Fic: Fang and Eyes and Blood - Oh My!, 03/03, Panik/TH, David/Timo/Linke, NC17/18
Title: Fang and Eyes and Blood - Oh My! (03/03)
Author: Beren
Fandom: Panik/Tokio Hotel RPS (more Panik than TH)
Pairing: David/Timo/Linke, (mentions Tom/Bill/Georg/Gustav)
Rating: NC17/18
Warnings: vampires, (mentions of TH twincest)
Summary: Linke's not feeling well and it turns out not to be the flu.
Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Chapter 3 David and Timo
Morning was really, really not his favourite time anymore, but there were meetings to attend and things to do, so Linke crawled out of bed. He was quite pleased with himself, since the previous morning, after the twins' visit, Jan had had to literally drag him out of bed. His brain was foggy with sleep and he staggered to his door and opened it, planning to see if the bathroom was free and staking a claim if it was. What he saw was Timo coming out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist. Clearly Timo had just had a shower, because Linke's eyes zeroed in on a couple of drops running down Timo's chest where it had dripped off his friend's hair.
It was like his whole system woke up in little more than a second and he found his nostrils flaring, his eyes opening wide and his gaze running up and down Timo like Timo was the second coming or something. There was a gentle ache in his gums and the corridor became uncomfortably bright and for a moment he couldn't even think.
He froze, just staring and letting his baser instincts get the better of him. It was only as he let his eyes run slowly up from Timo's feet, over the loosely hung towel and the defined chest to Timo's face, and he realised that his friend was looking back at him, that he consciously noticed what he was doing.
He was looking at Timo the same way he had looked at David and the reality of what he was doing slammed into him like a tonne weight. Timo was staring at him and he panicked. Turning, he stepped back into his room, slammed the door and then threw his back against it, coming to rest breathing hard.
This was just beyond a joke; he was so out of control. He hadn't even realised he was hungry like that, but he certainly knew now and it left him only one choice. He could not risk his friends, not like this and he grabbed his duffle bag, threw it on the bed and then began throwing clothes and things at it that he needed to take with him. Bill's number was in his phone, so he could ring and ask about those places the twins had told him about, where he could find a willing donor, then he could go to his parent's place. He couldn't stay here, not with what he might do to David or, as it turned out, Timo.
It wasn't even night and he had almost jumped Timo in the corridor, what would he be like by the time it got dark and his instincts were stronger? It really wasn't worth the risk.
When he had everything he thought he might need (he could ask his dad to pick up the rest of his stuff at a later date) he began putting them in the bag. He could wait for the others to be ready to go; if he told them to leave him alone, they would, and then when they were gone he could use the bathroom and make his escape. He'd leave them a note or something to explain where he had gone; Timo and David would know why.
He didn't want to abandon the band and give up his dream, but he was too scared by what he might do not to. If he laid another hand on any of his friends because he had no control he would never forgive himself. That David had forgiven him the first time was still amazing to him. The guilt lurking at the back of his mind still whispered that he'd all but raped David, given the way they'd interacted, and he was not letting that happen again.
He finished packing and then stood there for a while, wondering what to do. It would take the others a while to all trail in and out of the bathroom and then get downstairs and so he had to wait. Pushing his bag against the wall, he sat down and looked around his little room; it wasn't much, but it had been home for a while now. He was going to miss it here; miss this place, miss his friends, miss the music, but he had no other choice.
His mind played his reaction to Timo over and over in his head and it frightened him. He had wanted to step forward and push Timo into the bathroom door and then bite his friend while blowing every brain cell Timo had. It was not a normal instinct and he dreaded fate giving him the chance to play it out. His cock betrayed him, twitching at the very thought of what he had wanted to do.
Driven he might be, but he refused to leave his friends at the mercy of his instincts.
He grabbed his pillow, hugging it to himself as he waited for the others to stagger through their morning routine; he didn't dare step out of his room.
He heard someone enter the bathroom and then about fifteen minutes later Juri banging on the door to find out how long the person inside was going to take. Jan's voice was muffled coming to him through two doors, but he didn't think it would take long for those two to finish up. He hoped he didn't have to sit there worrying too long; it just depended where Timo had been in the chain of bathroom use that morning.
Franky emerged onto the landing at some point while Juri was still waiting, because Linke heard a short discussion and then Franky's door close again. Just after that Jan came out of the bathroom, exchanged a few words with Juri and then went back to his room letting Juri have the communal room. That meant the landing was empty and for a moment or two Linke considered just getting dressed, grabbing his stuff and doing a runner without waiting, but he was thwarted as another door opened.
He was used to a house full of people; it had always been that way at home and in the band house it was the same, and for the first time he regretted it. However, what terrified him was when the footsteps in the hall stopped outside his door and there was a knock. He sat there staring at the door and refused to answer.
"Linke," David called to him through the door.
That was the last thing he needed, now that his brain was on that track it helpfully provided him with graphic details of the last time he had bitten David.
"Go away," he said, more in an attempt to make the images in his head disappear than anything else.
"Not going to happen," Timo's voice carried through the door and he wondered how he had missed that the footsteps had belonged to two people.
"If you know what's good for you, you will," he said, trying to sound annoyed rather than afraid.
If Timo thought he was annoyed at his reaction earlier rather than anything else, they might leave him alone.
To his horror his door handle turned and he found himself backing away on the bed until he hit the wall. David's head appeared round the door as it opened.
"Get out," he said and did not bother trying to hide his panic; he could feel himself reacting, "are you insane?"
It seemed that once his vampire senses were turned on, unless they got what they wanted, he had a great deal of trouble diverting them. Why the hell did his friends have to be so hard headed?
"Leaving?" David said, looking at the packed bag and totally disregarding his instructions by entering the room, closely followed by Timo.
Linke just sat there as he found his senses trying to overload again, completely without his consent. Timo and David in the same room with him, just at the moment, was pure torture.
"Ugh," he said as he found himself mentally undressing Timo to what he had seen in the hallway and buried his face in the pillow to try and muffle the pure presence of his two friends.
"Linke," David was speaking to him, but he tried to ignore it, until he felt a tug on his pillow, "we don't want you to leave."
"Leave me alone," he said, desperately holding on to his only shield; "I can't control myself."
The pressure on the pillow did not let up.
"We kind of guessed that," David said and Linke didn't know how long his will power would hold out; David's voice was like honey.
"That's why we're here," Timo's voice made him whimper as it tried to drag up everything he was trying to force down.
It was worse than when he had bitten David; then he hadn't known what was happening and it had mostly been about the blood, now it was more, so much more. Clearly his instincts had changed since then and his urges had grown. When they had grown to include Timo he wasn't sure, but he mentally cursed Bill Kaulitz for ever putting the idea in his head.
"Look at us," David urged and he had to wonder if he was in a bizarre nightmare and he'd wake up soon.
Holding on to his pillow tightly, he shook his head; if he looked up he was sure he would snare his two friends. What they thought they were doing he had no idea, but he prayed they would just go away. At least he was sure that they couldn't get the pillow away from him, even in his normal state he was significantly stronger than a human being now.
"Linke," Timo again and his resolve began to slip, "we've been talking things over. We want to be there for you, however you need us."
That made him freeze as logic suggested that he could not have heard what he thought he had heard and then he doubted what Timo might mean.
"Please, look at us," David urged gently and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Almost convinced he was just having a dream, Linke very slowly looked up. The room was bright in his vision even though he liked to keep the curtains closed and the light dim during the day and he didn't have any trouble seeing the sincere expressions on David and Timo's faces. He was suddenly filled with the idea that his friends were being martyrs.
"You don't know what you're getting into," he said, his depressing thoughts giving him just a little bit of control.
He did not dare look either of the other two in the eyes for fear that he would just lure them in.
"Actually we do," Timo said as David sat down next to him.
"You're not the only one with a Kaulitz phone number," David said and smiled, just a little, "and Tom gave me Georg's too."
"And once you get Georg talking, he's almost as hard to shut up as Bill," Timo added.
Linke wasn't sure what to say; he still wasn't convinced.
"It turns out that Georg and Gustav have known what the twins were since they first met," David continued to explain as Linke tried to keep himself in check, "but they were as shocked as I was when they found out what Bill and Tom wanted to do to them after they were fully turned."
"But Georg said it’s the best sex he's ever had," Timo put in looking just a little mischievous.
David swiped at Timo's leg for that comment.
"Georg also said that once you've hooked a vampire you've got them for good," David said, trying to remain perfectly serious. "Timo and I are one hundred percent committed to each other and we would never jeopardise that, but having you with us would only make us stronger."
"But you don't think of me like that," Linke pointed out.
He'd been about as straight as you could get until the whole vampire fiasco and he had never looked on his friends in that light nor they on him, he was sure. He wanted them to make a mistake that could cost them their relationship even less than he wanted to attack them.
"We didn't," David admitted with a nod, "but things change and you've definitely changed. I think that bite might have affected me in a similar way it did you, just not as drastically. Don't let it go to your head, but I've been dreaming about you and they haven't been innocent dreams."
"Yeah," Timo added, "and he's been waking me in the middle of the night to help him out. It's been kind of hard to ignore."
"The only thing that was holding us back was you and Timo," David admitted and surprised him.
Timo gave a grin at that.
"And then I saw your reaction earlier," Timo told him, "and boxer shorts don't hide a lot."
Linke wasn't sure if he should have been feeling mortified or not.
"You don't do that with just anyone, right?" David asked and for the first time sounded less than sure.
"No," Linke replied, not exactly sure how to explain his reaction; he hadn't had it with any of the others, not when he'd met Franky on the landing the previous evening in only a pair of boxers, and he didn't think it was purely hunger.
David gave him a small smile.
"Then Timo and I are decided," David told him, "and you seemed to have decided at a base level some time ago, so that just leaves up there."
Linke almost went cross-eyed when David poked him in the forehead just to emphasis the point. The touch all but tingled.
There wasn't really anything to decide, as David said, he had already made the decision on most levels; it was only his logical brain holding him back.
"There's no way to change your mind," he said very carefully; he needed to be absolutely sure.
He was almost positive that once this genie was out of the bottle the only way to get it back in would be to kill it. There were feelings lurking just under the surface that he knew, once acknowledged, were never, ever going back to sleep and there were a few rare things he was possessive as hell about and had always been, one of those was SOs. Vampire or no vampire, if they stepped over the line then the line was gone; there was no going back.
"Did you miss the part of the conversation about 'once you've hooked a vampire you've got them for good'?" Timo asked and rolled his eyes.
"What he's trying to say," David said, far more seriously than Timo, "is we get that. We have talked this through."
Linke was still having trouble believing this was real.
"When?" he asked; there hadn't been that much time since the twins had finally explained what was going on.
"A bit the other evening after you told David the truth and most of last night after he woke me up horny," Timo said, being completely blunt.
David did not look impressed with the comment.
"I love you, but I may have to kill you at some point," was David's comment on Timo's current mood.
It made Linke's chest feel kind of tight to be in on such an intimate state between the two; usually they kept such things for private. Timo and David were so used to hiding their relationship from prying eyes that a lot of the time that meant their band mates as well.
"We're guessing, given your current state, you're not going to be much use outside this room," David said and smiled a little himself now.
"Like he ever is anyway," Timo said and David very efficiently hit Timo is the stomach, but only hard enough to make Timo bend double in mock pain, rather than real pain.
Linke was still off balance, but clearly David and Timo were less so, which was helping his equilibrium as least teeter rather than being destroyed completely.
"No use at all," he confirmed, but didn't bother to add that if the other two tried to leave he'd probably make it to the door before they did and block the way.
"Okay," David decided firmly, "we'll have to postpone the meeting, the suits can wait an hour or so. Better let the others know."
Timo nodded and turned towards the door; Linke felt himself shifting before he could stop himself and he almost stood up.
"Linke," David said, grabbing his attention.
He couldn't help it, he turned to look at David and David gave him a patented, killer smile that could even have outshone Franky, which was saying something. When David pulled at his pillow, he just let it go and then he found David getting closer and closer. As David actually kissed him, he forgot just about everything else and barely noticed Timo exiting the room. However, part of him did notice and he pushed David back, needing to follow.
"He'll be back in a little bit," David insisted, not letting him go, "you're not molesting him in the corridor."
