Honorable
Sons: 23
by Josie_h
Notes
“Now… we all get some bloody kip, is what!” Spike stood and made for the door. “Red… Lady F … give us a tick and I’ll sort the triple in the lounge. You whelp, get yourself back ta bed. If you’re lucky your ol’ Da there might tuck you in again.” The cheeky grin accompanying the last statement was briskly replaced by a more compassionate expression, “Things start goin’ askew, you know we’re right next door. You come… got it?” Angel caught his mate’s eye and sent a jolt of deep affection and thanks through their link.
With guests settled, the two vampires lay relaxed, limbs intertwined, idly petting each other and each quietly contemplating the events of the evening, and the history preceding them. The link was wide open with emotions flowing from one vampire to the other… They both eventually fell into a restless sleep only to simultaneously jolt to full consciousness as a pale figure emerged at the door and near terror flowed through the family link.
The voice of a young man with all the tone of frightened child broke the silence “You said I could um… Something’s doesn’t feel right… um there’s something weird happening… inside… I can feel it.”
Spike lifted the covers of the bed as a boxer clad Angel moved to make a space between himself and Spike, indicating for Connor to join them. Spike stood as Connor joined them, grabbing a pair of Angel’s sweatpants from the ground and hurriedly donning them before climbing in to flank their trembling ‘Destroyer’.
Angel looked at his mate a little quizzically as his son snuggled down under the covers. “Decorum mate, figure me eau naturale at this point… be a bit much yeah?”
Angel mouthed his thanks and sent a bolt of love through the link, not worrying if it was interpreted differently by both receivers.
Though eventually settled, all three Aurelians were still wide awake. Connor was in a loose hug face to face with his father, Spike spooning him from the back, arm over Angel’s at Connor’s hip, intended to both protect the son, and reassure his mate. Spike broke the silence, “So pet, what’s up… what’s goin’ on inside that body o’ yours?”
“It’s tingles, like used to happen in Quor’toth but worse! And every time I close my eyes… the dreams are… ?! I feel empty… I feel like my insides are missing something or I lost something… oh geez…. I don’t know?!” Connor looked pleadingly into his father’s eyes seeking, begging for an answer. Something niggled at the back of Angel’s psyche, but the look of desperation simply had him holding his son tighter and sending feelings of love and devotion through the link.
Spike, however, rolled away momentarily, stared at the ceiling, then rolled back to reach down and grab his ‘little brother’s’ wrist.
“It’s not bloody well done yet… *that’s* what’s wrong… We have to finish it!”
Angel looked incredulous, “But he drank from us?!”
“Yes…. But did we complete the cycle?!”
“No?!…” Realization dawned in Angel’s eyes, “Ohhh…. S#@t!! We *have* to fix it!”
“Too bloody right, mate! And right now – but the boy has to be willing…. Connor?”
Connor had been listening, but seemed also to be in some sort of haze. He felt all wrong, his insides seemed to be writhing and muscles all over his body twitched as though attached to some electric pulse. Externally his entire body had begun to shake uncontrollably.
“Connor!” The tone of concern from both father and mate pulled him to reality, as his two elders demanded his attention.
“We can stop this… We need to complete it. Are you willing?” The boy did as much as he was able at that moment, simply nodding and arching back so his neck was exposed to both Masters of Aurelius.
The two vampires exchanged a passionate and knowing kiss, then joined hands across the belly of their young charge and bent to mark their youngest clan member sinking skilled fangs into either side of the offered neck. They took but two or three pulls of the precious pure-blood’s life force before withdrawing and smiling knowingly. All now felt right with their world.
For Connor, the experience was beyond conscious thought. The ecstasy he felt as the pull began, the completeness… all led to an all too predictable result… Sensation caught up with bodily function and he came hard, groaning as the scent of his spending caused both his companions to grin knowingly.
Two pairs of eyes, one tropical ocean blue and the other, the color of dark chocolate, met his stunned azure gaze as Connor pulled back to reality. He felt… complete… but panicked as he recalled the last few minutes. Strong arms and kind feelings from the link attempted to quell his distress, but the agitation grew too much. He flung up and off the bed, and was crouching against the wall when both elder vampires appeared at his side to calm and placate the alarmed boy.
