Fades With The Day, Part Two
Part One
The conversation following that statement had left Ryan feeling like he was walking in a daze. He wasn't even sure if he could properly digest the information he'd gotten. True, he'd found out where Brendon had come from, but what Shane had said didn't match up with what Brendon had remembered. It was true that ghosts that met with traumatic experiences, like sudden deaths as was clearly the case with Brendon, only remembered what they wanted to. But this was far-fetched, even for what he took as strange-but-true.
Ryan made his way back to his apartment, going back over the conversation back at Greta's little coffee shop, trying to see if he'd gotten all the information from Shane correct in his mind.
Ryan finally shook himself free from his thoughts, walking up the stairs to his apartment. He wasn't sure if Shane's look of pain would ever completely leave him. As he let himself into his apartment, he silently hoped it would and that somehow, he'd find Brendon's body, so both Shane and Brendon could have some sort of peace of mind. It seemed to be a pretty big idle hope.
He just wasn't sure how he was going to find a body he had no clue how or where to find.
He set his messenger bag down onto the chair by the door, moving his foot backwards to shut the door when it caught on something. Ryan blinked, turning slightly and came face to face with Shane. The incubus looked faintly nervous for a moment, hovering just inside the threshold before he surged forward, cupping Ryan's face and kissing him hard. Ryan wasn't quite sure why he felt himself respond with the same intensity, but they were both panting pretty hard when Shane pulled away, biting his lip.
"I shouldn't have done that," Shane whispered softly, looking down at his shoes. "It's just, you smell so much like Brendon's energy that I think my signals got crossed. God, I'm sorry..."
Ryan reached around Shane, shutting the door and locking it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brendon hovering nervously. Ryan took a deep breath and led Shane over to the couch, sitting him down.
"I probably do, being able to be connected to him like I am." Ryan said slowly, not even sure how to deal with an incubus in his apartment. When he'd dated Spencer, briefly, he'd discovered how to handle a vampire - let them control everything, even the less dominant vampires like the power it gives them - but he wasn't sure if that held true with an incubus. Even one as clearly unique as Shane. He looked over at Brendon, wondering if the ghost had any suggestions.
"You can, um." Brendon bit his lip before shrugging, smiling encouragingly. "You can do that again. I don't mind."
"What's he saying?" Shane asked, and Ryan jumped at Shane's mouth so close to his ear. Shane smiled, and Ryan was pretty sure a smile had never been that much of a turn-on to him. "Sorry, you were busy intently staring at empty air, so I thought maybe Brendon was standing there and saying something."
"He said I could..." Ryan trailed off as Shane cupped his cheek again, leaning forward and kissing him slowly, gently licking his way into Ryan's mouth. Ryan couldn't help himself from softly moaning into Shane's mouth, eyes falling closed as he wrapped his fingers into Shane's shirt. After what felt like a few heartbeats of soft sounds and feeling like he was completely new to kissing, Shane pulled back, smiling faintly down at Ryan. "Um, he said I could do that," Ryan finished lamely before getting up.
Shane's hand wrapped around Ryan's wrist, pulling him back down into the incubus's lap and right into another kiss, harder and more demanding than even the one at the door. Ryan groaned, feeling himself get hard at just being kissed, and he felt more than heard the little bubble of laughter against his lips at the sound.
"You're not a virgin, are you?" Shane pulled away, smile teasing now.
Ryan wasn't sure why he turned bright red at that, and he silently cursed his fair complexion that it was obvious when Shane's smile got even wider. Ryan rocked his hips up hard against Shane's, leaning down to swallow the resulting moan, digging his fingers into Shane's hair. "Not a virgin," Ryan whispered between soft and hard kisses. "Want you," he went on, kissing the corner of Shane's mouth and making his way along Shane's jawline to his earlobe, tugging gently with his teeth.
"You sure?" Shane gasped, fingers curling into Ryan's hips.
"Yeah," Ryan gasped back before pulling away, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to Shane. The incubus took the offered hand, getting to his feet in one fluid motion before backing Ryan up into the nearest wall, kissing him hard.
Ryan groaned, arms going around Shane's neck as he kissed back. He wasn't quite sure how long they stood there, kissing each other like it was the only thing keeping them attached to reality, before Shane pulled away, hands settling against Ryan's hips.
"Bedroom?" Shane whispered against Ryan's lips, making him groan again. Ryan slid his hands down to the incubus' chest, pushing him forward before sliding his hands down to take Shane's hands in his, walking backwards as he pulled him toward the bedroom. He continued walking backwards until he fell backwards onto his bed, Shane falling on top of him.
Shane chuckled, ducking his head to nip at Ryan's neck, fangs brushing against skin that suddenly felt tight. "Hi."
"Oh, god, hi." Ryan moaned, head falling back, bearing more of his neck.
Shane pulled back, pulling off Ryan's shirt before nipping at Ryan's neck again. "You don't quite taste like Brendon, even though you smell like his energy," Shane whispered against Ryan's neck, fangs grazing the skin again. "It's kind of addicting for me."
"Y-yeah?" Ryan groaned, reaching up to pull off Shane's shirt before his hands slid down the incubus' chest and stomach to his fly. "Enough talk, though. Naked now."
Shane laughed against Ryan's neck, making him moan louder and arch up against Shane, Ryan's fingers temporarily sandwiched between them. But Shane pulled back, fingers moving down to Ryan's fly, and seconds later, both men were naked and pressed up against each other. There was a low moan - Ryan wasn't sure if it was him, or Shane, or even both of them - before Shane's mouth was back on Ryan's, kissing him hard as Shane's fingers slid down to Ryan's hips, curling slightly around them.
"S-stupid question, considering..." Shane's voice was shaky, and Ryan was glad to know he wasn't the only one trembling now. "But you've got stuff, right?"
Ryan gestured vaguely in the direction of his nightstand, although it might have been toward his window instead. He was pretty sure that Shane got the point either way as he got up, checking the nightstand first before finding lube and a condom on the window sill - which Ryan couldn't even remember leaving there, but stranger things, after all - and coming back to the bed.
Shane coated his fingers with the lube, rubbing them together a bit to warm it up before he kissed Ryan again, fingers slipping between Ryan's legs to press against his entrance. Ryan moaned against Shane's lips, spreading his legs a bit more as invitingly as he could. Shane chuckled in response, pushing a finger inside. Ryan's hips jerked up slightly as Shane curled his finger.
"You can," Ryan mumbled against Shane's lips, hips jerking up again as Shane curled his finger again. "You can add another finger, please. I've done this before."
"Impatient." Shane laughed softly against Ryan's mouth, pulling his finger out before replacing it with two, automatically curling them when they were fully inside Ryan. Ryan gasped, arching up off the bed and trying to push back against them. "I'm gonna take it that means you're already ready?"
"Oh god, yeah," Ryan whispered, fingers tangling in the sheets as Shane pulled his fingers out. Ryan bit his lip at the feeling of being empty, watching with hazy eyes as Shane leaned back to open the condom packet, rolling the condom on with a low moan.
"C'mere," Shane whispered, sitting back and pulling Ryan up onto his knees, hovering just above Shane's cock. Ryan bit back a moan, looking down at Shane with needy eyes. Shane wrapped one hand around Ryan's hip, the other coming up to cup Ryan's cheek. "Ready? God, you look so ready."
Ryan leaned down to kiss Shane roughly, resting one hand against Shane's shoulder, the other reaching down to steady himself against Shane's thigh as he lowered his hips down. He groaned loudly as Shane lifted his hips to slam up into him.
"God," Shane hissed against Ryan's lips, as Ryan lifted himself up before slamming back down. "You feel good."
"So." Ryan moaned loudly as Shane surged forward so Ryan was on his back. "Oh god, so do you."
Shane laughed huskily, hands moving to wrap Ryan's legs around his waist before gripping Ryan's hips hard as he slammed into him. "Let's. Let's see how long you last without me touching you, huh?"
Ryan moaned loudly at the thought, head falling back as he raised his hips to meet each and every one of Shane's rough thrusts. "S-shit. Right." Ryan half-screamed as one of Shane's thrusts found his prostate. "Right there, Shane. Oh my god, keep fucking me right there." A part of Ryan knew he was rambling like he was needy for Shane's cock, but he just couldn't help it.
Shane laughed huskily, ducking his head to graze his fangs against Ryan's throat again. Ryan moaned loudly, legs tightening more around Shane's waist, his hands coming up to slide over Shane's shoulders and dig his nails in like it was the only anchor Ryan had.
"You like this, don't you?" Shane growled against Ryan's throat, hips slamming up hard as he continued to fuck Ryan roughly. "You sound like a little cockwhore, begging for my cock." Shane's fingers uncurled from Ryan's hips, moving up to either side of Ryan's head as Shane changed the angle he was fucking Ryan at. The new angle made Ryan half-scream and dig his nails more into Shane's back at each thrust.
"Oh, god, yes," Ryan babbled, arching up hard as his fingers practically clawed at Shane's back. "I can't. Oh, god, Shane. Can you. God, please touch me. I'm not. I'm not gonna last much longer and I just. I need you to touch me."
Shane lowered himself again, kissing Ryan's neck briefly and slipping one hand between them to wrap firmly around Ryan and stroke him in time with each rough thrust. Ryan came hard with a scream as Shane's fangs entered his neck. He arched up hard against Shane, coating both their stomachs and Shane's hand, and almost blacking out.
Shane fucked Ryan through his orgasm, managing a few more thrusts before coming with a growl muffled into Ryan's neck, hips shuddering. He collapsed on top of Ryan, both of them trying to catch their breath before Shane pushed himself up, pulling out with a quiet groan. Ryan whimpered faintly at the loss, eyes closed.
"What. What did you do when your fangs entered my neck?" Ryan blinked his eyes open at Shane as he got up to get rid of the condom, before burying his face in Shane's shoulder when he came back to the bed.
"I fed off your energy. Sorry." Shane kissed Ryan's forehead. "You okay?"
"Thought. Thought you didn't feed like that," Ryan mumbled against Shane's shoulder, although he nodded in response to the incubus' question.
"Sorry." Shane ducked his head to softly kiss the fang marks on Ryan's neck. "I usually don't."
Ryan hummed quietly, head falling back a bit in response. "I didn't mind in the least, though."
"Yeah?" Shane pulled back a bit, looking down at Ryan with the hint of a smile.
"Yeah." Ryan echoed the smile and the word, nodding a bit before he yawned wide. "Sorry. I didn't get much sleep before I ran into you at Greta's. And then this, and well."
"It's okay." Shane kissed Ryan's forehead again with a quiet smile, settling in comfortably against Ryan's side. Ryan rather liked the way Shane seemed to fit against him, even if it sounded a bit too harlequin novel cliche in his head. "Go to sleep, then."
Ryan pillowed his head against Shane's chest, closing his eyes with a faint smile. "See you in my dreams?"
"Absolutely." Shane shifted again with a content sigh, kissing the top of Ryan's head as he closed his eyes as well.
--
Ryan woke up, feeling slightly fuzzy but definitely content. He might have dated, and slept with, a vampire, but that didn't mean having his blood drunk was quite the same as having his energy taken. Although, Ryan thought, as he stretched as carefully as he could, taking in where he was sore and enjoying the feel of skin-against-skin, if something started between him and the incubus, he definitely wouldn't have many problems with it.
"You look happy," Brendon said quietly, and Ryan turned his head in the ghost's direction before carefully putting it back down against Shane's chest when the room threatened to tilt. Okay, maybe there were some drawbacks. But they weren't ones that were hard to overcome. "Not that I'm upset or anything," Brendon quickly went on. His eyes darted to Shane and a trace of a smile crossed his lips that warmed Ryan. "You looked very good together."
