Chapter Text
- 1903 -
The town stretched out beneath him and from his position, half hidden behind the statues lining the church roof, he could see much and hear even more. It was a good position for him, the human's beneath didn't bother to look up, not in the light drizzle that weighed down the night. And it was easier for him to keep his calm when he was too high up to be able to smell the blood pumping through fragile human bodies. The mere thought of that warm blood was enough for his teeth to turn sharp and a hot pulse rushing sluggishly through his veins and a part of him ached to get down there and sink his teeth into tender flesh.
"Jared..."
A smile stretched his lips when he heard the sound of his name from far below, barely more than a whisper and yet clear enough for him to be able to pick it up. Jared threw a few looks around to make sure no one was looking, then he stepped off his ledge, landing soundlessly on the ground just behind the man that had called his name. Jared managed to put his hands on slender hips before the man had even registered his presence.
"Oh, God! You need to stop doing that."
Jared spun the man around and pressed him up against the church wall, tilting his head to the side until he could drag his lips over the beating pulsepoint.
"Good evening, Alexander," he mumbled against soft skin.
Despite the darkness of the night Jared had no problems seeing the smile that stretched Alexander's lips, no fear in the green eyes that looked up at him, as had been the case since the first time they met there was nothing in Alexander's eyes but devotion.
"I'm ready," Alexander said softly, one hand finding its way under Jared's thigh length coat to rest against his waist.
"You keep saying that, but you don't know what you ask for," Jared said but he couldn't find it in himself to move away from the human.
It wasn't the first time they had that very argument, not the first time Alexander had asked Jared to turn him and Jared knew it wouldn't be the last one. He might know that Alexander was his mate, one half of a whole, but to take the final step and actually turn him was something Jared kept pushing into the future.
"Will you do it?" Alexander asked, taking a step back. "I need to know. You told me what you are and...you made me fall for you. You can't just leave me like this."
"I will," Jared promised. "But not now. Not yet. Alexander, you're... there's..."
"As long as you will one day," Alexander interrupted. "That's all I need to know."
Jared nodded and for a brief moment he let himself dip down to press a kiss to Alexander's lips, marveling in how soft the man's mouth felt against his. He pulled back and looked around, making sure that no one saw them before he wrapped one arm firmly around Alexander's waist and pushed off the ground. Reaching up to grab the top of the church door was easy, even with the added weight of his mate in his arms and from there it was just a few simple leaps for him to get the both of them back to his hidden little nook.
Alexander clung to him, his breathing coming out fast and panicked and Jared could hear the rapid beating of the human's heart, the rush of blood in his veins. Blood always smelled good where it traveled through human bodies, but from the first time he had had tasted Alexander's blood, all else seemed to fade away. Standing up on the roof high above the town and surrounded by a cool mist of rain, Jared knew just what he wanted and he turned them around until Alexander's back was pressed up against the rough stone wall.
"Let me," Jared said, feeling his teeth grow sharp and his entire body aching to taste.
"Please," Alexander moaned, tilting his head to the side.
Jared loved the way Alexander wanted it, knowing full well that the tremble that ran through the man's body wasn't only from the night cold.
"We belong together," Jared said, letting his tongue press against Alexander's neck. "One day..."
He didn't say more, just took a firm grip of the man he knew was his soulmate and sank his teeth into tender flesh, moaning when his mouth filled with the hot rush of blood. It didn't take much of the hot blood filling his mouth before he could feel his arousal spike, cock hardening in the way it only ever did when he drank blood.
"Jared..." Alexander gasped, arching against Jared, his fingers tangling up in his hair.
The blood was filling him up, rushing through his body and Jared could feel his own skin warm with each swallow and when he pressed forward he could feel that Alexander was just as hard as he was. Pulling his teeth free Jared bit down on his own tongue, pressing a drop of his own vampire blood against Alexander's neck and he could feel the bite marks fade away.
"God," Alexander moaned, half sagging against the wall.
"You taste...delicious," Jared said, licking away the blood that had trickled down his human's neck.
He would miss the taste of Alexander's blood when he turned the man, but he also knew what Alexander was to him and there was only one choice he could make if he wanted Alexander with him forever.
"How did you know?" Alexander asked, hands stroking up Jared's arms to his shoulders.
"Know what?" Jared asked, pressing a kiss to the corner of the man's mouth.
"That we belong together, that we are soulmates?"
"I knew the moment I saw you," Jared said, holding Alexander close while the human recovered from the blood loss. "The scent of you, the way you taste on my tongue. The way you are. There was never a doubt in my mind. I found what other search the world for centuries to find."
