as you can imagine,” Matthew says, Dominic nodding silently, “he legs it. Five months now, haven’t heard a peep from him.”

“Fuck,” Dominic says lowly, for once not quite knowing what to say.

“So I kept my job at the bank, even though the pay is bad, and I kept the flat because I wanted to try and keep things as normal as possible, y’know? Even though my long term boyfriend had left me and I’d started turning into a wolf once a month. I don’t know which is worse,” Matthew jokes, following it with a heavy sigh. Dominic claps him on the back as the hospital appears in sight and they start walking through the huge car park.

“Well, I still need that mortgage to buy a house,” Dominic says with a smile. “And from experience, it’s always easier if you put it in the name of a living, breathing human being,” he says, Matthew turning to him cautiously.

“As like, housemates?” Matthew asks.

“Well, we can be enemies if you want to live up to the stereotype,” Dominic says, the two of them having come to a halt on the opposite side of the road to Accident and Emergency. Dominic daren’t go any closer, he could already smell the blood from where he stood.

“No, no,” Matthew rushed to say. “I wouldn’t want that, you seem like a nice guy,” Matthew says, and Dominic’s sharpened sense of vision doesn’t miss the blood rushing to his cheeks under the streetlight. “I meant, like, we’ve only just met!” he blurts.

“Well, if you want to wait to find someone who won’t question you on your monthly disappearances then feel free to reject my offer,” Dominic says as he checks his nails, knowing exactly how Matthew would react. Before he could interrupt though, Dominic continues. “I know it’s hardly conventional, but I’ve got the money, or at least most of it, and I haven’t managed to find another of my own kind, so I might as well turn to my supernatural brethren.”

“Brethren?” Matthew asks, daring to tease. Dominic allows him, as he can’t deny the strange connection they’ve developed over the last hour or so.

“I am a Victorian, you know, I’m allowed to have my moments,” Dominic says with a wink. “I’ll leave you here, then,” he says, pulling out his mobile phone. “Too many people bleeding in there for my liking. Well...” he drawls the word and pauses as he looks to the dark sky. Matthew catches the implication. “Anyway, will you text me when you get home? I’m still looking to feed, and I love nothing more than a revenge kill.” Dominic grins a toothy grin and watches Matthew shudder. He laughs as they swap numbers, Matthew giggling nervously as he gets his own one wrong.

“It was nice to meet you, Matthew,” Dominic says.

“Matt will do fine,” he smiles. “Nice to meet you too, James.”

Dominic laughs, shaking his head at his feet. “That’s a persona. Not really that inventive is it, James Jones? Sometimes I like to play around with different names, the whole false identity thing does get tiresome,” Dominic explains, Matthew looking up at him in confusion. “Call me Dominic. Dom.”

“Alright, Dom,” Matthew says with a timid smile, before waving and turning towards the hospital. Dominic turns away, realising that a smile has crept unbidden onto his face, and that for the first time in many months he feels happy.

*

Matthew fiddles with his phone as he waits, constantly checking the time. He’s early, as he always is, and he starts to panic. He catches himself wondering if his t-shirt is too casual - it’s coffee on a Saturday, for God’s sake - and reminds himself for the hundredth time that it’s not a date.

Even if he does think that Dominic is very, very handsome.

He looks so young though, a perception that becomes entirely skewed when he opens his mouth and speaks with his one hundred odd years of wisdom. Matthew can’t help feeling small compared to someone who’s lived his ten or so adult years thirteen times already.

Matthew sighs loudly, resigning himself to stop thinking like that and checking his phone again. He should be here by now. Dom had chosen a café near the beach but not quite on it, where they could have a chat before heading off to a house viewing. Matthew looks up to see Dominic come around the corner in his leather jacket and a pair of Ray Bans, and he tries to ignore the way he forgets to breathe for a moment.

Dominic flashes a smile, giving Matthew a wave as he approaches. “Hey,” he says easily, “shall we go in?”

Matthew nods as Dominic holds the door open for him, waiting for a moment so Dominic can lead them to a table in the back, waving to the server as he passes. They take their seats, Dominic removing his sunglasses and folding them on the table. “How’s your head now?” Dominic asks.

“Been fine the last few days, healed up nicely,” Matthew says with a smile. “The nurse said I was lucky I went in because I was actually a bit concussed, had to stay in for supervision for a few hours. Thanks again for your help,” Matthew says, and Dominic waves him off.

“Honestly, it was nothing. I made sure they got what was coming to them,” Dominic says with a grin that flips Matthew’s stomach. He lets the words sink in as the waitress appears, the both of them deciding on tea for two.

“I can’t stand coffee,” Dominic says with his nose turned up. “It’s not natural.”

“I would hardly describe your diet as natural either,” Matthew says and Dominic laughs, fiddling with his sunglasses on the table. “Can you eat and drink, like... well, like me?”

Dominic nods, meeting Matthew’s eyes. Matthew swears they change shade every time he looks into them. “I can. I think I have to stick to foods I ate as a human. Or, from previous experience, there are only certain foods I can eat. I don’t like to be too adventurous with human food because it has quite painful consequences,” Dominic says lowly. Matthew nods, well acquainted with pain himself. “And tea, well, tea was such a rarity for people of my class when I was human, it’s still novel to me, after all these years,” Dominic says with a nostalgic smile, before looking back into Matthew’s eyes, the brunet well aware of the emotions passing over his own face.

“People of your class... were you not middle class then? How did you end up--”

“I think I’ll leave that story for somewhere more intimate, don’t you?” Dominic says, and Matthew swallows thickly at the word intimate, trying not to blush. Even though Dominic seems to be a modern day man, some of the words and structures he uses secretly thrill Matthew, being the only one who knows who (or what) he truly is.

Their tea arrives and Dominic sets about pouring it from the little teapot, looking bizarrely in his element. He only adds a splash of milk to his, whereas Matthew adds sugar as well, to Dominic’s mock disgust. Matthew smiles.

“So, Matt,” Dominic starts after sipping his tea, placing it back down on the saucer. “Tell me about yourself.”

Matthew laughs. “Is this an interview?”

“Sorry, I haven’t done the whole “talking to someone I’m not about to drink” thing in a little while,” Dominic says dryly, Matthew only just avoiding inhaling his tea as he giggled. Dominic looks up at him and smiles.

“Well...” Matthew says, setting his cup down. “Well, I’m 24, and I work in a bank, but you know that already,” he mumbles, avoiding Dominic’s eyes as he tries to think. How do you sell yourself to a gorgeous vampire for God’s sake? “Anything?”

“Anything.”

“Alright then. I grew up in Cambridge, moved here when I was a teenager. I studied Economics at university but... God, I’m a boring sod,” Matthew laughs, running his hand through his hair. “I play piano,” he shrugs, and Dominic perks up.

“Piano, I dabbled with that back in the 40s a little,” Dominic says, sitting back slightly and linking his fingers together. Matthew’s having a hard time stopping his mouth from dropping open every time Dominic speaks.

“Really?” he squeaks, and as he blushes Dominic smiles warmly, Matthew completely forgetting for a moment that the man mere feet from him enjoys draining the life from humans like him.

“Tried to rouse wartime spirits,” he offers with a grin, before his face darkens. “Before we used to scour the tube stations in gangs during the air raids,” he says in a low tone, looking away before meeting Matthew’s eyes again. “I prefer the drums, personally. Hence why I’m looking for a house instead of a flat, I don’t want to annoy the neighbours too much,” he says easily, Matthew finding himself entranced by every word.

“I play guitar too, although I had to sell my last one to try to keep up with the bills. Daren’t sell my piano though, it’s almost as old as you are,” Matthew jokes, seeing how far he can push the boundaries. Dominic laughs and his nerves flutter away.

“Music is the one thing that I really quite admire, having seen it evolve over time,” Dominic says as he pours his second cup of tea. He silently gestures to Matthew and Matthew nods, watching his cup get refilled. “Well, I say that now in 2014,” Dominic drawls. “But no, I think my favourite is probably the nineties. So much change and so much young energy, it was such a great time to be alive in. Well.”

“Did it take you a hundred years to acquire that awfully dry sense of humour?” Matthew asks with a smirk. Dominic laughs loudly, throwing his head back and startling people at a nearby table.

“No, mostly I rely on cheesy jokes and well used pick up lines to get by,” Dominic says, extending his legs under the table and not pulling back when his boots accidentally brush Matthew’s trainers.

“And do they work?” Matthew asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“You tell me,” Dominic says. Matthew can feel his heart thudding in his chest and is sure Dominic is well aware of this fact. He feels blood rushing to his cheeks as he ducks to sip at his tea, desperately trying to think of how to respond.

“So, ah, through the years, have you ever been with... well no, not been with, maybe fallen for... either a human or...” Matthew stutters, wishing Dominic would stop smiling at him and that he’d stop crossing and uncrossing his legs up against Matthew’s own under the small table.

“When I was very young,” Dominic starts, Matthew sighing with relief as he can let his attempted question go. “I was too hungry to even consider it, even with a vampire. I fell in love in the late 20s with this beautiful flapper girl - I spent a couple of years in New York until I started attracting too much attention - she was a vampire too,” Dominic says, pausing to sip at his tea. “I watched her maker drive a stake through her before my eyes. He hadn’t informed me that she wasn’t to be shared,” Dominic says casually, Matthew’s face plain with shock. “Don’t worry, I moved on quite quickly. You can’t hold grudges when you live a life like this, or when that vampire is a few hundred years older than you and much more powerful.”

Matthew blinks, trying to take it all in.

“I fell for a human just after the war, when London was rebuilding. He’d just come back from France--”

“Wait, you’re bi?” Matthew stutters, feeling very small when Dominic shoots him a dark look.

“If you’re desperate to put a label on it, I would say panromantic. The only thing I am absolutely attracted to on this planet is the blood pumping around every human’s veins, except your own. I don’t fall in love with bodies, I fall in love with minds,” Dominic says, sitting back a little. “Although a body that’s pleasant on the eye doesn’t go amiss,” he smirks.

Oblivious to the compliment, Matthew looks down at his near empty teacup. “Sorry, it’s just... you only ever hear about vampires going for those innocent, pale women,” he says in self-defence. Dominic laughs.

“Please, I had enough of that gothic drama before the 20th century had even dawned,” Dominic says with a laugh, before continuing his story. “Anyway. He’d lost his family, and I was going to end his sorry little life, a coup de grâce if you will, but as he kept talking I was enthralled.”

“What did you do?” Matthew asks softly.

“I turned him,” Dominic replies in a similar tone. “My first successful transformation,” he says with a smile, an odd twist to the word successful that makes Matthew wonder. “We spent about twenty or so years together, all through until the 60s. Until...”

Dominic pauses as the waitress comes over to ask if they’d like anything else, clearing away the tray between them. Dominic remains silent, even after she places the receipt between them on the table and takes her leave.

“Dom?” Matthew asks quietly. Dominic looks up, as if being woken from a dream.

“He’d started hanging around with older vampires. I’d been working as a policeman for a while, we always have people on the inside, you see, so when I was at work he’d be sneaking off. We fought, a lot. It wasn’t always happy. I had so many protection instincts over him, not just because I loved him but because I was his maker. So he starts hanging around with these older vampires, powerful vampires. They want to recruit him into their kind of club, to use him as some kind of soldier, a war against humanity, they called it.”

Dominic laughs dryly. “I’ve heard so many plans for converting the whole world by now that I don’t care anymore, but back then I was furious. He said he didn’t want to see me ever again.”

“What happened?” Matthew asks, fear sluicing through his veins due to the chilling tone in which Dominic was telling his story.

“He decided to fight me,” he says, distractedly looking out at the other customers before looking directly into Matthew’s eyes. “He lost.”

“B-But you loved him?” Matthew squeaks, suddenly wondering if the crush he was harbouring on Dominic might prove fatal.

“Oh I did, don’t get me wrong, but if I hadn’t killed him, he would’ve killed me. Or, well, have gotten me killed. Vampires can’t kill their makers, you see. After I was done with him, I went and sorted out all of the others who were in on the plan.”

“But they were older, more powerful?”

Dominic smiles coldly. “Bloodlust makes a vampire deadly. Heartbreak makes him unstoppable.”

Matthew sits back and exhales. “So...” he drawls, Dominic laughing under his breath. “Vampires are soppy bastards at heart.”

“Don’t push it,” Dominic says with a smile. “I’m sorry. You asked, and you deserve a decent answer, if we’re going to be living with each other, after all. That is, if that didn’t put you off,” Dominic says, gesturing towards Matthew.

“Not at all,” Matthew says. “Shall we go see that house, then?”

*

“It’s pink.”

“Stating the obvious there.”

“They’re going to think we’re a couple,” Matthew says, his voice breaking embarrassingly on that final word. Dominic laughs.

“Says the gay one,” he mumbles as they spot the estate agent step out of her car on the opposite side of the road.

“Says the one who spent twenty years with a bloke,” Matthew huffs as Dominic steps forward, megawatt smile in place as he greets the estate agent with a brief handshake. Matthew does the same before she turns to the house with open arms.

“Well, here it is,” she says, before leading them to the door with a bunch of keys in her hands. “This property has been on the market for quite a long time. A lot of people have viewed it and there’s been much interest, but we haven’t managed to sell it. No onward chain, though, we’re ready to sell it as soon as we get a buyer!” she says excitedly as she opens the door. It opens straight into a large, empty living space, with a small kitchen off to the right and the stairs right in front of them. Matthew steps up into the house, turning around to see Dominic hovering outside, looking quite distracted. “Come on in, then,” the woman laughs and Dominic smiles up at her, before stepping up into the house and taking off his sunglasses.

Matthew glances up into the darkness, sure that he can see a face, but he blinks and it’s gone.

The estate agent keeps talking about the property before she stops mid sentence and shivers. “Oh, sorry about that,” she giggles nervously. “Bit chilly in here, don’t you think?”

“I’m fine,” Dominic says, and Matthew wants to elbow him in the ribs. Matthew rubs his hands up and down his arms, trying to flatten the goosebumps that had risen there.

Turning his head to follow movement in the corner of his eye, Matthew gasps as he sees a tall man standing in the corner of the room in his pyjamas. Their eyes meet, Matthew about to open his mouth and say something before Dominic’s fingers are on his shoulder, turning him back to the estate agent quickly. Matthew sneaks another glance but the man is gone.

When she finishes speaking, Dominic laughs at her unfunny joke, his hand still on Matthew’s shoulder, the cold of his fingers seeping through to Matthew’s warm skin. “May we have a few minutes to discuss a few things?” he asks politely, and she agrees, stepping outside the front door and leaving them alone in the house.

As soon as the door shuts, Matthew whips around, trying to look for the man. “Dom, did you see--”

“He’s a ghost,” Dominic explains.

“But why isn’t he hiding, why--”

“I don’t think he was expecting two supernaturals to turn up on his doorstep,” Dominic says, looking around the room. “We’re not going to hurt you, you know,” he says out loud.

Matthew turns around again to find the man standing on the bottom step of the stairs. “Hi,” he breathes at the ghost, who looks between the two of them with wide, frightened eyes. He appears to be slightly translucent as far as Matthew can tell, looking like he just rolled out of bed.

“You can see me,” the ghost says quietly, wonder in his voice.

“Vampire, werewolf,” Dominic says, pointing at himself and Matthew respectively. “A true supernatural trinity, I haven’t heard of one of these in years,” he laughs, although Matthew and the ghost simply look at each other in confusion. “She says they’ve had trouble selling the house. Is that your doing, by any chance?” Dominic asks, and the ghost hangs his head.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of being invisible in my own house,” the ghost says lowly, and Matthew frowns.

“I want this house,” he says defiantly, looking up at Dominic.

Dominic smiles. “I was counting on that.” He turns to the ghost. “Do you give us your leave to buy this house, then?” he asks, Matthew smirking at his wording. The ghost raises his eyebrows, before a small smile breaks out over his face.

“Of course! I mean... will you suddenly stop seeing me or something?” he asks. Dominic shakes his head. The smile breaks into a grin. “Well yeah, I mean, I only really haunted the couples that were really lovey dovey... oh, are you a couple? I mean, I have nothing against it if you are...”

A chorus of “no”s breaks out so quickly between both Matthew and Dominic that they have to laugh.

“I’ll go grab the estate agent, then,” Matthew says. “You should go hide,” he says to the ghost.

“Humans can’t see me,” the ghost says, before smiling again. “Watch.”

Matthew brings the estate agent back inside again, and to keep up appearances allow themselves to be shown around the three bedrooms upstairs, the ghost trailing behind them through each room. At one point, he stands right in front of the woman as she talks, staring into her eyes as she complains at length about how cold the house is.

Matthew and Dominic do all they can to keep themselves from giggling out loud.

Finally she takes them back downstairs. “So, do you like it?”

“We’ll take it,” Dominic smiles happily. The estate agent is absolutely shocked.

“Are you sure? I should say, I think the house is haunted,” she says, but rushes to then say, “but don’t let that stop you!” in a shrill voice.

“Really?” Matthew asks, feigning curiosity. “You mean, there could be a ghost in this room, right at this moment?”

The estate agent looks around nervously, paling. Dominic elbows Matthew in the side, suggesting they head back to her office in the centre of town. Once she’s outside, Matthew turns back to wave at the ghost, who waves back with a smile on his face.

*

When they returned two days later with the deeds signed and house keys in hand, they learned that the ghost was called Chris. They spent the day moving in Matthew’s furniture from his flat, and then some of Dominic’s more precious items that he’d been keeping in storage, including the beloved drum kit now in his room (in which he would never sleep). Chris helped as much as he could inside as he adjusted positions of furniture and made endless cups of tea, none of which he could drink himself.

By nightfall, they were sitting on the mishmash of sofas and armchairs in the big living room, Matthew and Dominic with a beer in hand.

“Wish I could still drink beer,” Chris says sadly, legs crossed beneath him as he sits on the sofa, his pyjamas looking normal as the sky darkened outside. “I can’t eat or drink anything anymore.”

“Not necessarily a bad thing,” Matthew chirps, putting his hand to his belly. “At least you can’t gain weight like me.”

Dominic looks between them; Matthew looks as if he could do with putting on a few pounds, he’s that skinny, and Chris looks heavily muscled. He says nothing, sipping his beer.

“So what’s up with the pyjamas?” Matthew asks, gesturing towards Chris’ outfit with his beer bottle. Dominic sighs loudly. “What, what did I do?”

“You don’t just ask someone how they died,” he hisses at Matthew, before turning to Chris. “Excuse the cub, he’s only been one of us for six months.”

“Nearly seven now, actually,” Matthew snaps, looking back at Dominic. Chris laughs, the sound bringing the attention back to the ghost. The man who was mumbling to the floor yesterday was gone, and his new housemates had the feeling that this was how he’d been when he’d been alive, loud and laughing.

“It’s fine, Dom, I don’t mind,” Chris says.

“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot,” Matthew mumbles into the lip of his bottle.

“Maybe we could all share how we, y’know,” Chris says with a shrug. “If you’re game.”

“Sure, I am,” Matthew says. “Dom?”

Dom looks up at them from where he had been deep in thought. “Yeah, sure,” he says dismissively, Matthew already knowing enough about the vampire to know that his tone didn’t seem quite right.

“Alright,” Chris says. “So, how I died.”

It’s still night time when I wake up, and the first thing I do is wrap my arms around Hannah’s waist again, hoping to go straight back to sleep once I have my girlfriend against me once more. However, I hear a loud noise downstairs, and Hannah stirs.

“Go back to sleep, babe,” I mumble in her ear, pressing a kiss against her cheek.

I should’ve told her I loved her.

I get out of bed, creeping out of the bedroom with my heart in my throat as I hear voices. If they’re burgling us, they won’t find much. We’ve both just graduated from uni, the only things we have of value are our degrees and this house itself. I pick up the hockey stick we keep at the top of the stairs for these kinds of situations, always ‘just in case’ but now finally needed.

Holding it high above my head, I creep down the stairs in my pyjamas, the house ice cold with snow on the streets outside. The Christmas tree still sits in the corner of the lounge; we were going to take it down on New Year’s Day.

