Corey closed his eyes and shuddered as they hit the cool night air, a very welcome reprieve from the stale recycled air of their... prison. He leaned his whole weight against his sire, knowing the older teen would never let him fall. "Love you," he whispered. His sire held him in a loose embrace as they walked back home.
"You're hot when you're mad," Dodger said, obviously speaking to his own sire. He heard Cole giggle, but didn't hear any verbal response. "I had my fingers inside of me, I think that makes me the coolest vampire ever! And you owe me two weeks of sucking up for not saving me within two hours,"
By this time, the foursome had reached the warehouse, and Cole was tending to Dodger's injuries with their first aid kit.
"You are easily the coolest vampire ever, Dodge," Cole said quietly. "And I'm sorry I didn't find you right away, won't happen again, I promise. Just as long as you promise not to run off on me again. Deal?"
Corey looked weakly back at the vampire he'd formed some sort of connection with in the past... however long they'd been together in captivity, "Don't you usually have fingers in you? What makes this time different?" he asked with a smile.
"Well then you can't yell at me ever again," Dodger hissed at Cole, before he turned to Corey, "I could feel my insides. I'm pretty sure I poked my stomach," he said, sticking out his tongue, "I bet when people hear about this they'll make an action figure out of me."
Cole grinned at Dodger and Corey as he finished working on his childe. "My hero," he said, kissing Dodger. "Come on, let's get you to bed, so you can rest. Goodnight, boys..." as he carried Dodger into their room.
"C'mon babe, we should get you to bed, too, so you can start to heal," Orphan said, picking him up, and then gently putting him down in their sleeping bag.
"Hold me?" Corey asked. He knew he sounded pathetic, he didn't care. He'd never felt so vulnerable in his life, not even when his father.... "Please Orphie?"
"Of course babe," Orphan said, quickly stripping both of them and sliding into the sleeping bag behind Corey. He wrapped both arms tightly around Corey's body and softly kissed the boy's neck as they fell asleep.
Over the next few days, one of Cole or Orphan would go out for an hour or two each night, just to make sure their escape wasn't being looked into, or if it was, to 'bury' the evidence as quickly as possible. While that happened, Corey and Dodger were recovering, at what Corey considered a rapid pace, something he asked his sire about after waking up one night.
"You're a vampire now, Cor," Orphan told him. "That means you heal faster, in addition to that other stuff,"
"That's so cool!" Corey exclaimed, grinning and softly kissing his sire. The four of them were being very lazy, just lying around. If he didn't know better, he would swear Cole and Orphan wouldneverlet Dodger or Corey out of their sights ever again.
"You know, Orphan, I've been thinking," Cole said. "What if something like that happened again? Corey needs to learn some vampire skills. Gotta be able to at least defend himself. You really should think about starting some training."
"I... I just... I wanna stay here and not ever go out again," he whispered, burrowing himself deeper into Orphan's body, as if he were trying to disappear. "Please don't make me go out again."
"Corey, that's dumb," Dodger sighed as he snuggled closer to Cole. "We can't not go out ever again. Next time we'll be on the lookout. They won't get us." As he said this, Corey saw Dodger rubbing the side of his body where he'd had a key implanted. "Next time we'll be ready."
"I... I really don't wanna, but... if... if we have to... could you teach me to fight, Dodger?" he asked, after a few minutes to think it over. Orphan softly squeezed his arm, so he gently stroked his sire's shin with his foot in response.
"I'm not the strongest fighter, if you really want help, I would ask Cole. My extra is my strongpoint, not my kung-fu skills," Dodger said, sitting up Indian style.
"That's a good idea, and then you can help him with his extra," Cole nodded, also sitting up and wrapping an arm around his childe. "I'm not saying you should go out and pick fights with anyone you see, but if it's a matter of life and death, you should really learn how to defend yourself," he finished firmly.
"You should too, Orphan. Obviously you didn't learn anything from your deadbeat sire, and you barely let us teach you anything. It'd be good if we all knew how to defend not only ourselves but each other," Dodger said with a shrug. "Do it for Corey if anyone."