“I don’t know what’s… God… I feel …. It feels….” He was sitting on the floor, chin at his chest, but finally looked up in amazement, “Oh God.... it feels...??!! Right…. Balanced…. Oh Da! Spike?! Please…. Please…”
The young man lifted now golden eyes to meet those of his ‘parents’’ game faces, and to all their surprise, drew his top lip back to reveal slightly elongated canines, definitely of the vampire variety… Connor seemed to glow all over with a rich crimson color apparently from within, and had hair pulled outward by the static of magic. And yet the beautiful androgynous features were unchanged – no vampire ridges or odd coloring.
Both his elders had the same reaction. The boy was stunning, he was whole, he was more than before they had completed the cycle… and they had *no* idea what he was now…. But they loved him and sent that same emotion concurrently and so strongly that all three feel back onto the bed to entwine and rest, satisfied that all was more than well for now.
F’Iaid and Willow stirred abruptly feeling a jolt as the final bonding finished, and though it took a moment, both realized some profound change had just occurred. The aura and feeling was one of peace, Willow snuggled down, placing lazy kisses over her dark princess’s left breast and promptly went back to sleep, head resting on the taller woman’s shoulder.
The dreams were violent, disturbing, and shared. Son and father(s) woke simultaneously, golden eyes blazing and ready to protect what was ‘their own’. Instead of killing, however, all three males sank down into a conciliatory embrace.
The images were historical, from memory and, more disturbingly, predictive and bloodlusty in nature.
As they awoke, all three acknowledged the protective embrace the two senior vampires had instinctively formed around Connor, and also felt the change… The protection and safety afforded was justified it seemed
Connor was the first to speak, despite emerging from the tight embrace of his fathers and far too many layers of covers to do so.
Both vampires scented the air and hugged their charge even tighter.
“I’m changed now aren’t I?”
Spike answered, “Yeah pet, seems that way.”
“What am I now? I mean… I only just found out that I was a freak and now??!!”
“You were *never* a ‘freak’ dear heart, I know you… always the extraordinary person… utterly extraordinary….” Angel trailed off in his explanation, caught up in the desperation and longing pushing through the link and evident in the words… Spike took up the argument… “Do ya think that every Olympian ever felt normal? Or Beckham? Or Mozart? (and if you quote me on the last one I *will* have to kill you!!) but you get my drift…. ‘Normal’ is a fallacy and lord knows *who* wants to be average! Pet *I* was an ‘average’ poet… and thank your dad for sorting that lot out!”
At this point Angel interjected, “He was also well spoken and extraordinarily attractive and educated and… and…”
“Yeah yeah…” Spike grinned at his partner then slapped Angel affectionately and continued, “ An’ me ol’ sire here thought I was a bit pleasin’ to the eye so…. Hmmm the rest is history… But the bottom line for you, Young One, is that you need family right now… the rest we can work through… yeah?”
His answer was a resolute hug from his mate’s son and a response mumbled into his chest, “I know why Dad loves you… you’re the ‘lovable bastard’”
Spike’s indignant reply gaining a smile from both father and son as the Victorian William shone through, “Oi mate, who’s callin’ who a bastard. Legitimate in the extreme… and I’ll have you know…” In the final argument Spike had dropped all pretence of the ‘guttersnipe English’ and reverted to his upper-crust roots. Realizing the slip, his only response was to leave the bed and retreat to the bathroom with a resolute, “Oh and congratulations to the pillock in the room.” Leaving both his companions confused as to whom he was speaking (possibly including himself!).
Temporarily alone Angel turned to his son…
“Are you OK with this?”
“Umm… I guess… but… Geez! How do I tell my folks? And what else is there, effects-wise I mean? Am I gonna be looking at my friends’ necks? C’mon dad… what??”
The desperate look in his son’s eyes left Angel feeling utterly inadequate, so like parents the world over, he did the only thing he could think of, pulled the boy into a tight hug and reiterated his love.
Spike reemerged quickly as genuine distress began to flow through the link. The blonde vampire simply moved to the bed to pet his younger relative and reassure his Sire as much as was possible.
It was F’Iaid’s emergence at the door that pulled them all from a natural trail of hurt and regret.
“The young Master is a full blood, da first of his kind for a t’ousand years. I see you have completed da ritual.”
Spike turned to the door, unwittingly throwing game face in place as protective instinct overrode decorum, “What *bloody* ritual would that be witch!”
F’Iaid looked un-phased even as her red headed partner joined her, enveloping her from behind in a loving hug.
“You may still need to train him, but he is indeed a full blood Master. He may walk in the sun, have a beating heart, and all the advantages of human form… but he also carries the blessing of darkness. Now, it can be exploited, or properly used. Do not take dis as a given Connor… The coven will protect you and train you but… you must ask for it!”