I see the first one as I reach the bottom of the stairs. I swing for him and crack him around the back of the head. He falls to the floor with a slump, but I don’t see the guy who grabs me from behind, covering my mouth so I can’t scream. The hockey stick clatters to the floor.

Hannah was such a heavy sleeper. She never heard a thing.

A third man approaches me, moonlight reflecting off the knife in his hand. “Anyone else in the house?” he asks quietly.

The bravest thing I ever did was shake my head.

He thrusts the blade into my stomach and I scream into the hand over my mouth. They drop me to the ground, taking their bag of my stolen things and running out of my line of sight.

My last thought is a hope that they don’t find Hannah.

Matthew, pale-faced, looks at Chris. “Did they? Find her, I mean.”

“No, thankfully,” Chris says, and Matthew releases a breath that he didn’t realise he was holding. “She found me, though, the next morning.”

“Oh, God,” Matthew says. Dominic remains silent, listening intensely. “What happened?”

“I was just... I was just standing there, looking at her looking at me on the floor, wondering why she couldn’t see me. I didn’t understand. They took me away, the old me, and she was so sad. I didn’t know where to go, it broke my heart. When she was out of the house, I would do the chores to try and make it easier on her. One day, she left and didn’t come back. Furniture was collected within a week. I’d heard her say that she couldn’t stay here because it reminded her of me.”

“Fuck, that’s sad,” Matthew whispers.

“Yet you stayed,” Dominic says, detachedly.

Chris shrugs. “I had nowhere else to go.”

“That sounds familiar,” Dominic says, necking the rest of his beer and putting his empty bottle down on the table. “Alright. My turn.”

21 years old, wishing for death.

I trudge down the alley through the rain, ignoring the girls calling to me. I shoot one of them a look, and she steps backwards in disgust. They know me. They know what I do, down here in these dark streets. It makes even their profession look respectful.

My mother was so delighted to hear I had found work. I told her I worked down at the docks at night time, which at least gave an excuse for my body to be covered in bruises. With Father having passed a few weeks ago, and Mother with a baby in her belly and five other children to feed, she would’ve done best with me leaving the house, and finding myself a wife.

At least one of those things was about to happen.

I stop under my usual streetlight, watching the flame flicker above my head. My flat cap keeps most of my hair dry, but the summer rain has soaked my shirt. A portly gentleman leers at me as his carriage trundles past. My nipples can be seen through the fabric, and by this time I’ve been doing this long enough to know that, sadly, that’s a good thing.

A gentleman approaches me, dressed in finery I rarely see around this part of London. He takes me by the scruff of my neck, dragging me down an alley and behind the privy in someone’s small garden. I turn to tell him my prices, to at least ask for his name but I see his eyes, black and terrifying. He opens his mouth wide, two huge canines grinning down at me before he sinks them into my neck.

I close my eyes and wish for death, but it doesn’t come. He drains me nearly dry, pulling away as I begin to sway on my feet. He holds me steady as he bites at his own wrist, putting it to my mouth. I drink his blood before I realise what it is, my eyes finally closing.

I wake at dawn, my maker nowhere to be seen. I feel sick as I stand up, brushing the mud off my clothes as best as I can, realising I’ve been left in the same place in which I was attacked. Of course, I didn’t know at the time what I had become, all I knew was that I could smell something delicious, like the wine I had only tasted once in my life. I followed my nose, and when I realise the smell was coming from a pretty young whore, I didn’t question it.

I drank her dry.

Matthew and Chris sit in silence, Matthew’s beer halfway between his mouth and where he had been resting it on the arm of the sofa, too enthralled to move it at all.

“Wow,” Chris eventually says, Matthew simply nodding.

“So... so you were a rent boy?” Matthew asks, Dominic shooting him a look so dark that he flinches.

“Over one hundred years ago, out of sheer desperation and poverty,” Dominic replies curtly, nose high in the air. “Point is, I started anew. I couldn’t go back to my family when I was that young, as I would’ve slaughtered them all, even my unborn sibling. I ran, massacring as I went, until my maker caught up with me.”

“He should’ve stuck with you after he turned you,” Chris says with a frown.

“In theory, yes,” Dominic says. “But he’s a cunt, excuse my language. He apologised, he said he’d had a pressing social function to attend to.” Matthew snorts in disgust. “Exactly,” Dominic continues. “He found me on the other side of London; I’d left a trail of bodies all the way from Whitechapel. He told me this is a chance for me to start again, to be reborn in a higher class, if I were to stick with him. So I stuck with him for a while. Tom Kirk was his name. After twenty years or so, I decide enough’s enough, sick of all his prophecy about vampires ruling the earth.”

“Have you seen him since?” Matthew asks, before reaching over to turn on the light in the now dark room.

“He’s my maker, he seems to find me every twenty years or so. I’m probably due a visit, sadly,” he sighs, clearly bored of the subject. “I believe it’s your turn, Matthew.”

“Mine’s hardly as adventurous as yours,” he says to the two of his housemates, before sighing. “So.”

I watch the sun setting over the sea from our room in the lodge, nestled on the coast of the Scottish highlands. The oranges and golds span across the sky, the sea and the occasional cloud. I feel huge, I feel like Mother Nature herself, watching this act of beauty.

“I’m going for a walk,” I announce.

Adam sighs from the bed, and I turn to look at him. Six months on and he’s still my dream man. Tall, blond, great body, and dressed in just a towel after his shower. He walks over to me and wraps his arms around my waist. “The sun’s going down,” he says, pressing a kiss to my neck, knowing it’s my weak spot.

“Yeah, look how pretty it is,” I say as I look out over the horizon, Adam holding me back against him.

“We were walking all day,” he whispers in my ear, hand reaching down my torso. I wriggle, knowing exactly where this is heading, but he doesn’t loosen his grip.

“Adam,” I whine in protest as he grinds his hips up against me, and I can tell he’s in the mood. “Look how nice it is out, I--”

“I’m not letting you leave this room until I’m satisfied,” he says, and I finally manage to break free, ducking under his arms and storming out of the room and out of the lodge, completely forgetting to grab a map in my anger.

It wasn’t the first time Adam had tried to force me like that, but it was certainly the last.

I walk down to the beach to watch the sunset, trying to remind myself of all the reasons why I love Adam. His hair, his muscles, the way he would hold me, the way he would worry if too many men or women were showing interest in me... I shake those thoughts out of my head, my mind one big muddle as I climb the cliff again in darkness. I lose sight of the lodge and stumble into the forest, reaching for my phone to call Adam to realise I have no signal.

Blindly I go from tree to tree until I hear a snarl. I thought it was a bear, at first. I begin to run, coming into a clearing where a herd of cows are being kept. I surround myself with them; thinking that at least if there was a bear, he would eat the cows before he ate me.

That tactic simultaneously saved my life, and destroyed it.

I turn my head when I hear branches snapping, and a huge wolf jumps into the clearing, bigger than any I had ever seen. I turn to run but I fall and the creature bounds past me for the cows, scratching the full length of my back as it does so. I cry out in agony as the wolf tears into a cow merely feet from my head, but I haul myself to my feet and begin to run.

It’s dawn by the time I get back to the lodge, soaked in blood and howling with pain. Adam chastises me for leaving him, before he proceeds to help patch me up after my ‘bear attack’.

“I’d been naive enough to think that it would all be okay,” Matthew says, gaze flicking between the pair of them in the lounge. “He looked after me, even though he kept reminding me it was my fault that it had happened in the first place.”

“I’m sorry, but your boyfriend sounds like a cunt,” Chris says.

“He was,” Matthew says sadly, swirling his empty bottle around in his fingers. “Just wish I had noticed that before that trip to Scotland, because then none of this would’ve happened. He used to joke afterwards to our friends that I’d fallen on holiday, not even buying my excuse of it being a bear even though he’d seen the scars. When we had sex, he wouldn’t even let me get fully naked. He said the scars looked ugly,” Matthew recalls in a small voice.

Dominic moves from his own armchair to the sofa, putting his arm around Matthew’s shoulders. “I can go kill him, if you want.”

Matthew laughs a sob, turning up to look at Dominic. “I appreciate the gesture, but no, thank you,” Matthew says.

“Let the bastard rot in hell, I say,” Chris adds, Dominic looking up to him and smiling. Matthew tries a smile but it doesn’t sit quite right on his lips.

“Thanks guys,” Matthew says, yawning loudly as he puts his bottle on the table. “I think I’m going to go to bed. Work tomorrow and all that.”

“Oh God, I don’t miss that at all,” Chris groans. “Sleep well, mate,” Chris says, stretching his arms high into the air. The rip in his pyjama top gapes open, showing the smooth flesh of his torso underneath.

Matthew climbs the stairs slowly, the vampire and the ghost listening to his bedroom door fall shut. “He likes you, you know,” Chris says quietly to Dominic, who whips his head up in surprise.

“I’m the worst person for him,” Dominic replies quickly.

“So you’ve thought about it then,” Chris retorts. Dominic hisses quietly under his breath, standing up and pacing across the room before turning back towards Chris.

“He’s a werewolf. I’m a vampire. We’re mortal enemies,” Dominic says, throwing his arms open wide in defeat as he explains.

“Yeah, and he looks at you like you’re his everything, for fuck’s sake,” Chris says, remaining calm. “I haven’t even known you two a full 48 hours yet and I can tell that he thinks the world of you. You, on the other hand, are more difficult to read,” he explains, Dominic pacing across the floorboards again. They allow the silence to stretch for a few moments. “You should probably go see him,” he suggests.

Dominic looks at him. “Why me?”

Chris rolls his eyes, not intimidated by the vampire. “Because he just told us all about his abusive boyfriend and I’m not the person he’s going to open up to,” he says carefully, keeping a poker face as Dominic agrees and slowly makes his way up the stairs.

Matthew hears a knock on his bedroom door just as he’s getting changed out of his t-shirt. He hurriedly yanks it back on, standing in just a t-shirt and boxers as Dominic peeks around the door. “Can I come in?”

“Does the threshold rule apply to bedrooms?” Matthew asks.

“No, I was just trying to be polite,” Dominic says, ready to turn and leave lest he be further embarrassed.

“Dom, I... come in,” Matthew says, sitting down on the edge of his bed, his bedside lamp casting a soft glow over the room. Dominic sits down beside him as Matthew looks down to his lap, steepling his fingers distractedly.

“I just wanted to check in on you,” Dominic says, Matthew looking up at him briefly before breaking eye contact again. “I guess we’re not all that different, really, after all,” he says, and Matthew looks up again as he hears a nervous undertone to Dominic’s voice.

“How do you mean?” Matthew asks softly. Dominic notices his eyes are red rimmed.

“Well, we both got pushed around by power hungry men when we were human,” Dominic offers quietly, and Matthew nods. “Fuck, I’m... I’m not very good at this whole comfort thing, it goes against my very nature of being inhuman,” Dominic says quickly, looking away.

“You’re doing alright, keep going,” Matthew says, a small smile on his lips. Dominic laughs nervously. “Thanks for telling us about you, earlier,” he says. “I guess it’s a touchy subject.”

Dominic nods. “I think it is for all of us. Prostitution, abusive boyfriend, leaving behind a loving girlfriend. Not sure who had it worse, really.”

Matthew laughs, and the sound pulls a smile across Dominic’s lips. “It’s the first time I’ve ever spoken about Adam to... well, anyone really. I lost contact with all my friends when I started dating him, and I don’t really know anyone now except my work colleagues,” he explains, and Dominic’s smile falters.

“Well, you’ve got me and Chris now,” he says with a delicate nudge to Matthew’s ribs with his elbow. The gesture makes Matthew smile, before he looks back up at Dominic.

“And I’m really grateful for that,” Matthew says quietly as they hold eye contact. Dominic watches Matthew’s shoulders rise and fall gently as he breathes, eyes flicking to Matthew’s lips.

They both move forward at the same time, hesitation slowing their movements. The room is silent around them as they tilt their heads, drawing closer to each other’s mouths, pausing as Dominic’s nose touches Matthew’s cheekbone. Matthew’s eyes flutter closed as Dominic rests his hand against Matthew’s chest, feeling his heart thrum under his gentle touch. Matthew gasps quietly as Dominic smiles, eyes falling closed, foreheads resting against each other’s.

“Your heartbeat...” Dominic whispers, voice laced with wonder, and Matthew immediately understands. He is the exception to the rule, he is the one human that Dominic wouldn’t kill. Matthew closes the gap between their mouths, and as their lips tentatively move together, Matthew feels human for the first time since he was infected.

Dominic kisses Matthew as if he were the most fragile thing in the world. One hand remains on Matthew’s heart as the other reaches for his hip, thumb rubbing the skin of the gap between his t-shirt and boxers. The heat coming off the human before him sinks into his own cold blood, and Dominic dares to feel truly alive for the first time in decades. Matthew’s tongue traces Dominic’s bottom lip as they kiss, and Dominic finds himself breaking away, overwhelmed.

Matthew pants, exhaling a breathy chuckle as he rests his forehead against Dominic’s once more before he pulls back, eyes fluttering open. The blue is electric, and almost roots Dominic to the spot. “That was... nice,” Matthew whispers, a smile spread across his lips.

Dominic nods, finding himself incapable of speech for the moment. A foreign feeling creeps over his skin, as Matthew’s hand gently comes to rest on his own, still clinging to that human heartbeat.

He realises that he is utterly terrified of ruining whatever this is.

“I should... go,” he whispers, catching Matthew’s eyes briefly before nodding to himself minutely. He stands up, Matthew allowing his hand to fall to his side as he moves. “Goodnight,” he says quickly, before darting from the room, pulling the door shut behind him and leaning heavily against it. He listens to Matthew getting ready for bed, not needing his heightened sense of hearing to be able to hear Matthew humming happily to himself.

What Dominic doesn’t realise, however, is that Matthew knows Dominic is still outside the door, and that his own heightened senses detect Dominic finally moving away once he was tucked up in bed with the light off, a smile on his face.

*

The next evening, Matthew arrives home from a terrible day at work in a brilliant mood. For the first time in five, nearly six months he returns home to find people willing to greet him.

“Hey,” he calls loudly as he steps through the door, throwing his keys onto the table. Dominic is sprawled along the length of the sofa in a white t-shirt and black jeans, bare feet propped up on the arm of it with his nose buried in a book. His eyes flicker up to Matthew before he snaps the book shut and smiles widely, Matthew returning it. Dominic places the book down on the coffee table, and as Matthew crosses the room he reads the title of it. “Great Expectations?” he asks, looking up at Dominic.

“I was feeling nostalgic,” he says, sitting up on the sofa. “How was work?”

“Shit, as always,” Matthew says, hanging his suit jacket on the hook near the door. “Is Chris about?” he asks as he loosens his tie and hangs that up too.

“Hey, Matt,” Chris calls from the kitchen, Matthew jumping at the sound and Chris’ laugh floating over to them both. Matthew walks into the kitchen, his stomach rumbling. Chris is perched on one of the worktops, the sleeves of his pyjamas rolled up. “I did the washing up, seeing as I didn’t really have anything else to do,” he says, and Matthew smiles at him.

“Cheers, mate,” Matthew says. “Isn’t there anyone to go haunt, anyone to go annoy?”

“Might not be the best idea,” Dominic says, standing against the doorjamb. “I once spent some time with a ghost. Told me that when her confidence went up, humans began to see her. But, it’s your call,” Dominic says, shrugging the shoulder he wasn’t leaning against. “Personally, I’m all for terrorising humans,” he says dryly.

Matthew rolls his eyes, rummaging through the fridge to pull out some broccoli and some chicken, plonking them down on the worktop. Chris looks at Dominic, who is watching Matthew prepare his dinner, and then he looks at Matthew, who keeps sneaking glances at Dominic when he thinks the vampire isn’t looking.

“So...” Chris drawls, both of the other men looking up at him. He fights to keep the smirk off his face. “How are things?” he asks as casually as he can. Matthew looks up him with a quirked eyebrow, holding a large vegetable knife and Chris looks away quickly. Dominic is rolling his eyes at the question, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a carton of red grapes. He resumes his place in the doorway, grapes in hand, occasionally plopping one in his mouth and chewing slowly. The silence stretches on, and Chris coughs lightly.

Matthew puts down the knife and looks up at Chris. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. Just you seemed to be in a really good mood for work this morning, Matt,” Chris says, leading them on.

Matthew shrugs, resuming his work. “I’m always in a good mood for work,” he lies, but both Chris and Dominic watch him blush.

“It’s a Monday,” Dominic smirks.

Matthew looks up. “Hey, you’re supposed to be on my si-- fuck.”

The knife clatters down on the chopping board, Matthew holding up his thumb, bright red with blood. Dominic hisses loudly, pressing his back up against the wall and crouching slightly in a defensive position. Chris rolls his eyes, pushing himself off the worktop to find the little first aid kit Matthew had moved into the kitchen, seeing as he was the only inhabitant of the house who could actually bleed. Matthew’s eyes frantically move between his thumb and Dominic, who had stopped hissing and was now emitting a constant growl.

“I thought vampires didn’t like werewolf blood?” Chris asks as he beckons Matthew over to the sink, running his hand under the tap to wash away the blood.

“They don’t. It’s toxic to them,” Matthew explains. “He’s not trying to jump me, he’s trying to back off.” Chris dries Matthew’s thumb off with kitchen roll before quickly wrapping a plaster over the cut.

“It’s alright drama queen, the blood’s all gone,” Chris calls over his shoulder, disposing of the kitchen roll and wetting a cloth so he could wipe down the surfaces. Matthew washes the knife as Dominic stands up straight again, sniffing the air.

“It’s a self preservation thing,” he says curtly, resuming eating his grapes. “It fucking hurt last time, I don’t plan on making that mistake again.”

“So that adds an interesting dynamic to your relationship,” Chris says, trying to get a rise out of them both.

“You’re mistaken, we’re--”

“No, no, I don’t--”

Chris smirks at them both as their arguments stumble over each other. Matthew sighs, throwing his now chopped broccoli in a pan of water and his chicken into a saucepan, turning his back on the two of them. Chris waits a few moments. “So, is there anything happening?”

“For fuck’s sake Chris, leave us alone!” Matthew snaps, turning back to Chris and glaring at him. Chris recoils, before disappearing into thin air. Matthew sighs, turning to Dominic. “Where did he go? I didn’t mean to shout.”

“Someone’s tetchy,” Chris says from the doorway, squeezing past Dominic to resume his spot on the worktop. “As to that, I’ve got no idea. It happens when I get scared or frightened or stressed.”

“Great,” Dominic says with abundant sarcasm. “We’ve got a glitching ghost and a premenstrual werewolf,” he says as he throws a grape in the air, catching it between his teeth.

“Premenstrual? Fuck off,” Matthew snorts over his shoulder as he stands at the oven. Chris looks to Dominic for an explanation.

“As if I needed anymore proof,” Dominic mutters, before gesturing towards Chris. “Full moon’s in a couple of days. Werewolves get agitated and easily wound up a few days before, and sometimes horny too. Just like a woman, actually,” Dominic remarks with another grape.

Matthew throws him a dark look over his shoulder. “Don’t be sexist. I know that’s difficult seeing as you’re a century old,” Matthew says with venom.

“A century and a half, to be precise,” Dominic smiles to Matthew’s turned back. Matthew growls, and the sound instinctively puts Dominic on edge.

“Alright, guys,” Chris says in caution. “Let’s tone it down a bit.”

Dominic looks out of the window. “I need to feed,” he says, before abandoning the grapes on the table and striding from the room, the front door slamming shut behind him.

“He’s such a wind up merchant,” Matthew mutters under his breath, Chris not quite sure if Matthew had forgotten he was there. “How come you’re so curious about what happens between me and Dom?” Matthew asks over his shoulder.

“Because while you were crying in your room last night, I was talking to Dom.”

“I wasn’t crying,” Matthew snaps, before he sighs as he sees Chris’ face. “Alright, maybe I was. How did you know?”

“Ghosts have some kind of ability to feel human auras, ironic seeing as we can’t feel anything ourselves anymore, really,” Chris explains.