He sighed, softly stroking his sire's arms as he tried to come up with how to say what he was feeling, "I... I... I wanna, but like... I don't... wanna like forget how it was. Orphie loves me the way I am, I dunwanna... change," he stammered out, hoping it makes more sense to them then it does to him.
"I... yeah, I guess," Orphan said, gasping a bit, as if he were surprised by Dodger's suggestion. He started wiggling underneath Corey, until he managed to stand up. Corey made a disappointed half-moan at losing contact with his boyfriend. "I think using my speed to run away makes more sense. I've yet to meet someone who can catch up to me."
"That doesn't mean shit. Did you honestly think someone would catch ME? Shit happens. We have to be prepared next time. We're obviously being tracked," Dodger said.
"I... I wanna learn out to fight," Corey said, standing up and immediately attaching himself to Orphan's side, nuzzling under one of the older teen's arms, wrapping his own arm around the black haired boy.
"Are you sure?" Dodger asked, smirking. "I'm not gonna go easy on you. Lets see what you got."
"You always wanted to hurt me, anyway," Corey said, nodding as he detached himself from his sire and dropped into a fighter's crouch, like he'd seen on TV. "Now I'm telling you that you can. So what do I..."
Dodger suddenly charged him and rammed into his shoulder while also delivering a punch to his stomach that had him gasping for breath. "You fight back, that's what you do," Dodger said. Corey looked up at Dodger, he felt... betrayed, but only for a second. Hehadasked for this... he kept trying to remind himself of the fact that Dodger wasnothis father, that the older vampire wanted to help him, not hurt him. He got up and charged Dodger, who easily dodged the attack. He skidded to a stop and charged again, winding up for a windmill, only to end up flat on his ass again as Dodger simply shoved him.
"Hurting you is meant to help you," Dodger said. 'Oh... did I say that out loud?' he thought to himself. 'Oops.' "But it is important when fighting that you don't get frustrated."
Corey just sighed, getting up again and charging Dodger again, but this time lowered his shoulder and rammed it into Dodger's side. He couldn't even begin to be happy with himself, though, because Dodger had grabbed Corey's hand, and was twisting it around painfully, dropping Corey to his knees.
"Strike fast, and then back off, Corey. Hanging around only leads to... this," Dodger said, twisting his hand a little more.
"Ahhhhhhplease!!!" he exclaimed, his breath hitching as he tried to twist out of Dodger's hold. He had a sudden idea and kicked out his leg, catching Dodger in the shin, causing the older boy to let his hand go. Before he could register his freedom, Cole came at him, both fists flying. On instinct, he managed to block the first two or three punches, but then they started getting through. He just threw up his hands and curled into a ball, and heard two loud sighs.
"You gave up," Cole said down to him, "Punches were coming and you gave up and fell to the ground. Get up and do it again," he said, reaching a hand down towards him.
"Come on, Cole. Let's show him," Dodger said, bouncing on the soles of his feet as he put up his fists. Corey peeked out from behind his hands, blinked twice, then grabbed Cole's hands, letting the older vampire haul him to his feet.
"S-s-sorry... I just... I... saw... it felt like my Dad," he offered as an explanation. Cole lifted him halfway up before letting go and letting Corey drop back onto the floor on his ass, hard.
"Lesson one: never trust your opponent. Watch how it's done," Cole said, grinning and turning to face Dodger. "Watch as he comes at me."
He watched as Dodger grinned, then acted like his right arm hurt a bit, before throwing a left cross at Cole, who blocked it with his right forearm.
"B-b-but... you're my... my friends, my... new family, if I... I have to trust you guys," he said as he watched Cole and Dodger fight.
"Not when we're sparring, did you see what he did there? Even your opponent's body lies." Cole said, sidestepping to move around Dodger's other arm, then throwing an uppercut toward Dodger's stomach. Dodger blocked the punch, and then after few seconds, he tripped Cole. Corey guessed Dodger had used his extra, since Cole had that 'look' like he couldn't see.
"I... how can I fight when every time someone tries to hit me, I keep going back to my Dad?" he asked softly.
"First of all, you stop whining about your dad,who you've already killed and proven you're stronger than, and then you pay attention when we're trying to teach you!" Cole growled. The next thing he knew, Dodger was stumbled backwards looking likehecouldn't see now. Corey tilted his head in confusion.