Ryan raised an eyebrow at the ghost, pretty sure that if Brendon were capable of it, he would be blushing. "Were you watching?" Ryan paused before adding, "I wouldn't be surprised. I can't imagine being a ghost is easy, especially if your boyfriend hooks up with the ghost witch who can see you."
Brendon shrugged slightly, twining his fingers together and looking down at them. "It's getting easier, I think, to be a ghost." He glanced back up. "If you and Shane, y'know, start something? I wouldn't mind." The ghost looked over to Shane, still fast asleep. "He's a good man. A good incubus, I guess is more accurate." He looked back at Ryan. "He was the best boyfriend I ever had."
Something about that sentence - "He was the best boyfriend I ever had." - tugged at Ryan's memory, but Ryan couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, letting a finger trail along the bite mark on his neck, with the two tiny puncture wounds from Shane's fangs. The motion was just starting to make him sleepy when he started awake again. Tiny puncture wounds in his neck. Fangs. There was another girl in his morgue with fang bites on her neck.
Ignoring the wooziness that came with it, Ryan sat up, looking over at Brendon. "Remember the brunette in my morgue? You said you had dated her. And Audrey."
Brendon nodded, blinking. "Yeah, but I'm not following you."
"I hadn't found much of anything much of interest in her autopsy. But she had bite marks too. “ Ryan brought his knees up to his chest, drumming his fingers against his thigh. Beside him, Shane snorted quietly in his sleep, getting more comfortable. "I need to get into work to look at her record. Compare it to Audrey's and see if they're identical."
"Still not following you...." Brendon said, watching Ryan get up, already grabbing for his discarded briefs. "What's Sarah's autopsy have to do with Audrey's?"
"I don't know!" Ryan admitted, putting his underwear on before pulling on a pair of pants. He sat down on the bed, lightly patting Shane's arm. "Hey, wake up."
Shane grunted softly before his eyes slowly blinked open. He blearily looked up at Ryan before giving him a sleepy smile. "Hi." The smile turned a bit confused as he noticed Ryan was half dressed. "Where you going?"
With Shane awake, Ryan got back to his feet, grabbing a clean shirt and pulling it on. "I have a dead girl in my morgue that Brendon's been on a few dates with. She's got bite marks on her neck too, that could be identical to Audrey's wounds, so I wanna run into work and see what her record looks like, compare it to Audrey's."
Shane propped himself up on one arm, running a hand over his face as he processed that. "How does that help you solve who killed them, or who killed Brendon?"
Ryan paused midway through tying his shoe. "I haven't a clue. But it would give them a connection to each other, and to Brendon." He went back to tying his shoe as he continued talking. "Which isn't much, but it's better than the big fat nothing we've got going for us so far. We, meaning myself regarding Brendon, and the Centre regarding Audrey's unfortunate death."
He got back to his feet, wondering how best to approach saying goodbye to Shane, before settling for leaning over to give him a quick kiss. "Bye, I shouldn't be gone for more than half an hour, at best. It's just grabbing a folder and giving Pete a possible lead, if I see him."
"Bye."
--
The drive to work seemed to take less time than it usually did, probably because Ryan was partially distracted by the possibility that he might actually be close to finding a link between Audrey and the other body he had in the morgue. He pulled into the parking lot, flashed his badge to Zack on his way into the Centre, and hurried to the elevator.
Distracted as he was, Ryan didn't even notice the man standing in the hallway until he bumped into him.
Ryan started, pulling his head out of the clouds as the man - no, the vampire, there was no denying the fangs - turned toward him with a faintly annoyed look. (Ryan absently noticed that while he'd thought Shane's fangs were similar to a vampire's, the incubus' fangs were actually slightly smaller than a vampire's; not unlike comparing a cat's canines to a dog's canines.) Ryan mustered up his best smile, wondering if maybe he should just take the stairs as he was in a rush. "Sorry, didn't see you."
The vampire raised one dark eyebrow at Ryan, looking him up and down. Unconsciously, Ryan found himself doing the same: the vampire was a newcomer to the Centre, as far as he knew, a little bit taller than average height, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and dressed in a dark suit. Absently, Ryan wondered if maybe the vampire was here to talk to Bill, or one of the other higher ranking vampires that worked at the Centre. He wouldn't be surprised; it happened fairly often, he'd noticed. But, while the vampire looked like any other vampire Ryan had ever seen, there was just something about him that made Ryan's skin crawl.
The vampire's nostrils flared a bit, and Ryan knew that the vampire was smelling him to see if he was much of a threat - Ryan wasn't sure quite why, but silently, he thought at the vampire, "I'm not a threat, just let me go about my way. Please overlook me." - before the vampire turned his back to him, walking toward the offices.
Ryan looked after him for a few long moments, before taking off running for the stairs. He wasn't quite sure why he needed to race down the stairs, or even what it was about the strange vampire that made him feel a lot like a rabbit running away from a fox, but he just knew instinctively that he needed to put some distance between himself and the stranger.
He didn't stop running until he burst into the morgue, grabbing a lab coat and putting it on as he ran. Gerard, a very friendly fire witch who was the night medical examiner when Ryan was off (and an ex-boyfriend from when Ryan had gone to college to become an M.E.), nearly had to jump up from where he was sitting at the desk to avoid being hit by the swinging door.
"What's gotten into you, Ry?" Gerard stared at Ryan, and the sight of him made Ryan skid to a stop, taking a deep breath and leaning forward to brace his hands against his knees. "You look like, if you'll pardon the expression, you've seen a ghost."
Ryan took a few more deep breaths, eyes focused on one of the off-white tiles of the morgue floor, before he straightened up. "Not this time. I just feel like I met Death in the hallway, and it was more frightening than anything I've ever seen." His memory brought up Vicky, and how, despite being an actual Grim Reaper, she'd been less frightening than the unknown vampire. "Like I'd met my own death, and he looked into my soul and found it lacking."
Gerard stared at him for a moment longer, before patting Ryan's shoulder and giving him a small not-quite-humor-filled laugh. The accompanying smile was definitely genuine, though. Ryan couldn't help but lean into the friendly gesture, feeling it calm him down even more. "Somehow, I don't think Death's found you quite yet, my fellow witchy witch."
Ryan echoed the smile before turning to the desk, shuffling the folders Gerard was looking at and rustling the paperwork. "Before you ask what I'm doing here on my night off, I actually need the file for that Jane Doe that came in yesterday during the day. Which is, okay, why I'm here on my night off." Ryan gave him a sheepish grin.
Gerard raised an eyebrow before shaking his head, sitting back down and helping Ryan search before finding the folder in question. As Ryan reached for it, Gerard held it back. "You got a name then?"
"Better." Ryan grinned proudly, leaning forward to snatch it. "I have the ghost of the boyfriend. Or rather, the ex-boyfriend."
Not about to let the folder go quite so easily, Gerard's fingers tightened on the file. After all, this was a game they'd used to play back when they had classes together. "How the hell do you have the ghost of the ex-boyfriend? He die with her?"
"No, I think he died separately." Ryan finally managed to snatch the folder away. "But he showed up in my bedroom last night, and he knows both our Jane Doe and a murder vic we got in last night." He paused, blinking as he considered a possibility that hadn't occurred to him yet. "I wonder if maybe the same person who killed those girls, also killed the ex-boyfriend.”
Gerard snorted loudly, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk as his brown eyes fixed Ryan with a decidedly amused expression. It was an expression Ryan knew all too well, one Gerard reserved for when he thought people were being stupid. "This is real life, Rossy," he said, amusement coating each word. "Shit like that, solutions magically coming together with little to base them on, only happen in poorly written TV drama shows, designed to make our jobs look sweet and for more people to go for them as career moves." He leaned forward a bit, grabbing a folder off the desk and opening it up to study it, lifting up the topmost picture before looking up at Ryan once more. "As much as I like those TV drama shows, I just question the science and likelihood of shit like that ties up in a neat little bow in 45 minutes."
Ryan snorted, smiling despite himself. "Yeah, I know. You used to mock them when we were roommates."
"Ah yes." Gerard smiled wistfully up at the ceiling before looking back down at the folder in his lap. "Tell your latest man I say hi, by the way. Even though I'm guessing I probably don't know him, considering the type of guy you go for these days."
Ryan paused as he started to walk out, pulling his shirt away from his chest to sniff it, wondering if he had Shane's scent on his clothes. From behind him, Gerard laughed, head still down as he looked at the folder.
"Despite the fear you came into the morgue with, Rossy, you still had that glow of 'I just got some'."
Ryan rolled his eyes, heading out. He started walking toward the elevator, before pausing. He couldn't be sure that strange vampire wasn't waiting by the elevator again, but he did know he didn't want to run into him a second time. The walk back up the stairs helped banish the fear even further, and sure enough, the main entrance of the Centre was clear.
He took a deep breath, waving at Zack as he left, and started to walk to his car. He got halfway there before he stopped short, staring at Vicky standing nervously by his car.
"I'm sorry for disappearing from the morgue earlier," Vicky began in a rush as Ryan closed the distance between them. "It's just, your ghost friend isn't really dead." She paused, catching the look Ryan gave her as he opened his door. "Well, he is dead, in the sense of being deceased and should be crossed over, but it's not his time." The reaper glanced up toward the sky, and Ryan couldn't help himself as he glanced up, seeing nothing. But that didn't mean Vicky saw nothing. "The people upstairs..." Here Vicky paused again, jerking her head up toward the sky, as if she thought Ryan couldn't figure out which "upstairs" she meant. Ryan had to pull his thoughts away from the sudden mental image of the Other Side, looking a lot like the offices of the Centre with angels and such in three piece suits and business dresses, going about their business. He had to bite back the burst of laughter that arose from the mental image. "Are of the opinion that, should you find out who killed him, he'll be allowed to cross over. But they don't know if it'll be a permanent thing."
Ryan blinked, feeling a little lost. He'd heard of near-death experiences, from Daywalker friends who worked at the different Daywalker hospitals around the city, as well as the few Nightwalkers who were working there as well, but those tended to involve the energy, or ectoplasm, or whatever it was that ghosts were having a body to go back to. They weren't separated like Brendon seemed to be. And zombies and ghouls were only found in horror movies, as far as he knew. He had heard that bad witches dealt with that kind of thing, but he'd never seen anything like it. He held up a hand, trying to gather his thoughts together. "So, what you're saying is, Brendon is dead, but not dead?"
"Pretty much." Vicky chewed her lip, hands nervously moving down to smooth out her skirt. "It's why I kept disappearing around him. He looks like a ghost, like I should be helping him cross into the light, but he doesn't feel dead. He..." Her voice trailed off, eyes widening before she disappeared quickly.
Ryan turned, seeing nothing before he shook himself, getting into the car and silently deciding that Vicky was just a naturally jumpy person. Reaper. Whatever.
He turned it over in his head as he drove home, finally deciding that he'd be thankful when this case was solved and he could move on.
Ryan didn't think he had ever been more grateful to see his apartment building as he pulled into the parking lot and turned his car off. He grabbed the folder, flipping through it absently as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. He unlocked the door, only to find Shane half dressed and sitting on his living room floor, studying a takeout menu. The incubus looked up, smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry," Shane offered apologetically as Ryan went to grab Audrey's folder from his messenger bag, still sitting where he'd left it on the chair by the door. "I was getting hungry, and thought maybe you were as well. So I poked around your kitchen, only I didn't find much to cook." He held up the takeout menu. "But this was stuck to your fridge door."
Ryan smiled as he sat down on the floor next to Shane, opening up both files and starting to lay the pictures from both autopsies out so he could study them to find a connection. "Incubi eat normal food like the rest of us?"