That sounded logical, but Linke's psyche wasn't overly focused on logic at that moment and David must have realised, because David didn't let him go. In fact David went for the jugular, literally, and Linke felt teeth and lips and tongue on his neck and he promptly melted. That bit of his neck had been sensitive since he had woken up in the hospital, but he hadn't realised quite how erogenous it could be until that particular instant in time.
"Thought that would work," he heard David mutter as he dissolved under the onslaught and then David's lips were occupied again and Linke found himself sliding down the wall sideways, onto the bed with David on top of him.
He had no idea how long it was before the door opened again as David turned him into a quivering wreck with no more than teeth and tongue and one patch of his skin.
"Getting ahead of me, I see," Timo said and David finally showed some mercy and let him go.
"Just distracting our amorous vampire," David said and Linke blinked up at the pair, trying to put some semblance of order back in his head.
He had the sneaking suspicion he might be in trouble.
"We have one hour," Timo told them, "and then I promised we'd be downstairs. Juri is phoning through with an excuse about Linke being a wuss, but that will only buy us so much time."
"He still has his clothes on," Timo said as if he'd expected something different.
Linke was already feeling underdressed, since David and Timo had put on clothes before coming to see him and he was in just a t-shirt and boxers. He found this incredibly unfair, since David already seemed to have discovered a weakness he hadn't even known he had.
"I think," he said, drawing both of their attentions to him, "that since Timo is being so obnoxious we should undress him first."
He looked at David with one eyebrow raised and didn't bother fighting his vampire instincts and, as his own vision flashed brighter, he knew his eyes had to have changed. David was all but sitting on him, but as one they turned to Timo, who suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself.
"You might be right," David replied with a very evil looking grin.
Almost as one they climbed off the bed and Timo eyed them both up.
"It shouldn't take much to get him out of those clothes," Linke said, liking the plan more and more.
"I thought we were tag teaming him?" Timo said and Linke smiled as he realised he and David were pulling the carefully placed rug out from under Timo's feet.
This was going to be fun.
"We were," David said with a devious grin, "but I like the idea of you naked and so I've changed sides."
David moved behind Timo and Linke closed in, in front and Timo seemed to realise that he was trapped. David went for Timo's t-shirt and Linke went for the belt on Timo's trousers and both were coming off with ruthless efficiency in under a couple of seconds.
"I will get you back for this," Timo said as they rapidly stripped him.
"Sure you will," David said and divested Timo of his boxer shorts.
Linke decided that keeping his mouth shut and letting David handle Timo was probably his best plan at that point.
"You know you're going to enjoy this," David said, standing close behind Timo and running those long piano playing fingers over Timo's chest, "so stop complaining."
"I wasn't complaining," Timo said, turning his head and stealing a kiss.
"Sure you weren't," David said and as Linke watched, urging himself and Timo towards the bed.
David knelt on the bed, sitting back so he was all but sitting and dragged Timo with him so that Timo had no choice but to half sit, half lay against his other half. Linke found his eyes travelling all over Timo's naked body and he felt his cock twitching and his mouth watering, the second of which might have been disconcerting had he not sort of expected it.
"It's your move, Linke," David said, playing one finger up and down Timo's neck in a very obvious gesture.
It was his bed, but Linke felt like he was moving into enemy territory as he walked towards it. This was new and exciting and when Timo parted his legs slightly, he took the invitation and climbed onto the bed between them. He was nervous, but he was so ready for this as all of his senses screamed sex at him.
Linke liked this, he liked it a lot and he began to investigate every piece of skin he could reach. He left Timo's neck to David's ministrations, since it was a little too much of a temptation and went to work on Timo's chest instead. In his mind's eye he could clearly see the trail the water droplets had taken and he carefully traced the course with his tongue.
"Are you two planning on try to kill me, because you're not doing a very good job," Timo said in a teasing tone, but quite how breathless he sounded, rather negated the statement.
After flashing Timo his most wicked grin, he took revenge and sucked hard on one of the already pert nipples just under his nose.
"Oh fuck!" was Timo's very heartfelt reaction.
"I think," David said, where David was now doing similar things to Timo's neck as he had done to Linke's earlier, "that baiting a vampire who has you naked before him, might not be such a good idea."
Each word was pointed by a kiss or a nibble and looking up at Timo's face as he continued to flick his tongue over the nipple he had found, Linke decided that Timo would be putty their hands, very, very shortly.
He could not suppress his vampire senses enough to go back to being normal, but Linke had managed to put away his fangs, at least for now and he used his normal teeth to good measure. With him working on Timo's chest and David working on Timo's neck, all protestations soon died away and Timo began making small noises of pleasure instead. He had to move further down the bed to move further down Timo's torso, since Timo was half sitting up, resting against David, but it was well worth the effort. It turned out that Timo was just a bit ticklish around his navel and Linke spent several interesting minutes making Timo's stomach muscles twitch.
He could taste Timo every time he used his tongue, and not just residual shower gel or anything like that, which he would have been able to pick up before, but something underlying such things that he could only mentally describe as male flesh. It was a taste which urged him on.
There were other things twitching, not just stomach muscles and Linke paused as he all but came nose to head with Timo's cock. This was all very new; he'd never considered being with another man before and he was all too aware that Timo and David were very experienced in this area. It made him a little nervous, even though his instincts were insisting that this was the best thing since sliced bread.
His own arousal was swirling in his belly, causing his own anatomy to throb with pleasure, so much so that he had to fight to keep his more volatile vampire nature in check. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be able to keep his underlying urge to bite, but there were some things he wanted to do first. Practically they only had about half an hour left before they would have to think about being ready to leave, which didn't leave a lot of time for experimentation, but he was going to give it a little go.
He was well aware that blowjobs were not just a matter of leaping in, because he'd had two girlfriends willing to do that for him, one who had been very good at it and one who hadn't; he just hoped he wasn't going to be in the latter category. Glancing up, he could see that Timo still had his eyes closed, but David was watching him while nibbling on Timo's ear. It was clear David knew what he intended and David smiled at him and made and exaggerated gesture with his tongue.
Linke took the hint and, praying to the gods of sex he was not about to make an idiot of himself, he licked a stripe right up the underside of Timo's cock. Timo made a noise that was somewhere between strangled and amorous, which Linke hoped was a good sign. His brain analysed and filed away the flavour on his tongue as he went in for a second go. This time he did the same thing and then let his lips lightly wrap around the head of Timo's cock to suck gently.
Hands rather urgently wrapped in his hair, almost to the point where it hurt, but he assumed he was doing things right if Timo was that desperate. He couldn't actually feel Timo's arousal, but he could sense it in a much more direct way that he had been used to. According to Bill and Tom, vampires were much more sensitive and aware of pheromones and hormonal changes in those around them and Linke could definitely feel the effect Timo's hormones and pheromones were having on him right then.
He took Timo's cock into his mouth, careful to keep his teeth out of the way and bobbed his head down as far as he dared. Timo's legs spread further and the fingers in his hair momentarily tightened, so he continued in a similar vein just to see what reactions and noises he could elicit from his new lover. With time constraints and the fact that he was picky when it came to other halves, he hadn't had that many lovers, but he was looking forward to finding out exactly how Timo and David ticked. It would take time, much longer than they had then, but he intended to learn to play them both as well as he played the bass; it was only fair considering what they were doing for him.
For a while he enjoyed sucking and licking and experimenting, but as he went on he kept finding his mind wandering and his eye becoming fixed on the inside of Timo's thigh. He could feel his teeth gently aching and he pulled back before he could end up with fangs at an unfortunate time. Timo released the death grip on his hair, but moaned quietly in loss until Timo opened his eyes their gazes met.
Linke felt himself change and the room brightened and his fangs descended. He was looking at Timo full revealed and he ran one finger carefully along the inside of Timo's thigh, where the blood pumped just beneath the surface. He knew what he wanted, but he was not going to take it without asking this time. For a moment they just looked at each other and they were stock still, but then Timo nodded, just slightly and Linke knew he had been given permission.
With it, he could not wait any longer and he dipped his head, placing a kiss on Timo's upper inside thigh. He only hoped it was going to be as good for Timo as he knew it was going to be for him. Holding Timo's leg, he opened his mouth and bit down. Timo arched up almost instantly, a quiet whimper falling from his lips that soon became a low, sexual groan. The blood hit Linke's mouth and everything else became irrelevant. His arousal spiked, although it was secondary to the wonderful taste and sensation as the blood slipped down his throat and he felt the spark or renewal deep inside him as the blood hit his system.
Timo all but writhed in David's arms as Linke drank and there was only one way it could end. Timo made a high keening sound and bucked upwards, shuddering from head to foot as Linke remained glued in place. Only as Timo came down again, relaxing more than was natural did Linke's brain click back in. Just as it had with David, his meal's orgasm seemed to trigger the end of the feeding and he drew back. Timo was sprawled in David's arms, little white splotches on those gently sculptured abs where he has come all over himself and tiny blood trails on his inner thigh where the small holes had already closed. In Linke's opinion it was beautifully debauched and the more incredibly erotic thing he had ever seen.
He knew Timo was okay, even though Timo had passed out, because he could hear Timo's steady heartbeat. What he did next surprised the part of his brain that wasn't expecting it, but it was more than his vampire side that made him lean forward and lick one little white drop off of Timo's stomach with his tongue. Then he moved to the next and the next until there was nothing there and only then was he satisfied enough to sit back again.
David was watching him, eyes big and pupils dilated in the semi-darkness and he could see a hunger there to rival his own. Very carefully David moved out from behind Timo, lying their passed out lover on the bed, and then David crawled over to him. David kissed him hard, demanding entrance into his mouth almost instantly and Linke acquiesced. The taste of blood and semen had to still be there and David seemed to need to share it. They knelt up, kissing deeply, bodies half pushed against each other and Linke was not surprised when a hand worked into his shorts, pushing them down and taking hold of his cock.
He had to break the kiss then, needing more oxygen for his sex soaked brain and David leant against him, biting his shoulder and moaning quietly. Reciprocating he found David's waistband and slipped his hand under it. They didn't have time for full on sex, but they both needed to get off and they both needed it now. He wrapped his hand around David's cock and began to stroke as well and as hard as he could from their current angle as David was already doing for him. When David bit his neck just hard enough to bruise and then began to suck he knew this wasn't going to take long. He would have tried the same for David, but he was still too close to having bitten Timo and he did not want to bite David again so soon after last time.
Instead, he laced his free hand in David's hair and just held on. David was almost making what Linke would describe as growling noises and, for a moment, he had to wonder which one of them was the vampire. The way David was sucking at his neck was driving him crazy and he wanted to come almost more than life itself, but he desperately tried to hold off for David. He was pretty sure he was going to be completely useless once he came and there was no way he was leaving David hanging.
He did not have to worry though; it seemed his interaction with Timo had been as much of a turn on for David as it had been for him and David came with a muffled cry, biting his neck in a way that sent him reeling over the edge as well. Little sparks went off in his brain and he just let himself go, trembling against David as they used each other to keep themselves from falling off the bed.
Eventually David collapsed back onto the bed, narrowly missing sitting on Timo's head and Linke let himself flop against the wall and slowly slide down it. It didn't look like any of them would be moving for a while and he wasn't overly comfortable, but that didn't stop him smiling.
"Fuck," he said, considering just climbing onto the floor and lying there, "what's it going to be like when we get to the real sex."
David gave a small chuckle at that, but didn't so much as twitch from the spot on the bed.
"Guess we'll find out tonight," was the mumbled response.
Linke found himself smiling even more; he definitely liked that idea.
====
It was dusk; Linke's new favourite time of day; the sun was no longer bright enough to hurt his eyes, but it wasn't dark enough for all the colour to have vanished from the landscape. He wasn't sure why, but he had felt like a walk, just to be on his own for a while, so he had left the others trying to decide what to have for dinner and gone to the local park. No one would miss him for at least half an hour, which was enough time to just sit and have a think. He had a lot to think about.
It had been two days since David and Timo had invaded his room and he wasn't quite sure they had been ready for what they had started. Quite frankly, they couldn't keep their hands off each other, so much so that the other three had drawn them up a list of what was and what was not acceptable outside the privacy of one of their bedrooms. Sex of any kind was banned from the bathroom because they had managed to lose track of time and use every scrap of hot water in the house the previous evening. Linke was just very grateful that the rest of the band appeared to have accepted the new arrangements, so really he couldn't argue with any conditions.