Alexander smiled and Jared let the two of them sink down on the ground, Alexander pressed up against him in the little hidden alcove where they were safe from the rain and curious human eyes. Hunger still burned in Jared's veins and he knew he would have to hunt later, he needed more than Alexander could give him, but he also knew that the blood wouldn't taste half as good as Alexander's did.
-¤-
Jared moved over the rooftops, each gap between houses nothing more than a simple leap for him and even from halfway across the town he could smell Alexander, knew that the man was waiting for him. He was full with blood, a rush of strength in his veins and when he reached the main street he didn't even hesitate before pushing off the roof and landing without a sound on the other side, his muscles relishing in the stretch and movement.
He was lost in his own thoughts, mind already focused on the following night. Alexander might not know it yet but Jared knew it was time, he was ready to turn his mate. He knew he didn't want to spend eternity without his mate, not when he had found him.
Over the buzz of the world below on the street, the sound of angry voices reached him but Jared didn't think much about it, not until a loud crack rang out, making the sounds of humanity below fade away. Jared had been alive long enough to know the sound of a gun but before he could go back to his own thoughts, pain ripped through him in a way he had never felt before. The next moment he felt the first metallic waft of blood in the air and realization slammed into him.
Jared knew that scent, knew it better than anything in the world. That scent was his world.
Down below him on the street human life continued on as normal, Jared was quite sure that most of them hadn't even heard the shot and those that did were too busy caring for themselves to go looking for someone who obviously had a gun. To Jared the shot was still ringing loud in his ears and he wondered if he would ever stop hearing it. The wet rooftops would be slippery to a human, but Jared had no problems balancing as he picked up speed and soon he jumped off the roof and and landed in the alley where the shot had been fired. The picture in front of him was all his worst fears brought to life.
Alexander lay on the ground, the scent of his blood hot and clingy in the air but despite that, Jared could feel no hunger burn in his veins, all he wanted was to scream out in protest.
"Alexander!"
Jared fell down on his knees next to his soulmate and when he reached out to touch the human's face none of the familiar heat was there. He didn't even stop to consider what he was doing, just bit down on his own wrist, feeling the skin break beneath his teeth. Pressing his bleeding wounds against Alexander's mouth he begged his mate to swallow, to drink down the thick blood. He could tell right away that it was too late, the bullet had hit in the chest and Alexander was bleeding out too fast for Jared's blood to make a difference.
"No, no, no." Jared pleaded. "We're supposed to have forever."
"They...knew...you..." Alexander managed to get out before he was interrupted by weak coughing and Jared felt despair claw at him when the man coughed up what little blood Jared had gotten into him.
"They knew what about me?" Jared asked.
"What you... are... I guess... killing me means... hurting... you..." Alexander mumbled, the words slurred and Jared could tell he was fading fast.
Jared felt tears of pure blood fall down his cheeks as his soulmate bled out in front of him.
"Jared...find me...again..."
He knew what Alexander asked for, knew that his mate would be reborn some day. But he also knew how low the odds were of finding Alexander's soul again.
"I will," he promised. "You and me, forever."
A hint of a smile stretched Alexander's lips before he breathed out one last breath before the light in his green eyes flickered out. Sharp pain tore through Jared as he was left with his dead soulmate in his arms.
- 1926 -
Jared bit down on his own finger, stroking the blood over the bite mark and watched as the wounds closed and faded away. The human in his arms blinked open blue eyes, looking up at Jared with the mixture of confusion, fear and arousal that he had seen so many times before. He wondered if drinking would ever feel like pleasure again or if blood would for ever taste dull in comparison to the ambrosia that had been his soulmate's blood.
Over twenty years had passed and not a day had gone by where Jared didn't miss what he had lost, not a night passing without him travelling, looking to find his soulmate again, but so far he had felt no tug of the connection between soulmates.
"Go," Jared told the young woman in his arms.
She blinked a few times, obviously trying to clear away the haze that sharing blood always left humans in and when he pushed her away she swayed for a moment but she didn't say anything before she turned away and made her way out of the alley, one hand against the wall to keep herself upright. Jared knew he should feel bad about feeding from her, could almost remember a time when that was how he would have felt but at least he didn't kill her and that was as much compassion as he had left. He hadn't killed anyone since he had found the men that had taken Alexander away from him, and those were deaths he didn't regret.
Around him the winter night was giving way to morning and Jared knew he needed to find a place to rest for the night and he pushed off the ground, easily getting up on the rooftops where he could move around fast without the risk of humans seeing him. He didn't land on the ground again until he reached an area with town houses and he forced himself to move slower despite of the approaching daylight. He knew of a house that stood empty and he was sure he could rest there for the day but before he could get that far, something changed, his whole being suddenly focused on something he hadn't felt for two decades.
"Alexander..."