"Don't steal my extra, you have your own!" Dodger pouted, charging Cole and throwing a ton of punches in all directions at his sire.
"WhatisCole's extra?" Corey asked curiously. He couldn't remember if he'd ever seen Cole use it. Cole dodged and ducked the flurry of punches Dodger was throwing his way, throwing up his hands to block the ones he didn't dodge.
"Piss me off and see, kid," Cole said, Corey hoped that was a joke. Dodger winked at Corey just before Cole's hand hit Dodger's bad side, the side that had, as he'd noted earlier, had a key implanted into it. Dodger gasped loudly and fell to his knees, hissing in pain.
"Ow ow ow Cole!" Dodger gasped. "That's my bad side!"
"You don't have a bad side," Cole said lowly. He extended a hand to Dodger, though, and helped his childe up. "Is your side really still hurting? I should take a look, it should have healed by now."
"I think I'm going to pass out," Dodger moaned in a shaky voice. Even Corey was beginning to get alarmed now, but he stayed back, letting Cole handle this. "I'm going to throw up," Dodger sounded awful.
"Avoid the shoes, I like them," Cole said, still studying Dodge as he grasped his hand. Dodger lifted himself up, giving Cole's hand a soft squeeze. Once he was steady, Dodger blew his sire a kiss before pushing him back hard. Once Cole stumbled, Dodger must've used his extra again, since Cole had that look on his face again.
"I WIN!" Dodger shouted, as Corey shook his head with a smile.
"See Corey?" Cole asked, stumbling to the floor. "Never trust anyone. Now it's your turn."
Corey suddenly charged Dodger as fast as he could and slammed his head into the older vampire's chest, and then kicked out Dodger's legs out from under him. "NO I DO!" he giggled, relaxing and folding his arms across his chest, looking proud of himself.
"Cole!" Dodger yelled out, pouting "Cole! Strike him with lightning NOW, right now!" then he glared at Corey, "You only 'win' because I let you win. I totally could have thrown you against the wall, but I don't want Orphan up my ass about it."
"But that didn't teach me anything!" Corey said, still smiling as he offered Dodger his hand. "I wanna learn to fight, not learn to beat someone who lets me win."
"Orphan is going to have to learn that these sparring lessons will keep you from dying in a fight. Go ahead, Dodge, show him how it's done," Cole smirked. "Why don't you start, Corey?"
He nodded, unsure of how to begin. After a few seconds, he darted closer to Dodger and threw a weak right jab at the older vampire's midsection, which Dodger easily avoided, grabbing a hold of Corey's arm and pinning it behind the blonde's back.
"Not fast enough," Dodger mumbled, shoving Corey forward. He stumbled before regaining his balance. 'Too slow, huh?' he thought to himself, turning and running at Dodger a bit faster and aiming a soft kick at his shin. Dodger very easily stepped out of the way of that, too.
"The shins? Really? What kind of attack is that? At least go for the crotch area, Jesus," he mumbled, looking over at Cole.
"Shins are for little girls. You're a vampire now, hit someplace that hurts," Cole nodded. Corey, the second Dodger's attention was on Cole, launched a spin kick at Dodger's knee.
"Ow!" Dodger exclaimed, glaring back at him as he leaned down to rub his knee. "Cole!" he whined.
"How was that, Dodger?" he asked, a small satisfied smile on his face. He quickly backed out of Dodger's range as he spoke.
"Don't yell at me, Dodge, you're the one took your eyes off him," Cole smirked. "Looks like Corey's learned a thing or two already. Go again," he ordered, standing back to watch. He nodded, then rushed Dodger and tried to tackle the older vampire, jumping into midair for more leverage. Literally one tenth of a second after he left the floor, he realized that this was a really really fuckingstupididea. Dodger grabbed his shoulders as he got closer, then flipped Corey onto his back and half-slammed him onto the ground, then stood on top of him.
"See, Corey? Dodge found an opening and managed to take control of your entire body and dropped you in less than five seconds. You can't leave the fight up to chance, take control. Again."
"Does it count that I knew it was a really bad idea like the second I jumped at you?" he asked sheepishly with a smile.