Matthew hums. “So what were you and Dom talking about?”

“Ahh, you know, things.”

Matthew shoots a glare at Chris that, if he hadn’t already been dead, probably would’ve killed him. “Alright, alright,” Chris says, putting his hands up in defence and laughing. Matthew begins moving around the kitchen to plate up his dinner. “We were talking about you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean, you like him, don’t you.”

Matthew stands next to Chris at the sink, a smile on his face. “He kissed me last night,” he mumbles, the smile widening as he says it out loud.

Chris’ eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “He kissed you?!”

“Well, it was a mutually agreed kind of thing,” Matthew says as he sits down at the table to eat. Chris jumps down from the counter to sit in the chair opposite him.

“And?” he asks leadingly, Matthew looking up at him from his steaming bowl of chicken and broccoli.

“And it was great?” Matthew says, laughing. “You’re awfully involved.”

“I think it’s kind of cute,” Chris says, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back. “If I can’t have love in this life, I at least want someone else to find it.”

Matthew frowns. “There might be someone else for you, don’t say that,” he says, but Chris shakes his head.

“I don’t know. Maybe that’s what my unfinished business is.”

“Your wha’?” Matthew says around a mouthful of food. Chris wrinkles his nose at the side, Matthew swallowing it quickly. “Sorry. Enlighten me?”

“Basically, most people die, come back as ghosts over their dead bodies, see the door to the afterlife and walk through it. Yeah, an actual door,” he says in response to Matthew’s confused expression. “I went to my grave one day, met another ghost in passing who explained a few things to me. I think that was their unfinished business, teaching someone else or something. Their door appeared right there and then.”

“So what do you think yours is, then. To fall in love?”

Chris shrugs. “Maybe. Chances are slim, though. I mean, they firstly have to be a ghost, a vampire, or a werewolf, so that they can see me. Then she has to be a girl. No offence,” he says in a typical bloke fashion, holding his hands up.

Matthew shakes his head, laughing. “None taken. Girls offend me, if I’m honest,” he says, taking another mouthful of his dinner.

“So I need a female ghost, vampire, or werewolf. Even then, I died in my pyjamas. I’m hardly desirable,” Chris says with a short laugh. “I hope that’s not it. Maybe it’s seeing Hannah again.”

Matthew nods eagerly, finishing his mouthful this time. “Might be worth giving it a go, going and seeing her?”

Chris’ eyes light up. “Maybe that’s it! I haven’t seen her since she left, why didn’t I think of that sooner?” He looks out of the window at the dark night sky. “Not tonight, though. Don’t really want to add to the whole ghosty vibe I have going on. Thank you, though.”

Matthew laughs, standing from the table to go put his bowl in the sink. “I’ll get that,” Chris says, standing up too. “It’s not like I have anything else to do at night.”

Matthew smiles. “Thank you,” he says, leaning against the counter. “I’m sorry for snapping, earlier, I didn’t mean it.”

Chris laughs. “So is the horny thing true then, like Dom said?”

Matthew blushes again, putting the pots and pans in the sink. “Sometimes. Well... yes. And it’ll probably be worse this month, considering...”

Chris laughs loudly. “Guess I’ll be spending a night haunting someone else’s house before full moon.” Matthew’s eyes bug out as he blushes.

“Oh, no, I don’t think--”

The door bursts open, Matthew rushing into the lounge to see Dominic slamming the door behind him. He shrugs off his leather jacket, revealing his white, now red t-shirt. “I should’ve learnt that white isn’t my colour by now,” he says to himself, pulling the sodden t-shirt over his head quickly. Matthew drags his eyes away from Dominic’s defined torso.

“You were only gone ten minutes?!” Matthew says.

Dominic turns to him and grins. “I’m an opportunist,” he says, picking up the bloodstained t-shirt and walking past Matthew. Blood colours his chin, and when he smiles to Matthew his fangs are still visible. He pauses on the bottom step of the stairs, Matthew tearing his eyes away from the muscles of his tanned back. “Are you?”

Dominic walks upstairs, Matthew letting those heavy words sink in. He checks over his shoulder, hearing Chris humming in the kitchen with the tap running, before Matthew finds himself running up the stairs after Dominic.

He finds the vampire in his room, clothes strewn over the bed he never uses. Dominic reaches for a t-shirt but Matthew’s hand on his bare back freezes him in place. Breathing shakily, Matthew trails his fingers down Dominic’s shoulder blade, the skin cool to the touch. Dominic stands up straight, slowly, before turning around, Matthew’s finger never leaving his skin as he moves. It circles his nipple quickly before moving downwards, through the hills and valleys of Dominic’s ribs and then abs, to the lean line of muscle leading below the waistband of his jeans.

Matthew looks up at Dominic, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth. Dominic leans towards him, his stubble against Matthew’s chin as he places a delicate kiss on the pulse point.

“I could eat you right up,” Dominic whispers into Matthew’s ear. Matthew laughs, splaying his fingers on Dominic’s chest as he pulls away slightly. Dominic’s eyes flicker black for the slightest of moments, or perhaps Matthew imagines it.

“Are you normally this weird after feeding?” he laughs, stepping around Dominic’s bed to start tidying some of his clothes, trying to step out of the strange bubble Dominic had created around them. Dominic places his hands on Matthew’s waist, the brunet yelping as Dominic presses against him. Matthew squirms, managing to roll so he’s on his back on Dominic’s bed, the vampire hovering over him with a wide grin on his face.

“She was AB negative,” Dominic murmurs, climbing onto the bed to straddle Matthew. “AB negative is my favourite, and oh so rare,” he drawls, sitting up straight after having his mouth buried in Matthew’s neck, rolling his head back. The words click into place for Matthew.

“It’s like you’re drunk,” he laughs with a tinge of disbelief, hands coming to rest on Dominic’s hips.

Dominic grins down at Matthew, lacing his fingers through Matthew’s and spreading his arms wide on the bed. “It doesn’t last nearly long enough, sadly,” he says, lowering himself so his chest is flush with Matthew’s, arms outstretched to their sides, holding hands. Dominic actually giggles and Matthew raises his eyebrows in silent question, Dominic simply kissing the end of his nose. “God, she tasted so good. Like wine,” Dominic murmurs into Matthew’s cheek.

“Did you let her live?”

“Just about.” Dominic yawns, smacking his lips near Matthew’s ear. “I’m tired. Goodnight,” he says, becoming entirely still on top of Matthew.

Matthew furrows his brow as he looks at the ceiling, then looks down into the mess of Dominic’s blond hair. He wriggles his fingers, still held tight in Dominic’s grasp, before he tries to wriggle his hips. “Dom,” Matthew whines quietly. He wonders if vampires actually can sleep. “Dominic?”

No response.

Matthew rolls his eyes. “Nineteenth century twat,” he mutters.

That gets a response. Dominic turns to him and grins lazily, somehow looking angelic even with blood around his mouth. “You rang?”

“Go wash your face,” Matthew says, shoving at Dominic lightly. He hops up from the bed, stepping out of the room in the direction of the bathroom. Matthew rolls over on the bed onto his stomach, brushing Dominic’s clothes off the edge of it so he can spread his limbs. Dominic returns, lying down on the bed next to Matthew.

“You missed a bit,” Matthew says, prodding a small patch of blood near the corner of Dominic’s mouth. In slow motion, Dominic makes a biting motion at Matthew’s finger, smiling afterwards.

“It’s difficult to judge when you can’t see your own reflection.”

“You poor thing,” Matthew says with a mock pout, tracing Dominic’s smile with that same finger. “You know, you’re not half bad when you’re happy, and not being a sarcastic prick,” he says, Dominic laughing quietly.

“I could say the same,” Dominic replies, gently kissing Matthew’s fingertip as it passes the middle of his smile. Matthew lets his hand fall aside as Dominic leans forward and presses a kiss to his lips. Their mouths move together leisurely, Matthew’s hand sliding through Dominic’s hair. Matthew opens up to Dominic’s metallic-tasting tongue, heads turning further as they seek to deepen the kiss but still keeping it slow.

Matthew breaks away, turning his head so he can yawn loudly into his fist. “Oh God I’m so sorry,” he rushes to say, “that’s absolutely no discredit to your kissing skill, which is fantastic, naturally,” he blurts, Dominic laughing at the panic across Matthew’s face. “I always get really tired a couple of days before full moon, like my body’s trying to get all the sleep it can get.” Dominic nods along to Matthew’s explanation, taking in the new knowledge. “Plus I didn’t sleep very well last night, it being a new house and all,” Matthew says, rolling one shoulder in a shrug.

“You could always sleep in here with me, if you’d like,” Dominic offers, looking bashful for once. Matthew smiles widely.

“Really?”

“Well, I won’t be doing any sleeping myself, but I’ve spent worse nights...” Dominic says.

Matthew giggles. “I sleep in my boxers though, I hope that’s not a problem.”

“If you think that I would find that a problem, I don’t think you know me well enough,” Dominic says, Matthew laughing. “Plus, humans are nice and warm. I want as much skin as you’ll allow me,” Dominic says. Matthew stands up, unbuttoning his trousers and letting them fall to the floor, slowly unbuttoning his work shirt and feeling Dominic’s gaze trailing down his torso. Matthew shrugs it off, letting it fall to the floor. Dominic shuffles so he’s underneath the covers, still in his skinny jeans, holding them up in invitation for Matthew to join him. Matthew stalls for a moment, even as Dominic drinks in the sight of his pale frame, sporadic bruises still across his chest from the beating Dominic had rescued him from.

Matthew exhales shakily. “I hope you don’t think they’re ugly,” he says as he quickly dives under the covers, trying to hide his body. He turns away from Dominic, feeling the covers ripped from his skin. “No, I--”

“Matthew,” Dominic breathes reverently. Dominic reaches out to touch the middle of the three long scars, the longest one, running from the nape of his neck down the length of his spine, right to the small of his back. The other two run parallel to the central one, although they are slightly thinner and slightly shorter in length. Dominic runs his hand down the pink scarred flesh, knowing enough about werewolves to know that it would never heal to the silvery white of a normal scar.

“Matthew,” he says again, softly. Dominic realises his touch is raising goosebumps across Matthew’s flesh. “These are the biggest werewolf scars I’ve ever seen. This should’ve killed you.”

“I wasn’t quite lucky enough,” Matthew mumbles. “Not according to Adam, anyway,” he adds, a sigh escaping his lips. Dominic moves forward, pressing a kiss to the top of the middle scar, right where the claw would’ve pierced Matthew’s skin. It makes his lips tingle faintly. “Dom, what are you--”

“Shhh,” Dominic murmurs against Matthew’s skin, continuing to drop kisses across the raw flesh. “I think your scars are beautiful,” he says lowly, “because they are a part of you, and without them you would be someone else entirely,” he continues between kisses. “Without these scars, I wouldn’t be able to be here with you, like this.”

“Dom,” Matthew sighs. Dominic can hear the smile on his lips.

“I want you to forget about your ex,” Dominic says, unable to bring himself to say the name of the man who shattered Matthew’s confidence. “He doesn’t deserve a second more of you thinking about him. I’m here, and I understand, and I want to make you happy,” Dominic says, placing the final kiss at in the small of Matthew’s back, shuffling back up the bed so he can nuzzle the back of Matthew’s neck. “Even if you having those scars means I can’t drink you.”

Matthew snorts. “That was almost romantic.”

Grinning against Matthew’s skin, he wraps his arms around Matthew’s waist, not having to worry about dead arms like humans did when they spooned. “I try my best. Go to sleep,” he murmurs, holding Matthew’s warm body tight against his own.

Matthew sleeps peacefully that night.

*

Just as the sun begins to rise over the horizon, Chris finally bores of pacing the living room. He creeps silently up the stairs, poking his head around Matthew’s bedroom door to find it empty. Putting two and two together, he moves down the hallway, past his own former bedroom to Dominic’s. Looking inside, he finds Matthew snoring quietly, Dominic’s arms wrapped around him with his eyes shut. Chris furrows his brow, wondering if it’s possible that he could be asleep. He receives his answer as Dominic’s eyes flash open, immediately locking with his own.

Dominic doesn’t move, simply looking at Chris. If anything, he protectively holds Matthew closer to his chest, the man in his arms smiling in his sleep. Chris smiles at the sight, nodding slightly as he closes the door and leaves them in peace.

His bare feet don’t feel the cold pavement beneath him as he walks. The sky is a pale blue, in some places pale orange with dawn, and he knows it’ll be a warm day for the living population of this town, autumn threatening on the breeze.

He knows Hannah’s new address inside out. Some nights he’d come to stand outside, never quite summoning the courage to go inside and actually see her. It’s not like he had to knock on the door or even be invited in; he could walk through the walls if he wanted, although it took a lot of concentration and made him feel quite ill.

He sees movement behind the curtains, and realises it’s her, Hannah, the girl he fell in love with at university and still loves to this day, eight months after he’d died. Within a moment, he’s standing in her bedroom, looking down at his hands and feet and realising that for the first time, he had just willfully apparated.

Hannah emerges from her ensuite bathroom then, shaking her long brown hair out behind her. She looks just as beautiful as she was the day he met her, having put a bit of healthy weight on (she’d always struggled with her image, Chris recalls). Chris sighs lovingly and she whips her head around, looking straight through him. Although it pains him that she can’t see him, he remains silent, standing in the corner of the room and watching her get dressed.

The house is her sister’s, Holly saying that Hannah could stay as long as she needs, from the snippet of conversation he’d heard as they had been removing his things. Hannah sits down on the edge of her bed heavily, picking up a photo frame and pressing a kiss to it. “You’d be so proud,” she whispers with a heavy sigh. She puts it back down on her bedside table, and Chris’ heart breaks when he sees it’s a photo of them both, taken on a windy beach in Cornwall when they went away one weekend. He’s not quite sure what he’s meant to be proud of, though. The fact that she still remembers who he is, who he was?

Slowly, Hannah makes her way downstairs, Chris trailing behind her. She makes breakfast and then sits at the table alone, staring at her bowl of cereal without eating a single bite. Chris notices the bags under her eyes, the dishes piling up in the sink, the way Hannah’s nails are bare and short even though she always used to have them delicately painted.

Is she still so upset, after all this time?

Their heads whip towards the baby’s cry as soon as it resonates down the stairs. Chris furrows his brow, he didn’t realise Holly and her boyfriend had been expecting. Surely she would’ve been showing when she helped Hannah move out of their house?

Hannah smiles as Holly appears at the bottom of the stairs, with a tiny newborn in her arms. “He slept really well,” Holly says, smiling down at the baby, who had stopped crying and whose tiny arms reached towards Hannah.

“Come to Mummy,” she coos, lifting the baby out of Holly’s arms and bouncing it in her own, cuddling it tight. “My little man,” she murmurs, an adoring smile on her face.

The penny finally drops.

In shock, Chris follows Hannah back upstairs to a nursery decked out in cream and baby blue. She puts the baby boy back in his crib, smoothing a hand over his bald head. “You would make your daddy so proud,” she says softly, before turning and walking straight through Chris.

“Holly?” she shouts, waiting for the reply from downstairs. “I need to pop into town, can you look after Christopher for me?”

It’s too much. Before Chris realises it, he’s standing in the middle of the road outside the house, a car going straight through him. His chest feels tight, even though he doesn’t need to breathe, and there’s a lump in his throat that he’s unable to swallow away.

“I’m a dad,” he whispers. “I was going to be a dad.”

He wanders home, having put himself through all that pain to not even have his door appear. He almost wishes he hadn’t found out about baby Christopher, because there was nothing he could do to help support Hannah or their child. Maybe Matthew was right, maybe I have to fall in love again to cross over. Chris feels tired as he drags himself through the door of the house, plonking himself down on the sofa. He feels as if all the energy has been drained from him, only to be replaced with a longing he will never fulfil.

The radio quietly playing in the kitchen as Matthew finishes his breakfast turns to white noise as Chris slams his hand down against the arm of the sofa in sheer frustration at the situation. “Chris?” Matthew calls uneasily. “Are you alright?”

The song resumes, only to turn to static a few seconds later as Chris buries his head in his hands, fighting back a sob, the closest he can get to crying as a ghost. He sits up as the sofa dips next to him, Matthew sitting down at his side. “No,” Chris says as Matthew puts a reassuring hand on his back. “I went to see Hannah.”

“Oh,” Matthew says delicately, as if his voice would break the weight of the situation. “How is she?”

“She’s good,” Chris says, voice cracking. “She’s really good. She has a baby,” he says distantly.

Matthew’s eyebrows knit together. “But you died at Christmas, did she move on that--”

Chris turns to Matthew, Matthew’s face falling completely. “Chris, oh man, I... I can only imagine. I’m so sorry.” He stands up. “I have to go to work, I’m sorry. I’ll be fired if I’m late again.”

“It’s full moon tonight, isn’t it?” Chris asks, trying to change the subject. Matthew nods, walking over to the door to put on his suit jacket.

“You and Dom should do something tonight, go annoy some teenagers or something, take your mind off it,” Matthew laughs, but Chris doesn’t return it. “Hey, come on. After this full moon, me and you, we’ll go supernatural hunting and find yourself a new lady, or even your door. Sound good?”

It doesn’t sound that good to Chris, but he nods anyway. “Thanks, Matt.”

“Anytime,” he says. He calls goodbye over his shoulder as he leaves, but neither of the occupants of the house return it.

“I don’t understand how a human can be so chirpy at this time in the morning,” Dominic says loudly as he comes down the stairs, sitting in an armchair opposite Chris.

“I suppose when life isn’t one endless span of time, you learn to appreciate things a bit more,” Chris says. Dominic nods. “I wish I’d learnt that while I was alive.”

“You had it better than some of us,” Dominic says, and Chris instantly feels guilty for complaining. “But then, you had it worse that some of us. I was saved from my meagre existence, whereas you were torn from a woman you’d loved and a life you’d barely started.”

“And a baby I didn’t realise she was expecting,” Chris says, feeling as if someone is squeezing his windpipe.

“My deepest apologies,” Dominic says sincerely, bowing his head. “If it is any kind of consolation, although I know it hardly compares, I never met my unborn baby brother or sister after I was turned. By the time I’d gotten over the blindfold that is newborn bloodlust, the child probably would’ve died anyway. London slums were hard on children,” Dominic says with a sigh, Chris staring at a spot on the carpet. “But you, Chris, even if you can’t be there for him as a conventional father, as long as you’re in the same world as your son is, you can be there for him, you can watch him grow up.”

Chris nods. “You keep surprising me when you come out with deep shit like that,” he says, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “For someone who looks so young, I mean.”

Dominic smiles widely. “The best bit is when a spotty little teen will ask me for ID when I buy good whiskey, and I realise that I’m older than any of his living family, or the distillery itself,” he says, sighing afterwards. “Are you sure you’re alright though?”

“Yeah, well... As alright as I can be. I don’t think I’ll visit them again. You said that if ghosts become confident, they can be seen, and I don’t want the only thing my son remembers of me is that one time his dad’s ghost appeared in his nursery.”

Dominic nods in understanding.

“Matt thinks my door might appear after I fall in love again.”

“And you don’t want to put yourself through that pain again?” Dominic contributes, hitting the nail on the head. Unlike Matthew, he is well educated in the lore of other species and is quite in awe of ghosts in particular.

Chris nods. “I’m not sure if it’s possible though.”

“Chris,” Dominic says, sitting forward and putting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve fallen in love, properly, twice in the last hundred years. There’s no rush, you’ve got plenty of time. It’ll strike you when you least expect it,” Dominic says, gaze dropping to the side, deep in thought.

Chris is eager to divert the subject away from himself. “Like you and Matthew?”

A smile flickers across Dominic’s face but he doesn’t look up yet. “He’s interesting,” Dominic says, looking up at Chris, grey eyes full of some emotion that Chris hasn’t seen there before. “He’s a living breathing human with blood pumping through his veins, but I don’t want to drink him because my instincts tell me that I can’t. I wish I could say it was some immaculate form of self-restraint, but it’s not. His scent warns me away from drinking him, but not from him himself. He’s an enigma,” Dominic says fondly, reverently, as if he’s trying to convince himself of it.

