Dark Moon (ManxMan)
Chapter 10

Aetos

"Is there a reason you dragged me out of bed at nine thirty on a Saturday morning, Alphie?" Colson asked, one hand reaching up to cup his mouth as he yawned. He had spent the previous night beating Aetos at Monopoly. The vampire had flipped the board and stalked to his room, grumbling under his breath.

"I wanted to ask you for your permission." Erik said. They were both seated at one of the parks, green grasses and trees surrounded them and a small garden of Selene's favorites -which Colson had learnt the rainbow colored flowers were called.

"You've mated already. What else is there to do?"

"There are stages to this. Acceptance, courting, the claiming bites and the final is, the bonding." Erik explains. The Alpha was in a grey long sleeved shirt and dark jeans, large black boots on his feet.

"You're not having sex in front of everybody."

Erik looked like he was about to face palm. It's not Colson's fault that, the two of them having sex in front everyone was what does words meant.

"Bonding is like marriage. But without the rings." Erik explained. "We'll swear by the moon and goddess. Recite the vows and that's it."

Colson had stopped listening when he head the word wedding. He could see it now. They'd have the wedding at the beach, at night. Two pillars with white silks, a small podium with beautiful flowers wrapped around it and his brother and Erik in white.

"-olson!"

Colson shakes his head and looked at Erik who was staring at him with a raised brows.

"I take it by the smirk on your face, I have your blessing." Erik said and Colson snorts.

"Of course you do. You love my brother, you protect him plus he's carrying your kids." Colson replied, he leans to the side so he could fully look at Erik. "I still think you should name them Colson and A-"

"Not going to happen." Erik laughed. "There's nothing you can do about it."

Colson gets up from the bench, pushing both hands into his pockets. "When you have decided to listen to me, give me a call." Colson gives Erik a two fingered wave before leaving the Alpha there. It was a short walk from the park to Aetos' house. He taps in the code at the gate and made his way to the door and walked into the house, the door snapping shut behind him.

He wasn't sure if Aetos was awake, so he tried to be ask quiet as possible as he made his way towards the kitchen. He needed coffee. He replaces Pytor sitting on a stool, sucking lazily at a straw. The vampire was just in tight pink boxers, leaving his pale and built skin to the sun light.

"Can one of you tell me how exactly you don't burn under the sun?" Colson asked as he walked into the kitchen. He pulls open the fridge and grabbed the left over rice and shoved it into the microwave.

"Good morning to you too. I had a wonderful night, I'm just a bit hungover, nothing a pint of blood couldn't fix. Yes, I had sweet dreams and woke up on the right side of the bed. Thank you for asking." "Your sarcasm never fails to impress me." Colson shakes his head at Pytor who just rolls his eyes at him.

"Want a sip?"

"Ask me when my heart no longer beats." Colson answers. He pulls out the carton of mango juice and placed it on the counter, he grabbed a mug and the coffee beans when the microwave let out a loud ping. He quickly sets about putting the coffee beans in the cofffee maker and flipped on the switch.

When he sits and dug into his food, Pytor let out a burp, the straw pressed to his cheek.

"Are you fucking Aetos?"

The question startles Colson who almost chokes on his rice. He drops his fork onto the plate and stared at Pytor who just continued talking.

"He wasn't supposed to go to New York, he had sorted their shit over the phone but he changes his mind overnight and then the very next day, he gets in his car and made his way back. To you. So are you fucking or not?" Colson resists the urge to smack Pytor and instead, gets up to get his coffee. Once he had poured it into his mug and had taken his seat again, he replied.

"We are not fucking. I didn't ask him to come back from New York, nor did I send him there. He went on his own accord and came back himself. I didn't ask him to but I appreciated it. He makes me feel... safe. And I needed to feel that, especially after what happened."

Pytor doesn't move or saying anything for a few seconds before nodding. "At the meeting with Erik, he said you couldn't say who the person was. What about writing it down? Or typing it down? Or writing the person's name in the sand with a stick?"

Colson perks up at that. He couldn't believe they hadn't thought of that. If he could replace another way to say it maybe they could kill Michel or something. Pytor disappeared and appears in just a blink of an eye and hands Colson a pen and paper. Colson pressed the pen to the paper and willed his hand to move. He draws a straight line but when he goes to curve it, to write down the first letter- M, his hands began to shake and he feels a sharp pain in his leg where Michel has hit him the last time. It felt so real and the pain was so much, Colson let's out a loud cry as he slams into the counter, Pytor reaching for him with sharp reflexes.

Colson feels the same crippling fear from that day, bloom inside him. He feels cold and his body began to shake. He could hear Pytor telling him to calm down when he was lifted off the stool. There was a ruffle and then he looks up at ... Aetos.