Shane handed the takeout menu over with a sheepish smile. "People's energy only gets me so far. I have to supplement the energy I take from feeding with other things, and I've since developed a taste for certain sorts of food over the years I've been alive."
"Over the years?" Ryan raised an eyebrow as he studied the menu. Sure enough, it was the takeout menu to his favorite Thai place, one that was thankfully open 24 hours. "How old are you? If I can ask, that is, because you look like you can't be that much older than me. Even though I know that doesn't mean shit when it comes to being a Nightwalker."
Shane gave Ryan an amused smile, eyes twinkling. "How old are you?"
"I'll be 24 in August." Ryan gave Shane a deadpan look back.
"You're only 23?" Brendon asked, appearing out of nowhere right next to Shane. Shane, for his part, turned his head slightly toward Brendon, and Ryan wondered again if incubi could sense ghosts.
"His being able to see and hear ghosts helped his M.E. career." Keltie spoke up from the hallway, where she was quietly observing them from her position by the bathroom. The ghost bride looked like she wanted to join them, but, as she didn't know Shane, Ryan figured she felt safer close to her bathroom.
As Shane turned toward Keltie, Ryan reached out to lightly touch the incubus' arm. "Hey, I've been wondering since Greta's cafe. Can you actually see or hear ghosts? You keep reacting to Brendon whenever he speaks, and earlier, at Greta's, you looked directly at the chair he was sitting in. And just now you also reacted to Keltie, my resident ghost."
Shane shook his head. "I can't see or hear ghosts, not like you can. But I can sense the energy they give off when they manifest themselves. It's a part of the whole feeding off energy thing we incubi have going for us, I think." He paused before smiling. "And to answer your other question, the one about my age? I'm a couple centuries old."
"You Nightwalkers can live that long?" Brendon gasped, practically in Ryan's ear.
"Certain types," Ryan replied, rubbing his ear as he glanced at the ghost. "Witches like me might see a century and a half, if we're lucky. And by luck, I mean if I don't encounter a necromancer or someone that'd use me to pull in ghosts for them. The mental capacity required would drive me insane, and suicidal. Elemental witches, or witches that can control a specific element," Ryan counted them off on his fingers, "Fire, water, air, and earth, although I've heard that some Chinese witches can also control metals. They might see a century, at best." He paused, suddenly picturing Gerard killed during a witch battle. He shook himself, ridding himself of the thought as he continued. "Nightwalkers typically call elemental witches 'battle witches' because of their ability to use elements. There's a section of the Centre whose primary concern are the elemental witches that are pyromaniac fire witches or water witches that decide to flood people's basements or shit." He indicated Shane. "And from what I understand, although I am not an expert, incubi, as well as succubi, their female equivalent, tend to live for a few centuries."
"Until we get bored with our existence, and settle into being just pent-up sexual energy." Shane shrugged like it was nothing. To him, Ryan guessed, it probably was nothing, just a fact of life for the incubus.
"Sexual beings like us just stop... existing after a while. I don't know if I'd call it dying, but it's a lot less dramatic a death than most Nightwalkers get."
"I never knew that." Ryan blinked at Shane. "Although, granted, in my line of work, I don't really encounter your type."
Shane smiled. "Incubi and succubi generally drain their victims slowly over years, unless they're young and inexperienced, so I'm really not all that surprised you haven't, or all that insulted that you know so little about my kind."
"Learn something new every day." Ryan smiled back before turning his attention to the photos spread out on the floor. "Right, I wanted to find a connection between Audrey Kitching and this Jane Doe," he tapped a photo of the unknown girl, watching Brendon lean over the pictures of the Jane Doe before he noticed Shane doing the same thing.
"Her name is Sarah. Sarah Orzechowski," Shane and Brendon said at nearly the same time. Ryan nodded. He'd figured that, as roommates, Shane might have known the Jane Doe, since Brendon had mentioned dating her pretty recently.
"Brendon went out on a couple of dates with her, maybe a month ago?" Shane went on, unintentionally echoing what Brendon had told Ryan last night. He tapped a photo of Audrey. "And this girl, Audrey Kitching, Brendon dated before Sarah. But I'm sure Brendon already told you all that." Shane paused, frowning as he picked up a picture of each of the girls, fanning them slightly so he could study them. "He really liked both these girls, but the relationships went weird toward the end, and they broke up. After Sarah stopped returning his phone calls was when Brendon came to the conclusion that maybe it was him that ruined both relationships, even though I told him countless times that it wasn't his fault. He's too nice a guy for that to happen." Shane set both pictures down where Ryan had put them, glancing to where Brendon was quietly watching him. Something about the way Brendon was looking at Shane made Ryan feel like he was watching something he shouldn't be watching. "But, that's when Brendon and I got together, so I always thought that their loss was my gain, y'know?"
"So..." Ryan began carefully, picking up the pictures Shane had just put back down and mirroring Shane's move of fanning them to study them. "If both of these girls got killed because they were dating Brendon..."
"But they weren't dating me at the time." Brendon pointed out, cutting in on Ryan as Shane said, "But they had already broken up with him by the time they died, according to your respective reports for them."
"Okay, but say the killer was behind the breakups." Ryan held up a finger as Brendon opened his mouth to speak. Shane glanced toward where the ghost was sitting, like he could just imagine the expression on Brendon's face. "Brendon, let me run with this theory, will you? You said it yourself. They both acted strangely right before you broke up with them. What if someone had always been after you, and they just happened to be in the way?"
"You sound like the plot climax in a made-for-TV movie or some drama TV show." Shane smiled at Ryan, even as Brendon gave Ryan a vaguely exasperated look. Ryan wondered if Brendon had ever met Gerard; the expression definitely gave him deja vu. "I'm pretty sure you couldn't possibly have a case where that is the solution. Next, you'll be saying the killer killed Brendon as well, since that's usually how those things work."
"Okay, I admit it is pretty far-fetched, but I don't even know if the CSIs working the case have any leads that make more sense," Ryan admitted, laughing a bit as Brendon turned the exasperated look on Shane. "And Brendon's giving you an exasperated look."
"Not really that surprised." Shane said, smiling in Brendon's direction.
Ryan thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah, while I was getting Sarah's file," he leaned over to grab a pen from his messenger bag, crossing out 'Doe, Jane' and replacing it with 'Orzechowski, Sarah' as he spoke, "I ran into Vicky again. She's a Grim Reaper," Ryan added in response to the confused look Shane gave him. "She kept disappearing around Brendon earlier, and I found out why. Which is, I suppose, why I was wondering if maybe the killer had been after Brendon."
"Why?" Shane and Brendon said at the exact same time, and Ryan couldn't help but smile at it. He could definitely see how the dating each other thing had happened. The incubus and the ghost seemed to be on the same wavelength of thought.
"She says Brendon's not supposed to be dead. That it's not his time yet." Ryan glanced over at the ghost, who was staring at him. "She says you feel alive to her, but you clearly look like a ghost. So, the upstairs, I guess, is all worked up over it, but you might be able to cross over. Kinda like a strange version of a near-death experience, I guess? I’m guessing Audrey wasn’t supposed to be dead yet, and that’s when I first saw Vicky. And then she was disappearing around Brendon." Ryan shrugged faintly. "Although, considering the fact you have a gaping wound where your throat is, I'm guessing your body won't be of much use to you if we did find it."
"That's fucked up." Shane commented dryly, looking more than just a tad bit annoyed. "Brendon's dead, clearly, but he's not dead, because it's not his time." He eyed Ryan. "Have I got that straight?"
"Perfectly." Ryan nodded before picking up the takeout menu again where he'd put it down, handing it over to Shane. "I think I'm gonna have the peanut chicken, so could you order while I go take a shower? I'll cover the bill."
Shane gave him an amused smile as Brendon looked up at him. "Why do you have to shower?"
“I had a run in with this creepy vampire while I was at the Centre, and now that I've got a straight connection between my former Jane Doe, Audrey and Brendon, I feel the need to go scrub my skin off after my encounter with the guy," Ryan said before pointing to his messenger bag, turning toward the bathroom. "I should be out of the shower just before the food gets here if you order it now, but if I'm not, my wallet's in there."
Shane nodded, settling in with the menu and the phone to decide what he wanted, as Ryan headed to the bathroom.
"I like him," Keltie commented from where she sat on the edge of the bathtub as Ryan entered the bathroom, moving to sit on the toilet when Ryan shooed her away. "Shane, I mean." She paused. "I like Brendon too."
"I like them both too," Ryan admitted as he undressed, turning on the water and getting into the shower. "I hope this all turns out okay in the end."
Ryan tried to take a quick shower, wanting to get out before the delivery guy showed up with the food, but it was still ten minutes before he turned off the water and pushed aside the shower curtain. Keltie was no longer sitting on the toilet, Ryan noticed as he grabbed the towel off the rack and wrapped it around his waist. He wasn't feeling very embarrassed about walking out in just a towel. After all, he'd slept with Shane not that long ago, and Brendon had seen him naked afterward.
Silence greeted him when he opened the bathroom door and came out, and he nearly opened his mouth to speak up when Keltie suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Go back in there!" She hissed, eyes wide as her hands tried ineffectually to push him back into the bathroom. He flinched slightly at the ice cold feeling before stepping around her, heading for the living room. He stopped up short at the sight of Shane lying sprawled out on the floor near the couch, hands tied behind his back, and Brendon crouched down next to him, offering comfort, even though Shane could only sense the ghost's energy. Past Shane's prone form, Ryan could make out a body, but before he could identify it, he heard the sounds of someone moving around in his kitchen.
Suddenly feeling really stupid to be in just a towel, Ryan backed up, heading for his bedroom. Trying to make as little noise as possible, Ryan pulled on a pair of pants and grabbed the phone to dial the Centre's number. He got halfway through before he heard a floorboard creak behind him, and his vision went dark.
Ryan swam back up to consciousness to the sound of hissing in his ear, and tried to move a hand - his wrists suddenly felt like they were weighed down with heavy weights - only to bite back a cry when the movement proved impossible. He turned his head slightly to find Brendon crouched over him, but the ghost was no longer hissing in his ear, but staring at something that was behind Ryan.
Ryan twisted his head to see Shane sitting up against the couch, hands still behind him, and staring at whatever it was Brendon was staring at. Knowing it was already obvious he was awake to whoever had been in the kitchen, and who had hit him in the back of his head, knocking him out, Ryan rolled onto his back, biting his lip when he realized his wrists had been tied behind his back. Judging from the sharp pain, not to mention the feeling of heavy weight, whatever had been used to tie his wrists together had silver in it. Whoever it was must have known he was a witch, which meant that it was a Nightwalker.
He squirmed a bit, ignoring the waves of pain the action caused, before his head snapped back when a hand seemed to come out of nowhere to slap him across the face. A foot pressed against his chest, pushing him back against his wrists and making the silver dig more into his already aching skin.
"Hold still, little witch. I don't want to have to kill you too."
Ryan glared up at the speaker, biting back a shudder when he realized it was the creepy vampire he'd run into at the Centre. The vampire took his foot off Ryan's chest, taking a step toward Shane, and Ryan used the opportunity to push himself up.
"Are you okay?" Brendon asked softly, like he was worried the vampire could hear him. Ryan glanced over at Brendon before looking over at the vampire now crouched in front of Shane, as the incubus glared back at him. Behind Shane, Ryan could see the slumped body more clearly now, and he bit back a cry as he realized the body was Brendon's.
"I've been better," Ryan muttered under his breath, glancing at the ghost again. "You know him?"
"That's Butch. Butch Walker." Brendon flinched when Butch's hand slapped Shane across the face. "He's a neighbor of ours. He always gave me the creeps, watching me at night whenever I'd go outside for a smoke. He showed up here after you went into the bathroom to take your shower. Shane opened the door, thinking he was the delivery guy, only for him to come in with my body slung over his shoulder." He paused, eyes growing wide. "Oh god, do you think he killed Audrey and Sarah too? Just like in your theory?"