“He’s also a werewolf. A vampire’s sworn enemy,” Chris says.

Dominic sighs. “Can I be honest with you, Chris?” Chris nods. “I’m actually quite scared about tonight. Don’t you dare tell Matthew that,” he says darkly, and Chris knows he wouldn’t even think about doing such a thing. “I worry that our closeness will have had an impact on his wolf.”

“I don’t quite understand,” Chris says, “I’ve never met a werewolf before.”

“Well, from what I’ve been told in the past...” Dominic swirls one hand elegantly in the air. “There’s a difference between a werewolf in human form and his wolf. When he’s a wolf, he only has the faintest notions of who he likes and dislikes as a human. After full moon, a human won’t remember a thing about what they did in wolf form. They might as well be two different creatures.”

“And that scares you because...”

“Because wolves instinctively hate vampires, just as vampires instinctively hate wolves. If he smells me on his clothing, or in the vicinity, or even remembers me, Matthew’s wolf might hunt me down and kill me. I’ve killed a werewolf in the past, but not while he was in wolf form. In wolf form, they’re practically unstoppable.”

“Didn’t you say the other day you were in town for the last full moon?” Chris asks. Dominic shakes his head.

“Not quite. I was a few towns along the coast, but there hadn’t been any wolves there, no signs of a pack in the area. So that’s a small comfort.”

They sit in silence for a few moments, listening to the quiet pop song filtering through from the kitchen. Chris thinks about how upset he had felt earlier as his thoughts remain unoccupied, and the white noise returns on the radio.

Dominic cocks his head. “Is that you, doing that?”

Chris blinks and the radio returns to normal. “Sorry. Sometimes the electrics go a bit haywire if I’m feeling a bit...”

“Back in my day...” Dominic says grandly, making Chris laugh. He was glad that he’d found Matthew and Dominic, or, rather, that they’d found him.

*

As the shadows grow longer outside, Chris decides to go visit his grave again. “It’s peaceful there,” he explains to Dominic, fiddling with the rip in his pyjamas. “It has a nice view over the town, I like to watch the sunset. And, if I’m honest, Matt’s wolf thing scares me a little,” he says down to his feet. “It sounds interesting, but... not today. Not with...”

Dominic nods, gesturing for Chris to go out with a smile. “I’ll deal with him,” Dominic says, understanding what Chris had been unable to say; that he now has twice as many humans to worry about, neither of which he wants killed by a werewolf.

The door slams a while later, Dominic sitting up from his position on the sofa. “You okay?” he calls out warily, Matthew huffing as he takes off his jacket, swiftly crossing the room into the kitchen and not answering Dominic’s question. Slightly miffed, Dominic stands from the sofa to lean in the doorway of the kitchen, as usual. “How was work?”

“Shit,” comes the monotone reply.

Dominic makes a noise that sounds like “huh”, crossing his arms. His leather jacket squeaks as he does so. “Not long ‘til sunset, is it?”

“Dom, I swear to fucking God, if you’re not going to do anything useful just fuck off,” Matthew snaps, turning to Dominic from where he was rifling through the fridge, furious. Dominic raises his eyebrows, Matthew didn’t often swear.

“Sorry I spoke,” Dominic mumbles, not truly offended, turning to leave.

“Dom.” Matthew’s tone of voice makes him turn back. “Sorry, alright? It’s just, work really was shit, I still need to lay my trails and change, I’m stressed as anything, really anxious about tonight with you now on the scene and I’m really horny too. Okay? Happy?”

“Delighted,” Dominic drawls, stepping towards Matthew. He grabs the end of his tie, pulling him closer. “Because, it just so happens that I can help you with one of those.”

Matthew yanks his tie out of Dominic’s grip. “The trail laying? Fantastic. Grab the chicken from the fridge and let’s go,” he says, turning around, Dominic grabbing his hips from behind. “Dom. Stop.”

“Why?” he asks with a smirk as Matthew thunders out of the room, running up the stairs and shedding his tie as he does so. Dominic catches up to him in Matthew’s bedroom, as he takes off his shirt, no longer shy of his scars, digging through his chest of drawers for something more casual.

“Because I’ve never just gotten laid before a transformation, and my most stressful one yet isn’t the time to try,” Matthew explains quickly, Dominic stepping into the room entirely and shutting the door behind him. “Don’t tempt me again.”

Dominic pouts. “But we’ve got the house to ourselves.”

Matthew slowly looks over his shoulder. “I told you not to tempt me,” he says lowly, standing still. Dominic bites his lip, senses overwhelmed by the scent coming from Matthew, at its very strongest because of the full moon. It was almost like a pheromone, turning him on more than the man himself did alone.

“I can’t help it,” Dominic says thickly, Matthew crossing the room with three sure strides, grabbing Dominic’s jacket and crashing their mouths together. Dominic whines as Matthew quickly strips him of the jacket, throwing it to the floor before raking his fingers across Dominic’s chest, hard and muscled below his t-shirt. He grabs the vampire, moving and shoving him towards the bed, sending him stumbling.

“Fuck,” Dominic wheezes as he crawls onto the bed, “you’re strong for a small guy.”

Matthew flips him over, quickly undoing his skinny jeans and shoving them down his long, thin legs. “My stature is the only part of me that’s small,” Matthew smirks and Dominic rolls his eyes before he chokes out a moan, Matthew’s hand wrapped around his dick for the briefest of moments.

“Educate me,” Matthew says as he rolls Dominic onto his front again, before reaching towards his bedside drawer. “Am I going to need to use a condom?”

“There hasn’t been many recordings of anal intercourse between vampires and werewolves, I’m afraid,” Dominic says dryly, Matthew smacking him hard across his bare arse.

“Yes or no, Dom, I haven’t got all night.”

“No,” he says, hissing as Matthew presses a firm hand to his arse again, trying to rub the sting out of the slap. He sits behind Dominic again, lube in hand, already squirting some onto his finger and putting it straight inside Dominic.

The vampire claws at the bedsheets, hissing wildly as Matthew quickly curls his finger before adding a second one. “Go easy, it’s been forty odd years,” Dominic says. Matthew laughs curtly, removing his fingers to lube up his cock.

“You started it. You’re getting no sympathy,” Matthew says, bracing himself with one hand on Dominic’s hip as he eases himself in as gently as he can, toes curling in his socks and a growl rumbling in his throat. “Jesus Christ,” Matthew moans.

Dominic winces. “Enough with the blasph-- oh sweet fuck right there,” Dominic says, the words tumbling from his mouth as Matthew picks up a ferocious pace, hardly giving Dominic time to adjust to the intrusion. His biceps bulge under the hem of his dark t-shirt as he reaches forward, gripping the sheets in his fists.

Balls slapping against Dominic’s arse, Matthew grips at the bottom of Dominic’s t-shirt, planning to only tug it lightly but ripping a large hole in it. “Dom, ffffuck,” he whines, his moans getting higher and higher until he’s almost singing each note.

“Touch me,” Dominic hisses and Matthew rushes to comply, snaking his arm around Dominic’s waist to grip him tightly, tugging him in time with his deep strokes. “Please,” Dominic begs, and the request pushes Matthew over the edge. With erratic final thrusts into Dominic’s body, he throws his head back and howls as he comes.

The noise instinctively makes Dominic hiss loudly, the hair at the back of his neck standing up as every instinct tells him to run, but with Matthew’s come in his arse and his hand on his cock, pumping him hard and fast, it isn’t long until he comes all over the bedsheets. Matthew pulls out, collapsing onto the bed beside Dominic, running a hand through his sweat soaked hair as he pants.

Matthew looks at his watch, sitting bolt upright. “I’m late,” he mutters, practically falling over himself as he stands from the bed, kicking off his work trousers completely to pull on a pair of old jeans. Dominic rolls over, grimacing at the feel of come leaking from him, something he hadn’t felt since his days as a human. He watches Matthew grab a bag from near the doorway, now fully clothed, before he darts out of the room.

“Are you coming?” he shouts from downstairs. Dominic rolls his eyes with a sigh, cleaning himself up as best as possible and changing his t-shirt. He shrugs into his jacket as he makes his way downstairs. Matthew is waiting impatiently by the door with his rucksack in one hand and a carrier bag in the other. “Come on,” he whines, before stepping outside and down the pavement at a pace.

“You are something else, Matthew Bellamy,” Dominic mutters to himself, before catching up with the werewolf. “Alright, where are we heading?”

“There’s a park I usually go to. Sometimes, if full moon falls on a weekend I’ll head out onto Dartmoor, but if not I’ve found that this park is alright,” Matthew says, checking over his shoulder every now and then to look at the setting sun.

“And the chicken is a midnight snack?”

Matthew snorts. “The chicken is a vague attempt to stop my wolf from killing people,” he retorts as they turn a street corner, the beginning of the woodland visible at the end of the street.

“Have you... well, has your wolf ever killed anyone?” Dominic asks, the inhuman side of him creeping up his spine; the thought of Matthew as a killer strangely appealing.

“No, I don’t think so,” Matthew says. “One time, I woke up covered in blood, as in from head to toe. I was terrified I’d killed someone, until I found a mangled deer nearby,” he says, wrinkling his nose as the pavement disappears from under their feet, a dirt path leading them into the woodland. “Not much further to go now,” he explains, hiking the bag up his shoulder a little. “There’s a big leafy area near the back that doesn’t have many paths near it.”

A few minutes of silent walking later, they come to a large clearing, the floor of it covered in various plants and ferns that came up to about waist height. “Stay here. Don’t come any further than here,” Matthew says, hands on Dominic’s forearms. “Please,” he says a little more quietly. Dominic simply nods, understanding how stressed Matthew must be. Matthew drops his bag and turns.

“I take it you don’t want my scent any closer,” Dominic says a little louder as Matthew walks away, the last few rays of light beginning to leave the clearing. Matthew doesn’t reply, simply bringing the chicken from the carrier bag, ripping it open and tying a length of string around it. He drops it to the floor and begins dragging it along.

“If your scent mixes with that of the bait,” Matthew calls, beginning to jog, “I don’t even wanna think about it.”

Dominic swallows his next question as he watches Matthew jog in a large circle, disappearing out of sight for a few minutes as the route goes through the thick trees on the other side of the clearing. He reappears, panting for air and sweating. Matthew throws the chicken away from them both to the far side of the circle, before pulling his t-shirt over his head, walking back to Dominic.

“If I don’t get naked, I rip my clothes,” Matthew says to Dominic’s questioning expression. “And that becomes an expensive habit.”

Dominic watches Matthew remove his shoes and socks, followed by his jeans and then his boxers, packing them all into his bag. Matthew stands up fully again and Dominic’s eyes trace up and down his body, naked as the day he was born in the middle of nature. Dominic smiles.

“So,” Matthew says, swinging his arms and clapping his arms together lightly. “Here goes nothing.”

A creature of instinct, Dominic reaches out and kisses Matthew gently, the fear in his stomach now changing from that of self-preservation, to a sentiment of anxiety towards someone he cares about greatly. Dominic had once heard that a werewolf’s transformation was so painful that there simply were not words, and as Matthew breaks the kiss Dominic feels those nerves slice through his stomach again.

“Good luck,” Dominic says, the words feeling heavy in his mouth.

“You should go,” Matthew says, staring into Dominic’s eyes.

“Do you not want me to see you change?”

“I could kill you, Dom.”

Dominic laughs. “I’d like to see you try.” Matthew punches his shoulder, frowning. Dominic looks between him and his shoulder. “Owww? What was that for?!”

“I’m being serious for fuck’s sake!” Matthew shouts, shoving at Dominic, pushing him back further against the tree he was leant against. “I care about you, if you hadn’t noticed. You’re one of the two actual friends I have in this world and I don’t want to be the person who takes you out of it. Alright?” he says, flustered.

“It wouldn’t be you, it’d be your wolf,” Dominic says quickly, the last of the sun now out of the clearing and the air becoming cooler. “Plus, you are only a cub,” he says, ducking Matthew’s swatting arm to ruffle his hair a bit.

“God, you’re a prick,” Matthew says, but his anger eventually bubbles out as an exasperated laugh. “Fine, be stubborn, it’s your funeral,” he says, stepping back and turning away. Dominic gives himself credit for keeping his eyes on Matthew’s scars on his back, and not his arse as he crosses the clearing to stand right in the middle of it, keeping his back to Dominic.

Dominic folds his arms across his chest, leaning back against his tree again. Matthew stretches his arms to the sky, and then to the sides, presumably trying to limber up or calm himself down. Dominic is fascinated by what is about to happen, and yet secretly terrified. The following minutes might be the last he ever sees.

Matthew cries out in pain, falling to the floor and out of Dominic’s eyeline amongst all the leaves and grass. It takes all of his strength to keep his promise and stay in place, instead of bounding over to Matthew’s crumpled body. Dominic winces, fingernails digging into the bark of the tree behind him as Matthew screams in agony. Realising that the sickening crunching sound he can hear is Matthew’s bones breaking in his body, Dominic fights the urge to flee; not even to save himself, but to escape the sound of Matthew’s screams.

The sound stops, though, and Dominic hears a bird chirping in the silence. He stands on tiptoes, able to see Matthew kneeling on the forest floor, head tipped back in a silent scream. Dominic sees the fangs in Matthew’s mouth, four as opposed to his two, and absentmindedly runs his tongue over his teeth. Matthew holds his hands out before him, and Dominic can’t tear his eyes away from the sight of long claws growing from his fingernails. The nubs of Matthew’s spine raise, threatening to break his skin and Dominic looks on in horror, mouth agape. Matthew falls forward to all fours again, and Dominic tries swallowing the lump in his throat, looking up through the leaves to the darkening sky above, the pale full moon visible above the canopy.

Matthew begins screaming again, the sound morphing into gargled, cut-off snarls. Dominic tries to see him through the leaves and the little light, but it’s no use. The snarls eventually fade to panting, the kind of panting noise a dog would make, and Dominic finds himself crouching, pressing his back up against the tree in preparation.

Two yellow eyes appear in the darkness in front of him, and Dominic can’t help the hiss that escapes his lips. He feels himself begin to manifest but he fights it as best he can, reminding himself constantly that this is Matthew.

The wolf tips its head back and howls, the sound resonating in Dominic’s bones. His fight against his instincts doesn’t last long, the pain too much to bear as the wolf howl echoes around the clearing. He feels his fangs grow but keeps his mouth tightly shut, and hopes that the wolf can’t see his black eyes in the darkness.

The yellow eyes draw up close and the wolf steps into a shaft of moonlight. It stands much taller than he does, its snout level with his face as Dominic stands up out of the crouch, trying to appear as tall as he can. The yellow eyes blink at him, Dominic pressing himself back against the tree as the wolf comes right up to him, its wet nose only inches from his face. The beast growls and Dominic feels the sound reverberate in his own chest, biting down the hiss he so badly wants to release.

The wolf sniffs at him, and Dominic realises that this is it, this is when the wolf will realise not who but what he is and rip his head off. He wants to run. He wants to leave the fucking country if that means he still gets to keep his head.

But Dominic has learnt his mistakes from the last time he’d met a wolf. Dominic had barely escaped intact back in 1942, he plans on keeping his head this time.

He stands still and lets the wolf sniff and growl at him, because he knows that if he runs, he’ll be chased. And as soon as he’s chased, he’s as good as dead.

The wolf growls, breathing heavily in Dominic’s face as it begins to turn away, the vampire’s nose wrinkling at the stench of it. The wolf sniffs at the ground, picking up its pace as it finds the scent of the chicken, seemingly preoccupied.

Dominic runs for his life.

*

Matthew throws an arm over his face, trying to block out the sunlight and gain a few more minutes of sleep. He rolls over and hears a twig snap, immediately remembering his current predicament and opening his eyes.

His forearms are coated in blood, sticky and red against his pale skin. Matthew shuffles backwards instantly, as if he can physically escape the nightmare beginning to form. He hopes it’s just a deer. He prays to God that it’s just a deer.

When Matthew’s eyes alight on a torn pair of jeans in the nearby foliage, he stands up and runs.

Branches snap under his bare feet and roots threaten to trip him up, but he continues. Senses still heightened from his transformation, Matthew follows his scent trail back to where he’d left his backpack, quickly grabbing it before retracing his steps back to where he had woken up. If he’d committed a crime, he was at least going to make sure he dealt with it himself.

He drops the bag at his feet, slowly approaching the torn jeans he had seen. Now standing, he can see one lone trainer a bit further on. He continues warily, putting his hand to his mouth when he sees darkened soil, and then finally the carcass of the human.

Matthew gags once, twice, before turning and vomiting into a nearby bush. What he’d brought up was bright red and only made him feel more ill. He clumsily fumbled his way back to his bag, pulling out the phone he kept there for emergencies and ringing the first number he could think of.

“Hello?”

“Dom,” Matthew sobs. “I fucked up, I really fucked up,” he blurts. He hears movement at the end of the line.

“Where are you? I’m near the entrance of the park,” Dominic says calmly. “Ah, no, don’t worry, I’ve got your scent. Hold on, I’m coming. Don’t panic, don’t move.”

Matthew holds the phone to his ear in his bloody hand, stark naked as he sits on the forest floor, a combination of blood and vomit dripping from his chin. His mouth opens but he can’t find the words to say, at least, not the right ones. “I’m a monster,” he whispers, staring in horror at what he had done.

He hears wind rushing past Dominic’s microphone. “I see you.”

The line goes dead, although Matthew still holds the phone to his ear, feeling numb. A moment later, Dominic breaks his line of sight with the corpse, eyes wide and lips set in a frown.

“Matthew. Matthew, listen to me,” Dominic says, taking Matthew by the shoulders and shaking him a little. He realises how warm Dominic’s hands feel against his skin, and then he realises that they shouldn’t feel warm at all. “I need you to get dressed, then we’ll work this out together, okay? This was not you, alright?” Dominic says, trying to look into Matthew’s eyes. “Look at me,” he orders, and Matthew finds he can’t disobey. “This was your wolf. This was not you. Come on.”

Matthew allows himself to be hauled to his feet, Dominic’s hands slowly becoming bloody as it transfers off Matthew’s skin. Matthew robotically pulls on his boxers and jeans, followed by his t-shirt and then his shoes. His arms are still bright red. “Is there any water nearby?” Dominic asks.

“Pond,” Matthew mumbles. “Should I...”

“That would be advisable, yes,” Dominic says, pottering around the corpse. “Face as well. Go on, nothing to see here.”

Matthew swallows the lump in his throat, trundling off towards the pond with his heart feeling heavy and his feet feeling like lead. This is now the second time he’s been rescued by Dominic, and not only is he feeling inadequate compared to his... whatever Dominic was, but he was now also a murderer, an animal.

He kneels at the edge of the pond, nose wrinkling at the algae before he realises how ridiculous that is. He plunges his arms in up to his elbows, breaking up the water and watching the blood slowly dance away from his skin. He closes his eyes and splashes it onto his face, gasping at the coldness of it. Feeling slightly less of a monster, he returns to Dominic.

The vampire stands back, bloody hands dangling at his sides. Matthew looks to the place where the corpse was, unable to see anything. “Buried under foliage, I’ve got all his clothes in your backpack. We’ll be having a little bonfire in the garden when we get back,” Dominic says, turning to Matthew. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Matthew says, feeling much better now he can’t see the man. He’s glad he never saw his face, if he’d even had one left. “How did you get here so quick?”

Dominic looks down at his feet before turning and striding away from the body with Matthew’s rucksack on his shoulder. Matthew jogs to catch up. “I lingered in the area last night, listening for the wolf, making sure I was staying just out of range,” he explains. “It was quite interesting, for tracking purposes, et cetera. The wolf was my guinea pig, ironically.”

Matthew was glad that Dominic didn’t call it his wolf, although he didn’t quite believe Dominic’s excuse. They are about to step onto the path, the first morning joggers emerging from their warm homes, when Dominic looks down at his red hands. “Fuck,” he says, drawing them to his face. He casts a glance towards Matthew, before licking a thick stripe up the back of his left hand.

