"Thank you for the compliment, but I beg to disagree." Startled, Josh missed the last step before the landing. "Uh, what?" he asked, when he'd righted himself. Harry's smile was kind, if a little mischievous. "Your thoughts were so loud you might as well have been shouting them." "Thoughts...oh. Oh. Oh, fuck." Fuck, man, and he (well, sort of) knew how to shield his thoughts, too. He was certain his face had to be bright crimson. "Um." "I take it that I know this Aunt Kate of yours?" Aunt Kate... Oh, right, Aunt Kate. "Yeah. Well, I mean, you met her once. In Hong Kong. She has a lot of business interests there, and I think your companies were discussing a merger or something." He started rummaging through the clothes on the floor to find his jeans. They had to be around here somewhere. Harry leaned against one of the dressers, looking for all the world like a lion lounging in the sun. "Your aunt is a vampire?" "Great aunt, and yeah," Josh replied absently. Ah ha, there they were. He scooped his jeans from the floor and was halfway into them before he remembered that Harry was in the room with him. Watching him change clothes. "Um..." "Don't mind me." Josh made quick work of his button and zipper, praying his face wasn't red again as he turned to find his shirt. "Actually, there are a few more 'greats' in there, but I can't remember how many. She speaks very highly of you, though." "You'll have to bring her around for dinner or drinks one evening, and allow me to get reacquainted with her." "She'd be thrilled." Right after she was done laughing her ass off at him for getting mixed up with a vampire when he'd always sworn he'd stick to mortals because they were far less trouble. He'd been right, too. Even if he did think that Karl was worth it. "The Coffee Bean on Sunset alright with you?" Harry asked, when Josh finally stood before him, fully dressed. "Sure." By the time they made it outside again, Karl and Orlando were nowhere around. Orlando's car was still in the drive, so Josh had no doubt about where they were. Or what they were doing. Which was just fine with him. It gave him a chance to get to know Harry (without Karl hovering) and gave Karl and Orlando a chance to get some things worked out. Josh didn't need to be told that there were issues between the two of them that were a long time in the making. Harry waited until Josh settled in behind him on the motorcycle, then glanced over his shoulder and grinned. All Josh saw were fangs. "Hold on." If Harry fucked like he drove, then it really was no wonder that Karl (not that Josh would dream of telling this to Karl's face) got a little glassy-eyed when talking about Harry. The way Harry handled the bike was reckless, assured, and left Josh feeling simultaneously like he couldn't be in safer hands and like they were going to wipe out under a semi at any moment. He could feel the wind whipping around them, the rumble of the bike vibrating throughout his body, and it was all he could do to hold on tight to Harry's waist. It was pretty exhilarating. And sort of exhausting. Josh was just as happy that he'd met Karl first, because he wasn't entirely sure he wanted the full-time job of keeping up with Harry. Not to mention the careful way he'd seen Harry act around Orlando – how he'd gone to check on Orlando first, not Karl, when he'd broken up the fight. No matter what Karl'd told him, Josh was pretty sure that Orlando really was mostly Harry's. Which was also fine with him, but just thinking about the whole complicated whatever-it-was between the three of them and his place in it gave him a headache. Harry turned the bike into the small lot behind the Coffee Bean, and Josh breathed a sigh of relief that they'd made it one piece. "The Griddle's across the street if you were hungry," Harry said, as they headed inside. "We'll probably be on our own for awhile." "Food would be good." As they waited for their drinks, Josh studied Harry. He thought he was being rather clever and subtle about it until Harry looked at him, eyebrow raised. "I'm not on the menu." "What? No, no," Josh said, holding up his hands and shaking his head. The last thing he wanted was for Harry to... "I wasn't thinking, y'know, I mean, um... Fuck." "That's a relief." Harry retrieved their drinks and led Josh from the store. Josh had no choice but to follow as Harry started across the street towards the restaurant. "My life is complicated enough with Karl, Orlando, and Dave." Dave? Josh tried to remember if Karl had mentioned a Dave. Maybe he was one of Harry's companions? He caught up with Harry on the other side of the street and retrieved his drink as Harry gave their names to the host. "Um, can I ask you a personal question?" He'd already heard the story from Karl (parts of it, anyway), but it just didn't make sense. He'd seen with his own eyes how Harry and Orlando were with each other, and was smart enough (so he liked to think) to know what it meant. "You can ask me anything you'd like. Whether or not I answer is another matter." "Why didn't you claim Orlando?" "I did," Harry replied, sounding puzzled. "I'm sure Karl must've mentioned it." "No, that's not..." Josh looked out at the traffic crawling along the Strip. "What I mean is, why didn't you claim