The fact that they'd all just accepted what he'd become was rather mind blowing in itself. Juri was still keeping his distance, but seemed to be warming slowly, Jan didn't seem to give two hoots now that it was clear he was not about to chow down on anyone at a random moment and Franky just kept asking him questions. David and Timo had adapted the most, that went without saying, and he couldn't help the dopey smile that appeared on his face every now and then when he thought about it.
He had found himself a nice spot and was sitting on a bench to do his thinking, just watching the last touches of sun heading for the horizon. He didn't even turn when someone sat down next to him as he was too busy watching a cloud formation shifting and moving to really bother. It was only slowly that a strange feeling began to make itself known.
"I should really learn to announce myself," an eerily familiar male voice said; "I always forget I have everything toned down."
Linke turned very slowly, just a little afraid of what he was going to find. What he saw was a tall, dark haired, unassuming man, lounging in a perfectly relaxed manner on the end of his chosen bench, but that ordinary sight sent shots of recognition through him. Memories that remained annoyingly confused rushed to his forethoughts, but he didn't need them to be clear to know exactly who he was sitting next to.
"There is no need to be afraid, My Dear Boy," his companion said and he realised he was staring and was only just this side of terrified. "You have done remarkably well and I decided it was safe to come and talk to you. I do apologise for influencing you to come on this walk, but I think knocking on your door might have had a rather detrimental effect on your conclave."
It was all said so smoothly and in such an ordinary tone, that Linke couldn't think what to say in return; his fear was dying and he wanted to be angry, but he just didn't seem to be able to get worked up.
"You're still influencing me now, aren't you?" he said, coming to the inescapable conclusion.
"A little," his companion replied with a smile, "the young are so volatile and I feel it would be better if we were to have a rational conversation. If you would really rather satisfy your ire, I will stop."
Linke thought about that for a moment; logically it was more sensible to talk in a sensible manner, but part of him really would have liked to scream and shout a bit.
"I might need to yell later," he finally decided, "just to get it out of my system, but I'll listen for now."
The other vampire smiled at him again and he almost felt like a small boy being patted on the head for being good.
"Good," his companion said, "my name is Richard, by the way, I doubt you remember; Richard Jace. Once upon a time it was just Jace, but times change and I always wanted to be a Richard."
Linke just accepted that, but couldn't help wondering how old his current companion actually was.
"You must have questions," Richard said, seemingly quite happy to talk.
"Why did you do it?" Linke asked his most important question first, just in case appearances were deceiving. "From what I understand it's against the rules."
"Rules are for the young," Richard told him with a mischievous smile and he almost reconsidered asking the vampire to stop calming him down, "but regardless I did have a very good reason. When we first bumped into each other coming out of that book shop," now that Richard mentioned it, Linke found himself recalling the meeting, "I sensed that you were unwell."
Linke went to protest.
"Ah, I am well aware that you did not know," Richard told him before he could, "it was far too early for you or medical science to have noticed, but potentials show up on vampire radar in a far more detailed way than you might think. Well for some of us anyway. I cast the runes for you and the outcome was not good."
'Cast the runes' threw up a thousand questions in Linke's head, but it was valid reasoning if you believed in that sort of thing, so Linke let that one go.
"But why didn't you approach me," he asked, trying to reason things out in his mind, "isn't that what you're supposed to do?"
Richard nodded at that and glanced at where the sky was a deep pink.
"I am very old," Richard finally said with a far away smile, "and I have learned many things in my time on this earth. The young do not always see what is in front of their faces, I have learned to look. I cast the runes many times after I first met you and I realised that I could not approach you as would be considered normal. There were certain relationships that would have failed to form had I interfered in your life in the standard way. You may not believe me, but leaving you on your own was the wisest course of action."
The one thing Linke did know as he looked at the other vampire was that Richard believed what he was saying; that didn't mean Linke believed it though.
"You're saying that you left me to fend for myself so that I would turn to David and Timo?" he asked; he just didn't see how that could be possible.
"Well I did not have all the details, but with hindsight, that must have been part of what I was seeing. It was also so that you would become independent immediately," Richard told him and sounded almost regretful. "Not that I would not have enjoyed your company as my apprentice, shall we say, but that would have stifled you in a way that I would have found unconscionable."
It all sounded very reasonable and plausible, but Linke was still having trouble accepting it. He was still angry about all the upheaval and it wasn't that easy to just step past it. For all he knew, Richard was as nutty as a fruit cake and he was just the victim of the insane vampire's fantasy.
"I can tell by the expression on your face you do not believe me," Richard said and seemed perfectly fine with it, "I did not really expect you to. Here," Linke found a card being waved under his nose, "my contact details. I'm sure if you talk to certain people in the community they can assure you of my sincerity. I am known as old and eccentric, but my predictions have a nasty habit of coming true, so many choose to take me seriously."
Linke decided to reserve judgement.
"I take it those two sweet boys from ... umm ... what is their band called?" Richard continued to speak.
"Tokio Hotel," Linke filled in and decided his companion was definitely right about the eccentric part.
"Ah yes, Tokio Hotel," Richard seemed to confirm it to himself, "I lived in Tokyo once for a few years; lovely city, very nice people. Sorry what was I saying, oh yes, I assume they have given you a good grasp of our rather fractured community?"
He nodded, since Bill and Tom had given him everything he needed to know to get going. The whole structure was a bit odd and loose as far as he was concerned, but it made a vague kind of sense. It seemed as long as you didn't do anything horribly outrageous or to endanger the community, it was each to his own.
"They told me who to contact in an emergency," he replied, "and stuff like that."
"Good," Richard said with a nod of his own, "I suggest you contact them and ask about me. If you feel you can approach me after that, my door will always be open to you. I believe that you are settled enough now that it will not affect your progress. I would ask you to forgive my actions, but I know you will not be able to do that until you are sure of my motives, and maybe not even then, so I shall not."
Richard seemed like a genuine person, but Linke knew the other vampire was right and was quite glad of the man's decision. He could still feel his anger bubbling away under the surface and he was not sure he would ever quite get over it. His life had been turned upside down with no explanation at all and it had not been fun.
"I'll ask them," he confirmed, since he wasn't sure what else to say.
"That is all I could request," Richard told him and went to stand up. "I am glad we had this chat; I do hope you do not think me a complete lunatic."
The jury was still out on that one, so Linke just shrugged.
"I'm sure we will be ... oh wait," Richard said, stopping in the middle of a sentence, "I do believe I offered you the opportunity to exorcise you ire. It will probably be therapeutic if nothing else."
Linke found himself looking directly into Richard's eyes and then he felt his anger explode. He was on his feet so fast he barely realised what he was doing and then he just swung at the other vampire. His fist connected with Richard's nose and sent the other vampire sprawling back onto the bench. It seemed that he was angrier than he had anticipated and he found himself standing over Richard, breathing hard and quite shocked at his own behaviour.
Richard dabbed at his now bleeding nose with the back of his hand and gave a small smile.
"I do believe I deserved that," the older vampire decided and seemed to be virtually unfazed by the whole thing.
"I..." Linke went to say something, but he wasn't sure what.
His anger had been very sudden and very explosive and now that he'd realised what he'd done it had been succinctly killed by shock. He stepped back as Richard calmly stood up again, fishing a handkerchief out to remove the blood which had already stopped flowing.
"I think, My Dear Boy, you needed that," Richard said, seemingly amused. "Unless you wish to hit me again I will take my leave. I hope to hear from you soon."
Linke just stood there and let Richard go; he really wasn't sure what to say to that. He slipped Richard's card into his pocket and turned to head home; he had a lot to think about.
====
"We were about to send out the search party," Timo said as Linke walked into the living room and sat down. "You could have told us you were going out."
"Sorry," he replied absently as he went over things in his head, "didn't realise I was going until I was gone."
From the smell of things the rest of the band had decided to go with the fall back position of Franky cooking, so everyone was just waiting for food.
"Where did you go?" Timo asked him.
"The park," he said, shaking himself out of his thoughts to at least look at Timo, "seems someone wanted to meet me."
Timo frowned at that.
"Who?" his boyfriend asked.
"His name is Richard Jace," Linke decided that he wasn't going to play this close to his chest, "and he's the one who did this to me."
"You met your maker?" David asked, choosing that moment to walk into the room.
Linke nodded, going over it in his head again; it seemed a little unreal.
"What did you do?" Timo asked, standing up and coming over.
"I decked him," Linke said honestly, still shocked at his actions.
"You didn't?" David sounded half scandalised.
Linke looked up again then from where he had taken to staring at the floor.
"I was a bit angry," he admitted, quite glad he wasn't that angry any more, "or at least I was when he let me be. We had a conversation first where he was keeping me calm."
From the expression on Timo's face, Timo didn't like the sound of that.
"He can do that?" David asked, more curious than Timo seemed to be.
Linke nodded and couldn't help noticing that Jan was listening while trying not to look as if he was on the other side of the room.
"He was the reason I ended up in the park to begin with," he replied; "he pushed me in that direction. It was a good idea really, can you imagine if he'd come here?"
"Still underhand," Timo clearly didn't like the behaviour.
There was no point in arguing since Timo was partially right.
"He wanted to explain why he did what he did and he seems to have had good reasons," he explained thoughtfully, "I'm just not sure he's not totally off his rocker. I have his card and he told me to ask Bill and Tom about him. At least I have a name and face to go with the vague memories now."
David fished in a pocket and handed him a mobile.
"What are you waiting for?" David asked bluntly.
It didn't look at if he was going to have much choice, so he took the mobile and flicked it open. It was not difficult to find Bill's number in David's phone book and he pressed dial.
"Hey, David," Bill's voice answered almost immediately, "what can I do for you?"
"It's Linke actually," he corrected quickly, "David just insisted I call at this very minute so he sacrificed his phone."
"Linke," Bill greeted cheerfully, "what can I do for you then?"
"I met him, my maker," it felt really weird saying it to another vampire.
"Really, when? Are you okay?" Bill asked very quickly.
Linke almost rolled his eyes; it was kind of sweet that everyone seemed so worried about him lately, but he hoped it's wouldn't last.
"I'm fine," he replied and looked at both David and Timo who were hovering to make his point to them too, "he just wanted to talk. His name is Richard Jace, he said ..."
"Jace?" Bill all but squeaked on the other end of the connection.
That wasn't quite the reaction Linke had expected and it must have shown because David looked interested.
"What'd he say?" David asked and Linke had to wave him off for the time being.
"Yeah, Jace," he said hoping that this wasn't going to be something terrible; "tall, black hair, perpetual smirk. He's not some lunatic is he, because at times he sounded like it?"
"Well that depends who you talk to," Bill replied quickly. "Tom, get over here."
"Well?" David pushed.
"They know his name, not sure on anything else yet," Linke said, putting his hand over the phone.
He heard movement at Bill's end and could only assume it was Tom doing as he was told. He had noticed over his brief acquaintance with the twins that Tom tended to follow Bill's orders most of the time; it had been an interesting dynamic to watch.
"That's a name that has all sorts of connotations in the community," Bill said, speaking to him again and Linke wondered if they were good connotations or bad one. "He's old, no one's quite sure how old, he's just been around a long time. Some vampires write him off as eccentric, but there are a lot who sit up and pay attention when he says things. He doesn't usually take much notice of the young."
That didn't seem quite true.
"Oh I think he takes notice," Linke replied, wondering how much of the vampire community underestimated Jace, "he called you 'those two sweet boys'."
"I am not sweet," he heard Tom say.
"He knew about us?" Bill seemed to be focusing on the more important part of that.
Linke almost smiled; Bill sounded so surprised even though Bill was part of the most famous band in Germany.
"Yeah," Linke replied, nodding even though he was talking on the phone, "but he couldn't remember the name of your band, just that you were in one."
There was silence from the other end of the line for a while.
"And?" Timo asked and distracted him.
"What he told me is true so far, he's well known as eccentric," since the conversation seemed to have halted he provided the information.
It was never easy having conversations with two sets of people.
"That's unexpected," Bill finally came back on, "but enough about us; you have a powerful sire there. Did he tell you why he turned you?"
"Yeah," Linke said and then decided to hedge; he didn't feel comfortable revealing everything Richard had told him yet, not without having talked to Timo and David about it first, "but that's not what has me confused. He said he cast the runes for me, does that mean what I think it means?"