Matthew balks. “I’m sorry Dom but that’s fucking disgusting.”

Dominic simply looks at the other man, that shared gaze saying it all. Matthew drops his head, anxiety creeping over him once more. He tries to ignore the sound of Dominic licking Matthew’s last meal off his fingers and concentrates on how he can further fuck up this so-called life of his.

“Let’s go,” Dominic says, thrusting his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. “We were a hundred times more likely to be stopped if I’d had bright red hands,” he says, “and I didn’t have time to go find that pond like you did.” Matthew remains silent. “If it’s any consolation, I didn’t find it tasty.”

“Please stop talking.”

They walk back to the house in silence, Matthew feeling Dominic’s eyes on him for the whole journey. As soon as Dominic closes the door behind them, Matthew bolts upstairs, locking himself in the bathroom.

Dominic sighs, heading out into the garden and to the pile of rubbish at the bottom of it; household debris such as an old mattress, some grass trimmings and some cardboard boxes from the move. Save for Matthew’s mobile phone, Dominic throws the whole rucksack onto the pile, before rummaging through the shed for the petrol for the lawnmower. He douses it liberally, before patting himself down for a lighter. Groaning, he darts back into the house, rummaging through the kitchen drawers. He returns to the bonfire with a lighter and a box of cigarettes in his hand; using a small piece of card as tinder, he lights that and throws it onto the fire, the fuel catching immediately.

Stepping away from the flames, Dominic sits down in a white plastic chair, lighting a cigarette and watching the flames lick towards the sky.

“The fuck is all this?” Chris says, appearing in the chair next to him, looking apt in his pyjamas as the sun slowly rises higher in the sky. Dominic exhales a thin stream of smoke. He can’t remember when he last had a cigarette.

“A man was killed in the woods last night,” Dominic says, choosing his words carefully. “Myself and Matthew helped to clear up.”

Chris turns to him slowly. “Was it an animal attack?”

Dominic takes a drag of his cigarette, still staring at the flames. “Appears so,” he says, before turning to Chris. “And that’s the last time we talk about it.”

Chris nods, both of them turning to watch the fire burn.

*

Matthew strips out of his clothes, looking through the mottled glass of the bathroom window down onto the garden below. He sees a shape move, and then the orange flames blossoming. He turns away, switching on the shower, brushing his teeth thoroughly as he waits for it to warm up. He feels a little more human once he can no longer taste the horrid mixture of blood and vomit in his mouth. As he turns towards the shower, he catches his reflection in the mirror, wishing he hadn’t.

He steps into the shower and allows the water to soak him. He loses track of time as the droplets rush down over him, stripping him of the blood and sweat on his skin, the final traces of his coupling with Dominic the previous evening, everything save for the scars on his back. He turns the pressure of the shower up, nearly hoping that he could strip those from his skin, too.

Matthew blinks the water out of his eyes when he hears a knock on the door. “Matthew?” He knows who it is. Slowly, he washes his hair, letting to soap sit in the strands as he scrubs his skin hard with the nail brush, leaving it pink and raw. Finally, he rinses his hair out, before shutting off the water and stepping out of the shower. Matthew dries his hair and his torso, wrapping a towel around his waist before leaving the bathroom, walking straight past Dominic, who smells of bonfire smoke.

“Matt,” the vampire calls, but Matthew ignores him, walking straight to his own room to sit in peace. He doesn’t shut the door behind him, knowing that Dominic will simply walk in as he pleases anyway. He curses the fact that the threshold rule doesn’t apply to personal bedrooms.

Matthew sits down at the edge of the bed, facing away from the door. He hears the door shut softly, feels the bed dip at his side as Dominic sits down. He notices that Dominic’s hands are now entirely clean, he chooses to think that Dominic actually washed them properly. His alarm clock blinks 8:03. He sighs.

“I’m going to be fired,” he says in a monotone. “They might as well arrest me too, while they’re at it.”

Dominic rolls his eyes, unseen to Matthew, reaching for Matthew’s proper mobile phone sitting on his bedside table. Matthew watches him, feeling strangely detached from the situation, as Dominic scrolls through to the number saved as ‘Work’.

“Hello?” Dominic asks a few seconds later, phone held to his ear. “No, it’s not Matt. This is his boyfriend.”

Matthew tries to ignore the little flip his stomach does, his face revealing nothing.

“Yeah, he came down with some kind of stomach bug overnight,” Dominic lies easily. “He was really looking forward to work today and everything... Oh really, he was sick this time last month, too? What a coincidence... He’ll be fine for tomorrow. Alright, see you.”

Dominic hangs up the phone, putting it back on the bedside table. Matthew turns to him, eyebrows knit together. “Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Call work for me.”

Dominic shifts closer on the bed. “Because you’re not the monster you think you are. You’re a human being, good at his job, and you deserve to keep it. Plus, you’re hardly in the right frame of mind to go into work today.” Dominic slowly cups Matthew’s face with his hand, and Matthew leans into the touch. “I owe you an apology.”

Matthew’s eyes flicker open. “Why?”

Dominic strokes his thumb along Matthew’s cheekbone, a droplet of water running down Matthew’s nose from his hair, plastered to his forehead. “I interfered, not just once, not even twice but three times. Firstly, yesterday afternoon when we...”

Matthew’s eyes drop to the side, looking at the still rumpled bedsheets they sat on. “And then, when I asked you if you’d killed anyone before, just on the cusp of your transformation... fuck, that was so stupid of me,” Dominic says, lowering his eyes. Matthew realises this is perhaps the first time he’s seen Dominic looking so human. “And finally, when... your wolf, just after you’d transformed, he approached me... it must’ve been my scent, I fucked up. I put it all in your head, but please believe me when I say that wasn’t my intention.”

Matthew shuts his eyes, leaning his cheek further into Dominic’s palm. Dominic runs that hand through Matthew’s hair, shifting closer on the bed, allowing Matthew to rest his head against his shoulder. The grey t-shirt offers some warmth, compared to the coolness of Dominic’s bare skin, or the leather of his jacket. “I feel like it’s my first time all over again. I haven’t felt this rotten since the morning after my first transformation.”

“If it helps you to talk it out, then I’m here for you,” Dominic says. Matthew hums, reaching for Dominic’s hand and drawing it into his own lap, idly playing with the vampire’s fingers as he talks.

My biggest fear is the fear of the unknown, yet at the time I didn’t know that I should’ve been afraid.

We returned home from Scotland, and I had to visit the hospital once more after the initial trip because my stitches kept reopening. I had to take time off work, which meant lots of time around the flat, which meant lots of time with Adam, whose job as a substitute teacher didn’t quite get him as many hours as he would’ve liked. He refused to talk to me about the accident, or to look at my scars. He was the one person I trusted enough to tell, but he wouldn’t listen.

Alarm bells had started ringing in my head one day as I was going through the calendar, realising that the day I had been attacked also coincided with the full moon. The hairs on the back of my neck had stood up, but I ignored it. Didn’t you have to be bitten to become a werewolf? That’s if I’d even been attacked by one, anyway; I’d hardly even saw it. In fact, over the next few weeks (and with Adam’s constant dismissals of my wolf theory), I managed to convince myself that it truly had been a bear, and was therefore nothing to worry about.

Nearly a month after my attack, I found myself feeling impossibly wound up, like a coiled spring ready to pounce on someone. I even went jogging - something I haven’t done since the early days of university - to try and let out the pent up anger, but it simply wasn’t working. When I returned home from that run, Adam laughed in my face at my flushed skin and heavy breathing.

I punched him square in the nose.

I remember the blood dripping onto the carpet, and the way he looked at me as if I was a dog who’d just disobeyed its master. He shouted at me, even as I stood there with my arms trembling, ready to beat him into bloody submission. He left me alone that night, storming out of the flat.

He came back the next morning with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates. He told me he was sorry, and that he truly loved me, and that he’d forgive my mistake. I allowed him to talk me into bed, because it was the closest I’d felt to being my true self for that whole week.

The day after that was full moon, I glanced at it briefly as I looked at the calendar that morning. Adam was going away for a stag night for one of his work friends and wouldn’t be back until early the next afternoon. It was a Saturday night, so I spent most of the day lazing around the flat, entirely unaware of what awaited me that evening.

You could just see the sea from the living room window, so I was standing and admiring that as the sky darkened on the horizon, the sun having set somewhere behind the building our flat was in. I turned away from the sight, turning on the stereo and putting on my favourite rock playlist, quite loud, as Adam never would let me listen to it when he was in the house. Quite content, my stomach rumbled, and I decided that I should maybe make dinner.

A stab of pain erupted in my chest, knocking the wind out of my lungs and sending me to my knees. It blossomed to my lower abdomen, my kidneys and my liver to be precise, and I thought it was a heart attack, even though that would’ve been a wild diagnosis at any rate.

I had no idea that the true diagnosis was even wilder.

I tried to crawl to the phone, hardly able to hear my own screams over the music I’d put on. I realised that my neighbours would be unable to hear me over the music, too, and I wondered if this was where I would die.

If only death had been so sweet.

I scrabbled at my own skin and then at the floor as the pain increased exponentially, beyond words. My screams turned silent for a moment - which, I later learned, is the transformation of vocal cords - and I looked up at where my fingers were gouging huge chunks in the floorboards, claws where my nails used to be. I heard a ripping noise, realising that my body was changing beyond my control and that my clothes had seemingly been in the way of the process.

I screamed and screamed, but no one heard, and then my memory stops.

I woke up the next morning shivering on the floor, stark naked. The flat was silent, and I looked up to where the speaker system stood, to realise it wasn’t there anymore. It had tumbled to the floor, smashed into pieces. I stood up, aching all over, looking outside to see that the sun was just beginning to rise over the sea. I then turned around, and looked at the carnage which used to be my flat.

“The place was ruined,” Matthew says, shaking his head against Dominic’s shoulder. “There wasn’t a single thing that I hadn’t destroyed.”

“Your wolf,” Dominic reminds him. “It wasn’t you.”

“Adam wasn’t quite as politically correct,” Matthew says with a sigh. “I’d frantically started to tidy, but he’d arrived home early, finding me starkers in the middle of all the mess. He jumps to conclusions, assuming I’d had another man in the flat, coming up with all these ridiculous arguments. I told him the truth, about turning into a werewolf, because I’d finally realised what was happening... and he didn’t believe me. Called me a liar, a cheater. I nearly punched him again. I wish I had.” Matthew sighs again. “He left. Stopped paying the rent, just packed whatever was his that was still in one piece and left.”

“I’m going to kill that cunt,” Dominic growls. Matthew squeezes his hand, turning to look up at Dominic for the first time during his story.

“He’ll get what’s coming, don’t worry. Karma seems to work like that,” Matthew says, smiling a little. “I got dealt a bad deal, but then again I guess something good came of it.” He presses his head into Dominic’s shoulder, Dominic pulling his hand from Matthew’s so he could move his arm, wrapping it around his waist and holding him close. “Thank you for helping me this morning. And well... thank you for finding me in the first place. This last week has been better than the last six months combined, just because I finally feel like...” Matthew stops mid sentence and laughs. The sound puts a smile on Dominic’s face.

“What?” he asks, squeezing Matthew’s waist slightly.

“I finally feel like I’m living a normal life, I feel like I’m human again.”

Dominic turns his head, placing a kiss in Matthew’s hair. “All with the help of a vampire and a ghost,” he mumbles into the damp strands. Matthew sighs happily as Dominic wraps both arms around him, holding him tight.

“You said you were my boyfriend,” Matthew murmurs.

“I did,” Dominic smiles.

“To my manager.”

“Yep.”

“Is that...” Matthew swallows and Dominic releases him so they can shift positions. “Was that just part of the excuse, or, I mean...” he mumbles, looking down into his lap.

Dominic tips Matthew’s chin up with two fingers, and their eyes meet. “At the ripe old age of one hundred and fifty something, I would prefer the term partners instead of boyfriends, but that’s just a technicality,” Dominic says, one corner of his mouth curling up in a smile. Matthew blushes, and Dominic traces the bloom of the blood under his pale skin with his thumb. “The one human I can’t drink,” he muses quietly, “but the one human who can kill me. You are an absolute puzzle, Matthew, and that blush is adorable.”

Matthew turns redder. “Sorry,” he whispers.

“Don’t be.” Dominic leans forward and kisses him softly, eyes falling shut. Matthew melts into him, his fingers loosely gripping Dominic’s t-shirt as they kiss with closed mouths. Dominic smiles, pulling back a little. “Alright, put some clothes on. Chris’ll wonder what we’re up to.”

“Chris...” Matthew says, staring blankly at the wall before his eyes snap back to Dominic’s. “Does he know what happened last night? Or yesterday-- oh Dom,” Matthew says, wide eyed. “Dom, I’m so sorry about that, I hardly even remember what I was doing--”

Dominic places a hand on Matthew’s shoulder, looking deep into his eyes. “Don’t. It’s been and gone, I shouldn’t have tempted you,” he says, before looking away.

“Did you enjoy it?” Matthew asks in a small voice. Dominic kisses the corner of his mouth.

“I can’t lie, it was quite hot,” Dominic says, pulling back with the beginning of a smirk on his lips. “Animalistic. Instinctive. Although, the thought of you transforming during intercourse was slightly terrifying.”

Matthew buries his head in the crook of Dominic’s neck, Dominic smiling and running his hand through his hair. “If you’re trying to hide a blush, that’s a terrible tactic. I can feel it against my skin.”

Matthew pulls back, indeed with bright red cheeks. “That’s weird,” he says, wrinkling his nose a little.

“I’m just as weird as you,” Dominic says, standing up. “Come on, get dressed. I’ve had an idea.”

*

Matthew, Dominic and Chris find themselves on the pier under the midday sun. Matthew had learned from Dominic that Chris did indeed know about what happened, but the ghost didn’t say a thing about it. Matthew had found a jumper that drowned him and jeans, trying to play up to the “I was up all night vomiting” excuse (which, coincidentally, he managed to pull off quite well), and they had decided to avoid the street his bank was on. Chris is in his usual pyjamas, and Dominic looks like he’s sweltering in all black, including the sunglasses over his eyes.

They look quite the sight.

Matthew walks next to Dominic, Chris trying to avoid going straight through people who can’t see him as the third member of their group. “So this was your grand idea,” Matthew says, pushing up the sleeves of his jumper. “Well, it could be worse. At least I can make the most of the sunshine while it lasts.”

“I can’t wait for winter,” Dominic says in his usual dry tone.

“Cold-blooded creatures tend to enjoy the cold a bit more,” Chris says, running his hands up and down his arms. “Wish I could still enjoy the sunshine.”

They walk a few more steps before Matthew squints at a figure along the pier. “What is she doing?”

A young woman, wearing a fancy knee length dress and brown hair pinned up like in history books, walks down the pier towards them. She smiles everyone who passes, sometimes adding in a wave of a gloved hand.

“Humans are so weird,” Dominic says with a roll of his eyes, Matthew shoving him lightly with a scowl. Chris continues staring at her.

“Why is no one responding to her?” Chris asks as she moves up the pier towards them.

“Because a stranger smiling and waving at you is bizarre? Fuck, Matt, stop,” Dominic says, swiftly avoiding the next push in his direction. “I’m just saying.”

The woman approaches their group, giggling lightly before smiling at Chris. “Hello,” she says in a prim accent.

“Hi,” he says dreamily, before he blinks and turns to look at her again.

“You can see me?”

The question is asked in unison by both Chris and the woman, who stare at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. Matthew smiles. “I called that,” he smirks, nudging Dominic. The reply sounds something like ‘piss off’, but Matthew ignores the vampire.

Chris extends his hand to the woman, who places her own hand in it delicately. “Chris,” he says, shaking her hand lightly.

“Kelly,” she replies, giggling and gesturing to Matthew and Dominic. “Found yourself some friends?” she asks, red lips stretched in a smile.

Dominic steps forward, taking Kelly’s fingers and kissing them gently, the ghost giggling again. “Dominic,” he says, dropping her hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Matthew waves awkwardly, looking around. “I’m Matt,” he says, “I think we need to go, before it looks like we’re talking to thin air,” he says to Dominic, looking at both Chris and Kelly. They nod, following Dominic and Matthew as they head towards the town-end of the pier.

Chris sneaks a glance at Kelly, who is fully aware that she’s being watched. “So, um...” Chris clears his throat. “How long have you been, you know...”

Kelly laughs, a passerby turning his head towards the empty space from where her voice had resonated. “May ‘41,” she says with a chipper tone of voice. “Right at the end of the Blitz, just my luck. What about you?” she asks, one dainty hand fiddling with her thick brown hair, pinned back with beautiful jewelled clips.

“Just after Christmas, last year,” Chris says, and Kelly’s face falls.

“That’s terrible,” she says sadly, waving a hand at his attire. “Did you die in your sleep? Not a bad way to go, mind,” she adds hastily.

Chris looks down at the floor, words like girlfriend and father getting caught in his throat. “Not quite. We were burgled.”

“Ah,” Kelly says, nodding. She primly takes off her gloves, putting them in a tiny handbag strung across her body. Chris looks at the emerald green dress, with its cinched in waist and knee-length hemline, the little court shoes now beginning to pick their way over the rocks of the beach. He offers his hand as she stumbles a little and she uses it as balance. “Thank you.”

“What about you, if I may ask?” Chris asks with a smile that Kelly returns.

“You may,” she giggles. “I was on my way to my first ever date, my parents had found this young pilot, just back from the war on medical discharge. Dashing young man, he was.” She smiles at the memory, but her face falls. “I never found out if the bomb had gotten him too.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Chris says as the catch up to Matthew and Dominic, who have stopped a few metres ahead.

“Don’t be,” Kelly says. “Some people have it much worse, isn’t that right?”

Chris nods.

Dominic takes his sunglasses off for a moment, looking at Kelly. “I would say.... late 1940s.”

Kelly laughs, “I thought vampires were meant to be better than that? Nice try, darling,” Kelly says, patting the arm of Dominic’s jacket. “1941,” she says, Chris smiling.

“I studied history at university,” Chris says excitedly. “I spent so long learning about the Blitz and state of Britain and the emergence of the welfare state and--” he stops himself suddenly, aware of Matthew and Dominic’s puzzled expressions. “It’s really cool to meet someone who lived through all that,” he breathes, Kelly grinning up at him, nearly a whole foot shorter than the other ghost.

They sit down on the pebbles, Kelly explaining to Matthew and Dominic how she’d been caught out on the open streets when the air raid sirens had began to wail, already too late. She was a Londoner at heart, but during the last decade or so the city had been growing too crowded for her, so she’d moved out to the country, ending up in the same town as Chris and the others. “I’ve only really just gotten here, mind you,” she says. “I spent a lot of time in Brighton last year, dear little city. Got me right up to date on today’s society and all that.”

“Brighton in the sixties was very exciting, let me tell you,” Dominic chips in, no trace of his former, wintry self in his excited tone.

Matthew rolls his eyes. “Well I can tell you a lot about this shitty little town over the last decade or two, if you really want.”

Putting an arm around Matthew, Dominic pulls him close. “Forgive my partner,” he says to Kelly. “He isn’t quite used to dealing with supernaturals.” A smile breaks out on Matthew’s face, despite himself.

“Isn’t he a werewolf though?” Kelly asks, quirking one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“Does that matter?” Matthew asks defensively, Dominic holding him a little bit tighter.

Kelly blinks, looking to Chris. “No! Golly, no, I just meant... it’s unusual enough to find a vampire and a werewolf even on speaking terms, let alone... well, together.”

“Oh,” Matthew asks, before giggling nervously. “Sorry,” he says to the floor, drawing a finger through the fine sand and pebbles below them.

“So Kelly, where have you been staying, if you haven’t been sticking around in London?” Chris asks, watching the way the corners of her eyes crinkle when she smiles.

“Oh, you know, just here and there. No real need to attach myself to a certain place, I kind of see myself as part of the universe, so I just... belong.”

“Wow,” Chris says, and Kelly dips her head as if to blush. Dominic looks at Matthew knowingly, but he’s staring at Kelly with his brow furrowed.

