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Chris
Guillermo met his first boyfriend when he was twenty-three. He had been working for the vampires for nearly four years at that point, and living with them for just over three. His boyfriend was living with his parents (after university, while he was trying to find a job) so there was only one viable place for them to go to have… relations.
The vampires were waiting for them in the foyer when Guillermo unlocked the door, pulling Chris close behind him by the hand. They eyed the human warily (he wasn’t a virgin, after all) and Guillermo was quick to shuffle Chris into his bedroom and close the door between them.
“Uh, Guillermo?” Chris called through the door, rattling the handle to no avail because Guillermo was leaning against it, holding it closed. “Okay, then. I guess?”
“Who the fuck is that?” Laszlo asked, aiming a finger at the door.
Nadja wrinkled her nose. “He smells terrible. He’s not a virgin, that’s for bloody sure.”
“Why would you bring us a victim that’s not a virgin, Guillermo?” Nandor asked. He waved a hand at the door. “You should take him back and bring us a better one.”
“Or three, if you can handle it.”
“I’m not bringing you any virgins tonight,” Guillermo said, glaring at each of the vampires in turn. “Don’t you remember what I told you last night?” They each made a face, and Guillermo sighed. “Of course you don’t.”
“How can you expect us to remember everything you say?” Nadja asked, crossing her arms. “Most of it is just boring human mumbly-jumblies, anyway.”
Lazlo added, “You really are frightfully dull-”
“Enough of this,” said Nandor. He angled a look at the other vampires, communicating something to them that Guillermo couldn’t read. To Guillermo, he said, “Tell us again, please. We have clearly forgotten.”
“This,” Guillermo said, waving his hand dramatically around his closed bedroom door, “is Steve. My boyfriend. You cannot eat him.”
“Your boyfriend?”
“When did you have the time to get one of those?” Laszlo asked. “Nandor, you’re clearly not giving him enough work to do.”
“What Guillermo does in his free time is Guillermo’s business,” Nandor said, and with enough conviction that the other vampires stood-down.
Guillermo smiled at Nandor. “Thank you, master-”
“That being said: there will be no human hanky-pankying in this house.”
“Master-”
“I will not allow any human-fucking under this roof. Do you understand me, Guillermo?”
“What? No-”
“It’s a very simple question, Gizmo-”
“I know that, Laszlo!” Guillermo snapped. The vampire hissed at him and Guillermo took a deep breath, steeling himself. He said, “I just don’t understand why I can’t- you know. With my boyfriend.”
“Well, because-” Nadja faltered, looking at Nandor. “Actually. Why can’t the little humans pounce about their room like rabbits?”
“I for one would love to listen in on Gizmo having sex,” said Colin Robinson excitedly. "The second-hand embarrassment alone would be delectable."
Nandor looked flustered, eyes darting from one vampire to another until there was no one left to look at but Guillermo. There was something in the draw of his eyebrows that Guillermo couldn’t read; he had only known Nandor for a few years, and his master was a difficult person to understand, sometimes. He didn’t seem to have anything more to say, though Guillermo could tell that he wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of their conversation. With a swirl of his cloak, Nandor stormed away.
Guillermo wasn’t sure whether to go after him. His master was clearly upset, but- he couldn’t just leave Chris alone in a house full of vampires…
A hand slapped down on Guillermo’s shoulders and he jumped. “Don’t worry about him,” Laszlo said, in a rare display of understanding. “He’s just having a tantrum. You go and enjoy your,” he gestured, “lov-er.”
“Yes,” Nadja joined her husband, laying a hand softly on his shoulder. Something passed between them that Guillermo didn’t want to think about (though he was pretty sure they were getting off on the thought of him and Chris having sex). “You go and be with your… human Chris. No one will disturb you.”
Guillermo was pretty sure that bringing Chris back to the house was the worst idea he’d ever had. But he also wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Okay,” he said, backing towards his bedroom door. He groped for the handle but didn’t turn it.
“And don’t worry about any noises you might make,” Colin Robinson said, and his eyes had turned an eerie, almost glowing shade of blue. “You won’t be bothering anyone.”
The three vampires grinned lecherously and Guillermo almost yelped, slipping through his bedroom door and locking it shut behind him.
.
Chris, unfortunately, didn’t last very long. The Staten Island house was old, and had been patched together after a grisly murder one-too-many times. The banister was rickety and, one day, after a particularly thorough shower, Guillermo stepped out of the bathroom to find that Chris had fallen through it.
He hadn’t died, or anything, but he had awoken from the concussion with no recollection of Guillermo and, it would seem, no interest in rekindling the connection they had once had. They had only been dating for a few weeks anyway, and it wasn’t as if Guillermo had thought he was the one, so…
That was that.
.
Brad
The second man that Guillermo brought home hadn’t been a boyfriend at all. The dating app had risen to prominence almost over night, and Guillermo was an attractive young man with very little to do when his master was asleep. He had gone out on a few dates before it had become overwhelmingly obvious that no self-respecting man wanted to listen to Guillermo ramble (sometimes for hours) about his one-sided, codependent attachment to one of his housemates.
Luckily for Guillermo, Brad wasn’t much of a listener.
Guillermo fumbled for the door handle and let Brad into the house, navigating the short path to his bedroom with his eyes closed. Brad’s hands were everywhere , and Guillermo was half-undressed before they had made it to the hallway. Guillermo steered them into his bedroom and, in a surprising display of dominance, switched their positions to shove Brad on to his bed.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” he said, adjusting his jaw. “And when I get back, you’re going to be undressed.”