Aetos places Colson on the bed, he takes Colson's hand in his.

"I need you to breathe, Colson." Aetos said, his voice loud enough to pierce the fog that was gradually filling his vision.

"Breathe!" Aetos' voice sounded far away. He felt like he was slowly going underwater and for the first time in his life he couldn't control the water. Colson gasps, his hands clawing out, trying to grab onto something, anything. Aetos didn't know what else to do, so he takes matters into his own hands. He grabs Colson's hand, his fangs enlongating as he sunk them into Colson's arm and yanks.

Colson screams loud and piercing, he jerks out of the fog, his chest rising and falling like he had been running for years. Tears slipped down his eyes as he cradled his arm, Aetos leaning as far as he possibly could be, seeing he was still close to Colson, his fangs still out and lips stained with blood.

"Colson..."

"I'm... good." Colson gasps, cradling his hand still. His face is still contorted in pain. "Fuck, this hurts."

"Pytor..." Aetos doesn't look away from Pytor who was standing to the side with a look of panic and guilt on his face. "Get him a bottle of water."

"No need. I can just make some." Colson replied, each word coming out in harsh breaths, like it was taking everything he had to talk. He waves a shaky hand above his injured arm watched as a little bubble grow, appearing out of thin air. Colson was still panting and Aetos' fangs were still out.

He pops the bubble and as tiny drops of water fell into his arms, his skin began to stitch together, new webs of skin linking itself together. As the skin healed, he turns to Aetos and crawled closer.

There was a sharp need in him to calm Aetos down. It was from deep within, the urge to touch and calm the vampire down. It felt like he could feel Aetos' anxiety within him.

Colson cups Aetos' face. The vampire looks away from him and Colson lets him. He trailed his eyes over Aetos' fans, all the way down to his hands where... he saw claw? Apparently Aetos' nails had grown a bit longer, the tip pointy, his skin looked a bit yellow, his eyes blood red and his hair falling into his eyes. He looked like...

Colson didn't even know what he looked like.

"Aetos, I'm fine." Colson said. "I promise."

For the first time in a short while Pytor speaks up. "Let him feel your heartbeat. He'll snap out of it when he does."

Colson takes Aetos' hand in his and pressed it to his chest, right where his heart was.

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"I'm here. I'm fine. A bit shaken up but I need you to come back to me now. I need you to take care of me now." Colson said, his voice soft. Aetos turns back to him, his blood red eyes staring right into Colson's blue.

It takes time for Aetos to calm down. His yellow skin slowing fading back to a pale white, his claws and fangs receding and the red in his eyes fading back until Colson was staring into Aetos grey eyes. "Colson..." Aetos calls, his voice deep.

"I'll be fine with a little cuddle, so I need you to come back to me."

Pytor tossed him a wet towel and Colson uses it to wipe the blood off Aetos' face. When he was done, he tossed the towel to the floor and before he could do anything, Aetos pulls him close. "You're okay." Aetos said and Colson nods, moving closer so his nose could brush against Aetos' neck. Pytor walks away from the two of them, giving them privacy.

"Yeah. I just need a cuddle and maybe ice cream."

"Anything you ask for." Aetos replied. Aetos gets up from the bed and takes one look at Colson before disappearing in the blink of an eye. When Aetos was gone, Colson began to think about everything that had happened. He had never met a vampire that looked like Aetos did when he shifted. He didn't even know vampires had claws. He had spent the entire years he spent on the run, trying not meet any supernatural because he didn't know who was working with Abaddon. The only thing he learned about them was how to kill one.

What exactly was going on?

Why couldn't he wrote down Michel's name? And why did he feel the exact same pain he had felt when Michel has kicked him in the leg, like it had happened right then and there?

Was there something going on that he was missing? Something about Aetos and the need that bloomed within him to make sure the vampire was okay and came back to him?

Was there something about Michel he was missing? Something that felt out of place? Any detail at all. Colson thought to himself. There had been nothing out of place when he had encountered Michel in the woods. Or maybe he missed something when he was getting beat up.

He didn't get the chance to continue thinking about it because Aetos walks in a fresh pair of clothes and a large pint of blue bunny ice cream. In front of the soft sunlight coming in through the large windows, Aetos looked regal. His dark hair was still in disarray, his grey eyes bright, he had on a maroon jumper and dark sweatpants.

"I hope you don't mind cookie dough."

"Nah." Colson replied. "I hope you got two spoons. I want to watch The Dark Knight."

"Nice choice. The last good Batman movie before the shit that was Batman versus Superman and Justice League."