"It was a theory," Ryan whispered before raising his voice. "Hey, vampire. You're breaking and entering in the apartment belonging to a Centre employee. You're looking at jail time, or worse."
Butch rose to his feet, turning away from Shane to look at Ryan. Shane rubbed his bruised cheek against his shoulder, giving Ryan a look as if to ask what he was doing. Ryan was pretty sure he wasn't even sure what he was doing. He did know, though, that while he was winging it, his winging it was probably going to get himself killed in the process. But, even while his mind entertained the mental image of Pete and Spencer investigating his murder, Ryan also knew he didn't want to die.
"Yeah, you," Ryan went on as the vampire crossed the room to where he was seated. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment? I apologized for running into you." His gaze slid from Butch to Shane and Brendon's body. "But I imagine you didn't show up because you were after revenge for me running into you. What the hell did a Daywalker and an incubus ever do to you?"
As Butch's fingers moved to wrap themselves around Ryan's throat, using it to lift Ryan up off the floor, his vision blurred a bit and a part of Ryan's mind decided that egging on a vampire was definitely a bad idea. "That's not really any of your business, little witch."
"It's mine, though, considering you slapped me." Shane spoke up, using the couch behind him to push himself up off the floor. "I don't remember Brendon or I causing you any grief in all the time you lived next door to us." The vampire jerked his head down to Brendon's body. "But Brendon's now dead, and you just said you're going to kill me, so I think I deserve to know why we're dying."
Butch tossed Ryan at Shane like Ryan was a rag doll, and both fell backwards on top of Brendon's body.
"Have a little respect for my dead body!" Brendon exclaimed, getting to his feet. Ryan saw Keltie appear behind Brendon, wrapping a hand around his and leaning forward to whisper in his ear before both ghosts moved carefully around Butch toward Ryan's messenger bag. Ryan wasn't quite sure what the ghosts were up to before his attention was drawn back to Butch, who was now standing in front of the couch.
"You want to know why I'm going to kill you, Shane?" Butch said. "It's because you stole what was rightfully mine."
"Yours?" Shane raised an eyebrow, shifting a bit under Ryan. "What the hell was yours?"
"Brendon," Butch snarled, pointing to Brendon's body under the two. "He was always nice to me, but he never once accepted any of my countless offers to go on dates. Not even after I scared off those two girls he'd been dating. So I killed them, because he was still interested in them."
"You creeped him out!" Shane snorted loudly, and out of the corner of his eye, Ryan saw Shane roll his eyes. "He's nice to everyone, but something about you freaked him out. That's why he kept telling you no, and went out with me after his girlfriends called it off because of you." The incubus shifted again, raising an eyebrow. "And even if you hadn't killed him, and he'd known about you killing the girls he'd dated, he wouldn't go out with you."
"Well, now he can't tell me no." Butch pointed toward Brendon's body again. "He's mine, now and always."
"What are they doing?" Shane suddenly whispered in Ryan's ear, making Ryan glance to where the ghosts were standing over his cell phone - which was now on the floor - and looking pleased with themselves. He couldn't see his phone screen from where he was, but he guessed that, by combining their respective energies, the ghosts had dialed some number.
Ryan grinned when he heard the sound of sirens outside, followed by the sounds of people running up the stairs. Trust Keltie to figure out to dial the Centre for backup. "I think we're gonna have company."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth before Ryan's apartment door was broken down, and Spencer tackled Butch to the floor, followed by Pete. Patrick followed the vampires in, crouching down to cuff Butch.
"You're under arrest for breaking into the apartment of a Centre employee." Pete told Butch as Spencer growled, banging Butch's head against the floor. Pete glanced over to where Ryan and Shane were still sitting on Brendon's body. "And for murdering one Daywalkers. And nearly killing two Nightwalkers as well."
"You're late." Ryan joked as Pete and Spencer got to their feet again, Pete's hands firmly on Butch's arms.
"You've survived worse." Spencer snorted as Pete shoved Butch out the door, Patrick reading the vampire his rights.
Ryan fumbled about, finally pushing himself to his feet, turning his back to Spencer so his friend could remove the silver bindings from his wrists.
"Thank you," Brendon said as he moved forward to stand in front of Ryan as Spencer untied Shane. "For finding my murderer and all."
"It's my job." Ryan shrugged sheepishly, watching as Gerard came in with the EMTs to collect Brendon's body. Shane gave Ryan a small wave as he followed Brendon's body out.
"What next?" Brendon wondered, biting his lip as he watched his body leave.
"Gerard does an autopsy on your body to confirm what we already heard from Butch." Ryan shrugged again. "And then Shane makes the arrangements for your funeral, I guess." He turned toward the ghost. "Go on, go be with Shane. He needs you a lot more than I do."
Brendon nodded before leaning forward, kissing Ryan faintly. He smiled a bit before disappearing.
Ryan sighed softly before clapping a hand to Spencer's back. "Spencer, my very good friend, I need a place to stay, after I give my statement to an officer and until they fix my door."
"Mooch."
Ryan grinned wide. "I am totally a mooch, but I will totally make up for it by telling you all about what you just burst in on."
Spencer raised an eyebrow, but Ryan could see the hint of a grin playing across the vampire's lips. "You better. And it better be good."
"I promise you, it's good." Ryan patted Spencer's back, heading out when he saw Patrick coming back up the stairs. "It's TV drama good."
"It better be."
--
The day of Brendon’s funeral was bright and cheerful. Ryan thought it was strangely appropriate, considering how the ghost was. Even the cemetery the funeral was being held at was strangely beautiful, and the ghosts that he could see just beyond the corner of his eye were watching the proceedings in quiet respect. Not for the first time, Ryan wondered if this usually happened during Daywalker funerals. He’d never been to one himself, but he knew they happened during certain kinds of Nightwalker funerals.
He shaded his eyes with his hand, trying not to flinch as the movement made the leather wristband hiding the silver burns rub against the slowly healing skin, and taking in the group of people gathered around the grave site to pay their last respects. In the bright sunlight, he could almost make out Brendon’s shimmering form standing next to Shane’s solid form.
Ryan lowered his hand with a faint nod, shoving both hands into his coat pockets and turning his back on the scene. Really, his work here was done; Brendon’s body was being laid to rest and the ghost could move on into the next life, or stay attached to Shane. Whatever he chose to do. It wasn’t really any of his concern.
Suddenly, Brendon was standing right in front of him. Ryan took a step back, trying to not look like the ghost had startled him. He was pretty sure he wasn't fooling either one of them. Judging by the expression Brendon gave him, the ghost had definitely seen it.
Ryan quietly took in Brendon’s now clean clothes and the lack of the gaping wound in his throat before looking up at the ghost’s face. He blinked at the look of nervousness he saw there.
“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked before he could stop himself.
Brendon shrugged faintly, before looking over Ryan’s shoulder to where the group was. “I haven’t seen my whole family together like this in a very long time.” It didn’t look like he was expecting Ryan to say anything, so Ryan stayed quiet, and Brendon’s gaze came back to him. “So now what?”
Ryan blinked, glancing over his shoulder to see if maybe Brendon was talking to someone else, but there was no one there. The question was definitely to him, and he wasn’t even sure he was the right person to ask, even if he was the ghost witch. “I don’t know. I’ve never really been in your shoes. Cross over, I guess.”
“What about…?” Brendon’s voice trailed off, his eyes flicking toward where Shane was standing, the unspoken part of his question obvious. Ryan wasn’t quite sure why seeing that hurt.
“I imagine he’ll eventually move on with his life, like any Nightwalker would.” Ryan scratched at the burn on his wrist, trying to keep his tone neutral. “Maybe you’ll see each other on the Other Side. I’ve heard from both Daywalkers and Nightwalkers that it looks about the same, concept wise.”
Brendon looked around, as if he expected something to happen, and trying to look like he wasn’t nervous at the idea of crossing over. “Do you know what it’s like? On the Other Side? It’s not scary, right?”
Ryan smiled faintly, scratching more at his wrist. Somehow, he wasn’t really surprised that Brendon was nervous at the thought of leaving behind more things that he knew. “No, not from how I understand it. Wouldn’t know, I’ve never been dead. But I hear it’s gorgeous over there, and different for everyone.”
Brendon gave a small nod, biting his lip and looking over Ryan’s shoulder again. Ryan glanced over his shoulder, seeing Shane watching them from where he stood by the grave site, before he noticed Vicky standing by the trees on the other side. Ryan wasn’t quite sure why the Reaper was there, probably escorting another soul or seeing how this story was going to play out. He decided he didn’t really want to know and turned back to look at Brendon.
But the ghost wasn’t looking at him anymore. His gaze was fixed on a point just behind Ryan, and something about his expression told Ryan that if he turned around, there wouldn’t be anything to see. This wasn’t something he could see, just Brendon.
“I guess you heard right from people.” Brendon’s voice was almost awed before he looked at Ryan again. “I just have to walk toward it, right?”
Ryan nodded, turning a bit as Brendon walked around him toward whatever it was the ghost saw. “I think that’s the general idea. And you go on to… whatever’s next after this life.”
Brendon paused in walking, turning a bit toward Ryan, and he was more solid than Ryan had ever seen him. “Thank you, Ryan. For everything.” He looked over to where Shane was before back to Ryan again, eyes flicking down to Ryan’s wrists and the hidden burns. “And I’m sorry that I got you caught up in everything. And that you got hurt because of me.”
Ryan shrugged, smiling. “It’s fine. I’m glad you showed up in my bedroom. It was nice meeting you, Brendon.”
“It was nice meeting you too.” Brendon turned back, starting to walk again. As he walked, he started to fade into nothing. Just before he vanished completely from view, he turned back to Ryan with a faint smile on his face and a little wave.
Ryan waved back before shoving his hands in his pockets again, looking back to where Brendon’s family was starting to drift away from the grave site, leaving Shane and a few other stragglers. After a few more minutes passed and the stragglers walked away, Shane left too, walking a different direction from everyone else after glancing toward where Ryan stood. Ryan wondered if Shane knew Brendon was gone now, and considered following after the other man to let him know before deciding against it. He probably did know, and the knowledge wouldn’t make it any easier.
A few minutes later, Ryan turned and walked away, heading for his car to drive back home and wishing that home wasn’t going to feel as empty with just him and Keltie in it.
It was going to be a long, lonely night after such a bright, cheerful day.
He'd just managed to get to his car before he became aware that someone was yelling his name. Ryan turned, blinking as he saw Shane walking over to him.
"Hi," Shane said as he stopped in front of Ryan, chewing his lip.
"Hi." Ryan held his hand up in a half-hearted wave. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do now, and judging by the way Shane glanced over toward Brendon's grave, the incubus wasn't sure either. Ryan shoved his hands in his pockets, scuffing his shoe against the ground before clearing his throat, making the incubus look back at him. "Brendon crossed over."
"I know." There was something unreadable behind Shane's eyes before he leaned forward to kiss Ryan softly. Ryan's eyes slid closed as he tilted his head slightly to kiss back, blinking them back open as Shane pulled away a few heartbeats later. "I didn't sleep with you just because you had Brendon's energy. And I wanna thank you for what you did."
Ryan smiled faintly. "I know." He leaned forward, giving Shane a soft kiss. "Did you, maybe, want to go out for coffee? At Greta's?" He bit his lower lip before smiling. "We'll drink to Brendon?"
Shane echoed the smile, nodding. "I'd like that."
He turned, heading to his own car. Ryan watched him go, smiling to himself. Well, maybe it wasn't going to be such a long, lonely night after all.