him? Exclusively? Why did you allow Karl to do it?" "I wasn't there at the time." Harry held up a hand when Josh opened his mouth. "I know what you're asking. You want to know why I allowed Karl to keep him after I'd met him." Josh nodded. "The simple truth was, I didn't recognize my bond with Orlando for what it was when I first met him. Not to mention, he and Karl'd already had the ceremony," Harry replied. He took a slow sip of his coffee, seemed to gather his thoughts. "By the time Orlando and I met again and started to explore what was between us, I had no wish to interfere with that bond nor to ask Karl or Orlando to break it. Despite what it looked like earlier, they do truly love each other. And they need each other. However," he added, with a slight, wry smile, "had I met Orlando first, I wouldn't have been so generous with him." "Why am I not surprised?" "No clue. C'mon, that's us." Once they were seated, Josh ignored his menu in favor of studying Harry again. No telling when he'd have another chance like this, not with the obvious intensity of Orlando's feelings. "So," he said, arms crossed on the table in front of him, "you're saying that you wouldn't have shared Orlando with Karl?" "Oh, I'm sure I would have, if that was something Orlando wanted," Harry replied. Josh noted that he hadn't bothered looking at the menu, either. "Eventually. But allowing Karl to claim him as a pet as well? No, most likely not." Interesting. Clearly Harry felt much more territorial towards Orlando than he did towards Karl. "Probably a good thing Orlando wasn't a woman," he teased. "You'd've probably had to marry her." "What do you think the pet/vampire ceremony is?" Harry asked. "Have you ever been to one?" "No. None of my aunt's friends have ever claimed a pet." Hell, until he met Karl, he didn't know any vampire that had one. "When you and Karl have yours, you'll understand. It is a marriage ceremony between mortals and vampires, in every respect," Harry said. When the server came by to ask for their order, he politely requested a few more minutes, then looked back at Josh. "It's not something we enter into lightly, despite what mine and Karl's situation with Orlando may look like from the outside." "Speaking of that situation..." "Yes?" It was hard not to fidget under that direct stare. But Aunt Kate had always taught him that the direct approach was normally the best way to go with vampires. "Well...how can Karl claim a pet when he already has one?" "Two." "Beg pardon?" Josh's eyebrows flew up, and he stared at Harry. Two? "Dave is also his pet. And mine." Okay, scratch his earlier thoughts. Complicated didn't begin to describe the situation. "Um, alright. How can he claim another pet when he has two? And, uh, who's Dave? And why did you both claim him when you had Orlando? Or was Dave first?" "Karl didn't tell you about Dave?" Josh shook his head. "I think he mentioned Dave in passing, uh, once, but I thought he was Lord Mortensen's assistant or one of your companions or something." "Lord Mortensen," Harry chuckled. "Christ, don't say that to his face. And, Dave is. Viggo's right-hand man, I mean. As for the rest, I think we'll both need the food." And, saying that, he beckoned their server over and ordered the pancake special and another cup of coffee. Josh just pointed to something on the menu and settled back to wait for the story. He had a feeling he'd be here awhile. "Now," Harry said, "to answer your last question first, no, Dave wasn't mine before Orlando. Although Karl and I had known Dave for a long time, we never looked at him that way. Our relationship wasn't what one would call cordial." "Okay, I'm following." "It was actually Orlando that pointed out that Dave had been...infatuated with me, let's just say...for the better part of a century." He paused. Josh sat quietly and waited. Whatever it was Harry was getting ready to say, he had a feeling it wasn't easy for him to talk about. "I'm going to be brutally honest with you," Harry finally said. "Mostly because you're Karl's, and that makes you mine, if not in the same sense that Orlando belongs to us, but also because I think you can handle it. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders." "Thank you," Josh replied, quietly. He felt a certain measure of pride that Harry trusted him – even though he was new, he knew that Harry's trust was a rare thing – and vowed to himself that Harry would have no cause to doubt his decision. "At the time Karl and I met Orlando, I'd recently lost my daughter." When Josh opened his mouth to offer his condolences, Harry held up a hand to stop him. "Thank you for the thought, but I didn't tell you this for sympathy. I'm telling you so that you'll understand what that time was like for me. Outside of Karl, there has been no one that I've ever loved the way I did Lauren. Losing her was...it was like losing the best part of myself." "Understandable." His heart ached at the raw pain in Harry's voice. Their server came by with their food and Harry waited until they were both settled in to continue. "I was a little lost, to put it bluntly. And then Orlando came into my life. Not that Karl's love wasn't enough," Harry added, "but having Orlando was like having Lauren back. They