"I see how why you and Erik are such good friends. He says the LEGO Batman movie was so much better than those two you mentioned."

There's a huge elephant in the room and Colson really wants to understand Aetos, he wants to know everything, he wants to have answers to all the questions he has in his head. Aetos crawls onto the bed, pulls the duvet over their legs and sets the ice cream on it. He hands Colson a spoon before pulling off the lid.

"You have a tv in your room right?"

"Yeah." Aetos reaches for a remote and taps a button. The wall in front of the bed, shifts to the side like a sliding door, exposing the tv.

"Neat trick. Is that how you hide your coffins?" Colson asked as he raised his spoonful of ice cream to his mouth.

"That is a myth."

"So I have heard." Colson rolled his eyes and takes another spoon of ice cream. Aetos goes to his box office to rent the movie, just as he was about to click yes, Colson speaks.

Planning your weekend reading? Ensure you're on 000005s.org for uninterrupted enjoyment. The next chapter is just a click away, exclusively available on our site. Happy reading! "Aren't you going to say anything about it?" Colson asked. "Where is Pytor?"

"Pytor has locked himself up in his room."

Colson stand the block of ice cream with his spoon. "I'll see him later." Colson adds. "You're really not going to say anything."

"I lose control." Aetos said, his tone laced with sadness.

"Are you talking about your fangs and claws?

Aetos doesn't answer but Colson does the quick maths in his head. "Does it have something to do with you being able to walk in the sun? You turned yellow."

"We were born."

"What?"

"Pytor and I were born vampires." Aetos said and damn, if Colson had been drinking something, he'd have done a spectacular double spit take. In everything he has read, vampires were bitten, turned and not born. "What? Like pushed out of a virgin, c-section kind of birth?"

Aetos cracks a smile at that, the first since their episode half an hour ago. He needs more, he needs an in depth explanation. After looking for an answer as to why Pytor and Aetos could walk under the sun, he was finally going to get it. "I was born in Greece. In 1450, in a little town named ligo. It's still there, no more than four hundred people. There was this man though, he lived alone and no one ever saw him during the day and when he did come out at night, he was covered up, from head to toe and even wore a hat. My mother has been eight months pregnant with me when he bit her."

Colson doesn't say a word. He just listened to Aetos speak. Their pint of ice cream still resting on the space between them.

"The man was cursed to suffer the ravages of time. He had tried to be good, he had tried to sustain himself with animal blood but it was only making him hungrier and that's when he attacked my mother. I grew up like all kids do. She had been too scared to say something because back then, supernaturals lived in hiding. She didn't let me out of the house till I was ten, she was scared I'd disappear if the sun touched my skin once. We lived alone, on the outskirts of Ligo so no one would ask questions." Aetos paused. He takes a deep breath and Colson wants to move closer. He takes the ice cream and placed it on the table before moving closer to Aetos.

"I only ever played with my mum, she'd make me these toys out of wood. We had thick curtains that we only ever opened at night. One day when I was ten, I got tired of staying in when the sun was up. So when she went in for her afternoon nap, I snuck out of the house."

Colson bit his bottom lip, curling his hand around Aetos side and placing his head on the vampire's shoulder. "It hurt like hell for the first few minutes but I didn't want to go back in. I remember my mum running out and screaming my name, I remember her crying and hugging me tightly. But the damage was done. Once the sunlight touched my skin, my senses filled. Food no longer had taste, my heartbeat filled until one day I woke up with red eyes."

"Aetos..." Colson said, his voice soft. He had been expecting answers but the pain in Aetos' voice was making his heart hurt.

"The vampire who bit her, found us. Mum was so scared, she was clutching me and I could feel her shaking. His name had been Dekato. He apologized to my mother and gave her two large boxes of money and asked for shelter and offered to raise and train me with her. It took a while to convince my mum. I stopped aging when I turned twenty four, the same age as when my mother got bitten."

"You don't have to continue." Colson whispers, softly stroking Aetos' arm. The vampire fell silent at that, his arm going around Colson, pulling him even closer. They don't talk for a while after that, both of them resting in silencr, Colson's mind going a mile a minute as he replayed everything Aetos had said. There were times he used to think he and Colson where the only ones who got the short stick when it came to terrible childhoods. But here is is, wrapped around a five hundred year old vampire who had a rough childhood, grew older than his mother and watch her die. Well, he's not sure if she's dead or not but going by the pain filled tone Aetos had used, the vampire mist have been through a lot and the last thing he wanted to do was remind him of it.

So instead he curls himself around the vampire and says. "I'm here. Always."

Aetos squeezed his hand and pressed his lips to Colson's temple and that was it. That was all they needed.