The conversation following that statement had left Ryan feeling like he was walking in a daze. He wasn't even sure if he could properly digest the information he'd gotten. True, he'd found out where Brendon had come from, but what Shane had said didn't match up with what Brendon had remembered. It was true that ghosts that met with traumatic experiences, like sudden deaths as was clearly the case with Brendon, only remembered what they wanted to. But this was far-fetched, even for what he took as strange-but-true.
Ryan made his way back to his apartment, going back over the conversation back at Greta's little coffee shop, trying to see if he'd gotten all the information from Shane correct in his mind.
Ryan finally shook himself free from his thoughts, walking up the stairs to his apartment. He wasn't sure if Shane's look of pain would ever completely leave him. As he let himself into his apartment, he silently hoped it would and that somehow, he'd find Brendon's body, so both Shane and Brendon could have some sort of peace of mind. It seemed to be a pretty big idle hope.
He just wasn't sure how he was going to find a body he had no clue how or where to find.
He set his messenger bag down onto the chair by the door, moving his foot backwards to shut the door when it caught on something. Ryan blinked, turning slightly and came face to face with Shane. The incubus looked faintly nervous for a moment, hovering just inside the threshold before he surged forward, cupping Ryan's face and kissing him hard. Ryan wasn't quite sure why he felt himself respond with the same intensity, but they were both panting pretty hard when Shane pulled away, biting his lip.
"I shouldn't have done that," Shane whispered softly, looking down at his shoes. "It's just, you smell so much like Brendon's energy that I think my signals got crossed. God, I'm sorry..."
Ryan reached around Shane, shutting the door and locking it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brendon hovering nervously. Ryan took a deep breath and led Shane over to the couch, sitting him down.
"I probably do, being able to be connected to him like I am." Ryan said slowly, not even sure how to deal with an incubus in his apartment. When he'd dated Spencer, briefly, he'd discovered how to handle a vampire - let them control everything, even the less dominant vampires like the power it gives them - but he wasn't sure if that held true with an incubus. Even one as clearly unique as Shane. He looked over at Brendon, wondering if the ghost had any suggestions.
"You can, um." Brendon bit his lip before shrugging, smiling encouragingly. "You can do that again. I don't mind."
"What's he saying?" Shane asked, and Ryan jumped at Shane's mouth so close to his ear. Shane smiled, and Ryan was pretty sure a smile had never been that much of a turn-on to him. "Sorry, you were busy intently staring at empty air, so I thought maybe Brendon was standing there and saying something."
"He said I could..." Ryan trailed off as Shane cupped his cheek again, leaning forward and kissing him slowly, gently licking his way into Ryan's mouth. Ryan couldn't help himself from softly moaning into Shane's mouth, eyes falling closed as he wrapped his fingers into Shane's shirt. After what felt like a few heartbeats of soft sounds and feeling like he was completely new to kissing, Shane pulled back, smiling faintly down at Ryan. "Um, he said I could do that," Ryan finished lamely before getting up.
Shane's hand wrapped around Ryan's wrist, pulling him back down into the incubus's lap and right into another kiss, harder and more demanding than even the one at the door. Ryan groaned, feeling himself get hard at just being kissed, and he felt more than heard the little bubble of laughter against his lips at the sound.
"You're not a virgin, are you?" Shane pulled away, smile teasing now.
Ryan wasn't sure why he turned bright red at that, and he silently cursed his fair complexion that it was obvious when Shane's smile got even wider. Ryan rocked his hips up hard against Shane's, leaning down to swallow the resulting moan, digging his fingers into Shane's hair. "Not a virgin," Ryan whispered between soft and hard kisses. "Want you," he went on, kissing the corner of Shane's mouth and making his way along Shane's jawline to his earlobe, tugging gently with his teeth.
"You sure?" Shane gasped, fingers curling into Ryan's hips.
"Yeah," Ryan gasped back before pulling away, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to Shane. The incubus took the offered hand, getting to his feet in one fluid motion before backing Ryan up into the nearest wall, kissing him hard.
Ryan groaned, arms going around Shane's neck as he kissed back. He wasn't quite sure how long they stood there, kissing each other like it was the only thing keeping them attached to reality, before Shane pulled away, hands settling against Ryan's hips.
"Bedroom?" Shane whispered against Ryan's lips, making him groan again. Ryan slid his hands down to the incubus' chest, pushing him forward before sliding his hands down to take Shane's hands in his, walking backwards as he pulled him toward the bedroom. He continued walking backwards until he fell backwards onto his bed, Shane falling on top of him.
Shane chuckled, ducking his head to nip at Ryan's neck, fangs brushing against skin that suddenly felt tight. "Hi."
"Oh, god, hi." Ryan moaned, head falling back, bearing more of his neck.
Shane pulled back, pulling off Ryan's shirt before nipping at Ryan's neck again. "You don't quite taste like Brendon, even though you smell like his energy," Shane whispered against Ryan's neck, fangs grazing the skin again. "It's kind of addicting for me."
"Y-yeah?" Ryan groaned, reaching up to pull off Shane's shirt before his hands slid down the incubus' chest and stomach to his fly. "Enough talk, though. Naked now."
Shane laughed against Ryan's neck, making him moan louder and arch up against Shane, Ryan's fingers temporarily sandwiched between them. But Shane pulled back, fingers moving down to Ryan's fly, and seconds later, both men were naked and pressed up against each other. There was a low moan - Ryan wasn't sure if it was him, or Shane, or even both of them - before Shane's mouth was back on Ryan's, kissing him hard as Shane's fingers slid down to Ryan's hips, curling slightly around them.
"S-stupid question, considering..." Shane's voice was shaky, and Ryan was glad to know he wasn't the only one trembling now. "But you've got stuff, right?"
Ryan gestured vaguely in the direction of his nightstand, although it might have been toward his window instead. He was pretty sure that Shane got the point either way as he got up, checking the nightstand first before finding lube and a condom on the window sill - which Ryan couldn't even remember leaving there, but stranger things, after all - and coming back to the bed.
Shane coated his fingers with the lube, rubbing them together a bit to warm it up before he kissed Ryan again, fingers slipping between Ryan's legs to press against his entrance. Ryan moaned against Shane's lips, spreading his legs a bit more as invitingly as he could. Shane chuckled in response, pushing a finger inside. Ryan's hips jerked up slightly as Shane curled his finger.
"You can," Ryan mumbled against Shane's lips, hips jerking up again as Shane curled his finger again. "You can add another finger, please. I've done this before."
"Impatient." Shane laughed softly against Ryan's mouth, pulling his finger out before replacing it with two, automatically curling them when they were fully inside Ryan. Ryan gasped, arching up off the bed and trying to push back against them. "I'm gonna take it that means you're already ready?"
"Oh god, yeah," Ryan whispered, fingers tangling in the sheets as Shane pulled his fingers out. Ryan bit his lip at the feeling of being empty, watching with hazy eyes as Shane leaned back to open the condom packet, rolling the condom on with a low moan.
"C'mere," Shane whispered, sitting back and pulling Ryan up onto his knees, hovering just above Shane's cock. Ryan bit back a moan, looking down at Shane with needy eyes. Shane wrapped one hand around Ryan's hip, the other coming up to cup Ryan's cheek. "Ready? God, you look so ready."
Ryan leaned down to kiss Shane roughly, resting one hand against Shane's shoulder, the other reaching down to steady himself against Shane's thigh as he lowered his hips down. He groaned loudly as Shane lifted his hips to slam up into him.
"God," Shane hissed against Ryan's lips, as Ryan lifted himself up before slamming back down. "You feel good."
"So." Ryan moaned loudly as Shane surged forward so Ryan was on his back. "Oh god, so do you."
Shane laughed huskily, hands moving to wrap Ryan's legs around his waist before gripping Ryan's hips hard as he slammed into him. "Let's. Let's see how long you last without me touching you, huh?"
Ryan moaned loudly at the thought, head falling back as he raised his hips to meet each and every one of Shane's rough thrusts. "S-shit. Right." Ryan half-screamed as one of Shane's thrusts found his prostate. "Right there, Shane. Oh my god, keep fucking me right there." A part of Ryan knew he was rambling like he was needy for Shane's cock, but he just couldn't help it.
Shane laughed huskily, ducking his head to graze his fangs against Ryan's throat again. Ryan moaned loudly, legs tightening more around Shane's waist, his hands coming up to slide over Shane's shoulders and dig his nails in like it was the only anchor Ryan had.
"You like this, don't you?" Shane growled against Ryan's throat, hips slamming up hard as he continued to fuck Ryan roughly. "You sound like a little cockwhore, begging for my cock." Shane's fingers uncurled from Ryan's hips, moving up to either side of Ryan's head as Shane changed the angle he was fucking Ryan at. The new angle made Ryan half-scream and dig his nails more into Shane's back at each thrust.
"Oh, god, yes," Ryan babbled, arching up hard as his fingers practically clawed at Shane's back. "I can't. Oh, god, Shane. Can you. God, please touch me. I'm not. I'm not gonna last much longer and I just. I need you to touch me."
Shane lowered himself again, kissing Ryan's neck briefly and slipping one hand between them to wrap firmly around Ryan and stroke him in time with each rough thrust. Ryan came hard with a scream as Shane's fangs entered his neck. He arched up hard against Shane, coating both their stomachs and Shane's hand, and almost blacking out.
Shane fucked Ryan through his orgasm, managing a few more thrusts before coming with a growl muffled into Ryan's neck, hips shuddering. He collapsed on top of Ryan, both of them trying to catch their breath before Shane pushed himself up, pulling out with a quiet groan. Ryan whimpered faintly at the loss, eyes closed.
"What. What did you do when your fangs entered my neck?" Ryan blinked his eyes open at Shane as he got up to get rid of the condom, before burying his face in Shane's shoulder when he came back to the bed.
"I fed off your energy. Sorry." Shane kissed Ryan's forehead. "You okay?"
"Thought. Thought you didn't feed like that," Ryan mumbled against Shane's shoulder, although he nodded in response to the incubus' question.
"Sorry." Shane ducked his head to softly kiss the fang marks on Ryan's neck. "I usually don't."
Ryan hummed quietly, head falling back a bit in response. "I didn't mind in the least, though."
"Yeah?" Shane pulled back a bit, looking down at Ryan with the hint of a smile.
"Yeah." Ryan echoed the smile and the word, nodding a bit before he yawned wide. "Sorry. I didn't get much sleep before I ran into you at Greta's. And then this, and well."
"It's okay." Shane kissed Ryan's forehead again with a quiet smile, settling in comfortably against Ryan's side. Ryan rather liked the way Shane seemed to fit against him, even if it sounded a bit too harlequin novel cliche in his head. "Go to sleep, then."
Ryan pillowed his head against Shane's chest, closing his eyes with a faint smile. "See you in my dreams?"
"Absolutely." Shane shifted again with a content sigh, kissing the top of Ryan's head as he closed his eyes as well.
--
Ryan woke up, feeling slightly fuzzy but definitely content. He might have dated, and slept with, a vampire, but that didn't mean having his blood drunk was quite the same as having his energy taken. Although, Ryan thought, as he stretched as carefully as he could, taking in where he was sore and enjoying the feel of skin-against-skin, if something started between him and the incubus, he definitely wouldn't have many problems with it.
"You look happy," Brendon said quietly, and Ryan turned his head in the ghost's direction before carefully putting it back down against Shane's chest when the room threatened to tilt. Okay, maybe there were some drawbacks. But they weren't ones that were hard to overcome. "Not that I'm upset or anything," Brendon quickly went on. His eyes darted to Shane and a trace of a smile crossed his lips that warmed Ryan. "You looked very good together."