When he glanced at David and Timo, both were looking sceptical.
"If you think it means he divined the future by throwing rune stones, then, yeah it does," Tom spoke this time, slightly muffled by the fact that Bill was holding the phone. "Our nana is a strong believer in that sort of thing. Jace has a reputation for coming out of the woodwork every now and then, dropping a piece of accurate advice and then disappearing again."
It was sounding more and more like Richard was on the level, even if Linke had trouble believing in fortune telling. It wasn't as if he wasn't getting used to coming around to believe in things that didn't exist.
"So he's not nuts then?" he asked, just to make sure.
That appeared to be a question Timo approved of, if his expression was anything to go by.
"Not if you listen to what Nana has to say," Bill replied with certainty in his voice. "You'll need to report the meeting to the right people so they know what's going on, but no one in the community is going to argue with him unless you really insist."
He found that oddly comforting and then realised that maybe he shouldn't, since he was supposed to still be angry at the man. His attitude was clearly changing quickly. It was of course possible that he had expunged his anger with the punch; he did tend to bottle everything up, then explode and then it was all over.
"I'm not going to insist," Linke said, since he already realised that much was true. "He said I can go talk to him any time; should I, or will he just confuse me?"
"You know where he lives?" Bill's voice was very excited again and once again it surprised Linke.
He had to take the phone away from his ear for a moment, Bill was so loud.
"Something wrong?" David asked as he grimaced.
"Bill's just getting over excited," he said, knowing full well that Bill could hear everything he said.
"I am not," Bill protested from the other end of the line as he put the phone back to his ear.
"You so are, Little Brother," Tom said with a laugh.
Linke did find himself smiling then; he was feeling much better about the whole thing given the twins' reactions.
"He gave me his card," he said, once he was sure he had their attention again, "and it has his address on it."
"Guard it with your life," Bill said and Linke hoped his friend was exaggerating.
"Just don't tell anyone you have it," Tom added.
"Jace is a man of mystery," Bill took over again. "He might have a few funny ideas, but you probably couldn't get a better grounding in the reality of the community from anyone else. By all accounts he's seen it come into being."
"What are they saying?" David asked him.
"The answer is yes," Linke summarised for his friends.
It seemed easier than going through all the details there and then. He had no doubt David and Timo would not leave him alone until they had all of them, but he had kind of known that going into a relationship with them. David and Timo kept very little from each other and they had adopted him with exactly the same mindset. It was taking some getting used to, but he was getting there.
"If you have any trouble with anyone in the community," Bill began to say.
"Yeah, some vampires are pompous arseholes," Tom commented.
"Just drop the name of your maker and they'll back off," Bill finished. "You won't have any trouble with Jace behind you, even if the ones you're talking to think he's an eccentric old lunatic."
Well that was nice to know.
"That sounds useful," Linke said, nodding and from the look on David's face it was clear his boyfriend wanted to know what 'that' was. "So will the powers that be get on my case if I wait until tomorrow to tell them?"
Bill laughed at that.
"Linke," Bill said, still chuckling, "once you tell them who your sire is, I don't think anyone will get on your case again, ever."
"Not unless you do something really stupid like try to take over the world with a legion of vampires," Tom added, clearly amused as well.
The way the vampire community worked was beginning to become clear to Linke; it seemed to be a lot about who you knew. It looked like he had much better foundations for this new aspect of his life than he had thought; maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
"I'll remember to make a note of not taking over the world," he said dryly.
"Glad to hear it," Bill replied.
Then someone said something on the other end that Linke didn't catch.
"Yeah, okay, we'll be there in a minute," he heard Bill reply. "Look, Linke, is there anything else you need to know; we're supposed to be on this show in about an hour and they want us in makeup. We can fend them off for a bit if you need to talk more though."
That did make Linke smile as he formed the mental image of Bill sparing with a makeup person using only a hairbrush as a weapon.
"I think I know everything I need to, thanks," he replied, "sorry to have caught you at a bad time."
"Never a bad time," Bill told him, "not for friends."
"Well thanks, you've put my mind at rest," he said, feeling happier than he had done since the whole situation had begun, "and good luck with the show."
"You're welcome," he heard Tom call from some distance away; clearly Tom was already on the way somewhere.
"We'll talk again soon," Bill added. "Yes I'm coming," clearly Bill was being bothered by someone. "See ya."
"Bye," Linke replied and then hung up as he heard the line disconnect.
He handed the phone back to David.
"Thanks," he said as he tried to put everything in order in his head.
It was quite an adjustment to make; his maker had gone from mysterious, uncaring arsehole to not quite sane, important vampire with very good reasons. He needed to sleep on it.
"So?" David asked and Timo nodded along as well and Jan had given up not looking interested.
"So?" Linke said, raising his eyebrows.
David gave him a very unimpressed look.
"Okay," he said, relenting.
It was clear he was more susceptible to that look these days than he had been; he was going to have to work on that.
"Is seems like my maker may have had a valid reason for what he did and that being friends with him might be very useful," he said, summing everything up. "Happy now?"
The way he was being scrutinised, he knew he was not off the hook, but he did his best to convey the fact that was all they were getting for now.
"Okay," Timo finally decided, "but we want to hear details about this Jace character and you are not going to see him without at least one of us in tow. It all sounds weird to me."
"Of course it's weird," Linke replied with a grin; "it's vampires."
No one could argue with him about that.
====
Timo lay there, staring into the dark with a fond smile on his face. Single beds were not designed for three and yet here they were again, all squashed into one at odd angles just so they could all lie down. If Linke even remotely considered rolling sideways their pet vampire would be on the floor and David was pushed up against the wall in such a way that he was almost an ornament. They were both sound asleep and using him as an anchor, or at least that's what it felt like to Timo.
It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement, but Timo was quite happy in the middle of the pile of three bodies. They never really planned to all sleep in the same bed; it just seemed to keep happening. Vampires were as addictive as Georg had warned him. He had never had any complaints about his and David's sex life, but he'd never felt this out of control about sex, not even in the midst of puberty. It wasn't just that he was craving Linke either; he craved David just as much, which at least made him feel a little better about the whole thing.
Whatever signals vampires gave off, they were like cat nip to the average moggy in Timo's opinion, only they didn't run around going mad, they kept touching and kissing and everything else. It was kind of difficult when they weren't in the house to remember that touching like that was not allowed. It was, however, doing wonders for strengthening his will.
Both he and David, well mostly David really, had pinned Linke down and made him tell them about the whole meeting with his maker. The fact that Linke had been ill before and none of them, including Linke, had had a clue, made him feel just a little vulnerable in a feeling his own mortality way, but it did make Jace's actions seem less sinister. He really did hope for Linke's sake that everything was on the level; if it wasn't, the vampire community might just find out what a pissed off rock band were like.
Timo was already itching to put down some lyrics about their recent experiences and their currents ones, but it was kind of difficult to be vague enough without losing sense, so he was still thinking about it. If he was not very mistaken he had seen Linke scribbling earlier in the day as well: they might get a few singles out of this if nothing else. They were definitely settling down, the previous day the whole band had produced more in the studio than they had in weeks. It was like they had a renewed lease of life.
They had all changed thanks to Linke's illness and then revelations, but in the end it might have done some good. The group was more cohesive for it even though everyone hadn't quite adjusted and Timo hoped that, going forward, they would be better for it.
He carefully ran one finger over the side of David's face, removing an unruly lock of hair that was threatening to end up in David's slightly open mouth. It was kind of hard to believe that he was part of a trio now, but the warm bodies on each side of him helped his beleaguered brain to keep remembering it was true. He was wary of relationships and had always thought he would steer clear until he and David had fallen into more than friendship. That he had taken another step was quite a revelation to him.
Only time would tell where they would end up: how he and David and Linke would adjust to their new relationship; how the band would move in the music world. It was all a matter of questions and none of them would be answered quickly, but as his current sleeping arrangements implied, Timo was ready for the awkwardness along the way because he was sure it would bring good things.
With that thought he relaxed back onto the bed and allowed his eyes to fall closed. His over active brain had run through everything and all was right with the world so he could finally let sleep come.
====
Linke opened his eyes carefully and looked up as he felt Timo's breathing even out. He had come to realise that Timo did not seem able to fall asleep in the same bed with other people if those people were not asleep first, so he had taken to faking being asleep to make sure Timo could drop off. It was becoming increasingly obvious to him that he did not need as much sleep as a normal human anymore and hence it made sleeping at night even more difficult. Not that he really minded just lying there with his present company.
He was honestly stunned at how much his life had changed in just over a week. Firstly he was a vampire, something he was still getting used to and he really didn't have too much of a clue about. He was working on his education, in fact he had called Jace and asked for a meeting the next evening. David and Timo had insisted on being invited too, but since Jace seemed to think this was a perfect idea, there hadn't been too much fighting about that. Of course that was the other thing that had turned his world on its head: Timo and David.
There were certain constants in a person's life that were like foundation stones that kept everything in place. David and Timo being a couple had become one of Linke's reality since he had become part of the band. It was one of those things that nothing could shake, except he seemed to have managed it.
It could have gone so wrong and brought everything tumbling down, but miraculously it actually seemed to be working. He was as thoroughly whipped when it came to David as Timo was and he didn't know how it had happened, but it definitely had. Maybe David had mutant pheromones or something, because there just didn't seem to be a way to say no when David really wanted something.
It hadn't been difficult to figure out it was David who had talked Timo into the whole idea in the first place, but Timo was not one to hold back with his opinions, so Linke knew Timo was in this for real as well. They were a full functioning three. It sounded bizarre, but given the fact they all seemed to have gained the libido of a sex-crazed rabbit, being a three was very useful.
When he had phoned Bill and asked about that particular aspect of their relationship, Bill had assured him they would eventually calm down somewhat. It had something to do with chemical reactions and establishing the group dynamic that Bill hadn't been overly clear on. In the end Bill had just told him that their hormones should have levelled off in about a month.
It wasn't that Linke was complaining; it was just distracting. Even lying there in the dark he wanted to reach out and touch, which he wasn't going to do because they were working really hard in the studio at the moment and David and Timo needed to sleep. The dreams were the really outrageous bit. Some of the things they got up to in his dreams he wasn't even sure were physically possible in real life.
Of course it ran deeper than just the sex. Even that afternoon he had found himself considering just throwing David over his shoulder and leaving the studio, because David looked over stressed at part of the track they were trying to lay down. Logically he had known that David would most likely have killed him, but the urge had still been there to protect. With Timo he was less inclined to such urges because Timo appeared on the surface to be less fragile than David, but the urges were still there. Of course he knew that David wasn't really that fragile, he just couldn't seem to make his instincts understand this.
He hesitated to call what the three of them had love. Oh he was sure Timo loved David and David loved Timo, but he couldn't bring himself to put his own part in the relationship in the same bracket. It was more than friendship and he was sure the vampiric part of his nature was obsessed with David and Timo, but he hadn't quite come to terms with what his human nature was thinking.
Whatever it was, it was growing, that much he did acknowledge. The confusing mix of feelings was moving into every part of his thought process and it was impossible to ignore. He cared, he cared a great deal, and he thought it would end up as love, but he didn't feel comfortable with that label yet.
In the end it was irrelevant to the way they were moving forward; there would be no separating them now, but it was not irrelevant to him. Why he had latched on to David and then Timo he couldn't explain; he had had no hints of it before, not consciously, but it was very real now. He needed to understand more about his vampire nature to understand where all these feelings and needs were coming from, and he didn't know enough yet. He was pretty sure it wouldn't all be obvious even when he did know everything he needed to know, but then he had realised a long time ago that life was never straightforward.
He had yet to have a conversation with his family where he explained what had happened. That hurdle was yet to come, and he wanted to understand as much as possible first. The band was his support structure at the moment and he only hoped his parents would be as understanding.
Moving carefully, he put himself in a slightly more comfortable position. He tended to wake up in the mornings with a stiff neck thanks to the odd angles he ended up sleeping at, but with his vampire metabolism it never lasted very long. That was why he always did his best to make sure David and Timo looked at least vaguely comfortable when they went to sleep; they didn't have that advantage. If they were going to keep doing this they were going to have to admit it and invest in a double bed. No doubt the moment David decided that they needed to they would, but until then he had to make sure he didn't fall out.