Jared would know that tug of connection anywhere, he had been looking for it for so long and when he pulled in a deep breath he could feel the scent of his soulmate's blood. The scent seemed to fill up every part of Jared, making his blood boil and everything else faded away. Jared was moving faster than he had in a long time, following the perfect scent that he had been longing to smell again for more than twenty years. He felt almost dizzy when the scent got stronger and he came to an abrupt halt when he realized just where it came from.
The loud engine of an automobile cut through the morning stillness and Jared's eyes were riveted on it, part of him fascinated by the vehicle itself but the major part of him was focused on the scent that he could feel coming from inside it. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but when the car pulled to a stop it wasn't Alexander that came out of it, instead it was a couple, the woman turning back to the car to help a small girl down on the ground. Jared thought he might have been mistaken but just when he was about to turn away the girl twisted around in her mother's grasp and she looked right to where Jared was hidden in the darkness of the night and Jared had to bite back a shock gasped. The child might be the wrong gender, and she could be no older than five, but the eyes that looked his way was Alexander's, deep green with flecks of gold and Jared sank down to his knees, shocked at what he had found.
"It can't be..." he mumbled to himself as the family walked into the house and Jared was left on the outside, staring after his perfect better half.
-¤-
Jared sat perfectly still on top of the roof, his position giving him a clear view across the street and straight into his soulmate's bedroom.
"Evelyn Richards," he whispered into the night and in the year that had passed since he found her it still felt strange to speak that name.
Watching from afar as Evelyn grew up was one of the most painful things Jared had experienced ever since he lost Alexander and he knew part of that was the fact that his soulmate had been returned to him as a girl. She was a gorgeous child, chestnut curls framing a heartshaped face, but what truly got to him each time he watched her was the eyes. He knew that it was his soulmate, knew that they belonged together, but that knowledge was tangled with the confusion that her gender caused him.
He longed for the day she would be grown up enough that he could approach her, get to know her before he turned her and he swore to himself that he would keep her safe until then. She was his mate and no matter what she looked like, no matter what body the soul was in, he knew that he would love her.
It was with a small smile on his lips that he settled down more comfortable on the roof, watching as the girl slept comfortable in her bed.
-¤-
Jared's days weren't spent sleeping, but it was close enough. A heavy lethargy pulled him under when the sun rose but he could still hear the world move on outside of the walls of his safe hideout, could hear voices filter in even through thick walls. He was happy for the half dozing state he was in, the long days away from Evelyn would have been torture without it, but as it was he could at least feel her in the back of his mind, a connection that made the pain of long years passed fall away.
With his eyes drifted shut, nothing but darkness surrounding him, he lay down on the bed and let himself imagine how things would be the day he would once again feel the perfect taste of his soul mate on his tongue, when he wouldn't be alone anymore. He had managed so long without his mate and he hated to be apart from her now, but he knew the girl was too young to be turned, that he couldn't spend forever with a child. In the dead of night, watching her sleep peacefully, he had promised himself to be patient, to not make her his until her twentieth birthday. But that was another fourteen years for him to wait and he longed for his mate, longed for Evelyn in his life.
Pain shot through him, tearing him away from his lingering dreams and his eyes flew wide, the daytime haze clearing away as he felt his soulmate scream in his mind. Something was wrong, out there in the brilliant light of day something terrible was happening and Jared was out of his bed before he could even think about it but before he reached the heavy door he managed to stop himself. He couldn't step outside, couldn't let the sun burn him to ash, but in that moment he wanted to because the pain was one he had only felt once before and even if he didn't know exactly how, he did know what was happening.
Evelyn was dying.
He screamed out in agony, fists hammering hard enough against the wall for big chunks of plaster to fall to the ground and he didn't care if the humans outside could hear him, couldn't care in that moment.
"Evelyn! No!"
There was no answer, no feeling of her in his mind and Jared sank down on the hard stone floor, unable to understand how everything could have been torn from him so suddenly, how he could have lost the love of his life, again.
The hours until dusk were spent in a state of distress and the moment he could feel in his very bones that the sun had gone down he slammed the door to his hidden chamber open and ran towards Evelyn's house. When he arrived there he was met with nothing but smouldering ruins, the house had burnt to the ground and he didn't need to approach the humans still lingering around the place of the fire to know the outcome. Evelyn was gone and Jared could only stand there and watch, cursing the promise he had given Alexander. He knew he was close to giving up, close to stepping into the sun and let it burn him away, it seemed a fitting fate after what had happened to Evelyn, but he had promised Alexander to find him again. Had promised it would be them, forever, and there was no way he could go back on that promise.
He knew one thing for sure though; the next time he found his soulmate he wouldn't wait that long. Young or not, Jared was not losing his mate one more time. He couldn't.