Ryan raised an eyebrow at the ghost, pretty sure that if Brendon were capable of it, he would be blushing. "Were you watching?" Ryan paused before adding, "I wouldn't be surprised. I can't imagine being a ghost is easy, especially if your boyfriend hooks up with the ghost witch who can see you."
Brendon shrugged slightly, twining his fingers together and looking down at them. "It's getting easier, I think, to be a ghost." He glanced back up. "If you and Shane, y'know, start something? I wouldn't mind." The ghost looked over to Shane, still fast asleep. "He's a good man. A good incubus, I guess is more accurate." He looked back at Ryan. "He was the best boyfriend I ever had."
Something about that sentence - "He was the best boyfriend I ever had." - tugged at Ryan's memory, but Ryan couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, letting a finger trail along the bite mark on his neck, with the two tiny puncture wounds from Shane's fangs. The motion was just starting to make him sleepy when he started awake again. Tiny puncture wounds in his neck. Fangs. There was another girl in his morgue with fang bites on her neck.
Ignoring the wooziness that came with it, Ryan sat up, looking over at Brendon. "Remember the brunette in my morgue? You said you had dated her. And Audrey."
Brendon nodded, blinking. "Yeah, but I'm not following you."
"I hadn't found much of anything much of interest in her autopsy. But she had bite marks too. “ Ryan brought his knees up to his chest, drumming his fingers against his thigh. Beside him, Shane snorted quietly in his sleep, getting more comfortable. "I need to get into work to look at her record. Compare it to Audrey's and see if they're identical."
"Still not following you...." Brendon said, watching Ryan get up, already grabbing for his discarded briefs. "What's Sarah's autopsy have to do with Audrey's?"
"I don't know!" Ryan admitted, putting his underwear on before pulling on a pair of pants. He sat down on the bed, lightly patting Shane's arm. "Hey, wake up."
Shane grunted softly before his eyes slowly blinked open. He blearily looked up at Ryan before giving him a sleepy smile. "Hi." The smile turned a bit confused as he noticed Ryan was half dressed. "Where you going?"
With Shane awake, Ryan got back to his feet, grabbing a clean shirt and pulling it on. "I have a dead girl in my morgue that Brendon's been on a few dates with. She's got bite marks on her neck too, that could be identical to Audrey's wounds, so I wanna run into work and see what her record looks like, compare it to Audrey's."
Shane propped himself up on one arm, running a hand over his face as he processed that. "How does that help you solve who killed them, or who killed Brendon?"
Ryan paused midway through tying his shoe. "I haven't a clue. But it would give them a connection to each other, and to Brendon." He went back to tying his shoe as he continued talking. "Which isn't much, but it's better than the big fat nothing we've got going for us so far. We, meaning myself regarding Brendon, and the Centre regarding Audrey's unfortunate death."
He got back to his feet, wondering how best to approach saying goodbye to Shane, before settling for leaning over to give him a quick kiss. "Bye, I shouldn't be gone for more than half an hour, at best. It's just grabbing a folder and giving Pete a possible lead, if I see him."
"Bye."
--
The drive to work seemed to take less time than it usually did, probably because Ryan was partially distracted by the possibility that he might actually be close to finding a link between Audrey and the other body he had in the morgue. He pulled into the parking lot, flashed his badge to Zack on his way into the Centre, and hurried to the elevator.
Distracted as he was, Ryan didn't even notice the man standing in the hallway until he bumped into him.
Ryan started, pulling his head out of the clouds as the man - no, the vampire, there was no denying the fangs - turned toward him with a faintly annoyed look. (Ryan absently noticed that while he'd thought Shane's fangs were similar to a vampire's, the incubus' fangs were actually slightly smaller than a vampire's; not unlike comparing a cat's canines to a dog's canines.) Ryan mustered up his best smile, wondering if maybe he should just take the stairs as he was in a rush. "Sorry, didn't see you."
The vampire raised one dark eyebrow at Ryan, looking him up and down. Unconsciously, Ryan found himself doing the same: the vampire was a newcomer to the Centre, as far as he knew, a little bit taller than average height, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and dressed in a dark suit. Absently, Ryan wondered if maybe the vampire was here to talk to Bill, or one of the other higher ranking vampires that worked at the Centre. He wouldn't be surprised; it happened fairly often, he'd noticed. But, while the vampire looked like any other vampire Ryan had ever seen, there was just something about him that made Ryan's skin crawl.
The vampire's nostrils flared a bit, and Ryan knew that the vampire was smelling him to see if he was much of a threat - Ryan wasn't sure quite why, but silently, he thought at the vampire, "I'm not a threat, just let me go about my way. Please overlook me." - before the vampire turned his back to him, walking toward the offices.
Ryan looked after him for a few long moments, before taking off running for the stairs. He wasn't quite sure why he needed to race down the stairs, or even what it was about the strange vampire that made him feel a lot like a rabbit running away from a fox, but he just knew instinctively that he needed to put some distance between himself and the stranger.
He didn't stop running until he burst into the morgue, grabbing a lab coat and putting it on as he ran. Gerard, a very friendly fire witch who was the night medical examiner when Ryan was off (and an ex-boyfriend from when Ryan had gone to college to become an M.E.), nearly had to jump up from where he was sitting at the desk to avoid being hit by the swinging door.
"What's gotten into you, Ry?" Gerard stared at Ryan, and the sight of him made Ryan skid to a stop, taking a deep breath and leaning forward to brace his hands against his knees. "You look like, if you'll pardon the expression, you've seen a ghost."
Ryan took a few more deep breaths, eyes focused on one of the off-white tiles of the morgue floor, before he straightened up. "Not this time. I just feel like I met Death in the hallway, and it was more frightening than anything I've ever seen." His memory brought up Vicky, and how, despite being an actual Grim Reaper, she'd been less frightening than the unknown vampire. "Like I'd met my own death, and he looked into my soul and found it lacking."
Gerard stared at him for a moment longer, before patting Ryan's shoulder and giving him a small not-quite-humor-filled laugh. The accompanying smile was definitely genuine, though. Ryan couldn't help but lean into the friendly gesture, feeling it calm him down even more. "Somehow, I don't think Death's found you quite yet, my fellow witchy witch."
Ryan echoed the smile before turning to the desk, shuffling the folders Gerard was looking at and rustling the paperwork. "Before you ask what I'm doing here on my night off, I actually need the file for that Jane Doe that came in yesterday during the day. Which is, okay, why I'm here on my night off." Ryan gave him a sheepish grin.
Gerard raised an eyebrow before shaking his head, sitting back down and helping Ryan search before finding the folder in question. As Ryan reached for it, Gerard held it back. "You got a name then?"
"Better." Ryan grinned proudly, leaning forward to snatch it. "I have the ghost of the boyfriend. Or rather, the ex-boyfriend."
Not about to let the folder go quite so easily, Gerard's fingers tightened on the file. After all, this was a game they'd used to play back when they had classes together. "How the hell do you have the ghost of the ex-boyfriend? He die with her?"
"No, I think he died separately." Ryan finally managed to snatch the folder away. "But he showed up in my bedroom last night, and he knows both our Jane Doe and a murder vic we got in last night." He paused, blinking as he considered a possibility that hadn't occurred to him yet. "I wonder if maybe the same person who killed those girls, also killed the ex-boyfriend.”
Gerard snorted loudly, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk as his brown eyes fixed Ryan with a decidedly amused expression. It was an expression Ryan knew all too well, one Gerard reserved for when he thought people were being stupid. "This is real life, Rossy," he said, amusement coating each word. "Shit like that, solutions magically coming together with little to base them on, only happen in poorly written TV drama shows, designed to make our jobs look sweet and for more people to go for them as career moves." He leaned forward a bit, grabbing a folder off the desk and opening it up to study it, lifting up the topmost picture before looking up at Ryan once more. "As much as I like those TV drama shows, I just question the science and likelihood of shit like that ties up in a neat little bow in 45 minutes."
Ryan snorted, smiling despite himself. "Yeah, I know. You used to mock them when we were roommates."
"Ah yes." Gerard smiled wistfully up at the ceiling before looking back down at the folder in his lap. "Tell your latest man I say hi, by the way. Even though I'm guessing I probably don't know him, considering the type of guy you go for these days."
Ryan paused as he started to walk out, pulling his shirt away from his chest to sniff it, wondering if he had Shane's scent on his clothes. From behind him, Gerard laughed, head still down as he looked at the folder.
"Despite the fear you came into the morgue with, Rossy, you still had that glow of 'I just got some'."
Ryan rolled his eyes, heading out. He started walking toward the elevator, before pausing. He couldn't be sure that strange vampire wasn't waiting by the elevator again, but he did know he didn't want to run into him a second time. The walk back up the stairs helped banish the fear even further, and sure enough, the main entrance of the Centre was clear.
He took a deep breath, waving at Zack as he left, and started to walk to his car. He got halfway there before he stopped short, staring at Vicky standing nervously by his car.
"I'm sorry for disappearing from the morgue earlier," Vicky began in a rush as Ryan closed the distance between them. "It's just, your ghost friend isn't really dead." She paused, catching the look Ryan gave her as he opened his door. "Well, he is dead, in the sense of being deceased and should be crossed over, but it's not his time." The reaper glanced up toward the sky, and Ryan couldn't help himself as he glanced up, seeing nothing. But that didn't mean Vicky saw nothing. "The people upstairs..." Here Vicky paused again, jerking her head up toward the sky, as if she thought Ryan couldn't figure out which "upstairs" she meant. Ryan had to pull his thoughts away from the sudden mental image of the Other Side, looking a lot like the offices of the Centre with angels and such in three piece suits and business dresses, going about their business. He had to bite back the burst of laughter that arose from the mental image. "Are of the opinion that, should you find out who killed him, he'll be allowed to cross over. But they don't know if it'll be a permanent thing."
Ryan blinked, feeling a little lost. He'd heard of near-death experiences, from Daywalker friends who worked at the different Daywalker hospitals around the city, as well as the few Nightwalkers who were working there as well, but those tended to involve the energy, or ectoplasm, or whatever it was that ghosts were having a body to go back to. They weren't separated like Brendon seemed to be. And zombies and ghouls were only found in horror movies, as far as he knew. He had heard that bad witches dealt with that kind of thing, but he'd never seen anything like it. He held up a hand, trying to gather his thoughts together. "So, what you're saying is, Brendon is dead, but not dead?"
"Pretty much." Vicky chewed her lip, hands nervously moving down to smooth out her skirt. "It's why I kept disappearing around him. He looks like a ghost, like I should be helping him cross into the light, but he doesn't feel dead. He..." Her voice trailed off, eyes widening before she disappeared quickly.
Ryan turned, seeing nothing before he shook himself, getting into the car and silently deciding that Vicky was just a naturally jumpy person. Reaper. Whatever.
He turned it over in his head as he drove home, finally deciding that he'd be thankful when this case was solved and he could move on.
Ryan didn't think he had ever been more grateful to see his apartment building as he pulled into the parking lot and turned his car off. He grabbed the folder, flipping through it absently as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. He unlocked the door, only to find Shane half dressed and sitting on his living room floor, studying a takeout menu. The incubus looked up, smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry," Shane offered apologetically as Ryan went to grab Audrey's folder from his messenger bag, still sitting where he'd left it on the chair by the door. "I was getting hungry, and thought maybe you were as well. So I poked around your kitchen, only I didn't find much to cook." He held up the takeout menu. "But this was stuck to your fridge door."
Ryan smiled as he sat down on the floor next to Shane, opening up both files and starting to lay the pictures from both autopsies out so he could study them to find a connection. "Incubi eat normal food like the rest of us?"