It was a challenge, actually his whole life was a challenge, but he couldn't say he didn't relish it.
The End
Author: Beren
Fandom: Panik/Tokio Hotel RPS (more Panik than TH)
Pairing: David/Timo/Linke, (mentions Tom/Bill/Georg/Gustav)
Rating: NC17/18
Warnings: vampires, (mentions of TH twincest)
Summary: Linke's not feeling well and it turns out not to be the flu.
Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Chapter 3 David and Timo
Morning was really, really not his favourite time anymore, but there were meetings to attend and things to do, so Linke crawled out of bed. He was quite pleased with himself, since the previous morning, after the twins' visit, Jan had had to literally drag him out of bed. His brain was foggy with sleep and he staggered to his door and opened it, planning to see if the bathroom was free and staking a claim if it was. What he saw was Timo coming out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist. Clearly Timo had just had a shower, because Linke's eyes zeroed in on a couple of drops running down Timo's chest where it had dripped off his friend's hair.
It was like his whole system woke up in little more than a second and he found his nostrils flaring, his eyes opening wide and his gaze running up and down Timo like Timo was the second coming or something. There was a gentle ache in his gums and the corridor became uncomfortably bright and for a moment he couldn't even think.
He froze, just staring and letting his baser instincts get the better of him. It was only as he let his eyes run slowly up from Timo's feet, over the loosely hung towel and the defined chest to Timo's face, and he realised that his friend was looking back at him, that he consciously noticed what he was doing.
He was looking at Timo the same way he had looked at David and the reality of what he was doing slammed into him like a tonne weight. Timo was staring at him and he panicked. Turning, he stepped back into his room, slammed the door and then threw his back against it, coming to rest breathing hard.
This was just beyond a joke; he was so out of control. He hadn't even realised he was hungry like that, but he certainly knew now and it left him only one choice. He could not risk his friends, not like this and he grabbed his duffle bag, threw it on the bed and then began throwing clothes and things at it that he needed to take with him. Bill's number was in his phone, so he could ring and ask about those places the twins had told him about, where he could find a willing donor, then he could go to his parent's place. He couldn't stay here, not with what he might do to David or, as it turned out, Timo.
It wasn't even night and he had almost jumped Timo in the corridor, what would he be like by the time it got dark and his instincts were stronger? It really wasn't worth the risk.
When he had everything he thought he might need (he could ask his dad to pick up the rest of his stuff at a later date) he began putting them in the bag. He could wait for the others to be ready to go; if he told them to leave him alone, they would, and then when they were gone he could use the bathroom and make his escape. He'd leave them a note or something to explain where he had gone; Timo and David would know why.
He didn't want to abandon the band and give up his dream, but he was too scared by what he might do not to. If he laid another hand on any of his friends because he had no control he would never forgive himself. That David had forgiven him the first time was still amazing to him. The guilt lurking at the back of his mind still whispered that he'd all but raped David, given the way they'd interacted, and he was not letting that happen again.
He finished packing and then stood there for a while, wondering what to do. It would take the others a while to all trail in and out of the bathroom and then get downstairs and so he had to wait. Pushing his bag against the wall, he sat down and looked around his little room; it wasn't much, but it had been home for a while now. He was going to miss it here; miss this place, miss his friends, miss the music, but he had no other choice.
His mind played his reaction to Timo over and over in his head and it frightened him. He had wanted to step forward and push Timo into the bathroom door and then bite his friend while blowing every brain cell Timo had. It was not a normal instinct and he dreaded fate giving him the chance to play it out. His cock betrayed him, twitching at the very thought of what he had wanted to do.
Driven he might be, but he refused to leave his friends at the mercy of his instincts.
He grabbed his pillow, hugging it to himself as he waited for the others to stagger through their morning routine; he didn't dare step out of his room.
He heard someone enter the bathroom and then about fifteen minutes later Juri banging on the door to find out how long the person inside was going to take. Jan's voice was muffled coming to him through two doors, but he didn't think it would take long for those two to finish up. He hoped he didn't have to sit there worrying too long; it just depended where Timo had been in the chain of bathroom use that morning.
Franky emerged onto the landing at some point while Juri was still waiting, because Linke heard a short discussion and then Franky's door close again. Just after that Jan came out of the bathroom, exchanged a few words with Juri and then went back to his room letting Juri have the communal room. That meant the landing was empty and for a moment or two Linke considered just getting dressed, grabbing his stuff and doing a runner without waiting, but he was thwarted as another door opened.
He was used to a house full of people; it had always been that way at home and in the band house it was the same, and for the first time he regretted it. However, what terrified him was when the footsteps in the hall stopped outside his door and there was a knock. He sat there staring at the door and refused to answer.
"Linke," David called to him through the door.
That was the last thing he needed, now that his brain was on that track it helpfully provided him with graphic details of the last time he had bitten David.
"Go away," he said, more in an attempt to make the images in his head disappear than anything else.
"Not going to happen," Timo's voice carried through the door and he wondered how he had missed that the footsteps had belonged to two people.
"If you know what's good for you, you will," he said, trying to sound annoyed rather than afraid.
If Timo thought he was annoyed at his reaction earlier rather than anything else, they might leave him alone.
To his horror his door handle turned and he found himself backing away on the bed until he hit the wall. David's head appeared round the door as it opened.
"Get out," he said and did not bother trying to hide his panic; he could feel himself reacting, "are you insane?"
It seemed that once his vampire senses were turned on, unless they got what they wanted, he had a great deal of trouble diverting them. Why the hell did his friends have to be so hard headed?
"Leaving?" David said, looking at the packed bag and totally disregarding his instructions by entering the room, closely followed by Timo.
Linke just sat there as he found his senses trying to overload again, completely without his consent. Timo and David in the same room with him, just at the moment, was pure torture.
"Ugh," he said as he found himself mentally undressing Timo to what he had seen in the hallway and buried his face in the pillow to try and muffle the pure presence of his two friends.
"Linke," David was speaking to him, but he tried to ignore it, until he felt a tug on his pillow, "we don't want you to leave."
"Leave me alone," he said, desperately holding on to his only shield; "I can't control myself."
The pressure on the pillow did not let up.
"We kind of guessed that," David said and Linke didn't know how long his will power would hold out; David's voice was like honey.
"That's why we're here," Timo's voice made him whimper as it tried to drag up everything he was trying to force down.
It was worse than when he had bitten David; then he hadn't known what was happening and it had mostly been about the blood, now it was more, so much more. Clearly his instincts had changed since then and his urges had grown. When they had grown to include Timo he wasn't sure, but he mentally cursed Bill Kaulitz for ever putting the idea in his head.
"Look at us," David urged and he had to wonder if he was in a bizarre nightmare and he'd wake up soon.
Holding on to his pillow tightly, he shook his head; if he looked up he was sure he would snare his two friends. What they thought they were doing he had no idea, but he prayed they would just go away. At least he was sure that they couldn't get the pillow away from him, even in his normal state he was significantly stronger than a human being now.
"Linke," Timo again and his resolve began to slip, "we've been talking things over. We want to be there for you, however you need us."
That made him freeze as logic suggested that he could not have heard what he thought he had heard and then he doubted what Timo might mean.
"Please, look at us," David urged gently and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Almost convinced he was just having a dream, Linke very slowly looked up. The room was bright in his vision even though he liked to keep the curtains closed and the light dim during the day and he didn't have any trouble seeing the sincere expressions on David and Timo's faces. He was suddenly filled with the idea that his friends were being martyrs.
"You don't know what you're getting into," he said, his depressing thoughts giving him just a little bit of control.
He did not dare look either of the other two in the eyes for fear that he would just lure them in.
"Actually we do," Timo said as David sat down next to him.
"You're not the only one with a Kaulitz phone number," David said and smiled, just a little, "and Tom gave me Georg's too."
"And once you get Georg talking, he's almost as hard to shut up as Bill," Timo added.
Linke wasn't sure what to say; he still wasn't convinced.
"It turns out that Georg and Gustav have known what the twins were since they first met," David continued to explain as Linke tried to keep himself in check, "but they were as shocked as I was when they found out what Bill and Tom wanted to do to them after they were fully turned."
"But Georg said it’s the best sex he's ever had," Timo put in looking just a little mischievous.
David swiped at Timo's leg for that comment.
"Georg also said that once you've hooked a vampire you've got them for good," David said, trying to remain perfectly serious. "Timo and I are one hundred percent committed to each other and we would never jeopardise that, but having you with us would only make us stronger."
"But you don't think of me like that," Linke pointed out.
He'd been about as straight as you could get until the whole vampire fiasco and he had never looked on his friends in that light nor they on him, he was sure. He wanted them to make a mistake that could cost them their relationship even less than he wanted to attack them.
"We didn't," David admitted with a nod, "but things change and you've definitely changed. I think that bite might have affected me in a similar way it did you, just not as drastically. Don't let it go to your head, but I've been dreaming about you and they haven't been innocent dreams."
"Yeah," Timo added, "and he's been waking me in the middle of the night to help him out. It's been kind of hard to ignore."
"The only thing that was holding us back was you and Timo," David admitted and surprised him.
Timo gave a grin at that.
"And then I saw your reaction earlier," Timo told him, "and boxer shorts don't hide a lot."
Linke wasn't sure if he should have been feeling mortified or not.
"You don't do that with just anyone, right?" David asked and for the first time sounded less than sure.
"No," Linke replied, not exactly sure how to explain his reaction; he hadn't had it with any of the others, not when he'd met Franky on the landing the previous evening in only a pair of boxers, and he didn't think it was purely hunger.
David gave him a small smile.
"Then Timo and I are decided," David told him, "and you seemed to have decided at a base level some time ago, so that just leaves up there."
Linke almost went cross-eyed when David poked him in the forehead just to emphasis the point. The touch all but tingled.
There wasn't really anything to decide, as David said, he had already made the decision on most levels; it was only his logical brain holding him back.
"There's no way to change your mind," he said very carefully; he needed to be absolutely sure.
He was almost positive that once this genie was out of the bottle the only way to get it back in would be to kill it. There were feelings lurking just under the surface that he knew, once acknowledged, were never, ever going back to sleep and there were a few rare things he was possessive as hell about and had always been, one of those was SOs. Vampire or no vampire, if they stepped over the line then the line was gone; there was no going back.
"Did you miss the part of the conversation about 'once you've hooked a vampire you've got them for good'?" Timo asked and rolled his eyes.
"What he's trying to say," David said, far more seriously than Timo, "is we get that. We have talked this through."
Linke was still having trouble believing this was real.
"When?" he asked; there hadn't been that much time since the twins had finally explained what was going on.
"A bit the other evening after you told David the truth and most of last night after he woke me up horny," Timo said, being completely blunt.
David did not look impressed with the comment.
"I love you, but I may have to kill you at some point," was David's comment on Timo's current mood.
It made Linke's chest feel kind of tight to be in on such an intimate state between the two; usually they kept such things for private. Timo and David were so used to hiding their relationship from prying eyes that a lot of the time that meant their band mates as well.
"We're guessing, given your current state, you're not going to be much use outside this room," David said and smiled a little himself now.
"Like he ever is anyway," Timo said and David very efficiently hit Timo is the stomach, but only hard enough to make Timo bend double in mock pain, rather than real pain.
Linke was still off balance, but clearly David and Timo were less so, which was helping his equilibrium as least teeter rather than being destroyed completely.
"No use at all," he confirmed, but didn't bother to add that if the other two tried to leave he'd probably make it to the door before they did and block the way.
"Okay," David decided firmly, "we'll have to postpone the meeting, the suits can wait an hour or so. Better let the others know."
Timo nodded and turned towards the door; Linke felt himself shifting before he could stop himself and he almost stood up.
"Linke," David said, grabbing his attention.
He couldn't help it, he turned to look at David and David gave him a patented, killer smile that could even have outshone Franky, which was saying something. When David pulled at his pillow, he just let it go and then he found David getting closer and closer. As David actually kissed him, he forgot just about everything else and barely noticed Timo exiting the room. However, part of him did notice and he pushed David back, needing to follow.
"He'll be back in a little bit," David insisted, not letting him go, "you're not molesting him in the corridor."
