Four

Colson jerks up, pulling out the gun he keeps under his pillow and aiming it at the person who had opened his door slowly. The silver gun shiny under the moonlight as Colson stared at Michel.

"How the hell do you do that? Your heartbeat was steady?" The Beta asked and Colson doesn't drop the gun, he still aims it at Michel. He knew what the Beta was here for and it hurts that he would stay afterwards, just leave and made Colson feel used and cheap.

"Leave my room."

Michel stops and levels him a look. "You don't mean that."

"I do." Colson snaps off the safety and stared down at Michel who had grown still. The Beta was towering him, his eyes glowing yellow in the room. Colson was still on the bed, his duvet now on his lap.

"You really don't mean that." Michel said as he takes a step towards Colson. Colson's hand remained steady, following Michel as he walked closer to the bed. He placed a finger on the trigger and smiles at Michel.

"One bullet to your heart is all it's going to take." Colson says as he gives Michel a saccharine smile. The Beta stops, his eyes still yellow as he glared at Colson.

"Fine. It's not like you are that good anyway, too many people have been in you, it's like using an already used condom." Michel hissed before leaving the room.

Colson's hand shook, the gun dropping to the bed, tears rolling down his face. He puts the safety back on and slid the gun back under the pillow before getting up. He stuffed his leg into a pair of sneakers and grabbed his phone.

A brief glance at the time, showed it was a bit past three am. The sky was still dark and the house silent. He grabbed the small handgun he keeps in his closet, under a stack of boxers before leaving the room. Yes Astir was safe but you could never tell. A lot of different creatures had moved in besides the vampires. Witches, Mers at the beach and so on.

They didn't just move in. Cobie made sure everyone interested sent in an application and a background check was done.

Colson silently left the house, his belongings in his pocket. He had on a thin T-shirt and pajama bottom. He couldn't feel the biting cold in his haze as he walked. The streets surprisingly weren't asleep. Drunk people singing on the streets, there was a house Colson passed that definitely had a party going on inside.

He didn't know where he was going to, he just let his legs lead him. He stared at the house he got to in surprise. He was standing in front of Aetos' home.

"Huh..." he says to himself. He reached out and pressed the bell, hoping someone would be home. Vampire normally move around the moment the sun sets till when the sun rises the next day. So there might be a big possibility that Aetos wasn't in. The lights were on though, so there's a little hope.

"Who the hell is that?" Pytor's voice flowed through the intercoms.

"I want to see Aetos." Colson replied, just as sharply.

There was a light buzz and the door slid open. Colson walked up the driveway, rolling his eyes at Pytor who was standing in front of the door, dressed in leather pants and a red shirt, his hair artfully styled.

"Well don't you look lovely...."

"Sorry, little fishy, I don't swing your way." Pytor walked past him, heading for the gate. The urge to grab the vampire and beat him with a wooden cane with nails imbedded on it till he apologizes was strong. Instead he pushed down the feeling and stepped into the house.

As Colson walked into the house he wondered what exactly he was doing here? He wondered what had led him here?

"Colson? Did something happen?" Aetos appeared in front of him in a flash. The vampire was shirtless, his jeans hanging low on his lips, leaving expanse of smooth skin, muscle and abs for Colson to feast his eyes on.

"Are you going out?"

"Just coming in actually."

Colson walls around the man and falls onto the couch. The house was warm and the lights were dimmed. Aetos sat in the chair across Colson and his hands clasped in front of him, elbows on his thighs.

"What happened?"

Unlike the wolves, one thing Colson knew about vampires besides their strength, feeding, fangs and their aversion to sunlight, it's that they couldn't tell when someone was lying, can't listen for a blip in their hearts.

However, to be on the safe side. He says.

"Couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake Cobie."

The vampire leaned back against the cashier and Colson finds himself rolling his eyes for the second time that night. His eyes kept trailing down Aetos' body and shit, the man has to put on a shirt.

"Don't you own a fucking shirt?"

Aetos raised a brow at Colson before getting up from the couch. "Why don't you make yourself at home? I'm going to take a shower."

Colson refuses to think about Aetos standing wet under the spray of the shower, soap all over and hand m- nope! He gets up from the couch and made his way to the kitchen. He was told to make himself at home, so that's what he does.

He opened the fridge and grins in triumph when he finds Chinese take out. He pulls it open and almost danced when he sees it was pork fried rice. He grabbed a bowl and poured it, sticking it in the microwave. As he waited for the food to heat up, he pulls out a six pack of beer and a bottle water.

He takes that to the seating room and went back in for the rice. By the time Aetos came out, Colson was on the floor, the blanket he had taken from one of the guest rooms under him and his food and beer spread out in front of him.