Shane handed the takeout menu over with a sheepish smile. "People's energy only gets me so far. I have to supplement the energy I take from feeding with other things, and I've since developed a taste for certain sorts of food over the years I've been alive."
"Over the years?" Ryan raised an eyebrow as he studied the menu. Sure enough, it was the takeout menu to his favorite Thai place, one that was thankfully open 24 hours. "How old are you? If I can ask, that is, because you look like you can't be that much older than me. Even though I know that doesn't mean shit when it comes to being a Nightwalker."
Shane gave Ryan an amused smile, eyes twinkling. "How old are you?"
"I'll be 24 in August." Ryan gave Shane a deadpan look back.
"You're only 23?" Brendon asked, appearing out of nowhere right next to Shane. Shane, for his part, turned his head slightly toward Brendon, and Ryan wondered again if incubi could sense ghosts.
"His being able to see and hear ghosts helped his M.E. career." Keltie spoke up from the hallway, where she was quietly observing them from her position by the bathroom. The ghost bride looked like she wanted to join them, but, as she didn't know Shane, Ryan figured she felt safer close to her bathroom.
As Shane turned toward Keltie, Ryan reached out to lightly touch the incubus' arm. "Hey, I've been wondering since Greta's cafe. Can you actually see or hear ghosts? You keep reacting to Brendon whenever he speaks, and earlier, at Greta's, you looked directly at the chair he was sitting in. And just now you also reacted to Keltie, my resident ghost."
Shane shook his head. "I can't see or hear ghosts, not like you can. But I can sense the energy they give off when they manifest themselves. It's a part of the whole feeding off energy thing we incubi have going for us, I think." He paused before smiling. "And to answer your other question, the one about my age? I'm a couple centuries old."
"You Nightwalkers can live that long?" Brendon gasped, practically in Ryan's ear.
"Certain types," Ryan replied, rubbing his ear as he glanced at the ghost. "Witches like me might see a century and a half, if we're lucky. And by luck, I mean if I don't encounter a necromancer or someone that'd use me to pull in ghosts for them. The mental capacity required would drive me insane, and suicidal. Elemental witches, or witches that can control a specific element," Ryan counted them off on his fingers, "Fire, water, air, and earth, although I've heard that some Chinese witches can also control metals. They might see a century, at best." He paused, suddenly picturing Gerard killed during a witch battle. He shook himself, ridding himself of the thought as he continued. "Nightwalkers typically call elemental witches 'battle witches' because of their ability to use elements. There's a section of the Centre whose primary concern are the elemental witches that are pyromaniac fire witches or water witches that decide to flood people's basements or shit." He indicated Shane. "And from what I understand, although I am not an expert, incubi, as well as succubi, their female equivalent, tend to live for a few centuries."
"Until we get bored with our existence, and settle into being just pent-up sexual energy." Shane shrugged like it was nothing. To him, Ryan guessed, it probably was nothing, just a fact of life for the incubus.
"Sexual beings like us just stop... existing after a while. I don't know if I'd call it dying, but it's a lot less dramatic a death than most Nightwalkers get."
"I never knew that." Ryan blinked at Shane. "Although, granted, in my line of work, I don't really encounter your type."
Shane smiled. "Incubi and succubi generally drain their victims slowly over years, unless they're young and inexperienced, so I'm really not all that surprised you haven't, or all that insulted that you know so little about my kind."
"Learn something new every day." Ryan smiled back before turning his attention to the photos spread out on the floor. "Right, I wanted to find a connection between Audrey Kitching and this Jane Doe," he tapped a photo of the unknown girl, watching Brendon lean over the pictures of the Jane Doe before he noticed Shane doing the same thing.
"Her name is Sarah. Sarah Orzechowski," Shane and Brendon said at nearly the same time. Ryan nodded. He'd figured that, as roommates, Shane might have known the Jane Doe, since Brendon had mentioned dating her pretty recently.
"Brendon went out on a couple of dates with her, maybe a month ago?" Shane went on, unintentionally echoing what Brendon had told Ryan last night. He tapped a photo of Audrey. "And this girl, Audrey Kitching, Brendon dated before Sarah. But I'm sure Brendon already told you all that." Shane paused, frowning as he picked up a picture of each of the girls, fanning them slightly so he could study them. "He really liked both these girls, but the relationships went weird toward the end, and they broke up. After Sarah stopped returning his phone calls was when Brendon came to the conclusion that maybe it was him that ruined both relationships, even though I told him countless times that it wasn't his fault. He's too nice a guy for that to happen." Shane set both pictures down where Ryan had put them, glancing to where Brendon was quietly watching him. Something about the way Brendon was looking at Shane made Ryan feel like he was watching something he shouldn't be watching. "But, that's when Brendon and I got together, so I always thought that their loss was my gain, y'know?"
"So..." Ryan began carefully, picking up the pictures Shane had just put back down and mirroring Shane's move of fanning them to study them. "If both of these girls got killed because they were dating Brendon..."
"But they weren't dating me at the time." Brendon pointed out, cutting in on Ryan as Shane said, "But they had already broken up with him by the time they died, according to your respective reports for them."
"Okay, but say the killer was behind the breakups." Ryan held up a finger as Brendon opened his mouth to speak. Shane glanced toward where the ghost was sitting, like he could just imagine the expression on Brendon's face. "Brendon, let me run with this theory, will you? You said it yourself. They both acted strangely right before you broke up with them. What if someone had always been after you, and they just happened to be in the way?"
"You sound like the plot climax in a made-for-TV movie or some drama TV show." Shane smiled at Ryan, even as Brendon gave Ryan a vaguely exasperated look. Ryan wondered if Brendon had ever met Gerard; the expression definitely gave him deja vu. "I'm pretty sure you couldn't possibly have a case where that is the solution. Next, you'll be saying the killer killed Brendon as well, since that's usually how those things work."
"Okay, I admit it is pretty far-fetched, but I don't even know if the CSIs working the case have any leads that make more sense," Ryan admitted, laughing a bit as Brendon turned the exasperated look on Shane. "And Brendon's giving you an exasperated look."
"Not really that surprised." Shane said, smiling in Brendon's direction.
Ryan thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah, while I was getting Sarah's file," he leaned over to grab a pen from his messenger bag, crossing out 'Doe, Jane' and replacing it with 'Orzechowski, Sarah' as he spoke, "I ran into Vicky again. She's a Grim Reaper," Ryan added in response to the confused look Shane gave him. "She kept disappearing around Brendon earlier, and I found out why. Which is, I suppose, why I was wondering if maybe the killer had been after Brendon."
"Why?" Shane and Brendon said at the exact same time, and Ryan couldn't help but smile at it. He could definitely see how the dating each other thing had happened. The incubus and the ghost seemed to be on the same wavelength of thought.
"She says Brendon's not supposed to be dead. That it's not his time yet." Ryan glanced over at the ghost, who was staring at him. "She says you feel alive to her, but you clearly look like a ghost. So, the upstairs, I guess, is all worked up over it, but you might be able to cross over. Kinda like a strange version of a near-death experience, I guess? I’m guessing Audrey wasn’t supposed to be dead yet, and that’s when I first saw Vicky. And then she was disappearing around Brendon." Ryan shrugged faintly. "Although, considering the fact you have a gaping wound where your throat is, I'm guessing your body won't be of much use to you if we did find it."
"That's fucked up." Shane commented dryly, looking more than just a tad bit annoyed. "Brendon's dead, clearly, but he's not dead, because it's not his time." He eyed Ryan. "Have I got that straight?"
"Perfectly." Ryan nodded before picking up the takeout menu again where he'd put it down, handing it over to Shane. "I think I'm gonna have the peanut chicken, so could you order while I go take a shower? I'll cover the bill."
Shane gave him an amused smile as Brendon looked up at him. "Why do you have to shower?"
“I had a run in with this creepy vampire while I was at the Centre, and now that I've got a straight connection between my former Jane Doe, Audrey and Brendon, I feel the need to go scrub my skin off after my encounter with the guy," Ryan said before pointing to his messenger bag, turning toward the bathroom. "I should be out of the shower just before the food gets here if you order it now, but if I'm not, my wallet's in there."
Shane nodded, settling in with the menu and the phone to decide what he wanted, as Ryan headed to the bathroom.
"I like him," Keltie commented from where she sat on the edge of the bathtub as Ryan entered the bathroom, moving to sit on the toilet when Ryan shooed her away. "Shane, I mean." She paused. "I like Brendon too."
"I like them both too," Ryan admitted as he undressed, turning on the water and getting into the shower. "I hope this all turns out okay in the end."
Ryan tried to take a quick shower, wanting to get out before the delivery guy showed up with the food, but it was still ten minutes before he turned off the water and pushed aside the shower curtain. Keltie was no longer sitting on the toilet, Ryan noticed as he grabbed the towel off the rack and wrapped it around his waist. He wasn't feeling very embarrassed about walking out in just a towel. After all, he'd slept with Shane not that long ago, and Brendon had seen him naked afterward.
Silence greeted him when he opened the bathroom door and came out, and he nearly opened his mouth to speak up when Keltie suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Go back in there!" She hissed, eyes wide as her hands tried ineffectually to push him back into the bathroom. He flinched slightly at the ice cold feeling before stepping around her, heading for the living room. He stopped up short at the sight of Shane lying sprawled out on the floor near the couch, hands tied behind his back, and Brendon crouched down next to him, offering comfort, even though Shane could only sense the ghost's energy. Past Shane's prone form, Ryan could make out a body, but before he could identify it, he heard the sounds of someone moving around in his kitchen.
Suddenly feeling really stupid to be in just a towel, Ryan backed up, heading for his bedroom. Trying to make as little noise as possible, Ryan pulled on a pair of pants and grabbed the phone to dial the Centre's number. He got halfway through before he heard a floorboard creak behind him, and his vision went dark.
Ryan swam back up to consciousness to the sound of hissing in his ear, and tried to move a hand - his wrists suddenly felt like they were weighed down with heavy weights - only to bite back a cry when the movement proved impossible. He turned his head slightly to find Brendon crouched over him, but the ghost was no longer hissing in his ear, but staring at something that was behind Ryan.
Ryan twisted his head to see Shane sitting up against the couch, hands still behind him, and staring at whatever it was Brendon was staring at. Knowing it was already obvious he was awake to whoever had been in the kitchen, and who had hit him in the back of his head, knocking him out, Ryan rolled onto his back, biting his lip when he realized his wrists had been tied behind his back. Judging from the sharp pain, not to mention the feeling of heavy weight, whatever had been used to tie his wrists together had silver in it. Whoever it was must have known he was a witch, which meant that it was a Nightwalker.
He squirmed a bit, ignoring the waves of pain the action caused, before his head snapped back when a hand seemed to come out of nowhere to slap him across the face. A foot pressed against his chest, pushing him back against his wrists and making the silver dig more into his already aching skin.
"Hold still, little witch. I don't want to have to kill you too."
Ryan glared up at the speaker, biting back a shudder when he realized it was the creepy vampire he'd run into at the Centre. The vampire took his foot off Ryan's chest, taking a step toward Shane, and Ryan used the opportunity to push himself up.
"Are you okay?" Brendon asked softly, like he was worried the vampire could hear him. Ryan glanced over at Brendon before looking over at the vampire now crouched in front of Shane, as the incubus glared back at him. Behind Shane, Ryan could see the slumped body more clearly now, and he bit back a cry as he realized the body was Brendon's.
"I've been better," Ryan muttered under his breath, glancing at the ghost again. "You know him?"
"That's Butch. Butch Walker." Brendon flinched when Butch's hand slapped Shane across the face. "He's a neighbor of ours. He always gave me the creeps, watching me at night whenever I'd go outside for a smoke. He showed up here after you went into the bathroom to take your shower. Shane opened the door, thinking he was the delivery guy, only for him to come in with my body slung over his shoulder." He paused, eyes growing wide. "Oh god, do you think he killed Audrey and Sarah too? Just like in your theory?"
