“Because they are!” Samuel shouted as he jumped to his feet. His hands clenched at his sides, turning so white that Justin worried they’d stay that way. “Vampires are monsters. They take, and they keep on taking.”
“Samuel, that’s just not true. Dominic has never been anything but kind to me. He loves me. He has done everything in his power to keep me safe, to keep you safe. He’s even working to have the laws changed so that no one has to go through what you went through. Why can’t you understand that?”
“I understand that our father sold me to the vampires. I understand that our mother did nothing to stop it. I understand that I spent weeks being bitten over and over again, nearly drained of my blood. I understand that when they weren’t biting me, they were—” Samuel suddenly stopped speaking, his face draining of color.
Justin was afraid he knew exactly what Samuel was going to say even though the man didn’t say it. His heart ached for what Samuel had gone through, or what he suspected Samuel had gone through. No one should suffer that sort of pain. It was no wonder he was so angry.
He didn’t blame Samuel one bit. But the man had to start healing on the inside sooner or later, or he was going to turn into one of the monsters himself with the hatred that was eating away inside of him.
Justin stepped forward, stopping when Samuel cringed back in fear. He drew in a deep breath and tried his best to convey his thoughts without upsetting the man any more than he had to. Samuel was in enough pain.
“Being held captive by the Teacher was like living a nightmare, and it just never stopped. Since being free, though, I’ve met some amazing people, including your brother and his mate. They’ve shown me that life is worth living, and so is fighting to keep other people from experiencing what we went through.”
Samuel walked over to sit on the window seat again, sitting down and turning his back to Danny and Justin. He leaned his head against the glass, pressing his hand on the window next to his head.
“Sully comes to visit me late at night.” Samuel spoke so low that Justin almost didn’t hear him. But Danny did. He jerked, his eyes shooting to Justin for a moment, and then slowly moving back.
“Sully comes to see you?” Danny asked. Apparently, that was news to Danny.
“The first few times he tried to talk to me, but after a while, I think he gave up. Now he just sits on the floor by the door. He sits there for hours, sometimes even after I fall asleep.”
“Why do you think he does that?”
“I get scared at night. That’s when the vampires would come for me, after the sun had set. Sully sits with me so I won’t be scared.”
“Does it help?” Justin asked, afraid to ask but wanting to know. Maybe Sully was the solution for Samuel. Maybe the vampire could pull Samuel out of the vat of hate he was drowning in.
Samuel shrugged. “I guess. I seem to sleep better when he’s here.”
“Have you told him thank you?”
Samuel’s mouth was hanging open as he spun around to stare at Justin. “He’s a vampire.”
“And?”
Samuel’s eyes widened. “And he’s a vampire.”
“So? That doesn’t mean you have to be rude to him,” Justin pointed out.
“Justin,” Danny admonished quietly. Justin just glared at him. He understood that Samuel had been through hell and back, he honestly did. But that gave him no excuse to treat people rudely who were only trying to help. The man needed to start somewhere, and a simple thank-you was a start.
“There is no reason to be rude. From my understanding, Sully was instrumental in rescuing you, and now you’re telling us that Sully sits in your room with you every night so that you can get a good night’s sleep?” Justin rolled his eyes. “I’d think the least you could do was tell the man thank you.”
“But he’s a vampire!” Samuel insisted vehemently.
“So am I!”
Okay, he wasn’t supposed to say that. But Samuel was being unreasonable.
“Get. Out.”
“Samuel—”
“Get the fuck out!”
“No!” Justin shouted back at Samuel. “You think you’re freaking out? I’ve been a vampire all of twelve hours. How do you think I feel? I hate blood. I want to pass out when I cut my damn finger!”
Samuel cocked his head, staring at Justin as if
he
were the loony one.
Justin ignored the look as he continued. “I’ve been a victim longer than you have. I could start my own damn club. But the one thing I’ve learned about being a victim is to let being a victim go.”
“What?” Danny asked, confusion written all over his face.
Justin sighed. He really wasn’t any good at this pep talk stuff. “Things happen. Bad things happen. Trust me, I know. But if you continue to live in the small dark room with your nightmare, you’ll never get out. They’ve won and are still winning. Don’t let them win, Samuel. Open the door to that dark room and walk out. Breathe in the fresh air and slam that damn door closed.”
Justin could see the unshed tears in Samuel’s eyes before he turned away. “What if I don’t know how? What if the door won’t open for me?”
Taking a step closer, Justin saw the slight shake in Samuel’s shoulders. “The only thing stopping that door from opening is you.”
“But they…” Samuel trailed off as he hugged his stomach, refusing to turn around.
“I know, Samuel. But you have to let someone help you. If you don’t want Sully to help, then let Danny. But let someone in and share you nightmare with them. It helps.”
“I heard Father yelling at Mother. He accused her of only giving him two children. He said that she did it on purpose. He screamed that he had wanted more.”
Talk about snapping someone’s head with the subject change. But if that was how Samuel was coping, Justin would give him that. “Did you hear anything else?”
Samuel nodded, his brown waves veiling his face. “He said he had sons better than Daniel and I. Sons that would make him proud.”
Jeez
. As much as Justin liked the idea of Danny and Samuel being his brothers, he really hoped the evil jackass wasn’t his sperm donor. The man was a real winner.
“He said that?” Danny asked.
Samuel nodded.
“Did he say how many?”
Samuel turned, and Justin nearly gasped at the hatred so apparent in Samuel’s eyes. It was like looking at someone who had seen too much, lived through a horrendous tragedy. And the man had, but damn if that look wasn’t evil. “He did.”
“And?” Danny asked, sounding as anxious as Justin felt to find out if they had any more siblings out there.
“Father was nice enough to spread his seed to every different species that exists.”