"I don't think someone killing you would care what you think about it or not, so no," Dodger said, shrugging and walking back towards Cole. "You duel with him. He's boring."
"I bet you were boring when you first learned to fight," he muttered.
"Are you kidding?" Cole asked as he turned to face Corey, "As soon as he realized what he could do he was kicking my ass from all angles." Cole gave Dodge a smile before giving Corey a nod to come attack. "Took all my energy to keep up with him."
Corey warily came forward, well aware that Cole is the more dangerous of the two. He quickly darted forward and sidekicked Cole's right leg, trying to trip him. Cole skipped out of the way, then elbowed Corey hard in the back, sending him onto the floor.
"Tripping? What is this, middle school?" Cole asked, exasperated.
"Owwww!" Corey groaned, getting to his feet and holding his nose. "So what should I do? You're like a foot taller then I am! You and Dodger and everyone else..."
"Find a weak point, anywhere that's soft," Cole smirked. "Quit whining and try again."
"Like this?" Corey asked, darting forward suddenly and aiming a soft punch at Cole's groin, a punch that Cole caught, and he once again wound up with his arm twisted around behind his back.
"Better, but I could tell what you were doing from about a mile away. Feign before you strike. And stop looking at my crotch, it's a dead giveaway and frankly, it's disturbing."
"I... I... fuck, leggo of my hand!" Corey sputtered, unable to come up with a wiseass retort. Cole let go of his hand, but used the opportunity to spin him to the ground,again.
"You should be able to get out of that yourself, you still had a free hand, two free legs, a head, a chest, and both feet firmly on the ground. Come again," Cole said. Corey sighed, getting upyet again, then he turned and quickly charged Cole, faking a lefty punch to the older vampire's groin, then landing a righty punch to Cole's stomach. Cole grabbed his left hand, but the right connected.
"Good," Cole wheezed, gently rubbing his stomach. "But don't stop and look pleased with yourself when you land a hit, keep coming. Go at Dodge, now,"
"Cole! He's boring." Dodger pouted, as he narrowed his eyes, "Can't we force him to fight Orphan instead?"
Corey backed up and nodded, then rushed Dodger with his head down, aiming for Dodger's stomach, but fully expecting the older vampire to catch him, hopefully, and not dodge. Dodger extended his arm, blocking Corey's head from colliding into his stomach.
"Are you even paying attention?" he asked, tightly gripping the younger vampire's hair in between his fingers.
"Yeah," Corey nodded, driving an uppercut into Dodger's groin. Dodger immediately pushed him away, then cupped his groin.
"Time out," Dodger said with a soft whine. Then he looked at Cole. "Come take care of me now."
"You don't take GROIN shots when you're practicing sparring, dumbass. If I don't get any tonight, I'm kicking your ass," Cole said, shooting a glare at him. He started to rub Dodger's back and massage his shoulders.
"I'm sorry... I just... you said to... sorry, Dodger," Corey said. He was really upset over what he'd done. He hadn't thought, just reacted on instinct, and Dodger pushed all of his buttons, anyway, not that the older vampire deserved a cheap shot to his family jewels. He slunk over to his own sire, who'd decided to join them after all. "I hope he doesn't push me off a building now," he said, hugging his sire and kissing the older teen on the lips.
"Nah, he'd not push you off a building. Not since... y'know, the bonding," Orphan whispered into his ear. "Plus he's all talk, not really dangerous besides blinding you or something every now and then," he said, wrapping an arm around the younger vampire as he surveyed the older pair.
"Seriously debating about it," Dodger growled, glaring at the two of them from Cole's grip.
Cole wrapped his arms around Dodge. "You know, if you pick a one or two story building, he'd heal in a couple of sleep cycles..."
Corey took a deep breath, then came to a decision. He wiggled out of Orphan's grip, and walked over to Dodger and held his arms out to the side.
"I ... I should've pulled that punch, I... got carried away," he apologized again. "Free shot?" he offered.
"I s'pose that's fair, Dodger," Orphan called out, shaking his head up and down. "It WAS a cheap shot. But don't hit 'im too hard for your free hit."