“How did you know I was a werewolf?”

“Matthew, it’s not an interrogation, be polite,” Dominic says, arm still wrapped around Matthew’s waist. Matthew sighs, but Kelly waves her hand.

“Oh it’s fine, Dominic, I was just as curious when I was as young as he is,” she laughs, and Dominic nods in agreement with a small smile on his face. “I could feel your aura, Matthew.”

Chris’ eyes light up. “I thought there was something like that!” he says excitedly. “I met another ghost once, he told me something about that briefly, but then his door appeared, and, well...” The excitement leaves his voice. “I haven’t met another ghost since.”

“I could teach you, if you would like that,” Kelly says, fiddling with the hem of her dress and biting her lip nervously. Matthew tries his hardest not to coo softly at the enthusiastic nod Chris gives in return. Instead, he simply raises his eyebrows suggestively at him later in the conversation, when Kelly and Dominic are in deep discussion about the early 1930s, and Chris rolls his eyes in return, with a happy grin on his face.

As the beach around them begins to fill with children and tourists once more for a spot of afternoon sun, Dominic begins to sit up and he becomes tense. “I’m not keen on being overheard talking about strange things to invisible people,” he says, and Chris nods in understanding.

“Chris, perhaps I could teach you some of those things, if you want?” Kelly asks, and Chris stands up straight away, offering his hand to help her up. She stands and brushes the sand off her dress, before putting her gloves back on and linking her arm through Christopher’s, white gloves against his flannel pyjamas.

“I’ll see you later,” Chris says, Dominic smiling up at him.

“There’s no need to hurry back, me and Dominic might--”

Dominic promptly elbows Matthew in the side, glaring at him briefly before standing up, taking Kelly’s free hand and kissing her fingers as he had done as a greeting. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Kelly. I would love to continue our conversation some other time.”

Kelly bows her head a little before Chris waves to the two of them, turning away and guiding Kelly up along the beach. “He is absolutely smitten,” Dominic says with a smile. Matthew hauls himself up from the sand.

“Seems like you are too,” Matthew mutters, Dominic turning to him with a dark look on his face.

“We grew up in the same area, Matthew. It’s interesting to see how it had changed,” Dominic shoots back. Matthew huffs, beginning to walk up the beach towards town again, Dominic easily keeping pace.

“I just feel like everyone is better at this whole supernatural thing than I am,” Matthew mumbles under his breath, kicking a stone. “Just because I’m normal most of the time. I feel like I’m missing out on some kind of joke,” he says, glancing up at Dominic and continuing to talk even as he opens his mouth to reply. “I mean, what was that shove for earlier?”

“It was because Kelly is a lady and doesn’t want to know about our late night endeavours,” Dominic says. Matthew’s brow furrows.

“Maybe I was going to tell Chris I’m doing some creepy wolf shit tonight and he shouldn’t return home? Hmmm?”

Matthew looks up at Dominic expectantly, before Dominic’s poker face falls and he groans, putting a hand to his face. “You are unbelievable.”

“I was just trying to let him know,” Matthew says with a shrug as they begin walking along the main shopping street of the town.

“And had you considered consulting me about this at all?” Dominic asks, but Matthew can hear the lilt in his voice. He smirks.

“I was planning on seducing you, obviously,” Matthew says, Dominic puts a hand around his waist, promptly turning them down a side street and ignoring Matthew’s questions as he presses the werewolf up against a wall, stepping between his legs.

“You?” Dominic breathes against Matthew’s neck, the sudden change in pace making his heart thunder in his chest. “Seducing me?” he murmurs, pressing a kiss under the juncture of Matthew’s jaw. “You were saying?”

“Dom,” Matthew whines, eyes fluttering shut as Dominic’s lips barely trace his, before the man is gone entirely. Matthew opens his eyes to find Dominic smirking at him, a few paces back.

“Shall we continue?” the vampire chirps with that smirk still plastered across his face. Matthew huffs, readjusting his jeans and pushing off from the wall.

*

Dominic sits in the garden watching the sun setting through a gap in the houses behind their own. He twitches his fingers, contemplating a cigarette. Matthew sits down in the chair next to him, a cup of tea cradled in his hands.

“Did you mean that, about feeling left out earlier?” Dominic asks a few moments later.

Matthew sips his tea. “Maybe.”

Dominic twitches his fingers again. He sighs, standing up and crossing to the other side of the garden.

“Was it something I said?” Matthew asks, affronted, as Dominic pulls out a carton of cigarettes from his jacket pocket. He puts one between his lips, lighting it quickly and taking a first drag almost immediately.

“Why do you think I would cross the fucking garden to have a cigarette, Matthew? Come on, you went to university, have a think,” Dominic snaps, pacing up and down his end of the garden as he smokes the cigarette.

“The fuck is your problem?” Matthew asks, putting his tea down on the ground next to his chair. “Why are you even smoking anyway?”

“It helps calm me down,” Dominic admits, taking another quick drag and exhaling the smoke up into the sky. Matthew makes his way halfway across the garden before Dominic shoots him a glare that roots him in place. “It’s been two days, alright?”

Matthew finally understands. He finishes crossing the garden to stand at Dominic’s side, pinning him against the fence.

“Unlike you, I can’t get cancer. I’m trying to save your lungs,” Dominic mutters feebly, as Matthew plucks the cigarette from his fingers and takes a drag himself. “You’re a lunatic.”

Matthew simply smiles up at Dominic before blowing the smoke to the side, passing the cigarette back to Dominic. “I thought vampires could last more than two nights without feeding?”

“Oh, easily,” Dominic says after taking a drag, hesitating for a moment before placing the cigarette back between Matthew’s outstretched fingers. “But I’ve been feeding nightly recently, and last night I manifested without feeding. That plays with my systems,” he says, hungrily watching Matthew’s cheeks hollow as he takes a drag of the cigarette. “You shouldn’t... that’s bad for your health.”

Matthew grins up at Dominic. “Says the one who drinks blood for a living,” he responds, smoke tumbling from his mouth as he does so. He passes the cigarette back before heading towards the chairs, sitting down once more and picking up his cup of tea, taking a tentative sip. Dominic follows him over, taking a seat next to him.

“Can I watch?”

Dominic laughs. “I was expecting that question some day,” he says, reaching down to crush the butt of the cigarette against the concrete. “If you want, I suppose. Infinitely less of a danger than a vampire watching a werewolf do his thing, at least. I’m in control of my actions.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” Matthew says, stomach twisting uncomfortably as he thinks of the events from that morning he’d managed to forget during the course of the day. Within a flash, Dominic is kneeling before him, hands on his knees.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Dominic says, thumbs rubbing circles into the material of Matthew’s jeans. “I meant it as an assurance that I won’t hurt you. I know you’re not a threat, just as your wolf did the same for me.”

Matthew gulps down the rest of his lukewarm tea as he mulls the idea over. “Come on,” Dominic says. “Dusk is my favourite time to hunt.”

Matthew can’t help the chill that crawls down his spine at the excitement in Dominic’s voice. The vampire stands up, Matthew following suit and going inside.

“Where are you going?” Dominic asks, nearly with a whine in his voice. “I’m hungry.”

Matthew emerges with a bunch of keys in his hands. “I’m locking the door. The last time this house was burgled, someone died.”

Dominic turns as soon as he hears the lock click, and Matthew struggles to follow him through a maze of alleyways as they leave through the back gate. Five or ten minutes later, just as the streetlights begin to flicker on, Dominic slows right down in the middle of a housing estate, Matthew nearly crashing into him.

“I want you to stay back as I--” Dominic begins to explain, before he stops dead, turning to grin at Matthew with a wicked smile.

“Dom?” Matthew asks, drawing out the word.

“This could be fun,” Dominic laughs darkly, grabbing Matthew’s hand and walking forward. Bewildered, Matthew can do nothing but follow.

“You’re not using me as bait, are you? I don’t want to be respons--”

“I’m not killing anyone,” Dominic mentions under his breath. “Certainly not with you around. I just want to mix up my routine a bit, it gets a little boring after a while.”

With nervous butterflies in his stomach, Matthew allows himself to be pulled through the housing estate towards the centre of town again, pubs and bars now alive after a sunny day. Dominic loops his arm around Matthew’s waist, holding him tight against his side as he steers him towards the outdoor terrace of a bar.

“Fancy a drink?” Dominic asks Matthew. Matthew looks up at him in utter confusion.

“Is that a joke?”

Dominic laughs. “Sometimes, Matthew, the longest chases have the sweetest rewards.”

A few minutes later, Matthew is sipping gingerly at a glass of red wine as Dominic draws in the condensation of his glass of water, watching the people walking by on the street beside them with a certain regard. Dominic licks his lips and Matthew’s eyes trace the movement of his tongue.

“Him,” Dominic says quietly, not looking towards Matthew. Matthew follows his line of sight, noticing that he’s staring at the smoker’s area of the town’s gay club, a quiet establishment that is simply known for its more specialised clientele and doesn’t advertise itself as such. “He’s been watching us since we walked in. Smile, Matthew.”

Matthew smiles nervously, a bespectacled man on the other side of the street lifting his drink slightly at them both. “Do you do this often?” he asks quietly to Dominic.

“All the rage when I was in Brighton with Peter,” he replies. Matthew hadn’t known the name of Dominic’s vampire ex before now. “The promise of sex is often enough to keep them sober, and the cleaner the blood, the better.”

“Are we going to have sex with him?!” Matthew asks, taking another drink of his wine to calm his nerves. Dominic reaches across the table to take his hand.

“I don’t know, would you like to?” Dominic asks with a crooked smile.

“Did you and Peter used to?” Matthew asks, a challenge.

“It got quite messy, I must admit. Would’ve hated to be a maid in the hotel rooms we left behind,” Dominic says, a small chuckle escaping his lips before he turns back to Matthew. “I wouldn’t feed on him unless he was restrained and you were aside. I wouldn’t want to accidentally chase his neck to find it’s yours.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“It was one of them,” Dominic replies with an easy smile.

“You would’ve made a fine politician,” Matthew says, looking back over to the man on the other side of the street. “I’d have sex with him.”

“You’d have sex with anything with a pulse,” Dominic shoots back.

“Not you, then,” Matthew snaps.

“Randy little cub,” Dominic retorts.

They stare at each other for a few moments, smiles teasing at the corners of their mouths. Matthew sips at his wine, keeping eye contact with Dominic over the rim of his glass.

“I don’t want to share you,” Matthew eventually says, and Dominic smiles.

“I’m glad we agree on that. Come on.”

They stand from the table, and having already paid for their drinks they cross the pedestrianised street to the other bar, Matthew smuggling over his glass of wine as they do so. Matthew allows Dominic to take the lead, introducing himself as James and falling into an easy, practiced conversation with the man they’d been eyeing.

By the time Matthew’s finished his wine, Dominic is beginning to make his move.

“So, Sam, we were wondering if you’d maybe like to come back to ours for a drink?” Dominic asks, looping his arm around Matthew’s waist. Feeling just a little tipsy from the large glass of wine and little food eaten today, Matthew allows his head to rest on Dominic’s shoulder, giving a lazy smile to Sam.

“O-Of course,” Sam says, and Dominic flashes him one of those smiles that could make your head swim. Matthew should know.

They set off in the opposite direction to their house, heading quickly into the deserted shopping district and into a sketchy part of the town, Dominic giving out one lie after the other, Sam apparently enthralled. Dominic’s hand remains on Matthew’s waist the whole time.

“So how did you and James meet?” Sam asks Matthew. Matthew opens his mouth but no words come out.

“He’s shy, he doesn’t talk much,” Dominic says, Matthew allowing his mouth to fall shut. “Complete opposite in the bedroom, though,” Dominic laughs. Matthew thinks about Dominic in the bedroom, then, and realises that all of the casual flirting that had been happening up until that moment had been slowly arousing him all evening.

Dominic turns them down a narrow alley, and within a moment he has Sam pinned up against the grimy wall. Matthew steps back when Dominic looks in his direction, eyes entirely black.

“It’s a shame,” Matthew says, “he would’ve been fun.”

Sam gurgles as Dominic’s fangs pierce his neck, his white shirt soaking up the claret as Dominic pins him against the wall with his body, hungrily drinking down all that the human has to offer. Matthew watches in awe, the whole process strangely seductive. As Sam’s feeble protests become weaker and weaker, Matthew softly calls Dominic’s name.

Dominic turns to him with black eyes, fangs fully extended and blood dripping from his mouth, and Matthew thinks that he’s never been more beautiful.

Dominic lets the body slide to the floor, not before using the bottom of Sam’s shirt to wipe his face clean. When he turns to Matthew next, he could easily pass for human again. “He’s alive,” Dominic says, reaching down to quickly check his pulse. “Yeah, he’s still there.”

Passing Matthew, Dominic exits the alleyway, Matthew quickly following behind and checking over his shoulder. “Hang on,” Dominic says as they pass a phone box.

With a strange feeling in his stomach, Matthew listens to Dominic making the phone call to the emergency services that will ultimately save Sam’s life. Dominic steps out of the phone booth, one of the traditional red ones, and they quickly walk away from it, cutting down various side streets in silence to make their way back to their house.

Finally home, Matthew collapses onto the sofa, not bothering to flick on any lights. He shuts his eyes, listening to Dominic cross the room and sit down at the end of the sofa, by his feet.

“Was the chase worth it?” Matthew asks, no tone of malice in his voice.

“Not as satisfying as usual,” Dominic says, Matthew cracking an eyelid to look at him. “I think it’s because... with Peter, we would share our spoils. I felt as if I was being selfish, tonight. Unless, that is, you’re seeing a diet change on the horizon.”

“Ugh,” Matthew grunts in disgust, shutting his eyes again. Dominic places his hand on Matthew’s ankle, lightly drumming patterns against his jeans with his fingers. They sit in silence for a few minutes, Matthew enjoying the quiet creaks and groans of the house.

“Are you asleep?” Dominic asks quietly.

“Yes.”

“Ah.”

Matthew lets a few seconds pass, before sighing and putting his hands behind his head. “How is it that you feed off someone, then get to choose whether they live or die, but that my wolf doesn’t need to eat to survive yet kills people regardless of my own will?”

Dominic turns to Matthew, searching out his eyes in the darkness. “I don’t quite know how to respond to that,” he admits, the drumming on Matthew’s leg stopping.

“My biggest fear, now, is that I’ll slowly lose my humanity. It’s already happened with my wolf, it’s only a matter of time for me now,” Matthew admits in a small voice.

“Love is a human emotion, and if you still feel human emotions then you can’t lose your humanity,” Dominic replies. Matthew contemplates this for a second, before propping himself up onto his elbows.

“Surely it’ll be more difficult to hold onto my humanity, though, if I’m spending my time with a creature that’s designed to be the exact opposite of human?” Matthew asks.

Dominic smiles, reaching out towards Matthew. Matthew takes his hand, allowing himself to be pulled into an upright position on the sofa. “You’re learning fast,” Dominic says, voice tinged with both pride and sadness. Matthew laughs a half-laugh, resting his head against Dominic’s shoulder.

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s me who turns into the wolf, or the wolf who turns into me.”

Dominic blinks, turning towards Matthew and pressing a kiss into his hair, letting his eyes fall shut as he rests there and breathes in the earthy scent of Matthew.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Matthew says suddenly, Dominic sitting up as Matthew turns to him expectantly, eyes wide.

“Come here,” Dominic says, tipping Matthew’s chin up with two fingers and pressing a gentle kiss to his mouth. Matthew melts into the touch, pressing his hands against Dominic’s chest through his t-shirt. Dominic smiles at the warmth against his skin, before running his tongue along the seam of Matthew’s lips. Matthew opens for him like a flower would open to the sun, their tongues gently exploring.

Matthew breaks to take a deep breath a minute or so later, giggling at Dominic’s curious smile. “Feels a bit weird that I’m the only one gasping for air,” he rushes out in a single breath.

“I can pretend and join in, if you want.”

Matthew giggles breathlessly, and Dominic finds himself grinning. “Do you want to go upstairs?” he asks, pecking Matthew’s lips again. Matthew nods, and then promptly squeals as Dominic picks him up in his arms.

“Dom!” he whines as Dominic shifts his weight in his arms, before making towards the stairs. “I’m a grown man, you know. I can walk up the stairs by myself.”

“Not nearly as romantic though, is it?” Dominic replies, and Matthew feels warmth blossom through his chest at that. The vampire takes them through to his bedroom, plonking Matthew down in the middle of the neatly-made bed.

“Considering how skinny you are, you’re deceptively strong,” Matthew says as he lays in the middle of the bed, Dominic turning on the lamp on his bedside table.

“Look who’s talking,” he smirks, and Matthew finds himself staring up at Dominic. In a dark grey t-shirt and simple skinny jeans, the soft glow of the lamp adds colour to his cheeks.

“You look human,” Matthew says softly, reaching up to brush his fingers delicately across Dominic’s cheek, perfectly aware that the teeth underneath have torn out the throats of men, women and perhaps even children.

This time, Dominic doesn’t reply. He lowers himself from supporting his weight on his arms, choosing to settle between Matthew’s open legs and resume their chaste kisses. Dominic finds his gentlemanly resolve slipping, though, as Matthew’s noises of appreciation become much more needy.

“Dominic,” Matthew whines, tipping his head back as Dominic kisses a trail down his neck, to the collar of his soft woollen jumper. Matthew’s hands bunch in the fabric at his shoulders, one running up into his blond hair. “Dom, I--”

Matthew finds himself sitting up as Dominic slowly pulls off his jumper, his words caught in his throat. The jumper lands with a soft thump somewhere at the bottom of the bed, and Dominic lays Matthew back down again, kissing along his sternum.

Hardly breathing, Matthew watches as Dominic presses his ear against his chest, a smile spreading across Dominic’s face as his heartbeat thunders in the vampire’s ears. He almost misses what Dominic says next.

“You make me feel young again.”

“Dominic,” Matthew sighs, as if he can’t quite believe this is happening. Dominic tilts his head slightly, the light stubble of his jaw tickling against Matthew’s soft skin as he turns towards Matthew’s voice. Slowly, he reaches down Matthew’s body, watching the brunet shudder as he lays his hand across the erection in his jeans. “Please,” Matthew gasps as Dominic applies the lightest bit of pressure, watching the blood rush to Matthew’s cheeks as he realises that he just begged.

The shy blush across Matthew’s cheeks, however, differs with the blown pupils of his eyes, the slack hang of his mouth as he exhales shakily. One hand remains bunched up in Dominic’s t-shirt, whereas the other remains in his hair. They make eye contact, and Matthew pushes Dominic down the bed in suggestion, one eyebrow raised almost as a dare.

Dominic laughs a deep, hoarse laugh that makes Matthew’s toes curl in his socks. “Do you really want these teeth down there?” he asks, sitting up to pull his own t-shirt off in a flash. He lays down along the full length of Matthew’s body again, unable to get over the feeling of warm human flesh pressed against his own.

“Who would be in more pain if you accidentally scratched me though? What a conundrum,” Matthew jokes, and Dominic quickly silences his smirking lips with a kiss.

“I don’t particularly want to think of that,” Dominic breaks the kiss to say, “when I’m about to ravish you.”

Matthew shivers in Dominic’s arms as Dominic kisses down his neck once more. “R-ravish,” he repeats, Dominic continuing south. “I like that word. Say it more often.”

“Ah,” Dominic says with a smile on his face, as he unbuttons and then unzips Matthew’s jeans. “So it’s not me you want, it’s just the gentlemanly manner that accompanies me you desire.”

“No, I-- yes,” Matthew hisses as Dominic wraps a firm hand around his erection. “Dominic, oh God.”

Dominic’s grip tightens involuntarily as he shivers. “Please try to not do... that,” Dominic says, remembering himself as he abandons Matthew’s cock in favour of ridding him of his jeans, boxers and socks.

“Blashpheme?” Matthew asks with genuine curiosity in his voice. “Oh, of course,” he mutters. “Does it, ah... how does it affect you?”