Brad grinned, hands shooting to the buckle of his belt, and Guillermo darted up the stairs. He peed quickly and spared less than a minute to subtly tidy his hair and spray a little extra cologne on the backs of his wrists. Something struck him as odd as he ran back down the stairs, but he didn’t clock what it was until he was back outside his bedroom door-
-and realised that, upstairs, Nandor’s door had been open as well.
Brad was in his bed, half-undressed and covered in blood. Nandor was leaning over him, his fangs buried in the base of his throat. Brad wasn’t dead yet, and he looked at Guillermo and gurgled, miserably. Guillermo slapped a hand over his mouth and Nandor finally looked up, dislodging himself from Brad as the light went out in his eyes.
He stood and Guillermo stumbled back, hand dropping to his side as rage bubbled through him. Guillermo said, “What the hell, Nandor?”
“Hey!” Nandor pointed a bloodstained finger at Guillermo. “That’s not a very nice thing to say! After all the trouble I went through to drink the victim you brought me even though he wasn’t a virgin-”
“That wasn’t a victim,” Guillermo yelled. “He was my date!”
“There’s no need to yell, Guillermo.” Nandor was at his side in an instant, laying a hand on Guillermo’s shoulder. He was still warm after the feed, his veins pulsing with Brad’s blood. Distantly, Guillermo was aware that he and Brad had been drinking pretty heavily before they came home, and that it was only a matter of time before his intoxicated blood affected Nandor. “You didn’t want to have sex with him, anyway. He hasn’t been a virgin in years-”
“Will you please shut up about the virgins?” Guillermo snapped. “I don’t care if he was a virgin or not, okay. I didn’t bring him here for you to drink- ”
Nandor placed a finger over his lips and Guillermo sighed. Nandor’s eyes were slightly unfocused, and there was blood on his chin, and-
Guillermo deflated.
He wasn’t really angry, and (if he were being completely honest) he hadn’t been that attracted to Brad, anyways. He was too tall, for one, and his hair was short and his skin was pale and he didn’t have a scrap of facial hair and-
Really, he and Brad had been doomed from the start because he wasn’t-
“Guillermo?” Nandor prodded at Guillermo, knocking him off balance. He caught himself just in time to also catch Nandor, who was swaying forwards. He giggled. “Have you two been drinking?”
It wasn’t too difficult a task to drag Nandor up the stairs. He was a big man, heavy with muscle, but Guillermo had grown strong after years of lugging around and disposing of dead bodies. He steered Nandor into his chambers and sort of threw him into his coffin, assisted (if only slightly) by Nandor’s ability to levitate. He tucked him in and was just about to close the lid when Nandor reached out to him, touching his arm.
He said, “I’m sorry I ate your date, Guillermo.”
“It’s alright, master. I forgive you.”
“There’s a dead body in your bed,” Nandor said. “Where will you sleep?”
“I don’t really feel like sleeping,” Guillermo confessed. He had been living with the vampires for five years now, and he was used to being around death, but- this was the first time he had actually looked into someone’s eyes as they died. Guillermo didn’t think he would be getting much sleep in the next few days. He said, “I’m gonna bury Brad in the yard before the sun comes up.”
“You need to rest, Guillermo-”
“I will,” Guillermo assured, patting Nandor’s hand. He thought that the vampire would let him go then but, if anything, his hold grew tighter.
Nandor said, “No more human boyfriends, okay?”
“Okay,” Guillermo agreed.
.
Garrett
After disposing of Brad’s body, Guillermo didn’t feel like dating again for a while. Nandor became, after a while, an incredibly codependent master, unable to function without Guillermo for longer than a few days at a time. The other vampires, after the small party that Nandor had thrown Guillermo for his six-year anniversary as a familiar, had started to warm up to him as well, and there had been precious little time for a personal life between braiding Nadja’s hair and accompanying Colin Robinson on outings to various government buildings that someone needed to invite him into. Laszlo was still refusing to make eye-contact with him but at least now they could exchange a few words that, from an outside perspective, might actually look like a conversation .
Guillermo was walking home from the store with a carrier bag full of stain-remover pens and a popsicle mold (Laszlo and Nadja had watched Only Lovers Left Alive and were determined to try frozen blood popsicles) when he was approached by someone. A man sidled up to him, sticking to the shadows and matching Guillermo’s walking pace. He leaned into Guillermo’s space a little, nudging their shoulders together.
He said, “I’ve seen you around.”
Guillermo shrugged. “I live around here.”
“With those four vampires, right?”
Guillermo tried to cover his surprise with a laugh. “Vampires?” He said. “They’re a little gothic, sure, but-”
“Hey, hey,” the guy held up his hands. He flashed Guillermo his teeth, tongue sliding over one particularly sharp fang. “We’re cool. I’m in the club.”
“Oh.” Guillermo laughed again, more nervously this time. He shifted his shopping bag from his left hand to his right. “Can I help you with something?”
“Is that what you do?” The man asked. He was handsome, in a way. There was a difference, Guillermo had noticed, between the vampires who were turned centuries ago and the ones who had been reborn more recently - particularly in the ones who had been turned after Bram Stoker (or worse, Stephanie Meyer) had risen to fame. This one had definitely been born somewhere between the two. He had dark hair and a smattering of stubble, a lean frame and a timeless sense of style. He could just as easily have worn his dark jeans, white t-shirt, and leather jacket in 1950 as 2016. “You serve vampires?”