"I don't need free shots. I'll get you back when you aren't expecting it," Dodger smirked. "Can we go out?" he asked Cole. Corey sighed and lowered his arms, muttering to himself as he trotted back over to Orphan.
"Mhm, I think that's enough for today," Cole muttered. "Where you want to go, Dodge? The club? Hunting, you hungry?"
"I think we should just walk around the city tonight, what do you guys think?" Dodger asked. Corey immediately brightened up.
"A romantic walk in the moonlight with my boyfriend and my two brothers? Sounds good!" he exclaimed, before tilting his head upwards to look into his sire's face. Orphan grinned, reaching hesitantly for Corey's hand and squeezing it once before dropping it again.
"I'm down for that, be good to go out and people-watch again, like old times," he said softly. That decided, the four of them went to quickly get ready, and then headed out on the town. Not even 5 minutes had passed before Corey groaned and doubled over.
"Corey?" Orphan asked, at his side in a flash. His boyfriend gently rubbed his back until Corey straightened up, ashen faced. "You have to feed," Orphan said softly.
"I... I... but I... I just did two weeks ago..." he whispered. "How... how do you know when...?" he trailed off with a sigh. Orphan shrugged as he lifted a hand and counted off symptoms on his fingers.
"Uh... rumbling, pain, after a while of putting it off you lose yourself, you start thinking of attacking people randomly... and it is normal, after all, you and Dodger lost a lot of blood when you were injured, so..."
Corey sighed again as he looked at the older couple. He and Dodger shared a look, then he closed his eyes in defeat and leaned against his sire's sturdy body. "Guess we're going hunting," he said, dejectedly.
"I guess we are," Cole said.
"Oh, hai!" Orphan said sarcastically, "Forgot you were there!"
"Lets just get this over with," Corey grumbled, his mood already darkening with the thought of what he was going to have to do, again. He doubted it would be as easy as it was the first time... ripping into his father had felt soooo satisfying, even if it hadn't been, and could've never been, enough. He immediately attached himself to Orphan's side, wrapping an arm around his lover's waist as they headed down to the seedier part of San Antonio
"I can't decide what I'm in the mood for tonight," Dodger said, turning around to glare at Orphan and Corey, "Hurry up! I'm hungry."
"How about a nice drug dealer on rye, or perhaps a murderer with a side of french fries..." Cole said lightly as they walked. Orphan groaned, and for just a second, Corey thought he would say something against the joking of the older couple.
"Personally I go for the pedophiles with an apple pie for desert..." Orphan said, instead. Corey immediately dropped his sire's hand in disgust, shaking his head and opening his mouth to voice his opinion, when Dodger beat him to speaking.
"Had a pedophile a few weeks ago. I could totally go for a drug dealer tonight though," Dodger said, patting his stomach. "What about you, Corey? Any preferences?"
"I... uh, I... dunno. I... it... I can't..." he stammered, blowing his chance to voice his thoughts. "How can you just... we're going to kill TWO people today... how..." he trailed off again, swallowing hard.
"Well, it's either they die or you die. That's why we kill lowlifes. So we can feel good about ourselves. We're just like Superman, except if we don't save the world we die. Get it?" Cole asked.
"I... I guess, I just... I dunno, how do you KNOW who's a lowlife?" Corey asked softly.
"We read their minds, duh?" Dodger said, taking a sharp turn into an alley. "Drug deal going on. I call the one that's already high!"
Corey's head snapped up, his body beginning to rev itself up, knowing sustenance is close by. "I'll take the other," he said softly, also turning into the alleyway.
"Oh man!" Dodger yelled as he stumbled into the alley with Corey, "Wow man we are sooo lost!" as he threw an arm over Corey's shoulder, "Can you guys help us? We're looking for that one store... oh hey! What's that?" Dodger asked as he pointed to their baggies in their hands, but before the men could say something, Dodger grabbed both of their heads knocking them together hard. "Doesn't that sound just make your mouth water?"
Corey giggled softly at the almost cartoonish thump, "I guess..." he said, going for the one he'd targeted. Trying not to think of what he was about to do, he lowered his fangs and jammed them into the dealer's carotid artery, sucking harshly at the blood. He shuddered as he filled up.