“A bit like nails on a blackboard, really, in this context,” Dominic says as he stands at the end of the bed, hands frozen on his button and zipper as he watches Matthew stretch his limbs, now entirely naked.

“I’ll try not to do it, then,” Matthew smiles up at him, and in that moment Dominic swears that he must be the luckiest man alive.

Or words to that effect.

Dominic hurries to get himself undressed, Matthew raising an eyebrow as he learns that Dominic doesn’t wear boxers underneath his skinny jeans. He crawls back up the bed once more, Dominic hissing as his cock brushes Matthew’s, their lips meeting for a kiss as if drawn together by an unnatural force.

Matthew slides one leg to hook it around Dominic’s waist, and Dominic breaks the kiss, pulling back to look him in the eyes. “Are you sure?”

Matthew swallows hard, the fact that Dominic double checked his intent fluttering warmly in his belly. “Of course I am,” he says, although it’s apparently less than convincing as Dominic continues his stare. “I’m sorry I can’t say it in a more gentlemanly fashion, but I would quite like it if you would put your cock inside me at some point this evening.”

Rolling his eyes but grinning despite himself, Dominic pecks the end of Matthew’s nose before reaching to his bedside table, pulling out both condoms and lube. Matthew makes a soft noise of confusion, Dominic had been fine without a condom when he’d bottomed the other night.

“It’s not you, it’s me,” Dominic says, barely containing a smirk as he watches a couple of emotions passing over Matthew’s face, the last of them being amusement.

“You’re terrible,” Matthew says without meaning it, transfixed on Dominic liberally coating his fingers with lube.

“You love me for it,” Dominic replies in a deep voice, shifting on his knees as he sits between Matthew’s spread legs.

“That’s debata-- ohhhh,” Matthew sighs, eyes falling shut as if all of his problems had simply faded away, just by Dominic pressing his index finger inside him. It felt like home, and it felt so much better than any time that Adam had done it, even when he’d been trying to be nice.

Matthew forcefully opens his eyes to look at Dominic, even as the burn of a second finger makes him want to do the exact opposite. Dominic chews on his lip as he works Matthew open, his right hand now reaching for Matthew’s cock. He gives it the barest hints of attention, but Matthew twitches all the same. “Dom,” he moans, and Dominic looks up and meets his eyes, seemingly quite pleased with himself.

Matthew can hardly blame him.

“Ready for a third?” Dominic asks, and Matthew nods eagerly, letting his head fall back on the bed and his back arch as Dominic curls his three fingers just so and Matthew’s nervous system turns into ribbons of pleasure throughout his body. “I can’t wait to be buried inside you, Matthew,” Dominic drawls, and Matthew regards him curiously.

“I thought you - oh! - being... gentlemanly,” he manages to get out, before Dominic makes him moan again, long and loud.

“Half gentleman, half vampire,” Dominic answers. Escaping the warm glow of the lamp where he sits further down the bed, Dominic’s features are caught in shadow, moonlight streaming through the window behind him. Matthew groans loudly at that, and the light catches Dominic’s teeth as he grins widely. “Are you ready for me now?”

“Yesss,” Matthew hisses, digging his heels into the bed as Dominic withdraws his fingers. He watches Dominic put the condom on, a few possible reasons fluttering around the frayed edges of his consciousness but not daring to voice them. Dominic shuffles on the bed, looking up at Matthew once before lining himself up and pressing the head of his cock inside.

Matthew’s breath catches in his throat and his eyes flutter shut. The feeling is familiar, of course, but also brand new as Dominic moves, leaning down to kiss him.

Adam never kissed him.

“You alright?” Dominic asks softly against the corner of his mouth. Matthew’s eyes flicker open, and he isn’t surprised to find that Dominic’s are entirely black.

Matthew’s mouth moves but no words come out, simply because they don’t exist to describe all of the emotions bubbling inside him at the moment. Instead, he simply opts to move his leg up, pressing the heel of his foot into the small of Dominic’s back in encouragement.

Dominic takes the hint, slowly pressing himself further inside Matthew, burying himself just as he promised only minutes earlier. “Dominic,” Matthew breathes into his ear in encouragement; unable to use his normal expletives, he finds himself reduced to either swearing or using variations of Dominic’s name, and he realises he doesn’t mind that much at all.

Bracing himself on his forearms either side of Matthew, Dominic pistons his hips for the first time, grinning as he hears a low growl erupt from the bottom of Matthew’s throat. He lays a kiss there as Matthew’s hands move to his back, fingernails gently teasing the soft skin there.

“You feel so good there,” Matthew stutters as Dominic straightens up, bracing himself so he can drive into Matthew faster than before. Matthew meets every thrust with a roll of his hips and the sound of their skin slapping echoes through the room.

Dominic shifts, thrusting to the left slightly and causing Matthew to writhe on the sheets below him. “Fuck!” he shouts, fingers gripping for purchase on Dominic’s back, the vampire moaning throatily in response. His black eyes trace the tendons in Matthew’s neck as he throws his head back on a particularly deep thrust, and he licks his lips false of habit. “I’m close.”

Gripping Matthew’s hips, Dominic changes their position slightly so he’s on his knees, able to keep Matthew steady with one hand and touch him with the other. Solely focused on the proximity of his orgasm, Matthew lets his head roll against the pillows as he clutches the bedsheets, moaning Dominic’s name over and over.

Within moments of Dominic’s fingers wrapping around his cock, Matthew chokes out a moan as he comes all up his own chest, legs clamping firmly around Dominic’s waist as he does so. Pulled over the edge by Matthew coming, Dominic’s own orgasm crashes around him, and he doesn’t realise he’s digging his fingers deeply into Matthew’s hip until a few seconds afterwards. As soon as he does, he removes that hand, soothing the moon-shaped crescents marring Matthew’s skin with his thumb.

Matthew winces when Dominic pulls out, rolling onto his side and propping himself up on an elbow, smirking down at the brunet.

“Christ,” Matthew giggles breathlessly as he stares at the ceiling, and when he sees Dominic flinch in his peripheral vision he laughs even harder.

*

Chris stares out towards the horizon, trying to work out where exactly the sea ends and the sky begins. Kelly shifts at his side, and he turns to smile down at her, gloved hands folded in her lap.

“I’ve had a lovely time tonight,” Kelly says, smiling shyly as she looks up at Chris. He swallows dryly, trying to remember the last time he felt quite so inept around a beautiful woman. He realises that maybe this is the first time.

“Yeah, I did too. I mean... You taught me loads of cool stuff. The auras thing is really great.”

His tongue feels useless in his mouth, so he stops talking. Kelly shifts closer, placing her head delicately on his shoulder, a warm glow thrumming through his veins at the contact.

“I kind of... no, it’s silly,” Kelly starts to say before she shakes her head minutely against Chris’ flannel pyjama top.

“No, go on, you can tell me anything,” Chris encourages, nearly tripping over his words. Kelly smiles up at him, unreadable.

“This was a date, right?” she asks, continuing before Chris can confirm. “I’m kind of sad, because... well, I thought my door would arrive when I went on a date. And, well, it hasn’t.”

“I don’t want your door to appear,” Chris blurts, the tips of his ears turning red as Kelly sits up straight once more. Their bare feet swing below them above the vastness of the sea, the end of the pier entirely empty at this time of night. Kelly mouths a few half-words down to the ocean before she turns back to Chris.

“Really?” she breathes. “That’s awfully sweet.”

Chris flashes her a grin before it fades as he thinks. “Back in your day, was it... was it a bit forward to kiss at the end of a first date?”

Kelly’s smile spreads across her face, one gloved hand touching Chris’ cheek. “It depends. Would you be offended if I said that I wish you’d died with me in a bomb blast in 1942?”

Chris takes a stuttering breath in, thinking about Hannah and the burglary and the son he’d never be a father to. He thinks about the friends who came and went at uni, and the two men in his life now who feel truer than any of the others had. He thinks of Kelly, alone all these years, fluttering around from place to place with nothing and no one to call home.

“No,” Chris breathes. “I wouldn’t be offended.”

Chris tips Kelly’s chin up as he kisses her gently, not caring that he’s going to ruin her lipstick when she sighs quietly against his mouth. They part a few moments later, looking east towards the horizon and the brightening promise of a new day.

*

Matthew looks up from his bowl with a mouthful of cereal, Chris and Kelly giggling at some unheard joke as they enter the kitchen. Dominic smirks knowingly from his place on the counter behind Matthew as the couple take seats at the table.

“Am I always going to have an audience when I eat my breakfast?” Matthew asks to himself.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Dominic admonishes, extending a leg to tip Matthew’s chair slightly with his shoe. “There’s a lady present.”

Matthew rolls his eyes and continues eating his cereal, an arm wrapped protectively around the bowl, as if any of the other occupants of the room have an interest in his food.

“Enjoy your evening, Dominic?” Kelly asks sweetly, and the two share a knowing glance.

“Oh, it was nothing out of the ordinary,” Dominic says, dismissing her with a wave of his hand. “Went for a drink, fed, had a thrilling discussion about humanity and then went to bed.”

Chris’ brow furrows. “But vampires don’t sleep.”

“Never said that I slept, did I?” Dominic smiles, as sweetly as Kelly had moments before. Matthew stares at the table, cheeks bright red, finding it incredibly interesting all of a sudden. “How was your evening, Christopher?” Dominic asks suavely, slipping down from the counter and stepping forward to place a hand on Matthew’s shoulder.

Chris ducks his head slightly, and Kelly’s smile only grows. “We sat on the pier and watched the sun set,” she says, putting her hand on Chris’ on the table. “Then learnt about auras and apparating and all that. It was quite charming.”

Matthew raises his eyebrows at Chris, who raises them back in return. Matthew snorts under his breath.

“Matthew,” Dominic says in warning, squeezing Matthew’s shoulder sharply. “Don’t you have to go to work?”

Rolling his eyes once more, Matthew stands up, shrugging off Dominic’s touch. He dumps his bowl and spoon in the sink, before turning back towards the vampire. “You know, for a rumoured gentleman, you can be a real prick sometimes,” he snaps, before storming out of the room and towards the front door.

“He’s normally a bit nicer than that in the mornings,” Chris says to Kelly quietly, Dominic turning to the ghosts.

“He’s normally had a few more hours sleep than last night,” Dominic says, before turning his attention to Kelly. “I’m sure Chris has already told you, but seeing how it’s Matthew’s name and my money in the deeds... you’re more than welcome here. We’ve turned into a bit of a supernatural refuge, really,” he says with a broad smile, and Kelly giggles, clutching Chris’ hand tighter.

“Thank you, Dominic. I’ll be sure to respect yours and Matthew’s privacy, though,” she says with a cheeky smile. Dominic half-smiles, watching as Chris wraps his arm around Kelly’s shoulders, wondering how Chris got so lucky not even a year after his death.

Dominic leaves the lovebirds to it, taking advantage of the drizzly weather to mope around the town centre most of the day. Near closing time for the shops, he finds himself standing outside Matthew’s bank with nothing else to do.

“What’re you doing here?” Matthew asks with a small smile on his face as Dominic enters. Unlike their first meeting, Matthew is working the reception desk and not tucked away in a back office.

“Loitering,” Dominic smirks, picking a pen off Matthew’s desk, inspecting it, and placing it back down. “Are you nearly finished here? I’m bored.”

Matthew sighs, lowering his voice. “One hundred and fifty years, and you can’t wait another half hour?”

“Humans and their tiny life spans make me impatient,” Dominic smiles lazily as he leans across the desk, the grin widening as Matthew rolls his eyes.

“You are utterly terrible,” Matthew says, smiling nonetheless.

Dominic stands up straight. “No, I disagree. Someone who is utterly terrible wouldn’t offer to take you out for dinner when your shift ends.”

“But I’m in shitty work clothes,” Matthew says, gesturing to his tie and name badge.

The vampire looks him up and down. “Good thing I know how you look underneath them then. Can we go?”

Matthew pulls a favour from his manager and is able to leave fifteen minutes early, hand in hand with Dominic in the rain. He finds himself pulled down an alleyway, and his heartbeat increases at the thought of a semi-public snog, until he finds himself pushed up against the wall with Dominic defensively positioned before him.

“Dominic,” says a melodic voice from the shadows of the alley. “Trust the boy who used to take it up the arse for a ha’penny to now be fucking a werewolf.”

Matthew’s growl rumbles low in his chest, but Dominic presses back against him, warning him not to move. “Thomas,” Dominic spits. “I suggest you speak to my partner with more respect if you want to see another morning.”

The voice laughs, and the man steps forward into the alleyway proper. His warm brown eyes and wide smile completely contradicts the bored tone that comes from his mouth. “Mornings get a bit dull after a while, don’t they Dominic?” he says, drawling the name. “You always used to prefer the nights, when you fucked anything that would give you your next meal. And that was even after I’d turned you!” Tom laughs, as if he’s never heard anything funnier.

“Oh, fuck off and leave us alone,” Matthew says from behind Dominic. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“This,” Tom says, pointing at Dominic. “He’s mine. I made him, back in London in 1888 when he was a poor rentboy, a street urchin. Hasn’t climbed the social ladder much, has he?”

Matthew snaps his teeth at Tom over Dominic’s shoulder, to which Tom simply laughs. “You pose no threat to me, dog. Hasn’t Dominic told you anything? Maybe he should. Maybe he should tell you how much I fucking despise werewolves and anyone who associates with them.” Danger flickers in Tom’s gaze, now devoid of all mirth. “I will hunt you down. Both of you.”

Dominic pounces forward but Tom is gone, the alleyway empty aside from the pair of them. Matthew opens his mouth to speak, before he sees the unguarded fear in Dominic’s eyes. His stomach sinks as a foggy memory returns to him of seeing Dominic this scared before, and ice settles in his veins. “Let’s go home,” he says through dry lips, and for once, Dominic agrees.

*

They all sit in the lounge, Matthew clutching a cup of tea in his hands, the liquid trembling slightly inside the mug. Chris and Kelly hold hands on one of the sofas, and Dominic paces the length of the room as he explains.

“Tom Kirk turned me, back in a gritty Victorian alleyway, and he’s been visiting me every twenty years or so,” he starts, pausing every now and then as he thinks. His steps never falter. “He’s always prophesied about the dawn of the new world and vampires rising up over humans, and how werewolves were lunatic scum - his words, not mine - and how they had to be eradicated lest they ruin our - his - plans.”

Dominic stops pacing and turns to Matthew.

“And now he’s seen me with you. He’ll kill you, I don’t even doubt it.”

Matthew nods slowly, as if he can comprehend his imminent death. “But you’ve killed older vampires before. You’ve even killed your lover... surely you can...”

His question dies in his mouth as Dominic shakes his head slowly. “I can’t kill my maker. There’s some vampire bullshit that means you can’t. I worked it out when Peter tried to fight me.” Kelly and Chris exchange a look, but Dominic doesn’t notice. “Tom is a methodical killer. His victims are works of art... I know it sounds terrible of me, but...” Dominic sighs, slumping down on the sofa next to Matthew and putting his head in his hands. “I’m a vampire, and so there’s a part of me that has to admit that he kills majestically. There’s a beauty to his kills that is just...”

Matthew puts his hand on Dominic’s shoulder, putting his tea down on the coffee table. “I understand,” he says with a severity that lowers his tone. Dominic turns to him, eyes tired.

“He will kill you, Matthew. He’s an artist, an exhibitionist. He’ll make sure I’m there to watch, he’ll restrain me or incapacitate me in some way or the other. But that doesn’t mean that splitting us up makes you safer, because he would get you, and he would wait for me, he would find a way to... to prolong...”

Chris turns his head away as Dominic’s voice breaks. Kelly raises a shaking hand to her mouth.

“Dom,” Matthew says softly, forcing Dominic to look at him. “We’ll do this. He’s not going to take me from you, he doesn’t have a fucking chance.” He tries to smile, but it doesn’t quite settle on his lips.

“I won’t let him near you. Either of you,” Chris says suddenly, and all eyes in the room turn to him. “We’ll protect you both,” he says, squeezing Kelly’s hand.

Kelly nods. “I’ve met a few vampires in my time. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves,” she says with a broad smile that suggests any number of different things.

Matthew clears his throat. “Right,” he says unsurely, but then he nods to himself. “We’ll be alright, Dom,” he says as he turns back to the vampire, rubbing his hand up and down Dominic’s back in an overwhelming urge to protect. “And if this is it... we could run. Far away from here, we could...”

Dominic is already shaking his head. “He’ll track us down,” he says in a small voice, and Matthew finds himself straining to hear. “He’ll kill you, then me, and then he’ll find a way to fuck with Chris and Kelly.”

“He won’t fuck with me,” Kelly snaps suddenly, Chris’ eyes wide at the profanity and dark tone until he schools his features into something resembling pride. “He won’t fuck with any of us.”

Breathing a deep sigh, Dominic nods. “You’re right. We’re safe here, at least. He’s never been in this house. So as long as no one invites him, for fuck’s sake, we’ll be alright here at least.”

They spend the best part of the night sharing information about Tom Kirk, powerful vampires, and ways to fight them. Dominic explains how he’d briefly reunited with Tom in the 1940s, when he was heading a gang famed for scouring the Tube stations for blood during air raids, littering his story with apologies to Kelly, who looks on the verge of tears. He talks about the time that Tom visited when he was with Peter in Brighton, and how his maker had actually approved of him taking a vampire as a partner. When Matthew eventually begins to doze on Dominic’s shoulder, he decides that they should call it a night, and he scoops the werewolf up in his arms to take him to bed.

“Dom,” Matthew murmurs into Dominic’s shoulder as he’s carried up the stairs. “Sorry. Did I miss much?” he asks, voice thick with sleep.

“No,” Dominic replies quietly, pressing a kiss into Matthew’s hair. He lays him down on his bed, before kicking off his shoes and climbing onto it too. “Matt... I need to tell you something.”

Matthew’s eyes open wider at the cautious tone to Dominic’s voice, a voice that had been so methodical and measured during all of the evening’s planning. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Dominic answers too quickly. “I... I need to tell you about something that happened a very long time ago.”

Matthew rolls onto his back, letting his eyes fall closed. “Don’t tell me, it’s another vampire ex of yours,” he mumbles, yet his admission is followed by silence. He opens his eyes to find Dominic sitting upright beside him, watching the vampire’s fingers fiddle with the bedspread as he avoids eye contact.

The penny drops.

“No,” Matthew whispers, wide awake now as he sits bolt upright. He cups Dominic’s jaw with his hand, forcing eye contact. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“I hardly had a choice, did I?” Dominic mutters, before casting his gaze aside.

“Dominic--”

“Not like...” Dominic heaves a sigh as Matthew’s hand drops to grasp at his cold fingers. “Not like that. He... Tom never forced me. Physically, that is. But the way he manipulated me... I would’ve starved. I was fucking him for blood Matthew, I was so hungry when I was so young, I...”

Matthew surprises Dominic when he draws him in close and holds him, wrapping his warm arms around Dominic’s torso. He shifts, angling them so he can press Dominic’s head against his chest. Dominic sighs contentedly as he hears Matthew’s heartbeat pressed in his ear. “It’s alright, Dom,” Matthew says in a tone that implies it’s anything but. “I’ll skin him alive for it, but it’s alright. It’s not your fault, so don’t you fucking dare play that card,” he laughs nervously, and he feels Dominic’s cheek twitch against his chest.

“I just needed to tell you,” Dominic says, muffled, and Matthew finally releases him from the hold. Their eyes meet in the dim illumination of Matthew’s bedroom. “It became all or nothing terribly fast, didn’t it?” he muses quietly, cupping Matthew’s cheek delicately.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Matthew finds himself saying, even though he’s utterly terrified.

*

Sunshine pours through the open curtains of the hotel room. It’s a bit too frumpy for her liking, but at the last moment she supposed that anything would’ve been suitable. She’d hardly had time to even book the room; after all, the guy had practically been humping her leg.

She twists in the bedsheets, twirling a long blonde curl around her finger with a smug smile as she gives the man sharing her bed the once over. He was handsome, naturally. Sadly, by the light of day he wasn’t quite as good looking as he had been in the bar, but that was the problem that women worldwide shared, wasn’t it? She pokes him with one manicured nail, and he doesn’t move. She pouts and sighs, rolling out of bed and padding naked across the room.