"Here." Aetos tossed Colson the remote and he gives the vampire a thumbs up. They both settle on watching How I Met Your Mother.

While Colson watched and ate, Aetos made a quick grab of a bag of jelly beans from the kitchen. He falls into the space beside Colson who hands him a can of beer.

"Isn't it too late to be drinking?"

"It's nine pm somewhere."

"But is almost four am here." Aetos argued. "You're going to wake up cranky and early."

"You don't know that." Colson sassed, taking a gulp of his beer. After what had taken place in his room, minutes ago, of course he's going to drink. "Can I sleep here?"

"Of course. Just text your brother so he'll know where you are."

"Done. I sent it to him before you came back from your shower." Colson takes another sip of his beer. He's on his third can and can already feel a buzz.

"How do you know I was going to say yes?"

"Because you never tell me no." Colson replies honestly. Aetos stared at him with raised brows, his face unreadable. It's something Colson had picked up, especially after the first day Aetos made pancakes for him.

Aetos looks away from him and takes a gulp of the beer.

"Do vampires even get drunk?"

"Do wolves get drunk?"

"A simple yes or no will suffice, daywalker." Colson tsked before taking another gulp. He squeezed the can when he was done and picked the last can of beer.

"Will you stop with the names?"

"Only if you answer my question."

Aetos sighed and answers Colson. "Our beer would have to be spiked."

"By what?"

"The blood of an already drunk person."

"So the more drunk the person, the better?" Colson asked. Aetos nods and Colson grins. "Neat. I'm feeling a little buzzed, so you want me to add a little something something to your beer?" Colson wagged his brows as he finishes his sentence.

Aetos chuckled at how weird Colson was. He shook his head at Colson's question though.

"I'm okay. I just need to sleep."

"Edward Cullen never slept." Colson teases as he took the final gulp of his beer. He squeezed the can and let it rest amongst the others.

"Edward Cullen was different."

"You so bond with him. I'm sure you watch people while they sleep." Colson turns to face the vampire, his face bright and smile wide. Colson has never smiled this way at Aetos before, free and happy, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

Aetos gets up from the floor. "I'm going to bed."

Colson quickly gets into his feet and stumbled after Aetos. So what if he was a little tipsy?

Aetos catches Colson, his hands gripping Colson's waist tight. The sudden urge to move closer to the vampire grew with Colson but before he could take the first step, Aetos took several steps back, his hand falling from Colson's waist.

"Let's get you to your room."

The vampire led Colson to the nearest guest room. He tucked into the bed, he pulls the gun out of Colson's pocket and hid it under the pillow next to the man's head and put off the light. He cleaned off the seating room and killed the light before making his way to his room.

He slid into bed and closed his eyes and stayed that way for who knows how long before he hears his door being pushed open. He sits up and stared at Colson who slid underneath his cover, his cheeks red and eyes droopy. Aetos goes to stand up but Colson pulls him down onto the bed and placed his head on the vampire's chest.

"Stay."

Who was Aetos to say no?

-

Colson wakes up to the smell of pancakes, his nose twitching as he sits up. He rubs his eyes, hands stretched out as he yawned. He frowned as he looked around the room, he recognizes Aetos' bedroom and wondered how he got there.

He groans as he slid out of bed and softly padded his way towards the kitchen, the smell of the pancakes getting thicker as he closed the distance. It was when he got to the kitchen that he was hit with memories of last night and how he had literally crawled into Aetos' bed.

"You've got to learn how to tell me no." Colson said as he takes a seat, his face pressed against the counter.

"Good morning to you too."

"I'm serious. You should have kicked me out of your bed."

Aetos stacked a couple of pancakes onto the plate and poured chocolate syrup over it before sliding it to Colson.

"I'll think about it." The vampire said. "Your brother stopped by this morning but I told him you were asleep."

Colson nods. He was ready to take another bite of his pancake when he realized what Aetos had said.

"Morning? What time is it?"

"A bit past one in the afternoon."

"Shit." Colson cussed. He never slept for this long. He had this bad habit of waking up early after a night drinking. So why the hell did he sleep so comfortably? For so long?

"Got somewhere to be?"

"Nope." Colson replied. "That reminds me, I need to look for a job."

"What exactly are you looking for?" The vampire asked as he puts off the stove and took a seat across Colson.

"I don't know. I have a degree and all but I don't know what type of job I want." Colson said, lightly stabbing the pancake with his form.

"While you decide, how about you work for me?" Aetos asked and Colson raised a brow.