“If you’re asking me if I’m a familiar,” Guillermo said, tightening his grip on his bag, “then yes. And my master is very possessive. So-”
“Hey.” The vampire held up a hand again. “Why are you so defensive, babe? I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Babe?” Guillermo rolled his eyes. He loosened his hold on his shopping bag, though; this vampire wasn’t a threat. He was just an idiot. “Did you want me to introduce you to the others, or something? Because they’re not really the type to make friends-”
“I was actually hoping to ask if you and the big one were involved , or-”
“He won’t be interested in you.” Guillermo looked the man up and down and, only when he met his eyes again, realised that he was being rude. “No offence.”
“You know, you’re not like the other familiars I’ve met. You’re not-” he gestured “-snivelling at my feet, begging me to turn you.”
Guillermo sniffed. “You’ve never met a familiar with self respect?”
“And you’re funny!” The guy bumped Guillermo’s shoulder again only, this time, his hand settled on the small of Guillermo’s back. They were almost back at the house, and Guillermo was wary of leading the guy to their front door in case his intentions were in any way nefarious.
Guillermo stopped walking, and the man stopped with him.
“Like I said,” he continued, moving around Guillermo to bracket his hips with his hands. His fingers were cold, and he was kneading at Guillermo’s flesh just a little too intently. “I’ve been watching you for a while.”
“I thought you said you’d seen me around-”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while, but- you were never alone.”
This was… getting creepy. Guillermo tried to step back, out of reach, but the vampire wouldn’t let him go. The house wasn’t far - just around the corner, really - but even with the element of surprise, Guillermo wouldn’t get there before the vampire caught up to him.
“I’m glad we have this opportunity to be alone together, now.” His grip on Guillermo’s waist grew bruising. He pulled Guillermo against him and, in his surprise, he dropped the shopping bag. The vampire didn’t seem to care. He buried his face in the crux of Guillermo’s throat and breathed in, deep. “I was beginning to think he’d never let you leave his sight-”
Guillermo pulled a shuddering breath through his nose and tried not to react to the dark presence approaching from the shadows. Something cold and wet slithered over his skin and Guillermo almost gagged when he realised it was the vampire’s tongue , tasting his skin.
Nandor appeared behind the vampire and Guillermo gulped. He said, “Please, let me go. My master wouldn’t be pleased.”
“I thought you said you weren’t with him.”
“And I thought he told you to let go.”
There was an instant, before Nandor snapped the vampire’s neck, that Guillermo realised what was going to happen. He gasped, stumbling backwards, and had just enough forethought to cover his eyes before cold, stale blood was splashing his face. The body hit the floor with a heavy thud and Guilldermo gagged, turning away.
Nandor was at his side. “Guillermo,” he said, grabbing Guillermo’s upper-arms and holding him steady, close to his chest. He was warm - he must have been sitting near the fire in the house - and solid. “Are you hurt?”
Guillermo shook his head.
“He didn’t bite you?” Guillermo could say nothing as Nandor tilted his chin upwards, inspecting his neck. His hands were firm but gentle; it was hard to believe that they had just been used to end a life. “Answer me, Guillermo.”
“He didn’t bite me,” Guillermo said. He pulled his chin out of Nandor’s grasp and the vampire let him go, stumbling back until he decided it would be easier just to turn around. He could hear the crack of the vampire’s spine ringing in his ears.
“You know,” Nandor said, “when I asked you not to date any more humans, this isn’t what I meant.”
Guillermo laughed. He dropped his face into his hands and tried to pull himself together, shaking his head. Nandor approached him from behind but didn’t touch him, seeming to sense that that wasn’t what Guillermo needed right now. The shopping bag rustled as Nandor scooped it up and, when Guillermo didn’t move, the vampire cleared his throat.
He said, “Do you want to come inside?”
Guillermo turned. With his pallor hidden by the shadows and a shopping bag in hand, Nandor looked almost… human. There was a gentleness to him that Guillermo had never been faced with before - he had seen it, of course, when Nandor thought he was alone with the other vampires. But usually, when Guillermo was present, so was this… front . This faux persona that would rather kill Guilldermo where he stood than help him with the bags. But… there he was, with a plastic carrier bag full of stain remover and silicone molds.
If there weren’t a dead body at his feet, Guillermo could almost believe that Nandor was just some guy.
He said, “What should we do with the cadaver?”
“It will burn with the sunrise,” Nandor replied. He held out a hand, nodding in the direction of the house. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah,” Guillermo said. He took Nandor’s hand and stepped over the body, sticking close to his master’s side until they were safely home.
.
Over the next few years, Guillermo tried a few more times to bring men back to the house. They were never boyfriends (Guillermo really didn’t have the time) and they never lasted long.
Guillermo was never particularly broken-up about it. Vampires ate people, and it was never much of a surprise when one of his ‘friends’ got pounced on and drained when his back was turned.
Sometimes, the men survived and were hypnotised to forget what the vampire’s had done to them (and, subsequently, Guillermo had done to them as well). Other times, the men took one look at Guillermo’s band of housemates and decided that they actually weren’t feeling too well, and that they needed to go home immediately and never return any of Guillermo’s calls. And one time, memorably, a man named Jason was seduced by Nadja and Laszlo while Guillermo was in the bathroom.