That sounded logical, but Linke's psyche wasn't overly focused on logic at that moment and David must have realised, because David didn't let him go. In fact David went for the jugular, literally, and Linke felt teeth and lips and tongue on his neck and he promptly melted. That bit of his neck had been sensitive since he had woken up in the hospital, but he hadn't realised quite how erogenous it could be until that particular instant in time.
"Thought that would work," he heard David mutter as he dissolved under the onslaught and then David's lips were occupied again and Linke found himself sliding down the wall sideways, onto the bed with David on top of him.
He had no idea how long it was before the door opened again as David turned him into a quivering wreck with no more than teeth and tongue and one patch of his skin.
"Getting ahead of me, I see," Timo said and David finally showed some mercy and let him go.
"Just distracting our amorous vampire," David said and Linke blinked up at the pair, trying to put some semblance of order back in his head.
He had the sneaking suspicion he might be in trouble.
"We have one hour," Timo told them, "and then I promised we'd be downstairs. Juri is phoning through with an excuse about Linke being a wuss, but that will only buy us so much time."
"He still has his clothes on," Timo said as if he'd expected something different.
Linke was already feeling underdressed, since David and Timo had put on clothes before coming to see him and he was in just a t-shirt and boxers. He found this incredibly unfair, since David already seemed to have discovered a weakness he hadn't even known he had.
"I think," he said, drawing both of their attentions to him, "that since Timo is being so obnoxious we should undress him first."
He looked at David with one eyebrow raised and didn't bother fighting his vampire instincts and, as his own vision flashed brighter, he knew his eyes had to have changed. David was all but sitting on him, but as one they turned to Timo, who suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself.
"You might be right," David replied with a very evil looking grin.
Almost as one they climbed off the bed and Timo eyed them both up.
"It shouldn't take much to get him out of those clothes," Linke said, liking the plan more and more.
"I thought we were tag teaming him?" Timo said and Linke smiled as he realised he and David were pulling the carefully placed rug out from under Timo's feet.
This was going to be fun.
"We were," David said with a devious grin, "but I like the idea of you naked and so I've changed sides."
David moved behind Timo and Linke closed in, in front and Timo seemed to realise that he was trapped. David went for Timo's t-shirt and Linke went for the belt on Timo's trousers and both were coming off with ruthless efficiency in under a couple of seconds.
"I will get you back for this," Timo said as they rapidly stripped him.
"Sure you will," David said and divested Timo of his boxer shorts.
Linke decided that keeping his mouth shut and letting David handle Timo was probably his best plan at that point.
"You know you're going to enjoy this," David said, standing close behind Timo and running those long piano playing fingers over Timo's chest, "so stop complaining."
"I wasn't complaining," Timo said, turning his head and stealing a kiss.
"Sure you weren't," David said and as Linke watched, urging himself and Timo towards the bed.
David knelt on the bed, sitting back so he was all but sitting and dragged Timo with him so that Timo had no choice but to half sit, half lay against his other half. Linke found his eyes travelling all over Timo's naked body and he felt his cock twitching and his mouth watering, the second of which might have been disconcerting had he not sort of expected it.
"It's your move, Linke," David said, playing one finger up and down Timo's neck in a very obvious gesture.
It was his bed, but Linke felt like he was moving into enemy territory as he walked towards it. This was new and exciting and when Timo parted his legs slightly, he took the invitation and climbed onto the bed between them. He was nervous, but he was so ready for this as all of his senses screamed sex at him.
Linke liked this, he liked it a lot and he began to investigate every piece of skin he could reach. He left Timo's neck to David's ministrations, since it was a little too much of a temptation and went to work on Timo's chest instead. In his mind's eye he could clearly see the trail the water droplets had taken and he carefully traced the course with his tongue.
"Are you two planning on try to kill me, because you're not doing a very good job," Timo said in a teasing tone, but quite how breathless he sounded, rather negated the statement.
After flashing Timo his most wicked grin, he took revenge and sucked hard on one of the already pert nipples just under his nose.
"Oh fuck!" was Timo's very heartfelt reaction.
"I think," David said, where David was now doing similar things to Timo's neck as he had done to Linke's earlier, "that baiting a vampire who has you naked before him, might not be such a good idea."
Each word was pointed by a kiss or a nibble and looking up at Timo's face as he continued to flick his tongue over the nipple he had found, Linke decided that Timo would be putty their hands, very, very shortly.
He could not suppress his vampire senses enough to go back to being normal, but Linke had managed to put away his fangs, at least for now and he used his normal teeth to good measure. With him working on Timo's chest and David working on Timo's neck, all protestations soon died away and Timo began making small noises of pleasure instead. He had to move further down the bed to move further down Timo's torso, since Timo was half sitting up, resting against David, but it was well worth the effort. It turned out that Timo was just a bit ticklish around his navel and Linke spent several interesting minutes making Timo's stomach muscles twitch.
He could taste Timo every time he used his tongue, and not just residual shower gel or anything like that, which he would have been able to pick up before, but something underlying such things that he could only mentally describe as male flesh. It was a taste which urged him on.
There were other things twitching, not just stomach muscles and Linke paused as he all but came nose to head with Timo's cock. This was all very new; he'd never considered being with another man before and he was all too aware that Timo and David were very experienced in this area. It made him a little nervous, even though his instincts were insisting that this was the best thing since sliced bread.
His own arousal was swirling in his belly, causing his own anatomy to throb with pleasure, so much so that he had to fight to keep his more volatile vampire nature in check. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be able to keep his underlying urge to bite, but there were some things he wanted to do first. Practically they only had about half an hour left before they would have to think about being ready to leave, which didn't leave a lot of time for experimentation, but he was going to give it a little go.
He was well aware that blowjobs were not just a matter of leaping in, because he'd had two girlfriends willing to do that for him, one who had been very good at it and one who hadn't; he just hoped he wasn't going to be in the latter category. Glancing up, he could see that Timo still had his eyes closed, but David was watching him while nibbling on Timo's ear. It was clear David knew what he intended and David smiled at him and made and exaggerated gesture with his tongue.
Linke took the hint and, praying to the gods of sex he was not about to make an idiot of himself, he licked a stripe right up the underside of Timo's cock. Timo made a noise that was somewhere between strangled and amorous, which Linke hoped was a good sign. His brain analysed and filed away the flavour on his tongue as he went in for a second go. This time he did the same thing and then let his lips lightly wrap around the head of Timo's cock to suck gently.
Hands rather urgently wrapped in his hair, almost to the point where it hurt, but he assumed he was doing things right if Timo was that desperate. He couldn't actually feel Timo's arousal, but he could sense it in a much more direct way that he had been used to. According to Bill and Tom, vampires were much more sensitive and aware of pheromones and hormonal changes in those around them and Linke could definitely feel the effect Timo's hormones and pheromones were having on him right then.
He took Timo's cock into his mouth, careful to keep his teeth out of the way and bobbed his head down as far as he dared. Timo's legs spread further and the fingers in his hair momentarily tightened, so he continued in a similar vein just to see what reactions and noises he could elicit from his new lover. With time constraints and the fact that he was picky when it came to other halves, he hadn't had that many lovers, but he was looking forward to finding out exactly how Timo and David ticked. It would take time, much longer than they had then, but he intended to learn to play them both as well as he played the bass; it was only fair considering what they were doing for him.
For a while he enjoyed sucking and licking and experimenting, but as he went on he kept finding his mind wandering and his eye becoming fixed on the inside of Timo's thigh. He could feel his teeth gently aching and he pulled back before he could end up with fangs at an unfortunate time. Timo released the death grip on his hair, but moaned quietly in loss until Timo opened his eyes their gazes met.
Linke felt himself change and the room brightened and his fangs descended. He was looking at Timo full revealed and he ran one finger carefully along the inside of Timo's thigh, where the blood pumped just beneath the surface. He knew what he wanted, but he was not going to take it without asking this time. For a moment they just looked at each other and they were stock still, but then Timo nodded, just slightly and Linke knew he had been given permission.
With it, he could not wait any longer and he dipped his head, placing a kiss on Timo's upper inside thigh. He only hoped it was going to be as good for Timo as he knew it was going to be for him. Holding Timo's leg, he opened his mouth and bit down. Timo arched up almost instantly, a quiet whimper falling from his lips that soon became a low, sexual groan. The blood hit Linke's mouth and everything else became irrelevant. His arousal spiked, although it was secondary to the wonderful taste and sensation as the blood slipped down his throat and he felt the spark or renewal deep inside him as the blood hit his system.
Timo all but writhed in David's arms as Linke drank and there was only one way it could end. Timo made a high keening sound and bucked upwards, shuddering from head to foot as Linke remained glued in place. Only as Timo came down again, relaxing more than was natural did Linke's brain click back in. Just as it had with David, his meal's orgasm seemed to trigger the end of the feeding and he drew back. Timo was sprawled in David's arms, little white splotches on those gently sculptured abs where he has come all over himself and tiny blood trails on his inner thigh where the small holes had already closed. In Linke's opinion it was beautifully debauched and the more incredibly erotic thing he had ever seen.
He knew Timo was okay, even though Timo had passed out, because he could hear Timo's steady heartbeat. What he did next surprised the part of his brain that wasn't expecting it, but it was more than his vampire side that made him lean forward and lick one little white drop off of Timo's stomach with his tongue. Then he moved to the next and the next until there was nothing there and only then was he satisfied enough to sit back again.
David was watching him, eyes big and pupils dilated in the semi-darkness and he could see a hunger there to rival his own. Very carefully David moved out from behind Timo, lying their passed out lover on the bed, and then David crawled over to him. David kissed him hard, demanding entrance into his mouth almost instantly and Linke acquiesced. The taste of blood and semen had to still be there and David seemed to need to share it. They knelt up, kissing deeply, bodies half pushed against each other and Linke was not surprised when a hand worked into his shorts, pushing them down and taking hold of his cock.
He had to break the kiss then, needing more oxygen for his sex soaked brain and David leant against him, biting his shoulder and moaning quietly. Reciprocating he found David's waistband and slipped his hand under it. They didn't have time for full on sex, but they both needed to get off and they both needed it now. He wrapped his hand around David's cock and began to stroke as well and as hard as he could from their current angle as David was already doing for him. When David bit his neck just hard enough to bruise and then began to suck he knew this wasn't going to take long. He would have tried the same for David, but he was still too close to having bitten Timo and he did not want to bite David again so soon after last time.
Instead, he laced his free hand in David's hair and just held on. David was almost making what Linke would describe as growling noises and, for a moment, he had to wonder which one of them was the vampire. The way David was sucking at his neck was driving him crazy and he wanted to come almost more than life itself, but he desperately tried to hold off for David. He was pretty sure he was going to be completely useless once he came and there was no way he was leaving David hanging.
He did not have to worry though; it seemed his interaction with Timo had been as much of a turn on for David as it had been for him and David came with a muffled cry, biting his neck in a way that sent him reeling over the edge as well. Little sparks went off in his brain and he just let himself go, trembling against David as they used each other to keep themselves from falling off the bed.
Eventually David collapsed back onto the bed, narrowly missing sitting on Timo's head and Linke let himself flop against the wall and slowly slide down it. It didn't look like any of them would be moving for a while and he wasn't overly comfortable, but that didn't stop him smiling.
"Fuck," he said, considering just climbing onto the floor and lying there, "what's it going to be like when we get to the real sex."
David gave a small chuckle at that, but didn't so much as twitch from the spot on the bed.
"Guess we'll find out tonight," was the mumbled response.
Linke found himself smiling even more; he definitely liked that idea.
====
It was dusk; Linke's new favourite time of day; the sun was no longer bright enough to hurt his eyes, but it wasn't dark enough for all the colour to have vanished from the landscape. He wasn't sure why, but he had felt like a walk, just to be on his own for a while, so he had left the others trying to decide what to have for dinner and gone to the local park. No one would miss him for at least half an hour, which was enough time to just sit and have a think. He had a lot to think about.
It had been two days since David and Timo had invaded his room and he wasn't quite sure they had been ready for what they had started. Quite frankly, they couldn't keep their hands off each other, so much so that the other three had drawn them up a list of what was and what was not acceptable outside the privacy of one of their bedrooms. Sex of any kind was banned from the bathroom because they had managed to lose track of time and use every scrap of hot water in the house the previous evening. Linke was just very grateful that the rest of the band appeared to have accepted the new arrangements, so really he couldn't argue with any conditions.