have the same energy about them. He really did save me." "That makes sense," Josh said, nodding. He still wondered what any of this had to do with Dave, but he was willing to listen. One thing he'd picked up right away with vampires was that they did like to tell their stories. "Anyway, then I found out about how Dave felt about me," Harry said, dunking his bite of pancake in enough syrup to kill a diabetic, "and I could sense in him that same sort of lost feeling that I still had inside me. And Dave and Orlando have this beautiful connection with each other, and I thought...it seemed like a good idea to complete the circle that way. Dave is also Orlando's Sire, so that tied us all together rather nicely." For a moment, Josh could only stare at Harry's plate in horrified fascination. The amount of syrup... With a grimace, he dragged his attention back to the conversation. "So, um...huh. I thought that you were Orlando's Sire." "Because?" "The, uh, well, it's pretty obvious he's very important to you. Given how you feel about him, I'm just surprised you let anyone else turn him. That you trusted someone else with that sort of responsibility. I mean, I don't really know you, but you seem like the sort of dude who'd take that kind of thing pretty seriously." Josh shrugged, and took a big bite of his eggs. He chewed and swallowed before looking at Harry again. "And if I understand this right, you offered Dave the pet bond because...you felt you owed it to him somehow?" "There was a little more to it than that, but...that did enter into it." Then Harry sat back and laughed, the sound self-deprecating. "I do love him, don't get me wrong, but it's not the same bond that Orlando and I share. Not the same bond that Karl and I have always had. It doesn't help that we've rarely seen him lately." "Where is he?" "He's been based out of London for the better part of the last five years, handling Council business. There were a few issues with one of the mortal government agencies, and Viggo wanted someone he trusted on the ground to put out fires." Harry offered a small smile. "Although, to tell you the truth, I think Dave's found someone else and is afraid to come home." "Why?" Josh asked, confused. "You're all vampires. You've all taken mortal companions and other vampires as lovers, right?" "I don't think it's a matter of Dave thinking Karl and I would be jealous, child. I think he wants out." "Out..." For a moment, the word didn't register. "Oh. You mean...getting Lord Mortensen to break the bond?" Harry nodded. "I don't think he ever reconciled it to himself that I would never truly be his. Of course," he said, picking his fork back up, "this is all speculation, since he's rarely home and we don't communicate like we used to." "And that doesn't bother you?" "Sometimes. But he still keeps in touch with Orlando, and that's the important thing." "You never did tell me why you let someone else turn him," Josh said, putting an elbow on the table and cupping his chin in his palm as he studied Harry. He wondered if Harry knew that he sounded relieved that Dave wasn't around – and whether Harry was doing his own sort of avoidance with the whole issue. "I thought I was being fair. Completing the circle, if you will. If I had to do it all over again, I would have chosen differently." "Do Karl and Orlando know that?" he asked, voice soft. "It seems to me that that could make a huge difference in the relationship the three of you have. Also..." Fuck it. Nothing ventured, and all that. "I can't help wondering if part of the reason you let Dave do it is because Orlando should have been solely yours, yet he was half Karl's, and you...I dunno, felt you shouldn't go there." All Harry did was look at him, and his stare quickly became uncomfortable. Josh swallowed. "Maybe...maybe I'm wrong here, but...maybe that's part of the reason for Dave, too? The pet bond, I mean. You feeling you maybe owed something to Karl for bonding his pet?" "So I offer him someone else?" "No, you offer yourself to someone else," Josh explained, hoping it made at least a little bit of sense. It all seemed so clear in his head. To his relief, Harry didn't look pissed that the topic had gotten incredibly personal. "So you're saying you think part of the reason I bonded myself to Dave was for the barrier it would create between myself and Orlando." "Yeah, I guess." He looked down at his still half-full plate; suddenly, he really wasn't hungry any more. "Josh, look at me." Reluctantly, Josh lifted his eyes to Harry's. "It's alright to ask questions," Harry told him, his tone almost paternal. "And to be honest, I respect it." "Thanks." Inwardly, Josh let out a sigh of relief. Beyond the fact that Harry was Karl's, which meant they'd be around each other a lot, Josh genuinely liked what he'd seen of Harry so far. The last thing he wanted to do was piss him off. "And you could be on to something, I don't know. A lot of mistakes were made during that period. Consider yourself lucky you weren't around for it." "Believe me, I've heard enough from Karl to be glad I wasn't." He picked up his last piece of bacon and chewed on it, sorting through everything Harry had said so far. "I don't suppose you'd be up for a walk." "I like