That one had stung a little.
But Guillermo persevered. He got on with his life, and he learned to go to the other guy’s house as often as was possible.
.
Jean
That hadn’t really been possible with Jean. He had been French, in New York for university, and his ‘house’ was a dorm room that he shared with two other guys. There had been no choice but to bring him back to the house. He and Guillermo had been on three dates; they were getting serious, and Guillermo liked him.
“Come with me,” Guillermo said, taking Jean by the hand and leading him to his room. He had it all worked out. The vampires would be asleep for the next six hours, and Guillermo was only going to need four. Jean would be in and out before any of the vampires knew he had been there. It was the perfect system. Guillermo would be a little sleep-deprived at the end of it, but what was the harm in that?
They slept together, and showered together afterwards, and the sun was just starting to set when Guillermo ushered Jean out of the house and collapsed, heavy and satisfied, against his side of the door. He jumped when he turned around and Laszlo and Nadja were behind him.
“Who the fuck was that?” Laszlo asked.
“No one,” Guillermo said. Then, when he realised how suspicious that sounded: “Just a Jehova’s Witness, or something.”
“And you let him get away?” Nadja harrumphed. She stalked off in the direction of the fancy room, but Laszlo lingered. He didn’t seem convinced, and Guillermo didn’t feel like being interrogated, so with a toothless smile he ducked past the vampire and returned to his room to finish preparing for the day.
Nandor would be arising soon, and Guillermo had to be ready.
He popped in his headphones just in time to miss the sound of the front door open and close, and the distant scream of a voice that had been crying out all night for a different reason entirely.
.
Guillermo texted Jean the next day, and two days after that. It was strange that he didn’t respond - for three weeks they had been texting almost constantly, and now: nothing. After a week had gone by, Guillermo had to entertain the thought that Jean was no longer interested.
But why?
They had been having fun (or so Guillermo had thought) and they made each other laugh and they had been on enough good dates that Guillermo couldn’t be mistaken about Jean’s romantic interest in him. The only conclusion he could naturally draw was that Jean hadn’t enjoyed their night together - that Jean wasn’t physically attracted to Guillermo at all - and that he was being ghosted.
And damn if that didn’t hit him like a punch in the gut.
Guillermo checked his phone one last time, seven days after he had last seen Jean, before accepting that whatever they had had was now over. He sniffled a little, blinking away the moisture in his eyes, and ignored the soft knocking at his door until it became obvious that whoever it was wasn’t going to go away.
“Colin Robinson,” Guillermo said, “if that’s you, could you please enjoy my misery from that side of the door?”
The door swung open, and Guillermo hastily wiped at his wet eyes when he saw that it was Nandor. Composing himself, he sat up a little straighter and tried to smile. It wouldn’t do to let his master see him so out of control.
“Guillermo,” Nandor said. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He was a large man, and took up most of the space in the room. “Have you been crying?”
“No,” Guillermo said. Nandor gave him a look. “Maybe a little.”
The edge of the bed dipped under Nandor’s weight when he sat down, facing Guillermo. The bed was almost laughably too small for the both of them, and Guillermo found that he had to press himself back against the wall if he didn’t want his and Nandor’s knees to be touching. Nandor’s expression was soft with concern when he laid a tentative hand on Guillermo’s knee.
He said, “Is something the matter, Guillermo?”
“It’s nothing, really,” Guillermo said, dismissing Nandor’s concern with a wave. But Nandor was looking at him intensely, and Guillermo could tell that he wasn’t going to have a moment’s peace until he explained the situation to his master’s satisfaction. Sniffing a little, Guillermo shook his head. “It’s just. There was this guy-”
“Guillermo,” Nandor scolded. “I thought I told you no more human boyfriends.”
“Master, that was four years ago.”
“An order is an order, Guillermo. We will be revisiting this during your next employee-review.” Guillermo laughed, and Nandor almost smiled. “But please, continue.”
“Well,” Guillermo shrugged, “I thought things were going well, but then he just… stopped replying to any of my texts. I haven’t heard from him in over a week, and- I think it might just be over.”
“Oh, Guillermo.” Nandor patted his knee. “Heartbreak is never easy. But you must remember that any man who will not speak his feelings directly to you is unworthy of your time. In Al Quolindar, if my enemy could not communicate his true intentions towards my country, we would go to war.”
Guillermo hummed. He didn’t feel like Jean was unworthy of him - if anything, he felt the opposite. Like Jean would be texting with him right now if Guillermo had been just a little funnier, a little more attentive, a little less clingy. Like the problem wasn’t Jean and his inability to communicate his feelings, but Guillermo and some small fragment of himself that surely, surely he could change.
“Guillermo.” Nandor snapped his fingers in Guillermo’s face, and his voice sounded rough. It had almost been a growl. He no longer looked soft. “It is unacceptable for my familiar to look so miserable. Tell me what has to be done to fix it.”
To fix it?
“Are you… asking me what you can do to make me feel better?”
“Get with the program, Guillermo. What do you think I’ve been trying to do this whole time I’ve been in here?”
“Oh.” Guillermo already felt a little better. “Well, usually when I’m sad I… watch an old movie and eat some ice cream. Or something.”
“Then that is what we’ll do!” Nandor announced, slapping his thighs. He shuffled further into Guillermo’s bed, still fully clothed, and looked at his familiar expectantly. “Which of your human movies would you watch?”