“Fuck,” Danny said as he took a step back, his hand covering his mouth. The man looked like he was going to be sick.
“But that’s not all.”
Justin wasn’t sure he wanted to hear anymore. If he were truly related to these two, then it was his siblings out there as well. His family tree just kept growing and growing.
Samuel shivered as he turned fully around, glancing from Justin to Danny, the look grim. “He wanted to rub it into Mother’s face. It sounded to me like he really wanted to hurt her with his words because he told her that every child born to him, aside from us, were twins.”
Taylor stood close to Chase as his mate greeted his brother, Devlin, and Devlin’s mate, Prince Zacarius
Ivinovav
. It wasn’t that Taylor was a snob or anything, but meeting Chase’s family was nerve racking. He didn’t know his family. Taylor had been taken from his family at a young age, just like Justin, so this was a very important moment for him.
Chase’s family was his family.
Chase’s brother was his brother.
So why did he feel like he was about to throw up? He prayed he didn’t develop foot-in-mouth disease and embarrass the crap out of both of them. Gods, he wished Justin wasn’t meeting with Samuel right now. He could use his lover at his side. Justin was just so good at meeting people. Everyone liked Justin.
“You must be Taylor,” Devlin said as he smiled widely and stuck his hand out. “I’m Chase’s brother, Devlin.”
Taylor shook the man’s hand, glancing over at Chase to see his mate grinning from ear to ear. Taylor was glad someone was happy because he was sweating missiles. He had passed the sweating bullets stage when Chase’s family walked through the door. He was terrified he was going to screw this up. He had a family now—a family that he needed to impress. Knots began to form in Taylor’s stomach at the thought.
He was so going to screw this up.
“Nice to meet you,” Taylor replied, relieved he made it through one introduction without embarrassing himself. He normally wasn’t bad with meeting people. But the men standing in front of him were important to Chase, which made them important to Taylor.
“And I am Prince Zacarius.” Devlin’s mate extended his hand.
Taylor reached out and shook the prince’s hand, wondering if maybe he should bow. The man was a prince after all.
“Where is Justin?” Devlin asked. “I thought he would be here to find out if he were truly a vampire or not.”
“He’s—” Taylor froze at the same time Chase’s head snapped around, both staring at each other as Justin’s voice rang in their minds, loud and clear.
“Come get me the hell out of this loony-ass room, now!”
“Is something wrong?” Devlin asked as he glanced between Taylor and Chase.
“Where is Samuel’s room?” Chase asked Dominic, who was sitting behind his desk, going through some papers. The prince’s head snapped up, as if he knew something was wrong. Or maybe it was the mention of Samuel’s name.
“I’ll show you,” he said without asking why.
Chase and Taylor were hot on the man’s heels, Devlin and his mate following close behind. Taylor was thankful that Dominic hadn’t stood there and drilled them before showing them. He knew he wouldn’t be able to take one more shout from Justin.
“We’re on our way, baby,”
Taylor said to Justin as they hurried along the long hallway.
“Are you in immediate danger?”
“No, but I need you and Chase. Oh, my god, Taylor. Just…get here.”
Taylor didn’t have to be told twice. He put on a burst of speed, walking briskly behind Dominic, and then the vampire stopped in front of a white door. “He’s in here. Should I come in?”
That was an odd question, but Taylor didn’t have time to answer it. He swung the door open to see Justin standing there with Danny, and a brown-haired man who was hugging himself. He glanced around, but didn’t see anyone else in the room. Chase pushed past Taylor, his head snapping around, and then he sniffed the air.
“Thank god!” Justin said as he fell into Taylor’s arms. Taylor hugged Justin close, looking over at Chase, who seemed just as baffled as he was.
“It’s okay, baby. I have you,” Taylor murmured as he ran his hands over Justin’s back. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Get that vampire out of my room!” the brow-haired man shouted as he pointed toward Danny’s mate. “He’s not welcomed here.”
Taylor watched the room clear out, leaving the three original men, Taylor, and Chase. His mate walked behind Justin, pressing his chest into Justin’s back, wrapping their smaller mate in a blanket of comfort.
“I’m afraid he’s had a bit of a shocker,” Danny said, looking apologetic.
“Justin, sweetheart. We don’t know if Danny and Samuel are your brothers yet. Let Prince Zacarius test your blood, baby.” All of this was because the two may be Justin’s brothers? His little lover was taking things harder than Taylor had thought.
“He’s right,” Chase said. “Let find out for sure if you are a vampire or not before you have a meltdown.”
Justin rubbed his face back and forth across Taylor’s shirt as his fingers dug into Taylor’s arms. “That’s not it,” he whispered.
“Then what is it, baby?” Taylor asked.
“He has a twin,” the brown-haired man stated flatly from across the room.
“He what?” Taylor asked, feeling confused as hell.
“It’s a long story,” Danny answered. “But apparently, my father was a slut. He fathered quite a few sets of twins back in the day.”
Taylor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was pretty damn sure that if Justin had a twin, the Teacher would have gotten his hands on Justin’s brother. “That’s impossible. You two aren’t twins.”
Danny shrugged. “I just found out about having more siblings than I know what to do with. But Samuel tells me he heard my father clear as day state that every child born to him were twins, aside from Samuel and me.”
“I can’t take any more shocking news,” Justin whispered in Taylor’s neck. “Get me out of here.”
Right.
Taylor swung Justin around without another word and started marching him toward the door. He still didn’t understand fully what had happened, but apparently, Justin had had enough. He was in meltdown mode.
It made meeting Chase’s family feel like a hill of beans.
Taylor and Justin made it as far as the bottom of the steps before Chase reached down and swung Justin up in his arms. He practically bounded up the stairs. Taylor chased after them as fast as his shorter legs would carry him.