"What did I tell you earlier when I stepped into the kitchen?"

Aetos rolled his eyes at Colson and shook his head. "You told me to learn how to say no to you." The vampire repeats drolly. "Hear me out though, I have a coven of vampires to take care of and I also have meetings with the council every other time, I need someone to accompany me on those and to help me with shipments for the coven. Pytor might be my brother but he's a huge pain in this ass plus you don't drink blood, so I won't have to worry about you stealing something."

"What if I do steal something and sell it to the others for a high price?" Colson asks, trying to avoid answering the question.

"I'll snap your neck." The vampire replied and the kitchen fell silent. Colson stared at Aetos for a bit before bursting into laughter, a hand pressed to his chest.

"You couldn't even say that with a straight face."

"It's because it's you."

"One day you're going to explain that."

"I don't think you would like the answer." Aetos says. The vampire got up from his seat and made his way to the fridge. He pulls out a dark water bottle before going back to his seat.

He puts the tip to his mouth a takes a large gulp, his lips stained red.

"Are you really drinking blood in front of me?" Colson asked. He felt oddly calm with this. He hadn't known when he was going to ever see Aetos feed that watching him sip from a water bottle was just anticlimactic.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"Do you like it cold or warm?" Colson asked, he had seen worse things than a vampire drinking blood from a water bottle.

"Depends."

"On what?" Colson asked, curiosity biting at his heels.

"My mood."

They both eat quietly after that, Aetos dumping his bottle into the sink and washing it with bleach and hot water, fast enough that Colson couldn't even smell the blood. Colson dumps his plate into the washer and stretched a bit.

"I'm gonna need a change of clothes and new toothbrush as well as underwear." Colson says. He doesn't ask, rather he's telling Aetos what to do.

They both walk to Aetos' room and the vampire proceeded to bring out clothes, boxers still in its pack and hands Colson a toothbrush.

It took Colson several minutes to shower and dry his hair, put on the pair of sweatpants that he had to roll up to his ankles because they were too long and a large black shirt. He takes a look at his reflection in the mirror and realized he looked soft.

He raised a hand to his face and felt it. He lets out a sigh and wondered how long he was going to keep coming over to Aetos to hide from his problems.

Colson drops his hand from his face, pulls the hand back and stretched it out, water turning into sharp ice shards shattered the mirror, the glass falling into pieces onto the floor.

Colson couldn't run. He had learnt it the hard way, that running from your problems never works. It had happened with his father and now with Michel and he couldn't talk about to anyone. In the past few days, Colson had tried to talk to Cobie about it but the words never leave his mouth.

Aetos, like always, appeared in the room, wrapping his hand around Colson and pulling him away from the sharp shards.

"Are you okay?"

And isn't that just the icing on the cake. He had felt okay once he had stepped into the kitchen that afternoon but when he had been alone, without sleep clouding his thoughts, everything came rushing back. And he just feels angry and stupid. What could he possibly say? Was he really okay?

Colson stared at the glass chards and at Aetos. It felt like he was in a nightmare and he would never wake up. He gripped tightly onto Aetos' shirt and just let go. His tears falling free. Tears he had been holding back for years and years. From the time he got burnt to the time he was separated from Cobie, the time he had to navigate the world and could only talk to Cobie once every few weeks or even months in case their father was monitoring their calls, the time their father had come to Astir to kill and destroy to now, where he was being used as a means to an end by Michel.

He cried so hard, his shoulder shook and his face buried into Aetos' shirt. He was getting sick and tired of being used by Michel and if the piece of shit wants Gabriel, he can have him but if he ever steps into his room in the middle of the night, Colson was going to kill him and claim self defense.

"Come on." Aetos' voice was soft as he lifts Colson like didn't weigh anything. He was laid gently on the bed. Aetos tried to move away but Colson doesn't let go, he pulls the vampire onto bed with him. "I have to pick the shards."

"I have to fix my broken heart."

And really who was Aetos to say no to that. He climed into bed with Colson and pulled the duvet close to their chest. Colson however lifts it and covered their entire bodies with it including their heads, leaving them in darkness.

"I'm tired of him, Aetos."

"Of who?"

"Him. He makes me feel like garbage, he says someone else's name when he comes and then leaves me on my bed with memories of our time together, keeping me prisoner and I can't tell anyone."

In the darkness of the duvet, Aetos' eyes flowed red. "Just give me a name."

"I can't."

Colson lets out a gasp when he feels a cold hand on his cheek, thumb softly stroking. The cold pushed back the heat and Colson moved closer. This was all he had ever wanted. Intimacy. And for the first time, he wishes it was Aetos he had feelings for.