The Seasons

Chapter 2

“Elizabeth!” Rosalyn yelled; well, that was what he believed she was called. Neo had called her Rosalyn.

The lavender-haired man returned and sighed. “Okay, so my contact says he can be here in the next couple of days and until he gets here, the vampire who turned him, well, Slaine, he’s your responsibility.”

Slaine scowled. “No. I don’t want him in my apartment.”

“You turned him.”

“By accident! I don’t remember Levi looking after me after he turned me!” he hissed, throwing his hands in the air.

“That’s because he left,” the fluffy dark-haired man said, and Slaine turned to glare at him.

“What are you all talking about?” Wing rasped, eyes darting everywhere. “What do you mean vampire? Who are you? Where am I? What’s f*****g going on?”

“Look, I know this is going to be a lot to process, but we have something we need to tell you,” Slaine began, and when the old man in the corner cleared his throat. Slaine rolled his eyes. “I have something I need to tell you.”

“Before you bombard him with everything, I suggest you tell him who everyone is,” the grey-eyed man said.

“Right, yes. Yes, that’s smart. Okay, so I am Slaine, a vampire, and I accidentally turned you. So, I’ll do the wolves first, okay? So, there’s Jem, Alexander, and Rosalyn, they’re all alphas, and siblings. Their father, Maddox an omega and his mate, Neo and their kid, Azrail. Also, Elizabeth, a vampire, she’s Rosalyn’s wife. You with me so far?”

“I think so?” Wing asked, trying to keep calm. He had been taken by one group of lunatics only to be saved by another. And why did no one smell right?!

“Okay, this is where it gets slightly more confusing, but keep up. So, there’s Warren, also an alpha, and he’s Maddox's father and his partner, Blue, a magic welder. Then we have Grey, Jem’s mate, Micah, Alexander’s partner and their kids, Will and Aurora. Then we have that dodgy little trio, Jasper a human, his boyfriends, Atticus a human priest, but I don’t think he’s a priest any more and their boyfriend, Kevin, a mer-prince. And that’s Aether, Kevin’s brother, also mer-royalty. Finally, we have The Seasons, Winter a werewolf, an omega, Autumn, a beta and Summer a human.”

“Right,” he said slowly.

“Did you get everyone?”

“No.”

“Fair enough, there’s a lot of them. But long story short, I found you almost dead, and I was starving, and you were almost dead anyway, so what was the harm in drinking from you, except I cut myself on some glass and when I moved my hand to bring it closer my blood fell on you, and you drank it, and now you’re a vampire.”

“Do you think he got the ability to walk in the sunlight?” Jasper asked, a frown on his face. “Because Slaine already had it, and then the whole thing with Chaos, so it makes sense he got it, right?”

“Chaos?” Wing asked, confused.

“They’re a deity, it’s fine. It’s a whole thing,” Jem said, waving his hand.

“So,” Neo said as he took the baby from Maddox. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Wing,” he replied.

“Damn, and I thought a merman being named Kevin was hilarious,” Jem said, a grin on his face as he stared at the tallest man in the room.

“Jem, come on!” Jasper yelled, throwing his hands in the air. “I was five! You’ve had years to get over this.”

Jem burst out laughing. “And I just can’t. You met a merman, and you called him Kevin, Jasper.”

“Jem. Not now,” Atticus groaned, a scowl on his face.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know they’re your lovers, but imagine naming a merman Kevin.”

“If you find it funny, just call me Okeanos.”

Jem frowned. “No, I can’t make fun of you if I call you Okeanos.”

Maddox sighed, staring at his son. “Jem, you don’t need to make fun of Kevin at all.”

“But then, who would I make fun of?” he asked, looking at Grey.

“So, anyway, going back to our main issue,” Neo said, rolling his eyes. “Slaine, Wing is living with you and you can teach him how to be a vampire.”

Slaine tsked. “Can I refuse?”

“No.”

“Okay, but what if I say, I don’t know, ran away?”

Jem snorted. “Are you pulling a Levi?”

Slaine turned around to glare at Jem, and even Grey whacked his mate on the back of the head. Did they mean mate, as in the British slang for a friend? Or as in, this is my mate for life? Like he’d seen on TV.

Wing frowned. He had heard Levi mentioned more than once, and Slaine looked like he was about to hurt someone each time. He wanted to know who Levi was but didn’t want to die. But wait. If he was a vampire, didn’t that mean he was already dead? Oh, my god. He was dead. What the hell?

“Slaine. You are not pulling a Levi. You’re going to take responsibility for your actions. If he was taken by who we think he was taken by, well, we have a lot of s**t going on. And my contact will be here in a few days, and then he can help, so please. Slaine, if you mess around, I will have Jasper stay with you, and if Jasper stays with you, the other two will follow.”

“We are not making ‘pulling a Levi’ a phrase,” Slaine deadpanned, staring at the group. “And if someone says it again, I will cut you up. Also, who died and made you my father?” he said, scowling at Neo.

Neo stared at him blankly. “Your nonexistent parents. Now, do all of us a favour, be a good little vampire, and help Wing.”

“Hey, I’m glad you put me at the bar, but f*****g hell, someone help me,” a girl with long pale hair and dark skin said as she opened the door and peered around. Wing stared at her in surprise; she was gorgeous, with pale eyebrows and even paler eyes and appeared to have faint freckles on her face scattered around that reminded him of constellations.

“Oh, yes, Wing, this is Luna, Kevin and Aether’s sister.”

“Yeah, hi,” she said as she waved at him. “But help me.”

“I’ll go,” Maddox said. He handed the child over to the lavender-haired man. He kissed the sulky kid on the corner of the head, his husband and the child before he followed after Luna.

“What a day, right?” Jasper said as he looked around the room, a grin on his face. “Micah’s pregnant, and Slaine bit someone.”

Wing errored. This was all too much for him. He stared at Micah, who was arguing with Alexander. But he was sure Micah was a man, so how the f**k was he pregnant? He decided he did not want to know.

Slaine sighed as he ran a hand through his dark hair and stared at Wing. The vampire looked up into those purple eyes, and without a doubt, he knew those were the eyes he had seen when he thought he would die. So, this was the thing that saved him?

Should he have thanked him? But he had said it was an accident. “Right, get up, follow me. We’re going back to mine. I’ve had enough of these lot.”

“Oh, you love us really,” Jem said, smiling as he placed an arm around Grey’s shoulder.

Slaine narrowed his eyes. “You make one more joke about Levi and we’ll see what happens when a vampire bites a dog.”

He heard the groans from the wolves. “Slaine? You’re making dog jokes?” Rosalyn asked, frowning.

“I found it funny,” Elizabeth said, and Rosalyn turned to stare at the vampire, who shrugged. “What? It was pretty funny, think about it.”

“Bite someone else. Grey bites me enough as it is. I don’t need a zombie biting me on top of that.”

Jasper snorted. “Okay, as funny as all of these are-”

“Shut up, food,” Jem said as he narrowed his eyes at Jasper.

Jasper looked taken back as his eyes widened, and he placed a hand over his chest. “Food?” he whispered, frowning as he looked down at the ground, blinking repeatedly. “You think I’m food? Is that why you keep Atticus and me around? If you can’t eat, you feed off of us? Oh.” Jasper’s eyes glassed over as he looked around the room.

Jem frowned as he looked at him. “Wait, Jasper, that’s not what I meant.”

Jasper didn’t say anything, not for a whole minute. “I think we’re going to go,” Jasper whispered as his voice broke. He held onto Atticus’s hand, and they left the room. Kevin trailed off after them but not before giving a look of disapproval.

~*~