“Are you-” Guillermo didn’t even want to ask “-going to watch it with me?”
“Obviously, Guillermo.” Nandor said, flapping his hand at Guillermo’s laptop. “Now hurry up. I want you feeling better sooner, rather than later.”
Guillermo pulled the laptop onto his knees and felt Nandor’s eyes scanning the screen as he pulled-up Netflix. He considered playing a film about vampires but, really, there couldn’t be any that Guillermo hadn’t already forced the rest of the house to watch at some point or another.
Instead, he chose one of his comfort films from before Interview with a Vampire had awakened a part of him he had yet to lay to rest: Megamind.
The logos of the studios rolled over the screen and Guillermo leaned awkwardly to the side, sitting with his legs crossed half-way down the bed. He pretended that Nandor wasn’t staring at him for a moment until the vampire huffed, slapping a pillow.
He said, “Why are you sitting down there? Guillermo, come here please.”
“Up there?” Guillermo asked. The space between Nandor and the wall wasn’t very big, and there certainly wasn’t enough room for Guillermo to squeeze in. Nandor seemed to realise this and he rolled his eyes, lifting one arm to rest against the headboard and creating enough room between his side and the wall for Guillermo to fit in. Of course, they would be practically cuddling, but-
“Here’s my day so far-” started the disembodied voice of Will Ferrell, and Nandor growled. Guillermo jumped, moving quickly to fill the space beneath Nandor’s arm and readjusting the laptop to lay more comfortably over his stomach. Nandor’s arm dropped down to wrap around Guillermo’s shoulder and the familiar grew tense, holding his breath.
He said, “Master-”
“Shhh.” Nandor shushed him. “I am trying to watch the movie.”
Guillermo bit his lip, holding his tongue, and tried not to breathe too heavily or move too much as the opening narration ended and the title card flew onto the screen.
If Guillermo hadn’t seen Megamind a dozen times already, he couldn’t have told you what it was about. Nandor seemed to enjoy it - a fact that Guillermo knew explicitly because for at least the first thirty minutes of the movie he had been unable to focus on anything but the vampire at his side. He had been up all day, though, and as the plot of the film started to unfold, Guillermo found himself relaxing. He shifted against Nandor’s side, and was surprised when his master’s arm (still wrapped around his shoulders) yielded to his every move. There was nowhere for Guillermo to rest his head but against Nandor’s shoulder and, to his surprise, Nandor made no sound of complaint as Guillermo cushioned his cheek against the heavily-embroidered shoulder of Nandor’s cape.
It was a surprisingly comfortable set-up, and Guillermo felt himself drifting off to sleep despite his best efforts to stay awake.
.
Ben
“Okay,” Guillermo said, ushering the four vampires into a corner of the club for a pre-hunt briefing. “You all know the plan. You’ve got two hours to find some dinner and-”
“Fuck that,” Laszlo said, breaking the huddle and moving into the club. He joined the dancing masses, blending in immediately, and Guillermo sighed. Nadja followed her husband, cackling as the leather-clad arms of the club embraced her, dragging her in.
The pre-feed briefing clearly over, Nandor wandered off, followed closely by Colin Robinson, who offered Guillermo a consolatory pat on the shoulder.
He watched the four vampires disappear into the club and told himself that this is what he signed up for. Nadja and Laszlo had already set their sights on a young couple reclined together in a corner booth, and Nandor was awkwardly trailing after a college-aged woman with pink streaks in her yellow hair.
This was only the third hunt that Guillermo had accompanied the vampires on since becoming their bodyguard, and the process was still so new to him. As a familiar, his job had been to linger outside the club and help dispose of the bodies after his master had finished his feed. He had never gone into the club, and had never witnessed the artistry of three vampires (and Colin Robinson) scouting for a meal.
Figuring that there was little else for him to do, Guillermo pushed past the dance floor and made his way to the bar. There was a small crowd gathered at one end so Guillermo took a seat at the other and waited for the bartender to notice him. When she did, he ordered a sweet and fruity cocktail, and was just rifling through his pockets for his wallet when an arm reached over his shoulder and paid the lady for him.
“Oh,” Guillermo said, turning in his seat to face the man who had bought his drink. He was handsome and tall, with short black hair and a sharp, angular jaw. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome,” said the man, sliding into the chair to Guillermo’s right and offering him a hand. “I’m Ben.”
“Guillermo,” Guillermo replied. He took the offered hand and shook it, startled by its warmth. How long had it been since Guillermo had touched someone who wasn’t a vampire, or a bloodless corpse?
Too long . Of that, he was certain.
The man fit into the usual crowd of the club in a way that Guillermo never would. It was a gothic, heavy-metal sort of place that Guillermo had chosen because it was one of the only clubs in Staten Island where vampires would blend in. The man was wearing tight, leather pants and a billowing white shirt that clung to his wrists and exposed the dark column of his neck. He was draped in heavy necklaces and thick, metal rings that made him look like some sort of vampire-pirate. Nadja would have called it ‘bad vampire fashion’ but Guillermo was kind of into it.
“Nice to meet you, Guillermo.” He smiled, and the slayer made a point of checking that his mouth was free of any fangs. He was human. “So, what brings you to a place like this?”
“Is it that obvious that I don’t belong here?”