After a shower and a change of clothes (a yellow crop top and denim shorts; she’d always loved showing off her legs), she puts her hands on her hips and regards the man still in the bed. He’d been good enough in the sack, at least. Sometimes, she wishes that they didn’t always die.

Only sometimes, though, she thinks with a wicked grin.

*

Matthew wakes to the sound of an engine sputtering outside his house. He starts in Dominic’s arms, both of them still fully clothed. Dominic’s eyes snap open from his state of rest, frowning as he follows Matthew out of the bedroom door and downstairs wordlessly. Chris and Kelly look up at them from the sofas as Matthew opens the front door and sticks his head outside.

“She’ll catch a cold dressed like that,” are the first words out of Dominic’s mouth.

An E-type Jag is pulled up on the opposite curb, with the bonnet popped and a tanned blonde sprawled across the engine. Matthew gives Dominic a shove as his eyes rove over her long, tanned legs and denim-clad arse, high in the air as she tinkers with the engine.

Seemingly aware that she has gained an audience, she straightens up from underneath the bonnet, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder and putting a hand on her hip. “Hi!” she calls out in a distinctly American accent. “Are any of you strong fellas good with cars? Us women are good with many things, but engines aren’t our strong point, are they girly?” she says loudly, and Kelly giggles.

The hair on the back of Matthew’s neck stands up. “Dom,” he says, tugging on the vampire’s sleeve. “She can see Kelly.”

“So?” Dominic asks, watching the sway of the blonde’s hips as she crosses the road towards them.

“So?!” Matthew shrieks, slapping Dominic’s arm. “She’s not human, for fuck’s sake.”

“Right,” Dominic says distractedly as the woman offers them all a sunny smile from the pavement.

“My name’s Kate. It’s a pleasure to meet y’all,” she says, extending a hand. Matthew grasps and shakes it eagerly.

“My name’s Matthew,” he says, suddenly nervous. Dominic steps back, allowing his partner to guide Kate up the steps. “Well, you can call me Matt. You are absolutely stunning, really,” he rushes to say, tripping over his words. Chris shoots Dominic a glance.

“Thank you,” Kate says with a small laugh. “You’re so cute! English boys are all so cute,” she says, pinching his cheek. Matthew leans into the touch, sighing and blushing. “I could eat you right up.”

Dominic growls quietly, tugging Matthew out of Kate’s grasp and into his side. “He’s taken, unfortunately,” he says outright, Matthew blinking as if startled out of a dream.

“Shame. It’s always the cute ones,” Kate pouts. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” Her hand gestures out towards Dominic, but he steps back.

“Dominic,” he says, shooting her an icy glare. For a split second she returns it, before smiling brightly again and rounding on Chris and Kelly.

“Are you the only girl in this house?” Kate asks, laying a hand on Kelly’s bare forearm before Chris has a chance to manoeuvre her away. “It must be so lonely!”

Kelly steps out of Chris’ grasp easily, locking hands excitedly with Kate. “It is! But it’ll be much better now that you’re here, gosh. How long will she be staying here for, Dominic?” Kelly asks with bright eyes, the vampire close to grinding his teeth together.

“Kate, you will excuse myself and Christopher,” he spits out, before grabbing Chris and pulling him into the corner of the room. They watch Kate stride over towards the sofas, Kelly happily following her and Matthew trailing more shyly behind.

“What the fuck,” Chris says as soon as the trio are out of earshot. “Who the fuck is she?!”

“She’s a succubus,” Dominic says, cringing as he watches Matthew put his hand on Kate’s thigh. “She has to be, to turn a gay man straight in 0.3 seconds. If she touches someone, they instantly desire her.”

“At the worst possible time, too, with all this Tom shite,” Chris says as Kelly blushes deeply, Kate’s hands fingering the pearls at her throat. “How the fuck do we undo this? I’ve only just met Kelly, I’m not losing her to some American slut.”

Dominic smiles dryly. “Settle down, Chris,” he says with a placating hand on his arm. “Kate can’t help what she is, although at least she knows it. I once met a succubus who had no idea of her power, and wondered why every time she slept with a man, he was dead by the time she woke up.” Dominic laughs quietly as Chris’ eyes go wide as saucers. “She can’t kill Kelly, she’s already dead.”

“Er, Dom? I don’t plan on letting them sleep together,” Chris says in a tight voice.

“Think how I feel,” Dominic says, watching as Kate animatedly tells a story which involves the two lovesick puppies playing with her hair. “Matthew is decidedly mortal. At least if I’d taken the brunt of her... well, her spell, I could do the deed with her and wouldn’t die come sunrise. Whereas Matt...” He watches Kate shift so she’s sitting in Matthew’s lap, the brunet looking up at her adoringly. “For fuck’s sake, he’s not even straight!” he shouts, exasperated, and Kate turns her attention towards them, if only to grin widely.

“We’ve got to sort this out,” Chris says.

“I know,” Dominic groans. “I’m trying to--”

A knock at the door sends a slice of fear into Dominic’s gut. “It’s Tom,” he says, freezing in place. “I can smell him.” He casts a look towards Matthew, who seems perfectly absorbed in all things Kate. “This might be a small blessing. Look after those two, I’ll deal with Tom. And for fuck’s sake, don’t touch her.”

With a heart heavy with dread, Dominic turns his back on the scene unfolding around Matthew and opens the door again, stepping out of the house to come face to face with his maker.

“Thomas,” he says, firmly planting himself on the steps and ready to do anything to protect his partner in the house behind him. “I thought it was below you to knock,” Dominic says, trying to make himself as tall as possible. He can feel the fight or flight sensation niggling at every one of his nerve endings, and his gums begin to ache where his teeth want to manifest. He wishes, belatedly, that he’d fed last night.

“Manners are never below me, Dominic, although you might not be used to them,” Tom says curtly, hands thrust deep into the pockets of the black trench coat he wears. “Have you forgotten yours? Aren’t you going to invite me inside?” he asks with a warm smile, with eyes that suggest the opposite.

Dominic grins. “Nice try.”

The smile falls from his face, though, as he sees Tom’s eyes shift to a point over his shoulder when a voice is heard. “You should both come back inside,” Kate calls out, “it’s rude to have conversations in the street.”

Dominic’s blood freezes in his veins as Tom grins at him, and they both sprint for the door behind them. Shouldering his way inside, Dominic spins so he’s crouching in front of Matthew, now lucid enough with the distance between him and the succubus to be mildly distressed. Tom snarls from the doorway, crouched just as low as Dominic. Chris drags Kelly away from Kate towards a corner of the room, with the blonde looking between them all with an air of confusion.

“It’s laughable, really,” Tom begins as the vampires begin to circle each other, Matthew pressed into the opposite corner of the room. “In the seventies, I saw you with that vampire you supposedly loved. In the nineties, I saw you so close to coming into your element. You’d killed that fledgling of yours, and you’d gone on a murder spree I hadn’t seen you do since the thirties. You were at your peak, Dominic. You made the Old Ones proud.”

“Fuck off,” Dominic spits, eyes now black and fangs large in his mouth. Tom is exactly the same, except for the wide grin still on his face. “I would kill them all if I could.”

“And now?” Tom laughs as he continues, the sound echoing around the room. “And now, I find you fucking a dog, a dog that’s now making moon eyes at a succubus. Can’t even hold onto a werewolf, can you Dominic? I bet you beg for his knot, or whatever the fuck those fleabags have down--”

Dominic lunges but Tom is quicker, moving out of the way and grabbing the back of Dominic’s t-shirt. He flings him across the room with ease, smiling at the crunching of the plaster as Dominic is thrown into the opposite wall. “You’re out of chances, Dominic,” Tom says dramatically as he walks across the room slowly, the other vampire groaning and coughing on the floor. The only other sound in the room is Matthew growling lowly from the sofa, fingers digging into the leather. “I’m going to kill your pet, and then I’m going to kill you, because all you’ve ever done is shame me. How could you be so ungrateful, Dominic? After all I did for you?”

Tom picks Dominic up by the collar of his t-shirt, pulling him to his feet before pinning him to the wall by his neck. Dominic hisses wildly, attempting to snap at Tom’s fingers without success. Tom’s free hand goes inside his trench coat, and he pulls out a long, ornately carved stake. Dominic’s eyes go wide and he immediately stops hissing.

“There’s a good boy,” Tom says quietly, holding the point of the stake against Dominic’s heart and effectively pinning him against the wall. He removes his hand from Dominic’s neck to stroke the side of his face. “It’s a shame you were never this good when I was trying to train you, isn’t it?”

Matthew pounces from his place on the sofa, but Tom notices and presses the stake closer to Dominic’s heart. “Don’t. Try. Anything,” he warns lowly with a raise of his eyebrows, before beckoning Matthew closer with an outstretched finger. “Come here nicely, dog.”

Face sullen, Matthew casts a glance at Dominic’s terrified expression before he steps closer with feet made of lead. Dominic’s eyes flicker between his partner and Chris on the other side of the room, whispering into Kate’s ear. He catches the word “please” before Tom is wrapping his arm around Matthew’s shoulders. Dominic shivers.

“Helpless little puppy really, isn’t he?” Tom says delightedly at Matthew’s squirming. “Not older than a year, surely. Oh Dominic, you’ve really got a catch here,” he smiles, voice laced with sarcasm. “I might even keep him for a dog fight or two. He looks like he’d give it a good go.”

“No,” Dominic whispers hoarsely, Matthew looking at him with panic. They both knew of the horrors of werewolf fights. “Please.”

“You’ve begged for me before, Dominic. I begged you, once upon a time. We could’ve ruled the fucking world, together. You were cold, you were a born killer, but you said no.” Tom presses the stake harder against Dominic’s sternum. “Now it’s my turn.”

“Stop.”

Dominic’s world tilts on its axis at the command. Tom snarls as he turns around to the American accent. “I’m sorry, who the fuck are you?”

“Your goddamn fucking saviour,” she drawls as she steps forward, before touching his neck.

The stake clatters loudly as it falls to the floorboards, and Tom turns towards Kate with a wide smile. She begins to slowly back away from him, leading him towards the kitchen. “You know, he’s actually kind of cute when you get the murderous gleam outta his eyes,” she says to Chris with a tilt of her head, keeping her gaze on her prey. “I’ve had way worse.”

Dominic stutters as he looks between Tom and Chris. “You...?”

“I don’t know how well it’ll distract him, but hopefully Kate will take him with her,” Chris says as he spreads his arms in a gesture indicating that he’s just as surprised as Dominic.

“Yeah,” Kate says as she takes Tom’s hands in her own. “It’ll be nice to fuck somebody without waking up to rigor mortis.”

“Wow,” Chris says quietly.

“No offence to your little twink, Dom,” Kate says as Tom puts his hands on Kate’s waist, not bothering the American in the slightest. “He’s cute as dicks but he’s as mortal as he is cute. At least this bloodsucker here will last me until I’m bored.”

Tom whispers something in her ear that makes her laugh throatily. “Okay,” she says, a blush creeping up her neck. “That might be a while.”

Matthew presses his side against Dominic’s as they watch Tom continue to whisper filthy things to the succubus in his arms. “It’s kind of gross, but if I laugh at it I might cry, too.”

“I completely understand,” Dominic says as he wrinkles his nose, wrapping his arm around Matthew’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Matthew says, nodding. “I just... I couldn’t help myself when he touched you like that.”

Dominic snorts. “Well, I’d thought you’d turned straight for a while back then, so I understand that sentiment entirely,” he says, watching Matthew cringe. “Not your fault, remember?”

Matthew shifts their embrace so he can hold Dominic’s hand, as Kate drags a flushed Tom forward by his wrist. He catches Dominic’s gaze, and his eyes flicker to his and Matthew’s joined hands.

“This isn’t the last of it, Dominic,” he says, squeezing Kate’s hand in his own.

“See you in twenty years, then,” Dominic says in an ice cold tone. Tom stands his ground before nodding curtly, once, before Kate drags him out of the front door. Kelly skips down the steps after them.

“Won’t you visit, or call, or something?” Kelly asks Kate, latching onto her forearm. Kate smiles down fondly at the gloved hand on her skin.

“Sure,” Kate says warmly. “I don’t meet enough women in this job.”

Kelly giggles as Kate all but bundles Tom into the front seat of the Jaguar, before she quickly pops the bonnet again and wriggles a piece of metal around at the back of the engine. She gestures to Tom to start the car, and when the engine begins to purr without problem, she winks back at the gaggle of supernaturals gathered on the front steps.

“See you guys around,” she calls, before she jumps into the car and drives off down the road, tires squealing in her wake.

“I’m still struggling to believe that this morning actually happened,” Chris says a few seconds later, as the engine noise dies away to the silence of the town.

“I’m going back to bed,” Matthew announces, grabbing Dominic by his wrist and all but dragging him up the stairs.

A few minutes later, Dominic and Matthew lay naked in bed, the vampire enjoying the full body heat of his werewolf as they entangle their legs under the duvet.

“Do you think Tom will ever come back?” Matthew asks Dominic between chaste kisses, tipping his head back to expose his throat to Dominic’s attentions.

“Perhaps,” Dominic says as he drags his lips across the skin of Matthew’s neck, making the werewolf shiver. “But hopefully Kate will keep him occupied for long enough that he’ll forget about you.” He falls silent for a few moments, long enough to suck a bruise onto Matthew’s pulse point. “Even if he does come back, he has to get through me first.”

“Dom,” Matthew moans, not caring what his manager will say about the big purple bruise come Monday. He moves so he’s underneath Dominic, feeling safer with the reassuring weight of the vampire bearing down on him. Matthew whines as he rolls his hips upwards into Dominic’s erection, not having flagged at all during their brief conversation.

“I’m here,” Dominic says, continuing to kiss wetly up the side of Matthew’s neck and causing more blood to rush to Matthew’s cock when he nips at the skin, the implication of the gesture causing his head to spin.

“Don’t leave me.”

The words tumble from Matthew’s lips unbidden, and his eyes go wide as he realises what he’s done. His first response is to fill the millimetres of air between them with babble. “Adam left when things got too difficult. I’m going to get you killed, Dom, and there’s probably someone better out there than me, I mean I’m gay and I got swayed by this-- umf.”

Dominic silences Matthew with a kiss, into which he grins widely. “You are an utter fool,” he murmurs against Matthew’s lips, “if you think I am going anywhere right now, or tomorrow, or ever.”

“You’re just saying that because I won’t let you fuck me otherwise,” Matthew says teasingly, but his words still have an undercurrent of bite to them.

“No,” Dominic drawls, Matthew still able to feel that infuriating smile against his skin as Dominic kisses his way down his torso. “I’m saying it because I’m hopelessly in love with a werewolf who can’t see his own self worth, so I’m going to stay right here and sort his self-esteem out, and then I might just stick around because he makes me smile more than I’ve smiled in the last hundred years.”

Matthew is biting his lip and grinning to himself as Dominic sucks a bruise to the inside of his thigh. “Staying right here, as in staying right between my legs? Because I’m surprisingly okay with that.”

Dominic rolls his eyes, licking the head of Matthew’s cock with the tip of his tongue and grinning at the resulting shout. “You are insufferable.”

“But you love me for it,” Matthew smiles, feeling as euphoric as he normally does post-orgasm but with his cock still rock hard.

“For unfathomable reasons, yes,” Dominic responds, crawling back up Matthew’s body to fit between his spread legs. “Now, and always.” When their faces are level again, Dominic pecks Matthew’s lips before he grins ferally. “So, can I ravish you now?”

Matthew’s resulting moan is all the approval he needs.

*

Three months later

“It would look better with a varnish,” Matthew says with a shrug.

Dominic folds his arms across his chest, the leather making noises as he moves. “No, I like it like that. Reminds you of your roots and all that.”

“Dom,” Matthew whines, turning to his partner and frowning. “What are our guests going to say when they see a huge claw shaped gouge down the side of my piano?”

“They won’t say anything, because the last time we had guests was never,” Dominic says with a roll of his eyes. “And it looks more rustic with it. I like it.”

Matthew huffs, moving forward to place the ornaments on the lid of the upright, finally unearthed from storage after the werewolf moved in three months ago. In the middle he placed the decorated stake Tom had dropped when he’d tried to attack Dominic. After some research, Dominic had found that it was even older than himself, and they had both agreed it made quite the decoration.

To its left, Matthew placed a small drawing in a frame. Reluctantly, after a month or so of living together, Dominic had admitted to his artistic talents, and had decided to do a few sketches for Matthew, especially seeing as the majority of the household didn’t show up on photographs. In this particular piece, Chris and Kelly stand side by side in their pyjamas and emerald dress respectively, their hands on the shoulders of a young boy in charred school uniform.

Alfie had found the pair of them in the town cemetery, as they’d been sitting by Chris’ grave and talking about their doors. Born in the 1980s, his parents had moved abroad after his death in a house fire. Unable to follow them, he’d found himself wandering the south west until he found Chris and Kelly.

All three of their doors appeared a couple of days later.

Matthew smiles at the drawing, admiring just how well Dominic had caught Kelly’s warm eyes, and Chris’ lazy smile. “I miss them, you know,” he says out loud, and Dominic comes up behind him, putting his arms around his partner.

“I miss them too. But they’re all together, on the other side. They’re happy, I promise you.”

“Yeah,” Matthew says quietly, leaning back into Dominic’s embrace. “I wonder if there’s any little vampire children wandering around, looking for a set of parents,” Matthew says, turning to look at Dominic with hopeful eyes.

The vampire smiles. “Well, if one happens to cross our path...” he says in a leading tone, leaning in to press a kiss to Matthew’s mouth. “I don’t think we’ll be turning him away anytime soon.”

“Or her,” Matthew protests, turning in Dominic’s arms to put his hands on his hips. “We could put her in little black dresses. Our very own Wednesday.”

Dominic laughs loudly, the sound making Matthew giggle. “If she doesn’t bite your fingers off first.”

“Challenge accepted,” Matthew breathes as he leans in for another kiss. They both jump apart, however, at the sound of the letterbox opening and a postcard fluttering to the floor.

“What on Earth...” Dominic begins. Matthew crosses the room to pick up the post card. On the front is a collection of touristy photographs from New York, and on the back is the fluid handwriting of a woman.

Matthew clears his throat.

Dear Kelly,

Well, I said I would write! Here I am. New York is wonderful. It’s so nice to be home, or near enough. Tom’s been here before and has found some old friends, so he’s perfectly happy. Well, it’s either that or me! ;) I’ve found a few other girls like me, it makes nights out at the bar really interesting!

It’s a bit strange how me turning up fixed things, isn’t it? I mean, I got a hunky boyfriend out of it! And you lot got your happily ever after. Give my love to Matt (pinch his cheeks for me!), and to your Chris as well. And to Dom, I suppose... Tom just hissed a bit. Lol! I might have to come back to England next Christmas, so maybe we could meet up then?

Lots of love,

Kate xxxx

(Tom says hi)

“Aw,” Matthew coos sadly. “It’s a shame Kelly never got to see this.”

Dominic’s nose is turned into the air. “She called Tom hunky,” he says with a sneer. “And she wrote ‘lol’. What does that even mean? And the vampires in New York are terrible people. Remind me to never go there again.”

“As if I would let you,” Matthew snorts, crossing the lounge to put the postcard to the right of the stake, propped up against the wall, the trio of mementos complete upon the piano scratched during his first transformation. “There. It’s a bit odd, but...”

“But it suits us perfectly,” Dominic finishes, drawing Matthew close to resume their interrupted kiss. “The house now looks like actual human beings live in it,” he murmurs against Matthew’s lips.

“If only they knew the debauched lives we lead,” Matthew giggles as he kisses his partner.

“We’ll have to move eventually,” Dominic mumbles. “In a few years, when people start to notice that I’m not aging.”

“I don’t care,” Matthew says determinedly. “I’d follow you anywhere.”

And in the years to come, Dominic would always swear that at that moment, his heart skipped a beat.

fin.