The fact that they'd all just accepted what he'd become was rather mind blowing in itself. Juri was still keeping his distance, but seemed to be warming slowly, Jan didn't seem to give two hoots now that it was clear he was not about to chow down on anyone at a random moment and Franky just kept asking him questions. David and Timo had adapted the most, that went without saying, and he couldn't help the dopey smile that appeared on his face every now and then when he thought about it.
He had found himself a nice spot and was sitting on a bench to do his thinking, just watching the last touches of sun heading for the horizon. He didn't even turn when someone sat down next to him as he was too busy watching a cloud formation shifting and moving to really bother. It was only slowly that a strange feeling began to make itself known.
"I should really learn to announce myself," an eerily familiar male voice said; "I always forget I have everything toned down."
Linke turned very slowly, just a little afraid of what he was going to find. What he saw was a tall, dark haired, unassuming man, lounging in a perfectly relaxed manner on the end of his chosen bench, but that ordinary sight sent shots of recognition through him. Memories that remained annoyingly confused rushed to his forethoughts, but he didn't need them to be clear to know exactly who he was sitting next to.
"There is no need to be afraid, My Dear Boy," his companion said and he realised he was staring and was only just this side of terrified. "You have done remarkably well and I decided it was safe to come and talk to you. I do apologise for influencing you to come on this walk, but I think knocking on your door might have had a rather detrimental effect on your conclave."
It was all said so smoothly and in such an ordinary tone, that Linke couldn't think what to say in return; his fear was dying and he wanted to be angry, but he just didn't seem to be able to get worked up.
"You're still influencing me now, aren't you?" he said, coming to the inescapable conclusion.
"A little," his companion replied with a smile, "the young are so volatile and I feel it would be better if we were to have a rational conversation. If you would really rather satisfy your ire, I will stop."
Linke thought about that for a moment; logically it was more sensible to talk in a sensible manner, but part of him really would have liked to scream and shout a bit.
"I might need to yell later," he finally decided, "just to get it out of my system, but I'll listen for now."
The other vampire smiled at him again and he almost felt like a small boy being patted on the head for being good.
"Good," his companion said, "my name is Richard, by the way, I doubt you remember; Richard Jace. Once upon a time it was just Jace, but times change and I always wanted to be a Richard."
Linke just accepted that, but couldn't help wondering how old his current companion actually was.
"You must have questions," Richard said, seemingly quite happy to talk.
"Why did you do it?" Linke asked his most important question first, just in case appearances were deceiving. "From what I understand it's against the rules."
"Rules are for the young," Richard told him with a mischievous smile and he almost reconsidered asking the vampire to stop calming him down, "but regardless I did have a very good reason. When we first bumped into each other coming out of that book shop," now that Richard mentioned it, Linke found himself recalling the meeting, "I sensed that you were unwell."
Linke went to protest.
"Ah, I am well aware that you did not know," Richard told him before he could, "it was far too early for you or medical science to have noticed, but potentials show up on vampire radar in a far more detailed way than you might think. Well for some of us anyway. I cast the runes for you and the outcome was not good."
'Cast the runes' threw up a thousand questions in Linke's head, but it was valid reasoning if you believed in that sort of thing, so Linke let that one go.
"But why didn't you approach me," he asked, trying to reason things out in his mind, "isn't that what you're supposed to do?"
Richard nodded at that and glanced at where the sky was a deep pink.
"I am very old," Richard finally said with a far away smile, "and I have learned many things in my time on this earth. The young do not always see what is in front of their faces, I have learned to look. I cast the runes many times after I first met you and I realised that I could not approach you as would be considered normal. There were certain relationships that would have failed to form had I interfered in your life in the standard way. You may not believe me, but leaving you on your own was the wisest course of action."
The one thing Linke did know as he looked at the other vampire was that Richard believed what he was saying; that didn't mean Linke believed it though.
"You're saying that you left me to fend for myself so that I would turn to David and Timo?" he asked; he just didn't see how that could be possible.
"Well I did not have all the details, but with hindsight, that must have been part of what I was seeing. It was also so that you would become independent immediately," Richard told him and sounded almost regretful. "Not that I would not have enjoyed your company as my apprentice, shall we say, but that would have stifled you in a way that I would have found unconscionable."
It all sounded very reasonable and plausible, but Linke was still having trouble accepting it. He was still angry about all the upheaval and it wasn't that easy to just step past it. For all he knew, Richard was as nutty as a fruit cake and he was just the victim of the insane vampire's fantasy.
"I can tell by the expression on your face you do not believe me," Richard said and seemed perfectly fine with it, "I did not really expect you to. Here," Linke found a card being waved under his nose, "my contact details. I'm sure if you talk to certain people in the community they can assure you of my sincerity. I am known as old and eccentric, but my predictions have a nasty habit of coming true, so many choose to take me seriously."
Linke decided to reserve judgement.
"I take it those two sweet boys from ... umm ... what is their band called?" Richard continued to speak.
"Tokio Hotel," Linke filled in and decided his companion was definitely right about the eccentric part.
"Ah yes, Tokio Hotel," Richard seemed to confirm it to himself, "I lived in Tokyo once for a few years; lovely city, very nice people. Sorry what was I saying, oh yes, I assume they have given you a good grasp of our rather fractured community?"
He nodded, since Bill and Tom had given him everything he needed to know to get going. The whole structure was a bit odd and loose as far as he was concerned, but it made a vague kind of sense. It seemed as long as you didn't do anything horribly outrageous or to endanger the community, it was each to his own.
"They told me who to contact in an emergency," he replied, "and stuff like that."
"Good," Richard said with a nod of his own, "I suggest you contact them and ask about me. If you feel you can approach me after that, my door will always be open to you. I believe that you are settled enough now that it will not affect your progress. I would ask you to forgive my actions, but I know you will not be able to do that until you are sure of my motives, and maybe not even then, so I shall not."
Richard seemed like a genuine person, but Linke knew the other vampire was right and was quite glad of the man's decision. He could still feel his anger bubbling away under the surface and he was not sure he would ever quite get over it. His life had been turned upside down with no explanation at all and it had not been fun.
"I'll ask them," he confirmed, since he wasn't sure what else to say.
"That is all I could request," Richard told him and went to stand up. "I am glad we had this chat; I do hope you do not think me a complete lunatic."
The jury was still out on that one, so Linke just shrugged.
"I'm sure we will be ... oh wait," Richard said, stopping in the middle of a sentence, "I do believe I offered you the opportunity to exorcise you ire. It will probably be therapeutic if nothing else."
Linke found himself looking directly into Richard's eyes and then he felt his anger explode. He was on his feet so fast he barely realised what he was doing and then he just swung at the other vampire. His fist connected with Richard's nose and sent the other vampire sprawling back onto the bench. It seemed that he was angrier than he had anticipated and he found himself standing over Richard, breathing hard and quite shocked at his own behaviour.
Richard dabbed at his now bleeding nose with the back of his hand and gave a small smile.
"I do believe I deserved that," the older vampire decided and seemed to be virtually unfazed by the whole thing.
"I..." Linke went to say something, but he wasn't sure what.
His anger had been very sudden and very explosive and now that he'd realised what he'd done it had been succinctly killed by shock. He stepped back as Richard calmly stood up again, fishing a handkerchief out to remove the blood which had already stopped flowing.
"I think, My Dear Boy, you needed that," Richard said, seemingly amused. "Unless you wish to hit me again I will take my leave. I hope to hear from you soon."
Linke just stood there and let Richard go; he really wasn't sure what to say to that. He slipped Richard's card into his pocket and turned to head home; he had a lot to think about.
====
"We were about to send out the search party," Timo said as Linke walked into the living room and sat down. "You could have told us you were going out."
"Sorry," he replied absently as he went over things in his head, "didn't realise I was going until I was gone."
From the smell of things the rest of the band had decided to go with the fall back position of Franky cooking, so everyone was just waiting for food.
"Where did you go?" Timo asked him.
"The park," he said, shaking himself out of his thoughts to at least look at Timo, "seems someone wanted to meet me."
Timo frowned at that.
"Who?" his boyfriend asked.
"His name is Richard Jace," Linke decided that he wasn't going to play this close to his chest, "and he's the one who did this to me."
"You met your maker?" David asked, choosing that moment to walk into the room.
Linke nodded, going over it in his head again; it seemed a little unreal.
"What did you do?" Timo asked, standing up and coming over.
"I decked him," Linke said honestly, still shocked at his actions.
"You didn't?" David sounded half scandalised.
Linke looked up again then from where he had taken to staring at the floor.
"I was a bit angry," he admitted, quite glad he wasn't that angry any more, "or at least I was when he let me be. We had a conversation first where he was keeping me calm."
From the expression on Timo's face, Timo didn't like the sound of that.
"He can do that?" David asked, more curious than Timo seemed to be.
Linke nodded and couldn't help noticing that Jan was listening while trying not to look as if he was on the other side of the room.
"He was the reason I ended up in the park to begin with," he replied; "he pushed me in that direction. It was a good idea really, can you imagine if he'd come here?"
"Still underhand," Timo clearly didn't like the behaviour.
There was no point in arguing since Timo was partially right.
"He wanted to explain why he did what he did and he seems to have had good reasons," he explained thoughtfully, "I'm just not sure he's not totally off his rocker. I have his card and he told me to ask Bill and Tom about him. At least I have a name and face to go with the vague memories now."
David fished in a pocket and handed him a mobile.
"What are you waiting for?" David asked bluntly.
It didn't look at if he was going to have much choice, so he took the mobile and flicked it open. It was not difficult to find Bill's number in David's phone book and he pressed dial.
"Hey, David," Bill's voice answered almost immediately, "what can I do for you?"
"It's Linke actually," he corrected quickly, "David just insisted I call at this very minute so he sacrificed his phone."
"Linke," Bill greeted cheerfully, "what can I do for you then?"
"I met him, my maker," it felt really weird saying it to another vampire.
"Really, when? Are you okay?" Bill asked very quickly.
Linke almost rolled his eyes; it was kind of sweet that everyone seemed so worried about him lately, but he hoped it's wouldn't last.
"I'm fine," he replied and looked at both David and Timo who were hovering to make his point to them too, "he just wanted to talk. His name is Richard Jace, he said ..."
"Jace?" Bill all but squeaked on the other end of the connection.
That wasn't quite the reaction Linke had expected and it must have shown because David looked interested.
"What'd he say?" David asked and Linke had to wave him off for the time being.
"Yeah, Jace," he said hoping that this wasn't going to be something terrible; "tall, black hair, perpetual smirk. He's not some lunatic is he, because at times he sounded like it?"
"Well that depends who you talk to," Bill replied quickly. "Tom, get over here."
"Well?" David pushed.
"They know his name, not sure on anything else yet," Linke said, putting his hand over the phone.
He heard movement at Bill's end and could only assume it was Tom doing as he was told. He had noticed over his brief acquaintance with the twins that Tom tended to follow Bill's orders most of the time; it had been an interesting dynamic to watch.
"That's a name that has all sorts of connotations in the community," Bill said, speaking to him again and Linke wondered if they were good connotations or bad one. "He's old, no one's quite sure how old, he's just been around a long time. Some vampires write him off as eccentric, but there are a lot who sit up and pay attention when he says things. He doesn't usually take much notice of the young."
That didn't seem quite true.
"Oh I think he takes notice," Linke replied, wondering how much of the vampire community underestimated Jace, "he called you 'those two sweet boys'."
"I am not sweet," he heard Tom say.
"He knew about us?" Bill seemed to be focusing on the more important part of that.
Linke almost smiled; Bill sounded so surprised even though Bill was part of the most famous band in Germany.
"Yeah," Linke replied, nodding even though he was talking on the phone, "but he couldn't remember the name of your band, just that you were in one."
There was silence from the other end of the line for a while.
"And?" Timo asked and distracted him.
"What he told me is true so far, he's well known as eccentric," since the conversation seemed to have halted he provided the information.
It was never easy having conversations with two sets of people.
"That's unexpected," Bill finally came back on, "but enough about us; you have a powerful sire there. Did he tell you why he turned you?"
"Yeah," Linke said and then decided to hedge; he didn't feel comfortable revealing everything Richard had told him yet, not without having talked to Timo and David about it first, "but that's not what has me confused. He said he cast the runes for me, does that mean what I think it means?"
When he glanced at David and Timo, both were looking sceptical.