“It’s just that you’ve never come in before,” Ben said. Guillermo must have looked alarmed because he laughed, scratching his head. “What I mean to say is, I’ve seen you in the parking lot a couple of times before now, but you’ve never come in before. I was wondering what had changed.”
Shoving down the urge to panic that someone had not only noticed him waiting for the others outside the club, but also remembered enough about him to be able to pick him out of a crowd, Guillermo forced himself to laugh. He said, “I’m usually the designated driver, so I didn’t see the point of coming in. But someone else has volunteered to do it tonight and I thought: what the heck!”
Ben smiled, and his voice was practically a purr when he said, “It must be my lucky night, then.”
Guillermo blushed and took a sip of his drink. It was stronger than he expected, the liquor far outweighing the juice, and he felt the alcohol settle warm and exciting in his stomach.
.
Ben bought Guillermo four more drinks over the next two hours, going as far as slapping Guillermo’s wrist when he tried to reach for his wallet to return the favour. They talked about books and television shows, broadway musicals and the New York City drag scene. Ben was obviously gay, and interested in Guillermo, which was not an unwelcome surprise. The alcohol had gotten to him a bit, loosening Guillermo’s limbs and blurring the edges of his vision. He was relaxed, calm and malleable, and when Ben took his hand and pulled him to the dance floor, Guillermo saw no reason to resist.
He had never been much of a dancer, always too clumsy and nervous to keep to a rhythm, but the changes to his body since he had become a slayer were applicable to more than scaling buildings and climbing through grates. Guillermo was strong, and nimble, and he drunkenly revelled in the surprise on Ben’s face when he pulled him close and spun him around.
He didn’t dance like the other humans at the club - their moves mostly involved swinging their hips and lunging at the floor every five or six seconds, as though they had dropped a pencil and had to swoop down to get it. Ben didn’t seem to mind that they were the odd ones out, though, his smile wide as he danced increasingly closer to Guillermo until his hands were on his chest and in his hair and Guillermo couldn’t tell where his dance space started or where Ben’s ended.
Absently, he remembered that he had come to the club to do a job. Nadja and Laszlo were missing, and so were the young couple they had been talking to. Colin Robinson was at the bar, huddled over a cocktail menu and draining a poor young man who must have drifted too close in the line for drinks. Turning in place, masking his movements with the dance, Guillermo scanned the bar for the last of the vampires.
Nandor was standing in the shadows, and he was watching Guillermo.
Guillermo froze, startled by his master. His eyes were unblinking, dark and impenetrable. Lights from the dance floor moved over him, illuminating his imposing figure, the veritable scowl on his face. His jaw clenched when Guillermo met his gaze, and Guillermo’s mouth popped open as if to say something (though what , he wasn’t sure).
Ben grabbed at Guillermo and spun him around, pulling him back into the dance, but Guillermo resisted him. He returned his gaze to Nandor - or, to where Nandor had been standing a moment ago - and found only empty space. Sobering slightly, his mood certainly ruined, Guillermo caught Ben’s arm and gestured to the bar. He needed a glass of water - needed to sober up. He had been carried away, for a moment, and forgotten that he was here to do a job.
At the bar, he ordered a glass of water and Ben bought more drinks. Guillermo didn’t touch his. He sat down in the same stool as before and, before Ben could join him, felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder.
“Guillermo,” Nandor said, when the slayer turned around. “Who is your friend?”
Up close, Nandor looked even more intense than before. There was something dark and tumultuous simmering in his eyes. Guillermo was taken aback by the expression, so different to any way his ex-master had looked at him before, and he found that his words weren’t working.
A hand reached over Guillermo’s shoulder and Ben said, “I’m Ben. You must be one of Guillermo’s friends.”
“Yes,” Nandor said. He looked at Ben’s hand but didn’t take it. “I think it is time we left, Guillermo.”
“What, already?” Guillermo looked around the bar but saw no half-drunk bodies. “Have you even eaten, yet?”
“Eaten?” Behind him, Ben laughed. “They don’t sell food here.”
Guillermo ignored him, standing to give himself and Nandor a little privacy. Nandor didn’t shift backwards at all and so Guillermo had no choice but to crowd into his space, their stomachs almost touching.
“Master,” he said out of habit, “is something wrong?”
“No,” Nandor replied, almost defensively. “Nothing is wrong. I just want to go home.”
“But you need to eat something-”
“I will eat twice tomorrow,” Nandor replied. He didn’t seem to be in a compromising mood, and Guillermo supposed they had to call him Nandor the Relentless for a reason. But the slayer was feeling bold, and a little tipsy, and he had been having a good time until Nandor had come along to ruin it. “We are leaving.”
“If you want to go, you can go,” Guillermo said. “But I want to stay.”
“Guillermo,” Nandor warned.
“You know, you’re not in charge of me any more,” Guillermo said. “So if I want to stay, I can stay.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Nandor asked. Guillermo said nothing, and he saw Nandor’s eyes slide from his face to Ben’s. Expression tightening, Nandor said, “I see. Well then, if that is what you want to do, I will not stop you.”
“Nandor-”
“Goodbye, Guillermo,” Nandor said, and he was gone before Guillermo could even think of going after him. Sighing heavily, he dropped his face into his hands, and an arm found its way around his waist.
Ben asked, “Was that your ex, or something?”