"It was a theory," Ryan whispered before raising his voice. "Hey, vampire. You're breaking and entering in the apartment belonging to a Centre employee. You're looking at jail time, or worse."
Butch rose to his feet, turning away from Shane to look at Ryan. Shane rubbed his bruised cheek against his shoulder, giving Ryan a look as if to ask what he was doing. Ryan was pretty sure he wasn't even sure what he was doing. He did know, though, that while he was winging it, his winging it was probably going to get himself killed in the process. But, even while his mind entertained the mental image of Pete and Spencer investigating his murder, Ryan also knew he didn't want to die.
"Yeah, you," Ryan went on as the vampire crossed the room to where he was seated. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment? I apologized for running into you." His gaze slid from Butch to Shane and Brendon's body. "But I imagine you didn't show up because you were after revenge for me running into you. What the hell did a Daywalker and an incubus ever do to you?"
As Butch's fingers moved to wrap themselves around Ryan's throat, using it to lift Ryan up off the floor, his vision blurred a bit and a part of Ryan's mind decided that egging on a vampire was definitely a bad idea. "That's not really any of your business, little witch."
"It's mine, though, considering you slapped me." Shane spoke up, using the couch behind him to push himself up off the floor. "I don't remember Brendon or I causing you any grief in all the time you lived next door to us." The vampire jerked his head down to Brendon's body. "But Brendon's now dead, and you just said you're going to kill me, so I think I deserve to know why we're dying."
Butch tossed Ryan at Shane like Ryan was a rag doll, and both fell backwards on top of Brendon's body.
"Have a little respect for my dead body!" Brendon exclaimed, getting to his feet. Ryan saw Keltie appear behind Brendon, wrapping a hand around his and leaning forward to whisper in his ear before both ghosts moved carefully around Butch toward Ryan's messenger bag. Ryan wasn't quite sure what the ghosts were up to before his attention was drawn back to Butch, who was now standing in front of the couch.
"You want to know why I'm going to kill you, Shane?" Butch said. "It's because you stole what was rightfully mine."
"Yours?" Shane raised an eyebrow, shifting a bit under Ryan. "What the hell was yours?"
"Brendon," Butch snarled, pointing to Brendon's body under the two. "He was always nice to me, but he never once accepted any of my countless offers to go on dates. Not even after I scared off those two girls he'd been dating. So I killed them, because he was still interested in them."
"You creeped him out!" Shane snorted loudly, and out of the corner of his eye, Ryan saw Shane roll his eyes. "He's nice to everyone, but something about you freaked him out. That's why he kept telling you no, and went out with me after his girlfriends called it off because of you." The incubus shifted again, raising an eyebrow. "And even if you hadn't killed him, and he'd known about you killing the girls he'd dated, he wouldn't go out with you."
"Well, now he can't tell me no." Butch pointed toward Brendon's body again. "He's mine, now and always."
"What are they doing?" Shane suddenly whispered in Ryan's ear, making Ryan glance to where the ghosts were standing over his cell phone - which was now on the floor - and looking pleased with themselves. He couldn't see his phone screen from where he was, but he guessed that, by combining their respective energies, the ghosts had dialed some number.
Ryan grinned when he heard the sound of sirens outside, followed by the sounds of people running up the stairs. Trust Keltie to figure out to dial the Centre for backup. "I think we're gonna have company."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth before Ryan's apartment door was broken down, and Spencer tackled Butch to the floor, followed by Pete. Patrick followed the vampires in, crouching down to cuff Butch.
"You're under arrest for breaking into the apartment of a Centre employee." Pete told Butch as Spencer growled, banging Butch's head against the floor. Pete glanced over to where Ryan and Shane were still sitting on Brendon's body. "And for murdering one Daywalkers. And nearly killing two Nightwalkers as well."
"You're late." Ryan joked as Pete and Spencer got to their feet again, Pete's hands firmly on Butch's arms.
"You've survived worse." Spencer snorted as Pete shoved Butch out the door, Patrick reading the vampire his rights.
Ryan fumbled about, finally pushing himself to his feet, turning his back to Spencer so his friend could remove the silver bindings from his wrists.
"Thank you," Brendon said as he moved forward to stand in front of Ryan as Spencer untied Shane. "For finding my murderer and all."
"It's my job." Ryan shrugged sheepishly, watching as Gerard came in with the EMTs to collect Brendon's body. Shane gave Ryan a small wave as he followed Brendon's body out.
"What next?" Brendon wondered, biting his lip as he watched his body leave.
"Gerard does an autopsy on your body to confirm what we already heard from Butch." Ryan shrugged again. "And then Shane makes the arrangements for your funeral, I guess." He turned toward the ghost. "Go on, go be with Shane. He needs you a lot more than I do."
Brendon nodded before leaning forward, kissing Ryan faintly. He smiled a bit before disappearing.
Ryan sighed softly before clapping a hand to Spencer's back. "Spencer, my very good friend, I need a place to stay, after I give my statement to an officer and until they fix my door."
"Mooch."
Ryan grinned wide. "I am totally a mooch, but I will totally make up for it by telling you all about what you just burst in on."
Spencer raised an eyebrow, but Ryan could see the hint of a grin playing across the vampire's lips. "You better. And it better be good."
"I promise you, it's good." Ryan patted Spencer's back, heading out when he saw Patrick coming back up the stairs. "It's TV drama good."
"It better be."
--
The day of Brendon’s funeral was bright and cheerful. Ryan thought it was strangely appropriate, considering how the ghost was. Even the cemetery the funeral was being held at was strangely beautiful, and the ghosts that he could see just beyond the corner of his eye were watching the proceedings in quiet respect. Not for the first time, Ryan wondered if this usually happened during Daywalker funerals. He’d never been to one himself, but he knew they happened during certain kinds of Nightwalker funerals.
He shaded his eyes with his hand, trying not to flinch as the movement made the leather wristband hiding the silver burns rub against the slowly healing skin, and taking in the group of people gathered around the grave site to pay their last respects. In the bright sunlight, he could almost make out Brendon’s shimmering form standing next to Shane’s solid form.
Ryan lowered his hand with a faint nod, shoving both hands into his coat pockets and turning his back on the scene. Really, his work here was done; Brendon’s body was being laid to rest and the ghost could move on into the next life, or stay attached to Shane. Whatever he chose to do. It wasn’t really any of his concern.
Suddenly, Brendon was standing right in front of him. Ryan took a step back, trying to not look like the ghost had startled him. He was pretty sure he wasn't fooling either one of them. Judging by the expression Brendon gave him, the ghost had definitely seen it.
Ryan quietly took in Brendon’s now clean clothes and the lack of the gaping wound in his throat before looking up at the ghost’s face. He blinked at the look of nervousness he saw there.
“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked before he could stop himself.
Brendon shrugged faintly, before looking over Ryan’s shoulder to where the group was. “I haven’t seen my whole family together like this in a very long time.” It didn’t look like he was expecting Ryan to say anything, so Ryan stayed quiet, and Brendon’s gaze came back to him. “So now what?”
Ryan blinked, glancing over his shoulder to see if maybe Brendon was talking to someone else, but there was no one there. The question was definitely to him, and he wasn’t even sure he was the right person to ask, even if he was the ghost witch. “I don’t know. I’ve never really been in your shoes. Cross over, I guess.”
“What about…?” Brendon’s voice trailed off, his eyes flicking toward where Shane was standing, the unspoken part of his question obvious. Ryan wasn’t quite sure why seeing that hurt.
“I imagine he’ll eventually move on with his life, like any Nightwalker would.” Ryan scratched at the burn on his wrist, trying to keep his tone neutral. “Maybe you’ll see each other on the Other Side. I’ve heard from both Daywalkers and Nightwalkers that it looks about the same, concept wise.”
Brendon looked around, as if he expected something to happen, and trying to look like he wasn’t nervous at the idea of crossing over. “Do you know what it’s like? On the Other Side? It’s not scary, right?”
Ryan smiled faintly, scratching more at his wrist. Somehow, he wasn’t really surprised that Brendon was nervous at the thought of leaving behind more things that he knew. “No, not from how I understand it. Wouldn’t know, I’ve never been dead. But I hear it’s gorgeous over there, and different for everyone.”
Brendon gave a small nod, biting his lip and looking over Ryan’s shoulder again. Ryan glanced over his shoulder, seeing Shane watching them from where he stood by the grave site, before he noticed Vicky standing by the trees on the other side. Ryan wasn’t quite sure why the Reaper was there, probably escorting another soul or seeing how this story was going to play out. He decided he didn’t really want to know and turned back to look at Brendon.
But the ghost wasn’t looking at him anymore. His gaze was fixed on a point just behind Ryan, and something about his expression told Ryan that if he turned around, there wouldn’t be anything to see. This wasn’t something he could see, just Brendon.
“I guess you heard right from people.” Brendon’s voice was almost awed before he looked at Ryan again. “I just have to walk toward it, right?”
Ryan nodded, turning a bit as Brendon walked around him toward whatever it was the ghost saw. “I think that’s the general idea. And you go on to… whatever’s next after this life.”
Brendon paused in walking, turning a bit toward Ryan, and he was more solid than Ryan had ever seen him. “Thank you, Ryan. For everything.” He looked over to where Shane was before back to Ryan again, eyes flicking down to Ryan’s wrists and the hidden burns. “And I’m sorry that I got you caught up in everything. And that you got hurt because of me.”
Ryan shrugged, smiling. “It’s fine. I’m glad you showed up in my bedroom. It was nice meeting you, Brendon.”
“It was nice meeting you too.” Brendon turned back, starting to walk again. As he walked, he started to fade into nothing. Just before he vanished completely from view, he turned back to Ryan with a faint smile on his face and a little wave.
Ryan waved back before shoving his hands in his pockets again, looking back to where Brendon’s family was starting to drift away from the grave site, leaving Shane and a few other stragglers. After a few more minutes passed and the stragglers walked away, Shane left too, walking a different direction from everyone else after glancing toward where Ryan stood. Ryan wondered if Shane knew Brendon was gone now, and considered following after the other man to let him know before deciding against it. He probably did know, and the knowledge wouldn’t make it any easier.
A few minutes later, Ryan turned and walked away, heading for his car to drive back home and wishing that home wasn’t going to feel as empty with just him and Keltie in it.
It was going to be a long, lonely night after such a bright, cheerful day.
He'd just managed to get to his car before he became aware that someone was yelling his name. Ryan turned, blinking as he saw Shane walking over to him.
"Hi," Shane said as he stopped in front of Ryan, chewing his lip.
"Hi." Ryan held his hand up in a half-hearted wave. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do now, and judging by the way Shane glanced over toward Brendon's grave, the incubus wasn't sure either. Ryan shoved his hands in his pockets, scuffing his shoe against the ground before clearing his throat, making the incubus look back at him. "Brendon crossed over."
"I know." There was something unreadable behind Shane's eyes before he leaned forward to kiss Ryan softly. Ryan's eyes slid closed as he tilted his head slightly to kiss back, blinking them back open as Shane pulled away a few heartbeats later. "I didn't sleep with you just because you had Brendon's energy. And I wanna thank you for what you did."
Ryan smiled faintly. "I know." He leaned forward, giving Shane a soft kiss. "Did you, maybe, want to go out for coffee? At Greta's?" He bit his lower lip before smiling. "We'll drink to Brendon?"
Shane echoed the smile, nodding. "I'd like that."
He turned, heading to his own car. Ryan watched him go, smiling to himself. Well, maybe it wasn't going to be such a long, lonely night after all.