walking." "Good." Harry slid out of the booth, and pulled a few bills out of his wallet to toss on the table. When Josh glanced down, he saw at least one $50 – which alone was already easily more than twice their meal total. Seemed like Harry had his own methods of dealing with money. "So," Josh said, shoving his hands in his pockets as they reached the sidewalk. "Where are we going?" "For a walk," Harry replied, sounding amused. Perfect. Josh had managed to bind himself to a vampire whose best friend/lover/whatever was a fucking comedian. "Alright." Harry didn't seem inclined to talk, so Josh held his tongue. He made it nearly three blocks before he couldn't stand it. "So, um, what now?" "You seemed like you had more questions." Harry paused, eyes unfocusing, and then grinned. "And it's probably best we wait a little longer before going back to the house." "Why...oh. Right. They, um..." "Probably didn't make it out of the living room. So it's a good idea if we take our time. Unless you'd like to join in?" "Uh, no, thanks." Orlando had been a good-looking guy and all (before Karl had pounded him flat, anyway), but Josh wasn't at all interested in him. And Harry, well...no matter how ridiculously hot he was, Josh didn't want to go there. "So you, uh, didn't exactly answer my original question." "Which one's that?" Harry still sounded amused, and Josh had the sudden suspicion that he just might be eavesdropping on whatever was happening back at the house. "About how Karl was able to bond me when he already has two pets." "Ah, that." Finally, Harry seemed to stop listening in or whatever it was he was doing, and put his attention back on the conversation, and Josh. But at least he seemed more relaxed. Which was a good thing. Karl in fight mode had been brutal to witness, but Josh had a feeling that if and when Harry lost his temper, it would pay to be out of the area code entirely. "Well, I suppose the simplest way to put it is that when Orlando became a vampire, the pet bond he had with us...changed. Just...trust me for a second," he said, then, the next moment, his lips were on Josh's for a brief, firm kiss. After Harry lifted his head, it was all Josh could do not to scrub his mouth with the back of his hand. Not that it had been unpleasant or anything – far from it – but Harry wasn't Karl. Something in Josh's expression must have pleased Harry, because he smiled that same half-amused, half-paternal smile. "Now, I take it that you felt nothing just then, right?" "Yeah, you could say that." "Don't worry, I'm not insulted. That's as it should be. You belong to Karl – the bond between you is supposed to be inviolate. You're not supposed to be attracted to any vampire that's not him." "Oookay," Josh said, drawing out the word, still not sure where this was going. "But, were you to become one of us, the bond between you and Karl would become something else. No less than what it was before, but something different. You wouldn't be fully a pet, and you would potentially be attracted to other vampires." Then Harry shrugged, and let out a huff of laughter. "Of course, the only reason I know any of this is because of Orlando and Dave. They're not simply the first two vampire pets, but they're the only vampire pets." "So how does that explain Orlando? Because Karl was pretty specific in saying that you and Orlando bonded before he was turned. Which, according to you, shouldn't have happened, because he was already Karl's pet at the time." "That's true," Harry admitted. "Orlando is...unique. Just as the bond between Karl and me is unique. That's really the only way to put it. Viggo is fond of saying that he was meant for the both of us." "But how does that work? If the pet bond keeps the pet from wanting another vampire, I mean." This look into their world was fascinating, and Josh couldn't help digging deeper. Everything he'd ever been curious about, and all he had to do was ask. "It's supposed to. However, based on your earlier theories regarding the situation... If Orlando was truly supposed to be mine from the very beginning, that pull would have been impossible to ignore. So, even though Karl moved ahead with the ceremony, bonding to Orlando less than a week after meeting him, it wouldn't have mattered. The pet bond can't be fought. Not if it's a true one." "So he was stuck in the middle, then." Josh nodded, turning that over in his mind. It was starting to make sense, in a rather twisted sort of way. "Don't turn Orlando into a victim. You've met Karl," Harry said, with a careless sweep of his hand. "Can you imagine resisting him?" "Not really," Josh answered honestly. The look in the amber eyes that met his was like looking into a mirror. "Exactly. I don't think there's a person alive who truly could." "Well, if you're wanting to know what I really think, I think you need to talk with them as much as they needed to talk to each other," Josh said. "I know," Harry replied, and then abruptly reversed direction to head back to the lot where the bike was parked. And, apparently, they were going to do that now. Josh hurried to catch up, wondering just what he'd managed to get himself into when he'd left the Viper Room with Karl. Onto Part Eight
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