“Something like that,” Guillermo replied. He allowed Ben to steer him into a seat and, when he was settled, reached for the glass of alcohol rather than the water. He drank deeply from the cup and giggled at Ben’s lifted eyebrow. “It’s complicated.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Ben said. He slid into the seat to Guillermo’s left and slotted their thighs together. He laid a hand on Guillermo’s knee and squeezed, the gesture a little more than friendly. Cheeks flaming, Guillermo smiled, and placed his hand over Ben’s. “Is this okay?” He asked.
Guillermo nodded.
“That guy’s definitely an ex, though, right? Because he’s fucking huge and I really don’t want to have to fight him because I kissed his boyfriend.”
“You’re gonna kiss me?” Guillermo asked.
“Only if you want me to.”
Guillermo nodded, and Ben closed the gap between them. It was a pleasant kiss, if a little sloppy, the alcohol in his system doing away with any awkwardness Guillermo might have felt at kissing someone in public. Ben lurched forward a little, warm hands sliding around Guillermo’s neck, and the slayer felt guilt rising at the wish that the hands against his skin were cold rather than hot.
“Was that okay?” Guillermo asked, when Ben pulled away. His smile was dazzling, his eyes sparkling and alive, and Guillermo kissed him against briefly before Ben pulled away, standing up.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, stepping away from Guillermo, “I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back though, okay? Wait for me here.”
“Yeah, of course,” Guillermo said. Ben kissed him again quickly before extracting himself completely, glancing back over his shoulder at Guillermo even as he disappeared through the bathroom door. Guillermo giggled a little hysterically when he was finally out of sight, his excitement finally catching up to him. His heart was pounding so fast that any vampire in the vicinity would be driven wild by its pace.
Reaching for his drink, Guillermo drained the last of the glass, and finally noticed that the man sitting a few chairs away from him was none other than Colin Robinson. He grinned when Guillermo noticed him and the slayer blushed.
How long had he been there?
“Hey, Gizmo,” Colin Robinson said, raising his glass to the human in a sort-of toast. “Thanks for the meal, buddy.”
“What meal?” Guillermo asked. He had thought Colin Robinson could only feed off negative emotions, and Guillermo was feeling anything but negative right now.
“The feelings you were stirring up in Nandor just now were delectable ,” the energy vampire continued. “You should have seen his face!”
“Nandor?” Guillermo repeated, incredulously. What negative emotions could Guillermo have inspired in Nandor that Colin Robinson would be getting such a kick out of? Surely this wasn’t the first time Nandor had been unable to secure a meal, and had to leave the club early? Or could his ex-master be upset that Guillermo hadn’t wanted to escort him home? “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, nothing,” Colin Robinson said, and when Guillermo felt a wave of irritation at the vampire his eyes glowed blue and his grin grew wider. “But, I have to say. Your little boyfriend has been in the bathroom for quite a while. I hope he isn’t sick…”
Guillermo frowned, and looked down at his watch. Colin Robinson was right; Ben had been gone for almost ten minutes. Guillermo’s first thought was that he had been stood up, abandoned - but no. Ben had seemed really interested in him, and a nice guy to boot. Surely he wouldn’t do such a thing.
Ignoring the glow in Colin Robinson’s eyes, Guillermo slid out of his seat and made his way to the bathroom.
.
The first thing he noticed when he entered the bathroom was that it was lit with a red light. Every surface glowed like a neon sign, better-lit than the main floor of the club without being so bright that it hurt Guillermo’s eyes. The second thing he noticed was that the bathroom was completely empty. No one was at the urinals, no one was washing their hands, and no feet were visible through the gap between the stall doors and the floor. And finally, the third thing the vampire hunter noticed was the smell of fresh blood.
There was a gasping, gurgling sound coming from one of the stalls. Guillmero was sober in an instant, a shiver climbing his spine, as he slipped a stake out of the holster strapped to his chest. He approached the stall as quietly as he could, the sounds of his footsteps thankfully masked by the thumping beat of the club. Only one of the stall doors was closed, and it didn’t appear to have been locked. Guillermo took a deep breath, steeling himself, before he kicked the stall door open.
If you asked him if he was surprised by what he found, Guillermo wouldn’t lie. He wasn’t surprised to see Nandor, crouched on the toilet seat with a mess of blood on his lips. He wasn’t surprised to see that the victim the vampire had chosen was dangling limply from his arms, his billowy white shirt stained red with his own blood.
Guillermo said, “For fuck’s sake.”
Nandor dropped Ben’s dead body to the floor and stood, stepping over him on his way to Guillermo’s side. He caught the ex-familiar by the arms, like he was afraid Guillermo would try to get away if he didn’t hold him in place.
“Guillermo," he said. "Please don’t be angry with me.”
Shaking his head, Guillermo dropped his stake. A laugh bubbled up in his throat before he could stop it, and he looked over the vampire’s shoulder at the bloodless remains of the first person to show an interest in Guillermo in decades.
He said, “You are pathological.”
“I don’t know what that means.” Nandor rocked a little on his feet, and it was only then that Guillermo recalled how much Ben had had to drink over the last few hours. As if realising the same thing, Nandor frowned. “He was very intoxicated.”
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“I am sorry, Guillermo.” Nandor brought one of his hands to Guillermo’s face, stroking his cheek and smearing Ben’s blood over his skin. His hands were warm, filled with someone else’s blood, and Guillermo was ashamed of himself for wanting to lean into his touch. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Guillermo said. Sighing heavily, he wrapped an arm around Nandor’s waist and pulled him out of the bathroom. The music of the club was deafening after the relative quiet of the bathroom, and the bumping-grinding bodies were making him feel claustrophobic. There was no reason to stay at the club now that Nandor had fed, anyway, so Guillermo steered them through the dance floor and out the door.