"If you think it means he divined the future by throwing rune stones, then, yeah it does," Tom spoke this time, slightly muffled by the fact that Bill was holding the phone. "Our nana is a strong believer in that sort of thing. Jace has a reputation for coming out of the woodwork every now and then, dropping a piece of accurate advice and then disappearing again."
It was sounding more and more like Richard was on the level, even if Linke had trouble believing in fortune telling. It wasn't as if he wasn't getting used to coming around to believe in things that didn't exist.
"So he's not nuts then?" he asked, just to make sure.
That appeared to be a question Timo approved of, if his expression was anything to go by.
"Not if you listen to what Nana has to say," Bill replied with certainty in his voice. "You'll need to report the meeting to the right people so they know what's going on, but no one in the community is going to argue with him unless you really insist."
He found that oddly comforting and then realised that maybe he shouldn't, since he was supposed to still be angry at the man. His attitude was clearly changing quickly. It was of course possible that he had expunged his anger with the punch; he did tend to bottle everything up, then explode and then it was all over.
"I'm not going to insist," Linke said, since he already realised that much was true. "He said I can go talk to him any time; should I, or will he just confuse me?"
"You know where he lives?" Bill's voice was very excited again and once again it surprised Linke.
He had to take the phone away from his ear for a moment, Bill was so loud.
"Something wrong?" David asked as he grimaced.
"Bill's just getting over excited," he said, knowing full well that Bill could hear everything he said.
"I am not," Bill protested from the other end of the line as he put the phone back to his ear.
"You so are, Little Brother," Tom said with a laugh.
Linke did find himself smiling then; he was feeling much better about the whole thing given the twins' reactions.
"He gave me his card," he said, once he was sure he had their attention again, "and it has his address on it."
"Guard it with your life," Bill said and Linke hoped his friend was exaggerating.
"Just don't tell anyone you have it," Tom added.
"Jace is a man of mystery," Bill took over again. "He might have a few funny ideas, but you probably couldn't get a better grounding in the reality of the community from anyone else. By all accounts he's seen it come into being."
"What are they saying?" David asked him.
"The answer is yes," Linke summarised for his friends.
It seemed easier than going through all the details there and then. He had no doubt David and Timo would not leave him alone until they had all of them, but he had kind of known that going into a relationship with them. David and Timo kept very little from each other and they had adopted him with exactly the same mindset. It was taking some getting used to, but he was getting there.
"If you have any trouble with anyone in the community," Bill began to say.
"Yeah, some vampires are pompous arseholes," Tom commented.
"Just drop the name of your maker and they'll back off," Bill finished. "You won't have any trouble with Jace behind you, even if the ones you're talking to think he's an eccentric old lunatic."
Well that was nice to know.
"That sounds useful," Linke said, nodding and from the look on David's face it was clear his boyfriend wanted to know what 'that' was. "So will the powers that be get on my case if I wait until tomorrow to tell them?"
Bill laughed at that.
"Linke," Bill said, still chuckling, "once you tell them who your sire is, I don't think anyone will get on your case again, ever."
"Not unless you do something really stupid like try to take over the world with a legion of vampires," Tom added, clearly amused as well.
The way the vampire community worked was beginning to become clear to Linke; it seemed to be a lot about who you knew. It looked like he had much better foundations for this new aspect of his life than he had thought; maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
"I'll remember to make a note of not taking over the world," he said dryly.
"Glad to hear it," Bill replied.
Then someone said something on the other end that Linke didn't catch.
"Yeah, okay, we'll be there in a minute," he heard Bill reply. "Look, Linke, is there anything else you need to know; we're supposed to be on this show in about an hour and they want us in makeup. We can fend them off for a bit if you need to talk more though."
That did make Linke smile as he formed the mental image of Bill sparing with a makeup person using only a hairbrush as a weapon.
"I think I know everything I need to, thanks," he replied, "sorry to have caught you at a bad time."
"Never a bad time," Bill told him, "not for friends."
"Well thanks, you've put my mind at rest," he said, feeling happier than he had done since the whole situation had begun, "and good luck with the show."
"You're welcome," he heard Tom call from some distance away; clearly Tom was already on the way somewhere.
"We'll talk again soon," Bill added. "Yes I'm coming," clearly Bill was being bothered by someone. "See ya."
"Bye," Linke replied and then hung up as he heard the line disconnect.
He handed the phone back to David.
"Thanks," he said as he tried to put everything in order in his head.
It was quite an adjustment to make; his maker had gone from mysterious, uncaring arsehole to not quite sane, important vampire with very good reasons. He needed to sleep on it.
"So?" David asked and Timo nodded along as well and Jan had given up not looking interested.
"So?" Linke said, raising his eyebrows.
David gave him a very unimpressed look.
"Okay," he said, relenting.
It was clear he was more susceptible to that look these days than he had been; he was going to have to work on that.
"Is seems like my maker may have had a valid reason for what he did and that being friends with him might be very useful," he said, summing everything up. "Happy now?"
The way he was being scrutinised, he knew he was not off the hook, but he did his best to convey the fact that was all they were getting for now.
"Okay," Timo finally decided, "but we want to hear details about this Jace character and you are not going to see him without at least one of us in tow. It all sounds weird to me."
"Of course it's weird," Linke replied with a grin; "it's vampires."
No one could argue with him about that.
====
Timo lay there, staring into the dark with a fond smile on his face. Single beds were not designed for three and yet here they were again, all squashed into one at odd angles just so they could all lie down. If Linke even remotely considered rolling sideways their pet vampire would be on the floor and David was pushed up against the wall in such a way that he was almost an ornament. They were both sound asleep and using him as an anchor, or at least that's what it felt like to Timo.
It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement, but Timo was quite happy in the middle of the pile of three bodies. They never really planned to all sleep in the same bed; it just seemed to keep happening. Vampires were as addictive as Georg had warned him. He had never had any complaints about his and David's sex life, but he'd never felt this out of control about sex, not even in the midst of puberty. It wasn't just that he was craving Linke either; he craved David just as much, which at least made him feel a little better about the whole thing.
Whatever signals vampires gave off, they were like cat nip to the average moggy in Timo's opinion, only they didn't run around going mad, they kept touching and kissing and everything else. It was kind of difficult when they weren't in the house to remember that touching like that was not allowed. It was, however, doing wonders for strengthening his will.
Both he and David, well mostly David really, had pinned Linke down and made him tell them about the whole meeting with his maker. The fact that Linke had been ill before and none of them, including Linke, had had a clue, made him feel just a little vulnerable in a feeling his own mortality way, but it did make Jace's actions seem less sinister. He really did hope for Linke's sake that everything was on the level; if it wasn't, the vampire community might just find out what a pissed off rock band were like.
Timo was already itching to put down some lyrics about their recent experiences and their currents ones, but it was kind of difficult to be vague enough without losing sense, so he was still thinking about it. If he was not very mistaken he had seen Linke scribbling earlier in the day as well: they might get a few singles out of this if nothing else. They were definitely settling down, the previous day the whole band had produced more in the studio than they had in weeks. It was like they had a renewed lease of life.
They had all changed thanks to Linke's illness and then revelations, but in the end it might have done some good. The group was more cohesive for it even though everyone hadn't quite adjusted and Timo hoped that, going forward, they would be better for it.
He carefully ran one finger over the side of David's face, removing an unruly lock of hair that was threatening to end up in David's slightly open mouth. It was kind of hard to believe that he was part of a trio now, but the warm bodies on each side of him helped his beleaguered brain to keep remembering it was true. He was wary of relationships and had always thought he would steer clear until he and David had fallen into more than friendship. That he had taken another step was quite a revelation to him.
Only time would tell where they would end up: how he and David and Linke would adjust to their new relationship; how the band would move in the music world. It was all a matter of questions and none of them would be answered quickly, but as his current sleeping arrangements implied, Timo was ready for the awkwardness along the way because he was sure it would bring good things.
With that thought he relaxed back onto the bed and allowed his eyes to fall closed. His over active brain had run through everything and all was right with the world so he could finally let sleep come.
====
Linke opened his eyes carefully and looked up as he felt Timo's breathing even out. He had come to realise that Timo did not seem able to fall asleep in the same bed with other people if those people were not asleep first, so he had taken to faking being asleep to make sure Timo could drop off. It was becoming increasingly obvious to him that he did not need as much sleep as a normal human anymore and hence it made sleeping at night even more difficult. Not that he really minded just lying there with his present company.
He was honestly stunned at how much his life had changed in just over a week. Firstly he was a vampire, something he was still getting used to and he really didn't have too much of a clue about. He was working on his education, in fact he had called Jace and asked for a meeting the next evening. David and Timo had insisted on being invited too, but since Jace seemed to think this was a perfect idea, there hadn't been too much fighting about that. Of course that was the other thing that had turned his world on its head: Timo and David.
There were certain constants in a person's life that were like foundation stones that kept everything in place. David and Timo being a couple had become one of Linke's reality since he had become part of the band. It was one of those things that nothing could shake, except he seemed to have managed it.
It could have gone so wrong and brought everything tumbling down, but miraculously it actually seemed to be working. He was as thoroughly whipped when it came to David as Timo was and he didn't know how it had happened, but it definitely had. Maybe David had mutant pheromones or something, because there just didn't seem to be a way to say no when David really wanted something.
It hadn't been difficult to figure out it was David who had talked Timo into the whole idea in the first place, but Timo was not one to hold back with his opinions, so Linke knew Timo was in this for real as well. They were a full functioning three. It sounded bizarre, but given the fact they all seemed to have gained the libido of a sex-crazed rabbit, being a three was very useful.
When he had phoned Bill and asked about that particular aspect of their relationship, Bill had assured him they would eventually calm down somewhat. It had something to do with chemical reactions and establishing the group dynamic that Bill hadn't been overly clear on. In the end Bill had just told him that their hormones should have levelled off in about a month.
It wasn't that Linke was complaining; it was just distracting. Even lying there in the dark he wanted to reach out and touch, which he wasn't going to do because they were working really hard in the studio at the moment and David and Timo needed to sleep. The dreams were the really outrageous bit. Some of the things they got up to in his dreams he wasn't even sure were physically possible in real life.
Of course it ran deeper than just the sex. Even that afternoon he had found himself considering just throwing David over his shoulder and leaving the studio, because David looked over stressed at part of the track they were trying to lay down. Logically he had known that David would most likely have killed him, but the urge had still been there to protect. With Timo he was less inclined to such urges because Timo appeared on the surface to be less fragile than David, but the urges were still there. Of course he knew that David wasn't really that fragile, he just couldn't seem to make his instincts understand this.
He hesitated to call what the three of them had love. Oh he was sure Timo loved David and David loved Timo, but he couldn't bring himself to put his own part in the relationship in the same bracket. It was more than friendship and he was sure the vampiric part of his nature was obsessed with David and Timo, but he hadn't quite come to terms with what his human nature was thinking.
Whatever it was, it was growing, that much he did acknowledge. The confusing mix of feelings was moving into every part of his thought process and it was impossible to ignore. He cared, he cared a great deal, and he thought it would end up as love, but he didn't feel comfortable with that label yet.
In the end it was irrelevant to the way they were moving forward; there would be no separating them now, but it was not irrelevant to him. Why he had latched on to David and then Timo he couldn't explain; he had had no hints of it before, not consciously, but it was very real now. He needed to understand more about his vampire nature to understand where all these feelings and needs were coming from, and he didn't know enough yet. He was pretty sure it wouldn't all be obvious even when he did know everything he needed to know, but then he had realised a long time ago that life was never straightforward.
He had yet to have a conversation with his family where he explained what had happened. That hurdle was yet to come, and he wanted to understand as much as possible first. The band was his support structure at the moment and he only hoped his parents would be as understanding.
Moving carefully, he put himself in a slightly more comfortable position. He tended to wake up in the mornings with a stiff neck thanks to the odd angles he ended up sleeping at, but with his vampire metabolism it never lasted very long. That was why he always did his best to make sure David and Timo looked at least vaguely comfortable when they went to sleep; they didn't have that advantage. If they were going to keep doing this they were going to have to admit it and invest in a double bed. No doubt the moment David decided that they needed to they would, but until then he had to make sure he didn't fall out.
It was a challenge, actually his whole life was a challenge, but he couldn't say he didn't relish it.
The End