“Where are we going?” Nandor asked.
“Home.”
“But you didn’t want to go yet.”
“I didn’t,” Guillermo replied. “But then you ate my date. Remember?”
Nandor frowned, as though he actually couldn’t remember such a thing. Then: “Yes. I did do that. I didn’t like him.” Guillermo hummed, and Nandor continued. “I didn’t like the way he touched you.”
“I did.”
“I know.” Guillermo looked up at Nandor to find him staring back, expression as earnest as Guillermo had ever seen it. “It made me angry to see what he could do to you.”
Guillermo wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he didn’t. He dragged Nandor to the bus stop and dropped him on to the bench, wincing in sympathy when the vampire’s head rocked back to smack the plastic wall of the shelter. His legs were sprawled out in front of him, his hair a mess around his face, and his half-lidded eyes were boring so deeply into Guillermo’s soul that he thought it might shrivel up and die under the scrutiny. The electronic sign attached to the roof of the shelter announced that their bus was delayed, and Guillermo sighed. He didn’t feel like standing around for half an hour, so he dropped into the space on the bench at Nandor’s side.
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence for just a moment before Nandor interrupted again.
He said, “Guillermo.”
“Yes, master.”
“Look at me.”
Guillermo did as he was told, turning to Nandor expectantly. He didn’t know what he was expecting - another apology, perhaps, or an idle observation about the bus stop or the street they were on or the numerous goths spilling out of the nightclub across the street.
What he didn’t expect was to be kissed.
Nandor kissed like a gust of wind, fierce and breath-taking and all-consuming. He leaned into Guillermo, parting his lips with his own, and Guillermo tasted Ben’s blood on his breath.
It was perverse.
Guillermo loved it.
He pushed back against his master, hands rising to cup his icy cheeks as he crawled into his space. Nandor’s hands were big and firm, bracketing Guillermo’s hips and pulling him against him, into his lap. Their hips ground together and Guillermo sat up straight, towering over Nandor and forcing him to arch his neck. He lifted his hands to Nandor’s throat and squeezed, and the vampire gasped, and Guillermo revelled in the power of it.
He slid his hands into Nandor’s long hair and pulled, adjusting their positions, and the vampire went willingly.
Guillermo was in complete control.
Gasping a breath, he pulled back a little, and Nandor chased him with a kiss. Every time he tried to spe and tried to pull away, but Nandor wouldn’t let him go. Every time Guillermo leaned back, opened his eyes, tried to say something, Nandor silenced him with a kiss.
“Master,” he tried, and Nandor sucked at his lip.
“You have-”
Kiss.
“-to let-”
Bite.
“-me go.”
“Why?” Nandor asked, sounding impatient. He gasped a little, looking up at Guillermo, and he looked about as wrecked as the human felt. He didn’t know if it was the alcohol in his system or something else that had done it, but there was blood in Nandor’s cheeks and there was fire in his eyes and for the first time in ten years, he looked almost alive . His fingers kneaded the flesh of Guillermo’s hips, rocking him in his lap. “What is wrong?”
Guillermo said, ”I need to know why you’re doing this.” Nandor bucked his hips and Guillermo felt a particularly big reason poke him in the leg. Guillermo frowned, but didn’t move. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say-”
“I want you to tell me, why now ? You could have had me a hundred times in the past ten years, but you didn’t want me. And now that someone finally shows an interest in me, you kill them because, what? You were jealous?”
“I was enraged,” Nandor confessed. A darkness came over his eyes and his hold on Guillermo grew bruising. “He touched your skin and I wanted to cut his hands off. He danced with you and I wanted to break his knees. I have had countless lovers over seven centuries, Guillermo, and I have shared them all. But tonight, for the first time in my life, I felt… possessive. Of you. That scrawny little human kissed you and I wanted to snap his neck.”
Guilermo said, “You saw him kiss me?”
“I could not look away. I thought that I might die there, watching you, but then. He walked away from you, and I knew what I had to do.”
Guillermo was silent.
“I do not regret my decision,” Nandor said, and Guillermo knew it was the truth. He had said it with such certainty, so blatantly, that Guillermo knew he would do it all over again, exactly the same, if given the chance. “I could not allow anyone else to have you until I had tried to take you for myself.”
This is so fucked up, Guillermo thought. So very, very fucked up.
“And what are you going to do,” Guillermo asked, “now that you have me?”
Nandor’s eyes grew wide. “I have you?”
“You have me,” Guillermo replied. “I’m yours. I always have been. For eleven years, I have belonged to you-”
“You never said-”
“How could I?” Guillermo laughed, bitterly. “It took you two years for you to remember my name. And you were my master; it would have been… unethical.”
“You lured in virgins for me to kill and you were worried about ethics?”
Guillermo laughed, leaning forwards to press his forehead to Nandor’s. He kissed him again, soft and sweet, and Guillermo didn’t want to think about ethics ever again. He didn’t care how wrong it was that he could taste a human person’s blood on Nandor’s lips; or, more terrifyingly, how much he liked that Nandor had killed someone for touching him. He just wanted to feel cold hands on his hips and kiss Nandor until the ache of ten years of pining went away.